Slashdot Mirror
The Atlantic Monthly on Linux
Jefe wrote in to point
us to a nice Story about Linux that is currently appearing over at The Atlantic Monthly. Its definitely YALA but its one of the better ones. A
good bookmark for the "What is Linux" FAQ.
← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)
Whereas Windows and Mac OS are intended in part to shield users from their machines, Linux forces people to grapple with their relationship to technology...
...Which is a Good thing. I see people coming into where I work (A well known computer retailer), not knowing a damn thing about computers, but they want one anyway. They don't care to learn about the machine either. Weeks, Days, sometimes HOURS after they buy the computer, they call the store (That's where I come in) and describe a problem that a quick check in the user's guide would solve. Windows, and it's friends, have made computer users lazy. Back in the days of owning a Commodore, it was something great to own a computer. You had something, and knew things that not everyone had even the slightest grasp on. These days, Joe Average is out there shopping for the latest Pentium III computer to do word processing, send e-mail, and play an occasional game of Solitaire.
With Linux, you're forced to drive the car without the hood. Everything is working, and in front of your face. Something in the kernel needs to be changed to suit your needs? Fine. Dig around in the code, add the changes, and recompile. With Windows: Dammit, I really hate these redraw schemes, and I can probably make them faster. Bah, Too bad. Live with it. And you know what? Most users do. They take windows, with all it's bugs, and all it's inefficencies, and use it anyway. Why? Because it's too much trouble to do anything about it.
These are the times, more than before, where I miss the days of the Commodore. Not necessarily for the technology, but for the spirit. I used to sit for days on end, and write programs in BASIC, just for the sake of doing it. There were tons of disk utilities out there, but by god, I wrote about 20 more, and you know what? Those 20 were more suited to MY needs than any of the hundreds of others that were available. That idea is brought back with Linux. (Although I need to work a lot more on my C. I need to get started on a Disk Utility.)
-- Give him Head? Be a Beacon?
-- Give him Head? Be a Beacon? :P)
(If you can't figure out how to E-Mail me, Don't.
:sigh: We just switched ad companies. This is what AdSmart is serving us so far. They're a great company, but the mix of network ads (we haven't been with them long enough for them to start selling targeted ads) that they're sending us so far is quite poor.
Bear with us, it can only get better....
Regards,
Eric Westby
Atlantic Unbound