A Word on Productivity and Linux...

As the end of this semester comes close, I've found myself progressively busier. I've even neglected my blog about the experiences I have with Linux...

Then, I noticed something: Why is it that I'm so busy and why I haven't written anything here?


To put it simply, long gone are the days in which my OS slowed down or needed occasional/frequent reboots. Now, I can work while I update my system, don't have to worry about directing resources at updating or running A/V software every single day and the only problem I get is that I feel ostracized when I hear my colleagues talking about how viruses infected their systems!

I even forgot what minimizing windows felt like!

It's great when one's OS doesn't get in the way...especially when one needs to maximize productivity! Thanks, Linux, for showing me that another way of using the computer is possible!

A Case to Make Linux Big on the Desktop

Nobody can deny it: many articles have been written about why GNU/Linux didn't make it, hasn't made it, and will never make it on the desktop. If there were another time dimension besides past, present, and future, we would probably see articles explaining why Tux does not work in there, either.

Many reasons have been given: Linux is too stiff/ too flexible; Linux is too ugly/too beautiful; Linux is too weak/too powerful; Linux is too outdated/too ahead of our times; Linux is too cheap/ too expensive (yes! some people even have the guts to say this!); Linux is too fragmented (fragmentation: the quality of dazzling users with choices), too exotic, too dangerous (kids! don't try Linux at home!), too difficult to learn, has weird application names; is linked to communism, anarchy and to the devil. Does Satan use Satanic Linux?

Also, many strategies have been offered to make Tux popular. Among them, we can list reducing the list of options and choices, dumbing interfaces down, making aggressive campaigns, boycotting OEMs, killing Richard Stallman, making lots of viruses for Linux so that potential migrants may feel at home, and many many more.

However, these strategies, although useful, never reach the essence of the problem.

And what is the core of the problem anyway?

Is it the ugly GNU/Linux name? Should we get rid of the GNU? That would be a terrible idea: exotic animals are fashionable. Besides, it makes Linux look greener...more in touch with nature.

So, what is it?

It's so simple and evident that all eyes miss it. The core of the problem is that Linux is Free Software (free as in freedom and free as in free cookies). Businesses do not want to do business with Tux (true, Red Hat is one of the crazy ones who dared) because Tux is a free penguin. Nobody wants a free penguin in the office!

Thus, to make Linux popular, Linux should be totally restrained, locked up, forbidden, wiped out of the map. If people realize that the penguin that was beside them all this time suddenly disappears, they will feel curious about it even though they were never interested when it was with them. Those who never cared, instead of smiling happily, would be the first ones to run everywhere looking for the penguin, now gone with the wind.

The disappearance of Linux would cause a terrible envy frenzy, too. Whoever had Linux available would be bombarded with requests for copies and installations just because this person possesses something that the others never grabbed when they had the chance! That's human nature at its best!

It's very sad, though, that nobody will have the wits, guts, and economic power to recognize the genius of this simple idea and try it...thus, no individual will ever try to ban Linux...

Wait! There is still hope! Did anybody say "Unified Extensively Firmware Interface", and "secure boot enabled by default"?

Yeah! Tux will be popular after all!

RIP Steve Jobs

I did not believe it when I read in the news that Steve Jobs had passed away.

True, I'm a Linux fan and I have never had an Apple computer (and probably never will), but denying the contribution of this man to the world of computers and to the corporate world would be too much.

The world has lost a true visionary. May he rest in peace.

Winds of Change...

Last week, my university approved the use of open source software officially and adopted Open Document Format (ODF) as its standard. The TV news even covered the decision!

Yesterday, two ex-students greeted me with the words "Professor, we need Linux!" and one of them offered to leave her laptop with me to get it fueled by Tux as soon as possible.

Today, another professor told me that he has been looking for vendors who offer PCs with Linux pre-installed in my country.

Slowly, more people will get the chance to try different tech-related options...with a bit of luck, they might even realize that their freedom has been restricted and a number of them may want to take it back...

That would be great! The more informed individuals are, the more difficult it will be for big companies to force their customers to accept poor deals "because that's how computers work."

The Joke of Customer Privacy and Rights

According to this article, Microsoft is being sued because its smartphones with Windows 7 come with a very outstanding --and smart-- feature: they track you down!

What's the problem with that if Apple and Google do the same?

Well, apparently, the system designed by Microsoft asks you for your permission to "collect geographical data" (good!!) but it keeps tracking you even if you choose not to give it your consent. WOW! That's what I call innovative!

Now, this is not just about MS. My concern here is more about technology meddling with people's privacy and rights...and with people accepting it sheepishly or worse, ignoring about it totally. "Privacy is dead," apparently said Zuck from Facebook...

I'm not against a company's tracking or information-collecting practices...as far as customers agree to that. But how come they can still do it even after people have said "no"?

Is this the way we are headed? Are we at the mercy of companies? Is it that individuals have lost all their rights and now the only rights that count are those of the corporate entities?

Technology advances faster than our ethical vision does, it seems...

Linux Is Dead...and My Students See Dead Linux!

Yesterday, I took my little netbook to my second Japanese class (the course started last week).

When I booted Mepis 11, I remembered that last course, one of my students had asked me "teacher, is that Linux?", so I wondered if one of my new students would ask me the same question...

But no, this time it didn't happen. Things were a bit different.

Some of my students grinned when they saw my system projected on the whiteboard. Evidently, they recognized it was not Microsoft's doing...

And then, came the question...

No, it wasn't "teacher, is that Linux?"

This time, the question was "teacher, what Linux distribution is that one?"

Right...Linux is dead. So dead that nowadays I seem to encounter more people who know about it. True, they are not counted by millions, but this shows that the hegemony of Windows is not as solid as it used to be.

This is something educational institutions should pay attention to. The era of "you need MS this and MS that to view this page" is reaching its end. Educational institutions should notice that more students, maybe a minority, don't play by MS standards. As with all minorities, their right must be respected.

25,000 Children Are about to Learn Sugar!

Good news today! I read in the news that the Ministry of Education in my country is about to provide 25,000 laptops for several elementary schools in two years. These laptops are the XO-1 models by the project OLPC (One Laptop Per Child).

The news had written "Top Notch Technology" as a subtitle for the section that described Sugar, the OS of these computers. It also mentioned "fomenting critical thinking." Nice!

What does this mean? Simply put, that 25,000 kids are about to learn computing without Windows. Their first computing experience will be with Sugar, a Linux-based OS. Add that to all the kids who are nowadays using Android and what do you get? A new generation of kids for whom Redmond's OS is not necessarily THE Operating System.

Of course, I'm expecting Microsoft to retalitate...let's see how long it takes! :P