The Humble Geek

The world is never the same place for more than 10 seconds. Why should those boundaries stop at computer software? Ask yourself this when you wonder why people would use an operating system other than Microsoft's Windows, Apple's OS X, Sun's Solaris, SCO's OpenServer, etc. The general public has been stuck with newspaper clippings and TV reports about the computing world. This left them with the assumption that computing started and stopped with the Windows logo, the Apple logo, etc. As long as the computer functioned enough to let them work, they were satisfied; however, notice my diction. Now that broadband has reached almost every home, consumers are branching out and learning that computers are more than just tools for word processing. The boundaries they were accustomed to were artificially set in place by classical marketing techniques of those with power of commercial software enterprises, and are now broken down with the fluidity of information pouring in from websites across the Internet. If none of my previous sentence made any sense to you, I feel you are still trapped in a box from a retail store. I suggest you get a box cutter and metaphorically cut yourself out of it. Use a free operating system!

Yes, I realize there are dozens of statements similar to my own, however, I wish to differ in their points with reaching out at the facts of life, rather than strictly matters of opinion. The rest of this post is targeted at baseline consumers and the IT infrastructure of corporations everywhere (not for employees). The freedom that is brought with open, free software is always underestimated. People cannot imagine a life without Windows. From my own experiences growing up, I was instinctively stuck in a Windows rut from DOS 6.2, Win 3.1, Win 95, 98, ME, 2000, and XP. AOL, to the Internet. I used Internet Explorer religously until 6.0 and always had PC games instead of consoles. I have seen these same thoughts residing in my friends, family, and co-workers. Corporate software companies have a perfect grasp around the necks of countless consumers. The old saying "If it ain't broke, why fix it?" rings true here, but I have an answer to that question. As most people recognize in my character, I have a knack for being curious, and the corporate software world couldn't fill my curiosity as American politics can't fill Amercian needs. This lack of innovation, along with money, are just two reasons of many, but they are the most important of them all and the only ones worth mentioning without boring you half to death. You're already halfway by now, so I don't want to kill you before you got to the end.

The world changes every 10 seconds and so should you, unless you like sitting on the couch all day, but then you wouldn't be reading this so I have you covered. Corporate software is based on the requirement of meeting requests that have the highest bid. Cash is everything, and this is the number one reason why you should look else where. Abandoning the software you have used forever (and emptied your wallet on) is the first step of cutting yourself out of those boundaries. If you are stuck on the fact that you need Microsoft Word, Adobe Photoshop, or Crysis, you need to seek professional help. There is no sarcasm here. The future computing world is about freedom and choice, not boxes with price tags. This is not a matter of opinion, as what I speak of has been happening for the past decade. The movement of free software has been small and quiet, but it has not faltered or missed one step.

To make that second step and completely exit the box, you have to change the core of your computer software as well - the operating system. I will not, in this post, recommend that everyone go out and download a Linux distribution and blow up their hard drives and install it; it's silly, and no one should ever mention it. In hind sight, I will dictate that consumers read about the options that Linux, and other open operating systems bring to the table. A fine example of this learning process can be seen in my friends and family whom I've shown Linux too. They initially were weirded out, but that's completely normal. After they used it, they found the same simple operating processes worked the way they knew them, and adapted to oddities as they used the system. What I've shown them is only about 5% of the Linux world. The other 95% is another made up Internet percentage, which is largely unexplored even by myself. It would also take a few hundred blog posts to explain more than I've spilled out here, and I may continue in the future, but that would require you, the consumer, to start cutting out of that box first.

Before I hear some thirteen year old pizza-face tell me that Windows is "easy" and "lolz better," or from a fourty-year-old IT guy whose job it is to clean mouse lint, I wish to remind them that they failed the reading comprehension test of this post and they should be beaten with a stick. The same learning principles apply to Windows as does any computing software. If you picked up a native from deep in the Amazon jungle and threw Windows Vista at them, would you dare refute the fact that it wouldn't be that easy for that individual? If you would, you only support my second opinion - I hate people.