The Price Of Fitting In
There's a big empty spot in the garage now. It used to be filled with eight
monitors, half a dozen computers, and a few miscellaneous bits and pieces of
hardware that I'd been meaning to build into firewalls and other machines for
friends and family. But finally I realised that I wasn't actually inspired to
get a bunch of decrepit Pentium Is and IIs working, and Kate convinced me that it
was better to take them to a Computer Charity (called, coincidentally,
Charity Computers) and let them
(with their boxes full of RAM and racks full of hard disks and their volunteer
labour) take care of it.
I came away relatively unscathed. It only cost me $75 for them to take the four non-working monitors to a Better Place; the rest was gratis. That's OK, I can take that $75 out of Trevor's hide since he was the one who dumped them on me in the first place ("I've been keeping them in my garage for the last three years - do you want them?"). Of course, what do they put on them? Microsoft Windows 2000. They've got a special 'distributor' license or something.
It's the Microsoft Standard. Everyone uses it, so everyone has to learn it. Charity Computers are dealing with people on unemployment cards who need to learn modern computing skills to get into the workplace. Since half of these people are still at the "Why is turning it on so difficult?" stage, making them learn another operating system for work versus the one they have at home is allegedly doing them no favours. It's what everyone's familiar with, after all.
I can't deny that it's popular. Pity that that popularity is because of strong- arm business tactics and dirty dealings, rather than being technically and operationally superior (i.e. easier to use). Pity that that Windows 2000 interface is quite different from the Windows XP that the big businesses are now using at work. Pity that Windows 2000 support is being phased out. Pity that they're probably not supplied with firewalls or anti-virus software - they're probably lucky to be up-to-date with patches. (I think they said they installed OpenOffice, but who knows? Maybe the poor unfortunates get Microsoft Works.) Pity that all the latest games and software probably won't run on their old OS, even if they pay the $450 or so to get a modern machine - so they're still going to have to pay the Microsoft Tax sooner or later...
So, overall, I don't think they're doing as many favours as they think they are. Do they offer any training on how to use these new computers? What about support and maintenance, when they get a virus or have a breakdown? At least the people there are learning how to repair computers. But I have this fear that, like many Christian projects (of which this is one), they're going more for good intentions and less for full plans and consequences taken care of.
And I still don't see what the big problem with Linux in that environment is.
It still won't be able to play all their favourite games, and it'll look and feel
a bit different compared to the operating system that they'll probably be using
at work. But it'll have an industry-proven firewall, pretty much no virus
susceptibility, a whole range of free software just waiting to be installed on
it, and it comes with no hidden Microsoft Taxes. How can you say no?
posted at: 20:18 | path: /tech | permanent link to this entry
Watch The Screen, Big Brother Commands You!
Thanks, Chris Samuel, for pointing out the patent for a TV advert enforcer that
would stop you changing channels during ads. But why stop there? Why not have
the device not allow you change channels, ever! The broadcaster certainly
doesn't want you to change, and they're the ones that are going to be broadcasting
the 'lock channel' flag... Let's go further! Have a TV that doesn't allow you
to switch it off! Let's make it force you to watch by requiring you to strap
yourself in to watch. Let's make people who buy the TV sign a contract that
says they will watch TV all the time. Let's make the contract force them to go
out and buy stuff we advertise! What a wonderful idea!
It's times like these that I really seriously wonder about how people get to be adults. This is not something that just popped out of some automated slot: a number of people ranging from techs to management went through the entire process of making and filing this patent. Did any one of them think "But I wouldn't want it in my house"? Did they think "There's a lot of people that wouldn't like this device." In the face of these personal ethical questions, why did they continue?
I know people that are convinced that Bill Gates is completely evil; that he's created a business whose sole purpose is to make life miserable for anyone who comes into contact with them. Now, this is obviously stretching the truth. But did Bill, at any point where Microsoft was grinding Netscape or Digital Research into the dust, say "You know, we're probably not going to get away with this." Or "We can't rely on a monopoly position forever - some day we're actually going to have a product that people want to buy, rather than are forced to because we've stuffed it down their throats.". Or "You know, if we keep shafting competitors, users and others in the industry, some day we're going to meet an organisation that's more powerful than us and are going to do the same thing to us. Maybe we should play fair to start with."
Coincidentally I got talking with a friend last night about whether the sixth book of the Lord Of The Rings sextet should have been put in the last movie. It's the part where the hobbits, after their part in the more ethereal battle of Good against Evil, come back and find that the Shire has been taken over and they have to fight the fight at home as well as off in Far Off Lands. (I don't think it was necessary - to me that whole section raised Frodo's determination and stamina from the heroic to the unbelievable; but that's another argument.) And this, I think, is a good point for us in the Open Source world to think on: that we work with an operating system and (for many projects) a set of principles that encourage us not to bow to any master, to not give in to any evil even if it seems convenient at the time.
I think part of the problem with the world today is that people don't think they need to fight any fight - that they can be excused for devising machines to kill and maim and brutalise people, or to screw over thousands of people in third-world countries indirectly by purchasing cheap foods and goods, because they haven't been doing the nasty work directly. The people who work for companies like Nestle, Microsoft, Enron, Union Carbide (responsible for the Bhopal disaster) and so on - from the people who turn on the valves and make the milk formula to the marketers and executives who can see the health problems and suffering of millions of people as just another marketing opportunity - how is it that they can sleep at night with their consciences at peace? Only by pretending that they're not directly responsible.
We all have a responsibility. We all have the choice. It's up to us to choose, as often as we can, the most ethically, environmentally, socially and morally responsible options that we're presented with. Yes, we sometimes have to weigh up the balance of several of those options and make our own choice. But that is still our responsibility; our choice in these situations makes up the moral, ethical, environmental and social temperament of our society. We need to work constantly to keep ourselves informed of the true impacts of our decisions. We make this decision in our own workplace as much as at home; we cannot assume that it'll be somebody else's problem. If all the workers voted with their feet and left organisations that were doing irresponsible things, then there'd be a lot less 'evil' companies around.
Go Google!
posted at: 17:38 | path: /tech | permanent link to this entry
Leon Is Blogging Again! Let Joy Be Unconfined!
Good to see you back on the scene again Leon. I was hoping that you'd pull
through, and to hear that you've made a speedy and relatively trouble-free
recovery is excellent news. As you say, health care is a place where things don't
just work, they have to work; machines, drugs, people, practices. Having
an OS like Linux that not only holds records for staying upright through thick and
thin but is also free has to be a good thing for them.
posted at: 15:21 | path: /personal | permanent link to this entry
Buy This Book And Make The Author Rich!
I read Mikal's mention of the teenager's guide to preparing for the second coming.
I'm inspired to write a book with the title "How Awesome Was It Supposed To
Be Again? A Teenager's Guide To Understanding The Disappointment After Realising
That The Second Coming Isn't Coming.". Or maybe "How Awesome Is That? An
Adult's Guide For Turning Teenager's Into Gullible Fools To Do Your Bidding".
Or "How Stupid Are You: A Teenager's Guide To The Myths, Contradictions And
Schisms In The Christian Church". Yeah, that one's going to get me a million.
posted at: 15:11 | path: /personal/goat | permanent link to this entry
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