Public Secrets

26/08/2006

Once Muslim, Now Christian and Caught in the Courts

The New York has an disturbing article on their website about a Malaysian woman who changed her religion from Muslim to Christian and now wants to marry her Christian boyfriend but is not allowed to [link to the New York arcticle].

As I understood Malaysia has a secular constitution. About 60 percent of the Malaysian are Muslim, 20 percent is Buddhist, 10 percent is Christian and 6 percent is Hindu. Enough to make it a balancing act to keep everybody happy. I also learned from the article that there is an civil court in Malaysia but there is also an Islamic Shariah court. The Islamic Shariah court decides about things like marriage, property and devorce for the Muslim part of the population. As the Malaysian woman changed her religion from Muslim to Christian she concluded that the Islamic Shariah court had no jurisdiction over her and she should be allowed to marry her lover. But the cival court decided differently.

Quote:

In rulings in her case, civil courts said Malays could not renounce Islam because the Constitution defined Malays to be Muslims.

They also ruled that a request to change her identity card from Muslim to Christian had to be decided by the Shariah courts. There she would be considered an apostate, and if she did not repent she surely would be sentenced to several years in an Islamic center for rehabilitation.

End quote.

Strange that in 2006 you are still now allowed to choose your religion and basically how you want to live your live and who you want to marry.

18/08/200618/08/2006

Summer is almost over

11/08/200611/08/2006

Personal Computer 25 years

The PC is 25 years old! I can remember the first time they carried the thing into our office. Oh man, did it change the way we worked. We had a Wang text editor in a private network. One of these great boxes with screen and keyboard in one box. The documents we wrote we either send handwriten to the typing department who were also working with the Wang or we did it on the Wang.
We first used Multimate, Lotus, Symphony, Harvard Graphics, DOS, QEMM. Great times. The first PC I had looked exactly like the one on the picture. You could park your car on it and it would still run.
Now I work with a Tablet PC, a laptop plus I still have a couple of desktop/workstations. The price of all that stuff is probably less than what you paid for the first IBM PC.

10/08/2006

Apple hype?

Recently Steve delivered his key note about the new features in ~~Linux~~ OS X Leopard.
Great new features? No, not really. A lot of features were already available in either Linux and/or Windows (Virtual desktops, Time machine) or were just fixes not worth mentioning.

No new Nano, no new iPhone, no Vista 2.0, no … Maybe Apple is just like all other IT firms; sometimes hot and exciting, something boring.

01/08/2006

42 years; the end of Top of the Pops and the end of the Rolling Stones

After 42 years the last episode of the Top of The Pops chart show was transmitted in the UK. It proves that the time that a program which is based on weekly sales figures of singles, 45’s and CD’s is behind us. Trends and sales are based on daily figures these days. The weekly Top 40 still exists but you might question how long that will last. 42 Years Top Of The Pops, an institute comes to an end.
42 Years ago the Rolling Stones performed for the first time in the Netherlands. Now after 42 years they are again back. Maybe this institute should also quit just like the Top of The Pops. I think their time has long gone.

26/07/200626/07/2006

New Nikon D-SLR coming out

So the news came out that a new Nikon D-SLR is coming out. The rumor is that it is going to be a 10mp version. Some say it is going to be the successor of the D70s, others something between the D70s and the D200. Something like a D80 or a replacement for the D100.

I don’t know. It all seems a bit odd. With the D50, D70 and D200 (not counting the D100) Nikon already has a lot of choices in the low and mid and higher-end range segment. Replacing the D100 with a D80 seems possible but that would be a direct competition for the D70s which is still selling OK, despite the 6mp sensor.

I would rather have seen Nikon entering the Full Frame market. But I don’t think that will happen nor is it technically required in order to reach the high quality standards Nikon is known for.

25/07/2006

Hilarious!

You have to go to the (fake) blog of Steve Jobs [link to his site].

Great for a chuckle and big laugh.

20/07/2006

Hot? Make your own air conditioner

As the temperature in the Netherlands is rising above the 30 C, the questions comes up; how to keep cool.

Answer; Build your homemade air conditioner.

From Makezine

Here is the link [link]

13/07/200621/07/2006

Apple versus France (DRM issue)

The Herald Tribune has published a good article about the bill that is going to pass in the French senate this summer [link tot the article].

As you might have read somewhere, there is somewhat of a dispute going on between Apple and the French government. The latest are proposing a bill which will force companies like Apple to open up their DRM system. This would allow the enduser to buy music, video’s and digital media in general and play it on any equipment.
It is very funny to see how Apple is trying to protect the lock-in they have at the moment. Funny to see a company who is considered to be cool and innovative using old-school tactics of the 19th hundreds.

It is most likely that if this bill is passed in France, other countries in Europe will make a simmular bill. The first signs in that direction can be seen in Denmark, Sweden and Norway.

In most cases Government interference is bad. It stops innovation and is most of the times to restrictive. In this case I question the attitude of Apple. Forcing Apple to open their DRM model is good for the customer but at the same time gives Apple the opportunity to license their DRM model and receive income from that. Of course it mean that their model has to be superior to other DRM models, but that is a good business challenge.