Sunday, September 23, 2007

Rails Disaster

There was an article on Slashdot about a rails disaster.

Sure part of the problem was poor project management. However, the main problem is that web apps are so unnecessarily complicated that it takes perfect project management to pull it off. It does not have to be this hard.

I have never said that web apps are impossible. I, myself use g-mail for example. I just think web apps are way more complicated than they have to be. NewIO is the least complicated, shortest path to the Internet apps that we want.

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Dreadnought Software

Dreadnought Software licenses software and provides training and consulting on an open source Internet application platform that we created called NewI\O. This non-web based system overcomes the
limitations of the world wide web as an application platform by using a custom secure duplex messaging protocol that we intend to make an Internet standard. The NewI\O system consists of a universal client that we call the Dreadnought Application Browser, a small server process and a library/API.

With this library/API the NewI\O system allows organizations to develop powerful and easy to use applications and still keep the data confined to servers in the data center where the data can be properly managed and secured. NewI\O provides all of the advantages of a thin client architecture, without the limitations of the web and without the lock-in of hardware and proprietary solutions. The cost and risk to transition to NewI\O is minimal.

The primary market for Dreadnought Software is the software as a service industry. We intend to save the world from web based applications and profit from that transformation. We are looking for financial, legal and general business assistance to accomplish our mission from high character partners we can trust.

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Recent Comment on NewIO

I am told that a VC/Angel recently said that "what we've got is more lightweight and more efficient than IBM's competing software (they have a cross-platform flash based thing similar to NewIO but its not as lightweight or as powerful) and he said it makes [Microsoft] Silverlight look like dirt"

Saturday, July 14, 2007

nIde

Jason Reynold is using NewI\O for an Internet Web editor called nIde and getting some business interest from investors.

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

The Emerging Economic Paradigm of Open Source

Family and friends, mostly those not involved in the tech industry, caution me about releasing my code via open source. It is difficult for them to understand how I can possibly make money by giving away my source code. Bruce Perens has written The Emerging Economic Paradigm of Open Source that addresses this issue in depth.

GravityZoo

Up until now I was not aware of any direct competitors to NewIO.
There were similar technologies, but nothing that closely resembled
it. However, I noticed this article on slashdot:

http://developers.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/20/170211

This is about a company called GravityZoo (http://www.gravityzoo.com/)
which appear to be doing pretty much the same thing as we are. So far
they appear to be proprietary and only have a MS Windows client, so I
see no reason to stop working on NewI\O, yet.

Friday, April 20, 2007

Microsoft Silverlight


Apaprently Microsoft has released a new competitor to flash called Silverlight. Devsource has an article about it. From what I can tell it is still client only software, and not client/server, so it would not be a true competitor to NewIO. Also, I see the lack of a linux implementation as a major drawback.

Saturday, April 14, 2007

What's wrong with HTTP?

The NewIO Project was mentioned in a very interesting essay by Kragen Sitaker on the suitability of the web as an application platform. He touches on quite a bit and I am still digesting it.

Sunday, April 08, 2007

Has Silicon Valley Lost its Edge?

John Dvorak writes, "Has silicon valley lost its edge?"

It seems to me that time is ripe for something new, something that changes everything, something like NewIO

NewIO News 4/8/07

1. DemoCamp San Diego

I am pleased to report that the DemoCamp in San Diego on Wednesday, March 28th was a big success. Everything went well. The audience was really interested and asked lots of good questions. I interacted with lots of friendly tech people, including a member of the Firefox team. What was really great was that my Dad and his wife and my sister Tracy and her two boys were there, so it was particularly gratifying to do well with family watching.

On the downside there was no follow-up res ponces from the demo. It may be that we need to work harder to provide handouts and also to take names and contact information at these events. On the other hand at this point I am really looking for self motivated people to partner with to help develop this technology into a commercial product, so perhaps if they can not motivate themselves to contact me after the event, than perhaps they are not the right person for the job anyway.

In any case my philosophy is to keep talking and work on building the momentum and over time we will attract the kind of talent we need to be successful. I do think that like compound interest that at some point we will reach a tipping point and that momentum will become self feeding.

2. Future Demos

DemoCamp Portland (http://barcamp.org/DemoCampPortland1)

3. Developers

I am pleased to report that our new developer Alan is working out very well. I have met with him several times to get him up to speed. We are taking the opportunity to perform code cleanups and to port the server side (in addition to the client side) over to MS Windows. In addition to his significant programming ability Alan also has an interest in entrepreneurialism and business, so I think he is going to be a tremendous asset to the success of NewIO.

Our previous programmer Steve who did so much good work for the project has recently taken a full time programming position that pays benefits. I am happy for him and his wife, as they really need this, but I am sad to report that as much as he likes the project, he does not have the energy to both work his job and work on the project. I
offered him the opportunity to continue in a reduced role, but he declined. On the other hand he just contributed a fabulous new demo today, so who knows? Maybe he will not be able to resist us.

4. Competition

Alan recently talked to a potential NewIO customer. The customer mentioned that they believed Microsoft was working diligently on a secret competitive technology, so we eagerly await any announcement to see if this is correct, and to evaluate the possible competition.

There are a couple interesting aspects of this possibility. For one thing, Microsoft receives huge amounts of money for selling software for each computer. NewIO is a direct challenge to that business model. For Microsoft to risk stabbing its own cash cow would be a very gutsy move on their part. On the other hand they are not stupid. Perhaps they can see the writing on the wall?

The other thing is that even if they come up with a direct competitor to NewIO they usually only support their own operating system. So the door still might be open for NewIO since our strategy is to support all computers in a vendor neutral way which might be a decisive advantage.

However until we have specific information all of the above is mere speculation. However I am very aware that we probably have a limited window of opportunity to be successful.

5. Book

After I submitted my in depth outline the editor of the series expressed excitement about the book, however I did not hear from the publisher's rep. I wrote and she replied that I would hear from a reviewer and also a contact proposal would be forthcoming within a week. Alas, this was 2 weeks ago, and I have not heard anything. I wrote back again to her Friday, so hopefully I will hear from her again within a day or two.

6. Code

There are three main focuses in software development at the moment:

1. Windows Server - We need this to help make the code clean and portable and also to allow Alan to be productive since his background is in Windows programming and all of the application programming is on the server. This should help make the project attractive to the huge mass of other Windows programmers out there.

2. Widgets - Steve was working on using native widgets in the client code. This was proving to be complicated and difficult. Our focus will probably turn to creating our own widgets by drawing them and reacting to events on the server (server side widgets).

3. Apple OSX client. We would like to cover all of the major consumer platforms. However currently we have no programming expertise for OSX. We have been careful to pick third party libraries that work with OSX to make this possible. We are keeping an eye out in particular for someone who maybe be a good fit to take care of this need. We may need to hire someone for this, or I may give it a shot myself when I have more time.

7. Finances

We raised about $11, 800 for the project all from close relatives of mine. Almost all of it was used to pay Steve for 4 months worth of work. I think we got a good deal. This money (and then some out of my own pocket) is now gone. Several have expressed interest in investing more money, but at this time we have no direct need for it and I want to accept as little money as possible and bootstrap as much as possible.

I am keeping a list in my head of who is interested in case the need arises in the future. Possible future uses would be business or marketing expenses, or perhaps to fund an OSX developer.

8. Business

The next business step will be to incorporate at a Limited Liability Company (LLC). I have a lawyer in mind who will do this and other work for a flat fee of $1500. I am holding off at this time to resolve a personal matter with the IRS first to avoid complications. I expect to have this resolved within 3 months.

As usual if anyone has an questions or comments feel free to contact me.

Friday, March 09, 2007

BarCamp Austin

I signed up to speak at BarCamp Austin tomorrow. It is not easy for me since I work weekends, but it should be interesting. Wish me luck.

Thursday, March 01, 2007

Book Outline

Beyond the Web with NewI\O
by Chris Nystrom

1. Why Internet applications?
2. What is wrong with current solutions?
3. What is NewI\O and How does it work?
4. Downloading, Installing and Running Dreadnought
5. Your First Program: Hello NewI\O!
6. Advanced NewI\O Programming
7. Extending the System: Adding to the API
8. Debugging NewI\O Programs
9. Running Your own NewI\O Server

Appendix A: NewI\O Links
Appendix B: NewI\O FAQ
Appendix C: NewI\O API

Current Witch's Brew is Apalling

To: cnystrom@newio.org,
Debra_Williams@prenhall.com
Cc: arnold@skeeve.com
Date: Feb 23, 2007 7:28 AM
Subject: RE: Prentice Hall interested in epublication of New I/O

> Chris,
>
> That is great news that you are interested in publishing with us.

Ditto! That's really great!

> I'll have to let Arnold speak for himself on discovering you.

I saw a discussion of your site and then your note on the 9fans mailing
list.

I went to your site and really liked what I saw. I have to admit that
I find the current witch's brew of server-side PHP, client-side
JavaScript, and HTML / XML to be just apalling.

Thanks!

Arnold

Friday, February 23, 2007

Prentice Hall Wants To Publish an eBook on NewIO!

to: cnystrom@newio.org
cc: Aharon Robbins
date: Feb 20, 2007 12:31 PM
subject: Prentice Hall interested in epublication of New I/O

Chris,

I am a publisher of open source books and ebooks. My series editor, Arnold Robbins, has brought your New I/O project and blog to my attention. We are very interested in publishing an electronic publication as part of the Prentice Hall Open Source Software Development series. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Debra Williams Cauley
Executive Editor

Prentice Hall PTR/Addison Wesley
1185 Avenue of the Americas, 26F
NY, NY 10036

212-782-3476

Debra_Williams@prenhall.com

Saturday, February 03, 2007

NewIO Version 0.11 Build 065

The NewI\O team is pleased to announce the latest release:

NewI\O (Alpha Version 0.11 Build 065)
http://www.newio.org

"Saving the world from web programming."

What is NewI\O?

NewI\O is a system for running programs on the Internet.

What is new?

This release now runs as a secure shell subsystem (thanks to libssh2)
and the client has been ported to MS Windows.

Bug IDs fixed in this release include:

1614479, 1614506, 1633264, 1633266, 1633660, 1648211

Where can I get it?

You can get source code for the whole thing at:

ftp://ftp.newio.org/pub/newio/newio-0.11_src_065_020107.tar.gz

You can get just the Linux binary of the Dreadnought Application
Browser client at:

ftp://ftp.newio.org/pub/d0/d0.0.11_bin_064.tar.gz

You can get the MS Windows binary of the Dreadnought Application
Browser client at:

ftp://ftp.newio.org/pub/d0/DreadNoughtSetup-0.11_065_020107.exe

Lastly you can get just the Dreadnought Application Browse client
source code at:

ftp://ftp.newio.org/pub/d0/d0.0.11_src_065_020107.tar.gz

Status

Alpha.

License

The NewI\O is system is free software. It is released under the GPL.
Libraries are released under the LGPL.

Acknowledgments:

Sam Lantinga, Ryan C. Gordon and the rest of the SDL team
Bob Pendleton - Font and text routines
Ryan Mcguigan - SDL_prim library
Steve Gettel - MS Windows Port, ssh subsystem

We would be interested in any comments that you have.

The NewI\O Team
February 03, 2007

Sunday, January 21, 2007

On 9fans

app porttikivi at gmail.com
Mon Oct 2 05:22:04 EDT 2006


Plan 9 people should get together with people with ideas like the New
I/O. This Nyström guy is fed up with trying to distribute
functionality with javaScript inside a browser and tries to come up
with a solution of his own, free of Web browser paradigm.

--

Christoph Lohmann 20h at r-36.net
Wed Oct 4 07:34:27 EDT 2006


Good day.

Am Mon, 2 Oct 2006 09:22:04 GMT
schrieb app :

> Plan 9 people should get together with people with ideas like the New
> I/O. This Nyström guy is fed up with trying to distribute
> functionality with javaScript inside a browser and tries to come up
> with a solution of his own, free of Web browser paradigm.

Got a mainframe?

Sincerely,

Christoph