Date: Thu, 25 Oct 2001 11:18:01 -0600 From: Jon Lebkowsky Reply-To: cyberdawg@lists.io.com To: Cyberdawg List Subject: jonl's blog [ The following text is in the "iso-8859-1" character set. ] [ Your display is set for the "US-ASCII" character set. ] [ Some characters may be displayed incorrectly. ] Shameless self-promotion: a lot of the stuff I'd have sent to the cyberdawg list in the old daze I'm posting instead to the weblog at http://www.polycot.com/~jonl/weblogsky.html all da best, Jon L. Jon Lebkowsky Polycot Consulting jonl@polycot.com ~ http://www.polycot.com

MSNBC's Brock Meeks talks about online civil liberties: "Anthrax, Afghanistan, al-Qaida, Ashcroft and anti-terrorism legislation. We aren�t even through the first letter of the geopolitical alphabet before jumping all the way to �S� as in �screwed� as in what�s happening to civil liberties in the online world." posted by jon lebkowsky on 10/25/2001 10:26:59 AM | permanent link to this entry Media Education Foundation's Beyond the Frame includes dissident American thinkers and activists commenting on "the end of the world as we know it" (aka September 11, 2001). Comments are in RealPlayer audio or video, and text transcript. posted by jon lebkowsky on 10/25/2001 10:10:41 AM | permanent link to this entry

Yer boy jonl has been offline while bouncing between Colorado and Texas - long steady drives over less-traveled backroads connecting the People's Republic of Boulder with the crowded lumpy streets of Austin. ms. jonl and I are planning a move back to Texas, away from the mountains (the only purpose of which, I figure, is to obscure your view of the desert... right?) In fact we dig the mountains and could imagine a cabin life, buried in snow all winter, hibernating with the snoring black bears... but duty, in the form of Polycot Consulting LLC, calls. And there's lots happening in Austin, so we won't be bored! And I've acquired a zippy notebook for traveling, so this blog is hereby revived! posted by jon lebkowsky on 10/20/2001 07:46:31 AM | permanent link to this entry

Polycot Focuses on Open Source San Marcos, Texas - (Sep 08, 2001) Polycot Consulting LLC, located in the Austin-San Antonio corridor of Central Texas, has announced its commitment to "Open Source" core solutions. According to the Open Source Initiative's home page (www.opensource.org), "The basic idea behind open source is very simple: When programmers can read, redistribute, and modify the source code for a piece of software, the software evolves. People improve it, people adapt it, people fix bugs. And this can happen at a speed that, if one is used to the slow pace of conventional software development, seems astonishing." Polycot provides consulting, analysis, web development, and software development services. The company plans to integrate Open Source certified solutions wherever possible, leveraging the expertise and integrity of the Open Source community, and adding value by customizing and configuring solutions to fit specific needs. "We won't invariably use Open Source solutions," says CEO Jon Lebkowsky. "Some clients may have requirements that can't be addressed by Open Source software, or they may prefer that we incorporate software that isn't Open Source. And, of course, we'll have to construct some products from scratch. In general, though, we think Open Source solutions are stronger, better-documented, and better-supported than proprietary solutions. Polycot was formed this August by Lebkowsky, Matt Sanders, and Jeff Kramer, who have over twenty five years in combined experience with interactive technology. "The actual entity formation was handled in August and early September," Lebkowsky says, "but we were meeting regularly all summer to decide how we wanted to work together. Matt was doing site development in Italy, so we held the majority of our planning meetings online. The result of these meetings was a clear business plan and a set of decisions about preferred technologies. It was apparent from the beginning that we all shared an understanding of the advantages of working within the Open Source community. A key part of Open Source is its mutually supportive nature - developers helping each other do the best work possible for their clients and customers. It's a win-win philosophy of collaboration."

Polycot folks: Jon Lebkowsky Chief Executive Officer Jon Lebkowsky brings to the job of CEO over a decade of experience on the leading edge of interactive technology, including extensive experience with online communities, business and system analysis, and software project management; three years as CEO of FringeWare, Inc., and four years managing web technology development for retail e-commerce and application services. He has written articles for Wired, HotWired, Mindjack, Mondo 2000, Fringe Ware Review, Whole Earth Magazine, and the Austin Chronicle. He was twice President of EFF-Austin, and is a member of The Internet Society, the Association for Computing Machinery, and the Project Management Institute. Matthew Sanders Director of Operations Matthew Sanders blends a background in traditional media production with over eight years of online experience, both in virtual communities and network-based development. He encountered his first programming language at age eight and hasn't looked back, gaining fluency in a host of languages along the way: Java, C, Perl, PHP and other web-specific technologies. The past two years have found Matt consulting in the European Union and the Continental US, assisting in the design and implementation of site architecture that is secure, scalable, efficient, and robust. Jeff Kramer Director of Technology Jeff Kramer parlays more than six years of experience in the technology consulting business, including a year as CEO of 57th Street, Inc. He is well versed in a multitude of tools and platforms including Solaris, FreeBSD, Perl, PHP, Javascript, SQL, MySQL, Informix, Oracle and Apache. Jeff's work has been featured in Wired Magazine and quoted in the Austin Chronicle. When not occupied with system administration he works on graphical design and multimedia production projects. An accomplished world traveler, Jeff enjoys the musical stylings of Yoko Kanno, and writing of Neal Town Stephenson. Honoria Starbuck Human Factors Specialist Honoria is an instructional designer with specialization in usability and accessibility. Honoria holds a Master's Degree in Instructional Technology and is currently writing her doctoral dissertation in distance learning on the effects of the Internet on a 30-year-old community of international artists. Honoria is the creator of the award winning first Internet opera. Honoria focuses her talents as an artist, educator and qualitative researcher to increase effectiveness of interface designs through goal analysis, needs assessment, and usability testing. rachel nation Web Designer rachel nation has been creating web sites since she founded online design firm arts electronica in 1994. She has designed numerous ecommerce web sites for companies including DELL Computer, MicronPC, Agillion, living.com, and Wholefoods.com. Texas Monthly recognized rachel's accomplishments in 1999, and her interactive Room Designer won recognition at last year's SXSW Interactive Festival. rachel attended Rice University for her BA and BFA and earned her Master's degree in Information Science at the University of Texas, Austin. Her web designs are known for their elegance and emphasis on useability. Adam Powell Web Developer Adam Vincent Powell is a Web developer and production guru. He has over six years of experience designing Web and software interfaces for companies such as HotWired, WebMD, Hitachi, LEGO, America Online, Logitech, and GE. Powell has discussed the finer points of making quality Web sites as a panelist for Jupiter Communications, South By Southwest, North by Northwest, Geekapalooza, and Webzine. He's been quoted on the front page of The Wall Street Journal, as well as in the pages of The New York Post, The Atlantic Monthly, The Industry Standard, Reason Magazine, The Austin-American Statesman, and the San Francisco Chronicle. In April 2001, he was pictured on the cover of eCFO magazine.

URL: http://polycot.com/reports/ecocom.php Author: Jon Lebkowsky Date: Jan 02 The article comes from Jon's recent presentation at MacWorld. For the MacWorld event info see: http://cf01.tscentral.com/RCM20/IDG_MACWORLD_SFO_02/attendee/confplan_attendee.cfm?login=guest