Free is a Very Good Price

This is more a mindless free flowing rant than anything real, as I have posted nothing for a while, I wanted to make a post, but my recent situation with a series of ailing computers and ISP issues I have not had the luxury to post. At least it may give you some clues of what I have been up to lately. I admit it's a little scattered and perhaps wacky, but if you do not like it there is always the address bar on your web browser. I think if you make it to the end, it comes full circle.

“Free is a very good Price” is what my old buddy Tom would have said, along with “It's worth the trip, or “The happy place to buy”. Tom would advertise on late night television and was always trying to sell TVs, Stereos and furniture. Often times he had a gift with the purchase, or would make burgers in the parking lot, thus the "Free is a very good price". Many of the TVs he once sold were like pieces of furniture. You expected to get several years out of it. Some had nice hardwood cabinets, and if they needed repair, a guy came to you and fixed it, while you suffered looking at his crack hanging out the back of his pants. If this guy goes around with his crack hanging out is he really smart enough to fix my TV? Well he most always did! Later Tom's TVs went to more portable packages and later more disposable. The era of in home TV repair died, as the era for the home TV repairman, but we will not miss the crack. It became cheaper to replace than to repair. More on this later...

Over the last several months I have been using quite a mix of PC, Mac, and Linux. As if that were not enough within those three OSes, I have used at least two different versions of each of those in the last few months. Each OS has its ups and downs , but I am very much leaning towards Ubuntu Linux as the clear winner, especially on the x86 architecture! Second on my Linux list I would have to say is CentOS5 I guess that is the geek in me talking. I also place Windows far above the Mac, mostly for free tools downloads on the PC, whereas the Mac I must pay for the software. I found the Mac OS to be more and more Linux Like the more I got into it though.

So how have I survived this flurry of operating systems and computers the last several months?

OpenOffice offers file compatibility with Microsoft Office, and is available for every major operating system, such as Windows, Mac, and Linux. So now not only is it free, I remember not long ago, when we had trouble reading a Mac floppy on a PC to transfer files and nowadays you can have Open office on all of the aforementioned and more.

Now look at the networks, and look how far we have come from Arcnet, and localtalk to the more common networks attained today which include WiFi, power-line, and home phone line networking. Not to mention that the systems and software allow us to seamlessly communicate across platforms, and architectures. Most of my files are saved to a NAS or a thumb drive these days. My computer can totally crash tomorrow and I have my data on the NAS ready for whatever Operating System I plug in!

Oh and that is if you can not deal with the complexities of using a memory stick! Today, we carry around 8 Gig thumb drives. I remember my first hard disk was 20 Meg full height 5 and 1/4 inch hard disk drive, and I was so sad that I could not afford the sleeker sexier half height 40 Meg hard disk!

While mentioning thumb drives and NAS devices I will take a minute to mention portable applications for Windows. They are great to continue working with all of the same programs when you change from one windows computer to another. These applications contain all the necessary support files in the application folder. No installation required.

So where is all of this going? I was hoping someone could tell me that! I remember only a few years ago I wanted that new wingding for my computer. Whatever it was, today I see them on ebay for a fraction of the original selling price. Next year someone will clean it out of their closet, because it operates at a fraction of the speed of the newer models, or the interface was phased out. I mean why use a 5 ¼ inch 20 Meg Hard Disk when you could use an 8 Gig thumb drive? What do I do with it?

It is all going right in the dumpster!

So I take a moment to ask all consumers across the globe to go green. All of this stuff we are throwing away contaminates the environment by leaving plastics and lead and more around. Consumers drive most markets, so where there is demand it will be filled. I mean we all wanted the Star Trek Communicator apparently and then we got the Motorola StarTac. Today, nobody wants one of those old Motorola StarTacs! What will it be next year? When will it end? Who will clean up the mess of the earth that this technological revolution is causing? The manufacturers and retailers need to start accepting more social responsibility to mother earth. Consumers should realize too that going green is more than taking your own bag to Wal Mart. Also, that we should activate against the disposable society that we have created and avoid messy toxic waste for our children. We must create a greener consumer demand in the marketplace and frown on disposable consumer products, and shun the disposable products. Do I care if my print server is only 10Mb/s or MUST I upgrade it to Gigabit Ethernet? With the technology today why is it not entirely firmware upgradeable?

MAN I GOTTA THROW AWAY ALL THESE DEAD COMPUTERS!