Linux still isn’t my primary desktop

From 1998 to 2005, various Linux and FreeBSD desktops including KDE, GNOME, Blackbox, etc were my primary desktop. Then in the spring of 2005, my wife bought a Mac. I used it for maybe an hour one night and bought one the next day.

I use Linux for servers exclusively (notice I don’t use OS X for servers), but my trusty Thinkpad which has been Debian, Fedora, Gentoo, and now Ubuntu still sits as second fiddle.

So why can’t a guy at Imapenguin, a longtime Linux user, move back to where he “should be”? It’s pretty simple really, the Mac I use gets out of my way. Never on my Mac do I get “Kernel 2.6.17-xxx update is ready to be installed”, which clobbers my VMWare drivers every time it upgrades.

Can you imagine my mother having to decide if she should update her kernel? Yea, me either. My mom is a smart lady, but she doesn’t know what a kernel is and shouldn’t have to. She uses her computer to do things. She doesn’t use it for the sake of operating a computer.

Come to think of it, I’m as geeky as people get, and I’m in the same boat. Sure I program on my computer, but I don’t actually want to maintain the one I’m developing on. I want it to just work so I can do things like program.

I’m still using a Mac because it always just works. It runs the software I want, (Open Source and otherwise) and generally stays out of my way.

I haven’t actually read the book

I ran across the funniest review(scroll to the bottom) for a book on Amazon today:

“I haven’t actually read the book, but the title says it all…the author doesn’t understand economics! “

Are you kidding me?

I haven’t read the book, but I’m giving it 1 star because I don’t agree with the title.

According to the Amazon stats, this book has 107,108 words and 5,136 sentences. It’s not really that long. Don’t you think if you are giving a review of a book, you should, I don’t know. Read it? Crap, even try the first chapter, then tell us:

“Well, the first chapter sucked.”

But 1 star on the title? Come on.

I can’t believe we have to share air with people like this.

Sun Slams IBM over x86 Decision

eWeek Reports:

“BM’s decision not to test, certify and support its enterprise software applications on Solaris 10 for x86 platforms has angered Sun Microsystems Inc. officials, who say the move smacks of monopolistic behavior. ADVERTISEMENT

Larry Singer, vice president of Sun’s Global Information Systems Strategy Office, in Santa Clara, Calif., told eWEEK that the move is even more surprising given that IBM has committed to supporting Solaris 10 on Sun’s SPARC hardware for its enterprise software applications, including DB2, WebSphere and Tivoli.

Solaris 10 for SPARC and x86 is due by the end of March.

“They are telling us they don’t anticipate sufficient customer support for Solaris 10 on x86, and that is the reason,” Singer said. “But the real reason for this move is they just don’t want the volume of Solaris business on x86 to continue to grow. That is not in their interest.”

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