Some things never go away. One of them is the fervent desire that IBM will release its moribund OS/2 operating system as open source software.

It’s time to give it up, folks. And I say that affectionately as the founding-and-only editor of OS/2 Magazine, published by Miller Freeman from 1994 through 1997.

OS/2 is over, OS/2 is done, OS/2 is obsolete, OS/2 is obsolescent, OS/2 is dead.

This harsh commentary is sparked is a blog post by my dear, dear friend Esther Schindler. Esther, aka “The OS/2 Goddess,” was a frequent contributor to OS/2 Magazine. One of my few regrets about that publication was not giving Esther the regular monthly column she deserved.

Esther’s posting on CIO.com resurrects an old chestnut: “Should IBM’s OS/2 Be Open-Sourced?” She correctly and accurately acknowledges the two main obstacles:

• Why in the world would IBM want to do that?
• And even if they wanted to, it’s not clear that they have the IP rights to do so.

Fantasize for a moment that some executive at IBM says, “Let’s go ahead and open source OS/2.” Think about the time and money it would take to validate the intellectual property rights. Who knows how much of that code was originally co-written with other companies, contractors and so-on? Maybe IBM knows. Maybe not. Certainly OS/2 was written without any thought to open-sourcing it, and so the IP records may not be clear.

In any case, it would take significant due diligence and expensive legal work. Where’s IBM’s return on investment for doing so?

Esther writes that “the committed OS/2 community sent a petition to IBM two years ago, with 11,613 signatures, asking the company to release the OS/2 source code (or whatever part IBM owns) under an open source license.” She says that IBM ignored the petition. I don’t blame them. And now, she says, there’s another petition in the works.

Esther, of course, wants this effort to succeed. But she’s a realist, too. “Do I want OS/2 to be open-sourced? Absolutely. Do I think it’s going to happen? Sadly, I don’t even think that IBM will respond to the users’ petition.”

My heartfelt advice to Esther and her compatriots in the OS/2 community: It’s not going to happen. Move on. It’s over.

They’re not going to move on, of course. But that’s what makes lost causes like OS/2 still blog-worthy, after all these years.

Microsoft has announced the dates for its Professional Developer Conference (PDC) in 2008: October 27-30 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

You may recall that Microsoft had planned a PDC this year, scheduled for October 4-8, 2007, in Los Angeles. The company pushed it back last May, saying that it was merely postponed: “We are currently in the process of rescheduling this fall’s Professional Developer Conference. As the PDC is the definitive developer event focused on the future of the Microsoft platform, we try to align it to be in front of major platform milestones.”

Microsoft never did reschedule PDC 2007. Instead, they moved directly onto PDC 2008, held at its usual season.

Sadly, Microsoft didn’t consult BZ Media before scheduling PDC 2008. The dates overlap EclipseWorld 2008, which will be Oct. 28-30 in Reston, Va. But somehow, I don’t think that this will affect attendance of either event. There probably isn’t much crossover.

The bummer is that this will preclude my attendance at PDC 2008, which is a shame, as I haven’t missed one for years. It’s one of the best-run tech conferences, and is one of my favorites.

But that does explain why Steve Ballmer wasn’t available to keynote EclipseWorld 2008.

>> Update 12/07: A colleague pointed out that, by odd coincidence, I’m wearing a “PDC 05” t-shirt today. I hadn’t even noticed.

(My Zeichick’s Take from Thursday, Dec. 6.)

Are you looking for some great gifts this holiday season? Of course you are! And do you want to buy technology books? Of course you do! Here are three that I recommend, either for you or for your development team.

“Automated Defect Prevention: Best Practices in Software Management”

In this authoritative new book, Dorota Huizinga and Adam Kolawa have done an admirable job defining a realistic methodology for implementing infrastructure that automatically prevents defects from getting into software. Is it simple? No, of course not. There’s no silver bullet. But when the software industry is ready to journey toward zero-defect applications, the road will look like what Huizinga and Kolawa are talking about.

“Exploiting Online Games: Cheating Massively Distributed Systems”

I’m not a gamer—haven’t been for 20 years. So, I don’t have any experience with today’s massive network games. However, as a software engineer with a networking background, I’m fascinated by the technological challenges they pose… not only to infrastructure and performance, but also in the sense of human dynamics. Gary McGraw and Greg Hoglund have written an incredible book that you’ll enjoy reading.

“The Art of Agile Development”

I’m getting tired of books about agile software development. Too many say the same things over and over and over again. Here, James Shore and Shane Warden take a different approach. It’s very practical in how it categorizes agile thinking and agile methodologies. The only weakness is that the book is very tightly tied to Extreme Programming, so it’s hard to tell what are general agile practices and what are XP practices. Even so, it’s highly recommended.

I’d also like to refer you to “Take a Look in a Book,” the Special Report published in the Sept. 1 issue of SD Times. You’ll find many great holiday gift ideas for you, and for your friends and colleagues.

When we do research studies at BZ Media, we often offer an incentive to people who take part in the study. If they choose, they may be entered into a drawing for a small prize.

We’ve offered several prizes, including gift cards, but the one that seems to interest the most people is an iPod. (Some people do not wish to enter the drawing, perhaps because they work for someplace where this prohibited, such as the military or the government.)

I’ve lost track of how many iPods we’ve given away.

With that in mind, we wondered: is the iPod still a great prize? On our most recent BZ Research study, we gave respondents a choice, written as follows:

Would you like to be entered into a drawing to win a 4GB Microsoft Zune (US$149 retail value), a 4GB Apple iPod nano (US$149 value), or a 4GB Creative Zen V+ (US$179 value)?

We chose those particular models so as to ensure we picked relatively comparable prizes, in terms of price and specifications.

To make a long story short, the results we as follows:

Yes, I want the iPod: 51.7%
Yes, I want the Zen: 20.6%
Yes, I want the Zune: 15.5%
No, thank you: 12.5%

Looking at it another way, of those who said that they’d like to enter the drawing, the results were:

Yes, I want the iPod: 58.8%
Yes, I want the Zen: 23.5%
Yes, I want the Zune: 17.7%

Clearly, the iPod was the most popular prize.

To validate the responses, we put a poll up on SDTimes.com last week, asking people, “If you could choose to receive one of these three MP3 music players as a gift, which would you want?” The results were:

4GB Apple iPod nano: 68%
4GB Microsoft Zune: 16%
4GB Creative Zen V+: 15%

The answers were even more heavily weighted in terms of the iPod, with the Zune and Zen coming in nearly neck and neck — a statistical tie. Still, the answer is clear: Most people in our sample demographic – software development managers – want iPods, not the alternatives.

When I used a paper Day-Timer organizer – which I did for nearly 20 years – I clearly understood the difference between writing something into my appointment calendar, and penciling something into my appointment calendar.

When you write something into your calendar, the assumption is that it’s a commitment.

Sure, you might erase or change it, but if you wrote in “Lunch next Tuesday, 1:00pm, Red Robin, with Bob,” the assumption is that unless you hear otherwise, you’re going to show up at 1:00pm and expect to find Bob there.

By contrast, penciling something in means that you’re putting a hold on the date.

If you pencil it in, it’s clearly not confirmed that you’re having lunch with Bob, or that it’ll be on Tuesday at 1:00pm. You’re just making a notation in your calendar so that you’ll be reminded to follow up later.

Why is it that calendar software doesn’t understand the difference between a confirmed appointment and a tentative one? Sure, you can add in descriptive text: “Lunch with Bob – tbc” is what I usually type, with “tbc” meaning “to be confirmed.” However, that entry in iCal or Google Calendar, or on my BlackBerry, looks exactly the same, whether it’s a tbc or not.

In other words, I can’t see at a glance which appointments in my calendar are definite vs. penciled. I have to read the text and look for that “tbc.” I can’t easily see an actionable list of unconfirmed events, unless I do a text search. Nor am I prompted by the software to confirm tentative appointments: the software doesn’t understand the concept.

What would I like? Perhaps a check box for “tentative” in the calendar software. Perhaps two buttons for when you create or edit an appointment, one marked “ink” and the other “pencil.” Definitely we need a visual cue that tell me, at a glance, that while I have some stuff set up for next Tuesday, some is confirmed and some is not. And yes, programmatic pop-ups or other prompts that remind me that I need to confirm things, and make it easier to confirm something other than editing the description to remove the “tbc” text.

C’mon – there’s a reason why we say, “Okay, Bob, I’ll pencil you in for Tuesday.” Let’s get the calendar metaphor right.

>> Update 12/6: Another point is that the difference between confirmed and tentative events should be clear when viewing events on a graphical page, like week-at-a-glance.

Wouldn’t a t-shirt (perhaps with a camo pattern) saying “Team Alpha Super Awesome Cool Dynamite Wolf Squadron” be neat?

That’s, of course, from the Dreamworks movie “Shrek the Third,” where some of the magical creatures are plotting:

Donkey: Alright people, let’s do this thing. Go Team Dynamite!

Pinocchio: But I thought we agreed we’d go by the name Team Super Cool.

Gingerbread Man: As I recall, it was Team Awesome.

Wolf: I voted for Team Alpha Wolf Squadron.

Donkey: Alright, alright, alright. From henceforth, we’re all to be known as Team Alpha Super Awesome Cool Dynamite Wolf Squadron.

Alas, I don’t see such a shirt for sale anywhere.

Another good shirt would say, “Not my gumdrop buttons!”

Maybe we’re ready to move beyond the “Revenge of the Sock Puppet” phase of anti-branding.

That’s what Ted Bahr, the “B” of BZ Media, writes in his new blog on Foliomag.com. In “Maybe Branding Isn’t Dead,” Ted ponders a possible backlash against the it-must-generate-sales-leads, it-must-be-digital, it-must-be-measurable obsession of Internet advertising. How are you supposed to generate sales leads if nobody knows who or what you are?

Lead-generation campaigns don’t build awareness, and they don’t create demand. Yes, lead generation is a key part of a sales-and-marketing program. But it’s the sales part. It’s not the marketing part.

Folio Magazine, published by Red 7 Media, is the magazine for the magazine publishing industry. I’m personally delighted that they’ve invited my business partner to blog as part of the Folio Magazine Web site relaunch. It was a great choice.

Although Ted’s role on BZ Media is on the sales/publishing side, not editorial, he’s a heck of a good writer, and his knowledge of the publishing industry is second to nobody.

The Capability Immaturity Model was described today in an article by Mike Bohlmann (pictured). In “Best Practices: Are Your Company’s Processes Mature,” he writes,

In the CIMM, there are four levels in which an organization can fail at establishing processes both passively and actively. These may help you in identifying and communicating just what keeps your organization from establishing and following good processes:

* 0: Negligent
* -1: Obstructive
* -2: Contemptuous
* -3: Undermining

And then he goes on to briefly explain the different levels, and how they apply to today’s business IT environment. (I should add that Mike didn’t invent the CIMM; that was done originally by Capt. Tom Schorsch of the U.S. Air Force, in a software engineering context.)

Mike’s blog, we CAN help IT, is a good read on entrepreneurial IT management.

I’m embarrassed that I never wrote about Alexa’s new CD, “Vagabundeo,” which came out over the summer. (I previously blogged her first disc, Jazzmérica.)

Here’s the review I wrote for it on Amazon:

This CD is wonderful. Even more than her first CD, Jazzmerica, it shows how comfortable Alexa is singing in a wide variety of styles, and in a variety of languages as well. This is the perfect CD to listen to after a long day at the office, or enjoy during dinner with friends, or if you just feel like dancing.

Also, If you like Pink Martini, you’ll love Alexa Weber Morales. If China Forbes (Pink Martini’s lead singer) ever leaves, Alexa must take her place.

A friend received this curious phishing message, reproduced below verbatim.

Subject: END OF YEAR AWARD 2007 PUBLICATION RESULT BONAZAA!

FROM STAATSLOTERIJ INTERNATIONAL B.V AWARD DEPARTMENT. MAARSHOF,3064HA,HILVERSUM,THE NETHERLANDS.

This email is to notify you that your Email Address attached to a Number(106912) has won an Award Sum of $1,000.000.00) (One Milliom Dollears) In an E-mail Sweepstakes program held on the 29TH of NOVEMBER 2007.

Please contact the claim officer through the below given contact information for the Claim STAATLOTERRIJ CLAIM AGENCY.

Mr;:John Smith
Contact Email : (deleted)
Contact Telephone: (deleted)

WINNING INFORMATIONS Ref Number (42261567)Serial Number 780978907 Lucky Numbers442676509Batch Number EU8909178

Please forward the above stated winning information to your Euro Claim Agent.

Congratulations!!!

Perhaps a doll manufacturer would have good use for a milliom doll ears, but I’m not sure that I would.

I was recently asked to advise local lay leaders about the sorts of things that a church or synagogue should have on its Web site. Here’s a short essay written in response. I hope this is interesting for other local-area non-profits as well.

1. Broad buy-in and lots of contributors — not just from techie Webmasters

A Web site that’s a passionate activity from one or more “web gurus” but lacks a lot of support from the lay leaders, clergy, professional staff and committee/auxiliary leaders may shine for a while, but then will peter out. The Web site should have broad buy-in, and should have representation and discussion at all levels of church or synagogue life. It’s important, by the way, to not oversell what the Web can accomplish. Your Web site can help congregants and community find information. It’s not a “push marketing” tool that can replace your monthly newsletter, e-mail newsletters and mailings, postcards, or fliers in your foyer. The Web site augments your other communications efforts — it doesn’t eliminate them.

2. Steak AND sizzle — that is, it should be good looking AND filled with useful information

Nobody wants a boring Web site. But nobody wants a site that merely has lots of great photos of your building and clergy, and not much else. Think about why people visit your Web site, and make sure those visits are successful. Chances are people are looking for something. Do you know what your congregants are looking for? Is it there? Can they find it? Can they find it quickly and easily? When they find it, is it complete and up to date?

3. A mix of both timely content and static reference — and a clear separation of the two

Some people are searching your Web site for that’s new and timely, like what time worship services are this week, the pictures from last weekend’s celebration, the clergy’s most recent sermon, whether a specific club is meetng during the next public-school holiday, or if that meeting is cancelled or postponed. Sometimes they’re looking for static information, like permission forms, the main office phone number, MP3 files of familiar blessings, clergy biographies or list of charitable institutions that your church/synagogue supports. A best practice is to lead your site with the timely and changing information. Relegate reference material to deeper pages, but just make sure people can find it.

4. A good editor and a sense of “less is more”

People don’t go to the Web site to read War & Peace. They go there to find out if they want to buy the book! Similarly, they probably don’t want a long verbose explanation of your worship philosophy, they want to know when your special family worship services will be held this month and if you’re serving mac-and-cheese or burgers beforehand. When it comes to timely information, people don’t read, they skim. They want answers, they want information, they don’t want novels. What they don’t want is a page full of text (like this essay). Be brief! If you’re writing the history of your congregation, use single sentences where paragraphs would do. A picture is worth 1000 words. Use the photo, spare the words, and your members will be happier.

5. Interactivity so that congregants can engage your site, not just refer to it

Forms are an important and popular way to involve members with your Web site — forms to register for religious school, for example, or to RSVP for adult education events. You can also set up forums, snap polls, and other resources so that your members can contribute to your Web site, as well as just reading it. Now, bear in mind that if you make a lot of interactive features, they may get low traffic at first. Don’t be discouraged!

6. Ways to increase donations — in an appropriate way, of course

Web sites offer tactful and tasteful ways to raise money for your church or synagogue. For example, you can create simple donation forms, which let your members (and other interested people) make donations in honor of memorials, weddings and “just because.” If you sell prayer books or ritual objects, you can offer them on your Web site, for the convenience of both your congregation and your local community. You can also make money by setting up an Amazon Associates program, so that congregants can donate every time they buy something — Amazon pays between 4% and 8.5%. You can even sell ads to local businesses that traditionally support your congregation. It’s up to you — and to your clergy and lay leadership, of course, to determine what’s right.

7. A bright fresh face — without outdated forms, events and photos

Stores regularly change their window displays. Does your Web site change its window display — that is, the home page? It’s tempting to make the top of the home page (the first screen you see without scrolling) a static area, with a picture of your building or clergy, and perhaps your mission statement, but imagine how that looks to a congregant coming back. It looks like nothing has changed. Use this most precious real estate for the most timely information. If you show photos on your home page, consider rotating them through a slide show. Also, remove outdated information right away. Get rid of the flier for a 2005 summer camp, and the 2006-2007 religious school sign-up form. Nothing makes a site seem stale more than welcoming visitors with your Christmas or Chanukah celebration schedule…. the following February.

8. A modern “Web 2.0” look, feel and functionality

Many of your congregants — and not just the young ones! — are very Web savvy. They use Google, they shop online, they spent hours in front of a browser. They are acutely aware of when a Web site is using old technology, and they appreciate the latest advances. There’s no reason for your site to look like a holy relic. You can easily incorporate modern features like blogs, RSS feeds (i.e., incorporate external data sources), and even audio & video into your site. Be sure, of course, not to let dazzle overwhelm you. Also make sure that you can continue what you start, as nothing looks worse than a blog that’s not updated regularly, or seeing audio feeds of your clergy’s sermons… up to March 2006. However, when used effectively and consistently, Web 2.0 technologies can make your site exciting and compelling, and make your ancient institution seem modern.

9. Search engine optimization so people can find you easily

Some people will find information on your Web site by browsing to your home page, and by navigating through your menus. But many other people will find information by searching through Google, MSN, Yahoo, and other search engines. Think about the type of queries that someone might make to find you, like “religious school miami” or “confirmation classes bay area” or “presbyterian denver” or “bar mitzvah lessons seattle.” Does your Web site come up? You can improve the odds by engaging in search engine optimization. That’s a combination of making sure that pages have the right keywords and content, and that you provide the right “hints” to the search engine themselves. It’s a bit of work… but it can improve your church or synagogue’s Web visibility, and maybe even help new members find you.

I think the One Laptop Per Child nitiative is a great idea. I just hope it survives.

The idea of a $100-or-so laptop for the developing world is important. Nicholas Negroponte is a brilliant visionary. He demonstrated that time and again at the MIT Media Lab, and he demonstrated it against with the OLPC initiative.

My first serious exposure to the OLPC project came at the AMD Global Vision Conference in September 2006, where I had the pleasure of hearing Negroponte talk about the laptop, and then chat with him afterwards. Negroponte was there, of course, because Advanced Micro Devices – not Intel – was supplying the platform for the Linux-powered OLPC laptop.

That was, obviously, a huge public relations coup for AMD, and gave OLPC and Negroponte a highly visible sponsor. However, the choice of AMD as a sole supplier was guaranteed to turn Intel into OLPC’s deadly enemy. And indeed, Intel responded with the Classmate, a straight-on competitor, which is stealing the wind from Negroponte’s sails.

While Negroponte’s choice of AMD made perfectly fine sense, there was no technological reason to make AMD an exclusive supplier. The visionary didn’t see that making an enemy out of the #1 microprocessor supplier was a very bad idea, and might imperil his altruism.

What Negroponte should have done is announced specs for a low-cost, low-power x86 processor, and put it out to bid. When it came to chips, both the AMD and Intel processors cost money. Whoever was assembling the OLPC laptop had to buy chips from someone. It could have been either processor – or both processors.

In practice, there should be no difference between an OLPC laptop running with an AMD chip and another in the same village with an Intel chip. Plus, having a choice might drive down prices. Never forget the power of competition, or the dangers of having a single source for a hardware component.

The other technological choice in the OLPC laptop, of course, is Linux, which turned Microsoft into a mortal enemy of the project as well. That may have been unavoidable. Linux is free, Windows is not free. Worst, neither Windows nor Linux are interoperable with each other without introducing extreme amounts of complexity. It would not be practical to design, build and distribute some OLPC laptops running Linux and others running Windows.

Negroponte had to choose. He chose Linux. That made Microsoft an enemy.

But did he have to create an enemy? What if Negroponte had invited Microsoft to contribute software or services for the OLPC, perhaps a version of Internet Explorer, Windows Media Services or MSN? Then, Microsoft might have been a supporter and a friend.

Would OLPC’s cozying up to Intel and Microsoft have been technologically necessary? Of course not. Negroponte and OLPC has demonstrated that they don’t need Intel or Microsoft to build their OLPC laptop. (The Intel Classmate also runs Linux, by the way.)

Would that have been politically necessary? I suggest that it would have been a wise idea. Negroponte’s vision focused solely on the Third World, but he didn’t take into account the business realities of the First World. His OLPC initiative had to make tough choices, yes, but it didn’t need to make enemies out of the industry’s top hardware and software suppliers.

I remain a strong supporter of the OLPC initiative, and am happy to do what I can to support it, such as by promoting and taking part in the Give One Get One program. However, that doesn’t mean that I am totally optimistic about the project’s success. Microsoft and Intel are powerful competitors, who wish to crush the project. I don’t see Negroponte with many allies in his camp.

I’m a huge Carlos Santana fan, and have nearly all of his albums. So, when Arista Records announced yet another collection – Ultimate Santana – it barely registered on my radar. Why buy a collection when you’ve got the albums?

Tina Turner. That’s why.

One of my favorite recent Santana songs is “The Game of Love,” from his 2002 album Shaman, with vocals by the very talented Michelle Branch. She has a light and lovely voice.

However, the story goes, the song was originally written for Tina Turner, but for various reasons, Santana wasn’t able to use the version they recorded together. So, he re-recorded the song with Michelle Branch for Shaman.

The Ultimate Santana collection contains both versions. I like them both… but this is clearly a Tina Turner song. Her powerful voice is a real treat.

If you like Santana, and if you like Tina Turner, buy this collection.

According to a spokesperson for Western Digital, the new 2.5-inch 320GB hard drives — which I wrote about on Nov. 2 — will be available the last week of November.

This is a delay from the announcement on Oct. 31, when the company said the drives were available immediately in Western Digital’s online store.

>> Update 12/1: The 320GB drive is still not available from WD or retailers.