Thursday, May 12, 2005
In Wales, the sheepdogs are known as pimps
...and other sayings of the week.
I'm just off to the toilet to do some pelvic thrusts. See you shortly.
I'm not very good with computers. I've never learnt how to read them.
Tell me what you're doing, I want to learn from you. After all, you're old and therefore wise, and you won't always be around.
It's just like the Matrix. Look, that bit means a cow.
Now I'm pissed off with you, coz you're pissed off with me.
It's like a pyramid scheme, only with goats.
Video footage is only likely to be available to people with high monkey-tolerance levels.
So Britain does need a Foreign Office, because the real line is uncountable.
There are actually a few more animal-related things than I was expecting there. Worrying.
I had another fun night fixing computers last night - Nick's this time. I think I promised D-Something a rant, but I'm feeling a little out of it, so I merely have 3 requests to everyone :
1. Stop using Windows.
I will happily give you a Linux trial disk where the only effort you have to make is to boot your PC off a CD rather than your hard drive. (Unless you don't live in York, or you are a foreign person, in which case you'll also have to make the effort of coming to my house to collect your disk.) If you like it, I'll also happily come round to install it (offer not available to aforementioned foreign people), or even show you how to do it yourself, side by side with your existing Windows. A few people who read this will already have seen how handy Linux can be (I can think of Lint, Bertie and Nick off the top of my head) - think how much more useful it would be if you didn't have to ask me for help with it (see bullet point 3 above!)
2. If you must use Windows, learn to use it.
Know that your PC's not an appliance that requires merely an on switch, no matter how much it's marketed as such. Some basic knowledge is required - Windows Update, firewalls, IE security settings. It might be a little scary, but it's genuinely not hard to learn how to use these things. And perhaps more importantly, learn how not to use Windows - it's not safe to click on anything you see regardless, pop-ups that look vaguely like OS messages aren't always what they seem, so read them before auto-clicking OK, and out of sight is not out of mind - just because Microsoft have done their level best to make sure you can't find certain security settings doesn't mean they're not important.
3. Knowledge is power.
Most people think computers have to work the Microsoft way. Start learning another OS now, and you'll begin to see what hidden assumptions you've made about how computers work. The day will come when Windows will not be the only OS you can use at work. It may be that one day, it won't even be any of the OSs you can use, and maybe not just at work. Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day, teach him to use an alternative operating system ... well, that aphorism's too tortured even for me to finish off, but I think the sentiment is probably comprehensible.
Not-quite-rant over. Normal service resumes.
There are actually a few more animal-related things than I was expecting there. Worrying.
I had another fun night fixing computers last night - Nick's this time. I think I promised D-Something a rant, but I'm feeling a little out of it, so I merely have 3 requests to everyone :
1. Stop using Windows.
I will happily give you a Linux trial disk where the only effort you have to make is to boot your PC off a CD rather than your hard drive. (Unless you don't live in York, or you are a foreign person, in which case you'll also have to make the effort of coming to my house to collect your disk.) If you like it, I'll also happily come round to install it (offer not available to aforementioned foreign people), or even show you how to do it yourself, side by side with your existing Windows. A few people who read this will already have seen how handy Linux can be (I can think of Lint, Bertie and Nick off the top of my head) - think how much more useful it would be if you didn't have to ask me for help with it (see bullet point 3 above!)
2. If you must use Windows, learn
Know that your PC's not an appliance that requires merely an on switch, no matter how much it's marketed as such. Some basic knowledge is required - Windows Update, firewalls, IE security settings. It might be a little scary, but it's genuinely not hard to learn how to use these things. And perhaps more importantly, learn how not to use Windows - it's not safe to click on anything you see regardless, pop-ups that look vaguely like OS messages aren't always what they seem, so read them before auto-clicking OK, and out of sight is not out of mind - just because Microsoft have done their level best to make sure you can't find certain security settings doesn't mean they're not important.
3. Knowledge is power.
Most people think computers have to work the Microsoft way. Start learning another OS now, and you'll begin to see what hidden assumptions you've made about how computers work. The day will come when Windows will not be the only OS you can use at work. It may be that one day, it won't even be any of the OSs you can use, and maybe not just at work. Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day, teach him to use an alternative operating system ... well, that aphorism's too tortured even for me to finish off, but I think the sentiment is probably comprehensible.
Not-quite-rant over. Normal service resumes.
posted by Chip : 20:36
2 comments
Comments:
I love Linux too, however it doesn't currently support main PC-based hobbies (ie, gaming) well enough for me to use it as my primary system, and I currently don't have anywhere to put a secondary system. Yes I could dual-boot my PC, however since I'd running it in windows more 99% of the time anyway, that seems faintly pointless. When I move out (har, “when”) rest assured, I will have a Linux based system for my “serious” system (doubling up as a firewall, gateway, fileserver and much else), and a PC for fun.
That said, I agree 97% with what you've said there. Various reports in the media about how dangerous/insecure/etc PCs are always annoy me. PC's aren't any of these things, it's their users that are too stupid/lazy to learn how to use them properly. The answer to various issues with the internet (spam, p0rn, viruses, child grooming, spyware, etc, etc, etc) isn't restriction, monitoring and other draconian police-state measures (not least because they'll never work), it's education. It's not hard to spot and protect yourself from the threats, you just need to be willing (which most people aren't) to put a very tiny amount of effort into understanding what they are. Like you say, they generally aren't complex concepts to grasp, it's just that not-understanding PCs is almost a desirable state in our current society. Because if you did understand them, that'd make you a geek wouldn't it? And that is just the height of un-cool social rejection.
As you can see.. I'm even more ranty than you on this subject. I've been calm and breif here...
That said, I agree 97% with what you've said there. Various reports in the media about how dangerous/insecure/etc PCs are always annoy me. PC's aren't any of these things, it's their users that are too stupid/lazy to learn how to use them properly. The answer to various issues with the internet (spam, p0rn, viruses, child grooming, spyware, etc, etc, etc) isn't restriction, monitoring and other draconian police-state measures (not least because they'll never work), it's education. It's not hard to spot and protect yourself from the threats, you just need to be willing (which most people aren't) to put a very tiny amount of effort into understanding what they are. Like you say, they generally aren't complex concepts to grasp, it's just that not-understanding PCs is almost a desirable state in our current society. Because if you did understand them, that'd make you a geek wouldn't it? And that is just the height of un-cool social rejection.
As you can see.. I'm even more ranty than you on this subject. I've been calm and breif here...
Oh, that's news - last time I remember talking to you about it, you'd not used it. Has Cleggton turned you on to it? (He uses the same distribution, Gentoo, as I do - it's the best one I've used, out of around 10 different ones I've tried.)
I think you're as ranty, but not more so - I've just done my ranting a little less about cohesively.
What about WineX? (Or, as I think it's called now, Cedega.) It's supposed to be pretty well perfect for many games now, especially the kind (I think) you tend to play. Since the only x86 PC I've got is currently long-term-indisposed, and in need of a new hard drive controller, I've not tried it for about a year, but you could happily play all versions of Civ, SimCity, UT2003 and Return to Castle Wolf under it.
I think the not-understanding-PCs thing can actually be laid partially at MS's door too - they at least encourage it. The hiding of vitally important settings in obscure places, increasing artificially the learning curve by continually moving the more fundamental settings around (Hardware Device List - that's in a different place for each of 95, 98, Me, 2K and XP, for no discernible reason), making the PC look like a toy with the Fisher Price "My First Computer" interface that's the default for XP, obscure and downright cryptic error messages with negligible help.
Slightly offtopic rambliness, but my favourite error message is from Access - "Invalid use of Null" ... which I alwayss translate as "You can't do nothing right!"
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I think you're as ranty, but not more so - I've just done my ranting a little less about cohesively.
What about WineX? (Or, as I think it's called now, Cedega.) It's supposed to be pretty well perfect for many games now, especially the kind (I think) you tend to play. Since the only x86 PC I've got is currently long-term-indisposed, and in need of a new hard drive controller, I've not tried it for about a year, but you could happily play all versions of Civ, SimCity, UT2003 and Return to Castle Wolf under it.
I think the not-understanding-PCs thing can actually be laid partially at MS's door too - they at least encourage it. The hiding of vitally important settings in obscure places, increasing artificially the learning curve by continually moving the more fundamental settings around (Hardware Device List - that's in a different place for each of 95, 98, Me, 2K and XP, for no discernible reason), making the PC look like a toy with the Fisher Price "My First Computer" interface that's the default for XP, obscure and downright cryptic error messages with negligible help.
Slightly offtopic rambliness, but my favourite error message is from Access - "Invalid use of Null" ... which I alwayss translate as "You can't do nothing right!"
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