1 |
Karol Krizka posted <ac342b0a0508011003686becfc@××××××××××.com>, excerpted |
2 |
below, on Mon, 01 Aug 2005 10:03:13 -0700: |
3 |
|
4 |
>> Never-the-less, I added the strings patch here, and have the new KDE 3.4.2 |
5 |
>> stuff at least, compiled against it... Computing is my hobby; if I |
6 |
>> wanted something that would predictably "just work", I'd be doing TiVos or |
7 |
>> the like! Much of the fun is the occasional breakage in mysterious ways, |
8 |
>> never knowing quite when it'll happen, and the challenge of figuring out |
9 |
>> how to get back to a working system, again! |
10 |
>> |
11 |
> So if you wanted something to just work you would be running Linux on |
12 |
> TiVo? I think a intel computer would be better for that... |
13 |
> Never-the-less, I added the strings patch here, and have the new KDE 3.4.2 |
14 |
> stuff at least, compiled against it... Computing is my hobby; if I |
15 |
> wanted something that would predictably "just work", I'd be doing TiVos or |
16 |
> the like! Much of the fun is the occasional breakage in mysterious ways, |
17 |
> never knowing quite when it'll happen, and the challenge of figuring out |
18 |
> how to get back to a working system, again! |
19 |
> |
20 |
So if you wanted something to just work you would be running Linux on |
21 |
TiVo? I think a intel computer would be better for that... |
22 |
|
23 |
No... perhaps I didn't choose a far out enough example. I usually choose |
24 |
a refrigerator or TV instead... The point is, if I wanted something that |
25 |
predictably "just worked", computing wouldn't be my hobby in the /first/ |
26 |
place, I'd have chosen something better known for its "just working" |
27 |
qualities. |
28 |
|
29 |
In point of fact, before I got my first PC (in fact, the /only/ whole PC I |
30 |
ever got, a 486sx25 w/ the CPU soldered to the mobo, 4 meg RAM, and a 130 |
31 |
meg hard drive -- I just counted myself lucky to get a 486 over a 386), I |
32 |
had two VCRs hooked up to my TV, such that I could watch previous shows |
33 |
while recording the current nite's shows, allowing me to FF over the |
34 |
commercials. That, and I could rent movies and record them to the second |
35 |
VCR while playing them from the first. Interactivity was pretty much |
36 |
limited to that FF button -- and hitting back when I overshot a bit. Now, |
37 |
I don't even own a TV (other than a tiny 2.5" TFT version, bought back in |
38 |
the day..., that I have around somewhere, don't even know where...), as |
39 |
I've grown to despise the lack of control one has over a TV program, and |
40 |
the fact that the programmers must cater to their paying customers, the |
41 |
advertisers, which in turn are happiest with the zombies easiest |
42 |
programmed to buy their warez even when they are twice the cost or more of |
43 |
the generic brand and even when they don't need them and can't really |
44 |
afford them. Thus, there's actually a DIS-incentive to program for the |
45 |
discerning intellect -- those that actually /like/ to think, and can't be |
46 |
so easily programmed to buy expensive stuff they don't need. |
47 |
|
48 |
So... I've switched to a more interactive and intellectually rewarding |
49 |
hobby, computers, and enjoy the challenges they sometimes present. I |
50 |
simply chose TiVos as the example above, because that'd be the modern |
51 |
equivalent of the VCRs I was using before I got into computers. While |
52 |
personally significant, that choice of example was obviously less than |
53 |
clear to those who have no way of knowing my history and who have a |
54 |
different one of their own, and the usual TV or refrigerator example would |
55 |
have been rather more effective at making my point. |
56 |
|
57 |
-- |
58 |
Duncan - List replies preferred. No HTML msgs. |
59 |
"Every nonfree program has a lord, a master -- |
60 |
and if you use the program, he is your master." Richard Stallman in |
61 |
http://www.linuxdevcenter.com/pub/a/linux/2004/12/22/rms_interview.html |
62 |
|
63 |
|
64 |
-- |
65 |
gentoo-amd64@g.o mailing list |