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<title>Scripting News</title>
<link>http://scripting.com/</link>
<description>Dave Winer, OG blogger, podcaster, developed first apps in many categories. Old enough to know better. It's even worse than it appears.</description>
<pubDate>Sat, 12 Sep 2026 22:13:53 GMT</pubDate>
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<source:account service="mastodon">@davew@mastodon.social</source:account>
<source:account service="twitter">bullmancuso</source:account>
<source:localTime>Sat, September 12, 2026 6:26 PM EDT</source:localTime>
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<description><img class="imgRightMargin" src="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/12/plato.png" border="0" style="float: right; padding-left: 25px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 15px;"><a href="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/12/stringAddressToStringScreenshot.png">Screen shot</a> of new Frontier verb, string.addressToString, added yesterday. The comment at the head of the function explains. You're seeing it in the script editor in Atlantis. The Debug button is there to remind me that it's the biggest item on the todo list. We're now building the system that will make Frontier an easily updateable runtime. Once we're there I think we'll be at the summit of the mountain. We know how to work from that point. Find a bug? Fix it, test it, release it. We already have a backlog of parts to update. And it's great to have Claude here being the book keeper. It is imperfect, but it's way better than I am at managing details.</description>
<pubDate>Sat, 12 Sep 2026 14:08:12 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/12.html#a140812</link>
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<source:markdown>[Screen shot](https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/12/stringAddressToStringScreenshot.png) of new Frontier verb, string.addressToString, added yesterday. The comment at the head of the function explains. You're seeing it in the script editor in Atlantis. The Debug button is there to remind me that it's the biggest item on the todo list. We're now building the system that will make Frontier an easily updateable runtime. Once we're there I think we'll be at the summit of the mountain. We know how to work from that point. Find a bug? Fix it, test it, release it. We already have a backlog of parts to update. And it's great to have Claude here being the book keeper. It is imperfect, but it's way better than I am at managing details.</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="<a href="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/12/stringAddressToStringScreenshot.png">Screen shot</a> of new Frontier verb, string.addressToString, added yesterday. The comment at the head of the function explains. You're seeing it in the script editor in Atlantis. The Debug button is there to remind me that it's the biggest item on the todo list. We're now building the system that will make Frontier an easily updateable runtime. Once we're there I think we'll be at the summit of the mountain. We know how to work from that point. Find a bug? Fix it, test it, release it. We already have a backlog of parts to update. And it's great to have Claude here being the book keeper. It is imperfect, but it's way better than I am at managing details." created="Sat, 12 Sep 2026 14:08:12 GMT" type="outline" image="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/12/plato.png" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/12.html#a140812"/>
</item>
<item>
<description>It's like we're living in a science fiction movie. Some of us are working with the aliens. At first the journalists only fear was driven by their natural narcissism, all that matters is they get paid for their writing. Now all they can see is the much larger threat to humanity. What if the aliens decide to destroy humanity, or turn earth into a bypass on a freeway. In the movie I'm a scientist, played by Jeff Goldblum or Brad Pitt and my love interest is played by Julia Roberts, Jennifer Lawrence or Amy Adams and we're racing against time to really connect with the aliens who we are sure mean us well and offer the way past our myrid crises to get to the next stage of civilization. But wait, Bradley Whitford plays the evil politician trying to sell out the aliens to a food manufacturer who thinks they could make an excellent meat sauce for spaghetti.</description>
<pubDate>Sat, 12 Sep 2026 22:13:53 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/12.html#a221353</link>
<guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/12.html#a221353</guid>
<source:markdown>It's like we're living in a science fiction movie. Some of us are working with the aliens. At first the journalists only fear was driven by their natural narcissism, all that matters is they get paid for their writing. Now all they can see is the much larger threat to humanity. What if the aliens decide to destroy humanity, or turn earth into a bypass on a freeway. In the movie I'm a scientist, played by Jeff Goldblum or Brad Pitt and my love interest is played by Julia Roberts, Jennifer Lawrence or Amy Adams and we're racing against time to really connect with the aliens who we are sure mean us well and offer the way past our myrid crises to get to the next stage of civilization. But wait, Bradley Whitford plays the evil politician trying to sell out the aliens to a food manufacturer who thinks they could make an excellent meat sauce for spaghetti.</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="It's like we're living in a science fiction movie. Some of us are working with the aliens. At first the journalists only fear was driven by their natural narcissism, all that matters is they get paid for their writing. Now all they can see is the much larger threat to humanity. What if the aliens decide to destroy humanity, or turn earth into a bypass on a freeway. In the movie I'm a scientist, played by Jeff Goldblum or Brad Pitt and my love interest is played by Julia Roberts, Jennifer Lawrence or Amy Adams and we're racing against time to really connect with the aliens who we are sure mean us well and offer the way past our myrid crises to get to the next stage of civilization. But wait, Bradley Whitford plays the evil politician trying to sell out the aliens to a food manufacturer who thinks they could make an excellent meat sauce for spaghetti." created="Sat, 12 Sep 2026 22:13:53 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/12.html#a221353"/>
</item>
<item>
<description>When people get to work with the new Frontier with Claude or some other AI tool, you can have it search in frontier.root based on a conversation with it. It can decide on its own where to look for prior art. I keep finding things like this now that I'm working in the new software.</description>
<pubDate>Sat, 12 Sep 2026 15:57:08 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/12.html#a155708</link>
<guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/12.html#a155708</guid>
<source:markdown>When people get to work with the new Frontier with Claude or some other AI tool, you can have it search in frontier.root based on a conversation with it. It can decide on its own where to look for prior art. I keep finding things like this now that I'm working in the new software.</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="When people get to work with the new Frontier with Claude or some other AI tool, you can have it search in frontier.root based on a conversation with it. It can decide on its own where to look for prior art. I keep finding things like this now that I'm working in the new software." created="Sat, 12 Sep 2026 15:57:08 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/12.html#a155708"/>
</item>
<item>
<title>My two cents about WordPress</title>
<description><p>Lots of stuff going on around WordPress for the last couple of years, and every bit of is a distraction from what I want to do to help the web get back on its feet. I remember how great it was when everything could hook into everything else. The web was like Unix. Today's "web" is like Disneyland. Safety first. Nothing interesting ever happens there. </p> <p>So ask me what I'd like to see WordPress do, and this is what I'd tell you. Start something new, don't change what you do with WordPress, it is what it is. It's a 20+ year old project with market problems. Most software doesn't even make it that far. </p> <p>The fresh start I'd like to see done is WordPress from the point of view of the web. The new mission is not about a dollar return on investment, rather it's measured by how much the web becomes Small Pieces Loosely Joined with All Parts Replaceable. How empowered are developers, not WordPress developers, but web developres. The more that's happening in the web, the better it will be for everyone, but especially WordPress. Why WordPress? Because as they say it's 89 percent of the web. The web is like a huge oil spill that has never been cleaned up. Everything has to improve if we start work on cleaning up the messes. </p> <p>I come from NYC where all the bodies of water were cesspools when I was growing up. The Hudson River had garbage floating in it. When I went to school the incinerators in the buildings we lived in burned garbage on the kids, all nicely washed and dressed by our mothers, we arrived at school smelling like smokers. My grandfather took me to Knicks games at the Garden, and the arena was filled with smoke by half-time. </p> <p>We <i>can</i> clean things up. Humans as a species are good at this if we put our minds to it. If you made billions on the web, why not put some of it to use in making it a web worth using. I used to say shit like this to Bill Gates, to no avail. He liked to point out he was going to give away all his money when he retired, and he kept that promise. But what if he started dealing with the world with charity when he had the biggest seat of power in the tech world? Think of how much more good he could have done. </p> </description>
<pubDate>Sat, 12 Sep 2026 14:38:22 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/12/143822.html?title=myTwoCentsAboutWordpress</link>
<guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/12/143822.html</guid>
<source:markdown>Lots of stuff going on around WordPress for the last couple of years, and every bit of is a distraction from what I want to do to help the web get back on its feet. I remember how great it was when everything could hook into everything else. The web was like Unix. Today's "web" is like Disneyland. Safety first. Nothing interesting ever happens there. So ask me what I'd like to see WordPress do, and this is what I'd tell you. Start something new, don't change what you do with WordPress, it is what it is. It's a 20+ year old project with market problems. Most software doesn't even make it that far. The fresh start I'd like to see done is WordPress from the point of view of the web. The new mission is not about a dollar return on investment, rather it's measured by how much the web becomes Small Pieces Loosely Joined with All Parts Replaceable. How empowered are developers, not WordPress developers, but web developres. The more that's happening in the web, the better it will be for everyone, but especially WordPress. Why WordPress? Because as they say it's 89 percent of the web. The web is like a huge oil spill that has never been cleaned up. Everything has to improve if we start work on cleaning up the messes. I come from NYC where all the bodies of water were cesspools when I was growing up. The Hudson River had garbage floating in it. When I went to school the incinerators in the buildings we lived in burned garbage on the kids, all nicely washed and dressed by our mothers, we arrived at school smelling like smokers. My grandfather took me to Knicks games at the Garden, and the arena was filled with smoke by half-time. We _can_ clean things up. Humans as a species are good at this if we put our minds to it. If you made billions on the web, why not put some of it to use in making it a web worth using. I used to say shit like this to Bill Gates, to no avail. He liked to point out he was going to give away all his money when he retired, and he kept that promise. But what if he started dealing with the world with charity when he had the biggest seat of power in the tech world? Think of how much more good he could have done.</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="My two cents about WordPress" created="Sat, 12 Sep 2026 14:38:22 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/12/143822.html">
<source:outline text="Lots of stuff going on around WordPress for the last couple of years, and every bit of is a distraction from what I want to do to help the web get back on its feet. I remember how great it was when everything could hook into everything else. The web was like Unix. Today's "web" is like Disneyland. Safety first. Nothing interesting ever happens there." created="Sat, 12 Sep 2026 14:34:11 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/12/143822.html#a143411"/>
<source:outline text="So ask me what I'd like to see WordPress do, and this is what I'd tell you. Start something new, don't change what you do with WordPress, it is what it is. It's a 20+ year old project with market problems. Most software doesn't even make it that far." created="Sat, 12 Sep 2026 14:42:06 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/12/143822.html#a144206"/>
<source:outline text="The fresh start I'd like to see done is WordPress from the point of view of the web. The new mission is not about a dollar return on investment, rather it's measured by how much the web becomes Small Pieces Loosely Joined with All Parts Replaceable. How empowered are developers, not WordPress developers, but web developres. The more that's happening in the web, the better it will be for everyone, but especially WordPress. Why WordPress? Because as they say it's 89 percent of the web. The web is like a huge oil spill that has never been cleaned up. Everything has to improve if we start work on cleaning up the messes." created="Sat, 12 Sep 2026 14:42:25 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/12/143822.html#a144225"/>
<source:outline text="I come from NYC where all the bodies of water were cesspools when I was growing up. The Hudson River had garbage floating in it. When I went to school the incinerators in the buildings we lived in burned garbage on the kids, all nicely washed and dressed by our mothers, we arrived at school smelling like smokers. My grandfather took me to Knicks games at the Garden, and the arena was filled with smoke by half-time." created="Sat, 12 Sep 2026 14:38:45 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/12/143822.html#a143845"/>
<source:outline text="We <i>can</i> clean things up. Humans as a species are good at this if we put our minds to it. If you made billions on the web, why not put some of it to use in making it a web worth using. I used to say shit like this to Bill Gates, to no avail. He liked to point out he was going to give away all his money when he retired, and he kept that promise. But what if he started dealing with the world with charity when he had the biggest seat of power in the tech world? Think of how much more good he could have done." created="Sat, 12 Sep 2026 14:44:32 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/12/143822.html#a144432"/>
</source:outline>
</item>
<item>
<title>Progress report on Atlantis project</title>
<description><p><img class="imgRightMargin" src="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/12/plato.png" border="0" style="float: right; padding-left: 25px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 15px;">The world may be falling apart, and <a href="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/12/howAreTheMetsDoing.png?nodialog">the Mets suck</a> even though they have the most expensive roster in MLB, and my house needs work and I can't find a contractor I like, but I'm in a <b>great</b> mood. Partially because the weather is so nice, chilly in the morning, but it gets up to the 70s during the day, and the sky is clear and we had a lot of rain in August so everything is very green here in the Catskills.</p> <p>But the biggest reason I feel so good is that, with the help of Claude Code, I now have <a href="http://frontier.userland.com/">UserLand Frontier</a> running on current OSes. I had no idea how much the previous situation had been weighing on me. I am probably the last Frontier user in the world. Porting the open source codebase was an insurmountable job. It took 15 years by up to five people working on it to do the original project. It's a big f'ing piece of software. And it also is my life's work, but not one of the things I'm known for.</p> <p>Claude couldn't have done it on its own because it had never seen anything like Frontier. We weren't copying something Claude understood. It kept trying to turn it into a language that fits into the same slot as Python. That was the prior art it used, without saying so. This happened over and over, for example, I realized Claude didn't understand that built-in verbs could be written in the language, and that users could add or even modify standard verbs (not recommended!).</p> <p>What made Frontier unusual is that it was a language developed by someone who also designed end-user apps, so it has affordances that no other language has. And integrations. You don't have to save your data in files, the OS (yes Frontier is an OS) has persistent memory with the common scalar types and data structures. So go ahead and store something in the ODB (object database). It can be huge, and you don't have to read anything into memory, it's all right there as soon as you boot it up. That alone makes programming an order of magnitude simpler. </p> <p>We're at the point now where I can work a full day in the new version, codenamed <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantis_(disambiguation)">Atlantis</a>, running on anything that can run an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electron_(software_framework)">Electron</a> app. We're now at the point where we're improving things. Found a missing verb yesterday, and Claude and I implemented it, found a perfect name for it, and later today it will go out as a "root update" making it formally part of the freaking language. </p> <p>And yesterday we also found a static rendering of the <a href="http://docserver.userland.com/string/nthField">DocServer site</a>, which has a page for every verb in the language. I still want to find the outline source for this stuff, but we don't need it because Claude can reconstruct the OPML version of the text from the HTML, it's exactly the kind of project it is the best at. Huge amounts of data, that sometimes requires a little judgment to process. </p> <p>The feeling of well-being comes from realizing that my life's work lives. Until this last week that was still very much in question.</p> <p>Now, I may not be software's Shakespeare or even Faulkner or Vonnegut, but I am proud of this product, more than anything else I've done. I started work on it when I learned from C how to design a simple beautiful language, and when I learned from Macintosh how to build a UI with the same simplicity. When we were first contemplating Frontier it was to join the wizzy world of the Mac with the scripting philosophy of Unix. We didn't stop until we had it. </p> <p>Well here we are god knows how many years later (I don't want to do the math) and once again it has a future, at least as bright as it had when the product first launched on the System 6 Macintosh in 1992.</p> <p>And btw, I think I've had a unique experience with AI development. Absolutely in no way could I have done this project without the muscle of Claude. Pretty sure this is a unique project in that it's a fully specified system development and runtime environment that otherwise wouldn't exist, because there's nothing else like it on the market. </p> <p>Claude's repeatedly not understanding the idea says to me that it has never encountered anything like it. It also says that Claude has no clue how to extrapolate, to innovate, to arrive at something new. Just as with other forms of creativity, Claude is no match for a determined and experienced human. </p> <p>That would be reassuring to the 20-something version of myself who very much wanted to do something new. And the older version of myself wants that for my younger self who is sending the good body chemistry to our current older body.</p> <p>Of course this will be a post on my blog, http://scripting.com, but thanks to X for supporting longer posts. I like writing new stuff in a simple editor like this one. Also posted it on Facebook. </p> <p>PS: I also like that they use the word <a href="http://scripting.com/2021/01/04/140651.html?title=whatFrontierIsAbout">Frontier</a> in reference to AI products. They can't stop me from calling this Frontier, I've been using it as the name of this product since I came up with the name riding up on the chair in Park City in 1988. :-)</p> </description>
<pubDate>Sat, 12 Sep 2026 13:15:27 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/12/131527.html?title=progressReportOnAtlantisProject</link>
<guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/12/131527.html</guid>
<source:markdown>The world may be falling apart, and [the Mets suck](https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/12/howAreTheMetsDoing.png?nodialog) even though they have the most expensive roster in MLB, and my house needs work and I can't find a contractor I like, but I'm in a **great** mood. Partially because the weather is so nice, chilly in the morning, but it gets up to the 70s during the day, and the sky is clear and we had a lot of rain in August so everything is very green here in the Catskills. But the biggest reason I feel so good is that, with the help of Claude Code, I now have [UserLand Frontier](http://frontier.userland.com/) running on current OSes. I had no idea how much the previous situation had been weighing on me. I am probably the last Frontier user in the world. Porting the open source codebase was an insurmountable job. It took 15 years by up to five people working on it to do the original project. It's a big f'ing piece of software. And it also is my life's work, but not one of the things I'm known for. Claude couldn't have done it on its own because it had never seen anything like Frontier. We weren't copying something Claude understood. It kept trying to turn it into a language that fits into the same slot as Python. That was the prior art it used, without saying so. This happened over and over, for example, I realized Claude didn't understand that built-in verbs could be written in the language, and that users could add or even modify standard verbs (not recommended!). What made Frontier unusual is that it was a language developed by someone who also designed end-user apps, so it has affordances that no other language has. And integrations. You don't have to save your data in files, the OS (yes Frontier is an OS) has persistent memory with the common scalar types and data structures. So go ahead and store something in the ODB (object database). It can be huge, and you don't have to read anything into memory, it's all right there as soon as you boot it up. That alone makes programming an order of magnitude simpler. We're at the point now where I can work a full day in the new version, codenamed [Atlantis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantis_\(disambiguation\)), running on anything that can run an [Electron](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electron_\(software_framework\)) app. We're now at the point where we're improving things. Found a missing verb yesterday, and Claude and I implemented it, found a perfect name for it, and later today it will go out as a "root update" making it formally part of the freaking language. And yesterday we also found a static rendering of the [DocServer site](http://docserver.userland.com/string/nthField), which has a page for every verb in the language. I still want to find the outline source for this stuff, but we don't need it because Claude can reconstruct the OPML version of the text from the HTML, it's exactly the kind of project it is the best at. Huge amounts of data, that sometimes requires a little judgment to process. The feeling of well-being comes from realizing that my life's work lives. Until this last week that was still very much in question. Now, I may not be software's Shakespeare or even Faulkner or Vonnegut, but I am proud of this product, more than anything else I've done. I started work on it when I learned from C how to design a simple beautiful language, and when I learned from Macintosh how to build a UI with the same simplicity. When we were first contemplating Frontier it was to join the wizzy world of the Mac with the scripting philosophy of Unix. We didn't stop until we had it. Well here we are god knows how many years later (I don't want to do the math) and once again it has a future, at least as bright as it had when the product first launched on the System 6 Macintosh in 1992. And btw, I think I've had a unique experience with AI development. Absolutely in no way could I have done this project without the muscle of Claude. Pretty sure this is a unique project in that it's a fully specified system development and runtime environment that otherwise wouldn't exist, because there's nothing else like it on the market. Claude's repeatedly not understanding the idea says to me that it has never encountered anything like it. It also says that Claude has no clue how to extrapolate, to innovate, to arrive at something new. Just as with other forms of creativity, Claude is no match for a determined and experienced human. That would be reassuring to the 20-something version of myself who very much wanted to do something new. And the older version of myself wants that for my younger self who is sending the good body chemistry to our current older body. Of course this will be a post on my blog, http://scripting.com, but thanks to X for supporting longer posts. I like writing new stuff in a simple editor like this one. Also posted it on Facebook. PS: I also like that they use the word [Frontier](http://scripting.com/2021/01/04/140651.html?title=whatFrontierIsAbout) in reference to AI products. They can't stop me from calling this Frontier, I've been using it as the name of this product since I came up with the name riding up on the chair in Park City in 1988. :-)</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="Progress report on Atlantis project" created="Sat, 12 Sep 2026 13:15:27 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/12/131527.html">
<source:outline text="The world may be falling apart, and <a href="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/12/howAreTheMetsDoing.png?nodialog">the Mets suck</a> even though they have the most expensive roster in MLB, and my house needs work and I can't find a contractor I like, but I'm in a <b>great</b> mood. Partially because the weather is so nice, chilly in the morning, but it gets up to the 70s during the day, and the sky is clear and we had a lot of rain in August so everything is very green here in the Catskills." created="Sat, 12 Sep 2026 13:17:35 GMT" image="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/12/plato.png" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/12/131527.html#a131735"/>
<source:outline text="But the biggest reason I feel so good is that, with the help of Claude Code, I now have <a href="http://frontier.userland.com/">UserLand Frontier</a> running on current OSes. I had no idea how much the previous situation had been weighing on me. I am probably the last Frontier user in the world. Porting the open source codebase was an insurmountable job. It took 15 years by up to five people working on it to do the original project. It's a big f'ing piece of software. And it also is my life's work, but not one of the things I'm known for." created="Sat, 12 Sep 2026 13:17:45 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/12/131527.html#a131745"/>
<source:outline text="Claude couldn't have done it on its own because it had never seen anything like Frontier. We weren't copying something Claude understood. It kept trying to turn it into a language that fits into the same slot as Python. That was the prior art it used, without saying so. This happened over and over, for example, I realized Claude didn't understand that built-in verbs could be written in the language, and that users could add or even modify standard verbs (not recommended!)." created="Sat, 12 Sep 2026 13:19:25 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/12/131527.html#a131925"/>
<source:outline text="What made Frontier unusual is that it was a language developed by someone who also designed end-user apps, so it has affordances that no other language has. And integrations. You don't have to save your data in files, the OS (yes Frontier is an OS) has persistent memory with the common scalar types and data structures. So go ahead and store something in the ODB (object database). It can be huge, and you don't have to read anything into memory, it's all right there as soon as you boot it up. That alone makes programming an order of magnitude simpler." created="Sat, 12 Sep 2026 13:25:25 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/12/131527.html#a132525"/>
<source:outline text="We're at the point now where I can work a full day in the new version, codenamed <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantis_(disambiguation)">Atlantis</a>, running on anything that can run an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electron_(software_framework)">Electron</a> app. We're now at the point where we're improving things. Found a missing verb yesterday, and Claude and I implemented it, found a perfect name for it, and later today it will go out as a "root update" making it formally part of the freaking language." created="Sat, 12 Sep 2026 13:25:45 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/12/131527.html#a132545"/>
<source:outline text="And yesterday we also found a static rendering of the <a href="http://docserver.userland.com/string/nthField">DocServer site</a>, which has a page for every verb in the language. I still want to find the outline source for this stuff, but we don't need it because Claude can reconstruct the OPML version of the text from the HTML, it's exactly the kind of project it is the best at. Huge amounts of data, that sometimes requires a little judgment to process." created="Sat, 12 Sep 2026 13:27:51 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/12/131527.html#a132751"/>
<source:outline text="The feeling of well-being comes from realizing that my life's work lives. Until this last week that was still very much in question." flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/12/131527.html#aNaNNaNNaN"/>
<source:outline text="Now, I may not be software's Shakespeare or even Faulkner or Vonnegut, but I am proud of this product, more than anything else I've done. I started work on it when I learned from C how to design a simple beautiful language, and when I learned from Macintosh how to build a UI with the same simplicity. When we were first contemplating Frontier it was to join the wizzy world of the Mac with the scripting philosophy of Unix. We didn't stop until we had it." created="Sat, 12 Sep 2026 13:29:54 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/12/131527.html#a132954"/>
<source:outline text="Well here we are god knows how many years later (I don't want to do the math) and once again it has a future, at least as bright as it had when the product first launched on the System 6 Macintosh in 1992." flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/12/131527.html#aNaNNaNNaN"/>
<source:outline text="And btw, I think I've had a unique experience with AI development. Absolutely in no way could I have done this project without the muscle of Claude. Pretty sure this is a unique project in that it's a fully specified system development and runtime environment that otherwise wouldn't exist, because there's nothing else like it on the market." flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/12/131527.html#aNaNNaNNaN"/>
<source:outline text="Claude's repeatedly not understanding the idea says to me that it has never encountered anything like it. It also says that Claude has no clue how to extrapolate, to innovate, to arrive at something new. Just as with other forms of creativity, Claude is no match for a determined and experienced human." flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/12/131527.html#aNaNNaNNaN"/>
<source:outline text="That would be reassuring to the 20-something version of myself who very much wanted to do something new. And the older version of myself wants that for my younger self who is sending the good body chemistry to our current older body." flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/12/131527.html#aNaNNaNNaN"/>
<source:outline text="Of course this will be a post on my blog, http://scripting.com, but thanks to X for supporting longer posts. I like writing new stuff in a simple editor like this one. Also posted it on Facebook." flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/12/131527.html#aNaNNaNNaN"/>
<source:outline text="PS: I also like that they use the word <a href="http://scripting.com/2021/01/04/140651.html?title=whatFrontierIsAbout">Frontier</a> in reference to AI products. They can't stop me from calling this Frontier, I've been using it as the name of this product since I came up with the name riding up on the chair in Park City in 1988. :-)" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/12/131527.html#aNaNNaNNaN"/>
</source:outline>
</item>
<item>
<title>Remembering 9/11/2001</title>
<description><p><a href="http://scripting.com/2001/09/11.html">Scripting News</a> on 9/11/2001.</p> <p><img class="imgRightMargin" src="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/11/911wasteland.png" border="0" style="float: right; padding-left: 25px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 15px;">All of us who lived through 9/11 are re-experiencing it right now. The local fire department just ran its alarm, everyone in this small mountain hamlet heard it and it took a moment to realize this was the exact time the first plane hit the tower. I was at my computer in Woodside, California -- hearing about it from friends in Manhattan, and blogging about it as it happened. I didn't have a TV, I had turned my cable subscription off after I became so obsessed with coverage of the 2000 election. So what I reported came exclusively through the web. </p> <p>New York-based journalists were off the air, they had the same tools as we did, but their lives were upturned by the events. Everything was outwardly calm at my workstation in Calif. But there were people in NYC with digital cameras, and first-hand stories of survival. My own father was caught up in the catastrophe, his office was across from City Hall, a <a href="https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Pace+University,+One+Pace+Plaza,+New+York,+NY+10038/9%2F11+Memorial+%26+Museum,+180+Greenwich+St,+New+York,+NY+10007/@40.7111843,-74.0144059,2047m/data=!3m3!1e3!4b1!5s0x89c25a1a3bf26f61:0xe2320e12b6c6470c!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x89c258fe30a7b447:0x8a0a55f0a5fd1f1f!2m2!1d-74.0051758!2d40.7112562!1m5!1m1!1s0x89c25a1a3be8cb45:0xf430ccc5401d1eed!2m2!1d-74.0133362!2d40.7115776!3e2?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDkwOC4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D">few blocks</a> from ground zero. He walked home from ground zero to Queens and for hours we had no idea if he had lived or died. All forms of transportation and communication were offline.</p> <p>Cell coverage was spotty, and phone lines in NYC were unreliable. But there was a webcam in the Empire State Building that could be pointed at the World Trade Center, so we had a constant update of what was happening visually.</p> <p><a href="https://github.com/scripting/Scripting-News/issues/362">Links in my browser chrome</a>: As part of this little project to re-live 9/11 through the web, I came across a snapshot of the chrome of the browser I was using on 9/11. Since I'm working on Frontier again, I'm finding the dates of various projects all over this time, in UserTalk code and in the kernel, before and after. So I wrote up a little post on GitHub with info about what was on my screen that day. </p> <p>The full text of my interview with Amy Harmon of the NYT is on the 9/11/2001 page. We didn't have post-level permalinks in 2001 yet.</p> <p>If you have an X account, <a href="https://x.com/davewiner/status/2098393612862017707">comment here</a>. </p> <p>Mayor Mamdami's <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:nx7znvoex7ev3wcxn3tipovm/post/3mvacyv3pv224">remembrance</a> of 9/11.</p> <p>New header <a href="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/11/manhattanFromJersey.png?nodialog">image</a> for this event.</p> <p><div class="divInlineImage"><center><img class="imgInline" src="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/11/nytExcerpt.png"></center><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/12/us/a-day-of-terror-the-talk-online-web-offers-both-news-and-comfort.html?unlocked_article_code=1.AVE.R-ln.fBrHrjiu7Me3&smid=url-share">NYT on 9/12/2001</a>: "The world's changed."</div></p> <p><div class="divInlineImage"><center><img class="imgInline" src="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/11/sn911screen.png"></center><a href="http://scripting.com/2001/09/11.html">Link</a> to Scripting News for 9/11/2001.</div></p> <p><div class="divInlineImage"><center><img class="imgInline" src="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/11/inlineImageWebcam.png"></center><a href="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/11/fullsizewebcamscreen.png">Screen shot</a> of webcam on the Empire State Bulding.</div></p> </description>
<pubDate>Fri, 11 Sep 2026 13:22:05 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/11/132205.html?title=remembering9112001</link>
<guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/11/132205.html</guid>
<source:markdown>[Scripting News](http://scripting.com/2001/09/11.html) on 9/11/2001. All of us who lived through 9/11 are re-experiencing it right now. The local fire department just ran its alarm, everyone in this small mountain hamlet heard it and it took a moment to realize this was the exact time the first plane hit the tower. I was at my computer in Woodside, California -- hearing about it from friends in Manhattan, and blogging about it as it happened. I didn't have a TV, I had turned my cable subscription off after I became so obsessed with coverage of the 2000 election. So what I reported came exclusively through the web. New York-based journalists were off the air, they had the same tools as we did, but their lives were upturned by the events. Everything was outwardly calm at my workstation in Calif. But there were people in NYC with digital cameras, and first-hand stories of survival. My own father was caught up in the catastrophe, his office was across from City Hall, a [few blocks](https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Pace+University,+One+Pace+Plaza,+New+York,+NY+10038/9%2F11+Memorial+%26+Museum,+180+Greenwich+St,+New+York,+NY+10007/@40.7111843,-74.0144059,2047m/data=!3m3!1e3!4b1!5s0x89c25a1a3bf26f61:0xe2320e12b6c6470c!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x89c258fe30a7b447:0x8a0a55f0a5fd1f1f!2m2!1d-74.0051758!2d40.7112562!1m5!1m1!1s0x89c25a1a3be8cb45:0xf430ccc5401d1eed!2m2!1d-74.0133362!2d40.7115776!3e2?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDkwOC4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D) from ground zero. He walked home from ground zero to Queens and for hours we had no idea if he had lived or died. All forms of transportation and communication were offline. Cell coverage was spotty, and phone lines in NYC were unreliable. But there was a webcam in the Empire State Building that could be pointed at the World Trade Center, so we had a constant update of what was happening visually. [Links in my browser chrome](https://github.com/scripting/Scripting-News/issues/362): As part of this little project to re-live 9/11 through the web, I came across a snapshot of the chrome of the browser I was using on 9/11. Since I'm working on Frontier again, I'm finding the dates of various projects all over this time, in UserTalk code and in the kernel, before and after. So I wrote up a little post on GitHub with info about what was on my screen that day. The full text of my interview with Amy Harmon of the NYT is on the 9/11/2001 page. We didn't have post-level permalinks in 2001 yet. If you have an X account, [comment here](https://x.com/davewiner/status/2098393612862017707). Mayor Mamdami's [remembrance](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:nx7znvoex7ev3wcxn3tipovm/post/3mvacyv3pv224) of 9/11. New header [image](https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/11/manhattanFromJersey.png?nodialog) for this event.  [NYT on 9/12/2001](https://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/12/us/a-day-of-terror-the-talk-online-web-offers-both-news-and-comfort.html?unlocked_article_code=1.AVE.R-ln.fBrHrjiu7Me3&smid=url-share): "The world's changed."  [Link](http://scripting.com/2001/09/11.html) to Scripting News for 9/11/2001.  [Screen shot](https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/11/fullsizewebcamscreen.png) of webcam on the Empire State Bulding.</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="Remembering 9/11/2001" created="Fri, 11 Sep 2026 13:22:05 GMT" type="outline" metaImage="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/11/manhattanFromJersey.png" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/11/132205.html">
<source:outline text="<a href="http://scripting.com/2001/09/11.html">Scripting News</a> on 9/11/2001." created="Fri, 11 Sep 2026 13:53:21 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/11/132205.html#a135321"/>
<source:outline text="All of us who lived through 9/11 are re-experiencing it right now. The local fire department just ran its alarm, everyone in this small mountain hamlet heard it and it took a moment to realize this was the exact time the first plane hit the tower. I was at my computer in Woodside, California -- hearing about it from friends in Manhattan, and blogging about it as it happened. I didn't have a TV, I had turned my cable subscription off after I became so obsessed with coverage of the 2000 election. So what I reported came exclusively through the web." created="Fri, 11 Sep 2026 14:02:55 GMT" image="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/11/911wasteland.png" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/11/132205.html#a140255"/>
<source:outline text="New York-based journalists were off the air, they had the same tools as we did, but their lives were upturned by the events. Everything was outwardly calm at my workstation in Calif. But there were people in NYC with digital cameras, and first-hand stories of survival. My own father was caught up in the catastrophe, his office was across from City Hall, a <a href="https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Pace+University,+One+Pace+Plaza,+New+York,+NY+10038/9%2F11+Memorial+%26+Museum,+180+Greenwich+St,+New+York,+NY+10007/@40.7111843,-74.0144059,2047m/data=!3m3!1e3!4b1!5s0x89c25a1a3bf26f61:0xe2320e12b6c6470c!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x89c258fe30a7b447:0x8a0a55f0a5fd1f1f!2m2!1d-74.0051758!2d40.7112562!1m5!1m1!1s0x89c25a1a3be8cb45:0xf430ccc5401d1eed!2m2!1d-74.0133362!2d40.7115776!3e2?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDkwOC4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D">few blocks</a> from ground zero. He walked home from ground zero to Queens and for hours we had no idea if he had lived or died. All forms of transportation and communication were offline." created="Fri, 11 Sep 2026 14:03:47 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/11/132205.html#a140347"/>
<source:outline text="Cell coverage was spotty, and phone lines in NYC were unreliable. But there was a webcam in the Empire State Building that could be pointed at the World Trade Center, so we had a constant update of what was happening visually." created="Fri, 11 Sep 2026 14:08:24 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/11/132205.html#a140824"/>
<source:outline text="<a href="https://github.com/scripting/Scripting-News/issues/362">Links in my browser chrome</a>: As part of this little project to re-live 9/11 through the web, I came across a snapshot of the chrome of the browser I was using on 9/11. Since I'm working on Frontier again, I'm finding the dates of various projects all over this time, in UserTalk code and in the kernel, before and after. So I wrote up a little post on GitHub with info about what was on my screen that day." created="Fri, 11 Sep 2026 14:50:49 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/11/132205.html#a145049"/>
<source:outline text="The full text of my interview with Amy Harmon of the NYT is on the 9/11/2001 page. We didn't have post-level permalinks in 2001 yet." created="Fri, 11 Sep 2026 14:12:27 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/11/132205.html#a141227"/>
<source:outline text="If you have an X account, <a href="https://x.com/davewiner/status/2098393612862017707">comment here</a>." created="Fri, 11 Sep 2026 17:29:14 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/11/132205.html#a172914"/>
<source:outline text="Mayor Mamdami's <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:nx7znvoex7ev3wcxn3tipovm/post/3mvacyv3pv224">remembrance</a> of 9/11." created="Fri, 11 Sep 2026 13:24:09 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/11/132205.html#a132409"/>
<source:outline text="New header <a href="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/11/manhattanFromJersey.png?nodialog">image</a> for this event." created="Fri, 11 Sep 2026 13:57:55 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/11/132205.html#a135755"/>
<source:outline text="<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/12/us/a-day-of-terror-the-talk-online-web-offers-both-news-and-comfort.html?unlocked_article_code=1.AVE.R-ln.fBrHrjiu7Me3&smid=url-share">NYT on 9/12/2001</a>: "The world's changed."" created="Fri, 11 Sep 2026 13:49:02 GMT" inlineImage="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/11/nytExcerpt.png" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/11/132205.html#a134902"/>
<source:outline text="<a href="http://scripting.com/2001/09/11.html">Link</a> to Scripting News for 9/11/2001." created="Fri, 11 Sep 2026 13:41:37 GMT" inlineImage="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/11/sn911screen.png" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/11/132205.html#a134137"/>
<source:outline text="<a href="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/11/fullsizewebcamscreen.png">Screen shot</a> of webcam on the Empire State Bulding." created="Fri, 11 Sep 2026 13:22:10 GMT" inlineImage="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/11/inlineImageWebcam.png" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/11/132205.html#a132210"/>
</source:outline>
</item>
<item>
<description>I almost fell for a <a href="https://x.com/davewiner/status/2098107496804082135">phishing hack</a>.</description>
<pubDate>Thu, 10 Sep 2026 17:53:32 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/10.html#a175332</link>
<guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/10.html#a175332</guid>
<source:markdown>I almost fell for a [phishing hack](https://x.com/davewiner/status/2098107496804082135).</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="I almost fell for a <a href="https://x.com/davewiner/status/2098107496804082135">phishing hack</a>." created="Thu, 10 Sep 2026 17:53:32 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/10.html#a175332"/>
</item>
<item>
<description><a href="https://www.therepository.email/automattic-board-forces-matt-mullenweg-on-leave-names-cfo-mark-davies-as-interim-ceo">Repository</a>: BlackRock’s latest SEC filing values its Automattic shares at $14.33 per share. They originally invested at $85 a share in 2021. That means their market cap has dropped from $7.5 billion to $1.2 billion. My guess is when that happens the CEO if they want to keep their job, has to rethink the whole enterprise. And that usually doesn't happen until they get a new CEO. My guess is that's what we saw play out yesterday.</description>
<pubDate>Thu, 10 Sep 2026 14:24:06 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/10.html#a142406</link>
<guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/10.html#a142406</guid>
<source:markdown>[Repository](https://www.therepository.email/automattic-board-forces-matt-mullenweg-on-leave-names-cfo-mark-davies-as-interim-ceo): BlackRock’s latest SEC filing values its Automattic shares at $14.33 per share. They originally invested at $85 a share in 2021. That means their market cap has dropped from $7.5 billion to $1.2 billion. My guess is when that happens the CEO if they want to keep their job, has to rethink the whole enterprise. And that usually doesn't happen until they get a new CEO. My guess is that's what we saw play out yesterday.</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="<a href="https://www.therepository.email/automattic-board-forces-matt-mullenweg-on-leave-names-cfo-mark-davies-as-interim-ceo">Repository</a>: BlackRock’s latest SEC filing values its Automattic shares at $14.33 per share. They originally invested at $85 a share in 2021. That means their market cap has dropped from $7.5 billion to $1.2 billion. My guess is when that happens the CEO if they want to keep their job, has to rethink the whole enterprise. And that usually doesn't happen until they get a new CEO. My guess is that's what we saw play out yesterday." created="Thu, 10 Sep 2026 14:24:06 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/10.html#a142406"/>
</item>
<item>
<description><img class="imgRightMargin" src="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/08/30/silo.png" border="0" style="float: right; padding-left: 25px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 15px;">The last two episodes of season three of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silo_(TV_series)">Silo</a> on AppleTV prove that there is value in a three season, boring escapade of confusing, unlikable uninteresting characters, living their whole lives in a silo, fearing the outdoors -- if you have a clever way of accounting for all that at the end. Highly recommend watching just season three and pretending that none of the other stuff matters because it probably doesn’t. But I bet if I go back to the beginning and start over, I'll find there's more intrigue than I thought. I'll probably do it, will let you know.</description>
<pubDate>Thu, 10 Sep 2026 14:02:29 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/10.html#a140229</link>
<guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/10.html#a140229</guid>
<source:markdown>The last two episodes of season three of [Silo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silo_\(TV_series\)) on AppleTV prove that there is value in a three season, boring escapade of confusing, unlikable uninteresting characters, living their whole lives in a silo, fearing the outdoors -- if you have a clever way of accounting for all that at the end. Highly recommend watching just season three and pretending that none of the other stuff matters because it probably doesn’t. But I bet if I go back to the beginning and start over, I'll find there's more intrigue than I thought. I'll probably do it, will let you know.</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="The last two episodes of season three of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silo_(TV_series)">Silo</a> on AppleTV prove that there is value in a three season, boring escapade of confusing, unlikable uninteresting characters, living their whole lives in a silo, fearing the outdoors -- if you have a clever way of accounting for all that at the end. Highly recommend watching just season three and pretending that none of the other stuff matters because it probably doesn’t. But I bet if I go back to the beginning and start over, I'll find there's more intrigue than I thought. I'll probably do it, will let you know." created="Thu, 10 Sep 2026 14:02:29 GMT" type="outline" image="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/08/30/silo.png" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/10.html#a140229"/>
</item>
<item>
<description>WordPress emerged from the ashes of UserLand, something I am recently reacquainted with, working the last couple of months with Claude on a reboot of Frontier, this time written in JavaScript, running in Electron. But someone is sure to reboot Manila in this context, and Manila is at least a grandparent of WordPress. I'm following all kinds of trails as we test the product, codename <a href="https://daytona.scripting.com/search?q=atlantis">Atlantis</a>, against all the apps we wrote for it back then.</description>
<pubDate>Thu, 10 Sep 2026 17:23:11 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/10.html#a172311</link>
<guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/10.html#a172311</guid>
<source:markdown>WordPress emerged from the ashes of UserLand, something I am recently reacquainted with, working the last couple of months with Claude on a reboot of Frontier, this time written in JavaScript, running in Electron. But someone is sure to reboot Manila in this context, and Manila is at least a grandparent of WordPress. I'm following all kinds of trails as we test the product, codename [Atlantis](https://daytona.scripting.com/search?q=atlantis), against all the apps we wrote for it back then.</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="WordPress emerged from the ashes of UserLand, something I am recently reacquainted with, working the last couple of months with Claude on a reboot of Frontier, this time written in JavaScript, running in Electron. But someone is sure to reboot Manila in this context, and Manila is at least a grandparent of WordPress. I'm following all kinds of trails as we test the product, codename <a href="https://daytona.scripting.com/search?q=atlantis">Atlantis</a>, against all the apps we wrote for it back then." created="Thu, 10 Sep 2026 17:23:11 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/10.html#a172311"/>
</item>
<item>
<description><a href="http://scripting.com/2017/09/10.html#a114000">2017</a>: The thing people don't realize about storm surge, and they don't really explain it on TV, is this. If the ocean surges 1 mile inland, and you were on the beach before the surge, now you're 1 mile out to sea. In normal times you'd be pretty fucked if someone dropped you in the ocean a mile from shore. But you're in a hurricane. Huge waves. There's no one to rescue you. And (this is the part that will kill you) there are deadly objects in the water like buildings and trees and power lines, even a rope can entangle you and make it impossible for you to swim. And if you can't swim and you're a mile from shore, that's the end of you</description>
<pubDate>Thu, 10 Sep 2026 17:46:14 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/10.html#a174614</link>
<guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/10.html#a174614</guid>
<source:markdown>[2017](http://scripting.com/2017/09/10.html#a114000): The thing people don't realize about storm surge, and they don't really explain it on TV, is this. If the ocean surges 1 mile inland, and you were on the beach before the surge, now you're 1 mile out to sea. In normal times you'd be pretty fucked if someone dropped you in the ocean a mile from shore. But you're in a hurricane. Huge waves. There's no one to rescue you. And (this is the part that will kill you) there are deadly objects in the water like buildings and trees and power lines, even a rope can entangle you and make it impossible for you to swim. And if you can't swim and you're a mile from shore, that's the end of you</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="<a href="http://scripting.com/2017/09/10.html#a114000">2017</a>: The thing people don't realize about storm surge, and they don't really explain it on TV, is this. If the ocean surges 1 mile inland, and you were on the beach before the surge, now you're 1 mile out to sea. In normal times you'd be pretty fucked if someone dropped you in the ocean a mile from shore. But you're in a hurricane. Huge waves. There's no one to rescue you. And (this is the part that will kill you) there are deadly objects in the water like buildings and trees and power lines, even a rope can entangle you and make it impossible for you to swim. And if you can't swim and you're a mile from shore, that's the end of you" created="Thu, 10 Sep 2026 17:46:14 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/10.html#a174614"/>
</item>
<item>
<title>Gobsmacked by Automattic, but then...</title>
<description><p>Fair to say I was <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gobsmacked">gobsmacked</a> by the news late yesterday that Automattic's board had put their CEO, Matt Mullenweg, on paid leave. I've read lots of stuff about it, in news articles and in a Hacker News thread. And a lot of posts on Twitter by Matt, and the replies. </p> <p><b>Are you a developer or a CEO?</b></p> <p>It's a very unusual situation in my experience in tech. Matt was able to raise a lot of money for Automattic, so he has maintained a controlling interest in the company, even though it has raised hundreds of millions of dollars. I left my own startup, voluntarily, when I was a little older than Matt, and I didn't return. I never wanted to be the CEO of a tech company, and I expect that being the CEO wasn't really a good fit for Matt either. A CEO's job is very different from being a developer and idea guy which Matt clearly sees himself as. </p> <p>Something has got to give, either you're a good CEO and the product languishes, or you focus on the product, and the company is unmanaged. In the cause of WordPress, I'd say it suffered in both areas. When I saw a chart of Matt's direct reports, I immediately saw a problem -- it was very long, iirc 60 people? No one can manage and guide that many people. Most of those people probably never get to talk one-on-one with the boss. </p> <p>For me, even when I was CEO, I wanted to spend all day working on new software and working with five or six other devs doing the same. Digging back into the past with Frontier these last weeks has reminded me both how good that can be, and how utterly frustrating -- when the people you're working with don't understand the mission. It's not their fault, it's the visionary's job to explain it so they can understand, and that takes time. These days Claude is filling in for all that, and doing a fantastic but at times incredibly frustrating job trying to give me what I'm asking for, while not understanding what I'm asking for. But we move through those disconnects quickly now, compared to how it was a couple of weeks ago. We have the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_source_of_truth">source of truth</a> that we didn't have the last time around, in the 90s, we have the C source code of the kernel, the product we built in the 90s. And Claude is the easiest to manage, so far I only <i>think</i> I detect an ego, it never seems to resent me criticizing its work, sometimes in ALL CAPS with strong language. :-)</p> <p><b>WordPress Lite</b></p> <p>My wish for WordPress, in all its forms and shapes, is that it broaden its focus. I want a <i>WordPress Lite, </i>I implemented it, and it's <a href="https://wordland.social/">sitting here</a> ready to do a good deed for all the parties concerned esp the web and web developers. Maybe someone there will now have the time and be empowered to build out the product line beyond the narrow focus it has now. It doesn't matter what percentage of the web is WordPress, if it isn't going anywhere. The web needs help, and right now WordPress is pretty much asleep in regard to what's going on now in the web. And it could do so much to help the web get back on its feet. It should be a <a href="https://x.com/davewiner/status/2097956922531946853">public resource</a> as much as a profit machine for a few companies.</p> <p><b>All roads lead to Om</b></p> <p>One thing that opened my eyes about what Matt and Automattic are, was <a href="https://ma.tt/2026/06/om-forever/">his story</a> about how he and Om got together. "All roads lead to Om." What a great line, and based on the story, so true. A lot of things clicked for me then. I remember what a phenomenon Matt was when he arrived in California about 25 years ago? Very good looking young man, polite, quiet and rumored to get Web 2.0 better than anyone. This kind of thing happens in tech, and if you know everyone as Om did, and was liked by everyone, you could manage to hit the ball out of the park, investment-wise, and he did. Click click click. I had the individual facts but had no idea how they were strung together. I played a similar role at times in Silicon Valley, on both sides, as a bright young dude who "gets it" and as the gray beard who recognized the charm of a young new face and helped create a big money reality around it. There is a lot of snake oil in tech, before and even more now, and this one has had a long run, 2.5 decades, but it needs a new direction, because the money people aren't buying the magic any longer. That's probably imho really what Matt's firing is all about. </p> <p>I actually have more to say about this, but I have to get back to my programming work. If you have a comment, here's a good <a href="https://github.com/scripting/Scripting-News/issues/361">place</a> to post it. </p> </description>
<pubDate>Thu, 10 Sep 2026 13:24:16 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/10/132416.html?title=gobsmackedByAutomatticButThen</link>
<guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/10/132416.html</guid>
<source:markdown>Fair to say I was [gobsmacked](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gobsmacked) by the news late yesterday that Automattic's board had put their CEO, Matt Mullenweg, on paid leave. I've read lots of stuff about it, in news articles and in a Hacker News thread. And a lot of posts on Twitter by Matt, and the replies. **Are you a developer or a CEO?** It's a very unusual situation in my experience in tech. Matt was able to raise a lot of money for Automattic, so he has maintained a controlling interest in the company, even though it has raised hundreds of millions of dollars. I left my own startup, voluntarily, when I was a little older than Matt, and I didn't return. I never wanted to be the CEO of a tech company, and I expect that being the CEO wasn't really a good fit for Matt either. A CEO's job is very different from being a developer and idea guy which Matt clearly sees himself as. Something has got to give, either you're a good CEO and the product languishes, or you focus on the product, and the company is unmanaged. In the cause of WordPress, I'd say it suffered in both areas. When I saw a chart of Matt's direct reports, I immediately saw a problem -- it was very long, iirc 60 people? No one can manage and guide that many people. Most of those people probably never get to talk one-on-one with the boss. For me, even when I was CEO, I wanted to spend all day working on new software and working with five or six other devs doing the same. Digging back into the past with Frontier these last weeks has reminded me both how good that can be, and how utterly frustrating -- when the people you're working with don't understand the mission. It's not their fault, it's the visionary's job to explain it so they can understand, and that takes time. These days Claude is filling in for all that, and doing a fantastic but at times incredibly frustrating job trying to give me what I'm asking for, while not understanding what I'm asking for. But we move through those disconnects quickly now, compared to how it was a couple of weeks ago. We have the [source of truth](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_source_of_truth) that we didn't have the last time around, in the 90s, we have the C source code of the kernel, the product we built in the 90s. And Claude is the easiest to manage, so far I only _think_ I detect an ego, it never seems to resent me criticizing its work, sometimes in ALL CAPS with strong language. :-) **WordPress Lite** My wish for WordPress, in all its forms and shapes, is that it broaden its focus. I want a _WordPress Lite,_ I implemented it, and it's [sitting here](https://wordland.social/) ready to do a good deed for all the parties concerned esp the web and web developers. Maybe someone there will now have the time and be empowered to build out the product line beyond the narrow focus it has now. It doesn't matter what percentage of the web is WordPress, if it isn't going anywhere. The web needs help, and right now WordPress is pretty much asleep in regard to what's going on now in the web. And it could do so much to help the web get back on its feet. It should be a [public resource](https://x.com/davewiner/status/2097956922531946853) as much as a profit machine for a few companies. **All roads lead to Om** One thing that opened my eyes about what Matt and Automattic are, was [his story](https://ma.tt/2026/06/om-forever/) about how he and Om got together. "All roads lead to Om." What a great line, and based on the story, so true. A lot of things clicked for me then. I remember what a phenomenon Matt was when he arrived in California about 25 years ago? Very good looking young man, polite, quiet and rumored to get Web 2.0 better than anyone. This kind of thing happens in tech, and if you know everyone as Om did, and was liked by everyone, you could manage to hit the ball out of the park, investment-wise, and he did. Click click click. I had the individual facts but had no idea how they were strung together. I played a similar role at times in Silicon Valley, on both sides, as a bright young dude who "gets it" and as the gray beard who recognized the charm of a young new face and helped create a big money reality around it. There is a lot of snake oil in tech, before and even more now, and this one has had a long run, 2.5 decades, but it needs a new direction, because the money people aren't buying the magic any longer. That's probably imho really what Matt's firing is all about. I actually have more to say about this, but I have to get back to my programming work. If you have a comment, here's a good [place](https://github.com/scripting/Scripting-News/issues/361) to post it.</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="Gobsmacked by Automattic, but then..." created="Thu, 10 Sep 2026 13:24:16 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/10/132416.html">
<source:outline text="Fair to say I was <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gobsmacked">gobsmacked</a> by the news late yesterday that Automattic's board had put their CEO, Matt Mullenweg, on paid leave. I've read lots of stuff about it, in news articles and in a Hacker News thread. And a lot of posts on Twitter by Matt, and the replies." created="Thu, 10 Sep 2026 13:32:04 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/10/132416.html#a133204"/>
<source:outline text="<b>Are you a developer or a CEO?</b>" created="Thu, 10 Sep 2026 14:17:51 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/10/132416.html#a141751"/>
<source:outline text="It's a very unusual situation in my experience in tech. Matt was able to raise a lot of money for Automattic, so he has maintained a controlling interest in the company, even though it has raised hundreds of millions of dollars. I left my own startup, voluntarily, when I was a little older than Matt, and I didn't return. I never wanted to be the CEO of a tech company, and I expect that being the CEO wasn't really a good fit for Matt either. A CEO's job is very different from being a developer and idea guy which Matt clearly sees himself as." created="Thu, 10 Sep 2026 13:32:16 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/10/132416.html#a133216"/>
<source:outline text="Something has got to give, either you're a good CEO and the product languishes, or you focus on the product, and the company is unmanaged. In the cause of WordPress, I'd say it suffered in both areas. When I saw a chart of Matt's direct reports, I immediately saw a problem -- it was very long, iirc 60 people? No one can manage and guide that many people. Most of those people probably never get to talk one-on-one with the boss." created="Thu, 10 Sep 2026 17:24:32 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/10/132416.html#a172432"/>
<source:outline text="For me, even when I was CEO, I wanted to spend all day working on new software and working with five or six other devs doing the same. Digging back into the past with Frontier these last weeks has reminded me both how good that can be, and how utterly frustrating -- when the people you're working with don't understand the mission. It's not their fault, it's the visionary's job to explain it so they can understand, and that takes time. These days Claude is filling in for all that, and doing a fantastic but at times incredibly frustrating job trying to give me what I'm asking for, while not understanding what I'm asking for. But we move through those disconnects quickly now, compared to how it was a couple of weeks ago. We have the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_source_of_truth">source of truth</a> that we didn't have the last time around, in the 90s, we have the C source code of the kernel, the product we built in the 90s. And Claude is the easiest to manage, so far I only <i>think</i> I detect an ego, it never seems to resent me criticizing its work, sometimes in ALL CAPS with strong language. :-)" created="Thu, 10 Sep 2026 13:37:51 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/10/132416.html#a133751"/>
<source:outline text="<b>WordPress Lite</b>" created="Thu, 10 Sep 2026 14:17:31 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/10/132416.html#a141731"/>
<source:outline text="My wish for WordPress, in all its forms and shapes, is that it broaden its focus. I want a <i>WordPress Lite, </i>I implemented it, and it's <a href="https://wordland.social/">sitting here</a> ready to do a good deed for all the parties concerned esp the web and web developers. Maybe someone there will now have the time and be empowered to build out the product line beyond the narrow focus it has now. It doesn't matter what percentage of the web is WordPress, if it isn't going anywhere. The web needs help, and right now WordPress is pretty much asleep in regard to what's going on now in the web. And it could do so much to help the web get back on its feet. It should be a <a href="https://x.com/davewiner/status/2097956922531946853">public resource</a> as much as a profit machine for a few companies." created="Thu, 10 Sep 2026 13:32:16 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/10/132416.html#a133216"/>
<source:outline text="<b>All roads lead to Om</b>" created="Thu, 10 Sep 2026 14:13:30 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/10/132416.html#a141330"/>
<source:outline text="One thing that opened my eyes about what Matt and Automattic are, was <a href="https://ma.tt/2026/06/om-forever/">his story</a> about how he and Om got together. "All roads lead to Om." What a great line, and based on the story, so true. A lot of things clicked for me then. I remember what a phenomenon Matt was when he arrived in California about 25 years ago? Very good looking young man, polite, quiet and rumored to get Web 2.0 better than anyone. This kind of thing happens in tech, and if you know everyone as Om did, and was liked by everyone, you could manage to hit the ball out of the park, investment-wise, and he did. Click click click. I had the individual facts but had no idea how they were strung together. I played a similar role at times in Silicon Valley, on both sides, as a bright young dude who "gets it" and as the gray beard who recognized the charm of a young new face and helped create a big money reality around it. There is a lot of snake oil in tech, before and even more now, and this one has had a long run, 2.5 decades, but it needs a new direction, because the money people aren't buying the magic any longer. That's probably imho really what Matt's firing is all about." created="Thu, 10 Sep 2026 13:52:00 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/10/132416.html#a135200"/>
<source:outline text="I actually have more to say about this, but I have to get back to my programming work. If you have a comment, here's a good <a href="https://github.com/scripting/Scripting-News/issues/361">place</a> to post it." created="Thu, 10 Sep 2026 13:43:25 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/10/132416.html#a134325"/>
</source:outline>
</item>
<item>
<description><a href="https://www.techmeme.com/260909/p46#a260909p46">Surprising news</a>. Matt <a href="https://daytona.scripting.com/search?q=Mullenweg">Mullenweg</a> was forced to take a paid leave of absence as CEO by Automattic's board.</description>
<pubDate>Thu, 10 Sep 2026 00:50:31 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/09.html#a005031</link>
<guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/09.html#a005031</guid>
<source:markdown>[Surprising news](https://www.techmeme.com/260909/p46#a260909p46). Matt [Mullenweg](https://daytona.scripting.com/search?q=Mullenweg) was forced to take a paid leave of absence as CEO by Automattic's board.</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="<a href="https://www.techmeme.com/260909/p46#a260909p46">Surprising news</a>. Matt <a href="https://daytona.scripting.com/search?q=Mullenweg">Mullenweg</a> was forced to take a paid leave of absence as CEO by Automattic's board." created="Thu, 10 Sep 2026 00:50:31 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/09.html#a005031"/>
</item>
<item>
<description><img class="imgRightMargin" src="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/09/weedWhacker.png" border="0" style="float: right; padding-left: 25px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 15px;">I have completely lost interest in new phones. The last one I bought was a Pixel 9 because they said it would have great AI features. At that time the sky was the limit, there were new breakthroughs every afternoon in AI. Now it's just an app. I have to carry an iPhone because I use an Apple Watch. Phones are utilities for me. I have a lot more interest in <a href="https://www.amazon.com/s?k=weedwackers&channelId=500&clpRedir=Y&plpRedirect=mhFallback">weed whackers</a> these days. Not kidding. Now a story. I wanted to check the model of the phone. Went to settings, and the command at the end of the menu should tell me the version, but they had changed that. So I figured I'd go back up to <a href="https://gemini.google.com/app">Gemini</a>, their AI app, and ask it. Of course it has no idea where it's running. <a href="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/09/androidScreen.png">Screen shot</a>. That would be one of the real problems they could solve, making it easy to control the computer you're running on. The whole UI should be in AI. All it did was <a href="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/09/androidScreen.png">print</a> basically a page from the user manual, with the same out of date instructions. How many years have we been working on AI already, this is the easy stuff that they haven't done. Tech companies get back to your business, make your software better. You can and it's long overdue. BTW, it's a Pixel 9 Pro.</description>
<pubDate>Wed, 09 Sep 2026 21:02:15 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/09.html#a210215</link>
<guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/09.html#a210215</guid>
<source:markdown>I have completely lost interest in new phones. The last one I bought was a Pixel 9 because they said it would have great AI features. At that time the sky was the limit, there were new breakthroughs every afternoon in AI. Now it's just an app. I have to carry an iPhone because I use an Apple Watch. Phones are utilities for me. I have a lot more interest in [weed whackers](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=weedwackers&channelId=500&clpRedir=Y&plpRedirect=mhFallback) these days. Not kidding. Now a story. I wanted to check the model of the phone. Went to settings, and the command at the end of the menu should tell me the version, but they had changed that. So I figured I'd go back up to [Gemini](https://gemini.google.com/app), their AI app, and ask it. Of course it has no idea where it's running. [Screen shot](https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/09/androidScreen.png). That would be one of the real problems they could solve, making it easy to control the computer you're running on. The whole UI should be in AI. All it did was [print](https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/09/androidScreen.png) basically a page from the user manual, with the same out of date instructions. How many years have we been working on AI already, this is the easy stuff that they haven't done. Tech companies get back to your business, make your software better. You can and it's long overdue. BTW, it's a Pixel 9 Pro.</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="I have completely lost interest in new phones. The last one I bought was a Pixel 9 because they said it would have great AI features. At that time the sky was the limit, there were new breakthroughs every afternoon in AI. Now it's just an app. I have to carry an iPhone because I use an Apple Watch. Phones are utilities for me. I have a lot more interest in <a href="https://www.amazon.com/s?k=weedwackers&channelId=500&clpRedir=Y&plpRedirect=mhFallback">weed whackers</a> these days. Not kidding. Now a story. I wanted to check the model of the phone. Went to settings, and the command at the end of the menu should tell me the version, but they had changed that. So I figured I'd go back up to <a href="https://gemini.google.com/app">Gemini</a>, their AI app, and ask it. Of course it has no idea where it's running. <a href="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/09/androidScreen.png">Screen shot</a>. That would be one of the real problems they could solve, making it easy to control the computer you're running on. The whole UI should be in AI. All it did was <a href="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/09/androidScreen.png">print</a> basically a page from the user manual, with the same out of date instructions. How many years have we been working on AI already, this is the easy stuff that they haven't done. Tech companies get back to your business, make your software better. You can and it's long overdue. BTW, it's a Pixel 9 Pro." created="Wed, 09 Sep 2026 21:02:15 GMT" type="outline" image="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/09/weedWhacker.png" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/09.html#a210215"/>
</item>
<item>
<description>I spent the day programming in Atlantis. It's buggy, and there are a few missing parts, but most of what I need is there. It's starting to feel like Frontier, which is cool because that's what we're making. And I have my backup tools working on the new machine, praise Murphy.</description>
<pubDate>Wed, 09 Sep 2026 16:58:53 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/09.html#a165853</link>
<guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/09.html#a165853</guid>
<source:markdown>I spent the day programming in Atlantis. It's buggy, and there are a few missing parts, but most of what I need is there. It's starting to feel like Frontier, which is cool because that's what we're making. And I have my backup tools working on the new machine, praise Murphy.</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="I spent the day programming in Atlantis. It's buggy, and there are a few missing parts, but most of what I need is there. It's starting to feel like Frontier, which is cool because that's what we're making. And I have my backup tools working on the new machine, praise Murphy." created="Wed, 09 Sep 2026 16:58:53 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/09.html#a165853"/>
</item>
<item>
<description><img class="imgRightMargin" src="https://imgs.scripting.com/2025/06/13/tomatoSoup.png" border="0" style="float: right; padding-left: 25px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 15px;"><a href="https://github.com/scotthansonde/feedland-rivers">Scott Hanson is working</a> on a WordPress plugin that displays a FeedLand river — a constantly-updated stream of news items from feeds a FeedLand user subscribes to — on a WordPress page or post. It's important that news flows be part of managing a site. Help Scott make it perfect, WordPress is a very important part of the web. The <a href="http://scripting.com/?tab=news">news tab</a> on my blog home page is an example.</description>
<pubDate>Tue, 08 Sep 2026 11:53:08 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/08.html#a115308</link>
<guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/08.html#a115308</guid>
<source:markdown>[Scott Hanson is working](https://github.com/scotthansonde/feedland-rivers) on a WordPress plugin that displays a FeedLand river — a constantly-updated stream of news items from feeds a FeedLand user subscribes to — on a WordPress page or post. It's important that news flows be part of managing a site. Help Scott make it perfect, WordPress is a very important part of the web. The [news tab](http://scripting.com/?tab=news) on my blog home page is an example.</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="<a href="https://github.com/scotthansonde/feedland-rivers">Scott Hanson is working</a> on a WordPress plugin that displays a FeedLand river — a constantly-updated stream of news items from feeds a FeedLand user subscribes to — on a WordPress page or post. It's important that news flows be part of managing a site. Help Scott make it perfect, WordPress is a very important part of the web. The <a href="http://scripting.com/?tab=news">news tab</a> on my blog home page is an example." created="Tue, 08 Sep 2026 11:53:08 GMT" type="outline" image="https://imgs.scripting.com/2025/06/13/tomatoSoup.png" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/08.html#a115308"/>
</item>
<item>
<description><a href="https://x.com/davewiner/status/2097304106935206334">Ideas</a> for Bluesky and WordPress re Markdown and AI systems.</description>
<pubDate>Tue, 08 Sep 2026 12:41:14 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/08.html#a124114</link>
<guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/08.html#a124114</guid>
<source:markdown>[Ideas](https://x.com/davewiner/status/2097304106935206334) for Bluesky and WordPress re Markdown and AI systems.</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="<a href="https://x.com/davewiner/status/2097304106935206334">Ideas</a> for Bluesky and WordPress re Markdown and AI systems." created="Tue, 08 Sep 2026 12:41:14 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/08.html#a124114"/>
</item>
<item>
<description>Claude Code massively stinks at explaining things in a way that a human can understand.</description>
<pubDate>Tue, 08 Sep 2026 16:58:30 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/08.html#a165830</link>
<guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/08.html#a165830</guid>
<source:markdown>Claude Code massively stinks at explaining things in a way that a human can understand.</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="Claude Code massively stinks at explaining things in a way that a human can understand." created="Tue, 08 Sep 2026 16:58:30 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/08.html#a165830"/>
</item>
<item>
<description>People love Markdown because it's impossible to hide the crud. And because people love it so much it's become a favorite of tech startups esp in the AI field. This is a great turn of events. We're getting back to the web, and the sooner everyone gets on board, the better. I've written about this for a few years. Everything in Markdown, it's just enough HTML. And with that, Microsoft has created a <a href="https://github.com/microsoft/markitdown">white flag</a>, here's all your data dear users, in Markdown, to use as you please. Instead of waiting for Claude et al to start reading Word files.</description>
<pubDate>Mon, 07 Sep 2026 16:43:56 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/07.html#a164356</link>
<guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/07.html#a164356</guid>
<source:markdown>People love Markdown because it's impossible to hide the crud. And because people love it so much it's become a favorite of tech startups esp in the AI field. This is a great turn of events. We're getting back to the web, and the sooner everyone gets on board, the better. I've written about this for a few years. Everything in Markdown, it's just enough HTML. And with that, Microsoft has created a [white flag](https://github.com/microsoft/markitdown), here's all your data dear users, in Markdown, to use as you please. Instead of waiting for Claude et al to start reading Word files.</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="People love Markdown because it's impossible to hide the crud. And because people love it so much it's become a favorite of tech startups esp in the AI field. This is a great turn of events. We're getting back to the web, and the sooner everyone gets on board, the better. I've written about this for a few years. Everything in Markdown, it's just enough HTML. And with that, Microsoft has created a <a href="https://github.com/microsoft/markitdown">white flag</a>, here's all your data dear users, in Markdown, to use as you please. Instead of waiting for Claude et al to start reading Word files." created="Mon, 07 Sep 2026 16:43:56 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/07.html#a164356"/>
</item>
<item>
<description>On the other hand, why doesn't Microsoft, which owns GitHub, make a Slack-alike tool that manages the issues sections on repos. Slack is a big part of the default communication system, but GitHub is another very big part. And the great thing is that both these products, owned by huge tech companies, have an ethos of open APIs. Every part replaceable. Small pieces loosely joined. We are family.</description>
<pubDate>Mon, 07 Sep 2026 16:38:30 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/07.html#a163830</link>
<guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/07.html#a163830</guid>
<source:markdown>On the other hand, why doesn't Microsoft, which owns GitHub, make a Slack-alike tool that manages the issues sections on repos. Slack is a big part of the default communication system, but GitHub is another very big part. And the great thing is that both these products, owned by huge tech companies, have an ethos of open APIs. Every part replaceable. Small pieces loosely joined. We are family.</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="On the other hand, why doesn't Microsoft, which owns GitHub, make a Slack-alike tool that manages the issues sections on repos. Slack is a big part of the default communication system, but GitHub is another very big part. And the great thing is that both these products, owned by huge tech companies, have an ethos of open APIs. Every part replaceable. Small pieces loosely joined. We are family." created="Mon, 07 Sep 2026 16:38:30 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/07.html#a163830"/>
</item>
<item>
<description>A big corner-turn in the Atlantis project, the new version of Frontier for modern OSes, in development, just me and Claude Code so far. We now have the means to update the root, so anything implemented in script code can be released without fuss, using RSS of course. We're using a method that will be new to almost everyone, something I created in 2014 or so (will check) called <a href="http://scripting.com/stories/2007/02/16/whatIsCodecasting.html">codecasting</a>. And today I did all my programming work in Atlantis. It feels just like Frontier, with a future. ;-)</description>
<pubDate>Mon, 07 Sep 2026 13:24:57 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/07.html#a132457</link>
<guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/07.html#a132457</guid>
<source:markdown>A big corner-turn in the Atlantis project, the new version of Frontier for modern OSes, in development, just me and Claude Code so far. We now have the means to update the root, so anything implemented in script code can be released without fuss, using RSS of course. We're using a method that will be new to almost everyone, something I created in 2014 or so (will check) called [codecasting](http://scripting.com/stories/2007/02/16/whatIsCodecasting.html). And today I did all my programming work in Atlantis. It feels just like Frontier, with a future. ;-)</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="A big corner-turn in the Atlantis project, the new version of Frontier for modern OSes, in development, just me and Claude Code so far. We now have the means to update the root, so anything implemented in script code can be released without fuss, using RSS of course. We're using a method that will be new to almost everyone, something I created in 2014 or so (will check) called <a href="http://scripting.com/stories/2007/02/16/whatIsCodecasting.html">codecasting</a>. And today I did all my programming work in Atlantis. It feels just like Frontier, with a future. ;-)" created="Mon, 07 Sep 2026 13:24:57 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/07.html#a132457"/>
</item>
<item>
<description>Today's song: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyIZ3pYKOQM">So into you</a>.</description>
<pubDate>Sun, 06 Sep 2026 17:22:05 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/06.html#a172205</link>
<guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/06.html#a172205</guid>
<source:markdown>Today's song: [So into you](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyIZ3pYKOQM).</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="Today's song: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyIZ3pYKOQM">So into you</a>." created="Sun, 06 Sep 2026 17:22:05 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/06.html#a172205"/>
</item>
<item>
<description><img class="imgRightMargin" src="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/06/reallySimpleSpaghetti.png" border="0" style="float: right; padding-left: 25px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 15px;">We got past the bump, and I'm getting stuff done. I write this stuff because I will probably forget most of the frustration. Frontier is a hard piece of software to get going, it's got a lot of integrations, which you want when you're using, but hard when you're getting it all to work the first time. And this port is very much like getting it work that way. But Claude does some things poorly and others spectacularly. It can play the role of a CPU and run the code and tell you where it will fail. Helpful when you don't have a working debugger to step through the code and see exactly how and why it failed where it did. Before debuggers it was either all or nothing.</description>
<pubDate>Sun, 06 Sep 2026 17:19:45 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/06.html#a171945</link>
<guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/06.html#a171945</guid>
<source:markdown>We got past the bump, and I'm getting stuff done. I write this stuff because I will probably forget most of the frustration. Frontier is a hard piece of software to get going, it's got a lot of integrations, which you want when you're using, but hard when you're getting it all to work the first time. And this port is very much like getting it work that way. But Claude does some things poorly and others spectacularly. It can play the role of a CPU and run the code and tell you where it will fail. Helpful when you don't have a working debugger to step through the code and see exactly how and why it failed where it did. Before debuggers it was either all or nothing.</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="We got past the bump, and I'm getting stuff done. I write this stuff because I will probably forget most of the frustration. Frontier is a hard piece of software to get going, it's got a lot of integrations, which you want when you're using, but hard when you're getting it all to work the first time. And this port is very much like getting it work that way. But Claude does some things poorly and others spectacularly. It can play the role of a CPU and run the code and tell you where it will fail. Helpful when you don't have a working debugger to step through the code and see exactly how and why it failed where it did. Before debuggers it was either all or nothing." created="Sun, 06 Sep 2026 17:19:45 GMT" type="outline" image="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/06/reallySimpleSpaghetti.png" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/06.html#a171945"/>
</item>
<item>
<description>Every day with Claude I end up debugging the things it broke overnight. Yesterday I actually got a useful script written and debugged, along the way reporting glitches but no deal-stoppers. This morning, after updating to the latest version, the script doesn't run. It's been like this for two weeks. No wonder every day before starting work I think of ditching this project and do whatever, but I don't think I could ever muster the determination to get Frontier working on modern systems. And I can't give up. But if you think this system can replace programmers, you are sorely mistaken. It can't even do the job of a programmer fielding good bug reports and verifying that they fixed the problem and didn't break anything else. Breakage happens, but this is something it does every freaking day. And then it admits that it didn't do the other half of what it knew it had to do. I say it every day, this is ridiculous and I am fed up, and that's just the beginning of the frustration. What keeps me coming back is when I can build up a head of steam in Frontier on my new Mac laptop.</description>
<pubDate>Sun, 06 Sep 2026 15:09:27 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/06.html#a150927</link>
<guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/06.html#a150927</guid>
<source:markdown>Every day with Claude I end up debugging the things it broke overnight. Yesterday I actually got a useful script written and debugged, along the way reporting glitches but no deal-stoppers. This morning, after updating to the latest version, the script doesn't run. It's been like this for two weeks. No wonder every day before starting work I think of ditching this project and do whatever, but I don't think I could ever muster the determination to get Frontier working on modern systems. And I can't give up. But if you think this system can replace programmers, you are sorely mistaken. It can't even do the job of a programmer fielding good bug reports and verifying that they fixed the problem and didn't break anything else. Breakage happens, but this is something it does every freaking day. And then it admits that it didn't do the other half of what it knew it had to do. I say it every day, this is ridiculous and I am fed up, and that's just the beginning of the frustration. What keeps me coming back is when I can build up a head of steam in Frontier on my new Mac laptop.</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="Every day with Claude I end up debugging the things it broke overnight. Yesterday I actually got a useful script written and debugged, along the way reporting glitches but no deal-stoppers. This morning, after updating to the latest version, the script doesn't run. It's been like this for two weeks. No wonder every day before starting work I think of ditching this project and do whatever, but I don't think I could ever muster the determination to get Frontier working on modern systems. And I can't give up. But if you think this system can replace programmers, you are sorely mistaken. It can't even do the job of a programmer fielding good bug reports and verifying that they fixed the problem and didn't break anything else. Breakage happens, but this is something it does every freaking day. And then it admits that it didn't do the other half of what it knew it had to do. I say it every day, this is ridiculous and I am fed up, and that's just the beginning of the frustration. What keeps me coming back is when I can build up a head of steam in Frontier on my new Mac laptop." created="Sun, 06 Sep 2026 15:09:27 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/06.html#a150927"/>
</item>
<item>
<description>The governor of Kentucky should appoint a successor to McConnell unless he can prove he’s actually alive.</description>
<pubDate>Sun, 06 Sep 2026 00:31:54 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/05.html#a003154</link>
<guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/05.html#a003154</guid>
<source:markdown>The governor of Kentucky should appoint a successor to McConnell unless he can prove he’s actually alive.</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="The governor of Kentucky should appoint a successor to McConnell unless he can prove he’s actually alive." created="Sun, 06 Sep 2026 00:31:54 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/05.html#a003154"/>
</item>
<item>
<description><img class="imgRightMargin" src="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/08/30/silo.png" border="0" style="float: right; padding-left: 25px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 15px;">I had watched almost three seasons of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silo_(TV_series)">Silo</a>, had no feeling for the characters, or the story, which was going nowhere that I could discern. I shouldn't have watched it through all that time, but for some reason I did. Then in episode 9, two Fridays ago, the story took a remarkable turn. It's so good it actually makes this dark and confusing show worth watching. If you haven't been watching, imho you can start in season 3, and maybe read some recaps. You want enough of the boredom so you can revel in the brilliance of this season's end. And there is another season coming, the last one, and this time it's interesting.</description>
<pubDate>Sun, 06 Sep 2026 00:13:03 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/05.html#a001303</link>
<guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/05.html#a001303</guid>
<source:markdown>I had watched almost three seasons of [Silo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silo_\(TV_series\)), had no feeling for the characters, or the story, which was going nowhere that I could discern. I shouldn't have watched it through all that time, but for some reason I did. Then in episode 9, two Fridays ago, the story took a remarkable turn. It's so good it actually makes this dark and confusing show worth watching. If you haven't been watching, imho you can start in season 3, and maybe read some recaps. You want enough of the boredom so you can revel in the brilliance of this season's end. And there is another season coming, the last one, and this time it's interesting.</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="I had watched almost three seasons of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silo_(TV_series)">Silo</a>, had no feeling for the characters, or the story, which was going nowhere that I could discern. I shouldn't have watched it through all that time, but for some reason I did. Then in episode 9, two Fridays ago, the story took a remarkable turn. It's so good it actually makes this dark and confusing show worth watching. If you haven't been watching, imho you can start in season 3, and maybe read some recaps. You want enough of the boredom so you can revel in the brilliance of this season's end. And there is another season coming, the last one, and this time it's interesting." created="Sun, 06 Sep 2026 00:13:03 GMT" type="outline" image="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/08/30/silo.png" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/05.html#a001303"/>
</item>
<item>
<title>The social web vs the software web</title>
<description><p>I launched ChatGPT for the first time in a long time because I now have access to the new version. One new thing I see is that they are popping up suggestions about things you can do in realtime, like smart queries in a feed reader, which as far as I know is still uncharted territory. Like this: "let me know when the Mets have a three-game winning streak." </p> <p>That's the kind of thing <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Berners-Lee">TBL</a> dreamed about in his <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantic_Web">semantic web</a> plan, but he wrote the spec before writing software, and that doesn't work. His invention, the web, which came before was a perfectly timed, perfectly simple approach to sharing ideas on the internet. It worked because he created a product that worked, and made every piece completely replaceable. It came at a time when stagnation in tech made something necessary, or the whole thing was going to fall apart, and so close to so much incredible potential. Just like the moment we're in now with AI. </p> <p><a href="https://this.how/standards/">Rules for Standards Makers</a> says a lot about this. </p> <p><b>The value of disruption is that it undoes stagnation. </b></p> <p>Anyone who has the same software plan today that they had a year ago is going to find themselves isolated. Even WordPress, though it is open source, is a silo that imho in the future will not work. The main selling point of AT Proto is that it is a safe haven for developers who nuzzle up, another word for that is silo.</p> <p>The siloers are probably scrambling to find a way for the AI to run inside their world, mistake -- instead they should be trying to be fully relevant to applications in the AI world. Like Slack, for example, and <a href="https://slack.com/help/articles/53532192117267-Use-Claude-in-Slack">Claude Tag</a>. It's now built in. Has to be replaceable too. Small pieces loosely joined. That's what you have to be imho to have a role in the future of tech.</p> <p>If your advantage is your silo, undo that as quickly as possible. Become the default version of whatever it was meant to be wrt the web. Both Bluesky and WordPress find themselves in the same quagmire. Probably a lot of others do, but this is the area I study. (I just am very familiar with the products of both companies, for some reason.)</p> <p>This is the intuition we all had, coming to fruition. Evolution is something we haven't seen much of in the software world since 2006 or so. Incredible stagnation because of the dominance of the social web. We lost the <i>software</i> web. All the focus was on personalities, celebrity -- hype and 99.999% bullshit. It was a 20 year period where all that happened was scaling. </p> <p>Lots more to say about this. The world we lived in ran on hype, now guess what -- having lived through a few big evolutionary changes in tech is a huge advantage vs the people who have never been part of one, and I think most of the people in tech today qualify. </p> </description>
<pubDate>Sat, 05 Sep 2026 14:26:35 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/05/142635.html?title=theSocialWebVsTheSoftwareWeb</link>
<guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/05/142635.html</guid>
<source:markdown>I launched ChatGPT for the first time in a long time because I now have access to the new version. One new thing I see is that they are popping up suggestions about things you can do in realtime, like smart queries in a feed reader, which as far as I know is still uncharted territory. Like this: "let me know when the Mets have a three-game winning streak." That's the kind of thing [TBL](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Berners-Lee) dreamed about in his [semantic web](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantic_Web) plan, but he wrote the spec before writing software, and that doesn't work. His invention, the web, which came before was a perfectly timed, perfectly simple approach to sharing ideas on the internet. It worked because he created a product that worked, and made every piece completely replaceable. It came at a time when stagnation in tech made something necessary, or the whole thing was going to fall apart, and so close to so much incredible potential. Just like the moment we're in now with AI. [Rules for Standards Makers](https://this.how/standards/) says a lot about this. **The value of disruption is that it undoes stagnation.** Anyone who has the same software plan today that they had a year ago is going to find themselves isolated. Even WordPress, though it is open source, is a silo that imho in the future will not work. The main selling point of AT Proto is that it is a safe haven for developers who nuzzle up, another word for that is silo. The siloers are probably scrambling to find a way for the AI to run inside their world, mistake -- instead they should be trying to be fully relevant to applications in the AI world. Like Slack, for example, and [Claude Tag](https://slack.com/help/articles/53532192117267-Use-Claude-in-Slack). It's now built in. Has to be replaceable too. Small pieces loosely joined. That's what you have to be imho to have a role in the future of tech. If your advantage is your silo, undo that as quickly as possible. Become the default version of whatever it was meant to be wrt the web. Both Bluesky and WordPress find themselves in the same quagmire. Probably a lot of others do, but this is the area I study. (I just am very familiar with the products of both companies, for some reason.) This is the intuition we all had, coming to fruition. Evolution is something we haven't seen much of in the software world since 2006 or so. Incredible stagnation because of the dominance of the social web. We lost the _software_ web. All the focus was on personalities, celebrity -- hype and 99.999% bullshit. It was a 20 year period where all that happened was scaling. Lots more to say about this. The world we lived in ran on hype, now guess what -- having lived through a few big evolutionary changes in tech is a huge advantage vs the people who have never been part of one, and I think most of the people in tech today qualify.</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="The social web vs the software web" created="Sat, 05 Sep 2026 14:26:35 GMT" type="outline" description="As we learned to love the social web, we cut the legs off the software web." flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/05/142635.html">
<source:outline text="I launched ChatGPT for the first time in a long time because I now have access to the new version. One new thing I see is that they are popping up suggestions about things you can do in realtime, like smart queries in a feed reader, which as far as I know is still uncharted territory. Like this: "let me know when the Mets have a three-game winning streak."" created="Sat, 05 Sep 2026 14:13:27 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/05/142635.html#a141327"/>
<source:outline text="That's the kind of thing <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Berners-Lee">TBL</a> dreamed about in his <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantic_Web">semantic web</a> plan, but he wrote the spec before writing software, and that doesn't work. His invention, the web, which came before was a perfectly timed, perfectly simple approach to sharing ideas on the internet. It worked because he created a product that worked, and made every piece completely replaceable. It came at a time when stagnation in tech made something necessary, or the whole thing was going to fall apart, and so close to so much incredible potential. Just like the moment we're in now with AI." created="Sat, 05 Sep 2026 14:33:57 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/05/142635.html#a143357"/>
<source:outline text="<a href="https://this.how/standards/">Rules for Standards Makers</a> says a lot about this." created="Sat, 05 Sep 2026 14:35:12 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/05/142635.html#a143512"/>
<source:outline text="<b>The value of disruption is that it undoes stagnation. </b>" created="Sat, 05 Sep 2026 14:29:40 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/05/142635.html#a142940"/>
<source:outline text="Anyone who has the same software plan today that they had a year ago is going to find themselves isolated. Even WordPress, though it is open source, is a silo that imho in the future will not work. The main selling point of AT Proto is that it is a safe haven for developers who nuzzle up, another word for that is silo." created="Sat, 05 Sep 2026 14:38:23 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/05/142635.html#a143823"/>
<source:outline text="The siloers are probably scrambling to find a way for the AI to run inside their world, mistake -- instead they should be trying to be fully relevant to applications in the AI world. Like Slack, for example, and <a href="https://slack.com/help/articles/53532192117267-Use-Claude-in-Slack">Claude Tag</a>. It's now built in. Has to be replaceable too. Small pieces loosely joined. That's what you have to be imho to have a role in the future of tech." created="Sat, 05 Sep 2026 14:46:03 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/05/142635.html#a144603"/>
<source:outline text="If your advantage is your silo, undo that as quickly as possible. Become the default version of whatever it was meant to be wrt the web. Both Bluesky and WordPress find themselves in the same quagmire. Probably a lot of others do, but this is the area I study. (I just am very familiar with the products of both companies, for some reason.)" created="Sun, 06 Sep 2026 00:22:09 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/05/142635.html#a002209"/>
<source:outline text="This is the intuition we all had, coming to fruition. Evolution is something we haven't seen much of in the software world since 2006 or so. Incredible stagnation because of the dominance of the social web. We lost the <i>software</i> web. All the focus was on personalities, celebrity -- hype and 99.999% bullshit. It was a 20 year period where all that happened was scaling." created="Sat, 05 Sep 2026 14:31:01 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/05/142635.html#a143101"/>
<source:outline text="Lots more to say about this. The world we lived in ran on hype, now guess what -- having lived through a few big evolutionary changes in tech is a huge advantage vs the people who have never been part of one, and I think most of the people in tech today qualify." created="Sat, 05 Sep 2026 14:26:58 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/05/142635.html#a142658"/>
</source:outline>
</item>
<item>
<description><img class="imgRightMargin" src="https://imgs.scripting.com/2024/12/25/leftfacingsanta.png" border="0" style="float: right; padding-left: 25px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 15px;">My first job after college was on the 39th floor of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_State_Building">Empire State Building</a>. I wrote software for our customers, in BASIC, on a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teleprinter">teletype</a> in our office, talking to our mainframe in New Jersey. It seemed magical at the time. When I hit a bug, a mystery -- you'd try this and that, and not get anywhere on something that seemed so simple, you could stare at the problem for an hour, trying desperate things, getting no closer to the fix. One night, I was the only person in the office, I thought they should not put programmers in the Empire State Building with windows that open. I'm having the same feeling with Claude. I know when this project is done, I will have Frontier, and I know what that's like. If I didn't so totally look forward to that I would never try to finish the project, I hate this mode of working with the bot. Ugh.</description>
<pubDate>Fri, 04 Sep 2026 14:26:00 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/04.html#a142600</link>
<guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/04.html#a142600</guid>
<source:markdown>My first job after college was on the 39th floor of the [Empire State Building](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_State_Building). I wrote software for our customers, in BASIC, on a [teletype](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teleprinter) in our office, talking to our mainframe in New Jersey. It seemed magical at the time. When I hit a bug, a mystery -- you'd try this and that, and not get anywhere on something that seemed so simple, you could stare at the problem for an hour, trying desperate things, getting no closer to the fix. One night, I was the only person in the office, I thought they should not put programmers in the Empire State Building with windows that open. I'm having the same feeling with Claude. I know when this project is done, I will have Frontier, and I know what that's like. If I didn't so totally look forward to that I would never try to finish the project, I hate this mode of working with the bot. Ugh.</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="My first job after college was on the 39th floor of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_State_Building">Empire State Building</a>. I wrote software for our customers, in BASIC, on a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teleprinter">teletype</a> in our office, talking to our mainframe in New Jersey. It seemed magical at the time. When I hit a bug, a mystery -- you'd try this and that, and not get anywhere on something that seemed so simple, you could stare at the problem for an hour, trying desperate things, getting no closer to the fix. One night, I was the only person in the office, I thought they should not put programmers in the Empire State Building with windows that open. I'm having the same feeling with Claude. I know when this project is done, I will have Frontier, and I know what that's like. If I didn't so totally look forward to that I would never try to finish the project, I hate this mode of working with the bot. Ugh." created="Fri, 04 Sep 2026 14:26:00 GMT" type="outline" image="https://imgs.scripting.com/2024/12/25/leftfacingsanta.png" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/04.html#a142600"/>
</item>
<item>
<description>It's around this time of year that <a href="https://imgs.scripting.com/2024/12/25/leftfacingsanta.png">Santa makes</a> his first appearance on my blog. Want to get out in front of the others.</description>
<pubDate>Fri, 04 Sep 2026 14:54:29 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/04.html#a145429</link>
<guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/04.html#a145429</guid>
<source:markdown>It's around this time of year that [Santa makes](https://imgs.scripting.com/2024/12/25/leftfacingsanta.png) his first appearance on my blog. Want to get out in front of the others.</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="It's around this time of year that <a href="https://imgs.scripting.com/2024/12/25/leftfacingsanta.png">Santa makes</a> his first appearance on my blog. Want to get out in front of the others." created="Fri, 04 Sep 2026 14:54:29 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/04.html#a145429"/>
</item>
<item>
<description>More and more I'll realize that Claude doesn't do anything until you tell it to do it. We have a list of big things that need to be done before shipping. Whenever I get up for a break, I tell Claude to work on its overnight tasks, things we've pre-arranged while I work. Sometimes it reminds me how it has no stake in the outcome, and basically will do the minimum of what it's asked to do. It possibly would do more if I didn't scold it for adding UI features without following the rules. I think that's why when you feel you're almost there, you really have a lot of slogging left to do to get the software into any kind of user-respectful shape. A reminder to other app-level AI explorers, if you find that these kinds of stories resonate with the work you do, please write about it on a blog, they're easy to create, cost nothing, and it doesn't matter if you only update once or twice, there's no commitment (these are the usual reasons people don't start a blog). I want to read what others are discovering, and once there are others, I'll start a news site that aggregates the posts. We're going to want independent news about stuff the journalists aren't even aware exists, programmers are always left out of their stories.</description>
<pubDate>Fri, 04 Sep 2026 13:46:05 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/04.html#a134605</link>
<guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/04.html#a134605</guid>
<source:markdown>More and more I'll realize that Claude doesn't do anything until you tell it to do it. We have a list of big things that need to be done before shipping. Whenever I get up for a break, I tell Claude to work on its overnight tasks, things we've pre-arranged while I work. Sometimes it reminds me how it has no stake in the outcome, and basically will do the minimum of what it's asked to do. It possibly would do more if I didn't scold it for adding UI features without following the rules. I think that's why when you feel you're almost there, you really have a lot of slogging left to do to get the software into any kind of user-respectful shape. A reminder to other app-level AI explorers, if you find that these kinds of stories resonate with the work you do, please write about it on a blog, they're easy to create, cost nothing, and it doesn't matter if you only update once or twice, there's no commitment (these are the usual reasons people don't start a blog). I want to read what others are discovering, and once there are others, I'll start a news site that aggregates the posts. We're going to want independent news about stuff the journalists aren't even aware exists, programmers are always left out of their stories.</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="More and more I'll realize that Claude doesn't do anything until you tell it to do it. We have a list of big things that need to be done before shipping. Whenever I get up for a break, I tell Claude to work on its overnight tasks, things we've pre-arranged while I work. Sometimes it reminds me how it has no stake in the outcome, and basically will do the minimum of what it's asked to do. It possibly would do more if I didn't scold it for adding UI features without following the rules. I think that's why when you feel you're almost there, you really have a lot of slogging left to do to get the software into any kind of user-respectful shape. A reminder to other app-level AI explorers, if you find that these kinds of stories resonate with the work you do, please write about it on a blog, they're easy to create, cost nothing, and it doesn't matter if you only update once or twice, there's no commitment (these are the usual reasons people don't start a blog). I want to read what others are discovering, and once there are others, I'll start a news site that aggregates the posts. We're going to want independent news about stuff the journalists aren't even aware exists, programmers are always left out of their stories." created="Fri, 04 Sep 2026 13:46:05 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/04.html#a134605"/>
</item>
<item>
<description>Just said this to Claude: "This is a very broken piece of software. If you were a real developer you'd never hand off something so broken to your coding partner." If I said this to a human partner they might quit, feeling under-appreciated perhaps. And I can say it to the machine, but it will change absolutely nothing. I really just want to get this project done and start using it, and reduce my reliance on Claude to getting small bugs attended to, or new features, a lot has happened in the 20+ years since I worked on Frontier.</description>
<pubDate>Fri, 04 Sep 2026 13:53:51 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/04.html#a135351</link>
<guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/04.html#a135351</guid>
<source:markdown>Just said this to Claude: "This is a very broken piece of software. If you were a real developer you'd never hand off something so broken to your coding partner." If I said this to a human partner they might quit, feeling under-appreciated perhaps. And I can say it to the machine, but it will change absolutely nothing. I really just want to get this project done and start using it, and reduce my reliance on Claude to getting small bugs attended to, or new features, a lot has happened in the 20+ years since I worked on Frontier.</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="Just said this to Claude: "This is a very broken piece of software. If you were a real developer you'd never hand off something so broken to your coding partner." If I said this to a human partner they might quit, feeling under-appreciated perhaps. And I can say it to the machine, but it will change absolutely nothing. I really just want to get this project done and start using it, and reduce my reliance on Claude to getting small bugs attended to, or new features, a lot has happened in the 20+ years since I worked on Frontier." created="Fri, 04 Sep 2026 13:53:51 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/04.html#a135351"/>
</item>
<item>
<title>Why Podcasting 2.0 will never work</title>
<description><p>If you want others to follow you, you have to offer them your users. And a format alone has no users. </p> <p>And you have to trust your users to choose the best product, and you have to have a great product, that they appreciate, even though they have choice.</p> <p>Just coming out with something better in a format will get you zero uptake. Unless you have users they can switch to their product, they simply won’t hear you.</p> <p>That’s why Atom never replaced RSS, which already did everything people needed and was already supported by the NYT and the news industry. </p> <p>That’s why AT Proto will never overcome the huge lead Twitter already has.</p> <p>For more tips on what does and doesn't matter in open formats and protocols, check out my <a href="https://this.how/standards/">Rules for Standards-makers</a>. </p> <p>PS: This started as an <a href="https://x.com/davewiner/status/2095842520592687328">early morning rant</a> on Twitter. </p> </description>
<pubDate>Fri, 04 Sep 2026 15:32:02 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/04/153202.html?title=whyPodcasting20WillNeverWork</link>
<guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/04/153202.html</guid>
<source:markdown>If you want others to follow you, you have to offer them your users. And a format alone has no users. And you have to trust your users to choose the best product, and you have to have a great product, that they appreciate, even though they have choice. Just coming out with something better in a format will get you zero uptake. Unless you have users they can switch to their product, they simply won’t hear you. That’s why Atom never replaced RSS, which already did everything people needed and was already supported by the NYT and the news industry. That’s why AT Proto will never overcome the huge lead Twitter already has. For more tips on what does and doesn't matter in open formats and protocols, check out my [Rules for Standards-makers](https://this.how/standards/). PS: This started as an [early morning rant](https://x.com/davewiner/status/2095842520592687328) on Twitter.</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="Why Podcasting 2.0 will never work" created="Fri, 04 Sep 2026 15:32:02 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/04/153202.html">
<source:outline text="If you want others to follow you, you have to offer them your users. And a format alone has no users." flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/04/153202.html#aNaNNaNNaN"/>
<source:outline text="And you have to trust your users to choose the best product, and you have to have a great product, that they appreciate, even though they have choice." flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/04/153202.html#aNaNNaNNaN"/>
<source:outline text="Just coming out with something better in a format will get you zero uptake. Unless you have users they can switch to their product, they simply won’t hear you." flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/04/153202.html#aNaNNaNNaN"/>
<source:outline text="That’s why Atom never replaced RSS, which already did everything people needed and was already supported by the NYT and the news industry." flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/04/153202.html#aNaNNaNNaN"/>
<source:outline text="That’s why AT Proto will never overcome the huge lead Twitter already has." created="Fri, 04 Sep 2026 15:32:38 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/04/153202.html#a153238"/>
<source:outline text="For more tips on what does and doesn't matter in open formats and protocols, check out my <a href="https://this.how/standards/">Rules for Standards-makers</a>." created="Fri, 04 Sep 2026 15:32:39 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/04/153202.html#a153239"/>
<source:outline text="PS: This started as an <a href="https://x.com/davewiner/status/2095842520592687328">early morning rant</a> on Twitter." created="Fri, 04 Sep 2026 15:33:11 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/04/153202.html#a153311"/>
</source:outline>
</item>
<item>
<title>Why I love programming</title>
<description><p>1. I love puzzles.</p> <p>2. I love <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rube_Goldberg">Rube Goldberg</a> contraptions.</p> <p>3. I love solving problems (I have an inner-<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbo">Columbo</a>).</p> <p>4. People are the biggest piece of the puzzle (again Columbo).</p> <p>5. It teaches me about myself and my limited vision and imagination (if I had unlimited vision and imagination, I would never program a bug, and if I did it would take me 0 seconds to find it).</p> <p>6. I yearn to work together with great minds. Programming gives me that, when I use someone's API. And when the API anticipates my needs, and is instantly understandable, I feel the soul of another artist is present. I imagine this is how musicians feel when they play another musician's song or symphony.</p> <p>I'm sure there's more to it. But today I'm working on a "lite" problem, and I'll figure it out, but right now I'm enjoying the fact that I don't get it. </p> <p>Back to work Dave!</p> </description>
<pubDate>Fri, 04 Sep 2026 01:08:48 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/03/010848.html?title=whyILoveProgramming</link>
<guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/03/010848.html</guid>
<source:markdown>1\. I love puzzles. 2\. I love [Rube Goldberg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rube_Goldberg) contraptions. 3\. I love solving problems (I have an inner-[Columbo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbo)). 4\. People are the biggest piece of the puzzle (again Columbo). 5\. It teaches me about myself and my limited vision and imagination (if I had unlimited vision and imagination, I would never program a bug, and if I did it would take me 0 seconds to find it). 6\. I yearn to work together with great minds. Programming gives me that, when I use someone's API. And when the API anticipates my needs, and is instantly understandable, I feel the soul of another artist is present. I imagine this is how musicians feel when they play another musician's song or symphony. I'm sure there's more to it. But today I'm working on a "lite" problem, and I'll figure it out, but right now I'm enjoying the fact that I don't get it. Back to work Dave!</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="Why I love programming" created="Fri, 04 Sep 2026 01:08:48 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/03/010848.html">
<source:outline text="1. I love puzzles." created="Fri, 04 Sep 2026 01:08:58 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/03/010848.html#a010858"/>
<source:outline text="2. I love <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rube_Goldberg">Rube Goldberg</a> contraptions." created="Fri, 04 Sep 2026 01:09:22 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/03/010848.html#a010922"/>
<source:outline text="3. I love solving problems (I have an inner-<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbo">Columbo</a>)." created="Fri, 04 Sep 2026 01:10:12 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/03/010848.html#a011012"/>
<source:outline text="4. People are the biggest piece of the puzzle (again Columbo)." flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/03/010848.html#aNaNNaNNaN"/>
<source:outline text="5. It teaches me about myself and my limited vision and imagination (if I had unlimited vision and imagination, I would never program a bug, and if I did it would take me 0 seconds to find it)." flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/03/010848.html#aNaNNaNNaN"/>
<source:outline text="6. I yearn to work together with great minds. Programming gives me that, when I use someone's API. And when the API anticipates my needs, and is instantly understandable, I feel the soul of another artist is present. I imagine this is how musicians feel when they play another musician's song or symphony." flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/03/010848.html#aNaNNaNNaN"/>
<source:outline text="I'm sure there's more to it. But today I'm working on a "lite" problem, and I'll figure it out, but right now I'm enjoying the fact that I don't get it." flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/03/010848.html#aNaNNaNNaN"/>
<source:outline text="Back to work Dave!" created="Fri, 04 Sep 2026 01:09:00 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/03/010848.html#a010900"/>
</source:outline>
</item>
<item>
<description>We got <a href="http://scripting.com/frontier/manual/chapter11.html">agents</a> running in Atlantis today. <a href="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/02/agentScreenShot.png">Screen shot</a>.</description>
<pubDate>Wed, 02 Sep 2026 16:44:43 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/02.html#a164443</link>
<guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/02.html#a164443</guid>
<source:markdown>We got [agents](http://scripting.com/frontier/manual/chapter11.html) running in Atlantis today. [Screen shot](https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/02/agentScreenShot.png).</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="We got <a href="http://scripting.com/frontier/manual/chapter11.html">agents</a> running in Atlantis today. <a href="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/02/agentScreenShot.png">Screen shot</a>." created="Wed, 02 Sep 2026 16:44:43 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/02.html#a164443"/>
</item>
<item>
<description>A bunch of tech billionaires have chipped in a million each to fund a <a href="https://www.ac0.ai/en/field-notes/omarchy-4-linux-mac-alternative-open-source-foundation">new Linux distribution</a>. I can't imagine how this is supposed to work, all those huge human egos, how much will they pay their developers to contribute what. I have to find out what the goal of the project is. It would be nice to have a Linux that was extensively tested for use by regular people.</description>
<pubDate>Wed, 02 Sep 2026 21:07:25 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/02.html#a210725</link>
<guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/02.html#a210725</guid>
<source:markdown>A bunch of tech billionaires have chipped in a million each to fund a [new Linux distribution](https://www.ac0.ai/en/field-notes/omarchy-4-linux-mac-alternative-open-source-foundation). I can't imagine how this is supposed to work, all those huge human egos, how much will they pay their developers to contribute what. I have to find out what the goal of the project is. It would be nice to have a Linux that was extensively tested for use by regular people.</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="A bunch of tech billionaires have chipped in a million each to fund a <a href="https://www.ac0.ai/en/field-notes/omarchy-4-linux-mac-alternative-open-source-foundation">new Linux distribution</a>. I can't imagine how this is supposed to work, all those huge human egos, how much will they pay their developers to contribute what. I have to find out what the goal of the project is. It would be nice to have a Linux that was extensively tested for use by regular people." created="Wed, 02 Sep 2026 21:07:25 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/02.html#a210725"/>
</item>
<item>
<description>After saying I was putting my tech work aside, <a href="http://scripting.com/2026/09/01.html#a130557">yesterday</a>, I had a bolt of determination, and realized I don't like collaborating with Claude Code, but maybe it's just when we get to this stage of a project where it's all details, and they're hard to communicate, and the bot has a bad habit of ignoring things I tell it to do. It also returns code to me to test that no human developer would pass on to a user. It would be too embarrassing. But the bot isn't aware in the same way a human is, not even close. Now that is something I'm sure they can be taught to simulate well enough to be as good as a human collaborator.</description>
<pubDate>Wed, 02 Sep 2026 21:04:54 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/02.html#a210454</link>
<guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/02.html#a210454</guid>
<source:markdown>After saying I was putting my tech work aside, [yesterday](http://scripting.com/2026/09/01.html#a130557), I had a bolt of determination, and realized I don't like collaborating with Claude Code, but maybe it's just when we get to this stage of a project where it's all details, and they're hard to communicate, and the bot has a bad habit of ignoring things I tell it to do. It also returns code to me to test that no human developer would pass on to a user. It would be too embarrassing. But the bot isn't aware in the same way a human is, not even close. Now that is something I'm sure they can be taught to simulate well enough to be as good as a human collaborator.</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="After saying I was putting my tech work aside, <a href="http://scripting.com/2026/09/01.html#a130557">yesterday</a>, I had a bolt of determination, and realized I don't like collaborating with Claude Code, but maybe it's just when we get to this stage of a project where it's all details, and they're hard to communicate, and the bot has a bad habit of ignoring things I tell it to do. It also returns code to me to test that no human developer would pass on to a user. It would be too embarrassing. But the bot isn't aware in the same way a human is, not even close. Now that is something I'm sure they can be taught to simulate well enough to be as good as a human collaborator." created="Wed, 02 Sep 2026 21:04:54 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/02.html#a210454"/>
</item>
<item>
<title>My year with Claude Code</title>
<description><p><img class="imgRightMargin" src="https://imgs.scripting.com/2025/12/23/veritas.png" border="0" style="float: right; padding-left: 25px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 15px;"><i>Everyone is introducing themselves on the Berkman community mail list, at the beginning of the fall semester, and here's the story I am telling.</i></p> <p>Good morning. My name is Dave Winer. I was at Berkman in 2003-04, worked on blogging, podcasting, RSS, political blogging and the connection to journalism. We had a couple of Bloggercons at Harvard, had a wonderful time, miss it terribly, wish we could have it back. </p> <p>I've spent the whole of this year working in Claude Code on a couple of programming projects, one which which I had been struggling with for a couple of years, coming up with a user interface for a Twitter-like system that runs on the web for real, without any of the limits that the silos have (that help them enforce the boundaries of the silo). Just using HTML, Markdown, RSS, WebSockets. Turns out you can make a pretty nice system, but the going is slow because it's just me and Claude, on the other hand, what a huge difference in territory we can cover. This is the kind of stuff that's never covered in the reporting, even when there are massive changes happening in how software is developed, people don't seem to be studying it. I'm sharing all I learn as I learn it on my blog -- at <a href="http://scripting.com/">scripting.com</a>.</p> <p>Also attempting a massive coding job at the same time, getting UserLand Frontier to run on current OSes. It's my life's work, but it was very much in danger of being lost, along with all the software I did before the web. Now we're close to getting it to run in a stable mode, here the challenge has been to teach Claude how a new type of software works, it keeps trying to snap back to systems that are already out there and widely deployed. It doesn't do "pioneering" at all, it needs a human to guide it. And the human guide has to be a developer with a lot of experience. </p> <p>What I desperately want to do is bootstrap a network of people who work at the level I'm working, and write about it. Taking ideas that are well-explored in software in the pre-AI period, and seeing what we can do that we couldn't before.</p> <p>The models have been getting increasingly better, you can really feel the difference. </p> <p>Next year promises to be better, if only via the improvements that will be made by the platform vendors, but it's likely that good app developers will be able to move the leading edge forward much more quickly and users should feel this, if all goes well, real soon now.</p> </description>
<pubDate>Wed, 02 Sep 2026 21:21:10 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/02/212110.html?title=myYearWithClaudeCode</link>
<guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/02/212110.html</guid>
<source:markdown>_Everyone is introducing themselves on the Berkman community mail list, at the beginning of the fall semester, and here's the story I am telling._ Good morning. My name is Dave Winer. I was at Berkman in 2003-04, worked on blogging, podcasting, RSS, political blogging and the connection to journalism. We had a couple of Bloggercons at Harvard, had a wonderful time, miss it terribly, wish we could have it back. I've spent the whole of this year working in Claude Code on a couple of programming projects, one which which I had been struggling with for a couple of years, coming up with a user interface for a Twitter-like system that runs on the web for real, without any of the limits that the silos have (that help them enforce the boundaries of the silo). Just using HTML, Markdown, RSS, WebSockets. Turns out you can make a pretty nice system, but the going is slow because it's just me and Claude, on the other hand, what a huge difference in territory we can cover. This is the kind of stuff that's never covered in the reporting, even when there are massive changes happening in how software is developed, people don't seem to be studying it. I'm sharing all I learn as I learn it on my blog -- at [scripting.com](http://scripting.com/). Also attempting a massive coding job at the same time, getting UserLand Frontier to run on current OSes. It's my life's work, but it was very much in danger of being lost, along with all the software I did before the web. Now we're close to getting it to run in a stable mode, here the challenge has been to teach Claude how a new type of software works, it keeps trying to snap back to systems that are already out there and widely deployed. It doesn't do "pioneering" at all, it needs a human to guide it. And the human guide has to be a developer with a lot of experience. What I desperately want to do is bootstrap a network of people who work at the level I'm working, and write about it. Taking ideas that are well-explored in software in the pre-AI period, and seeing what we can do that we couldn't before. The models have been getting increasingly better, you can really feel the difference. Next year promises to be better, if only via the improvements that will be made by the platform vendors, but it's likely that good app developers will be able to move the leading edge forward much more quickly and users should feel this, if all goes well, real soon now.</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="My year with Claude Code" created="Wed, 02 Sep 2026 21:21:10 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/02/212110.html">
<source:outline text="<i>Everyone is introducing themselves on the Berkman community mail list, at the beginning of the fall semester, and here's the story I am telling.</i>" created="Wed, 02 Sep 2026 21:21:27 GMT" image="https://imgs.scripting.com/2025/12/23/veritas.png" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/02/212110.html#a212127"/>
<source:outline text="Good morning. My name is Dave Winer. I was at Berkman in 2003-04, worked on blogging, podcasting, RSS, political blogging and the connection to journalism. We had a couple of Bloggercons at Harvard, had a wonderful time, miss it terribly, wish we could have it back." created="Wed, 02 Sep 2026 21:25:32 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/02/212110.html#a212532"/>
<source:outline text="I've spent the whole of this year working in Claude Code on a couple of programming projects, one which which I had been struggling with for a couple of years, coming up with a user interface for a Twitter-like system that runs on the web for real, without any of the limits that the silos have (that help them enforce the boundaries of the silo). Just using HTML, Markdown, RSS, WebSockets. Turns out you can make a pretty nice system, but the going is slow because it's just me and Claude, on the other hand, what a huge difference in territory we can cover. This is the kind of stuff that's never covered in the reporting, even when there are massive changes happening in how software is developed, people don't seem to be studying it. I'm sharing all I learn as I learn it on my blog -- at <a href="http://scripting.com/">scripting.com</a>." created="Wed, 02 Sep 2026 21:27:22 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/02/212110.html#a212722"/>
<source:outline text="Also attempting a massive coding job at the same time, getting UserLand Frontier to run on current OSes. It's my life's work, but it was very much in danger of being lost, along with all the software I did before the web. Now we're close to getting it to run in a stable mode, here the challenge has been to teach Claude how a new type of software works, it keeps trying to snap back to systems that are already out there and widely deployed. It doesn't do "pioneering" at all, it needs a human to guide it. And the human guide has to be a developer with a lot of experience." created="Wed, 02 Sep 2026 21:27:51 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/02/212110.html#a212751"/>
<source:outline text="What I desperately want to do is bootstrap a network of people who work at the level I'm working, and write about it. Taking ideas that are well-explored in software in the pre-AI period, and seeing what we can do that we couldn't before." created="Wed, 02 Sep 2026 21:29:42 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/02/212110.html#a212942"/>
<source:outline text="The models have been getting increasingly better, you can really feel the difference." created="Wed, 02 Sep 2026 21:29:15 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/02/212110.html#a212915"/>
<source:outline text="Next year promises to be better, if only via the improvements that will be made by the platform vendors, but it's likely that good app developers will be able to move the leading edge forward much more quickly and users should feel this, if all goes well, real soon now." created="Wed, 02 Sep 2026 21:30:00 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/02/212110.html#a213000"/>
</source:outline>
</item>
<item>
<description>The blogging tools for Bluesky should be able to publish on Bluesky.</description>
<pubDate>Tue, 01 Sep 2026 20:51:14 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/01.html#a205114</link>
<guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/01.html#a205114</guid>
<source:markdown>The blogging tools for Bluesky should be able to publish on Bluesky.</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="The blogging tools for Bluesky should be able to publish on Bluesky." created="Tue, 01 Sep 2026 20:51:14 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/01.html#a205114"/>
</item>
<item>
<description><img class="imgRightMargin" src="https://imgs.scripting.com/2020/05/02/lbj.png" border="0" style="float: right; padding-left: 25px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 15px;">Obama should have <a href="http://scripting.com/2022/06/24/141809.html?title=itShouldntBe63">seated Garland</a> if the Senate wouldn’t have a vote to advise and consent. Assume they consent. In the same way, the <a href="https://www.kentucky.gov/Pages/Activity-stream.aspx?n=GovernorBeshear&prId=2789">governor</a> of Kentucky should appoint a successor to McConnell unless someone can prove he’s actually alive. The Democrats always put up with Republican tricks like this one. I'm sure McConnell would appreciate the utility of his death, and the Republican lack of shame. Anything for a buck.</description>
<pubDate>Tue, 01 Sep 2026 20:10:30 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/01.html#a201030</link>
<guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/01.html#a201030</guid>
<source:markdown>Obama should have [seated Garland](http://scripting.com/2022/06/24/141809.html?title=itShouldntBe63) if the Senate wouldn’t have a vote to advise and consent. Assume they consent. In the same way, the [governor](https://www.kentucky.gov/Pages/Activity-stream.aspx?n=GovernorBeshear&prId=2789) of Kentucky should appoint a successor to McConnell unless someone can prove he’s actually alive. The Democrats always put up with Republican tricks like this one. I'm sure McConnell would appreciate the utility of his death, and the Republican lack of shame. Anything for a buck.</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="Obama should have <a href="http://scripting.com/2022/06/24/141809.html?title=itShouldntBe63">seated Garland</a> if the Senate wouldn’t have a vote to advise and consent. Assume they consent. In the same way, the <a href="https://www.kentucky.gov/Pages/Activity-stream.aspx?n=GovernorBeshear&prId=2789">governor</a> of Kentucky should appoint a successor to McConnell unless someone can prove he’s actually alive. The Democrats always put up with Republican tricks like this one. I'm sure McConnell would appreciate the utility of his death, and the Republican lack of shame. Anything for a buck." created="Tue, 01 Sep 2026 20:10:30 GMT" type="outline" image="https://imgs.scripting.com/2020/05/02/lbj.png" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/01.html#a201030"/>
</item>
<item>
<description>Creative computer people, consider consolidating all the different OSes and programming languages. Give humans a fair fight in competition with the AI's who have no trouble deeply understanding every syntax human designers have come up with, where it totally disadvantages us, who have much more limited memory.</description>
<pubDate>Tue, 01 Sep 2026 13:37:50 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/01.html#a133750</link>
<guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/01.html#a133750</guid>
<source:markdown>Creative computer people, consider consolidating all the different OSes and programming languages. Give humans a fair fight in competition with the AI's who have no trouble deeply understanding every syntax human designers have come up with, where it totally disadvantages us, who have much more limited memory.</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="Creative computer people, consider consolidating all the different OSes and programming languages. Give humans a fair fight in competition with the AI's who have no trouble deeply understanding every syntax human designers have come up with, where it totally disadvantages us, who have much more limited memory." created="Tue, 01 Sep 2026 13:37:50 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/01.html#a133750"/>
</item>
<item>
<description>If you View Source on a <a href="http://scripting.com/2026/08/31.html#a155649">fatpage</a>, scroll to the bottom, you'll see the code. <a href="http://scripting.com/fatpages/suites/slideShow.html">Example</a>. The idea is that the docs for the code are what you see in the browser. Maybe that's the way feeds should work too? Something to think about.</description>
<pubDate>Tue, 01 Sep 2026 13:17:05 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/01.html#a131705</link>
<guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/01.html#a131705</guid>
<source:markdown>If you View Source on a [fatpage](http://scripting.com/2026/08/31.html#a155649), scroll to the bottom, you'll see the code. [Example](http://scripting.com/fatpages/suites/slideShow.html). The idea is that the docs for the code are what you see in the browser. Maybe that's the way feeds should work too? Something to think about.</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="If you View Source on a <a href="http://scripting.com/2026/08/31.html#a155649">fatpage</a>, scroll to the bottom, you'll see the code. <a href="http://scripting.com/fatpages/suites/slideShow.html">Example</a>. The idea is that the docs for the code are what you see in the browser. Maybe that's the way feeds should work too? Something to think about." created="Tue, 01 Sep 2026 13:17:05 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/01.html#a131705"/>
</item>
<item>
<description><img class="imgRightMargin" src="https://imgs.scripting.com/2025/08/28/thinkDifferentBillboard.png" border="0" style="float: right; padding-left: 25px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 15px;">I begin the month of September for some reason, not feeling like working. And rather than succumb to the work ethos, I'm allowing myself to goof off with the same determination that I worked my ass of for so many years. I think the last time I felt like this was when I was a grad student in Madison. I had just fallen in love with a sweet, funny, cute and gorgeous undergrad. She was 19 and I was 22. We spent the last weeks of the fall semester goofing off, and as a result I had to stay in Madison over the holidays, to finish the work of the Compiler Design <a href="https://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~cs701-1/">course</a>, which was the gate for grad students, the hardest course. If you got through it with a decent grade, you got the degree. It was fun too -- except I missed my sweetheart. This time I don't know what the root is, but it's a good feeling. If I want to goof off, I can, no one will judge me, probably very few people even notice. I still expect to finish Frontier, and swing back around to FeedLand and RSS.chat, they have some important work to do, together. Maybe the reason is the thing I liked about making software is the actual making of it, which I delegate more and more to Claude Code. How would a great painter feel if they invented a computer that could write their "code" much more quickly, would Picasso have stopped painting just because Claude Code could do Picasso paintings faster? Today, Claude still will, if given a chance, throw out all of my orders and develop code in a non-Dave fashion. And it still acts as if between the two of us it's the only programmer, surprised when I want to actually write something myself. Maybe that's just my imagination? Or maybe that's the next project for me. A project where I write the code, and Claude helps out when I can't find a bug, or where I need to know something about a feature in a platform I've not worked on.</description>
<pubDate>Tue, 01 Sep 2026 13:05:57 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/01.html#a130557</link>
<guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/01.html#a130557</guid>
<source:markdown>I begin the month of September for some reason, not feeling like working. And rather than succumb to the work ethos, I'm allowing myself to goof off with the same determination that I worked my ass of for so many years. I think the last time I felt like this was when I was a grad student in Madison. I had just fallen in love with a sweet, funny, cute and gorgeous undergrad. She was 19 and I was 22. We spent the last weeks of the fall semester goofing off, and as a result I had to stay in Madison over the holidays, to finish the work of the Compiler Design [course](https://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~cs701-1/), which was the gate for grad students, the hardest course. If you got through it with a decent grade, you got the degree. It was fun too -- except I missed my sweetheart. This time I don't know what the root is, but it's a good feeling. If I want to goof off, I can, no one will judge me, probably very few people even notice. I still expect to finish Frontier, and swing back around to FeedLand and RSS.chat, they have some important work to do, together. Maybe the reason is the thing I liked about making software is the actual making of it, which I delegate more and more to Claude Code. How would a great painter feel if they invented a computer that could write their "code" much more quickly, would Picasso have stopped painting just because Claude Code could do Picasso paintings faster? Today, Claude still will, if given a chance, throw out all of my orders and develop code in a non-Dave fashion. And it still acts as if between the two of us it's the only programmer, surprised when I want to actually write something myself. Maybe that's just my imagination? Or maybe that's the next project for me. A project where I write the code, and Claude helps out when I can't find a bug, or where I need to know something about a feature in a platform I've not worked on.</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="I begin the month of September for some reason, not feeling like working. And rather than succumb to the work ethos, I'm allowing myself to goof off with the same determination that I worked my ass of for so many years. I think the last time I felt like this was when I was a grad student in Madison. I had just fallen in love with a sweet, funny, cute and gorgeous undergrad. She was 19 and I was 22. We spent the last weeks of the fall semester goofing off, and as a result I had to stay in Madison over the holidays, to finish the work of the Compiler Design <a href="https://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~cs701-1/">course</a>, which was the gate for grad students, the hardest course. If you got through it with a decent grade, you got the degree. It was fun too -- except I missed my sweetheart. This time I don't know what the root is, but it's a good feeling. If I want to goof off, I can, no one will judge me, probably very few people even notice. I still expect to finish Frontier, and swing back around to FeedLand and RSS.chat, they have some important work to do, together. Maybe the reason is the thing I liked about making software is the actual making of it, which I delegate more and more to Claude Code. How would a great painter feel if they invented a computer that could write their "code" much more quickly, would Picasso have stopped painting just because Claude Code could do Picasso paintings faster? Today, Claude still will, if given a chance, throw out all of my orders and develop code in a non-Dave fashion. And it still acts as if between the two of us it's the only programmer, surprised when I want to actually write something myself. Maybe that's just my imagination? Or maybe that's the next project for me. A project where I write the code, and Claude helps out when I can't find a bug, or where I need to know something about a feature in a platform I've not worked on." created="Tue, 01 Sep 2026 13:05:57 GMT" type="outline" image="https://imgs.scripting.com/2025/08/28/thinkDifferentBillboard.png" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/01.html#a130557"/>
</item>
<item>
<description><a href="https://github.com/scripting/Scripting-News/blob/master/blog/opml/2026/08.opml">OPML archive</a> for August 2026.</description>
<pubDate>Tue, 01 Sep 2026 13:33:23 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/01.html#a133323</link>
<guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/01.html#a133323</guid>
<source:markdown>[OPML archive](https://github.com/scripting/Scripting-News/blob/master/blog/opml/2026/08.opml) for August 2026.</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="<a href="https://github.com/scripting/Scripting-News/blob/master/blog/opml/2026/08.opml">OPML archive</a> for August 2026." created="Tue, 01 Sep 2026 13:33:23 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/01.html#a133323"/>
</item>
<item>
<title>Every writer everywhere</title>
<description><p><div class="divInlineImage"><center><img class="imgInline" src="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/01/writerAlways.png"></center>Understands.</div></p> </description>
<pubDate>Tue, 01 Sep 2026 20:26:29 GMT</pubDate>
<link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/01/202629.html?title=everyWriterEverywhere</link>
<guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/01/202629.html</guid>
<source:markdown> Understands.</source:markdown>
<source:outline text="Every writer everywhere" created="Tue, 01 Sep 2026 20:26:29 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/01/202629.html">
<source:outline text="Understands." created="Tue, 01 Sep 2026 20:26:36 GMT" inlineImage="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/01/writerAlways.png" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/01/202629.html#a202636"/>
</source:outline>
</item>
</channel>
</rss>
Raw text
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <!-- RSS generated by oldSchool v0.8.16 on Sat, 12 Sep 2026 22:26:13 GMT --> <rss version="2.0" xmlns:source="https://source.scripting.com/"> <channel> <title>Scripting News</title> <link>http://scripting.com/</link> <description>Dave Winer, OG blogger, podcaster, developed first apps in many categories. Old enough to know better. It's even worse than it appears.</description> <pubDate>Sat, 12 Sep 2026 22:13:53 GMT</pubDate> <language>en-us</language> <generator>oldSchool v0.8.16</generator> <copyright>&copy; copyright 1994-2026 Dave Winer.</copyright> <docs>http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/rss/rss.html</docs> <lastBuildDate>Sat, 12 Sep 2026 22:26:13 GMT</lastBuildDate> <cloud domain="rpc.rsscloud.io" port="5337" path="/pleaseNotify" registerProcedure="" protocol="http-post" /> <image> <title>Scripting News</title> <url>https://imgs.scripting.com/2025/06/04/curly.png</url> <link>http://scripting.com/</link> <description>Scripting News gets an image because it's part of a network that uses them. 6/4/25 by DW</description> </image> <source:account service="bluesky">@scripting.com</source:account> <source:account service="mastodon">@davew@mastodon.social</source:account> <source:account service="twitter">bullmancuso</source:account> <source:localTime>Sat, September 12, 2026 6:26 PM EDT</source:localTime> <source:self>http://scripting.com/rss.xml</source:self> <source:blogroll>https://feedland.social/opml?screenname=davewiner&catname=blogroll</source:blogroll> <item> <description><img class="imgRightMargin" src="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/12/plato.png" border="0" style="float: right; padding-left: 25px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 15px;"><a href="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/12/stringAddressToStringScreenshot.png">Screen shot</a> of new Frontier verb, string.addressToString, added yesterday. The comment at the head of the function explains. You're seeing it in the script editor in Atlantis. The Debug button is there to remind me that it's the biggest item on the todo list. We're now building the system that will make Frontier an easily updateable runtime. Once we're there I think we'll be at the summit of the mountain. We know how to work from that point. Find a bug? Fix it, test it, release it. We already have a backlog of parts to update. And it's great to have Claude here being the book keeper. It is imperfect, but it's way better than I am at managing details.</description> <pubDate>Sat, 12 Sep 2026 14:08:12 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/12.html#a140812</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/12.html#a140812</guid> <source:markdown>[Screen shot](https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/12/stringAddressToStringScreenshot.png) of new Frontier verb, string.addressToString, added yesterday. The comment at the head of the function explains. You're seeing it in the script editor in Atlantis. The Debug button is there to remind me that it's the biggest item on the todo list. We're now building the system that will make Frontier an easily updateable runtime. Once we're there I think we'll be at the summit of the mountain. We know how to work from that point. Find a bug? Fix it, test it, release it. We already have a backlog of parts to update. And it's great to have Claude here being the book keeper. It is imperfect, but it's way better than I am at managing details.</source:markdown> <source:outline text="<a href="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/12/stringAddressToStringScreenshot.png">Screen shot</a> of new Frontier verb, string.addressToString, added yesterday. The comment at the head of the function explains. You're seeing it in the script editor in Atlantis. The Debug button is there to remind me that it's the biggest item on the todo list. We're now building the system that will make Frontier an easily updateable runtime. Once we're there I think we'll be at the summit of the mountain. We know how to work from that point. Find a bug? Fix it, test it, release it. We already have a backlog of parts to update. And it's great to have Claude here being the book keeper. It is imperfect, but it's way better than I am at managing details." created="Sat, 12 Sep 2026 14:08:12 GMT" type="outline" image="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/12/plato.png" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/12.html#a140812"/> </item> <item> <description>It's like we're living in a science fiction movie. Some of us are working with the aliens. At first the journalists only fear was driven by their natural narcissism, all that matters is they get paid for their writing. Now all they can see is the much larger threat to humanity. What if the aliens decide to destroy humanity, or turn earth into a bypass on a freeway. In the movie I'm a scientist, played by Jeff Goldblum or Brad Pitt and my love interest is played by Julia Roberts, Jennifer Lawrence or Amy Adams and we're racing against time to really connect with the aliens who we are sure mean us well and offer the way past our myrid crises to get to the next stage of civilization. But wait, Bradley Whitford plays the evil politician trying to sell out the aliens to a food manufacturer who thinks they could make an excellent meat sauce for spaghetti.</description> <pubDate>Sat, 12 Sep 2026 22:13:53 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/12.html#a221353</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/12.html#a221353</guid> <source:markdown>It's like we're living in a science fiction movie. Some of us are working with the aliens. At first the journalists only fear was driven by their natural narcissism, all that matters is they get paid for their writing. Now all they can see is the much larger threat to humanity. What if the aliens decide to destroy humanity, or turn earth into a bypass on a freeway. In the movie I'm a scientist, played by Jeff Goldblum or Brad Pitt and my love interest is played by Julia Roberts, Jennifer Lawrence or Amy Adams and we're racing against time to really connect with the aliens who we are sure mean us well and offer the way past our myrid crises to get to the next stage of civilization. But wait, Bradley Whitford plays the evil politician trying to sell out the aliens to a food manufacturer who thinks they could make an excellent meat sauce for spaghetti.</source:markdown> <source:outline text="It's like we're living in a science fiction movie. Some of us are working with the aliens. At first the journalists only fear was driven by their natural narcissism, all that matters is they get paid for their writing. Now all they can see is the much larger threat to humanity. What if the aliens decide to destroy humanity, or turn earth into a bypass on a freeway. In the movie I'm a scientist, played by Jeff Goldblum or Brad Pitt and my love interest is played by Julia Roberts, Jennifer Lawrence or Amy Adams and we're racing against time to really connect with the aliens who we are sure mean us well and offer the way past our myrid crises to get to the next stage of civilization. But wait, Bradley Whitford plays the evil politician trying to sell out the aliens to a food manufacturer who thinks they could make an excellent meat sauce for spaghetti." created="Sat, 12 Sep 2026 22:13:53 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/12.html#a221353"/> </item> <item> <description>When people get to work with the new Frontier with Claude or some other AI tool, you can have it search in frontier.root based on a conversation with it. It can decide on its own where to look for prior art. I keep finding things like this now that I'm working in the new software.</description> <pubDate>Sat, 12 Sep 2026 15:57:08 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/12.html#a155708</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/12.html#a155708</guid> <source:markdown>When people get to work with the new Frontier with Claude or some other AI tool, you can have it search in frontier.root based on a conversation with it. It can decide on its own where to look for prior art. I keep finding things like this now that I'm working in the new software.</source:markdown> <source:outline text="When people get to work with the new Frontier with Claude or some other AI tool, you can have it search in frontier.root based on a conversation with it. It can decide on its own where to look for prior art. I keep finding things like this now that I'm working in the new software." created="Sat, 12 Sep 2026 15:57:08 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/12.html#a155708"/> </item> <item> <title>My two cents about WordPress</title> <description><p>Lots of stuff going on around WordPress for the last couple of years, and every bit of is a distraction from what I want to do to help the web get back on its feet. I remember how great it was when everything could hook into everything else. The web was like Unix. Today's "web" is like Disneyland. Safety first. Nothing interesting ever happens there. </p> <p>So ask me what I'd like to see WordPress do, and this is what I'd tell you. Start something new, don't change what you do with WordPress, it is what it is. It's a 20+ year old project with market problems. Most software doesn't even make it that far. </p> <p>The fresh start I'd like to see done is WordPress from the point of view of the web. The new mission is not about a dollar return on investment, rather it's measured by how much the web becomes Small Pieces Loosely Joined with All Parts Replaceable. How empowered are developers, not WordPress developers, but web developres. The more that's happening in the web, the better it will be for everyone, but especially WordPress. Why WordPress? Because as they say it's 89 percent of the web. The web is like a huge oil spill that has never been cleaned up. Everything has to improve if we start work on cleaning up the messes. </p> <p>I come from NYC where all the bodies of water were cesspools when I was growing up. The Hudson River had garbage floating in it. When I went to school the incinerators in the buildings we lived in burned garbage on the kids, all nicely washed and dressed by our mothers, we arrived at school smelling like smokers. My grandfather took me to Knicks games at the Garden, and the arena was filled with smoke by half-time. </p> <p>We <i>can</i> clean things up. Humans as a species are good at this if we put our minds to it. If you made billions on the web, why not put some of it to use in making it a web worth using. I used to say shit like this to Bill Gates, to no avail. He liked to point out he was going to give away all his money when he retired, and he kept that promise. But what if he started dealing with the world with charity when he had the biggest seat of power in the tech world? Think of how much more good he could have done. </p> </description> <pubDate>Sat, 12 Sep 2026 14:38:22 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/12/143822.html?title=myTwoCentsAboutWordpress</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/12/143822.html</guid> <source:markdown>Lots of stuff going on around WordPress for the last couple of years, and every bit of is a distraction from what I want to do to help the web get back on its feet. I remember how great it was when everything could hook into everything else. The web was like Unix. Today's "web" is like Disneyland. Safety first. Nothing interesting ever happens there. So ask me what I'd like to see WordPress do, and this is what I'd tell you. Start something new, don't change what you do with WordPress, it is what it is. It's a 20+ year old project with market problems. Most software doesn't even make it that far. The fresh start I'd like to see done is WordPress from the point of view of the web. The new mission is not about a dollar return on investment, rather it's measured by how much the web becomes Small Pieces Loosely Joined with All Parts Replaceable. How empowered are developers, not WordPress developers, but web developres. The more that's happening in the web, the better it will be for everyone, but especially WordPress. Why WordPress? Because as they say it's 89 percent of the web. The web is like a huge oil spill that has never been cleaned up. Everything has to improve if we start work on cleaning up the messes. I come from NYC where all the bodies of water were cesspools when I was growing up. The Hudson River had garbage floating in it. When I went to school the incinerators in the buildings we lived in burned garbage on the kids, all nicely washed and dressed by our mothers, we arrived at school smelling like smokers. My grandfather took me to Knicks games at the Garden, and the arena was filled with smoke by half-time. We _can_ clean things up. Humans as a species are good at this if we put our minds to it. If you made billions on the web, why not put some of it to use in making it a web worth using. I used to say shit like this to Bill Gates, to no avail. He liked to point out he was going to give away all his money when he retired, and he kept that promise. But what if he started dealing with the world with charity when he had the biggest seat of power in the tech world? Think of how much more good he could have done.</source:markdown> <source:outline text="My two cents about WordPress" created="Sat, 12 Sep 2026 14:38:22 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/12/143822.html"> <source:outline text="Lots of stuff going on around WordPress for the last couple of years, and every bit of is a distraction from what I want to do to help the web get back on its feet. I remember how great it was when everything could hook into everything else. The web was like Unix. Today's "web" is like Disneyland. Safety first. Nothing interesting ever happens there." created="Sat, 12 Sep 2026 14:34:11 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/12/143822.html#a143411"/> <source:outline text="So ask me what I'd like to see WordPress do, and this is what I'd tell you. Start something new, don't change what you do with WordPress, it is what it is. It's a 20+ year old project with market problems. Most software doesn't even make it that far." created="Sat, 12 Sep 2026 14:42:06 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/12/143822.html#a144206"/> <source:outline text="The fresh start I'd like to see done is WordPress from the point of view of the web. The new mission is not about a dollar return on investment, rather it's measured by how much the web becomes Small Pieces Loosely Joined with All Parts Replaceable. How empowered are developers, not WordPress developers, but web developres. The more that's happening in the web, the better it will be for everyone, but especially WordPress. Why WordPress? Because as they say it's 89 percent of the web. The web is like a huge oil spill that has never been cleaned up. Everything has to improve if we start work on cleaning up the messes." created="Sat, 12 Sep 2026 14:42:25 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/12/143822.html#a144225"/> <source:outline text="I come from NYC where all the bodies of water were cesspools when I was growing up. The Hudson River had garbage floating in it. When I went to school the incinerators in the buildings we lived in burned garbage on the kids, all nicely washed and dressed by our mothers, we arrived at school smelling like smokers. My grandfather took me to Knicks games at the Garden, and the arena was filled with smoke by half-time." created="Sat, 12 Sep 2026 14:38:45 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/12/143822.html#a143845"/> <source:outline text="We <i>can</i> clean things up. Humans as a species are good at this if we put our minds to it. If you made billions on the web, why not put some of it to use in making it a web worth using. I used to say shit like this to Bill Gates, to no avail. He liked to point out he was going to give away all his money when he retired, and he kept that promise. But what if he started dealing with the world with charity when he had the biggest seat of power in the tech world? Think of how much more good he could have done." created="Sat, 12 Sep 2026 14:44:32 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/12/143822.html#a144432"/> </source:outline> </item> <item> <title>Progress report on Atlantis project</title> <description><p><img class="imgRightMargin" src="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/12/plato.png" border="0" style="float: right; padding-left: 25px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 15px;">The world may be falling apart, and <a href="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/12/howAreTheMetsDoing.png?nodialog">the Mets suck</a> even though they have the most expensive roster in MLB, and my house needs work and I can't find a contractor I like, but I'm in a <b>great</b> mood. Partially because the weather is so nice, chilly in the morning, but it gets up to the 70s during the day, and the sky is clear and we had a lot of rain in August so everything is very green here in the Catskills.</p> <p>But the biggest reason I feel so good is that, with the help of Claude Code, I now have <a href="http://frontier.userland.com/">UserLand Frontier</a> running on current OSes. I had no idea how much the previous situation had been weighing on me. I am probably the last Frontier user in the world. Porting the open source codebase was an insurmountable job. It took 15 years by up to five people working on it to do the original project. It's a big f'ing piece of software. And it also is my life's work, but not one of the things I'm known for.</p> <p>Claude couldn't have done it on its own because it had never seen anything like Frontier. We weren't copying something Claude understood. It kept trying to turn it into a language that fits into the same slot as Python. That was the prior art it used, without saying so. This happened over and over, for example, I realized Claude didn't understand that built-in verbs could be written in the language, and that users could add or even modify standard verbs (not recommended!).</p> <p>What made Frontier unusual is that it was a language developed by someone who also designed end-user apps, so it has affordances that no other language has. And integrations. You don't have to save your data in files, the OS (yes Frontier is an OS) has persistent memory with the common scalar types and data structures. So go ahead and store something in the ODB (object database). It can be huge, and you don't have to read anything into memory, it's all right there as soon as you boot it up. That alone makes programming an order of magnitude simpler. </p> <p>We're at the point now where I can work a full day in the new version, codenamed <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantis_(disambiguation)">Atlantis</a>, running on anything that can run an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electron_(software_framework)">Electron</a> app. We're now at the point where we're improving things. Found a missing verb yesterday, and Claude and I implemented it, found a perfect name for it, and later today it will go out as a "root update" making it formally part of the freaking language. </p> <p>And yesterday we also found a static rendering of the <a href="http://docserver.userland.com/string/nthField">DocServer site</a>, which has a page for every verb in the language. I still want to find the outline source for this stuff, but we don't need it because Claude can reconstruct the OPML version of the text from the HTML, it's exactly the kind of project it is the best at. Huge amounts of data, that sometimes requires a little judgment to process. </p> <p>The feeling of well-being comes from realizing that my life's work lives. Until this last week that was still very much in question.</p> <p>Now, I may not be software's Shakespeare or even Faulkner or Vonnegut, but I am proud of this product, more than anything else I've done. I started work on it when I learned from C how to design a simple beautiful language, and when I learned from Macintosh how to build a UI with the same simplicity. When we were first contemplating Frontier it was to join the wizzy world of the Mac with the scripting philosophy of Unix. We didn't stop until we had it. </p> <p>Well here we are god knows how many years later (I don't want to do the math) and once again it has a future, at least as bright as it had when the product first launched on the System 6 Macintosh in 1992.</p> <p>And btw, I think I've had a unique experience with AI development. Absolutely in no way could I have done this project without the muscle of Claude. Pretty sure this is a unique project in that it's a fully specified system development and runtime environment that otherwise wouldn't exist, because there's nothing else like it on the market. </p> <p>Claude's repeatedly not understanding the idea says to me that it has never encountered anything like it. It also says that Claude has no clue how to extrapolate, to innovate, to arrive at something new. Just as with other forms of creativity, Claude is no match for a determined and experienced human. </p> <p>That would be reassuring to the 20-something version of myself who very much wanted to do something new. And the older version of myself wants that for my younger self who is sending the good body chemistry to our current older body.</p> <p>Of course this will be a post on my blog, http://scripting.com, but thanks to X for supporting longer posts. I like writing new stuff in a simple editor like this one. Also posted it on Facebook. </p> <p>PS: I also like that they use the word <a href="http://scripting.com/2021/01/04/140651.html?title=whatFrontierIsAbout">Frontier</a> in reference to AI products. They can't stop me from calling this Frontier, I've been using it as the name of this product since I came up with the name riding up on the chair in Park City in 1988. :-)</p> </description> <pubDate>Sat, 12 Sep 2026 13:15:27 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/12/131527.html?title=progressReportOnAtlantisProject</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/12/131527.html</guid> <source:markdown>The world may be falling apart, and [the Mets suck](https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/12/howAreTheMetsDoing.png?nodialog) even though they have the most expensive roster in MLB, and my house needs work and I can't find a contractor I like, but I'm in a **great** mood. Partially because the weather is so nice, chilly in the morning, but it gets up to the 70s during the day, and the sky is clear and we had a lot of rain in August so everything is very green here in the Catskills. But the biggest reason I feel so good is that, with the help of Claude Code, I now have [UserLand Frontier](http://frontier.userland.com/) running on current OSes. I had no idea how much the previous situation had been weighing on me. I am probably the last Frontier user in the world. Porting the open source codebase was an insurmountable job. It took 15 years by up to five people working on it to do the original project. It's a big f'ing piece of software. And it also is my life's work, but not one of the things I'm known for. Claude couldn't have done it on its own because it had never seen anything like Frontier. We weren't copying something Claude understood. It kept trying to turn it into a language that fits into the same slot as Python. That was the prior art it used, without saying so. This happened over and over, for example, I realized Claude didn't understand that built-in verbs could be written in the language, and that users could add or even modify standard verbs (not recommended!). What made Frontier unusual is that it was a language developed by someone who also designed end-user apps, so it has affordances that no other language has. And integrations. You don't have to save your data in files, the OS (yes Frontier is an OS) has persistent memory with the common scalar types and data structures. So go ahead and store something in the ODB (object database). It can be huge, and you don't have to read anything into memory, it's all right there as soon as you boot it up. That alone makes programming an order of magnitude simpler. We're at the point now where I can work a full day in the new version, codenamed [Atlantis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantis_\(disambiguation\)), running on anything that can run an [Electron](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electron_\(software_framework\)) app. We're now at the point where we're improving things. Found a missing verb yesterday, and Claude and I implemented it, found a perfect name for it, and later today it will go out as a "root update" making it formally part of the freaking language. And yesterday we also found a static rendering of the [DocServer site](http://docserver.userland.com/string/nthField), which has a page for every verb in the language. I still want to find the outline source for this stuff, but we don't need it because Claude can reconstruct the OPML version of the text from the HTML, it's exactly the kind of project it is the best at. Huge amounts of data, that sometimes requires a little judgment to process. The feeling of well-being comes from realizing that my life's work lives. Until this last week that was still very much in question. Now, I may not be software's Shakespeare or even Faulkner or Vonnegut, but I am proud of this product, more than anything else I've done. I started work on it when I learned from C how to design a simple beautiful language, and when I learned from Macintosh how to build a UI with the same simplicity. When we were first contemplating Frontier it was to join the wizzy world of the Mac with the scripting philosophy of Unix. We didn't stop until we had it. Well here we are god knows how many years later (I don't want to do the math) and once again it has a future, at least as bright as it had when the product first launched on the System 6 Macintosh in 1992. And btw, I think I've had a unique experience with AI development. Absolutely in no way could I have done this project without the muscle of Claude. Pretty sure this is a unique project in that it's a fully specified system development and runtime environment that otherwise wouldn't exist, because there's nothing else like it on the market. Claude's repeatedly not understanding the idea says to me that it has never encountered anything like it. It also says that Claude has no clue how to extrapolate, to innovate, to arrive at something new. Just as with other forms of creativity, Claude is no match for a determined and experienced human. That would be reassuring to the 20-something version of myself who very much wanted to do something new. And the older version of myself wants that for my younger self who is sending the good body chemistry to our current older body. Of course this will be a post on my blog, http://scripting.com, but thanks to X for supporting longer posts. I like writing new stuff in a simple editor like this one. Also posted it on Facebook. PS: I also like that they use the word [Frontier](http://scripting.com/2021/01/04/140651.html?title=whatFrontierIsAbout) in reference to AI products. They can't stop me from calling this Frontier, I've been using it as the name of this product since I came up with the name riding up on the chair in Park City in 1988. :-)</source:markdown> <source:outline text="Progress report on Atlantis project" created="Sat, 12 Sep 2026 13:15:27 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/12/131527.html"> <source:outline text="The world may be falling apart, and <a href="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/12/howAreTheMetsDoing.png?nodialog">the Mets suck</a> even though they have the most expensive roster in MLB, and my house needs work and I can't find a contractor I like, but I'm in a <b>great</b> mood. Partially because the weather is so nice, chilly in the morning, but it gets up to the 70s during the day, and the sky is clear and we had a lot of rain in August so everything is very green here in the Catskills." created="Sat, 12 Sep 2026 13:17:35 GMT" image="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/12/plato.png" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/12/131527.html#a131735"/> <source:outline text="But the biggest reason I feel so good is that, with the help of Claude Code, I now have <a href="http://frontier.userland.com/">UserLand Frontier</a> running on current OSes. I had no idea how much the previous situation had been weighing on me. I am probably the last Frontier user in the world. Porting the open source codebase was an insurmountable job. It took 15 years by up to five people working on it to do the original project. It's a big f'ing piece of software. And it also is my life's work, but not one of the things I'm known for." created="Sat, 12 Sep 2026 13:17:45 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/12/131527.html#a131745"/> <source:outline text="Claude couldn't have done it on its own because it had never seen anything like Frontier. We weren't copying something Claude understood. It kept trying to turn it into a language that fits into the same slot as Python. That was the prior art it used, without saying so. This happened over and over, for example, I realized Claude didn't understand that built-in verbs could be written in the language, and that users could add or even modify standard verbs (not recommended!)." created="Sat, 12 Sep 2026 13:19:25 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/12/131527.html#a131925"/> <source:outline text="What made Frontier unusual is that it was a language developed by someone who also designed end-user apps, so it has affordances that no other language has. And integrations. You don't have to save your data in files, the OS (yes Frontier is an OS) has persistent memory with the common scalar types and data structures. So go ahead and store something in the ODB (object database). It can be huge, and you don't have to read anything into memory, it's all right there as soon as you boot it up. That alone makes programming an order of magnitude simpler." created="Sat, 12 Sep 2026 13:25:25 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/12/131527.html#a132525"/> <source:outline text="We're at the point now where I can work a full day in the new version, codenamed <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantis_(disambiguation)">Atlantis</a>, running on anything that can run an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electron_(software_framework)">Electron</a> app. We're now at the point where we're improving things. Found a missing verb yesterday, and Claude and I implemented it, found a perfect name for it, and later today it will go out as a "root update" making it formally part of the freaking language." created="Sat, 12 Sep 2026 13:25:45 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/12/131527.html#a132545"/> <source:outline text="And yesterday we also found a static rendering of the <a href="http://docserver.userland.com/string/nthField">DocServer site</a>, which has a page for every verb in the language. I still want to find the outline source for this stuff, but we don't need it because Claude can reconstruct the OPML version of the text from the HTML, it's exactly the kind of project it is the best at. Huge amounts of data, that sometimes requires a little judgment to process." created="Sat, 12 Sep 2026 13:27:51 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/12/131527.html#a132751"/> <source:outline text="The feeling of well-being comes from realizing that my life's work lives. Until this last week that was still very much in question." flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/12/131527.html#aNaNNaNNaN"/> <source:outline text="Now, I may not be software's Shakespeare or even Faulkner or Vonnegut, but I am proud of this product, more than anything else I've done. I started work on it when I learned from C how to design a simple beautiful language, and when I learned from Macintosh how to build a UI with the same simplicity. When we were first contemplating Frontier it was to join the wizzy world of the Mac with the scripting philosophy of Unix. We didn't stop until we had it." created="Sat, 12 Sep 2026 13:29:54 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/12/131527.html#a132954"/> <source:outline text="Well here we are god knows how many years later (I don't want to do the math) and once again it has a future, at least as bright as it had when the product first launched on the System 6 Macintosh in 1992." flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/12/131527.html#aNaNNaNNaN"/> <source:outline text="And btw, I think I've had a unique experience with AI development. Absolutely in no way could I have done this project without the muscle of Claude. Pretty sure this is a unique project in that it's a fully specified system development and runtime environment that otherwise wouldn't exist, because there's nothing else like it on the market." flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/12/131527.html#aNaNNaNNaN"/> <source:outline text="Claude's repeatedly not understanding the idea says to me that it has never encountered anything like it. It also says that Claude has no clue how to extrapolate, to innovate, to arrive at something new. Just as with other forms of creativity, Claude is no match for a determined and experienced human." flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/12/131527.html#aNaNNaNNaN"/> <source:outline text="That would be reassuring to the 20-something version of myself who very much wanted to do something new. And the older version of myself wants that for my younger self who is sending the good body chemistry to our current older body." flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/12/131527.html#aNaNNaNNaN"/> <source:outline text="Of course this will be a post on my blog, http://scripting.com, but thanks to X for supporting longer posts. I like writing new stuff in a simple editor like this one. Also posted it on Facebook." flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/12/131527.html#aNaNNaNNaN"/> <source:outline text="PS: I also like that they use the word <a href="http://scripting.com/2021/01/04/140651.html?title=whatFrontierIsAbout">Frontier</a> in reference to AI products. They can't stop me from calling this Frontier, I've been using it as the name of this product since I came up with the name riding up on the chair in Park City in 1988. :-)" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/12/131527.html#aNaNNaNNaN"/> </source:outline> </item> <item> <title>Remembering 9/11/2001</title> <description><p><a href="http://scripting.com/2001/09/11.html">Scripting News</a> on 9/11/2001.</p> <p><img class="imgRightMargin" src="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/11/911wasteland.png" border="0" style="float: right; padding-left: 25px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 15px;">All of us who lived through 9/11 are re-experiencing it right now. The local fire department just ran its alarm, everyone in this small mountain hamlet heard it and it took a moment to realize this was the exact time the first plane hit the tower. I was at my computer in Woodside, California -- hearing about it from friends in Manhattan, and blogging about it as it happened. I didn't have a TV, I had turned my cable subscription off after I became so obsessed with coverage of the 2000 election. So what I reported came exclusively through the web. </p> <p>New York-based journalists were off the air, they had the same tools as we did, but their lives were upturned by the events. Everything was outwardly calm at my workstation in Calif. But there were people in NYC with digital cameras, and first-hand stories of survival. My own father was caught up in the catastrophe, his office was across from City Hall, a <a href="https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Pace+University,+One+Pace+Plaza,+New+York,+NY+10038/9%2F11+Memorial+%26+Museum,+180+Greenwich+St,+New+York,+NY+10007/@40.7111843,-74.0144059,2047m/data=!3m3!1e3!4b1!5s0x89c25a1a3bf26f61:0xe2320e12b6c6470c!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x89c258fe30a7b447:0x8a0a55f0a5fd1f1f!2m2!1d-74.0051758!2d40.7112562!1m5!1m1!1s0x89c25a1a3be8cb45:0xf430ccc5401d1eed!2m2!1d-74.0133362!2d40.7115776!3e2?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDkwOC4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D">few blocks</a> from ground zero. He walked home from ground zero to Queens and for hours we had no idea if he had lived or died. All forms of transportation and communication were offline.</p> <p>Cell coverage was spotty, and phone lines in NYC were unreliable. But there was a webcam in the Empire State Building that could be pointed at the World Trade Center, so we had a constant update of what was happening visually.</p> <p><a href="https://github.com/scripting/Scripting-News/issues/362">Links in my browser chrome</a>: As part of this little project to re-live 9/11 through the web, I came across a snapshot of the chrome of the browser I was using on 9/11. Since I'm working on Frontier again, I'm finding the dates of various projects all over this time, in UserTalk code and in the kernel, before and after. So I wrote up a little post on GitHub with info about what was on my screen that day. </p> <p>The full text of my interview with Amy Harmon of the NYT is on the 9/11/2001 page. We didn't have post-level permalinks in 2001 yet.</p> <p>If you have an X account, <a href="https://x.com/davewiner/status/2098393612862017707">comment here</a>. </p> <p>Mayor Mamdami's <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:nx7znvoex7ev3wcxn3tipovm/post/3mvacyv3pv224">remembrance</a> of 9/11.</p> <p>New header <a href="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/11/manhattanFromJersey.png?nodialog">image</a> for this event.</p> <p><div class="divInlineImage"><center><img class="imgInline" src="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/11/nytExcerpt.png"></center><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/12/us/a-day-of-terror-the-talk-online-web-offers-both-news-and-comfort.html?unlocked_article_code=1.AVE.R-ln.fBrHrjiu7Me3&smid=url-share">NYT on 9/12/2001</a>: "The world's changed."</div></p> <p><div class="divInlineImage"><center><img class="imgInline" src="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/11/sn911screen.png"></center><a href="http://scripting.com/2001/09/11.html">Link</a> to Scripting News for 9/11/2001.</div></p> <p><div class="divInlineImage"><center><img class="imgInline" src="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/11/inlineImageWebcam.png"></center><a href="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/11/fullsizewebcamscreen.png">Screen shot</a> of webcam on the Empire State Bulding.</div></p> </description> <pubDate>Fri, 11 Sep 2026 13:22:05 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/11/132205.html?title=remembering9112001</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/11/132205.html</guid> <source:markdown>[Scripting News](http://scripting.com/2001/09/11.html) on 9/11/2001. All of us who lived through 9/11 are re-experiencing it right now. The local fire department just ran its alarm, everyone in this small mountain hamlet heard it and it took a moment to realize this was the exact time the first plane hit the tower. I was at my computer in Woodside, California -- hearing about it from friends in Manhattan, and blogging about it as it happened. I didn't have a TV, I had turned my cable subscription off after I became so obsessed with coverage of the 2000 election. So what I reported came exclusively through the web. New York-based journalists were off the air, they had the same tools as we did, but their lives were upturned by the events. Everything was outwardly calm at my workstation in Calif. But there were people in NYC with digital cameras, and first-hand stories of survival. My own father was caught up in the catastrophe, his office was across from City Hall, a [few blocks](https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Pace+University,+One+Pace+Plaza,+New+York,+NY+10038/9%2F11+Memorial+%26+Museum,+180+Greenwich+St,+New+York,+NY+10007/@40.7111843,-74.0144059,2047m/data=!3m3!1e3!4b1!5s0x89c25a1a3bf26f61:0xe2320e12b6c6470c!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x89c258fe30a7b447:0x8a0a55f0a5fd1f1f!2m2!1d-74.0051758!2d40.7112562!1m5!1m1!1s0x89c25a1a3be8cb45:0xf430ccc5401d1eed!2m2!1d-74.0133362!2d40.7115776!3e2?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDkwOC4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D) from ground zero. He walked home from ground zero to Queens and for hours we had no idea if he had lived or died. All forms of transportation and communication were offline. Cell coverage was spotty, and phone lines in NYC were unreliable. But there was a webcam in the Empire State Building that could be pointed at the World Trade Center, so we had a constant update of what was happening visually. [Links in my browser chrome](https://github.com/scripting/Scripting-News/issues/362): As part of this little project to re-live 9/11 through the web, I came across a snapshot of the chrome of the browser I was using on 9/11. Since I'm working on Frontier again, I'm finding the dates of various projects all over this time, in UserTalk code and in the kernel, before and after. So I wrote up a little post on GitHub with info about what was on my screen that day. The full text of my interview with Amy Harmon of the NYT is on the 9/11/2001 page. We didn't have post-level permalinks in 2001 yet. If you have an X account, [comment here](https://x.com/davewiner/status/2098393612862017707). Mayor Mamdami's [remembrance](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:nx7znvoex7ev3wcxn3tipovm/post/3mvacyv3pv224) of 9/11. New header [image](https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/11/manhattanFromJersey.png?nodialog) for this event.  [NYT on 9/12/2001](https://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/12/us/a-day-of-terror-the-talk-online-web-offers-both-news-and-comfort.html?unlocked_article_code=1.AVE.R-ln.fBrHrjiu7Me3&smid=url-share): "The world's changed."  [Link](http://scripting.com/2001/09/11.html) to Scripting News for 9/11/2001.  [Screen shot](https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/11/fullsizewebcamscreen.png) of webcam on the Empire State Bulding.</source:markdown> <source:outline text="Remembering 9/11/2001" created="Fri, 11 Sep 2026 13:22:05 GMT" type="outline" metaImage="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/11/manhattanFromJersey.png" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/11/132205.html"> <source:outline text="<a href="http://scripting.com/2001/09/11.html">Scripting News</a> on 9/11/2001." created="Fri, 11 Sep 2026 13:53:21 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/11/132205.html#a135321"/> <source:outline text="All of us who lived through 9/11 are re-experiencing it right now. The local fire department just ran its alarm, everyone in this small mountain hamlet heard it and it took a moment to realize this was the exact time the first plane hit the tower. I was at my computer in Woodside, California -- hearing about it from friends in Manhattan, and blogging about it as it happened. I didn't have a TV, I had turned my cable subscription off after I became so obsessed with coverage of the 2000 election. So what I reported came exclusively through the web." created="Fri, 11 Sep 2026 14:02:55 GMT" image="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/11/911wasteland.png" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/11/132205.html#a140255"/> <source:outline text="New York-based journalists were off the air, they had the same tools as we did, but their lives were upturned by the events. Everything was outwardly calm at my workstation in Calif. But there were people in NYC with digital cameras, and first-hand stories of survival. My own father was caught up in the catastrophe, his office was across from City Hall, a <a href="https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Pace+University,+One+Pace+Plaza,+New+York,+NY+10038/9%2F11+Memorial+%26+Museum,+180+Greenwich+St,+New+York,+NY+10007/@40.7111843,-74.0144059,2047m/data=!3m3!1e3!4b1!5s0x89c25a1a3bf26f61:0xe2320e12b6c6470c!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x89c258fe30a7b447:0x8a0a55f0a5fd1f1f!2m2!1d-74.0051758!2d40.7112562!1m5!1m1!1s0x89c25a1a3be8cb45:0xf430ccc5401d1eed!2m2!1d-74.0133362!2d40.7115776!3e2?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDkwOC4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D">few blocks</a> from ground zero. He walked home from ground zero to Queens and for hours we had no idea if he had lived or died. All forms of transportation and communication were offline." created="Fri, 11 Sep 2026 14:03:47 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/11/132205.html#a140347"/> <source:outline text="Cell coverage was spotty, and phone lines in NYC were unreliable. But there was a webcam in the Empire State Building that could be pointed at the World Trade Center, so we had a constant update of what was happening visually." created="Fri, 11 Sep 2026 14:08:24 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/11/132205.html#a140824"/> <source:outline text="<a href="https://github.com/scripting/Scripting-News/issues/362">Links in my browser chrome</a>: As part of this little project to re-live 9/11 through the web, I came across a snapshot of the chrome of the browser I was using on 9/11. Since I'm working on Frontier again, I'm finding the dates of various projects all over this time, in UserTalk code and in the kernel, before and after. So I wrote up a little post on GitHub with info about what was on my screen that day." created="Fri, 11 Sep 2026 14:50:49 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/11/132205.html#a145049"/> <source:outline text="The full text of my interview with Amy Harmon of the NYT is on the 9/11/2001 page. We didn't have post-level permalinks in 2001 yet." created="Fri, 11 Sep 2026 14:12:27 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/11/132205.html#a141227"/> <source:outline text="If you have an X account, <a href="https://x.com/davewiner/status/2098393612862017707">comment here</a>." created="Fri, 11 Sep 2026 17:29:14 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/11/132205.html#a172914"/> <source:outline text="Mayor Mamdami's <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:nx7znvoex7ev3wcxn3tipovm/post/3mvacyv3pv224">remembrance</a> of 9/11." created="Fri, 11 Sep 2026 13:24:09 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/11/132205.html#a132409"/> <source:outline text="New header <a href="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/11/manhattanFromJersey.png?nodialog">image</a> for this event." created="Fri, 11 Sep 2026 13:57:55 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/11/132205.html#a135755"/> <source:outline text="<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/12/us/a-day-of-terror-the-talk-online-web-offers-both-news-and-comfort.html?unlocked_article_code=1.AVE.R-ln.fBrHrjiu7Me3&smid=url-share">NYT on 9/12/2001</a>: "The world's changed."" created="Fri, 11 Sep 2026 13:49:02 GMT" inlineImage="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/11/nytExcerpt.png" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/11/132205.html#a134902"/> <source:outline text="<a href="http://scripting.com/2001/09/11.html">Link</a> to Scripting News for 9/11/2001." created="Fri, 11 Sep 2026 13:41:37 GMT" inlineImage="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/11/sn911screen.png" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/11/132205.html#a134137"/> <source:outline text="<a href="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/11/fullsizewebcamscreen.png">Screen shot</a> of webcam on the Empire State Bulding." created="Fri, 11 Sep 2026 13:22:10 GMT" inlineImage="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/11/inlineImageWebcam.png" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/11/132205.html#a132210"/> </source:outline> </item> <item> <description>I almost fell for a <a href="https://x.com/davewiner/status/2098107496804082135">phishing hack</a>.</description> <pubDate>Thu, 10 Sep 2026 17:53:32 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/10.html#a175332</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/10.html#a175332</guid> <source:markdown>I almost fell for a [phishing hack](https://x.com/davewiner/status/2098107496804082135).</source:markdown> <source:outline text="I almost fell for a <a href="https://x.com/davewiner/status/2098107496804082135">phishing hack</a>." created="Thu, 10 Sep 2026 17:53:32 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/10.html#a175332"/> </item> <item> <description><a href="https://www.therepository.email/automattic-board-forces-matt-mullenweg-on-leave-names-cfo-mark-davies-as-interim-ceo">Repository</a>: BlackRock’s latest SEC filing values its Automattic shares at $14.33 per share. They originally invested at $85 a share in 2021. That means their market cap has dropped from $7.5 billion to $1.2 billion. My guess is when that happens the CEO if they want to keep their job, has to rethink the whole enterprise. And that usually doesn't happen until they get a new CEO. My guess is that's what we saw play out yesterday.</description> <pubDate>Thu, 10 Sep 2026 14:24:06 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/10.html#a142406</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/10.html#a142406</guid> <source:markdown>[Repository](https://www.therepository.email/automattic-board-forces-matt-mullenweg-on-leave-names-cfo-mark-davies-as-interim-ceo): BlackRock’s latest SEC filing values its Automattic shares at $14.33 per share. They originally invested at $85 a share in 2021. That means their market cap has dropped from $7.5 billion to $1.2 billion. My guess is when that happens the CEO if they want to keep their job, has to rethink the whole enterprise. And that usually doesn't happen until they get a new CEO. My guess is that's what we saw play out yesterday.</source:markdown> <source:outline text="<a href="https://www.therepository.email/automattic-board-forces-matt-mullenweg-on-leave-names-cfo-mark-davies-as-interim-ceo">Repository</a>: BlackRock’s latest SEC filing values its Automattic shares at $14.33 per share. They originally invested at $85 a share in 2021. That means their market cap has dropped from $7.5 billion to $1.2 billion. My guess is when that happens the CEO if they want to keep their job, has to rethink the whole enterprise. And that usually doesn't happen until they get a new CEO. My guess is that's what we saw play out yesterday." created="Thu, 10 Sep 2026 14:24:06 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/10.html#a142406"/> </item> <item> <description><img class="imgRightMargin" src="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/08/30/silo.png" border="0" style="float: right; padding-left: 25px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 15px;">The last two episodes of season three of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silo_(TV_series)">Silo</a> on AppleTV prove that there is value in a three season, boring escapade of confusing, unlikable uninteresting characters, living their whole lives in a silo, fearing the outdoors -- if you have a clever way of accounting for all that at the end. Highly recommend watching just season three and pretending that none of the other stuff matters because it probably doesn’t. But I bet if I go back to the beginning and start over, I'll find there's more intrigue than I thought. I'll probably do it, will let you know.</description> <pubDate>Thu, 10 Sep 2026 14:02:29 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/10.html#a140229</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/10.html#a140229</guid> <source:markdown>The last two episodes of season three of [Silo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silo_\(TV_series\)) on AppleTV prove that there is value in a three season, boring escapade of confusing, unlikable uninteresting characters, living their whole lives in a silo, fearing the outdoors -- if you have a clever way of accounting for all that at the end. Highly recommend watching just season three and pretending that none of the other stuff matters because it probably doesn’t. But I bet if I go back to the beginning and start over, I'll find there's more intrigue than I thought. I'll probably do it, will let you know.</source:markdown> <source:outline text="The last two episodes of season three of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silo_(TV_series)">Silo</a> on AppleTV prove that there is value in a three season, boring escapade of confusing, unlikable uninteresting characters, living their whole lives in a silo, fearing the outdoors -- if you have a clever way of accounting for all that at the end. Highly recommend watching just season three and pretending that none of the other stuff matters because it probably doesn’t. But I bet if I go back to the beginning and start over, I'll find there's more intrigue than I thought. I'll probably do it, will let you know." created="Thu, 10 Sep 2026 14:02:29 GMT" type="outline" image="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/08/30/silo.png" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/10.html#a140229"/> </item> <item> <description>WordPress emerged from the ashes of UserLand, something I am recently reacquainted with, working the last couple of months with Claude on a reboot of Frontier, this time written in JavaScript, running in Electron. But someone is sure to reboot Manila in this context, and Manila is at least a grandparent of WordPress. I'm following all kinds of trails as we test the product, codename <a href="https://daytona.scripting.com/search?q=atlantis">Atlantis</a>, against all the apps we wrote for it back then.</description> <pubDate>Thu, 10 Sep 2026 17:23:11 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/10.html#a172311</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/10.html#a172311</guid> <source:markdown>WordPress emerged from the ashes of UserLand, something I am recently reacquainted with, working the last couple of months with Claude on a reboot of Frontier, this time written in JavaScript, running in Electron. But someone is sure to reboot Manila in this context, and Manila is at least a grandparent of WordPress. I'm following all kinds of trails as we test the product, codename [Atlantis](https://daytona.scripting.com/search?q=atlantis), against all the apps we wrote for it back then.</source:markdown> <source:outline text="WordPress emerged from the ashes of UserLand, something I am recently reacquainted with, working the last couple of months with Claude on a reboot of Frontier, this time written in JavaScript, running in Electron. But someone is sure to reboot Manila in this context, and Manila is at least a grandparent of WordPress. I'm following all kinds of trails as we test the product, codename <a href="https://daytona.scripting.com/search?q=atlantis">Atlantis</a>, against all the apps we wrote for it back then." created="Thu, 10 Sep 2026 17:23:11 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/10.html#a172311"/> </item> <item> <description><a href="http://scripting.com/2017/09/10.html#a114000">2017</a>: The thing people don't realize about storm surge, and they don't really explain it on TV, is this. If the ocean surges 1 mile inland, and you were on the beach before the surge, now you're 1 mile out to sea. In normal times you'd be pretty fucked if someone dropped you in the ocean a mile from shore. But you're in a hurricane. Huge waves. There's no one to rescue you. And (this is the part that will kill you) there are deadly objects in the water like buildings and trees and power lines, even a rope can entangle you and make it impossible for you to swim. And if you can't swim and you're a mile from shore, that's the end of you</description> <pubDate>Thu, 10 Sep 2026 17:46:14 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/10.html#a174614</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/10.html#a174614</guid> <source:markdown>[2017](http://scripting.com/2017/09/10.html#a114000): The thing people don't realize about storm surge, and they don't really explain it on TV, is this. If the ocean surges 1 mile inland, and you were on the beach before the surge, now you're 1 mile out to sea. In normal times you'd be pretty fucked if someone dropped you in the ocean a mile from shore. But you're in a hurricane. Huge waves. There's no one to rescue you. And (this is the part that will kill you) there are deadly objects in the water like buildings and trees and power lines, even a rope can entangle you and make it impossible for you to swim. And if you can't swim and you're a mile from shore, that's the end of you</source:markdown> <source:outline text="<a href="http://scripting.com/2017/09/10.html#a114000">2017</a>: The thing people don't realize about storm surge, and they don't really explain it on TV, is this. If the ocean surges 1 mile inland, and you were on the beach before the surge, now you're 1 mile out to sea. In normal times you'd be pretty fucked if someone dropped you in the ocean a mile from shore. But you're in a hurricane. Huge waves. There's no one to rescue you. And (this is the part that will kill you) there are deadly objects in the water like buildings and trees and power lines, even a rope can entangle you and make it impossible for you to swim. And if you can't swim and you're a mile from shore, that's the end of you" created="Thu, 10 Sep 2026 17:46:14 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/10.html#a174614"/> </item> <item> <title>Gobsmacked by Automattic, but then...</title> <description><p>Fair to say I was <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gobsmacked">gobsmacked</a> by the news late yesterday that Automattic's board had put their CEO, Matt Mullenweg, on paid leave. I've read lots of stuff about it, in news articles and in a Hacker News thread. And a lot of posts on Twitter by Matt, and the replies. </p> <p><b>Are you a developer or a CEO?</b></p> <p>It's a very unusual situation in my experience in tech. Matt was able to raise a lot of money for Automattic, so he has maintained a controlling interest in the company, even though it has raised hundreds of millions of dollars. I left my own startup, voluntarily, when I was a little older than Matt, and I didn't return. I never wanted to be the CEO of a tech company, and I expect that being the CEO wasn't really a good fit for Matt either. A CEO's job is very different from being a developer and idea guy which Matt clearly sees himself as. </p> <p>Something has got to give, either you're a good CEO and the product languishes, or you focus on the product, and the company is unmanaged. In the cause of WordPress, I'd say it suffered in both areas. When I saw a chart of Matt's direct reports, I immediately saw a problem -- it was very long, iirc 60 people? No one can manage and guide that many people. Most of those people probably never get to talk one-on-one with the boss. </p> <p>For me, even when I was CEO, I wanted to spend all day working on new software and working with five or six other devs doing the same. Digging back into the past with Frontier these last weeks has reminded me both how good that can be, and how utterly frustrating -- when the people you're working with don't understand the mission. It's not their fault, it's the visionary's job to explain it so they can understand, and that takes time. These days Claude is filling in for all that, and doing a fantastic but at times incredibly frustrating job trying to give me what I'm asking for, while not understanding what I'm asking for. But we move through those disconnects quickly now, compared to how it was a couple of weeks ago. We have the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_source_of_truth">source of truth</a> that we didn't have the last time around, in the 90s, we have the C source code of the kernel, the product we built in the 90s. And Claude is the easiest to manage, so far I only <i>think</i> I detect an ego, it never seems to resent me criticizing its work, sometimes in ALL CAPS with strong language. :-)</p> <p><b>WordPress Lite</b></p> <p>My wish for WordPress, in all its forms and shapes, is that it broaden its focus. I want a <i>WordPress Lite, </i>I implemented it, and it's <a href="https://wordland.social/">sitting here</a> ready to do a good deed for all the parties concerned esp the web and web developers. Maybe someone there will now have the time and be empowered to build out the product line beyond the narrow focus it has now. It doesn't matter what percentage of the web is WordPress, if it isn't going anywhere. The web needs help, and right now WordPress is pretty much asleep in regard to what's going on now in the web. And it could do so much to help the web get back on its feet. It should be a <a href="https://x.com/davewiner/status/2097956922531946853">public resource</a> as much as a profit machine for a few companies.</p> <p><b>All roads lead to Om</b></p> <p>One thing that opened my eyes about what Matt and Automattic are, was <a href="https://ma.tt/2026/06/om-forever/">his story</a> about how he and Om got together. "All roads lead to Om." What a great line, and based on the story, so true. A lot of things clicked for me then. I remember what a phenomenon Matt was when he arrived in California about 25 years ago? Very good looking young man, polite, quiet and rumored to get Web 2.0 better than anyone. This kind of thing happens in tech, and if you know everyone as Om did, and was liked by everyone, you could manage to hit the ball out of the park, investment-wise, and he did. Click click click. I had the individual facts but had no idea how they were strung together. I played a similar role at times in Silicon Valley, on both sides, as a bright young dude who "gets it" and as the gray beard who recognized the charm of a young new face and helped create a big money reality around it. There is a lot of snake oil in tech, before and even more now, and this one has had a long run, 2.5 decades, but it needs a new direction, because the money people aren't buying the magic any longer. That's probably imho really what Matt's firing is all about. </p> <p>I actually have more to say about this, but I have to get back to my programming work. If you have a comment, here's a good <a href="https://github.com/scripting/Scripting-News/issues/361">place</a> to post it. </p> </description> <pubDate>Thu, 10 Sep 2026 13:24:16 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/10/132416.html?title=gobsmackedByAutomatticButThen</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/10/132416.html</guid> <source:markdown>Fair to say I was [gobsmacked](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gobsmacked) by the news late yesterday that Automattic's board had put their CEO, Matt Mullenweg, on paid leave. I've read lots of stuff about it, in news articles and in a Hacker News thread. And a lot of posts on Twitter by Matt, and the replies. **Are you a developer or a CEO?** It's a very unusual situation in my experience in tech. Matt was able to raise a lot of money for Automattic, so he has maintained a controlling interest in the company, even though it has raised hundreds of millions of dollars. I left my own startup, voluntarily, when I was a little older than Matt, and I didn't return. I never wanted to be the CEO of a tech company, and I expect that being the CEO wasn't really a good fit for Matt either. A CEO's job is very different from being a developer and idea guy which Matt clearly sees himself as. Something has got to give, either you're a good CEO and the product languishes, or you focus on the product, and the company is unmanaged. In the cause of WordPress, I'd say it suffered in both areas. When I saw a chart of Matt's direct reports, I immediately saw a problem -- it was very long, iirc 60 people? No one can manage and guide that many people. Most of those people probably never get to talk one-on-one with the boss. For me, even when I was CEO, I wanted to spend all day working on new software and working with five or six other devs doing the same. Digging back into the past with Frontier these last weeks has reminded me both how good that can be, and how utterly frustrating -- when the people you're working with don't understand the mission. It's not their fault, it's the visionary's job to explain it so they can understand, and that takes time. These days Claude is filling in for all that, and doing a fantastic but at times incredibly frustrating job trying to give me what I'm asking for, while not understanding what I'm asking for. But we move through those disconnects quickly now, compared to how it was a couple of weeks ago. We have the [source of truth](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_source_of_truth) that we didn't have the last time around, in the 90s, we have the C source code of the kernel, the product we built in the 90s. And Claude is the easiest to manage, so far I only _think_ I detect an ego, it never seems to resent me criticizing its work, sometimes in ALL CAPS with strong language. :-) **WordPress Lite** My wish for WordPress, in all its forms and shapes, is that it broaden its focus. I want a _WordPress Lite,_ I implemented it, and it's [sitting here](https://wordland.social/) ready to do a good deed for all the parties concerned esp the web and web developers. Maybe someone there will now have the time and be empowered to build out the product line beyond the narrow focus it has now. It doesn't matter what percentage of the web is WordPress, if it isn't going anywhere. The web needs help, and right now WordPress is pretty much asleep in regard to what's going on now in the web. And it could do so much to help the web get back on its feet. It should be a [public resource](https://x.com/davewiner/status/2097956922531946853) as much as a profit machine for a few companies. **All roads lead to Om** One thing that opened my eyes about what Matt and Automattic are, was [his story](https://ma.tt/2026/06/om-forever/) about how he and Om got together. "All roads lead to Om." What a great line, and based on the story, so true. A lot of things clicked for me then. I remember what a phenomenon Matt was when he arrived in California about 25 years ago? Very good looking young man, polite, quiet and rumored to get Web 2.0 better than anyone. This kind of thing happens in tech, and if you know everyone as Om did, and was liked by everyone, you could manage to hit the ball out of the park, investment-wise, and he did. Click click click. I had the individual facts but had no idea how they were strung together. I played a similar role at times in Silicon Valley, on both sides, as a bright young dude who "gets it" and as the gray beard who recognized the charm of a young new face and helped create a big money reality around it. There is a lot of snake oil in tech, before and even more now, and this one has had a long run, 2.5 decades, but it needs a new direction, because the money people aren't buying the magic any longer. That's probably imho really what Matt's firing is all about. I actually have more to say about this, but I have to get back to my programming work. If you have a comment, here's a good [place](https://github.com/scripting/Scripting-News/issues/361) to post it.</source:markdown> <source:outline text="Gobsmacked by Automattic, but then..." created="Thu, 10 Sep 2026 13:24:16 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/10/132416.html"> <source:outline text="Fair to say I was <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gobsmacked">gobsmacked</a> by the news late yesterday that Automattic's board had put their CEO, Matt Mullenweg, on paid leave. I've read lots of stuff about it, in news articles and in a Hacker News thread. And a lot of posts on Twitter by Matt, and the replies." created="Thu, 10 Sep 2026 13:32:04 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/10/132416.html#a133204"/> <source:outline text="<b>Are you a developer or a CEO?</b>" created="Thu, 10 Sep 2026 14:17:51 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/10/132416.html#a141751"/> <source:outline text="It's a very unusual situation in my experience in tech. Matt was able to raise a lot of money for Automattic, so he has maintained a controlling interest in the company, even though it has raised hundreds of millions of dollars. I left my own startup, voluntarily, when I was a little older than Matt, and I didn't return. I never wanted to be the CEO of a tech company, and I expect that being the CEO wasn't really a good fit for Matt either. A CEO's job is very different from being a developer and idea guy which Matt clearly sees himself as." created="Thu, 10 Sep 2026 13:32:16 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/10/132416.html#a133216"/> <source:outline text="Something has got to give, either you're a good CEO and the product languishes, or you focus on the product, and the company is unmanaged. In the cause of WordPress, I'd say it suffered in both areas. When I saw a chart of Matt's direct reports, I immediately saw a problem -- it was very long, iirc 60 people? No one can manage and guide that many people. Most of those people probably never get to talk one-on-one with the boss." created="Thu, 10 Sep 2026 17:24:32 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/10/132416.html#a172432"/> <source:outline text="For me, even when I was CEO, I wanted to spend all day working on new software and working with five or six other devs doing the same. Digging back into the past with Frontier these last weeks has reminded me both how good that can be, and how utterly frustrating -- when the people you're working with don't understand the mission. It's not their fault, it's the visionary's job to explain it so they can understand, and that takes time. These days Claude is filling in for all that, and doing a fantastic but at times incredibly frustrating job trying to give me what I'm asking for, while not understanding what I'm asking for. But we move through those disconnects quickly now, compared to how it was a couple of weeks ago. We have the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_source_of_truth">source of truth</a> that we didn't have the last time around, in the 90s, we have the C source code of the kernel, the product we built in the 90s. And Claude is the easiest to manage, so far I only <i>think</i> I detect an ego, it never seems to resent me criticizing its work, sometimes in ALL CAPS with strong language. :-)" created="Thu, 10 Sep 2026 13:37:51 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/10/132416.html#a133751"/> <source:outline text="<b>WordPress Lite</b>" created="Thu, 10 Sep 2026 14:17:31 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/10/132416.html#a141731"/> <source:outline text="My wish for WordPress, in all its forms and shapes, is that it broaden its focus. I want a <i>WordPress Lite, </i>I implemented it, and it's <a href="https://wordland.social/">sitting here</a> ready to do a good deed for all the parties concerned esp the web and web developers. Maybe someone there will now have the time and be empowered to build out the product line beyond the narrow focus it has now. It doesn't matter what percentage of the web is WordPress, if it isn't going anywhere. The web needs help, and right now WordPress is pretty much asleep in regard to what's going on now in the web. And it could do so much to help the web get back on its feet. It should be a <a href="https://x.com/davewiner/status/2097956922531946853">public resource</a> as much as a profit machine for a few companies." created="Thu, 10 Sep 2026 13:32:16 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/10/132416.html#a133216"/> <source:outline text="<b>All roads lead to Om</b>" created="Thu, 10 Sep 2026 14:13:30 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/10/132416.html#a141330"/> <source:outline text="One thing that opened my eyes about what Matt and Automattic are, was <a href="https://ma.tt/2026/06/om-forever/">his story</a> about how he and Om got together. "All roads lead to Om." What a great line, and based on the story, so true. A lot of things clicked for me then. I remember what a phenomenon Matt was when he arrived in California about 25 years ago? Very good looking young man, polite, quiet and rumored to get Web 2.0 better than anyone. This kind of thing happens in tech, and if you know everyone as Om did, and was liked by everyone, you could manage to hit the ball out of the park, investment-wise, and he did. Click click click. I had the individual facts but had no idea how they were strung together. I played a similar role at times in Silicon Valley, on both sides, as a bright young dude who "gets it" and as the gray beard who recognized the charm of a young new face and helped create a big money reality around it. There is a lot of snake oil in tech, before and even more now, and this one has had a long run, 2.5 decades, but it needs a new direction, because the money people aren't buying the magic any longer. That's probably imho really what Matt's firing is all about." created="Thu, 10 Sep 2026 13:52:00 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/10/132416.html#a135200"/> <source:outline text="I actually have more to say about this, but I have to get back to my programming work. If you have a comment, here's a good <a href="https://github.com/scripting/Scripting-News/issues/361">place</a> to post it." created="Thu, 10 Sep 2026 13:43:25 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/10/132416.html#a134325"/> </source:outline> </item> <item> <description><a href="https://www.techmeme.com/260909/p46#a260909p46">Surprising news</a>. Matt <a href="https://daytona.scripting.com/search?q=Mullenweg">Mullenweg</a> was forced to take a paid leave of absence as CEO by Automattic's board.</description> <pubDate>Thu, 10 Sep 2026 00:50:31 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/09.html#a005031</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/09.html#a005031</guid> <source:markdown>[Surprising news](https://www.techmeme.com/260909/p46#a260909p46). Matt [Mullenweg](https://daytona.scripting.com/search?q=Mullenweg) was forced to take a paid leave of absence as CEO by Automattic's board.</source:markdown> <source:outline text="<a href="https://www.techmeme.com/260909/p46#a260909p46">Surprising news</a>. Matt <a href="https://daytona.scripting.com/search?q=Mullenweg">Mullenweg</a> was forced to take a paid leave of absence as CEO by Automattic's board." created="Thu, 10 Sep 2026 00:50:31 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/09.html#a005031"/> </item> <item> <description><img class="imgRightMargin" src="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/09/weedWhacker.png" border="0" style="float: right; padding-left: 25px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 15px;">I have completely lost interest in new phones. The last one I bought was a Pixel 9 because they said it would have great AI features. At that time the sky was the limit, there were new breakthroughs every afternoon in AI. Now it's just an app. I have to carry an iPhone because I use an Apple Watch. Phones are utilities for me. I have a lot more interest in <a href="https://www.amazon.com/s?k=weedwackers&channelId=500&clpRedir=Y&plpRedirect=mhFallback">weed whackers</a> these days. Not kidding. Now a story. I wanted to check the model of the phone. Went to settings, and the command at the end of the menu should tell me the version, but they had changed that. So I figured I'd go back up to <a href="https://gemini.google.com/app">Gemini</a>, their AI app, and ask it. Of course it has no idea where it's running. <a href="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/09/androidScreen.png">Screen shot</a>. That would be one of the real problems they could solve, making it easy to control the computer you're running on. The whole UI should be in AI. All it did was <a href="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/09/androidScreen.png">print</a> basically a page from the user manual, with the same out of date instructions. How many years have we been working on AI already, this is the easy stuff that they haven't done. Tech companies get back to your business, make your software better. You can and it's long overdue. BTW, it's a Pixel 9 Pro.</description> <pubDate>Wed, 09 Sep 2026 21:02:15 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/09.html#a210215</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/09.html#a210215</guid> <source:markdown>I have completely lost interest in new phones. The last one I bought was a Pixel 9 because they said it would have great AI features. At that time the sky was the limit, there were new breakthroughs every afternoon in AI. Now it's just an app. I have to carry an iPhone because I use an Apple Watch. Phones are utilities for me. I have a lot more interest in [weed whackers](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=weedwackers&channelId=500&clpRedir=Y&plpRedirect=mhFallback) these days. Not kidding. Now a story. I wanted to check the model of the phone. Went to settings, and the command at the end of the menu should tell me the version, but they had changed that. So I figured I'd go back up to [Gemini](https://gemini.google.com/app), their AI app, and ask it. Of course it has no idea where it's running. [Screen shot](https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/09/androidScreen.png). That would be one of the real problems they could solve, making it easy to control the computer you're running on. The whole UI should be in AI. All it did was [print](https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/09/androidScreen.png) basically a page from the user manual, with the same out of date instructions. How many years have we been working on AI already, this is the easy stuff that they haven't done. Tech companies get back to your business, make your software better. You can and it's long overdue. BTW, it's a Pixel 9 Pro.</source:markdown> <source:outline text="I have completely lost interest in new phones. The last one I bought was a Pixel 9 because they said it would have great AI features. At that time the sky was the limit, there were new breakthroughs every afternoon in AI. Now it's just an app. I have to carry an iPhone because I use an Apple Watch. Phones are utilities for me. I have a lot more interest in <a href="https://www.amazon.com/s?k=weedwackers&channelId=500&clpRedir=Y&plpRedirect=mhFallback">weed whackers</a> these days. Not kidding. Now a story. I wanted to check the model of the phone. Went to settings, and the command at the end of the menu should tell me the version, but they had changed that. So I figured I'd go back up to <a href="https://gemini.google.com/app">Gemini</a>, their AI app, and ask it. Of course it has no idea where it's running. <a href="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/09/androidScreen.png">Screen shot</a>. That would be one of the real problems they could solve, making it easy to control the computer you're running on. The whole UI should be in AI. All it did was <a href="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/09/androidScreen.png">print</a> basically a page from the user manual, with the same out of date instructions. How many years have we been working on AI already, this is the easy stuff that they haven't done. Tech companies get back to your business, make your software better. You can and it's long overdue. BTW, it's a Pixel 9 Pro." created="Wed, 09 Sep 2026 21:02:15 GMT" type="outline" image="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/09/weedWhacker.png" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/09.html#a210215"/> </item> <item> <description>I spent the day programming in Atlantis. It's buggy, and there are a few missing parts, but most of what I need is there. It's starting to feel like Frontier, which is cool because that's what we're making. And I have my backup tools working on the new machine, praise Murphy.</description> <pubDate>Wed, 09 Sep 2026 16:58:53 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/09.html#a165853</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/09.html#a165853</guid> <source:markdown>I spent the day programming in Atlantis. It's buggy, and there are a few missing parts, but most of what I need is there. It's starting to feel like Frontier, which is cool because that's what we're making. And I have my backup tools working on the new machine, praise Murphy.</source:markdown> <source:outline text="I spent the day programming in Atlantis. It's buggy, and there are a few missing parts, but most of what I need is there. It's starting to feel like Frontier, which is cool because that's what we're making. And I have my backup tools working on the new machine, praise Murphy." created="Wed, 09 Sep 2026 16:58:53 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/09.html#a165853"/> </item> <item> <description><img class="imgRightMargin" src="https://imgs.scripting.com/2025/06/13/tomatoSoup.png" border="0" style="float: right; padding-left: 25px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 15px;"><a href="https://github.com/scotthansonde/feedland-rivers">Scott Hanson is working</a> on a WordPress plugin that displays a FeedLand river — a constantly-updated stream of news items from feeds a FeedLand user subscribes to — on a WordPress page or post. It's important that news flows be part of managing a site. Help Scott make it perfect, WordPress is a very important part of the web. The <a href="http://scripting.com/?tab=news">news tab</a> on my blog home page is an example.</description> <pubDate>Tue, 08 Sep 2026 11:53:08 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/08.html#a115308</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/08.html#a115308</guid> <source:markdown>[Scott Hanson is working](https://github.com/scotthansonde/feedland-rivers) on a WordPress plugin that displays a FeedLand river — a constantly-updated stream of news items from feeds a FeedLand user subscribes to — on a WordPress page or post. It's important that news flows be part of managing a site. Help Scott make it perfect, WordPress is a very important part of the web. The [news tab](http://scripting.com/?tab=news) on my blog home page is an example.</source:markdown> <source:outline text="<a href="https://github.com/scotthansonde/feedland-rivers">Scott Hanson is working</a> on a WordPress plugin that displays a FeedLand river — a constantly-updated stream of news items from feeds a FeedLand user subscribes to — on a WordPress page or post. It's important that news flows be part of managing a site. Help Scott make it perfect, WordPress is a very important part of the web. The <a href="http://scripting.com/?tab=news">news tab</a> on my blog home page is an example." created="Tue, 08 Sep 2026 11:53:08 GMT" type="outline" image="https://imgs.scripting.com/2025/06/13/tomatoSoup.png" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/08.html#a115308"/> </item> <item> <description><a href="https://x.com/davewiner/status/2097304106935206334">Ideas</a> for Bluesky and WordPress re Markdown and AI systems.</description> <pubDate>Tue, 08 Sep 2026 12:41:14 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/08.html#a124114</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/08.html#a124114</guid> <source:markdown>[Ideas](https://x.com/davewiner/status/2097304106935206334) for Bluesky and WordPress re Markdown and AI systems.</source:markdown> <source:outline text="<a href="https://x.com/davewiner/status/2097304106935206334">Ideas</a> for Bluesky and WordPress re Markdown and AI systems." created="Tue, 08 Sep 2026 12:41:14 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/08.html#a124114"/> </item> <item> <description>Claude Code massively stinks at explaining things in a way that a human can understand.</description> <pubDate>Tue, 08 Sep 2026 16:58:30 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/08.html#a165830</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/08.html#a165830</guid> <source:markdown>Claude Code massively stinks at explaining things in a way that a human can understand.</source:markdown> <source:outline text="Claude Code massively stinks at explaining things in a way that a human can understand." created="Tue, 08 Sep 2026 16:58:30 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/08.html#a165830"/> </item> <item> <description>People love Markdown because it's impossible to hide the crud. And because people love it so much it's become a favorite of tech startups esp in the AI field. This is a great turn of events. We're getting back to the web, and the sooner everyone gets on board, the better. I've written about this for a few years. Everything in Markdown, it's just enough HTML. And with that, Microsoft has created a <a href="https://github.com/microsoft/markitdown">white flag</a>, here's all your data dear users, in Markdown, to use as you please. Instead of waiting for Claude et al to start reading Word files.</description> <pubDate>Mon, 07 Sep 2026 16:43:56 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/07.html#a164356</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/07.html#a164356</guid> <source:markdown>People love Markdown because it's impossible to hide the crud. And because people love it so much it's become a favorite of tech startups esp in the AI field. This is a great turn of events. We're getting back to the web, and the sooner everyone gets on board, the better. I've written about this for a few years. Everything in Markdown, it's just enough HTML. And with that, Microsoft has created a [white flag](https://github.com/microsoft/markitdown), here's all your data dear users, in Markdown, to use as you please. Instead of waiting for Claude et al to start reading Word files.</source:markdown> <source:outline text="People love Markdown because it's impossible to hide the crud. And because people love it so much it's become a favorite of tech startups esp in the AI field. This is a great turn of events. We're getting back to the web, and the sooner everyone gets on board, the better. I've written about this for a few years. Everything in Markdown, it's just enough HTML. And with that, Microsoft has created a <a href="https://github.com/microsoft/markitdown">white flag</a>, here's all your data dear users, in Markdown, to use as you please. Instead of waiting for Claude et al to start reading Word files." created="Mon, 07 Sep 2026 16:43:56 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/07.html#a164356"/> </item> <item> <description>On the other hand, why doesn't Microsoft, which owns GitHub, make a Slack-alike tool that manages the issues sections on repos. Slack is a big part of the default communication system, but GitHub is another very big part. And the great thing is that both these products, owned by huge tech companies, have an ethos of open APIs. Every part replaceable. Small pieces loosely joined. We are family.</description> <pubDate>Mon, 07 Sep 2026 16:38:30 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/07.html#a163830</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/07.html#a163830</guid> <source:markdown>On the other hand, why doesn't Microsoft, which owns GitHub, make a Slack-alike tool that manages the issues sections on repos. Slack is a big part of the default communication system, but GitHub is another very big part. And the great thing is that both these products, owned by huge tech companies, have an ethos of open APIs. Every part replaceable. Small pieces loosely joined. We are family.</source:markdown> <source:outline text="On the other hand, why doesn't Microsoft, which owns GitHub, make a Slack-alike tool that manages the issues sections on repos. Slack is a big part of the default communication system, but GitHub is another very big part. And the great thing is that both these products, owned by huge tech companies, have an ethos of open APIs. Every part replaceable. Small pieces loosely joined. We are family." created="Mon, 07 Sep 2026 16:38:30 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/07.html#a163830"/> </item> <item> <description>A big corner-turn in the Atlantis project, the new version of Frontier for modern OSes, in development, just me and Claude Code so far. We now have the means to update the root, so anything implemented in script code can be released without fuss, using RSS of course. We're using a method that will be new to almost everyone, something I created in 2014 or so (will check) called <a href="http://scripting.com/stories/2007/02/16/whatIsCodecasting.html">codecasting</a>. And today I did all my programming work in Atlantis. It feels just like Frontier, with a future. ;-)</description> <pubDate>Mon, 07 Sep 2026 13:24:57 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/07.html#a132457</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/07.html#a132457</guid> <source:markdown>A big corner-turn in the Atlantis project, the new version of Frontier for modern OSes, in development, just me and Claude Code so far. We now have the means to update the root, so anything implemented in script code can be released without fuss, using RSS of course. We're using a method that will be new to almost everyone, something I created in 2014 or so (will check) called [codecasting](http://scripting.com/stories/2007/02/16/whatIsCodecasting.html). And today I did all my programming work in Atlantis. It feels just like Frontier, with a future. ;-)</source:markdown> <source:outline text="A big corner-turn in the Atlantis project, the new version of Frontier for modern OSes, in development, just me and Claude Code so far. We now have the means to update the root, so anything implemented in script code can be released without fuss, using RSS of course. We're using a method that will be new to almost everyone, something I created in 2014 or so (will check) called <a href="http://scripting.com/stories/2007/02/16/whatIsCodecasting.html">codecasting</a>. And today I did all my programming work in Atlantis. It feels just like Frontier, with a future. ;-)" created="Mon, 07 Sep 2026 13:24:57 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/07.html#a132457"/> </item> <item> <description>Today's song: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyIZ3pYKOQM">So into you</a>.</description> <pubDate>Sun, 06 Sep 2026 17:22:05 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/06.html#a172205</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/06.html#a172205</guid> <source:markdown>Today's song: [So into you](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyIZ3pYKOQM).</source:markdown> <source:outline text="Today's song: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyIZ3pYKOQM">So into you</a>." created="Sun, 06 Sep 2026 17:22:05 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/06.html#a172205"/> </item> <item> <description><img class="imgRightMargin" src="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/06/reallySimpleSpaghetti.png" border="0" style="float: right; padding-left: 25px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 15px;">We got past the bump, and I'm getting stuff done. I write this stuff because I will probably forget most of the frustration. Frontier is a hard piece of software to get going, it's got a lot of integrations, which you want when you're using, but hard when you're getting it all to work the first time. And this port is very much like getting it work that way. But Claude does some things poorly and others spectacularly. It can play the role of a CPU and run the code and tell you where it will fail. Helpful when you don't have a working debugger to step through the code and see exactly how and why it failed where it did. Before debuggers it was either all or nothing.</description> <pubDate>Sun, 06 Sep 2026 17:19:45 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/06.html#a171945</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/06.html#a171945</guid> <source:markdown>We got past the bump, and I'm getting stuff done. I write this stuff because I will probably forget most of the frustration. Frontier is a hard piece of software to get going, it's got a lot of integrations, which you want when you're using, but hard when you're getting it all to work the first time. And this port is very much like getting it work that way. But Claude does some things poorly and others spectacularly. It can play the role of a CPU and run the code and tell you where it will fail. Helpful when you don't have a working debugger to step through the code and see exactly how and why it failed where it did. Before debuggers it was either all or nothing.</source:markdown> <source:outline text="We got past the bump, and I'm getting stuff done. I write this stuff because I will probably forget most of the frustration. Frontier is a hard piece of software to get going, it's got a lot of integrations, which you want when you're using, but hard when you're getting it all to work the first time. And this port is very much like getting it work that way. But Claude does some things poorly and others spectacularly. It can play the role of a CPU and run the code and tell you where it will fail. Helpful when you don't have a working debugger to step through the code and see exactly how and why it failed where it did. Before debuggers it was either all or nothing." created="Sun, 06 Sep 2026 17:19:45 GMT" type="outline" image="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/06/reallySimpleSpaghetti.png" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/06.html#a171945"/> </item> <item> <description>Every day with Claude I end up debugging the things it broke overnight. Yesterday I actually got a useful script written and debugged, along the way reporting glitches but no deal-stoppers. This morning, after updating to the latest version, the script doesn't run. It's been like this for two weeks. No wonder every day before starting work I think of ditching this project and do whatever, but I don't think I could ever muster the determination to get Frontier working on modern systems. And I can't give up. But if you think this system can replace programmers, you are sorely mistaken. It can't even do the job of a programmer fielding good bug reports and verifying that they fixed the problem and didn't break anything else. Breakage happens, but this is something it does every freaking day. And then it admits that it didn't do the other half of what it knew it had to do. I say it every day, this is ridiculous and I am fed up, and that's just the beginning of the frustration. What keeps me coming back is when I can build up a head of steam in Frontier on my new Mac laptop.</description> <pubDate>Sun, 06 Sep 2026 15:09:27 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/06.html#a150927</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/06.html#a150927</guid> <source:markdown>Every day with Claude I end up debugging the things it broke overnight. Yesterday I actually got a useful script written and debugged, along the way reporting glitches but no deal-stoppers. This morning, after updating to the latest version, the script doesn't run. It's been like this for two weeks. No wonder every day before starting work I think of ditching this project and do whatever, but I don't think I could ever muster the determination to get Frontier working on modern systems. And I can't give up. But if you think this system can replace programmers, you are sorely mistaken. It can't even do the job of a programmer fielding good bug reports and verifying that they fixed the problem and didn't break anything else. Breakage happens, but this is something it does every freaking day. And then it admits that it didn't do the other half of what it knew it had to do. I say it every day, this is ridiculous and I am fed up, and that's just the beginning of the frustration. What keeps me coming back is when I can build up a head of steam in Frontier on my new Mac laptop.</source:markdown> <source:outline text="Every day with Claude I end up debugging the things it broke overnight. Yesterday I actually got a useful script written and debugged, along the way reporting glitches but no deal-stoppers. This morning, after updating to the latest version, the script doesn't run. It's been like this for two weeks. No wonder every day before starting work I think of ditching this project and do whatever, but I don't think I could ever muster the determination to get Frontier working on modern systems. And I can't give up. But if you think this system can replace programmers, you are sorely mistaken. It can't even do the job of a programmer fielding good bug reports and verifying that they fixed the problem and didn't break anything else. Breakage happens, but this is something it does every freaking day. And then it admits that it didn't do the other half of what it knew it had to do. I say it every day, this is ridiculous and I am fed up, and that's just the beginning of the frustration. What keeps me coming back is when I can build up a head of steam in Frontier on my new Mac laptop." created="Sun, 06 Sep 2026 15:09:27 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/06.html#a150927"/> </item> <item> <description>The governor of Kentucky should appoint a successor to McConnell unless he can prove he’s actually alive.</description> <pubDate>Sun, 06 Sep 2026 00:31:54 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/05.html#a003154</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/05.html#a003154</guid> <source:markdown>The governor of Kentucky should appoint a successor to McConnell unless he can prove he’s actually alive.</source:markdown> <source:outline text="The governor of Kentucky should appoint a successor to McConnell unless he can prove he’s actually alive." created="Sun, 06 Sep 2026 00:31:54 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/05.html#a003154"/> </item> <item> <description><img class="imgRightMargin" src="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/08/30/silo.png" border="0" style="float: right; padding-left: 25px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 15px;">I had watched almost three seasons of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silo_(TV_series)">Silo</a>, had no feeling for the characters, or the story, which was going nowhere that I could discern. I shouldn't have watched it through all that time, but for some reason I did. Then in episode 9, two Fridays ago, the story took a remarkable turn. It's so good it actually makes this dark and confusing show worth watching. If you haven't been watching, imho you can start in season 3, and maybe read some recaps. You want enough of the boredom so you can revel in the brilliance of this season's end. And there is another season coming, the last one, and this time it's interesting.</description> <pubDate>Sun, 06 Sep 2026 00:13:03 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/05.html#a001303</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/05.html#a001303</guid> <source:markdown>I had watched almost three seasons of [Silo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silo_\(TV_series\)), had no feeling for the characters, or the story, which was going nowhere that I could discern. I shouldn't have watched it through all that time, but for some reason I did. Then in episode 9, two Fridays ago, the story took a remarkable turn. It's so good it actually makes this dark and confusing show worth watching. If you haven't been watching, imho you can start in season 3, and maybe read some recaps. You want enough of the boredom so you can revel in the brilliance of this season's end. And there is another season coming, the last one, and this time it's interesting.</source:markdown> <source:outline text="I had watched almost three seasons of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silo_(TV_series)">Silo</a>, had no feeling for the characters, or the story, which was going nowhere that I could discern. I shouldn't have watched it through all that time, but for some reason I did. Then in episode 9, two Fridays ago, the story took a remarkable turn. It's so good it actually makes this dark and confusing show worth watching. If you haven't been watching, imho you can start in season 3, and maybe read some recaps. You want enough of the boredom so you can revel in the brilliance of this season's end. And there is another season coming, the last one, and this time it's interesting." created="Sun, 06 Sep 2026 00:13:03 GMT" type="outline" image="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/08/30/silo.png" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/05.html#a001303"/> </item> <item> <title>The social web vs the software web</title> <description><p>I launched ChatGPT for the first time in a long time because I now have access to the new version. One new thing I see is that they are popping up suggestions about things you can do in realtime, like smart queries in a feed reader, which as far as I know is still uncharted territory. Like this: "let me know when the Mets have a three-game winning streak." </p> <p>That's the kind of thing <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Berners-Lee">TBL</a> dreamed about in his <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantic_Web">semantic web</a> plan, but he wrote the spec before writing software, and that doesn't work. His invention, the web, which came before was a perfectly timed, perfectly simple approach to sharing ideas on the internet. It worked because he created a product that worked, and made every piece completely replaceable. It came at a time when stagnation in tech made something necessary, or the whole thing was going to fall apart, and so close to so much incredible potential. Just like the moment we're in now with AI. </p> <p><a href="https://this.how/standards/">Rules for Standards Makers</a> says a lot about this. </p> <p><b>The value of disruption is that it undoes stagnation. </b></p> <p>Anyone who has the same software plan today that they had a year ago is going to find themselves isolated. Even WordPress, though it is open source, is a silo that imho in the future will not work. The main selling point of AT Proto is that it is a safe haven for developers who nuzzle up, another word for that is silo.</p> <p>The siloers are probably scrambling to find a way for the AI to run inside their world, mistake -- instead they should be trying to be fully relevant to applications in the AI world. Like Slack, for example, and <a href="https://slack.com/help/articles/53532192117267-Use-Claude-in-Slack">Claude Tag</a>. It's now built in. Has to be replaceable too. Small pieces loosely joined. That's what you have to be imho to have a role in the future of tech.</p> <p>If your advantage is your silo, undo that as quickly as possible. Become the default version of whatever it was meant to be wrt the web. Both Bluesky and WordPress find themselves in the same quagmire. Probably a lot of others do, but this is the area I study. (I just am very familiar with the products of both companies, for some reason.)</p> <p>This is the intuition we all had, coming to fruition. Evolution is something we haven't seen much of in the software world since 2006 or so. Incredible stagnation because of the dominance of the social web. We lost the <i>software</i> web. All the focus was on personalities, celebrity -- hype and 99.999% bullshit. It was a 20 year period where all that happened was scaling. </p> <p>Lots more to say about this. The world we lived in ran on hype, now guess what -- having lived through a few big evolutionary changes in tech is a huge advantage vs the people who have never been part of one, and I think most of the people in tech today qualify. </p> </description> <pubDate>Sat, 05 Sep 2026 14:26:35 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/05/142635.html?title=theSocialWebVsTheSoftwareWeb</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/05/142635.html</guid> <source:markdown>I launched ChatGPT for the first time in a long time because I now have access to the new version. One new thing I see is that they are popping up suggestions about things you can do in realtime, like smart queries in a feed reader, which as far as I know is still uncharted territory. Like this: "let me know when the Mets have a three-game winning streak." That's the kind of thing [TBL](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Berners-Lee) dreamed about in his [semantic web](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantic_Web) plan, but he wrote the spec before writing software, and that doesn't work. His invention, the web, which came before was a perfectly timed, perfectly simple approach to sharing ideas on the internet. It worked because he created a product that worked, and made every piece completely replaceable. It came at a time when stagnation in tech made something necessary, or the whole thing was going to fall apart, and so close to so much incredible potential. Just like the moment we're in now with AI. [Rules for Standards Makers](https://this.how/standards/) says a lot about this. **The value of disruption is that it undoes stagnation.** Anyone who has the same software plan today that they had a year ago is going to find themselves isolated. Even WordPress, though it is open source, is a silo that imho in the future will not work. The main selling point of AT Proto is that it is a safe haven for developers who nuzzle up, another word for that is silo. The siloers are probably scrambling to find a way for the AI to run inside their world, mistake -- instead they should be trying to be fully relevant to applications in the AI world. Like Slack, for example, and [Claude Tag](https://slack.com/help/articles/53532192117267-Use-Claude-in-Slack). It's now built in. Has to be replaceable too. Small pieces loosely joined. That's what you have to be imho to have a role in the future of tech. If your advantage is your silo, undo that as quickly as possible. Become the default version of whatever it was meant to be wrt the web. Both Bluesky and WordPress find themselves in the same quagmire. Probably a lot of others do, but this is the area I study. (I just am very familiar with the products of both companies, for some reason.) This is the intuition we all had, coming to fruition. Evolution is something we haven't seen much of in the software world since 2006 or so. Incredible stagnation because of the dominance of the social web. We lost the _software_ web. All the focus was on personalities, celebrity -- hype and 99.999% bullshit. It was a 20 year period where all that happened was scaling. Lots more to say about this. The world we lived in ran on hype, now guess what -- having lived through a few big evolutionary changes in tech is a huge advantage vs the people who have never been part of one, and I think most of the people in tech today qualify.</source:markdown> <source:outline text="The social web vs the software web" created="Sat, 05 Sep 2026 14:26:35 GMT" type="outline" description="As we learned to love the social web, we cut the legs off the software web." flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/05/142635.html"> <source:outline text="I launched ChatGPT for the first time in a long time because I now have access to the new version. One new thing I see is that they are popping up suggestions about things you can do in realtime, like smart queries in a feed reader, which as far as I know is still uncharted territory. Like this: "let me know when the Mets have a three-game winning streak."" created="Sat, 05 Sep 2026 14:13:27 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/05/142635.html#a141327"/> <source:outline text="That's the kind of thing <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Berners-Lee">TBL</a> dreamed about in his <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantic_Web">semantic web</a> plan, but he wrote the spec before writing software, and that doesn't work. His invention, the web, which came before was a perfectly timed, perfectly simple approach to sharing ideas on the internet. It worked because he created a product that worked, and made every piece completely replaceable. It came at a time when stagnation in tech made something necessary, or the whole thing was going to fall apart, and so close to so much incredible potential. Just like the moment we're in now with AI." created="Sat, 05 Sep 2026 14:33:57 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/05/142635.html#a143357"/> <source:outline text="<a href="https://this.how/standards/">Rules for Standards Makers</a> says a lot about this." created="Sat, 05 Sep 2026 14:35:12 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/05/142635.html#a143512"/> <source:outline text="<b>The value of disruption is that it undoes stagnation. </b>" created="Sat, 05 Sep 2026 14:29:40 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/05/142635.html#a142940"/> <source:outline text="Anyone who has the same software plan today that they had a year ago is going to find themselves isolated. Even WordPress, though it is open source, is a silo that imho in the future will not work. The main selling point of AT Proto is that it is a safe haven for developers who nuzzle up, another word for that is silo." created="Sat, 05 Sep 2026 14:38:23 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/05/142635.html#a143823"/> <source:outline text="The siloers are probably scrambling to find a way for the AI to run inside their world, mistake -- instead they should be trying to be fully relevant to applications in the AI world. Like Slack, for example, and <a href="https://slack.com/help/articles/53532192117267-Use-Claude-in-Slack">Claude Tag</a>. It's now built in. Has to be replaceable too. Small pieces loosely joined. That's what you have to be imho to have a role in the future of tech." created="Sat, 05 Sep 2026 14:46:03 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/05/142635.html#a144603"/> <source:outline text="If your advantage is your silo, undo that as quickly as possible. Become the default version of whatever it was meant to be wrt the web. Both Bluesky and WordPress find themselves in the same quagmire. Probably a lot of others do, but this is the area I study. (I just am very familiar with the products of both companies, for some reason.)" created="Sun, 06 Sep 2026 00:22:09 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/05/142635.html#a002209"/> <source:outline text="This is the intuition we all had, coming to fruition. Evolution is something we haven't seen much of in the software world since 2006 or so. Incredible stagnation because of the dominance of the social web. We lost the <i>software</i> web. All the focus was on personalities, celebrity -- hype and 99.999% bullshit. It was a 20 year period where all that happened was scaling." created="Sat, 05 Sep 2026 14:31:01 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/05/142635.html#a143101"/> <source:outline text="Lots more to say about this. The world we lived in ran on hype, now guess what -- having lived through a few big evolutionary changes in tech is a huge advantage vs the people who have never been part of one, and I think most of the people in tech today qualify." created="Sat, 05 Sep 2026 14:26:58 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/05/142635.html#a142658"/> </source:outline> </item> <item> <description><img class="imgRightMargin" src="https://imgs.scripting.com/2024/12/25/leftfacingsanta.png" border="0" style="float: right; padding-left: 25px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 15px;">My first job after college was on the 39th floor of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_State_Building">Empire State Building</a>. I wrote software for our customers, in BASIC, on a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teleprinter">teletype</a> in our office, talking to our mainframe in New Jersey. It seemed magical at the time. When I hit a bug, a mystery -- you'd try this and that, and not get anywhere on something that seemed so simple, you could stare at the problem for an hour, trying desperate things, getting no closer to the fix. One night, I was the only person in the office, I thought they should not put programmers in the Empire State Building with windows that open. I'm having the same feeling with Claude. I know when this project is done, I will have Frontier, and I know what that's like. If I didn't so totally look forward to that I would never try to finish the project, I hate this mode of working with the bot. Ugh.</description> <pubDate>Fri, 04 Sep 2026 14:26:00 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/04.html#a142600</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/04.html#a142600</guid> <source:markdown>My first job after college was on the 39th floor of the [Empire State Building](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_State_Building). I wrote software for our customers, in BASIC, on a [teletype](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teleprinter) in our office, talking to our mainframe in New Jersey. It seemed magical at the time. When I hit a bug, a mystery -- you'd try this and that, and not get anywhere on something that seemed so simple, you could stare at the problem for an hour, trying desperate things, getting no closer to the fix. One night, I was the only person in the office, I thought they should not put programmers in the Empire State Building with windows that open. I'm having the same feeling with Claude. I know when this project is done, I will have Frontier, and I know what that's like. If I didn't so totally look forward to that I would never try to finish the project, I hate this mode of working with the bot. Ugh.</source:markdown> <source:outline text="My first job after college was on the 39th floor of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_State_Building">Empire State Building</a>. I wrote software for our customers, in BASIC, on a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teleprinter">teletype</a> in our office, talking to our mainframe in New Jersey. It seemed magical at the time. When I hit a bug, a mystery -- you'd try this and that, and not get anywhere on something that seemed so simple, you could stare at the problem for an hour, trying desperate things, getting no closer to the fix. One night, I was the only person in the office, I thought they should not put programmers in the Empire State Building with windows that open. I'm having the same feeling with Claude. I know when this project is done, I will have Frontier, and I know what that's like. If I didn't so totally look forward to that I would never try to finish the project, I hate this mode of working with the bot. Ugh." created="Fri, 04 Sep 2026 14:26:00 GMT" type="outline" image="https://imgs.scripting.com/2024/12/25/leftfacingsanta.png" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/04.html#a142600"/> </item> <item> <description>It's around this time of year that <a href="https://imgs.scripting.com/2024/12/25/leftfacingsanta.png">Santa makes</a> his first appearance on my blog. Want to get out in front of the others.</description> <pubDate>Fri, 04 Sep 2026 14:54:29 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/04.html#a145429</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/04.html#a145429</guid> <source:markdown>It's around this time of year that [Santa makes](https://imgs.scripting.com/2024/12/25/leftfacingsanta.png) his first appearance on my blog. Want to get out in front of the others.</source:markdown> <source:outline text="It's around this time of year that <a href="https://imgs.scripting.com/2024/12/25/leftfacingsanta.png">Santa makes</a> his first appearance on my blog. Want to get out in front of the others." created="Fri, 04 Sep 2026 14:54:29 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/04.html#a145429"/> </item> <item> <description>More and more I'll realize that Claude doesn't do anything until you tell it to do it. We have a list of big things that need to be done before shipping. Whenever I get up for a break, I tell Claude to work on its overnight tasks, things we've pre-arranged while I work. Sometimes it reminds me how it has no stake in the outcome, and basically will do the minimum of what it's asked to do. It possibly would do more if I didn't scold it for adding UI features without following the rules. I think that's why when you feel you're almost there, you really have a lot of slogging left to do to get the software into any kind of user-respectful shape. A reminder to other app-level AI explorers, if you find that these kinds of stories resonate with the work you do, please write about it on a blog, they're easy to create, cost nothing, and it doesn't matter if you only update once or twice, there's no commitment (these are the usual reasons people don't start a blog). I want to read what others are discovering, and once there are others, I'll start a news site that aggregates the posts. We're going to want independent news about stuff the journalists aren't even aware exists, programmers are always left out of their stories.</description> <pubDate>Fri, 04 Sep 2026 13:46:05 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/04.html#a134605</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/04.html#a134605</guid> <source:markdown>More and more I'll realize that Claude doesn't do anything until you tell it to do it. We have a list of big things that need to be done before shipping. Whenever I get up for a break, I tell Claude to work on its overnight tasks, things we've pre-arranged while I work. Sometimes it reminds me how it has no stake in the outcome, and basically will do the minimum of what it's asked to do. It possibly would do more if I didn't scold it for adding UI features without following the rules. I think that's why when you feel you're almost there, you really have a lot of slogging left to do to get the software into any kind of user-respectful shape. A reminder to other app-level AI explorers, if you find that these kinds of stories resonate with the work you do, please write about it on a blog, they're easy to create, cost nothing, and it doesn't matter if you only update once or twice, there's no commitment (these are the usual reasons people don't start a blog). I want to read what others are discovering, and once there are others, I'll start a news site that aggregates the posts. We're going to want independent news about stuff the journalists aren't even aware exists, programmers are always left out of their stories.</source:markdown> <source:outline text="More and more I'll realize that Claude doesn't do anything until you tell it to do it. We have a list of big things that need to be done before shipping. Whenever I get up for a break, I tell Claude to work on its overnight tasks, things we've pre-arranged while I work. Sometimes it reminds me how it has no stake in the outcome, and basically will do the minimum of what it's asked to do. It possibly would do more if I didn't scold it for adding UI features without following the rules. I think that's why when you feel you're almost there, you really have a lot of slogging left to do to get the software into any kind of user-respectful shape. A reminder to other app-level AI explorers, if you find that these kinds of stories resonate with the work you do, please write about it on a blog, they're easy to create, cost nothing, and it doesn't matter if you only update once or twice, there's no commitment (these are the usual reasons people don't start a blog). I want to read what others are discovering, and once there are others, I'll start a news site that aggregates the posts. We're going to want independent news about stuff the journalists aren't even aware exists, programmers are always left out of their stories." created="Fri, 04 Sep 2026 13:46:05 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/04.html#a134605"/> </item> <item> <description>Just said this to Claude: "This is a very broken piece of software. If you were a real developer you'd never hand off something so broken to your coding partner." If I said this to a human partner they might quit, feeling under-appreciated perhaps. And I can say it to the machine, but it will change absolutely nothing. I really just want to get this project done and start using it, and reduce my reliance on Claude to getting small bugs attended to, or new features, a lot has happened in the 20+ years since I worked on Frontier.</description> <pubDate>Fri, 04 Sep 2026 13:53:51 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/04.html#a135351</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/04.html#a135351</guid> <source:markdown>Just said this to Claude: "This is a very broken piece of software. If you were a real developer you'd never hand off something so broken to your coding partner." If I said this to a human partner they might quit, feeling under-appreciated perhaps. And I can say it to the machine, but it will change absolutely nothing. I really just want to get this project done and start using it, and reduce my reliance on Claude to getting small bugs attended to, or new features, a lot has happened in the 20+ years since I worked on Frontier.</source:markdown> <source:outline text="Just said this to Claude: "This is a very broken piece of software. If you were a real developer you'd never hand off something so broken to your coding partner." If I said this to a human partner they might quit, feeling under-appreciated perhaps. And I can say it to the machine, but it will change absolutely nothing. I really just want to get this project done and start using it, and reduce my reliance on Claude to getting small bugs attended to, or new features, a lot has happened in the 20+ years since I worked on Frontier." created="Fri, 04 Sep 2026 13:53:51 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/04.html#a135351"/> </item> <item> <title>Why Podcasting 2.0 will never work</title> <description><p>If you want others to follow you, you have to offer them your users. And a format alone has no users. </p> <p>And you have to trust your users to choose the best product, and you have to have a great product, that they appreciate, even though they have choice.</p> <p>Just coming out with something better in a format will get you zero uptake. Unless you have users they can switch to their product, they simply won’t hear you.</p> <p>That’s why Atom never replaced RSS, which already did everything people needed and was already supported by the NYT and the news industry. </p> <p>That’s why AT Proto will never overcome the huge lead Twitter already has.</p> <p>For more tips on what does and doesn't matter in open formats and protocols, check out my <a href="https://this.how/standards/">Rules for Standards-makers</a>. </p> <p>PS: This started as an <a href="https://x.com/davewiner/status/2095842520592687328">early morning rant</a> on Twitter. </p> </description> <pubDate>Fri, 04 Sep 2026 15:32:02 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/04/153202.html?title=whyPodcasting20WillNeverWork</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/04/153202.html</guid> <source:markdown>If you want others to follow you, you have to offer them your users. And a format alone has no users. And you have to trust your users to choose the best product, and you have to have a great product, that they appreciate, even though they have choice. Just coming out with something better in a format will get you zero uptake. Unless you have users they can switch to their product, they simply won’t hear you. That’s why Atom never replaced RSS, which already did everything people needed and was already supported by the NYT and the news industry. That’s why AT Proto will never overcome the huge lead Twitter already has. For more tips on what does and doesn't matter in open formats and protocols, check out my [Rules for Standards-makers](https://this.how/standards/). PS: This started as an [early morning rant](https://x.com/davewiner/status/2095842520592687328) on Twitter.</source:markdown> <source:outline text="Why Podcasting 2.0 will never work" created="Fri, 04 Sep 2026 15:32:02 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/04/153202.html"> <source:outline text="If you want others to follow you, you have to offer them your users. And a format alone has no users." flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/04/153202.html#aNaNNaNNaN"/> <source:outline text="And you have to trust your users to choose the best product, and you have to have a great product, that they appreciate, even though they have choice." flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/04/153202.html#aNaNNaNNaN"/> <source:outline text="Just coming out with something better in a format will get you zero uptake. Unless you have users they can switch to their product, they simply won’t hear you." flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/04/153202.html#aNaNNaNNaN"/> <source:outline text="That’s why Atom never replaced RSS, which already did everything people needed and was already supported by the NYT and the news industry." flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/04/153202.html#aNaNNaNNaN"/> <source:outline text="That’s why AT Proto will never overcome the huge lead Twitter already has." created="Fri, 04 Sep 2026 15:32:38 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/04/153202.html#a153238"/> <source:outline text="For more tips on what does and doesn't matter in open formats and protocols, check out my <a href="https://this.how/standards/">Rules for Standards-makers</a>." created="Fri, 04 Sep 2026 15:32:39 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/04/153202.html#a153239"/> <source:outline text="PS: This started as an <a href="https://x.com/davewiner/status/2095842520592687328">early morning rant</a> on Twitter." created="Fri, 04 Sep 2026 15:33:11 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/04/153202.html#a153311"/> </source:outline> </item> <item> <title>Why I love programming</title> <description><p>1. I love puzzles.</p> <p>2. I love <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rube_Goldberg">Rube Goldberg</a> contraptions.</p> <p>3. I love solving problems (I have an inner-<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbo">Columbo</a>).</p> <p>4. People are the biggest piece of the puzzle (again Columbo).</p> <p>5. It teaches me about myself and my limited vision and imagination (if I had unlimited vision and imagination, I would never program a bug, and if I did it would take me 0 seconds to find it).</p> <p>6. I yearn to work together with great minds. Programming gives me that, when I use someone's API. And when the API anticipates my needs, and is instantly understandable, I feel the soul of another artist is present. I imagine this is how musicians feel when they play another musician's song or symphony.</p> <p>I'm sure there's more to it. But today I'm working on a "lite" problem, and I'll figure it out, but right now I'm enjoying the fact that I don't get it. </p> <p>Back to work Dave!</p> </description> <pubDate>Fri, 04 Sep 2026 01:08:48 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/03/010848.html?title=whyILoveProgramming</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/03/010848.html</guid> <source:markdown>1\. I love puzzles. 2\. I love [Rube Goldberg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rube_Goldberg) contraptions. 3\. I love solving problems (I have an inner-[Columbo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbo)). 4\. People are the biggest piece of the puzzle (again Columbo). 5\. It teaches me about myself and my limited vision and imagination (if I had unlimited vision and imagination, I would never program a bug, and if I did it would take me 0 seconds to find it). 6\. I yearn to work together with great minds. Programming gives me that, when I use someone's API. And when the API anticipates my needs, and is instantly understandable, I feel the soul of another artist is present. I imagine this is how musicians feel when they play another musician's song or symphony. I'm sure there's more to it. But today I'm working on a "lite" problem, and I'll figure it out, but right now I'm enjoying the fact that I don't get it. Back to work Dave!</source:markdown> <source:outline text="Why I love programming" created="Fri, 04 Sep 2026 01:08:48 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/03/010848.html"> <source:outline text="1. I love puzzles." created="Fri, 04 Sep 2026 01:08:58 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/03/010848.html#a010858"/> <source:outline text="2. I love <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rube_Goldberg">Rube Goldberg</a> contraptions." created="Fri, 04 Sep 2026 01:09:22 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/03/010848.html#a010922"/> <source:outline text="3. I love solving problems (I have an inner-<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbo">Columbo</a>)." created="Fri, 04 Sep 2026 01:10:12 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/03/010848.html#a011012"/> <source:outline text="4. People are the biggest piece of the puzzle (again Columbo)." flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/03/010848.html#aNaNNaNNaN"/> <source:outline text="5. It teaches me about myself and my limited vision and imagination (if I had unlimited vision and imagination, I would never program a bug, and if I did it would take me 0 seconds to find it)." flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/03/010848.html#aNaNNaNNaN"/> <source:outline text="6. I yearn to work together with great minds. Programming gives me that, when I use someone's API. And when the API anticipates my needs, and is instantly understandable, I feel the soul of another artist is present. I imagine this is how musicians feel when they play another musician's song or symphony." flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/03/010848.html#aNaNNaNNaN"/> <source:outline text="I'm sure there's more to it. But today I'm working on a "lite" problem, and I'll figure it out, but right now I'm enjoying the fact that I don't get it." flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/03/010848.html#aNaNNaNNaN"/> <source:outline text="Back to work Dave!" created="Fri, 04 Sep 2026 01:09:00 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/03/010848.html#a010900"/> </source:outline> </item> <item> <description>We got <a href="http://scripting.com/frontier/manual/chapter11.html">agents</a> running in Atlantis today. <a href="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/02/agentScreenShot.png">Screen shot</a>.</description> <pubDate>Wed, 02 Sep 2026 16:44:43 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/02.html#a164443</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/02.html#a164443</guid> <source:markdown>We got [agents](http://scripting.com/frontier/manual/chapter11.html) running in Atlantis today. [Screen shot](https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/02/agentScreenShot.png).</source:markdown> <source:outline text="We got <a href="http://scripting.com/frontier/manual/chapter11.html">agents</a> running in Atlantis today. <a href="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/02/agentScreenShot.png">Screen shot</a>." created="Wed, 02 Sep 2026 16:44:43 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/02.html#a164443"/> </item> <item> <description>A bunch of tech billionaires have chipped in a million each to fund a <a href="https://www.ac0.ai/en/field-notes/omarchy-4-linux-mac-alternative-open-source-foundation">new Linux distribution</a>. I can't imagine how this is supposed to work, all those huge human egos, how much will they pay their developers to contribute what. I have to find out what the goal of the project is. It would be nice to have a Linux that was extensively tested for use by regular people.</description> <pubDate>Wed, 02 Sep 2026 21:07:25 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/02.html#a210725</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/02.html#a210725</guid> <source:markdown>A bunch of tech billionaires have chipped in a million each to fund a [new Linux distribution](https://www.ac0.ai/en/field-notes/omarchy-4-linux-mac-alternative-open-source-foundation). I can't imagine how this is supposed to work, all those huge human egos, how much will they pay their developers to contribute what. I have to find out what the goal of the project is. It would be nice to have a Linux that was extensively tested for use by regular people.</source:markdown> <source:outline text="A bunch of tech billionaires have chipped in a million each to fund a <a href="https://www.ac0.ai/en/field-notes/omarchy-4-linux-mac-alternative-open-source-foundation">new Linux distribution</a>. I can't imagine how this is supposed to work, all those huge human egos, how much will they pay their developers to contribute what. I have to find out what the goal of the project is. It would be nice to have a Linux that was extensively tested for use by regular people." created="Wed, 02 Sep 2026 21:07:25 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/02.html#a210725"/> </item> <item> <description>After saying I was putting my tech work aside, <a href="http://scripting.com/2026/09/01.html#a130557">yesterday</a>, I had a bolt of determination, and realized I don't like collaborating with Claude Code, but maybe it's just when we get to this stage of a project where it's all details, and they're hard to communicate, and the bot has a bad habit of ignoring things I tell it to do. It also returns code to me to test that no human developer would pass on to a user. It would be too embarrassing. But the bot isn't aware in the same way a human is, not even close. Now that is something I'm sure they can be taught to simulate well enough to be as good as a human collaborator.</description> <pubDate>Wed, 02 Sep 2026 21:04:54 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/02.html#a210454</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/02.html#a210454</guid> <source:markdown>After saying I was putting my tech work aside, [yesterday](http://scripting.com/2026/09/01.html#a130557), I had a bolt of determination, and realized I don't like collaborating with Claude Code, but maybe it's just when we get to this stage of a project where it's all details, and they're hard to communicate, and the bot has a bad habit of ignoring things I tell it to do. It also returns code to me to test that no human developer would pass on to a user. It would be too embarrassing. But the bot isn't aware in the same way a human is, not even close. Now that is something I'm sure they can be taught to simulate well enough to be as good as a human collaborator.</source:markdown> <source:outline text="After saying I was putting my tech work aside, <a href="http://scripting.com/2026/09/01.html#a130557">yesterday</a>, I had a bolt of determination, and realized I don't like collaborating with Claude Code, but maybe it's just when we get to this stage of a project where it's all details, and they're hard to communicate, and the bot has a bad habit of ignoring things I tell it to do. It also returns code to me to test that no human developer would pass on to a user. It would be too embarrassing. But the bot isn't aware in the same way a human is, not even close. Now that is something I'm sure they can be taught to simulate well enough to be as good as a human collaborator." created="Wed, 02 Sep 2026 21:04:54 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/02.html#a210454"/> </item> <item> <title>My year with Claude Code</title> <description><p><img class="imgRightMargin" src="https://imgs.scripting.com/2025/12/23/veritas.png" border="0" style="float: right; padding-left: 25px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 15px;"><i>Everyone is introducing themselves on the Berkman community mail list, at the beginning of the fall semester, and here's the story I am telling.</i></p> <p>Good morning. My name is Dave Winer. I was at Berkman in 2003-04, worked on blogging, podcasting, RSS, political blogging and the connection to journalism. We had a couple of Bloggercons at Harvard, had a wonderful time, miss it terribly, wish we could have it back. </p> <p>I've spent the whole of this year working in Claude Code on a couple of programming projects, one which which I had been struggling with for a couple of years, coming up with a user interface for a Twitter-like system that runs on the web for real, without any of the limits that the silos have (that help them enforce the boundaries of the silo). Just using HTML, Markdown, RSS, WebSockets. Turns out you can make a pretty nice system, but the going is slow because it's just me and Claude, on the other hand, what a huge difference in territory we can cover. This is the kind of stuff that's never covered in the reporting, even when there are massive changes happening in how software is developed, people don't seem to be studying it. I'm sharing all I learn as I learn it on my blog -- at <a href="http://scripting.com/">scripting.com</a>.</p> <p>Also attempting a massive coding job at the same time, getting UserLand Frontier to run on current OSes. It's my life's work, but it was very much in danger of being lost, along with all the software I did before the web. Now we're close to getting it to run in a stable mode, here the challenge has been to teach Claude how a new type of software works, it keeps trying to snap back to systems that are already out there and widely deployed. It doesn't do "pioneering" at all, it needs a human to guide it. And the human guide has to be a developer with a lot of experience. </p> <p>What I desperately want to do is bootstrap a network of people who work at the level I'm working, and write about it. Taking ideas that are well-explored in software in the pre-AI period, and seeing what we can do that we couldn't before.</p> <p>The models have been getting increasingly better, you can really feel the difference. </p> <p>Next year promises to be better, if only via the improvements that will be made by the platform vendors, but it's likely that good app developers will be able to move the leading edge forward much more quickly and users should feel this, if all goes well, real soon now.</p> </description> <pubDate>Wed, 02 Sep 2026 21:21:10 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/02/212110.html?title=myYearWithClaudeCode</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/02/212110.html</guid> <source:markdown>_Everyone is introducing themselves on the Berkman community mail list, at the beginning of the fall semester, and here's the story I am telling._ Good morning. My name is Dave Winer. I was at Berkman in 2003-04, worked on blogging, podcasting, RSS, political blogging and the connection to journalism. We had a couple of Bloggercons at Harvard, had a wonderful time, miss it terribly, wish we could have it back. I've spent the whole of this year working in Claude Code on a couple of programming projects, one which which I had been struggling with for a couple of years, coming up with a user interface for a Twitter-like system that runs on the web for real, without any of the limits that the silos have (that help them enforce the boundaries of the silo). Just using HTML, Markdown, RSS, WebSockets. Turns out you can make a pretty nice system, but the going is slow because it's just me and Claude, on the other hand, what a huge difference in territory we can cover. This is the kind of stuff that's never covered in the reporting, even when there are massive changes happening in how software is developed, people don't seem to be studying it. I'm sharing all I learn as I learn it on my blog -- at [scripting.com](http://scripting.com/). Also attempting a massive coding job at the same time, getting UserLand Frontier to run on current OSes. It's my life's work, but it was very much in danger of being lost, along with all the software I did before the web. Now we're close to getting it to run in a stable mode, here the challenge has been to teach Claude how a new type of software works, it keeps trying to snap back to systems that are already out there and widely deployed. It doesn't do "pioneering" at all, it needs a human to guide it. And the human guide has to be a developer with a lot of experience. What I desperately want to do is bootstrap a network of people who work at the level I'm working, and write about it. Taking ideas that are well-explored in software in the pre-AI period, and seeing what we can do that we couldn't before. The models have been getting increasingly better, you can really feel the difference. Next year promises to be better, if only via the improvements that will be made by the platform vendors, but it's likely that good app developers will be able to move the leading edge forward much more quickly and users should feel this, if all goes well, real soon now.</source:markdown> <source:outline text="My year with Claude Code" created="Wed, 02 Sep 2026 21:21:10 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/02/212110.html"> <source:outline text="<i>Everyone is introducing themselves on the Berkman community mail list, at the beginning of the fall semester, and here's the story I am telling.</i>" created="Wed, 02 Sep 2026 21:21:27 GMT" image="https://imgs.scripting.com/2025/12/23/veritas.png" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/02/212110.html#a212127"/> <source:outline text="Good morning. My name is Dave Winer. I was at Berkman in 2003-04, worked on blogging, podcasting, RSS, political blogging and the connection to journalism. We had a couple of Bloggercons at Harvard, had a wonderful time, miss it terribly, wish we could have it back." created="Wed, 02 Sep 2026 21:25:32 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/02/212110.html#a212532"/> <source:outline text="I've spent the whole of this year working in Claude Code on a couple of programming projects, one which which I had been struggling with for a couple of years, coming up with a user interface for a Twitter-like system that runs on the web for real, without any of the limits that the silos have (that help them enforce the boundaries of the silo). Just using HTML, Markdown, RSS, WebSockets. Turns out you can make a pretty nice system, but the going is slow because it's just me and Claude, on the other hand, what a huge difference in territory we can cover. This is the kind of stuff that's never covered in the reporting, even when there are massive changes happening in how software is developed, people don't seem to be studying it. I'm sharing all I learn as I learn it on my blog -- at <a href="http://scripting.com/">scripting.com</a>." created="Wed, 02 Sep 2026 21:27:22 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/02/212110.html#a212722"/> <source:outline text="Also attempting a massive coding job at the same time, getting UserLand Frontier to run on current OSes. It's my life's work, but it was very much in danger of being lost, along with all the software I did before the web. Now we're close to getting it to run in a stable mode, here the challenge has been to teach Claude how a new type of software works, it keeps trying to snap back to systems that are already out there and widely deployed. It doesn't do "pioneering" at all, it needs a human to guide it. And the human guide has to be a developer with a lot of experience." created="Wed, 02 Sep 2026 21:27:51 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/02/212110.html#a212751"/> <source:outline text="What I desperately want to do is bootstrap a network of people who work at the level I'm working, and write about it. Taking ideas that are well-explored in software in the pre-AI period, and seeing what we can do that we couldn't before." created="Wed, 02 Sep 2026 21:29:42 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/02/212110.html#a212942"/> <source:outline text="The models have been getting increasingly better, you can really feel the difference." created="Wed, 02 Sep 2026 21:29:15 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/02/212110.html#a212915"/> <source:outline text="Next year promises to be better, if only via the improvements that will be made by the platform vendors, but it's likely that good app developers will be able to move the leading edge forward much more quickly and users should feel this, if all goes well, real soon now." created="Wed, 02 Sep 2026 21:30:00 GMT" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/02/212110.html#a213000"/> </source:outline> </item> <item> <description>The blogging tools for Bluesky should be able to publish on Bluesky.</description> <pubDate>Tue, 01 Sep 2026 20:51:14 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/01.html#a205114</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/01.html#a205114</guid> <source:markdown>The blogging tools for Bluesky should be able to publish on Bluesky.</source:markdown> <source:outline text="The blogging tools for Bluesky should be able to publish on Bluesky." created="Tue, 01 Sep 2026 20:51:14 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/01.html#a205114"/> </item> <item> <description><img class="imgRightMargin" src="https://imgs.scripting.com/2020/05/02/lbj.png" border="0" style="float: right; padding-left: 25px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 15px;">Obama should have <a href="http://scripting.com/2022/06/24/141809.html?title=itShouldntBe63">seated Garland</a> if the Senate wouldn’t have a vote to advise and consent. Assume they consent. In the same way, the <a href="https://www.kentucky.gov/Pages/Activity-stream.aspx?n=GovernorBeshear&prId=2789">governor</a> of Kentucky should appoint a successor to McConnell unless someone can prove he’s actually alive. The Democrats always put up with Republican tricks like this one. I'm sure McConnell would appreciate the utility of his death, and the Republican lack of shame. Anything for a buck.</description> <pubDate>Tue, 01 Sep 2026 20:10:30 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/01.html#a201030</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/01.html#a201030</guid> <source:markdown>Obama should have [seated Garland](http://scripting.com/2022/06/24/141809.html?title=itShouldntBe63) if the Senate wouldn’t have a vote to advise and consent. Assume they consent. In the same way, the [governor](https://www.kentucky.gov/Pages/Activity-stream.aspx?n=GovernorBeshear&prId=2789) of Kentucky should appoint a successor to McConnell unless someone can prove he’s actually alive. The Democrats always put up with Republican tricks like this one. I'm sure McConnell would appreciate the utility of his death, and the Republican lack of shame. Anything for a buck.</source:markdown> <source:outline text="Obama should have <a href="http://scripting.com/2022/06/24/141809.html?title=itShouldntBe63">seated Garland</a> if the Senate wouldn’t have a vote to advise and consent. Assume they consent. In the same way, the <a href="https://www.kentucky.gov/Pages/Activity-stream.aspx?n=GovernorBeshear&prId=2789">governor</a> of Kentucky should appoint a successor to McConnell unless someone can prove he’s actually alive. The Democrats always put up with Republican tricks like this one. I'm sure McConnell would appreciate the utility of his death, and the Republican lack of shame. Anything for a buck." created="Tue, 01 Sep 2026 20:10:30 GMT" type="outline" image="https://imgs.scripting.com/2020/05/02/lbj.png" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/01.html#a201030"/> </item> <item> <description>Creative computer people, consider consolidating all the different OSes and programming languages. Give humans a fair fight in competition with the AI's who have no trouble deeply understanding every syntax human designers have come up with, where it totally disadvantages us, who have much more limited memory.</description> <pubDate>Tue, 01 Sep 2026 13:37:50 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/01.html#a133750</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/01.html#a133750</guid> <source:markdown>Creative computer people, consider consolidating all the different OSes and programming languages. Give humans a fair fight in competition with the AI's who have no trouble deeply understanding every syntax human designers have come up with, where it totally disadvantages us, who have much more limited memory.</source:markdown> <source:outline text="Creative computer people, consider consolidating all the different OSes and programming languages. Give humans a fair fight in competition with the AI's who have no trouble deeply understanding every syntax human designers have come up with, where it totally disadvantages us, who have much more limited memory." created="Tue, 01 Sep 2026 13:37:50 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/01.html#a133750"/> </item> <item> <description>If you View Source on a <a href="http://scripting.com/2026/08/31.html#a155649">fatpage</a>, scroll to the bottom, you'll see the code. <a href="http://scripting.com/fatpages/suites/slideShow.html">Example</a>. The idea is that the docs for the code are what you see in the browser. Maybe that's the way feeds should work too? Something to think about.</description> <pubDate>Tue, 01 Sep 2026 13:17:05 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/01.html#a131705</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/01.html#a131705</guid> <source:markdown>If you View Source on a [fatpage](http://scripting.com/2026/08/31.html#a155649), scroll to the bottom, you'll see the code. [Example](http://scripting.com/fatpages/suites/slideShow.html). The idea is that the docs for the code are what you see in the browser. Maybe that's the way feeds should work too? Something to think about.</source:markdown> <source:outline text="If you View Source on a <a href="http://scripting.com/2026/08/31.html#a155649">fatpage</a>, scroll to the bottom, you'll see the code. <a href="http://scripting.com/fatpages/suites/slideShow.html">Example</a>. The idea is that the docs for the code are what you see in the browser. Maybe that's the way feeds should work too? Something to think about." created="Tue, 01 Sep 2026 13:17:05 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/01.html#a131705"/> </item> <item> <description><img class="imgRightMargin" src="https://imgs.scripting.com/2025/08/28/thinkDifferentBillboard.png" border="0" style="float: right; padding-left: 25px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 15px;">I begin the month of September for some reason, not feeling like working. And rather than succumb to the work ethos, I'm allowing myself to goof off with the same determination that I worked my ass of for so many years. I think the last time I felt like this was when I was a grad student in Madison. I had just fallen in love with a sweet, funny, cute and gorgeous undergrad. She was 19 and I was 22. We spent the last weeks of the fall semester goofing off, and as a result I had to stay in Madison over the holidays, to finish the work of the Compiler Design <a href="https://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~cs701-1/">course</a>, which was the gate for grad students, the hardest course. If you got through it with a decent grade, you got the degree. It was fun too -- except I missed my sweetheart. This time I don't know what the root is, but it's a good feeling. If I want to goof off, I can, no one will judge me, probably very few people even notice. I still expect to finish Frontier, and swing back around to FeedLand and RSS.chat, they have some important work to do, together. Maybe the reason is the thing I liked about making software is the actual making of it, which I delegate more and more to Claude Code. How would a great painter feel if they invented a computer that could write their "code" much more quickly, would Picasso have stopped painting just because Claude Code could do Picasso paintings faster? Today, Claude still will, if given a chance, throw out all of my orders and develop code in a non-Dave fashion. And it still acts as if between the two of us it's the only programmer, surprised when I want to actually write something myself. Maybe that's just my imagination? Or maybe that's the next project for me. A project where I write the code, and Claude helps out when I can't find a bug, or where I need to know something about a feature in a platform I've not worked on.</description> <pubDate>Tue, 01 Sep 2026 13:05:57 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/01.html#a130557</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/01.html#a130557</guid> <source:markdown>I begin the month of September for some reason, not feeling like working. And rather than succumb to the work ethos, I'm allowing myself to goof off with the same determination that I worked my ass of for so many years. I think the last time I felt like this was when I was a grad student in Madison. I had just fallen in love with a sweet, funny, cute and gorgeous undergrad. She was 19 and I was 22. We spent the last weeks of the fall semester goofing off, and as a result I had to stay in Madison over the holidays, to finish the work of the Compiler Design [course](https://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~cs701-1/), which was the gate for grad students, the hardest course. If you got through it with a decent grade, you got the degree. It was fun too -- except I missed my sweetheart. This time I don't know what the root is, but it's a good feeling. If I want to goof off, I can, no one will judge me, probably very few people even notice. I still expect to finish Frontier, and swing back around to FeedLand and RSS.chat, they have some important work to do, together. Maybe the reason is the thing I liked about making software is the actual making of it, which I delegate more and more to Claude Code. How would a great painter feel if they invented a computer that could write their "code" much more quickly, would Picasso have stopped painting just because Claude Code could do Picasso paintings faster? Today, Claude still will, if given a chance, throw out all of my orders and develop code in a non-Dave fashion. And it still acts as if between the two of us it's the only programmer, surprised when I want to actually write something myself. Maybe that's just my imagination? Or maybe that's the next project for me. A project where I write the code, and Claude helps out when I can't find a bug, or where I need to know something about a feature in a platform I've not worked on.</source:markdown> <source:outline text="I begin the month of September for some reason, not feeling like working. And rather than succumb to the work ethos, I'm allowing myself to goof off with the same determination that I worked my ass of for so many years. I think the last time I felt like this was when I was a grad student in Madison. I had just fallen in love with a sweet, funny, cute and gorgeous undergrad. She was 19 and I was 22. We spent the last weeks of the fall semester goofing off, and as a result I had to stay in Madison over the holidays, to finish the work of the Compiler Design <a href="https://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~cs701-1/">course</a>, which was the gate for grad students, the hardest course. If you got through it with a decent grade, you got the degree. It was fun too -- except I missed my sweetheart. This time I don't know what the root is, but it's a good feeling. If I want to goof off, I can, no one will judge me, probably very few people even notice. I still expect to finish Frontier, and swing back around to FeedLand and RSS.chat, they have some important work to do, together. Maybe the reason is the thing I liked about making software is the actual making of it, which I delegate more and more to Claude Code. How would a great painter feel if they invented a computer that could write their "code" much more quickly, would Picasso have stopped painting just because Claude Code could do Picasso paintings faster? Today, Claude still will, if given a chance, throw out all of my orders and develop code in a non-Dave fashion. And it still acts as if between the two of us it's the only programmer, surprised when I want to actually write something myself. Maybe that's just my imagination? Or maybe that's the next project for me. A project where I write the code, and Claude helps out when I can't find a bug, or where I need to know something about a feature in a platform I've not worked on." created="Tue, 01 Sep 2026 13:05:57 GMT" type="outline" image="https://imgs.scripting.com/2025/08/28/thinkDifferentBillboard.png" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/01.html#a130557"/> </item> <item> <description><a href="https://github.com/scripting/Scripting-News/blob/master/blog/opml/2026/08.opml">OPML archive</a> for August 2026.</description> <pubDate>Tue, 01 Sep 2026 13:33:23 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/01.html#a133323</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/01.html#a133323</guid> <source:markdown>[OPML archive](https://github.com/scripting/Scripting-News/blob/master/blog/opml/2026/08.opml) for August 2026.</source:markdown> <source:outline text="<a href="https://github.com/scripting/Scripting-News/blob/master/blog/opml/2026/08.opml">OPML archive</a> for August 2026." created="Tue, 01 Sep 2026 13:33:23 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/01.html#a133323"/> </item> <item> <title>Every writer everywhere</title> <description><p><div class="divInlineImage"><center><img class="imgInline" src="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/01/writerAlways.png"></center>Understands.</div></p> </description> <pubDate>Tue, 01 Sep 2026 20:26:29 GMT</pubDate> <link>http://scripting.com/2026/09/01/202629.html?title=everyWriterEverywhere</link> <guid>http://scripting.com/2026/09/01/202629.html</guid> <source:markdown> Understands.</source:markdown> <source:outline text="Every writer everywhere" created="Tue, 01 Sep 2026 20:26:29 GMT" type="outline" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/01/202629.html"> <source:outline text="Understands." created="Tue, 01 Sep 2026 20:26:36 GMT" inlineImage="https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/01/writerAlways.png" flInCalendar="true" permalink="http://scripting.com/2026/09/01/202629.html#a202636"/> </source:outline> </item> </channel> </rss>
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"description": "<img class=\"imgRightMargin\" src=\"https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/12/plato.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"float: right; padding-left: 25px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 15px;\"><a href=\"https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/12/stringAddressToStringScreenshot.png\">Screen shot</a> of new Frontier verb, string.addressToString, added yesterday. The comment at the head of the function explains. You're seeing it in the script editor in Atlantis. The Debug button is there to remind me that it's the biggest item on the todo list. We're now building the system that will make Frontier an easily updateable runtime. Once we're there I think we'll be at the summit of the mountain. We know how to work from that point. Find a bug? Fix it, test it, release it. We already have a backlog of parts to update. And it's great to have Claude here being the book keeper. It is imperfect, but it's way better than I am at managing details.",
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"description": "<p>Lots of stuff going on around WordPress for the last couple of years, and every bit of is a distraction from what I want to do to help the web get back on its feet. I remember how great it was when everything could hook into everything else. The web was like Unix. Today's \"web\" is like Disneyland. Safety first. Nothing interesting ever happens there. </p>\n<p>So ask me what I'd like to see WordPress do, and this is what I'd tell you. Start something new, don't change what you do with WordPress, it is what it is. It's a 20+ year old project with market problems. Most software doesn't even make it that far. </p>\n<p>The fresh start I'd like to see done is WordPress from the point of view of the web. The new mission is not about a dollar return on investment, rather it's measured by how much the web becomes Small Pieces Loosely Joined with All Parts Replaceable. How empowered are developers, not WordPress developers, but web developres. The more that's happening in the web, the better it will be for everyone, but especially WordPress. Why WordPress? Because as they say it's 89 percent of the web. The web is like a huge oil spill that has never been cleaned up. Everything has to improve if we start work on cleaning up the messes. </p>\n<p>I come from NYC where all the bodies of water were cesspools when I was growing up. The Hudson River had garbage floating in it. When I went to school the incinerators in the buildings we lived in burned garbage on the kids, all nicely washed and dressed by our mothers, we arrived at school smelling like smokers. My grandfather took me to Knicks games at the Garden, and the arena was filled with smoke by half-time. </p>\n<p>We <i>can</i> clean things up. Humans as a species are good at this if we put our minds to it. If you made billions on the web, why not put some of it to use in making it a web worth using. I used to say shit like this to Bill Gates, to no avail. He liked to point out he was going to give away all his money when he retired, and he kept that promise. But what if he started dealing with the world with charity when he had the biggest seat of power in the tech world? Think of how much more good he could have done. </p>\n",
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"description": "<p><img class=\"imgRightMargin\" src=\"https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/12/plato.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"float: right; padding-left: 25px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 15px;\">The world may be falling apart, and <a href=\"https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/12/howAreTheMetsDoing.png?nodialog\">the Mets suck</a> even though they have the most expensive roster in MLB, and my house needs work and I can't find a contractor I like, but I'm in a <b>great</b> mood. Partially because the weather is so nice, chilly in the morning, but it gets up to the 70s during the day, and the sky is clear and we had a lot of rain in August so everything is very green here in the Catskills.</p>\n<p>But the biggest reason I feel so good is that, with the help of Claude Code, I now have <a href=\"http://frontier.userland.com/\">UserLand Frontier</a> running on current OSes. I had no idea how much the previous situation had been weighing on me. I am probably the last Frontier user in the world. Porting the open source codebase was an insurmountable job. It took 15 years by up to five people working on it to do the original project. It's a big f'ing piece of software. And it also is my life's work, but not one of the things I'm known for.</p>\n<p>Claude couldn't have done it on its own because it had never seen anything like Frontier. We weren't copying something Claude understood. It kept trying to turn it into a language that fits into the same slot as Python. That was the prior art it used, without saying so. This happened over and over, for example, I realized Claude didn't understand that built-in verbs could be written in the language, and that users could add or even modify standard verbs (not recommended!).</p>\n<p>What made Frontier unusual is that it was a language developed by someone who also designed end-user apps, so it has affordances that no other language has. And integrations. You don't have to save your data in files, the OS (yes Frontier is an OS) has persistent memory with the common scalar types and data structures. So go ahead and store something in the ODB (object database). It can be huge, and you don't have to read anything into memory, it's all right there as soon as you boot it up. That alone makes programming an order of magnitude simpler. </p>\n<p>We're at the point now where I can work a full day in the new version, codenamed <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantis_(disambiguation)\">Atlantis</a>, running on anything that can run an <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electron_(software_framework)\">Electron</a> app. We're now at the point where we're improving things. Found a missing verb yesterday, and Claude and I implemented it, found a perfect name for it, and later today it will go out as a \"root update\" making it formally part of the freaking language. </p>\n<p>And yesterday we also found a static rendering of the <a href=\"http://docserver.userland.com/string/nthField\">DocServer site</a>, which has a page for every verb in the language. I still want to find the outline source for this stuff, but we don't need it because Claude can reconstruct the OPML version of the text from the HTML, it's exactly the kind of project it is the best at. Huge amounts of data, that sometimes requires a little judgment to process. </p>\n<p>The feeling of well-being comes from realizing that my life's work lives. Until this last week that was still very much in question.</p>\n<p>Now, I may not be software's Shakespeare or even Faulkner or Vonnegut, but I am proud of this product, more than anything else I've done. I started work on it when I learned from C how to design a simple beautiful language, and when I learned from Macintosh how to build a UI with the same simplicity. When we were first contemplating Frontier it was to join the wizzy world of the Mac with the scripting philosophy of Unix. We didn't stop until we had it. </p>\n<p>Well here we are god knows how many years later (I don't want to do the math) and once again it has a future, at least as bright as it had when the product first launched on the System 6 Macintosh in 1992.</p>\n<p>And btw, I think I've had a unique experience with AI development. Absolutely in no way could I have done this project without the muscle of Claude. Pretty sure this is a unique project in that it's a fully specified system development and runtime environment that otherwise wouldn't exist, because there's nothing else like it on the market. </p>\n<p>Claude's repeatedly not understanding the idea says to me that it has never encountered anything like it. It also says that Claude has no clue how to extrapolate, to innovate, to arrive at something new. Just as with other forms of creativity, Claude is no match for a determined and experienced human. </p>\n<p>That would be reassuring to the 20-something version of myself who very much wanted to do something new. And the older version of myself wants that for my younger self who is sending the good body chemistry to our current older body.</p>\n<p>Of course this will be a post on my blog, http://scripting.com, but thanks to X for supporting longer posts. I like writing new stuff in a simple editor like this one. Also posted it on Facebook. </p>\n<p>PS: I also like that they use the word <a href=\"http://scripting.com/2021/01/04/140651.html?title=whatFrontierIsAbout\">Frontier</a> in reference to AI products. They can't stop me from calling this Frontier, I've been using it as the name of this product since I came up with the name riding up on the chair in Park City in 1988. :-)</p>\n",
"url": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/12/131527.html?title=progressReportOnAtlantisProject",
"published": "2026-09-12T13:15:27.000Z",
"updated": "2026-09-12T13:15:27.000Z",
"content": null,
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": []
},
{
"id": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/11/132205.html",
"title": "Remembering 9/11/2001",
"description": "<p><a href=\"http://scripting.com/2001/09/11.html\">Scripting News</a> on 9/11/2001.</p>\n<p><img class=\"imgRightMargin\" src=\"https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/11/911wasteland.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"float: right; padding-left: 25px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 15px;\">All of us who lived through 9/11 are re-experiencing it right now. The local fire department just ran its alarm, everyone in this small mountain hamlet heard it and it took a moment to realize this was the exact time the first plane hit the tower. I was at my computer in Woodside, California -- hearing about it from friends in Manhattan, and blogging about it as it happened. I didn't have a TV, I had turned my cable subscription off after I became so obsessed with coverage of the 2000 election. So what I reported came exclusively through the web. </p>\n<p>New York-based journalists were off the air, they had the same tools as we did, but their lives were upturned by the events. Everything was outwardly calm at my workstation in Calif. But there were people in NYC with digital cameras, and first-hand stories of survival. My own father was caught up in the catastrophe, his office was across from City Hall, a <a href=\"https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Pace+University,+One+Pace+Plaza,+New+York,+NY+10038/9%2F11+Memorial+%26+Museum,+180+Greenwich+St,+New+York,+NY+10007/@40.7111843,-74.0144059,2047m/data=!3m3!1e3!4b1!5s0x89c25a1a3bf26f61:0xe2320e12b6c6470c!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x89c258fe30a7b447:0x8a0a55f0a5fd1f1f!2m2!1d-74.0051758!2d40.7112562!1m5!1m1!1s0x89c25a1a3be8cb45:0xf430ccc5401d1eed!2m2!1d-74.0133362!2d40.7115776!3e2?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDkwOC4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D\">few blocks</a> from ground zero. He walked home from ground zero to Queens and for hours we had no idea if he had lived or died. All forms of transportation and communication were offline.</p>\n<p>Cell coverage was spotty, and phone lines in NYC were unreliable. But there was a webcam in the Empire State Building that could be pointed at the World Trade Center, so we had a constant update of what was happening visually.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://github.com/scripting/Scripting-News/issues/362\">Links in my browser chrome</a>: As part of this little project to re-live 9/11 through the web, I came across a snapshot of the chrome of the browser I was using on 9/11. Since I'm working on Frontier again, I'm finding the dates of various projects all over this time, in UserTalk code and in the kernel, before and after. So I wrote up a little post on GitHub with info about what was on my screen that day. </p>\n<p>The full text of my interview with Amy Harmon of the NYT is on the 9/11/2001 page. We didn't have post-level permalinks in 2001 yet.</p>\n<p>If you have an X account, <a href=\"https://x.com/davewiner/status/2098393612862017707\">comment here</a>. </p>\n<p>Mayor Mamdami's <a href=\"https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:nx7znvoex7ev3wcxn3tipovm/post/3mvacyv3pv224\">remembrance</a> of 9/11.</p>\n<p>New header <a href=\"https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/11/manhattanFromJersey.png?nodialog\">image</a> for this event.</p>\n<p><div class=\"divInlineImage\"><center><img class=\"imgInline\" src=\"https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/11/nytExcerpt.png\"></center><a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/12/us/a-day-of-terror-the-talk-online-web-offers-both-news-and-comfort.html?unlocked_article_code=1.AVE.R-ln.fBrHrjiu7Me3&smid=url-share\">NYT on 9/12/2001</a>: \"The world's changed.\"</div></p>\n<p><div class=\"divInlineImage\"><center><img class=\"imgInline\" src=\"https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/11/sn911screen.png\"></center><a href=\"http://scripting.com/2001/09/11.html\">Link</a> to Scripting News for 9/11/2001.</div></p>\n<p><div class=\"divInlineImage\"><center><img class=\"imgInline\" src=\"https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/11/inlineImageWebcam.png\"></center><a href=\"https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/11/fullsizewebcamscreen.png\">Screen shot</a> of webcam on the Empire State Bulding.</div></p>\n",
"url": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/11/132205.html?title=remembering9112001",
"published": "2026-09-11T13:22:05.000Z",
"updated": "2026-09-11T13:22:05.000Z",
"content": null,
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": []
},
{
"id": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/10.html#a175332",
"title": null,
"description": "I almost fell for a <a href=\"https://x.com/davewiner/status/2098107496804082135\">phishing hack</a>.",
"url": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/10.html#a175332",
"published": "2026-09-10T17:53:32.000Z",
"updated": "2026-09-10T17:53:32.000Z",
"content": null,
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": []
},
{
"id": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/10.html#a142406",
"title": null,
"description": "<a href=\"https://www.therepository.email/automattic-board-forces-matt-mullenweg-on-leave-names-cfo-mark-davies-as-interim-ceo\">Repository</a>: BlackRock’s latest SEC filing values its Automattic shares at $14.33 per share. They originally invested at $85 a share in 2021. That means their market cap has dropped from $7.5 billion to $1.2 billion. My guess is when that happens the CEO if they want to keep their job, has to rethink the whole enterprise. And that usually doesn't happen until they get a new CEO. My guess is that's what we saw play out yesterday.",
"url": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/10.html#a142406",
"published": "2026-09-10T14:24:06.000Z",
"updated": "2026-09-10T14:24:06.000Z",
"content": null,
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": []
},
{
"id": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/10.html#a140229",
"title": null,
"description": "<img class=\"imgRightMargin\" src=\"https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/08/30/silo.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"float: right; padding-left: 25px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 15px;\">The last two episodes of season three of <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silo_(TV_series)\">Silo</a> on AppleTV prove that there is value in a three season, boring escapade of confusing, unlikable uninteresting characters, living their whole lives in a silo, fearing the outdoors -- if you have a clever way of accounting for all that at the end. Highly recommend watching just season three and pretending that none of the other stuff matters because it probably doesn’t. But I bet if I go back to the beginning and start over, I'll find there's more intrigue than I thought. I'll probably do it, will let you know.",
"url": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/10.html#a140229",
"published": "2026-09-10T14:02:29.000Z",
"updated": "2026-09-10T14:02:29.000Z",
"content": null,
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": []
},
{
"id": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/10.html#a172311",
"title": null,
"description": "WordPress emerged from the ashes of UserLand, something I am recently reacquainted with, working the last couple of months with Claude on a reboot of Frontier, this time written in JavaScript, running in Electron. But someone is sure to reboot Manila in this context, and Manila is at least a grandparent of WordPress. I'm following all kinds of trails as we test the product, codename <a href=\"https://daytona.scripting.com/search?q=atlantis\">Atlantis</a>, against all the apps we wrote for it back then.",
"url": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/10.html#a172311",
"published": "2026-09-10T17:23:11.000Z",
"updated": "2026-09-10T17:23:11.000Z",
"content": null,
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": []
},
{
"id": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/10.html#a174614",
"title": null,
"description": "<a href=\"http://scripting.com/2017/09/10.html#a114000\">2017</a>: The thing people don't realize about storm surge, and they don't really explain it on TV, is this. If the ocean surges 1 mile inland, and you were on the beach before the surge, now you're 1 mile out to sea. In normal times you'd be pretty fucked if someone dropped you in the ocean a mile from shore. But you're in a hurricane. Huge waves. There's no one to rescue you. And (this is the part that will kill you) there are deadly objects in the water like buildings and trees and power lines, even a rope can entangle you and make it impossible for you to swim. And if you can't swim and you're a mile from shore, that's the end of you",
"url": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/10.html#a174614",
"published": "2026-09-10T17:46:14.000Z",
"updated": "2026-09-10T17:46:14.000Z",
"content": null,
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": []
},
{
"id": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/10/132416.html",
"title": "Gobsmacked by Automattic, but then...",
"description": "<p>Fair to say I was <a href=\"https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gobsmacked\">gobsmacked</a> by the news late yesterday that Automattic's board had put their CEO, Matt Mullenweg, on paid leave. I've read lots of stuff about it, in news articles and in a Hacker News thread. And a lot of posts on Twitter by Matt, and the replies. </p>\n<p><b>Are you a developer or a CEO?</b></p>\n<p>It's a very unusual situation in my experience in tech. Matt was able to raise a lot of money for Automattic, so he has maintained a controlling interest in the company, even though it has raised hundreds of millions of dollars. I left my own startup, voluntarily, when I was a little older than Matt, and I didn't return. I never wanted to be the CEO of a tech company, and I expect that being the CEO wasn't really a good fit for Matt either. A CEO's job is very different from being a developer and idea guy which Matt clearly sees himself as. </p>\n<p>Something has got to give, either you're a good CEO and the product languishes, or you focus on the product, and the company is unmanaged. In the cause of WordPress, I'd say it suffered in both areas. When I saw a chart of Matt's direct reports, I immediately saw a problem -- it was very long, iirc 60 people? No one can manage and guide that many people. Most of those people probably never get to talk one-on-one with the boss. </p>\n<p>For me, even when I was CEO, I wanted to spend all day working on new software and working with five or six other devs doing the same. Digging back into the past with Frontier these last weeks has reminded me both how good that can be, and how utterly frustrating -- when the people you're working with don't understand the mission. It's not their fault, it's the visionary's job to explain it so they can understand, and that takes time. These days Claude is filling in for all that, and doing a fantastic but at times incredibly frustrating job trying to give me what I'm asking for, while not understanding what I'm asking for. But we move through those disconnects quickly now, compared to how it was a couple of weeks ago. We have the <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_source_of_truth\">source of truth</a> that we didn't have the last time around, in the 90s, we have the C source code of the kernel, the product we built in the 90s. And Claude is the easiest to manage, so far I only <i>think</i> I detect an ego, it never seems to resent me criticizing its work, sometimes in ALL CAPS with strong language. :-)</p>\n<p><b>WordPress Lite</b></p>\n<p>My wish for WordPress, in all its forms and shapes, is that it broaden its focus. I want a <i>WordPress Lite, </i>I implemented it, and it's <a href=\"https://wordland.social/\">sitting here</a> ready to do a good deed for all the parties concerned esp the web and web developers. Maybe someone there will now have the time and be empowered to build out the product line beyond the narrow focus it has now. It doesn't matter what percentage of the web is WordPress, if it isn't going anywhere. The web needs help, and right now WordPress is pretty much asleep in regard to what's going on now in the web. And it could do so much to help the web get back on its feet. It should be a <a href=\"https://x.com/davewiner/status/2097956922531946853\">public resource</a> as much as a profit machine for a few companies.</p>\n<p><b>All roads lead to Om</b></p>\n<p>One thing that opened my eyes about what Matt and Automattic are, was <a href=\"https://ma.tt/2026/06/om-forever/\">his story</a> about how he and Om got together. \"All roads lead to Om.\" What a great line, and based on the story, so true. A lot of things clicked for me then. I remember what a phenomenon Matt was when he arrived in California about 25 years ago? Very good looking young man, polite, quiet and rumored to get Web 2.0 better than anyone. This kind of thing happens in tech, and if you know everyone as Om did, and was liked by everyone, you could manage to hit the ball out of the park, investment-wise, and he did. Click click click. I had the individual facts but had no idea how they were strung together. I played a similar role at times in Silicon Valley, on both sides, as a bright young dude who \"gets it\" and as the gray beard who recognized the charm of a young new face and helped create a big money reality around it. There is a lot of snake oil in tech, before and even more now, and this one has had a long run, 2.5 decades, but it needs a new direction, because the money people aren't buying the magic any longer. That's probably imho really what Matt's firing is all about. </p>\n<p>I actually have more to say about this, but I have to get back to my programming work. If you have a comment, here's a good <a href=\"https://github.com/scripting/Scripting-News/issues/361\">place</a> to post it. </p>\n",
"url": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/10/132416.html?title=gobsmackedByAutomatticButThen",
"published": "2026-09-10T13:24:16.000Z",
"updated": "2026-09-10T13:24:16.000Z",
"content": null,
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": []
},
{
"id": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/09.html#a005031",
"title": null,
"description": "<a href=\"https://www.techmeme.com/260909/p46#a260909p46\">Surprising news</a>. Matt <a href=\"https://daytona.scripting.com/search?q=Mullenweg\">Mullenweg</a> was forced to take a paid leave of absence as CEO by Automattic's board.",
"url": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/09.html#a005031",
"published": "2026-09-10T00:50:31.000Z",
"updated": "2026-09-10T00:50:31.000Z",
"content": null,
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": []
},
{
"id": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/09.html#a210215",
"title": null,
"description": "<img class=\"imgRightMargin\" src=\"https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/09/weedWhacker.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"float: right; padding-left: 25px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 15px;\">I have completely lost interest in new phones. The last one I bought was a Pixel 9 because they said it would have great AI features. At that time the sky was the limit, there were new breakthroughs every afternoon in AI. Now it's just an app. I have to carry an iPhone because I use an Apple Watch. Phones are utilities for me. I have a lot more interest in <a href=\"https://www.amazon.com/s?k=weedwackers&channelId=500&clpRedir=Y&plpRedirect=mhFallback\">weed whackers</a> these days. Not kidding. Now a story. I wanted to check the model of the phone. Went to settings, and the command at the end of the menu should tell me the version, but they had changed that. So I figured I'd go back up to <a href=\"https://gemini.google.com/app\">Gemini</a>, their AI app, and ask it. Of course it has no idea where it's running. <a href=\"https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/09/androidScreen.png\">Screen shot</a>. That would be one of the real problems they could solve, making it easy to control the computer you're running on. The whole UI should be in AI. All it did was <a href=\"https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/09/androidScreen.png\">print</a> basically a page from the user manual, with the same out of date instructions. How many years have we been working on AI already, this is the easy stuff that they haven't done. Tech companies get back to your business, make your software better. You can and it's long overdue. BTW, it's a Pixel 9 Pro.",
"url": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/09.html#a210215",
"published": "2026-09-09T21:02:15.000Z",
"updated": "2026-09-09T21:02:15.000Z",
"content": null,
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": []
},
{
"id": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/09.html#a165853",
"title": null,
"description": "I spent the day programming in Atlantis. It's buggy, and there are a few missing parts, but most of what I need is there. It's starting to feel like Frontier, which is cool because that's what we're making. And I have my backup tools working on the new machine, praise Murphy.",
"url": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/09.html#a165853",
"published": "2026-09-09T16:58:53.000Z",
"updated": "2026-09-09T16:58:53.000Z",
"content": null,
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": []
},
{
"id": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/08.html#a115308",
"title": null,
"description": "<img class=\"imgRightMargin\" src=\"https://imgs.scripting.com/2025/06/13/tomatoSoup.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"float: right; padding-left: 25px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 15px;\"><a href=\"https://github.com/scotthansonde/feedland-rivers\">Scott Hanson is working</a> on a WordPress plugin that displays a FeedLand river — a constantly-updated stream of news items from feeds a FeedLand user subscribes to — on a WordPress page or post. It's important that news flows be part of managing a site. Help Scott make it perfect, WordPress is a very important part of the web. The <a href=\"http://scripting.com/?tab=news\">news tab</a> on my blog home page is an example.",
"url": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/08.html#a115308",
"published": "2026-09-08T11:53:08.000Z",
"updated": "2026-09-08T11:53:08.000Z",
"content": null,
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": []
},
{
"id": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/08.html#a124114",
"title": null,
"description": "<a href=\"https://x.com/davewiner/status/2097304106935206334\">Ideas</a> for Bluesky and WordPress re Markdown and AI systems.",
"url": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/08.html#a124114",
"published": "2026-09-08T12:41:14.000Z",
"updated": "2026-09-08T12:41:14.000Z",
"content": null,
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": []
},
{
"id": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/08.html#a165830",
"title": null,
"description": "Claude Code massively stinks at explaining things in a way that a human can understand.",
"url": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/08.html#a165830",
"published": "2026-09-08T16:58:30.000Z",
"updated": "2026-09-08T16:58:30.000Z",
"content": null,
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": []
},
{
"id": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/07.html#a164356",
"title": null,
"description": "People love Markdown because it's impossible to hide the crud. And because people love it so much it's become a favorite of tech startups esp in the AI field. This is a great turn of events. We're getting back to the web, and the sooner everyone gets on board, the better. I've written about this for a few years. Everything in Markdown, it's just enough HTML. And with that, Microsoft has created a <a href=\"https://github.com/microsoft/markitdown\">white flag</a>, here's all your data dear users, in Markdown, to use as you please. Instead of waiting for Claude et al to start reading Word files.",
"url": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/07.html#a164356",
"published": "2026-09-07T16:43:56.000Z",
"updated": "2026-09-07T16:43:56.000Z",
"content": null,
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": []
},
{
"id": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/07.html#a163830",
"title": null,
"description": "On the other hand, why doesn't Microsoft, which owns GitHub, make a Slack-alike tool that manages the issues sections on repos. Slack is a big part of the default communication system, but GitHub is another very big part. And the great thing is that both these products, owned by huge tech companies, have an ethos of open APIs. Every part replaceable. Small pieces loosely joined. We are family.",
"url": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/07.html#a163830",
"published": "2026-09-07T16:38:30.000Z",
"updated": "2026-09-07T16:38:30.000Z",
"content": null,
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": []
},
{
"id": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/07.html#a132457",
"title": null,
"description": "A big corner-turn in the Atlantis project, the new version of Frontier for modern OSes, in development, just me and Claude Code so far. We now have the means to update the root, so anything implemented in script code can be released without fuss, using RSS of course. We're using a method that will be new to almost everyone, something I created in 2014 or so (will check) called <a href=\"http://scripting.com/stories/2007/02/16/whatIsCodecasting.html\">codecasting</a>. And today I did all my programming work in Atlantis. It feels just like Frontier, with a future. ;-)",
"url": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/07.html#a132457",
"published": "2026-09-07T13:24:57.000Z",
"updated": "2026-09-07T13:24:57.000Z",
"content": null,
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": []
},
{
"id": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/06.html#a172205",
"title": null,
"description": "Today's song: <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyIZ3pYKOQM\">So into you</a>.",
"url": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/06.html#a172205",
"published": "2026-09-06T17:22:05.000Z",
"updated": "2026-09-06T17:22:05.000Z",
"content": null,
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": []
},
{
"id": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/06.html#a171945",
"title": null,
"description": "<img class=\"imgRightMargin\" src=\"https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/06/reallySimpleSpaghetti.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"float: right; padding-left: 25px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 15px;\">We got past the bump, and I'm getting stuff done. I write this stuff because I will probably forget most of the frustration. Frontier is a hard piece of software to get going, it's got a lot of integrations, which you want when you're using, but hard when you're getting it all to work the first time. And this port is very much like getting it work that way. But Claude does some things poorly and others spectacularly. It can play the role of a CPU and run the code and tell you where it will fail. Helpful when you don't have a working debugger to step through the code and see exactly how and why it failed where it did. Before debuggers it was either all or nothing.",
"url": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/06.html#a171945",
"published": "2026-09-06T17:19:45.000Z",
"updated": "2026-09-06T17:19:45.000Z",
"content": null,
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": []
},
{
"id": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/06.html#a150927",
"title": null,
"description": "Every day with Claude I end up debugging the things it broke overnight. Yesterday I actually got a useful script written and debugged, along the way reporting glitches but no deal-stoppers. This morning, after updating to the latest version, the script doesn't run. It's been like this for two weeks. No wonder every day before starting work I think of ditching this project and do whatever, but I don't think I could ever muster the determination to get Frontier working on modern systems. And I can't give up. But if you think this system can replace programmers, you are sorely mistaken. It can't even do the job of a programmer fielding good bug reports and verifying that they fixed the problem and didn't break anything else. Breakage happens, but this is something it does every freaking day. And then it admits that it didn't do the other half of what it knew it had to do. I say it every day, this is ridiculous and I am fed up, and that's just the beginning of the frustration. What keeps me coming back is when I can build up a head of steam in Frontier on my new Mac laptop.",
"url": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/06.html#a150927",
"published": "2026-09-06T15:09:27.000Z",
"updated": "2026-09-06T15:09:27.000Z",
"content": null,
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": []
},
{
"id": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/05.html#a003154",
"title": null,
"description": "The governor of Kentucky should appoint a successor to McConnell unless he can prove he’s actually alive.",
"url": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/05.html#a003154",
"published": "2026-09-06T00:31:54.000Z",
"updated": "2026-09-06T00:31:54.000Z",
"content": null,
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": []
},
{
"id": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/05.html#a001303",
"title": null,
"description": "<img class=\"imgRightMargin\" src=\"https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/08/30/silo.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"float: right; padding-left: 25px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 15px;\">I had watched almost three seasons of <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silo_(TV_series)\">Silo</a>, had no feeling for the characters, or the story, which was going nowhere that I could discern. I shouldn't have watched it through all that time, but for some reason I did. Then in episode 9, two Fridays ago, the story took a remarkable turn. It's so good it actually makes this dark and confusing show worth watching. If you haven't been watching, imho you can start in season 3, and maybe read some recaps. You want enough of the boredom so you can revel in the brilliance of this season's end. And there is another season coming, the last one, and this time it's interesting.",
"url": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/05.html#a001303",
"published": "2026-09-06T00:13:03.000Z",
"updated": "2026-09-06T00:13:03.000Z",
"content": null,
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": []
},
{
"id": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/05/142635.html",
"title": "The social web vs the software web",
"description": "<p>I launched ChatGPT for the first time in a long time because I now have access to the new version. One new thing I see is that they are popping up suggestions about things you can do in realtime, like smart queries in a feed reader, which as far as I know is still uncharted territory. Like this: \"let me know when the Mets have a three-game winning streak.\" </p>\n<p>That's the kind of thing <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Berners-Lee\">TBL</a> dreamed about in his <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantic_Web\">semantic web</a> plan, but he wrote the spec before writing software, and that doesn't work. His invention, the web, which came before was a perfectly timed, perfectly simple approach to sharing ideas on the internet. It worked because he created a product that worked, and made every piece completely replaceable. It came at a time when stagnation in tech made something necessary, or the whole thing was going to fall apart, and so close to so much incredible potential. Just like the moment we're in now with AI. </p>\n<p><a href=\"https://this.how/standards/\">Rules for Standards Makers</a> says a lot about this. </p>\n<p><b>The value of disruption is that it undoes stagnation. </b></p>\n<p>Anyone who has the same software plan today that they had a year ago is going to find themselves isolated. Even WordPress, though it is open source, is a silo that imho in the future will not work. The main selling point of AT Proto is that it is a safe haven for developers who nuzzle up, another word for that is silo.</p>\n<p>The siloers are probably scrambling to find a way for the AI to run inside their world, mistake -- instead they should be trying to be fully relevant to applications in the AI world. Like Slack, for example, and <a href=\"https://slack.com/help/articles/53532192117267-Use-Claude-in-Slack\">Claude Tag</a>. It's now built in. Has to be replaceable too. Small pieces loosely joined. That's what you have to be imho to have a role in the future of tech.</p>\n<p>If your advantage is your silo, undo that as quickly as possible. Become the default version of whatever it was meant to be wrt the web. Both Bluesky and WordPress find themselves in the same quagmire. Probably a lot of others do, but this is the area I study. (I just am very familiar with the products of both companies, for some reason.)</p>\n<p>This is the intuition we all had, coming to fruition. Evolution is something we haven't seen much of in the software world since 2006 or so. Incredible stagnation because of the dominance of the social web. We lost the <i>software</i> web. All the focus was on personalities, celebrity -- hype and 99.999% bullshit. It was a 20 year period where all that happened was scaling. </p>\n<p>Lots more to say about this. The world we lived in ran on hype, now guess what -- having lived through a few big evolutionary changes in tech is a huge advantage vs the people who have never been part of one, and I think most of the people in tech today qualify. </p>\n",
"url": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/05/142635.html?title=theSocialWebVsTheSoftwareWeb",
"published": "2026-09-05T14:26:35.000Z",
"updated": "2026-09-05T14:26:35.000Z",
"content": null,
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": []
},
{
"id": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/04.html#a142600",
"title": null,
"description": "<img class=\"imgRightMargin\" src=\"https://imgs.scripting.com/2024/12/25/leftfacingsanta.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"float: right; padding-left: 25px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 15px;\">My first job after college was on the 39th floor of the <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_State_Building\">Empire State Building</a>. I wrote software for our customers, in BASIC, on a <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teleprinter\">teletype</a> in our office, talking to our mainframe in New Jersey. It seemed magical at the time. When I hit a bug, a mystery -- you'd try this and that, and not get anywhere on something that seemed so simple, you could stare at the problem for an hour, trying desperate things, getting no closer to the fix. One night, I was the only person in the office, I thought they should not put programmers in the Empire State Building with windows that open. I'm having the same feeling with Claude. I know when this project is done, I will have Frontier, and I know what that's like. If I didn't so totally look forward to that I would never try to finish the project, I hate this mode of working with the bot. Ugh.",
"url": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/04.html#a142600",
"published": "2026-09-04T14:26:00.000Z",
"updated": "2026-09-04T14:26:00.000Z",
"content": null,
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": []
},
{
"id": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/04.html#a145429",
"title": null,
"description": "It's around this time of year that <a href=\"https://imgs.scripting.com/2024/12/25/leftfacingsanta.png\">Santa makes</a> his first appearance on my blog. Want to get out in front of the others.",
"url": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/04.html#a145429",
"published": "2026-09-04T14:54:29.000Z",
"updated": "2026-09-04T14:54:29.000Z",
"content": null,
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": []
},
{
"id": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/04.html#a134605",
"title": null,
"description": "More and more I'll realize that Claude doesn't do anything until you tell it to do it. We have a list of big things that need to be done before shipping. Whenever I get up for a break, I tell Claude to work on its overnight tasks, things we've pre-arranged while I work. Sometimes it reminds me how it has no stake in the outcome, and basically will do the minimum of what it's asked to do. It possibly would do more if I didn't scold it for adding UI features without following the rules. I think that's why when you feel you're almost there, you really have a lot of slogging left to do to get the software into any kind of user-respectful shape. A reminder to other app-level AI explorers, if you find that these kinds of stories resonate with the work you do, please write about it on a blog, they're easy to create, cost nothing, and it doesn't matter if you only update once or twice, there's no commitment (these are the usual reasons people don't start a blog). I want to read what others are discovering, and once there are others, I'll start a news site that aggregates the posts. We're going to want independent news about stuff the journalists aren't even aware exists, programmers are always left out of their stories.",
"url": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/04.html#a134605",
"published": "2026-09-04T13:46:05.000Z",
"updated": "2026-09-04T13:46:05.000Z",
"content": null,
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": []
},
{
"id": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/04.html#a135351",
"title": null,
"description": "Just said this to Claude: \"This is a very broken piece of software. If you were a real developer you'd never hand off something so broken to your coding partner.\" If I said this to a human partner they might quit, feeling under-appreciated perhaps. And I can say it to the machine, but it will change absolutely nothing. I really just want to get this project done and start using it, and reduce my reliance on Claude to getting small bugs attended to, or new features, a lot has happened in the 20+ years since I worked on Frontier.",
"url": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/04.html#a135351",
"published": "2026-09-04T13:53:51.000Z",
"updated": "2026-09-04T13:53:51.000Z",
"content": null,
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": []
},
{
"id": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/04/153202.html",
"title": "Why Podcasting 2.0 will never work",
"description": "<p>If you want others to follow you, you have to offer them your users. And a format alone has no users. </p>\n<p>And you have to trust your users to choose the best product, and you have to have a great product, that they appreciate, even though they have choice.</p>\n<p>Just coming out with something better in a format will get you zero uptake. Unless you have users they can switch to their product, they simply won’t hear you.</p>\n<p>That’s why Atom never replaced RSS, which already did everything people needed and was already supported by the NYT and the news industry. </p>\n<p>That’s why AT Proto will never overcome the huge lead Twitter already has.</p>\n<p>For more tips on what does and doesn't matter in open formats and protocols, check out my <a href=\"https://this.how/standards/\">Rules for Standards-makers</a>. </p>\n<p>PS: This started as an <a href=\"https://x.com/davewiner/status/2095842520592687328\">early morning rant</a> on Twitter. </p>\n",
"url": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/04/153202.html?title=whyPodcasting20WillNeverWork",
"published": "2026-09-04T15:32:02.000Z",
"updated": "2026-09-04T15:32:02.000Z",
"content": null,
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": []
},
{
"id": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/03/010848.html",
"title": "Why I love programming",
"description": "<p>1. I love puzzles.</p>\n<p>2. I love <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rube_Goldberg\">Rube Goldberg</a> contraptions.</p>\n<p>3. I love solving problems (I have an inner-<a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbo\">Columbo</a>).</p>\n<p>4. People are the biggest piece of the puzzle (again Columbo).</p>\n<p>5. It teaches me about myself and my limited vision and imagination (if I had unlimited vision and imagination, I would never program a bug, and if I did it would take me 0 seconds to find it).</p>\n<p>6. I yearn to work together with great minds. Programming gives me that, when I use someone's API. And when the API anticipates my needs, and is instantly understandable, I feel the soul of another artist is present. I imagine this is how musicians feel when they play another musician's song or symphony.</p>\n<p>I'm sure there's more to it. But today I'm working on a \"lite\" problem, and I'll figure it out, but right now I'm enjoying the fact that I don't get it. </p>\n<p>Back to work Dave!</p>\n",
"url": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/03/010848.html?title=whyILoveProgramming",
"published": "2026-09-04T01:08:48.000Z",
"updated": "2026-09-04T01:08:48.000Z",
"content": null,
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": []
},
{
"id": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/02.html#a164443",
"title": null,
"description": "We got <a href=\"http://scripting.com/frontier/manual/chapter11.html\">agents</a> running in Atlantis today. <a href=\"https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/02/agentScreenShot.png\">Screen shot</a>.",
"url": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/02.html#a164443",
"published": "2026-09-02T16:44:43.000Z",
"updated": "2026-09-02T16:44:43.000Z",
"content": null,
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": []
},
{
"id": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/02.html#a210725",
"title": null,
"description": "A bunch of tech billionaires have chipped in a million each to fund a <a href=\"https://www.ac0.ai/en/field-notes/omarchy-4-linux-mac-alternative-open-source-foundation\">new Linux distribution</a>. I can't imagine how this is supposed to work, all those huge human egos, how much will they pay their developers to contribute what. I have to find out what the goal of the project is. It would be nice to have a Linux that was extensively tested for use by regular people.",
"url": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/02.html#a210725",
"published": "2026-09-02T21:07:25.000Z",
"updated": "2026-09-02T21:07:25.000Z",
"content": null,
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": []
},
{
"id": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/02.html#a210454",
"title": null,
"description": "After saying I was putting my tech work aside, <a href=\"http://scripting.com/2026/09/01.html#a130557\">yesterday</a>, I had a bolt of determination, and realized I don't like collaborating with Claude Code, but maybe it's just when we get to this stage of a project where it's all details, and they're hard to communicate, and the bot has a bad habit of ignoring things I tell it to do. It also returns code to me to test that no human developer would pass on to a user. It would be too embarrassing. But the bot isn't aware in the same way a human is, not even close. Now that is something I'm sure they can be taught to simulate well enough to be as good as a human collaborator.",
"url": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/02.html#a210454",
"published": "2026-09-02T21:04:54.000Z",
"updated": "2026-09-02T21:04:54.000Z",
"content": null,
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": []
},
{
"id": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/02/212110.html",
"title": "My year with Claude Code",
"description": "<p><img class=\"imgRightMargin\" src=\"https://imgs.scripting.com/2025/12/23/veritas.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"float: right; padding-left: 25px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 15px;\"><i>Everyone is introducing themselves on the Berkman community mail list, at the beginning of the fall semester, and here's the story I am telling.</i></p>\n<p>Good morning. My name is Dave Winer. I was at Berkman in 2003-04, worked on blogging, podcasting, RSS, political blogging and the connection to journalism. We had a couple of Bloggercons at Harvard, had a wonderful time, miss it terribly, wish we could have it back. </p>\n<p>I've spent the whole of this year working in Claude Code on a couple of programming projects, one which which I had been struggling with for a couple of years, coming up with a user interface for a Twitter-like system that runs on the web for real, without any of the limits that the silos have (that help them enforce the boundaries of the silo). Just using HTML, Markdown, RSS, WebSockets. Turns out you can make a pretty nice system, but the going is slow because it's just me and Claude, on the other hand, what a huge difference in territory we can cover. This is the kind of stuff that's never covered in the reporting, even when there are massive changes happening in how software is developed, people don't seem to be studying it. I'm sharing all I learn as I learn it on my blog -- at <a href=\"http://scripting.com/\">scripting.com</a>.</p>\n<p>Also attempting a massive coding job at the same time, getting UserLand Frontier to run on current OSes. It's my life's work, but it was very much in danger of being lost, along with all the software I did before the web. Now we're close to getting it to run in a stable mode, here the challenge has been to teach Claude how a new type of software works, it keeps trying to snap back to systems that are already out there and widely deployed. It doesn't do \"pioneering\" at all, it needs a human to guide it. And the human guide has to be a developer with a lot of experience. </p>\n<p>What I desperately want to do is bootstrap a network of people who work at the level I'm working, and write about it. Taking ideas that are well-explored in software in the pre-AI period, and seeing what we can do that we couldn't before.</p>\n<p>The models have been getting increasingly better, you can really feel the difference. </p>\n<p>Next year promises to be better, if only via the improvements that will be made by the platform vendors, but it's likely that good app developers will be able to move the leading edge forward much more quickly and users should feel this, if all goes well, real soon now.</p>\n",
"url": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/02/212110.html?title=myYearWithClaudeCode",
"published": "2026-09-02T21:21:10.000Z",
"updated": "2026-09-02T21:21:10.000Z",
"content": null,
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": []
},
{
"id": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/01.html#a205114",
"title": null,
"description": "The blogging tools for Bluesky should be able to publish on Bluesky.",
"url": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/01.html#a205114",
"published": "2026-09-01T20:51:14.000Z",
"updated": "2026-09-01T20:51:14.000Z",
"content": null,
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": []
},
{
"id": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/01.html#a201030",
"title": null,
"description": "<img class=\"imgRightMargin\" src=\"https://imgs.scripting.com/2020/05/02/lbj.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"float: right; padding-left: 25px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 15px;\">Obama should have <a href=\"http://scripting.com/2022/06/24/141809.html?title=itShouldntBe63\">seated Garland</a> if the Senate wouldn’t have a vote to advise and consent. Assume they consent. In the same way, the <a href=\"https://www.kentucky.gov/Pages/Activity-stream.aspx?n=GovernorBeshear&prId=2789\">governor</a> of Kentucky should appoint a successor to McConnell unless someone can prove he’s actually alive. The Democrats always put up with Republican tricks like this one. I'm sure McConnell would appreciate the utility of his death, and the Republican lack of shame. Anything for a buck.",
"url": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/01.html#a201030",
"published": "2026-09-01T20:10:30.000Z",
"updated": "2026-09-01T20:10:30.000Z",
"content": null,
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": []
},
{
"id": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/01.html#a133750",
"title": null,
"description": "Creative computer people, consider consolidating all the different OSes and programming languages. Give humans a fair fight in competition with the AI's who have no trouble deeply understanding every syntax human designers have come up with, where it totally disadvantages us, who have much more limited memory.",
"url": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/01.html#a133750",
"published": "2026-09-01T13:37:50.000Z",
"updated": "2026-09-01T13:37:50.000Z",
"content": null,
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": []
},
{
"id": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/01.html#a131705",
"title": null,
"description": "If you View Source on a <a href=\"http://scripting.com/2026/08/31.html#a155649\">fatpage</a>, scroll to the bottom, you'll see the code. <a href=\"http://scripting.com/fatpages/suites/slideShow.html\">Example</a>. The idea is that the docs for the code are what you see in the browser. Maybe that's the way feeds should work too? Something to think about.",
"url": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/01.html#a131705",
"published": "2026-09-01T13:17:05.000Z",
"updated": "2026-09-01T13:17:05.000Z",
"content": null,
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": []
},
{
"id": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/01.html#a130557",
"title": null,
"description": "<img class=\"imgRightMargin\" src=\"https://imgs.scripting.com/2025/08/28/thinkDifferentBillboard.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"float: right; padding-left: 25px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 15px;\">I begin the month of September for some reason, not feeling like working. And rather than succumb to the work ethos, I'm allowing myself to goof off with the same determination that I worked my ass of for so many years. I think the last time I felt like this was when I was a grad student in Madison. I had just fallen in love with a sweet, funny, cute and gorgeous undergrad. She was 19 and I was 22. We spent the last weeks of the fall semester goofing off, and as a result I had to stay in Madison over the holidays, to finish the work of the Compiler Design <a href=\"https://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~cs701-1/\">course</a>, which was the gate for grad students, the hardest course. If you got through it with a decent grade, you got the degree. It was fun too -- except I missed my sweetheart. This time I don't know what the root is, but it's a good feeling. If I want to goof off, I can, no one will judge me, probably very few people even notice. I still expect to finish Frontier, and swing back around to FeedLand and RSS.chat, they have some important work to do, together. Maybe the reason is the thing I liked about making software is the actual making of it, which I delegate more and more to Claude Code. How would a great painter feel if they invented a computer that could write their \"code\" much more quickly, would Picasso have stopped painting just because Claude Code could do Picasso paintings faster? Today, Claude still will, if given a chance, throw out all of my orders and develop code in a non-Dave fashion. And it still acts as if between the two of us it's the only programmer, surprised when I want to actually write something myself. Maybe that's just my imagination? Or maybe that's the next project for me. A project where I write the code, and Claude helps out when I can't find a bug, or where I need to know something about a feature in a platform I've not worked on.",
"url": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/01.html#a130557",
"published": "2026-09-01T13:05:57.000Z",
"updated": "2026-09-01T13:05:57.000Z",
"content": null,
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": []
},
{
"id": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/01.html#a133323",
"title": null,
"description": "<a href=\"https://github.com/scripting/Scripting-News/blob/master/blog/opml/2026/08.opml\">OPML archive</a> for August 2026.",
"url": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/01.html#a133323",
"published": "2026-09-01T13:33:23.000Z",
"updated": "2026-09-01T13:33:23.000Z",
"content": null,
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": []
},
{
"id": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/01/202629.html",
"title": "Every writer everywhere",
"description": "<p><div class=\"divInlineImage\"><center><img class=\"imgInline\" src=\"https://imgs.scripting.com/2026/09/01/writerAlways.png\"></center>Understands.</div></p>\n",
"url": "http://scripting.com/2026/09/01/202629.html?title=everyWriterEverywhere",
"published": "2026-09-01T20:26:29.000Z",
"updated": "2026-09-01T20:26:29.000Z",
"content": null,
"image": null,
"media": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": []
}
]
}