I created this blog a few months ago when I was working on a secret Open Source project for a corporate interest. I was going to detail the operation, hopefully helping people to understand how money can be made using Open Source software; I have made my living using or creating it since 1996. Since then, the corporate interest has been acquired by Microsoft. They did not choose to acquire our secret project.

After turning down Microsoft's generous offer to work on Windows in Redmond, and losing a good friend who did not turn them down (gone, but not forgotten), I am free to detail away.

Luckily, I immediately gained employment at a local corporate interest, not working directly on Open Source software, but using it daily and with substantial leash to engage in personal projects. It is my next project I will detail here. I am working with another programmer at said corporate interest. I might find another if circumstances permit.

I will allow the details to emerge in this blog as they emerge in life, but I can tell you right now that the project has social networking and Web 2.0. I am a bit late to jump on that bandwagon, since I spent a lot of time programming backend and embedded systems and have only recently re-entered the web programming arena. The languages involved will be C++, JavaScript, Common Lisp, and (likely) ActionScript 3.0 (with the Flex framework).

The first job is to choose a tiny, cross platform web server. I am currently evaluating AppWeb, and it looks quite solid. The codebase is small and easy to understand. It is GPL, as our project will be when released. The AppWeb programmers have done a very good job at their stated goal. It is modular, efficient, and well-suited to embedding in other applications.