jtmitchum.com

Bill Gates, the Microsoft myth

Earlier, my computer failed me. Well, Windows 2000 failed me. The components held up, but my OS had no resolve. Shocker for anyone who remembers Windows 98 failing during its inaugural demonstration to the world.

Why do we deal with it? I’ll tell you why. Point and click.

It has a nice ring to it, just like the military fire-and-forget missiles do. Problem is, fire enough missiles and you are bound to have one circle round and catch you in the butt. Well, that works in Windows, too. After installing and uninstalling several programs ranging from open source to professional video editing packages for trial, I think I shredded the registry into a level of variety that Sybil couldn’t match.

So I re-installed Windows 2000, but I left a blank partition. I’d had enough. I was willing to try and free myself of this incredibly predictable flaw of failures. Let’s not mention how much time I spend verifying my firewall is tight and anti-virus software updated because there are some 50 plus thousand viruses for Windows. Let’s ignore the fact that multi-tasking on Windows makes my computer sweat with fear of a crash with no warning.

I’m tired of the promised wait game. Windows 2000 was supposed to be the end all. XP was championed as a media wondrous platform that instantly had holes in it Hoover Dam couldn’t tolerate. I grew up with Windows 3.1 and stuck around to fiddle with 95. The pretty colors just kept me coming back I guess.

Everyone knew Windows 98 was a mistake, so we all waited for the re-labeled Windows 98 SE which cleverly stood for second edition. It really should have meant severely egregious, because that’s what it was. Never-the -less, I hunkered down with it and now I still use Windows 2000 to this day. It’s the closest I’ve come to being impressed.

This recent crash was probably pre-empted by my sudden discovery of open source software. I downloaded everything that could promise to make my life easier for free, because I had to see. Holding my mouse over the ‘Programs’ label in the Start menu made the computer belch a little bit before finally unleashing a most intimidating menu of programs. Of course, I killed it, otherwise I would screen shot it for you.

So, I decided to try Linux. I went into an IRC chat room where I knew a few *nix nerds would be waiting, and I gave them permission to spout, at great length, their doctoral proof for what distro (distribution) of Linux would be best for a disgruntled Windows person who just wanted an option.

My text based peers were actually very restrained and asked questions to ensure a fitting match. Red Hat’s Fedora came up as well as Suse, but it would be MandrakeLinux’s Mindriva 2005 LE that finally won my attention. I downloaded the 3 full CD iso files off the site, burned them to disc, and waited a few days until I thought I’d have some time. After all, no one kidded me about the install time.

I had to go through the boot process 4 or 5 times to finally get it going. Most of it is just learning what makes the partition right so Linux is happy. Some IRC folks were pleasant in assisting my install as I chatted on a spare computer while installing. By the time it was all said and done, I had a dual boot system that worked wonderfully!

Feel free to click on it and see the full size screen shot of my new Desktop.

I have to admit, I’m reasonably impressed. It is tricky and not the easiest thing to install, but if you like tinkering with new things, this is for you. While the initial install was a process of repeated installs, once it was on the drive, the rest is rock solid.

I had Internet in a few minutes, a chat window, a mail client, a firewall, office publication software, graphic manipulation software and a host of others all running as I wanted them to. There were plenty of themes and styles to play with as I currently play with KDE, a type of windowed interface for Linux. I plan on playing with Gnome later.

Overall, I really think this is slick. Now I have the terminal access at easy reach for my Web development and a host of unique software packages to learn and play with. It’s quite fun, in my opinion. Reader be warned, this is work for people who generally don’t like computers.

That being said, I think open-source software has made giant leaps in support. With Mandrake, you can pay for service and updates. It’s about US$60 for a year and it comes with automatic updates and downloads of the latest releases of programs. If my enjoyment continues with this OS, I’ll probably pay for it.

It seems genius that a product prove its worth before you pay, but I think that is the trend we are going to. Customers are paying for support, not the product. I have yet to use any of their service, but this post and many other things I got done today were performed on Linux. I’m going to challenge myself to stay of Windows as best as possible. Accept for a few games… I think I’ll be able to do it.

Chevy Sucks
Sorry GM, but your products have cost me over $3,000 in the last year.

I’ve had to replace the transmission, the alternator, the batter and now the front left bearing, which turns out to be sealed and specially manufactured so that it would cost me $500 bucks to get it fixed today.

Chevy just hasn’t been that great to me really. The engines hold up wonderfully, but the rest of the vehicle has just been crap. I’ve owned three, so I think I’ve given my time to the American Market. I’m perusing for a foreign car now. Rice-runners here I come!

I really need to get rid of that truck. I have 3 more years on the loan and I’m upside down clamped in a vice grip of slow truck death. I’m really debating cutting my losses, buying the cheapest Honda I can find, and rolling over 4 to 5 grand of pure, unadulterated interest with a hint of premium on top of it.

GM, you discomfort me in a hemorrhaging way.

It’s at times like these, I try to think upon my upcoming graduation. There is a lot of things I have yet to share about my feelings of the life I’ve led for nearly 6 years now, and the life I’m going to step into by the end of this summer.

You know why I can’t share those memories?

Because my shit stain of a vehicle has me scared a wheel is going to fly off rendering the steering wheel nothing more then a nice afterthought and impaling my body on the antler rack of a 200 point buck, nicely. It’s a headache, I tell ya’.

Never, I repeat, never….

let yourself believe a leather interior means anything more than a cow is cold somewhere.