Let’s go for my web review for the week 2025-31.Europe’s Self Inflicted Cloud CrisisTags: tech, cloud, vendor-lockin, politicsA 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-HostedTags: tech, self-hosting, criticismThere 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 protocolsTags: tech, foss, communication, xmpp, matrixVery 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/ADiveIntoOpenChatA month using XMPP (using Snikket) for every call and chatTags: tech, xmpp, messaging, foss, self-hostingIt’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/EthersyncTags: tech, tools, syncing, realtime, collaborativeLooks 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, waylandThat’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/114935252929285259Loading credentials from Bitwarden with direnvTags: tech, secrets, shell, toolsThis 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 ShellTags: tech, shell, learning, funnyNeat 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-DocumentingTags: tech, shell, scripting, documentationThis 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 habitsTags: tech, tools, command-line, learning, habitsThis 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.htmlC++26 Reflections adventures & compile time UMLTags: tech, c++, metaprogrammingThis 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 functionsTags: tech, shader, mathematics, graphicsNice explanation on the options for anti-aliasing when rendering using SDFshttps://blog.pkh.me/p/44-perfecting-anti-aliasing-on-signed-distance-functions.htmlRewriting the heart of our sync engineTags: tech, architecture, syncingGood insight into why Dropbox rewrote its sync engine for desktop clients.https://dropbox.tech/infrastructure/rewriting-the-heart-of-our-sync-engineBroccoli: Syncing faster by syncing lessTags: tech, syncing, compressionA follow up on the Dropbox sync engine rewrite, or why they introduced brotli compression.https://dropbox.tech/infrastructure/-broccoli–syncing-faster-by-syncing-lessThe Big OOPs: Anatomy of a Thirty-five-year MistakeTags: tech, programming, architecture, object-oriented, type-systems, historyA 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=wo84LFzx5nILooking at TDD: An Academic SurveyTags: tech, tests, tdd, researchA 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-956a80545713YAGNITags: tech, design, architecture, xp, agileIt’s likely the best explanation of the YAGNI acronym I know. Explains quite well when it applies or not.https://martinfowler.com/bliki/Yagni.htmlWIP Limit Panic Sheet – what to do when you feel tempted to break the work-in-progress (WIP) limitTags: tech, agile, project-management, kanbanNice check list, there’s more to project life than churning out tickets.https://thought-bubble.co.uk/blog/2013/11/11/wip-limit-panic-sheet-what-to-do-when-you-feel-tempted-to-break-the-limit/Enterprise Agility??Tags: tech, agile, business, criticismLooks like another certification circus is about to begin…https://ronjeffries.com/articles/-w025/y/y/Your Daily Scrum is Killing Your TeamTags: tech, agile, project-management, teamDon’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-teamIt’s an ExperimentTags: tech, agile, project-management, change, habitsYou 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.htmlRetromat - Inspiration & plans for (agile) retrospectivesTags: tech, agile, retrospective, toolsNeat tools to keep retrospective fresh. If people settle too much in habits they quickly become dull.https://retromat.org/The 3 Motivational Forces of DevelopersTags: tech, programming, team, motivation, managementThis 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.phpCrappy People versus Crappy SystemsTags: management, hrAn 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.htmlLet’s Kill You a Billion Times to Make You ImmortalTags: physicsQuantum 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=7wK4peez9zEBye for now!