Commercialisation of the internet
Dear Reader,
I am an avid internet user and have been since before the dot-com-boom. Content has been freely generated for years and it was this that originally drew me to the internet. People were exploring new skills and ways to show stunning visuals, new presentation skills and interactive learning aids.
Ever since packet protocol bbs stations people have been advertising and finding ways to profit from electronic media but it was not until the mid-90′s when big business stepped into the issue. Before the “boom” the profit generated was on a small-scale for largely groups of individuals, there were companies but there were not mega-corporations controlling multiple websites across multiple domains.
Before I knew it corporations were springing up everywhere with directories of tat and funny video’s featuring or advertising their products, google had become a mega-corporation and everyone wanted to show off what they could do with Flash, Linux, Music, Video and Programming, all of a sudden there were gargantuan companies and it was too much effort to leave ones house to go shopping so we went to Tesco’s online or shopped for a new american style-freezer on dealtime.
So the big question now is where do we go from here? Do we continue the free-stuff movement that originally inspired the Internets success? do we all launch our own websites and blogs promoting our favourite products, do we all start tweeting.. or do we all sit back and watch what I would describe as the greatest experiment known to man unveil its next evolution.
Personally I’m against unsolicited advertising on the internet, directory websites pointing to directory websites and a website for each of the 712 takes on a Linux operating system.
I hope you have enjoyed this short article and look forward to some comment discussion
(Don’t Reduce)Clutter(Just Manage I.T.)(External)
This is a post of Linux’s Clutter which is being used to develop a variety of new UI(X) apps and DE’s for Linux which will hopefully introduce rivalry in the UI(X) field in the same way compiz really brought-it to vista, check this out.
Microsoft Global Warming Experiment (External)
No M$ is not experimenting with warming the globe but rather has built a model, I find it intriguing however not groundbreaking, I could probably do the same with the amount of money they spent on this
Microsoft UI Experiments (External)
Hardly mind blowing I believe I have seen the inspiration for these apps for years in openoffice and flash etc however it is nice to see M$ thinking about user-experience on some level, I’m kinda amazed that none of their prodcts are this revolutionary, maybe lead times, maybe just crap programmers outside of UI(X)
Link HERE
http://www.istartedsomething.com/20091106/microsoft-college-tour-09/
Multi-Core Programming (External Link)
Here is an article that attempts to discuss Multi-core computing, it explains a bit and adds some rather interesting annotations to the discussion about other improvements
here is the link
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpus/2009/11/08/memory-and-multi-core-programming/1
The great Linux?
Dear Reader,
Have you heard of or tried Linux, its the open-source rival that will topple MAC and Windows and end your software bills… or so some claim. If you have a website and you got a good price on hosting you’ll almost certainly know what Linux is.
The project itself is credited to be the brainchild of Linus Torvalds, the Finnish student who authored the initial kernel (its like the brain of the operating system for those that do not know). Since its dramatic inception by the Free Software Foundation Linux has grown immensely in popularity and ability, there are now over 20,000 packages in the “distribution” named Debian and if your brain works anything like mine that seems a lot.
My main problem with Linux as a Linux user is that it constantly compares itself to Windows, it’s programs and compares user lifestyles and thought processes, but when a single problem arises Linux users are told “it’s not like windows” and “it’s not meant to be windows” or the worse still “noob”. It’s no surprise to anyone that has used Linux that it looks and feels for the most part like windows, most Linux “distributions” have a nice logo displayed just after the machine starts up, followed by a login screen or desktop. The average user can log-in find a web-browser, type a document or spreadsheet and will seem very much at home. The problem usually comes when the user wants the system to do something they are used to in windows like copy or paste text from say Wikipedia into a document. Now comes the first sign that “the free windows” is not all it’s cracked up to be, in some environments there is no clipboard so you cannot copy and paste and in others the keys have changed, Ctrl+C in Linux was originally used to end text-mode (correctly refered to as “terminal mode”) programs and for those of you that know windows well enough it’s a keyboard shortcut to the copy command in Linux it simply does not work this way unless the user “configures the system” to do so.
Other problems with Linux can be with running popular software such as games, in-house software or even software alternatives (even some free ones will not work). Often cited by Linux users are the arguments that “Windows doesn’t run Linux programs” or “Programs should be compiled natively” which are complete null arguments as Windows mostly refuses to acknowledge the existence of other operating systems. Microsoft as a whole simply does not care about Linux and certainly does not view its presence as a threat. It is not without mention that a few developers made a program called WINE for running some Windows programs which can now run some Games and programs and there are commercial alternatives to this product such as crossover office and Cedega but even these programs cannot run every windows program.
One thing I believe Linux deserves a special notation for is the claim of being Virus free or less vulnerable to attack than Windows which is true for the most part there are very few Linux virii and Windows virii tend not to run under Linux. When put under further scrutiny however in 2005 the amount of Linux virii doubled from circa 400 to circa 800 and without a trusty systems administrator these virii could quickly cripple any system hit or compromise security. Not to fear Linux is usually updated against security threats constantly which helps close down problem areas quickly.
Linux also has a variety of unique opportunities such as a concept of mounting which I can assure you cannot be avoided through neutering ones system and is a revolutionary approach to handling the “drives” of a system. One particularly great thing about Linux’s mounting system is it has no hard and fast limit on the number of disks that can be “mounted” (which is like being accessed like a library record). In fact Linux systems are so good at mounting they can also mount files like optical disc images for playing music,games,accessing photo’s and any other tasks that do not involve changing files. there are even plugins called scripts to allow the changing of files and this is one of my particular favourites of a Linux system.
Linux also has support from manufacturers such as Nvidia, Intel, AMD and ATI with their hardware. Most Linux users like to complain that they are not given the source for these drivers which is amazing considering Windows users do not have access to driver source code either. Most Linux hardware support is quite satisfactory considering the majority of people do not buy “bleeding edge” systems with all the latest rings and bells on them and that there are so many popular hardware manufacturers supporting Linux. Problems can however be encountered with printers, USB devices, wi-fi and mobile internet devices, MIDI devices and imaging devices such as webcams.
Overall I think this has been quite balanced, there are some gaping holes in areas I have missed but I hope you have enjoyed this blog, personally I believe Linux is an example of great Marketing, a reasonable operating system that competes with other non-free operating systems, but has delusions of grandeur. It is a little like a child’s toy to be played with when we want to play and when we want a nice interface with support and a familiar face we often turn back to out windows/mac PC’s
This is definitely an inflammatory issue so i’ll ask that if you want to flame me you first try it on yourself with real fire, great fun for me, send me a picture im not interested in how much you love Linux or how evil M$ is, this is a balanced argument and as a Linux user I feel you do more damage flaming me than I do with any views against Linux.
Meddling Britain Home of the Politically Correct
Dear Reader,
Welcome to my first serious blog post, its highly controversial and is mainly about politically correct britain in a strictly non-racist sense.
Have you ever watched the television, read the newspaper or perhaps visited a website which used the phrase “political correctness gone mad”, now we all know that this phrase is a common get-out for racists, bigots and people in the public eye that can’t resist shovelling both feet into their mouths but what about the common person.
You can look anywhere in the media today and find issues where everyday activities such as nursery rhymes, phrases and even history is filed away on a shelf and wrapped in vacuum sealed bubble-wrap bags to make sure they do not offend a particular niche in society. One example of this is “brainstorming”, it’s now a thought shower (and has been for the past decade) which is not that bad and I suppose a particularly stagnant issue because the original term was not particularly descriptive of the process and might offend people with mental illness or epilepsy. One small issue I hear the liberals calling, an infringement of our human rights the right-wing bay however it is generally the common “man in the middle” that shrugs their shoulders and moves on.
Next we have slave labour, a particularly strong issue with a much harder impact upon a more diverse and multi-cultural society. Local UK councils are lining up to “put their pasts behind them” because they are seen to be unsavoury and sordid affairs. Young children used to work in mines, our Irish cousins were practically starved for rebellion and nothing substantial is mentioned in classrooms or town hall’s about apologising however these issues were not as long-lived or in the public eye as slave labour. Whilst I agree slave labour is important to be talked about by scholars and historians I think it only right to point out that many wonders of the world were accomplished with slave labour such as the pyramids (which have definitely never been apologised for). The problem with slave labour is the fact that we are selectively apologetic, a trait english people are renowned for within history. We also neglect the facts of slave labour! A French historian Fernand Braudel noted that slavery was a part of the structure of everyday life in africa. “Slavery came in different disguises in different societies: there were court slaves, slaves incorporated into princely armies, domestic and household slaves, slaves working on the land, in industry, as couriers and intermediaries, even as traders” (Braudel 1984 p. 435). Oh some people may say that “we should have known better” but being ex roman slaves ourselves we should have risen above such savage and cruel ways. While this is true I believe this is yet another issue in which we are quick to judge our peers whilst being willfully ignorant of our own slave roots and of our complicity in high street labels support of such activities involving brands such as “Primark” and “Nike”.
In recent years we have stirred up another hornets nest, a war on the east, eastern culture and values in Russia, China, The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan etc have been blasted for as long as I have watched the news. After the start of the first world war we were quick to point the finger at Germany for using “Concentration Camps”, which were both a British invention during the Boer War and still used until around 1949. We are a quick nation to judge and point fingers however we are a slow nation to take action of dignified and righteous justice. Recently we complained of chemical weapons we sold to Iraq when they became “too savage” for us to be seen to possess.
My point good people is this, political correctness is not happening, it’s not going mad it’s over the brink I’m afraid and it has already happened, our children are already learning foreign languages to support children and adults that speak foreign languages, our street posts are forever changed to support Urdu and Hindi and some of these things are good, Learning a new language at a young age is easier. It does however tend to lower the quality of both languages learned, some people cannot read or even speak english despite it being the second most widely used language in the world and some people do feel threatened because of what we do and say, even if it was to their great great great great great great grandparents so we should watch what we say or else you never know, we might cause someone somewhere discomfort (conveniently forgetting that discomfort is a constructive process if dealt with correctly)!
Thanks for reading please feel free to post your responses as long as they are not racist this is not a pro BNP speech I feel that one fascist world power per century is perfectly enough thanks.
A Quick Hello
Dear Reader,
My name is not important, neither is this blog but it is what I have to offer at this point in time because I believe that it is a persons Ideological and philosophical core that defines them as a person. This is not intended to be viewed as pretension, ignorance, bliss or even important, this blog was simply started to be viewed, as a lasting fragment of my conciousness at this point in time as a reminder of what has been.
The main subjects I hope this blog will cover would take over a page of A4 so it really is a bargain basement of thoughts on news, daily events etc, the blog does not have a particular direction it is like the sea and will evolve organically over time so stick around and I hope you find something worth gleaning over.
On a side note I just spell checked this and was amazed that everything apart from A4 was valid 
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