Hi list I personally made my first programs on a a led-displayed programmable calculator. I also used a Commodore Vic 20. The Vic 20 main feature was to loose the precious program cargo once you turned it off - unless you bought the Commodore tape recorder. Earlier in life, I would take apart everything mechanic or electrical just to see how they were made. This landed me the nickname of "brise-fer" from my sisters. With experience, I managed to re-assemble/repair stuff and get them working again - and regained some credibility in the process.
I like remind because it allows me to generate calendars (Upcoming birthdays, pay, payments, etc) that I auto-magically publish on my website - weekly updated using a cron job and a few scripts. My first DSL Linux connections where made using rp-pppoe. (Being from the same city, I hope we will meet one day, just to have a chance to personally thank you for what you've contributed to the community). Today I drive Debian Linux systems and their offspring. I don't like being limited, even though usage of open source is sometime limited by the lack of support of my favorite Windows application. But this is the price I am willing to pay to run a Linux only house - except for my wife's laptop - you just can't win them all. Thank you Jacques Déry David F. Skoll wrote: > Hi, > > I'd like to explain my anti-Apple stance. This will be long(-winded), > so feel free to skip it. :) > > As a kid, I was always a tinkerer. By about 12, I was fooling around > with electronic kits, home-made gunpowder, etc. (Believe it or not, in > those days, the local drugstore delivered potassium nitrate AKA > saltpeter directly to our apartment, no questions asked!) > > When I was about 14 years old, I bought a book on BASIC. I didn't have > a computer, but I read the book and started writing programs anyway. > I wrote them with pencil and paper, and "ran" them in my head. > > The next year was my first year of high school. I finally got > access to a computer (a Commodore PET). Its dialect of BASIC was a bit > different from what I'd learned, but I adapted my programs and typed > them in. Of course, they failed miserably. :) > > But I was hooked. I could see that this computer thing was amazing, that > it could take my abstract thoughts and make them concrete. > > Over the years, I did an undergraduate and Masters degree in > electrical engineering, but software was always my first love. After > graduation, I worked at a couple of places as a software developer > before striking out on my own by founding Roaring Penguin Software Inc. > in 1999. > > A few years before that, in 1994, I had discovered Linux. I was > completely amazed when I saw the famous "X" cursor running on *my* > (ex-)DOS PC. Discovering Linux brought forth the same rush of feeling > I had when I was 15 and first got my BASIC program to run on that PET. > It was once again the sense of limitless possibilities. > > I don't have anything in particular against non-free software. My > company makes its money, in fact, by selling non-free software. (We > supply source and you're allowed to modify it; you just can't > redistribute it or a derived product.) But I do have strong feelings > against proprietary companies that try to limit what you can do with > your hardware, or that try to hide the innards of their systems from > tinkerers. To do so is a tragedy; it deprives us of future hackers. > > Some say that Apple fills a niche by providing products that "just > work" or are "simple to use." Well, my parents and kids find that > their Linux machines "just work" and are "simple to use". (They'd > never been exposed to Windows or the Mac, so I guess the first > computer system you learn becomes the yardstick by which you measure > simplicity.) > > But should they choose to, they can delve into the innards of the > system. I'll never forget the day I found my middle daughter using > the "View Source" feature of Firefox to get past an online game's > quiz. That's thinking like a hacker. And when she got her > electronics kit, I could see the spark in her eyes. Sure, the > circuits are far beyond her understanding. (I barely even remember > how they work and I studied the stuff.) When I explained that > capacitors were like water tanks and resistors were like thin pipes, > she sort-of got it. But when she tinkered with the circuit by > changing capacitor or resistor values, she *really* got it. It was > obvious that a bigger capacitor held more water (well, charge) and > took longer to charge up, so the circuit worked slower. And higher > resistors were like thinner pipes, so the water (charge) took longer > to drain. > > This kind of learning involving deep, gut understanding is simply > impossible without tinkering. > > In my various jobs, I've interviewed about 24 software developers. > Without exception, the ones who were "tinkerers" as kids, who enjoyed > writing software just for fun and who thought like hackers were far > superior to those who just studied computer science because they > thought they'd get well-paying jobs. > > Apple directly opposes and threatens the hacker culture. > (Well... Apple is a big company, and big companies are always > multi-faceted, so I'm sure there are many open-source and > hacker-friendly people in Apple. I'm referring here to the direction > in which Steve Jobs is taking the company.) > > Apple seeks to create a walled garden of locked-down gadgets, > Apple-approved applications and even Apple-approved development > methodologies. It seeks to exclude contentious or "obscene" content, > and it can terminate your right to sell applications on its platforms > at its pleasure. > > If I came to computers as a 14-year-old given an iPhone or iPad > instead of a PET, I probably would have played with the thing for a > few months and moved on. I'd never have experienced the beauty and > creativity of crafting a piece of software. And that would have been > tragic for me. > > For the sake of the next generation, we have to tell the world that > Steve Jobs' vision of computing is a sterile, stifling, ultimately > poisonous vision. And if that means putting "puerile" code in ./configure > scripts, then I proudly wear the label "puerile". > > Regards, > > David. > _______________________________________________ > Remind-fans mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.whatexit.org/mailman/listinfo/remind-fans > > _______________________________________________ Remind-fans mailing list [email protected] http://lists.whatexit.org/mailman/listinfo/remind-fans
