Michael Champion
@abunadh.bsky.social
Retired / recovering from software industry career, seeking to live better in more natural and local communities.
Yup, the Google one. The noisy — both visual and content— MSN home page is what made me give up on Edge after retiring from MS
December 18, 2025 at 9:27 PM
Yup, the Google one. The noisy — both visual and content— MSN home page is what made me give up on Edge after retiring from MS
Well, "triage" means classifying ideas that are ready to be implemented, promising ones that need work, and those that aren't worth / ready for a lot of work. It's hard, and mistakes happen. But if you let things just muddle along until the choice is obvious, you get the current situation 🤷♂️
December 4, 2025 at 10:28 PM
Well, "triage" means classifying ideas that are ready to be implemented, promising ones that need work, and those that aren't worth / ready for a lot of work. It's hard, and mistakes happen. But if you let things just muddle along until the choice is obvious, you get the current situation 🤷♂️
In a single org, there might be Product Managers that triage out not-quite-good-enough ideas, but the web platform doesn't have a Project Management team.
I've heard arguments that the TAG/ should evolve into one, but that idea isn't quite good enough to get traction either
I've heard arguments that the TAG/ should evolve into one, but that idea isn't quite good enough to get traction either
December 4, 2025 at 10:18 PM
In a single org, there might be Product Managers that triage out not-quite-good-enough ideas, but the web platform doesn't have a Project Management team.
I've heard arguments that the TAG/ should evolve into one, but that idea isn't quite good enough to get traction either
I've heard arguments that the TAG/ should evolve into one, but that idea isn't quite good enough to get traction either
"Good enough" ideas have a high threshold because "yes" means "we have to support it forever". For example client-side XSLT seemed like a great idea 25 years ago, but now it doesn't have enough users attract maintenance resources, but enough to make it difficult to remove. No-win scenario.
December 4, 2025 at 10:13 PM
"Good enough" ideas have a high threshold because "yes" means "we have to support it forever". For example client-side XSLT seemed like a great idea 25 years ago, but now it doesn't have enough users attract maintenance resources, but enough to make it difficult to remove. No-win scenario.
"Still, every year a huge number of things remain in the pool that we can’t afford to take up. The pool keeps growing."
That seems be the root of the problem. Nothing kills off "not quite good enough" ideas.
That seems be the root of the problem. Nothing kills off "not quite good enough" ideas.
December 4, 2025 at 10:06 PM
"Still, every year a huge number of things remain in the pool that we can’t afford to take up. The pool keeps growing."
That seems be the root of the problem. Nothing kills off "not quite good enough" ideas.
That seems be the root of the problem. Nothing kills off "not quite good enough" ideas.
I probably had undiagnosed ADD a kid, and never was good at math. But tech such as slide rules (I'm OLD) and calculators liberated from the tedium to learn how to use math/stat/programming to analyze problems. I now use AI chatbots to liberate me from the tedious stuff and focus on the interesting
November 8, 2025 at 2:37 AM
I probably had undiagnosed ADD a kid, and never was good at math. But tech such as slide rules (I'm OLD) and calculators liberated from the tedium to learn how to use math/stat/programming to analyze problems. I now use AI chatbots to liberate me from the tedious stuff and focus on the interesting
Agree! But chatbots aren't going away. Design home work to route around ways to "cheat"? Assume students will "cheat" and help them learn how to use new techniques to thing about problems? Somehow isolate them from the bots when assessing progress?? But help them learn how to learn.
November 8, 2025 at 2:31 AM
Agree! But chatbots aren't going away. Design home work to route around ways to "cheat"? Assume students will "cheat" and help them learn how to use new techniques to thing about problems? Somehow isolate them from the bots when assessing progress?? But help them learn how to learn.
II understand, but I lived through similar concerns about using calculators in schools, then computers, then the internet, long before AI. For me (a bit "neurodivergent") these were tools that motivated me to to learn the concepts without bogged down in the "friction". So, it's complicated 🤷♂️
November 8, 2025 at 2:22 AM
II understand, but I lived through similar concerns about using calculators in schools, then computers, then the internet, long before AI. For me (a bit "neurodivergent") these were tools that motivated me to to learn the concepts without bogged down in the "friction". So, it's complicated 🤷♂️
If education can't adapt, the educators were poorly educated 🫠. Paper and pencil in-class exams may rise again....If AI chatbots help people LEARN, they will still get used. If not, 🤷♂️
November 7, 2025 at 4:02 PM
If education can't adapt, the educators were poorly educated 🫠. Paper and pencil in-class exams may rise again....If AI chatbots help people LEARN, they will still get used. If not, 🤷♂️
As a browser PM, I went through the stages of grief about all the stuff that should be done in an ideal world, and came to Acceptance that "evolution is cleverer than you are" en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orgel%2...
Orgel's rules - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
September 10, 2025 at 9:06 PM
As a browser PM, I went through the stages of grief about all the stuff that should be done in an ideal world, and came to Acceptance that "evolution is cleverer than you are" en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orgel%2...
So the most used bits of SVG get maintained, server-side XSLT for static documents gets maintained, tooling gets created to make things like math usable by ordinary mortals using LaTeX or whatever.
September 10, 2025 at 9:03 PM
So the most used bits of SVG get maintained, server-side XSLT for static documents gets maintained, tooling gets created to make things like math usable by ordinary mortals using LaTeX or whatever.
The web platform evolved more than it was designed. There are multiple ways to do almost anything. So lack of attention to something marginal is evolution's way of focusing attention on what is important to getting work done / making money / having fun...
September 10, 2025 at 8:53 PM
The web platform evolved more than it was designed. There are multiple ways to do almost anything. So lack of attention to something marginal is evolution's way of focusing attention on what is important to getting work done / making money / having fun...
Thanks! My current obsession is wondering if it would be possible to pivot the LLM-AI industry away from "winner take all" into the less zero-sum mindset, like the early Web. I'm dreaming , but ... Could some org do what W3C did for the early web? W3C AB topic now that you and Dan are on it?
August 5, 2025 at 9:21 PM
Thanks! My current obsession is wondering if it would be possible to pivot the LLM-AI industry away from "winner take all" into the less zero-sum mindset, like the early Web. I'm dreaming , but ... Could some org do what W3C did for the early web? W3C AB topic now that you and Dan are on it?
The most compelling being opportunity cost ... any engineers skilled enough to to implement XSLT could be used more lucratively on lots and lots of of other things
August 4, 2025 at 6:01 PM
The most compelling being opportunity cost ... any engineers skilled enough to to implement XSLT could be used more lucratively on lots and lots of of other things
But ahh, the memories this brings ... my very first meeting as a Microsoft employee in 2004 was about whether to upgrade to XSLT 2.0 in the native (used by the browser) and .NET XML Libraries. IIRC we decided "YES" but it never got done for a million boring practical reasons.
August 4, 2025 at 5:51 PM
But ahh, the memories this brings ... my very first meeting as a Microsoft employee in 2004 was about whether to upgrade to XSLT 2.0 in the native (used by the browser) and .NET XML Libraries. IIRC we decided "YES" but it never got done for a million boring practical reasons.
So styling RSS is the main use case for XSLT in browsers these days? Seems like a large hammer to swat that fly 🫠
August 4, 2025 at 5:48 PM
So styling RSS is the main use case for XSLT in browsers these days? Seems like a large hammer to swat that fly 🫠
The practical challenge is to build human-machine systems that amplify human emotional/value judgment with automated pattern matching ... to play better 3 dimensional chess against the stupid people and machines that threaten the world in so many ways.
June 22, 2025 at 4:48 PM
The practical challenge is to build human-machine systems that amplify human emotional/value judgment with automated pattern matching ... to play better 3 dimensional chess against the stupid people and machines that threaten the world in so many ways.
LLMs have demonstrated that a lot of tasks that we assumed required a high level of "general intelligence" were mostly pattern matching, e.g. coding. And recent events have shown that supposedly intelligent humans can make horrible decisions driven by emotionally satisfying self delusion
June 22, 2025 at 4:43 PM
LLMs have demonstrated that a lot of tasks that we assumed required a high level of "general intelligence" were mostly pattern matching, e.g. coding. And recent events have shown that supposedly intelligent humans can make horrible decisions driven by emotionally satisfying self delusion
Sad but not surprising to year, 6 years after retirement means I don't have to dread Connect Season any more 😱
June 1, 2025 at 4:07 PM
Sad but not surprising to year, 6 years after retirement means I don't have to dread Connect Season any more 😱
"growth mindset" was a constant message from Satya in his early days as Microsoft CEO, certainly helped create the resilience that drove its continued success as tech and business models changed. When did it morph into "you can be replaced by an AI mindset?"
May 31, 2025 at 4:56 PM
"growth mindset" was a constant message from Satya in his early days as Microsoft CEO, certainly helped create the resilience that drove its continued success as tech and business models changed. When did it morph into "you can be replaced by an AI mindset?"
The only way forward I can see is SOMEBODY steps up to do the product management work to bring User/Implementer/Specwriter stakeholders together, clarify problems to be solved, find a mix of spec and implementation changes that could solve them, and herd the kitties to make it happen. Or give up ?
April 1, 2025 at 7:49 PM
The only way forward I can see is SOMEBODY steps up to do the product management work to bring User/Implementer/Specwriter stakeholders together, clarify problems to be solved, find a mix of spec and implementation changes that could solve them, and herd the kitties to make it happen. Or give up ?
"SVG browser support is passable, but there are gaps in that support and performance could be much better." Passable with barely acceptable performance is about the best you can hope for, unless USERS vote with their feet for alternatives. Isn't that how CSS Grid got prioritized by the engines?
April 1, 2025 at 7:49 PM
"SVG browser support is passable, but there are gaps in that support and performance could be much better." Passable with barely acceptable performance is about the best you can hope for, unless USERS vote with their feet for alternatives. Isn't that how CSS Grid got prioritized by the engines?
Granted I lived in the Browser Reality Distortion Field for a long time, but I don't think it's useful to point the finger at the implementers. The Breakout noted that the *spec* is huge, archaic (monolithic XML is sooo 25 years ago), and implementation codebases are similar.
April 1, 2025 at 7:49 PM
Granted I lived in the Browser Reality Distortion Field for a long time, but I don't think it's useful to point the finger at the implementers. The Breakout noted that the *spec* is huge, archaic (monolithic XML is sooo 25 years ago), and implementation codebases are similar.
I was inspired by reading the minutes of the SVG breakout session to file an AB issue suggesting they use their broad experience to analyze, and influence to recommend a way forward. Received with as much enthusiasm as a land acknowledgement at a MAGA rally 🫠.
April 1, 2025 at 7:49 PM
I was inspired by reading the minutes of the SVG breakout session to file an AB issue suggesting they use their broad experience to analyze, and influence to recommend a way forward. Received with as much enthusiasm as a land acknowledgement at a MAGA rally 🫠.
Destroying the US defense industry was NOT on my Trumpocalypse Bingo card 🫠
March 22, 2025 at 5:28 PM
Destroying the US defense industry was NOT on my Trumpocalypse Bingo card 🫠