Web Review, Week 2025-31
Let’s go for my web review for the week 2025-31.
Europe’s Self Inflicted Cloud Crisis
Tags: tech, cloud, vendor-lockin, politics
A change in culture and political will is indeed necessary. The relationship between organisations and US cloud providers isn’t healthy.
https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/our-self-inflicted-cloud-crisis/
The Future is NOT Self-Hosted
Tags: tech, self-hosting, criticism
There is some truth to this. Self-hosting isn’t for everyone just for the skills and compromises it requires. We need more widely available solutions without the corporate overlords.
https://www.drewlyton.com/story/the-future-is-not-self-hosted/
A dive into open chat protocols
Tags: tech, foss, communication, xmpp, matrix
Very interesting stuff. This doesn’t give a very cheerful picture of the current state though. Can a XMPP revival be in the cards? That would be an interesting outcome.
https://wiki.alopex.li/ADiveIntoOpenChat
A month using XMPP (using Snikket) for every call and chat
Tags: tech, xmpp, messaging, foss, self-hosting
It’s nice to see there are turn key solutions for hosting your own XMPP server nowadays. And the community behind this one even improve on the mobile applications.
https://neilzone.co.uk/2023/08/a-month-using-xmpp-using-snikket-for-every-call-and-chat/
Ethersync
Tags: tech, tools, syncing, realtime, collaborative
Looks like a nice tool for real-time collaboration on files.
https://ethersync.github.io/ethersync/
I want to defend Wayland here…
Tags: tech, linux, graphics, wayland
That’s a good point too often overlooked by people complaining at Wayland. It indeed enable form factors and uses cases that we couldn’t address with X11.
https://ordinary.cafe/@technobaboo/114935252929285259
Loading credentials from Bitwarden with direnv
Tags: tech, secrets, shell, tools
This is a nice trick for keeping your secrets safe while having them handy when needed.
https://ergaster.org/posts/2025/07/28-direnv-bitwarden-integration/
The Bard and The Shell
Tags: tech, shell, learning, funny
Neat little introduction to use your shell properly.
https://journal.bsd.cafe/2025/07/28/the-bard-and-the-shell/
Heredocs Can Make Your Bash Scripts Self-Documenting
Tags: tech, shell, scripting, documentation
This is really a neat trick. We should have more such self-documenting scripts indeed.
https://holdtherobot.com/blog/heredocs-can-make-your-bash-scripts-self-documenting/
Using fortune to reinforce habits
Tags: tech, tools, command-line, learning, habits
This is indeed a nice way to setup some new habits on the command line.
https://www.judy.co.uk/blog/using-fortune-to-reinforce-habits/
Type safe handles in C++
Tags: tech, programming, design, type-systems, c++
This is still a valid approach. I regularly encounter cases where the type tag pattern would have been welcome.
https://www.ilikebigbits.com/2014_05_06_type_safe_handles.html
C++26 Reflections adventures & compile time UML
Tags: tech, c++, metaprogramming
This really unlocks interesting features in the C++ space.
https://www.reachablecode.com/2025/07/31/c26-reflections-adventures-compile-time-uml/
Perfecting anti-aliasing on signed distance functions
Tags: tech, shader, mathematics, graphics
Nice explanation on the options for anti-aliasing when rendering using SDFs
https://blog.pkh.me/p/44-perfecting-anti-aliasing-on-signed-distance-functions.html
Rewriting the heart of our sync engine
Tags: tech, architecture, syncing
Good insight into why Dropbox rewrote its sync engine for desktop clients.
https://dropbox.tech/infrastructure/rewriting-the-heart-of-our-sync-engine
Broccoli: Syncing faster by syncing less
Tags: tech, syncing, compression
A follow up on the Dropbox sync engine rewrite, or why they introduced brotli compression.
https://dropbox.tech/infrastructure/-broccoli–syncing-faster-by-syncing-less
The Big OOPs: Anatomy of a Thirty-five-year Mistake
Tags: tech, programming, architecture, object-oriented, type-systems, history
A talk from Casey Muratori who is pushing his ideas on software architecture. This one is very interesting on the long history detour it does. Shows well how we keep rediscovering stuff which sometimes go back to the early times of computer science.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wo84LFzx5nI
Looking at TDD: An Academic Survey
Tags: tech, tests, tdd, research
A nice little survey of what the academia already had to say about TDD a few years ago. Clearly the outcome seems mostly positive.
https://medium.com/@jitterted/looking-at-tdd-an-academic-survey-956a80545713
YAGNI
Tags: tech, design, architecture, xp, agile
It’s likely the best explanation of the YAGNI acronym I know. Explains quite well when it applies or not.
https://martinfowler.com/bliki/Yagni.html
WIP Limit Panic Sheet – what to do when you feel tempted to break the work-in-progress (WIP) limit
Tags: tech, agile, project-management, kanban
Nice check list, there’s more to project life than churning out tickets.
Enterprise Agility??
Tags: tech, agile, business, criticism
Looks like another certification circus is about to begin…
https://ronjeffries.com/articles/-w025/y/y/
Your Daily Scrum is Killing Your Team
Tags: tech, agile, project-management, team
Don’t just blindly apply dailies. Make sure they really solve a problem in your team.
https://blog.jbrains.ca/permalink/your-daily-scrum-is-killing-your-team
It’s an Experiment
Tags: tech, agile, project-management, change, habits
You have to be willing to experiment and adjust in order to truly be agile. Otherwise you indeed just do dailies and call yourself agile.
https://toolshed.com/2015/05/its-an-experiment.html
Retromat - Inspiration & plans for (agile) retrospectives
Tags: tech, agile, retrospective, tools
Neat tools to keep retrospective fresh. If people settle too much in habits they quickly become dull.
The 3 Motivational Forces of Developers
Tags: tech, programming, team, motivation, management
This is still a good framework to think about what motivate developers in a team. Not everyone is the same.
https://www.bennorthrop.com/Essays/2013/developer-motivation.php
Crappy People versus Crappy Systems
Tags: management, hr
An oldie but still a good one. Yes, the people matter but even good people won’t strive in a badly designed system.
https://bobsutton.typepad.com/my_weblog/2006/08/crappy_people_v.html
Let’s Kill You a Billion Times to Make You Immortal
Tags: physics
Quantum mechanics and the many world theory really are playing with your brain. Funnily enough I read an excellent novel recently based on this principle.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wK4peez9zE
Bye for now!