Wow, take a little vacation, come back, and get inundated with stupid worthless emails! Everyone has been through this mess, you go on vacation and come back and BAM! About a bizillion emails! How did the world continue to function with me off-line? Nothing like taking a trip to the mountains and dumping everything electronic. Yeah, I had my laptop - but didn’t touch email, pagers, or phones.
So, the very first email I see is from a company that I am working for. It’s about the holiday hours they will be keeping. It goes something like this - “For non-essential personnel, you may leave at such and such a time.” Holy cow! And we thought HR was here to be sympathetic, empathetic and quite frankly pathetic! One of the things I find with the larger companies is that HR departments have made us “sensitive.” There will be no more humor in the work place or you will be fired - or at least recommended for brain-washing classes! How do they think “non-essential” people feel? Who are these “non-essential” people? Why are they employed? Are they soon to be fired…ahh, HR.
Well, I also noticed in my email adventure a number of blogs on the year of the desktop Linux…shut up already! Look, Linux is like the little brother that just torments the older sister. It’s not going away, but to somehow milestone the exact moment Linux takes over the desktop is getting old. Maybe it will, maybe it won’t. All I know is I will continue to be a proponent of Linux desktops where ever I can. If it works, I am that much further ahead. If it doesn’t, I have to face the fact of whatever that limitation may be. Nothing more, nothing less.
I then see some blogs on whether Linux is worth it. The idea here is that Linux somehow is so good and so powerful that it’s almost too much trouble. I have to tell you, this one rings true in many ways. First and foremost, children will always “get it” before adults will. For example, as I am skiing, I see that a 4 year old will strap on those two narrow boards and just go. An adult will strap on those two boards, and if they have not skied, will fall and give up. That’s how computer operating systems are as well. Children, and this could cover up to say 20 years old, will just sit down and use any O/S you put in front of them with little instruction. Adults will sit down, and if the “Start” menu does not appear on the bottom left hand corner, they are screwed. Apparently the O/S without “Start” doesn’t work and is therefore useless.
Okay, not that I am slamming other’s opinions. I think that’s what makes the I’net so cool, but OMG! Why in the world do techies tend to talk about the same stuff over and over again? Is it boredom? The idea that repetition will make it true?
Look, as a techie myself, I think that we need to continue to discuss the success and failures that we have had along the way. Not declare one thing or another to whether Linux can ever succeed! It already has succeeded in so many ways. Forget about what Microsoft has done, or will do. It doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things. Microsoft is not going away.
Here’s what I can safely predict - Linux will continue to mature; Linux will have pitfalls; Linux will be installed on lot’s of servers that are not included in some grand count of Windows vs. the world distribution; and Linux will have converts. That’s all good news! So, keep the faith. There are so many things to count as Linux blessings, and so many things that will continue to add to the strengths of Linux!
