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I’m on Wave. I’ve got a whole bunch of invites. I still see almost not real good use for it. But this I was at least amused by.

Geekdom, Technology, The Internet

So, a couple of weeks ago, I posted a rather annoyed entry about how Linux hasn’t changed all that much. Now, while I will stand by a lot of what I said, I can say that I don’t think MY hardware issues are linux’s fault. After getting Windows 7 on my machine, it seems there’s still a hardware failure somewhere. This is unfortunate because when it’s running, Windows 7 actually performs better than Linux was on my box.

So, while I am not happy in any way about it, I may have to bite the bullet int he near future and upgrade my computer hardware. I mean, I guess this is to be expected, given I hadn’t purchased new hardware in almost 6 years, and what I did get was a netbook. Still, I’m again keen on having some sort of desktop machine; and my media server is also giving up the ghost, so it looks like it’s time. Thankfully, I think I can use a lot of my stuff spread across the new gear, but I’m looking at another grand or so to get two fully functioning machines.

Oh well, I guess going almost six years is good enough.

Technology

Had an interesting discussion with Yorke today about how far Linux hasn’t come over the better part of a decade. Now, before I go any further, I would like to point out that I’m currently typing this up on my Linux box, so no accusing me of merely being a Microsoft shill.

The basis of the discussion was the fact that, due to a bit of instability in Ubuntu, my machine had gotten itself into a rather nasty state after a failed attempt at applying some system updates. Clearly, I was able to get the system back, but what isn’t so clear was how I had to do it. For the sake of brevity, let’s just say that a lot of command line work was required to get everything going gain.

Now, for me, this isn’t such a big deal. I prefer using the command line; I find it to be faster to get things done. Mind you, I’m also a software engineer, so what I think of in terms of an optimal user experience are a we bit different. I also look at the command line as a choice.

What is kind of sad about Linux given that it’s now been over a decade since it hit the “big time” is that it feels like it hasn’t changed in say…six years? Sure, the windows now fade in and out, but copying OS X (or God forbid Vista) shouldn’t really be seen as an improvement. I still need to use the command line to reliably do anything. The window manager just stops redrawing app windows for no good reason. (This has been a major issue for me with Ubuntu) And package management…well, there still needs to be “package management.”

Everything about this set-up feels exactly as it did when I was in college and futzing with this crap on a regular basis. All of the modularity that makes this awesome for geeks/powerusers/sysadmins really is kind of stupid when you just want to have a PC that runs. I installed a pretty basic version of Ubuntu and the update (it had been a week or two since I had done it previously) needed to change 100+ packages. And this wasn’t even for the complete distro upgrade.

I had heard how much better Linux had gotten since I had last looked at it seriously. Honestly, I don’t see it. Sure, they’ve put some graphical front ends onto the command line stuff, but given how often they’ve failed on me, they might as well not be there. It’s been about ten years since I started futzing with Linux and beyond some higher res art, it’s pretty much the same thing I was using before.

Technology

As you can see by the side bar, I’m now Twittering. I’m still not sure how I ultimately feel about making such a decision. It’s one of those things I always kind of ignored, and now I’ve just kind of started doing it. It’s kind of strange, honestly, given that I’ve been blogging for so long. I was wondering if I’d blog less because I have twitter. But 1. I honestly don’t think I can blog less and say I still have a blog; and 2. you really can’t fully express yourself in 140 characters.

Interestingly, I no longer feel a need to update my Facebook status anymore. With the twitter plugin, there’s really no incentive to do it. Twitter is essentially Facebook status messages in a more public space; which, given how many people are on Facebook, might as well be public.

This leads me to wonder about where our current society is going. It’s clear that with Blackberries, iPhones and every other smartphone on the planet, we’re approaching the always connected world described in so many cyberpunk novels. I think I’m going to have to go back and watch Lain because I honestly feel like we’re approaching that world, or at least to some extent.

Hmmm, this might be an interesting blog post for another time.

Technology, The Internet

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Geekdom, Humor, Technology, The Internet