Jabber Client Certification
Rachel Blackman raised the issue of client certification on the Jabber Development mailing list. On the surface it sounds like a really good idea, but then Justin Karneges pointed out some problems with the proposed solution. (I'd point to the actual conversation but the Jabber Dev archive isn't up to date, and gmane isn't responsive.)

The problem is that the certified clients proposal would be slam dunk if it weren't for the state of some of the JEPs that are considered essential for a standard Jabber client. Since we're working on a Jabber client full-time, having a certification would be a great badge to set easily set our client apart from the hordes of other clients that haven't been maintained in quite some time. It's also a good way for people to gage the reliability and compatibility with Jabber/XMPP.

My personal gut feeling is that the timing isn't right for certification. Getting to the point of certifying clients is a process not a decision. The first step would be to invest in tools so that clients developers can verify their compliance -- it shouldn't be left to some board member to eyeball compliance. The second step is for everyone to knuckle down and spend some effort getting the essential JEPs standardized before moving on. With those two things out of the way, the Jabber community could easily setup a process for certification.

Boycotting NBC's Last Comic Standing We were watching the second round of the Las Vegas finals for Last Comic Standing, and it was absolutely infuriating. Despite the elimination of some of the best comics early on, like Pablo Francisco, other promising comics like Dan Naturman and John Heffron made it through to Vegas.

At the Vegas show, everything fell apart. Last night's competition was being judged by four comics including Anthony Clark, Drew Carey, and Brett Butler. Actually, the show briefly mentions that the comics selected would be determined by the judges, the audience, and by producers of the show.

It turns out that Dan Naturman, arguably the best comic on stage last night, didn't make the cut despite the judges voting for him and the audience giving him a standing ovation. That was really disappointing. What makes things even worse is that a good chunk of the comics making it all the way through weren't exactly good.

The show tried to save face by actually showing footage of the clearly pissed off Brett Butler, Drew Carey, and Dan Naturman back stage, and then of course finishing with their spin of the selection process. It's interesting to note, that in the first season of Last Comic Standing the byline for the show was "The Search For The Funniest Person in America." Well, they've completely dropped that slogan for the second season.

Good luck to some of the funny comics that made it through to the house in LA, but I'm not watching the show anymore. I want to see good comedians and NBC wants to give me a house full of "interesting" personalities.

I guess I shouldn't be too surprised, it's "Reality TV" after all, and we all know that in reality good people get screwed over all the time.