I've been away from the blogsphere for some time.
As the end of this semester approaches, my workload as a teacher increases exponentially and my free time shrinks at the same rate, if not faster.
Some may say that my job is keeping me away from the world of Linux...no time to recompile my kernel, no time to enter into Linux forums asking for help desperately, no time to read obtuse manuals nor to tinker with my crashed Linux system trying to get it to work again...In other words, since I need to meet the demands of my job, I must be refraining from using Linux for the sake of real productivity. After all, one cannot afford silly playing when important work needs to get done...
Actually, my experience is totally the opposite: I've never been as immerse in the world of Linux as I am nowadays. Linux has made me work faster than my colleagues at my office. While some of them wait for their computer to load the OS, I am working already. When they are checking if their USB drives are infected, I am opening the documents on mine. While they patiently wait for their A/V scan to finish, I am finishing some of my work and starting with a new task. Oh, did I mention that I am doing all this on my netbook Toshiba NB-100 which, by the way, is not the fastest nor the most comfortable to use?
I've realized that my productivity has not dropped since I migrated to Linux. Actually, I am able to get more things done and have almost forgotten about the daily rituals that kept me busy in the past: downloading A/V updates, looking for and installing stronger anti-malware tools...running scans. Now I employ that time doing something!
How many crashes have I experienced? Zero. What about the fearful kernel panics anti-linux generals always mention? Zero. Computer freezes? Zero. Restarts? Zero. Is this for real? All that on my modest netbook? Well, as a teacher, I also have to work home and my desktop box has the same figures. The computer at the office, conversely, has crashed three times and has frozen another four. No, it does not run Linux.
When I finish my job at the office, I read, talk with my colleagues, and often clean the viruses that their A/V technologies swear they don't have on their USB pendrives.
And what do I do now at home when I get my job done? Recompile my kernel as all Linux geeks do? I've no idea how to do that. Lately, I play with the kitten my wife brought home, which by the way loves keyboards. Maybe the little furry critter will teach me some kernel-compiling tricks in the future...
Hahahaha!
ResponderEliminarYou forgot to mention that, when you get home, you unwind watching movies in the Linux box that supposedly cannot play media because it lacks Windows Media Player!
The Windows Seven desktop at the office has already started misbehaving...The screen flickers when loading a Web page with Internet Explorer (not with Firefox or Chrome) and the mail program refuses to send/receive. The AV guarantees there is no virus, so everything is OK ;-)
True; I forgot about that.
ResponderEliminarWell, regarding the system at your office, it set a new record! Don't forget the backups, just in case!
Now...if the AV says so, it must be true: no virus is the culprit. When have you seen an AV miss? Don't waste your time with backups. After all, Win7 has the backup of Microsoft...what else do you need?
You don’t pay enough attention to your computer when you are not having problems with it. But when the viruses slow it, hide some files and restart it over and over, you become aware of the importance of having an effective system. I cannot disagree with you; this time of the semester is a “mess”. You need a day with 28 hours and a week of 9 days to finish the tasks and have time to rest. It is frustrating when you have worked a whole night in an essay and your computer suddenly dies. At least in my case, I always think that I could have prevented that with the use of Linux. The time that we waste cleaning our devices, looking for the reason of some problems in the computer or dealing with viruses can be used doing our jobs. Perhaps, we get used to these problems because we forget that we must have control over our systems and not the other way around. We should eliminate those “programs” and antivirus that offer false solutions to protect our digital documents and work and try innovated options that guarantee quality and safety. The target is “to maximize productivity” and use our valuable time efficiently.
ResponderEliminarYou said it, Angélica. These are not times to be playing "catch the virus," "frozen boxes," or "restart and have coffee."
ResponderEliminarIt's up to us to stay in the old, limiting technology thinking that it is the only choice or, on the other hand, upgrading to a technology that will actually let us employ our time more productively without eating up all the resources we have.