Unfortunate Ubuntu media coverage

[Robert Brockway]

On Sat, 17 Jan 2009, Peter wrote:

> Colin McGregor <colin.mc151 at ...> writes:
>>>    This was a reply to my comments, so allow me to elaborate. There are
>>> some people for whom computers are nothing but a tool. To those people,
>
> And that's exactly what they should be. Only a kernel developer, programmer, or

That's spot on.  The first thing I say about computers is that they are 
tools.  It's why people use them, why I get paid to support them and even 
why I find them interesting (a desire to make them better tools).

Comparing cars and computers can yield a lot of insights.

The automative industry is decades older than the computer industry.  For 
the first few decades car owners _were_ more heavily involved in the 
management of their vehicles.  Even as recently as the 1970s backyard car 
maintenance was common.  More advanced (and computer maintained) engines 
have rendered this infeasible for many.  In addition environmental 
regulation has meant that some potential engine optimisations are actually 
illegal.

The computer industry is still young and perhaps we expect to much 
sometimes.  In 40 or 50 years I will expect computers with much higher 
levels of reliability (in both h/w & s/w) with a far more intuitive 
interface.

In the mean time I'll work towards a future based on open standards where 
open source features prominantly.

Cheers,

Rob

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I tried to change the world but they had a no-return policy
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