Minimalistic computing environment
Lately I have become interested in a more minimalistic approach to
computing. Do more with less, so to speak. Understand the basic
principles of an operating system, network, compilers and so forth.
No longer will I be a slave to overly complicated solutions, provided by
companies that don’t seem to understand the power of simplicity.
One way of computing to rule them all…
I’m annoyed by the concept of the average user, especially the talk
about what the average user needs or want of their computer.
Different parties want to describe not what the average user wants,
but why the average user wants their product or service. Which is in
most situations wrong as the person(s) making the statement is not in
fact describing the average user as they are influenced by the product
they are providing.
Anyway, I believe the average user is like me, that they want one
interface and one way of dealing with their computing tasks. That they
crave consistency and intelligent interfaces.
Which means Emacs for all and everyone!
7th Son, book 1
Currently I’m listening to the audio book 7th Son, available from
http://www.7thsonnovel.com/
Just started listening, but this seems like a very good book.
From what I have gathered from the web page, the author J.C. Hutchins
have released three books in the 7th Son series for free as episodic
downloads on his website.
Seems like this book(s) have created a lot of buzz about his authorship,
a very smart thing to do. Hats off to Mr. Hutchins!
Anyone have another book recommendation for me? Audio or printed?
PS. In these twitter-days I was very glad indeed when I found this
book recommendation in an old-fashion forum.
PSS. Why don’t libraries keep a list of completed free audio books?
PSSS. Does any library do that?
No more Last.fm for me
I have been trying out Rhythmbox, which comes with Ubuntu 9.04 Alpha,
and discovered that it was possible to tune in to Last.fm. It was a nice
feature of the default (I think?) media player to do so, but I still
liked the web radio and podcast feature more.
According to http://blog.last.fm/2009/03/24/lastfm-radio-announcement the service
Last.fm will cost money for users not located in Germany, UK and
US. Just what you need in the era of the internet, geographical
restrictions on a service that don’t seem like it need to be
restricted. The announcement does not say why it should not be free any
more, or why users from the three countries don’t need to subscribe, and
I immediately deleted my account. Because I don’t believe in treating
people differently based on seemingly false/wrong reason. If they
figured out that 3 Euro from some percentage of 30 million users will
make them a lot of money, why not make 3 Euro of 100 percent of their
users? It would be a crying shame if they are trying to make money of
every country except the top three to prevent a massive
account-cancellation-storm.
So, back to services like radio and Jamendo, I won’t miss you Last.fm.
Best error message I have seen
error: no error