Gratitude

So…. I’ve been having some technical difficulties since L.A. The backlight on my laptop went out and I had to purchase a new one. I bought a new Vista netbook. I hate Vista. Hate, hate, hate, hate, loath, hate, dispise, hate…. piss on it’s grave hate.

It came installed with all sorts of useless programs. During uninstalling one of the programs it goofed up my wireless driver. Then I swear the whole OS was about to crap out and fall apart like a house of cards. I honestly can’t wait until I can format this device and install a real OS…. like Linux (DUH!)

Anyway. I wrote two posts. The best and most amazing one was lost when Vista crashed. I’ve replaced it with a page long rant on Vista…. which I probably won’t publish. But you get to see the other post. It’s pretty cool. I wrote it yesterday morning.

There is now way I can keep the blog up and keep a good pace on the road. I promise to rewrite the blog in Michigan. Hopefully into an interactive PDF or web dodad or something. I don’t know. Any suggestions?

Here’s the post:

Gratitude. There is something about my life that slowly squeezes the gratitude out of me. Here, I sit, inside a mexican restaurant full of farm workers. I complain about my life, but any of these people would gladly trade places with me. So would about 95% or more of the world population. Why is it so hard to feel gratitude sometimes?

Maybe because I live among such opulence. I loose sight of what is regular. I’m distanced from what is reality. That is the amazing thing about getting out and exploring. It always centers me. I see first hand what the nature of the world is. It fills me with immense gratitude to be who I am and where I am. It lasts for a while after I get back. It eventually fades, but maybe these pictures, videos and stories will make it last longer this time.

I wish I had Open Office right now. If you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m an open source guy. Why would I do this? I have to put up with a lot of extra head aches because of it. What would make me do it?

It’s the other 90% of the world. Current software monopolies are just interested in keeping the status quo. Computer hardware is advancing at exponential rates while software sales and licensing practices are moving at a glacial pace. Extremely cheap computers have a chance to radically transform the globe. To interconnect the masses. According to Metcalfe ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metcalfe%27s_law ), the founder of Ethernet, the power of a network grows exponentially with the number of nodes. If each person is a node, then getting these people online will have a transformative effect on the world. They will affect us as much as we affect them.

The current wintel monopoly doesn’t want any part with this dream because it would undercut their current sales models. They are fighting tooth and nail to keep their products from becoming commoditized. They do everything in their power to keep the price points high on their products. They stifle competition in any number of anti-competitive measures because commodititiztation and true competition would kill their bottom line.

It will happen sooner or later. Like a dam holding back an immense body of water, cracks have started to form. Look at netbooks. I’m writing today on a netbook. $290 from Fry’s. A product of this quality and price point would be unheard of only a few years ago. Look at the popularity of the netbook segment. It’s been a growing segment even during the recession. It also make is hard for Microsuck to make a profit. They needed to come out with a cripple ware version of windows 7 to place on netbooks.

This netbook had a ‘trial’ version of McAfree anti-virus, MS Office and quite a few other programs. If I spent $290 on the netbook, why on earth would I then spend $150 for MS Office (or whatever it is), $60 on McAfree, $X on whatever software doodad that is being pushed my way. It’s not going to happen.

I was actually sold a half working netbook. I’m used to Linux which is far more of a complete OS than what is on this netbook. My OS comes with programs to edit video, office apps, programming, games and a million more. All easy to install from one app store. I never realized how bad MS Vista was until now. Worse yet, this netbook is filled with crippleware. I can’t wait to wipe the hard drive clean and start fresh with Ubuntu 9.10.

All things considered, the whole software ecosystem and support, Ubuntu 9.10 is better than Vista. Ubuntu 9.04 was about equal to Vista, maybe a bit better. However, 9.10 finally surpassed it in quality. I think the new app store is a big deal. People are getting used to this idea because of the Iphone. Linux has had it for over 10 years now, but it’s nice to see the rest of the world coming around.

Windows 7 is good. However, windows 7 crippleware for netbooks will suck. I’ve talked to Dell a lot on the phone. They are updating their Linux offering to Ubuntu 9.10 pretty soon. If you are purchasing a new computer, download Ubuntu 9.10 and install it on your old computer. Give Linux a try. Take your pick axe and take a chunk out of the wall. The Berlin wall of software freedom. The support structure of the digital divide.

Crazy talk? Imagine the poor farmer in India. Imagine the child born in the slums with no access to good jobs because he or she didn’t learn how to use a computer. Imagine all the have nots, who will continue to have not, because we are not willing to suffer a little bit for what we believe in. Open, connected and free networks and software are the future. Help bring about the age of post-scarcity. When there is more than enough for everyone.

And be grateful for all you have. 90% of the world would switch shoes with you in a heartbeat.

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