Tessera

Grist @getgrist.com · 2w ago

I just bought my ticket to @Mozilla Festival #mozfest, part of Open Tech Week in Barcelona www.mozillafoundation.org/en/festival/ This is going to be great! An opportunity to share more on #AI #OpenData #OpenSource #Grist and more

Mozilla Festival

Mozilla Festival is three days of bold conversations, hands-on building, and ideas worth traveling for. In 2026 MozFest will be held in Barcelona, Spain, at Recinte Fabra i Coats from Wednesday…

mozillafoundation.org

Tomorrow at 10am ET! Olga Tatarinova from Epoch8 joins Anais to walk through the metadata layer they built in Grist that lets AI agents write accurate SQL against client databases. Sign up: www.getgrist.com/grist-epoch8...

Promo image for webinar titled: How Epoch8 uses Grist to make AI agents query client databases accurately

One of the tests I use when a new pattern shows up in AI tooling is whether it could only be built on open source infrastructure, or whether proprietary tools would work fine.

How Epoch8 uses Grist to make AI agents query client databases accurately.

When the AI agent gets the query wrong, most teams add more prompt engineering and pray it holds. In this webinar, Olga Tatarinova shows how Epoch8 built the metadata layer instead.

getgrist.com

Mautic asks for money the smart way https://www.maffulli.net/2026/07/23/mautic-asks-for-money-the-smart-way/

Mautic asks for money the smart way

Mautic, the popular Open Source marketing automation solution, is doing something smart: it’s putting up a tender to hosting providers who want to sell Mautic.…

maffulli.net

Grep-based context retrieval (what Claude Code and Codex do) may waste tokens because agents repeatedly search-and-read whole files to reconstruct context. That resonates as I'm prototyping marketing tools for @getgrist.bsky.social arstechnica.com/ai/2026/07/b...

linkedin.com

Stella Biderman @stellaathena.bsky.social · 2w ago

Access has no real permissions, no real concurrency, and no audit trail worth defending. And it's still one of the top relational databases in use today. Here's the gap nobody's closed: www.getgrist.com/blog/why-mic... #NoCode #MSAccess #OpenSource

Why Microsoft Access survived, and what replaces it | Grist

Microsoft Access survived in regulated orgs because a single person could build a working database without a dev team. What replaces it?

getgrist.com

When I was in middle school (late 2000s), I was very interested in mathematics. I thought that the validity of the proof of the 4-color theorem was disputed in mathematics and was shocked when I learned about FLT, but I knew that humans would never beat an AI at chess ever again

Real story: built a GIS database in Access as an architecture student, tracking historical buildings across Andalucía. Worked great — until you needed more than one person touching it at once. That limitation is still the whole story: www.getgrist.com/blog/why-mic... #VBA #OpenSource #MSAccess

Why Microsoft Access survived, and what replaces it | Grist

Microsoft Access survived in regulated orgs because a single person could build a working database without a dev team. What replaces it?

getgrist.com

Telling a permit office to "just rebuild it as a proper web app" isn't help. It's just handing them the same problem with extra steps (dev team, budget, quarters of waiting). I break down why that advice keeps failing: www.getgrist.com/blog/why-mic... #NoCode #VBA

Why Microsoft Access survived, and what replaces it | Grist

Microsoft Access survived in regulated orgs because a single person could build a working database without a dev team. What replaces it?

getgrist.com

Yet, as the previous article argued, this regulatory edifice suffers from a fatal structural flaw: the GDPR protects the abstract concept of privacy while entirely abandoning the actual victim of a data breach. #gdpr #policy #privacy

Fixing GDPR: The case for a citizen-first privacy dividend

Europe’s GDPR successfully punishes corporate negligence, but it leaves the actual victims of data breaches empty-handed. To truly protect citizens, a reformed “GDPR 2.0” must mandate direct financial remediation. Turning personal data into a clear balance-sheet liability will finally force companies to stop hoarding data and eliminate predatory spam.

maffulli.net

Why is Microsoft Access still alive in 2026, running inside hospitals and banks? Because it let one person build a database without a dev team. That need never went away. New post ⬇️ www.getgrist.com/blog/why-mic... #OpenSource #VBA #Grist

Why Microsoft Access survived, and what replaces it | Grist

Microsoft Access survived in regulated orgs because a single person could build a working database without a dev team. What replaces it?

getgrist.com

Nobody wants to inherit a decade of undocumented VBA macros. That's the real cost of sticking with Access — and the real barrier to leaving it. New post: www.getgrist.com/blog/why-mic... #VBA #MSAccess #Sovereignty #OpenSource

Why Microsoft Access survived, and what replaces it | Grist

Microsoft Access survived in regulated orgs because a single person could build a working database without a dev team. What replaces it?

getgrist.com

Access's idea of access control: if you could open the file, you could touch everything in it. That's the whole security model. We wrote about what a real alternative looks like: www.getgrist.com/blog/why-mic... #nocode #VBA #OpenSource #MSAccess #Sovereignty

Why Microsoft Access survived, and what replaces it | Grist

Microsoft Access survived in regulated orgs because a single person could build a working database without a dev team. What replaces it?

getgrist.com

Hot take: the permit office still running Access isn't negligent. They used the only tool that let them do the job without filing a ticket with IT. New post on why that gap is still real: www.getgrist.com/blog/why-mic... #nocode #opensource #msaccess

Why Microsoft Access survived, and what replaces it | Grist

Microsoft Access survived in regulated orgs because a single person could build a working database without a dev team. What replaces it?

getgrist.com

As someone who has lived on both sides of the Atlantic, I have come to realize that this EU privacy grand regulatory framework is largely an illusion https://www.maffulli.net/2026/07/01/the-grand-illusion-of-european-privacy-gdpr-fails-the-citizens/ #gdpr #policy #privacy

The grand illusion of European privacy: GDPR fails the citizens

EU data privacy laws claim to shield citizens, but a recent Trenitalia breach proves otherwise: victims get empty apologies while states collect the fines. In the US, class actions and free credit monitoring offer real remedy. GDPR is just a distraction.

maffulli.net

"The database is locked by another user." If that message gives you flashbacks, this post is for you: www.getgrist.com/blog/why-mic...

Why Microsoft Access survived, and what replaces it | Grist

Microsoft Access survived in regulated orgs because a single person could build a working database without a dev team. What replaces it?

getgrist.com

Microsoft Access still ranks in the top 15 relational databases worldwide. Not a typo. Here's why it never really left regulated orgs: www.getgrist.com/blog/why-mic...

Why Microsoft Access survived, and what replaces it | Grist

Microsoft Access survived in regulated orgs because a single person could build a working database without a dev team. What replaces it?

getgrist.com

Every generation of software produces a new bottleneck for the layer above it. Databases were once the bottleneck until schema documentation and query builders opened them up. APIs were once the bottleneck until GraphQL and OpenAPI opened them up.

How Epoch8 uses Grist to make AI agents query client databases accurately.

When the AI agent gets the query wrong, most teams add more prompt engineering and pray it holds. In this webinar, Olga Tatarinova shows how Epoch8 built the metadata layer instead.

getgrist.com

If a company loses your data, they shouldn’t just owe the state; they should owe you. https://www.maffulli.net/2026/07/02/fixing-gdpr-the-case-for-a-citizen-first-privacy-dividend/ #gdpr #policy #privacy

Fixing GDPR: The case for a citizen-first privacy dividend

Europe’s GDPR successfully punishes corporate negligence, but it leaves the actual victims of data breaches empty-handed. To truly protect citizens, a reformed “GDPR 2.0” must mandate direct financial remediation. Turning personal data into a clear balance-sheet liability will finally force companies to stop hoarding data and eliminate predatory spam.

maffulli.net

The GDPR protects the abstract concept of privacy while entirely abandoning the actual victim of a data breach https://www.maffulli.net/2026/07/02/fixing-gdpr-the-case-for-a-citizen-first-privacy-dividend/ #gdpr #policy #privacy

Fixing GDPR: The case for a citizen-first privacy dividend

Europe’s GDPR successfully punishes corporate negligence, but it leaves the actual victims of data breaches empty-handed. To truly protect citizens, a reformed “GDPR 2.0” must mandate direct financial remediation. Turning personal data into a clear balance-sheet liability will finally force companies to stop hoarding data and eliminate predatory spam.

maffulli.net

The grand illusion of European privacy: GDPR fails the citizens https://www.maffulli.net/2026/07/01/the-grand-illusion-of-european-privacy-gdpr-fails-the-citizens/ #gdpr #policy #privacy

The grand illusion of European privacy: GDPR fails the citizens

EU data privacy laws claim to shield citizens, but a recent Trenitalia breach proves otherwise: victims get empty apologies while states collect the fines. In the US, class actions and free credit monitoring offer real remedy. GDPR is just a distraction.

maffulli.net

Fixing GDPR: The case for a citizen-first privacy dividend https://www.maffulli.net/2026/07/02/fixing-gdpr-the-case-for-a-citizen-first-privacy-dividend/ #gdpr #policy #privacy

Fixing GDPR: The case for a citizen-first privacy dividend

Europe’s GDPR successfully punishes corporate negligence, but it leaves the actual victims of data breaches empty-handed. To truly protect citizens, a reformed “GDPR 2.0” must mandate direct financial remediation. Turning personal data into a clear balance-sheet liability will finally force companies to stop hoarding data and eliminate predatory spam.

maffulli.net

A European citizen gets the proverbial kick in the teeth: a cookie banner, a mandatory reading of the privacy policy, and a bureaucratic shrug. https://www.maffulli.net/2026/07/01/the-grand-illusion-of-european-privacy-gdpr-fails-the-citizens/ #gdpr #policy #privacy

The grand illusion of European privacy: GDPR fails the citizens

EU data privacy laws claim to shield citizens, but a recent Trenitalia breach proves otherwise: victims get empty apologies while states collect the fines. In the US, class actions and free credit monitoring offer real remedy. GDPR is just a distraction.

maffulli.net

Defenders of the European model argue that GDPR at least prevents our data from being weaponized or sold in the first place, reducing the daily friction of data misuse. https://www.maffulli.net/2026/07/01/the-grand-illusion-of-european-privacy-gdpr-fails-the-citizens/ #gdpr #policy #privacy

The grand illusion of European privacy: GDPR fails the citizens

EU data privacy laws claim to shield citizens, but a recent Trenitalia breach proves otherwise: victims get empty apologies while states collect the fines. In the US, class actions and free credit monitoring offer real remedy. GDPR is just a distraction.

maffulli.net

If Europe genuinely wants to lead the world in data privacy, it must move past the pure bureaucratic punishment. https://www.maffulli.net/2026/07/02/fixing-gdpr-the-case-for-a-citizen-first-privacy-dividend/ #gdpr #policy #privacy

Fixing GDPR: The case for a citizen-first privacy dividend

Europe’s GDPR successfully punishes corporate negligence, but it leaves the actual victims of data breaches empty-handed. To truly protect citizens, a reformed “GDPR 2.0” must mandate direct financial remediation. Turning personal data into a clear balance-sheet liability will finally force companies to stop hoarding data and eliminate predatory spam.

maffulli.net

If a company loses your data, they shouldn’t just owe the state; they should owe you. https://www.maffulli.net/2026/07/02/fixing-gdpr-the-case-for-a-citizen-first-privacy-dividend/ #gdpr #policy #privacy

Fixing GDPR: The case for a citizen-first privacy dividend

Europe’s GDPR successfully punishes corporate negligence, but it leaves the actual victims of data breaches empty-handed. To truly protect citizens, a reformed “GDPR 2.0” must mandate direct financial remediation. Turning personal data into a clear balance-sheet liability will finally force companies to stop hoarding data and eliminate predatory spam.

maffulli.net