I've been thinking a little further since my last post on the subject of open and closed systems, and I realised I forgot to mention the largest problem of all with closed formats - preservation of data. The recent deaths of some well-known writers who published large...

My response to an article about walled-garden systems (I love this analogy).Yes. You're right. A system under the control of a single entity can produce some amazing results and make things far more convenient for consumers. I say this because I am a console gamer.Games...

Lately, mostly via Twitter, I’ve been noticing an awful lot of negative comments directed at cross-dressers. All of them focus on the dehumanising aspect. “I saw this thing...” Not to my surprise, all these comments come from the same little collision in my social...

People with so many little tracks and turns and loose bolts in their brains that they rattle when they think. I like weathered people. People who creak and groan but, year after year, learn the patterns of the world and how to work through them. There are people I know...