Sunday, April 26, 2009
Thursday, April 09, 2009
ten practical reasons to switch to linux (for the non-programmer/ordinary user...so don't run away on seeing the title)
Rules for me:
-The twisted world assumes that ideological = impractical. Therefore I will not invoke ideological debates on FOSS and corporate monopoly.
-Being better than the worst does not make you good. Therefore no comparisons will be made with windows vista. Though I thank it profusely for driving me into linux.
Hem, hem...Ten practical reasons.
10. Every average piece of software that you use on linux IS FREE. You may choose to purchase specific software suites like research imaging software but for everyday purposes, everything is free. This includes the operating system. You do not have to spend a dime on anything beyond your hardware. Ubuntu linux, in fact, is shipped for free as well when you order it.
9. Any software that you need is available in a single descriptive repository program called the package manager. All you would have to do is check what you wish to install from the list and once you are done the software gets downloaded and installed automatically and in one shot without going through a host of checks and options. Any software. You do not have to go online and search webpages for legal software and download and install each individually. There is nothing like a trial or partial version. The repositories are maintained free of malware so you don't have to worry about them. Just check off the list and it is delivered full and safe. And free.
8. The functioning is faster. The installation is faster. The internet is faster. It is just much simpler and better organized than anything else that you are currently using. A Mac definitely gets close because of its unix core but linux is the gold standard for speed because it manages even a heterogenous set of programs better. RAM utilization is excellent so you don't have to keep buying new chips every year. Recommended (basic is even lesser) system requirements match those of windows and mac from 5 years ago. And it is free.
7. Upgrade to new versions of programs and even operating systems seamlessly in minutes. Synchronize all your data online automatically without a click.
6. Middle click to copy and paste. If you do not find it more addictive than tabbed browsing then I will switch to Windows Vista for the rest of my life.
5. Eye candy. Yes, Eye candy. For those that value appearance and aesthetics, Compiz on linux is more customizable, use oriented and visually stunning than Aero or Aqua. In addition, the physics are spot on as made note of by experts. And it is free.
4. No you do not have to learn to use terminals and write programs. Yes you have a GUI with buttons and hyperlinks with easy options. Yes linux is compatible with almost every piece of hardware unless you are evil and tailor make it to be Windows only only only. It runs on Mac and on a pc to the full. I think someone actually managed to make it run on a toaster. And yes, it is free.
3. Customize. Integrate. Don't do what the program allows you to. Tell the program what you want. Tailor your desktop to look like a mac or a windows or a unique hybrid interface that suits your mood and whim. Work a web page like a program from your computer. Automate a sequence of unrelated programs and name it after your girlfriend. Delete anything including the start menu button and the dock. Create a hundred other things that you prefer in its place. Run windows games and even office 2007 or 2008. Make and break doors, walls and windows.
Windows does not do it. Mac tries. Linux delivers. For free.
2. One stop solutions. You have one player that plays all breeds of music and videos. One ripper for all purposes. One IM that covers everything. And it need not be an i-something. Pick what you prefer. Yeah, free.
1. Control. Liberty. Independence.
Rules for you:
-read without fear
-think without fear
-live without fear.
-The twisted world assumes that ideological = impractical. Therefore I will not invoke ideological debates on FOSS and corporate monopoly.
-Being better than the worst does not make you good. Therefore no comparisons will be made with windows vista. Though I thank it profusely for driving me into linux.
Hem, hem...Ten practical reasons.
10. Every average piece of software that you use on linux IS FREE. You may choose to purchase specific software suites like research imaging software but for everyday purposes, everything is free. This includes the operating system. You do not have to spend a dime on anything beyond your hardware. Ubuntu linux, in fact, is shipped for free as well when you order it.
9. Any software that you need is available in a single descriptive repository program called the package manager. All you would have to do is check what you wish to install from the list and once you are done the software gets downloaded and installed automatically and in one shot without going through a host of checks and options. Any software. You do not have to go online and search webpages for legal software and download and install each individually. There is nothing like a trial or partial version. The repositories are maintained free of malware so you don't have to worry about them. Just check off the list and it is delivered full and safe. And free.
8. The functioning is faster. The installation is faster. The internet is faster. It is just much simpler and better organized than anything else that you are currently using. A Mac definitely gets close because of its unix core but linux is the gold standard for speed because it manages even a heterogenous set of programs better. RAM utilization is excellent so you don't have to keep buying new chips every year. Recommended (basic is even lesser) system requirements match those of windows and mac from 5 years ago. And it is free.
7. Upgrade to new versions of programs and even operating systems seamlessly in minutes. Synchronize all your data online automatically without a click.
6. Middle click to copy and paste. If you do not find it more addictive than tabbed browsing then I will switch to Windows Vista for the rest of my life.
5. Eye candy. Yes, Eye candy. For those that value appearance and aesthetics, Compiz on linux is more customizable, use oriented and visually stunning than Aero or Aqua. In addition, the physics are spot on as made note of by experts. And it is free.
4. No you do not have to learn to use terminals and write programs. Yes you have a GUI with buttons and hyperlinks with easy options. Yes linux is compatible with almost every piece of hardware unless you are evil and tailor make it to be Windows only only only. It runs on Mac and on a pc to the full. I think someone actually managed to make it run on a toaster. And yes, it is free.
3. Customize. Integrate. Don't do what the program allows you to. Tell the program what you want. Tailor your desktop to look like a mac or a windows or a unique hybrid interface that suits your mood and whim. Work a web page like a program from your computer. Automate a sequence of unrelated programs and name it after your girlfriend. Delete anything including the start menu button and the dock. Create a hundred other things that you prefer in its place. Run windows games and even office 2007 or 2008. Make and break doors, walls and windows.
Windows does not do it. Mac tries. Linux delivers. For free.
2. One stop solutions. You have one player that plays all breeds of music and videos. One ripper for all purposes. One IM that covers everything. And it need not be an i-something. Pick what you prefer. Yeah, free.
1. Control. Liberty. Independence.
Rules for you:
-read without fear
-think without fear
-live without fear.
Friday, April 03, 2009
Average Monday
It is 6:30 am. You jump start your day by cart-wheeling out of bed and smoothly landing next to your alarm clock. You stop its tantrums, grab a towel and get washed, cleaned and dressed. You wolf down a bowl of cereal grab your essentials and head out to lab. It is a beautiful day and everything outside looks surreal. You jaunt down the walkway as you turn on the music. 'Bhor aayi gaya andhiyara' floats into your ears. It is perfect.
It is 7:15 am. You walk into lab, open the -20, get out a frozen cell pellet and put it in the water bath. You head to your desk where two screens of floating 3D bubbles suddenly switch to a login screen as you roll your fingers over the mouse. You want to start your perfect day with checking the news, mail and sporting highlights. John walks into your room and sees you, looks at his watch, smirks and walks away. You look at him, turn back to your screen and smile to yourself. He's not going to ruin this monday. Yeah.
It is 7:45 am. The mail has been marked as read. Some have been responded to. Nothing new in sports or world news. You interlock your fingers and bend them till you hear eight cracking effects in unison. Work begins.
It is 8:45 am. Every one else pours into lab and wishes you a good morning. You pull off your head phones and wish them back. You stop scaling the data that you were at and start discussing with them, your ideas on the idiots of the world.
It is 9 am. Rob walks in with a tall mug of coffee. 'He drinks too much coffee for a Brit', you tell yourself for the nth time. Rob claps his hands and announces, 'protein group meeting'. You grab your notebook and walk over to the meeting desks.
It is 9:30 am. You have to leave for Dr. Muzyczka's Advanced Virology class. But you also want to just leave the lab and run away. John told the others about how you showed up at 7:15 am. Kat raised her eyebrows, Jeanne laughed and Rob nearly spilt his coffee. You gave an uneasy smile and said you do come in early sometimes. They laugh harder. It dies down and the meeting resumes. Near the end Rob says, "The ones of you that are really cool would...". Jeanne buries herself further into her arms, Kat looks straight up at the ceiling and John tilts his chair back further. Rob looks at you and smiles. You open your mouth in horror. He hands you a small list of high school student names and tells you about how they will visit the lab and look to you for a 2 hour tour of the facility. You curse yourself. You want to run away. Rob realizes your plight and smiles wider. John smiles too and Kat gets back to looking around the table. You want to run away. Yeah.
It is 10:30 am - You spent an hour in Dr. Muzyczka's class learning how to tilt your chair on one leg without holding the table. You grab a tall cup of hot chocolate from Starbucks on your way back to lab. You enter and notice that the morning's excitement has died down. People are briskly walking around with gloved hands and others are peering into lines and lines of codes and numbers on their computer screens. You head silently to yours, open a terminal and resume your scaling. You take breaks to go to your wetlab bench and work on the cell pellet.
It is 12:30 pm - Your data scaling has progressed. The cell debris has been seperated from the supernatent. Rob walked in 3 times and informed you that he has emailed you something that he also tells you in person. You nod away to the side and see Kat and Jeanne head out for lunch. You join them and walk over to the cafeteria.
It is 1:00 pm - Life is not fair at all. Tina needed the cells that you had lysed because the virus in them was a mutant virus and not the wild type that you expected it to be. She apologizes to you for not labeling the tube. You get a fleeting image of mahatma gandhi in your head and tell her that she can of course have the sample. She smiles at you and thanks you. You walk back to your desk in the manner of a saint that gave up the last of his clothes to a freezing man. Tina thanks you again and smiles at you. You wave your hand and smile like a good king and sit down at your desk. Tina thanks you again and smiles at you. Something is wrong. It took you too long to realize that it was quite a foolish move to do that in front of the rest of the lab. Everyone else is grinning away too. John turns around, looks at you and a broad grin opens up on his face and mutters, "Waitaminnit. You did that all morning and it wasn't wild type?". He is evil. Rob walks in, smells the air, turns to you and smiles almost identically. You curse both of them and make a mental note to enter their email addresses at a porn site database. On second thoughts, you decide to enter the entire lab's set of email addresses at a porn site database. With the exception of yourself.
It is 2:30 pm - You download the paper that is to be discussed at Crystallography journal club and read through it carefully. You take short breaks in the middle where you stare around at what the others are doing and check your mail.
It is 2:55 pm - You have finished reading the paper. You look up at the Chuck Norris poster that you got on your birthday, grab your laptop and join the rest of the bunch as the head out for journal club.
It is 4 pm - Journal club was fun. Your spirits return. You check your mail. You call the racquetball club and book a court for 6 pm. You do not want to work now so you join the rest of the bunch as they crack jokes on Rob and ridicule his accent. You join in and use the chance to call Rob a few names as Rob sighs silently and takes the hits. You realize that Rob will never be the bully of the lab. Ever.
It is 5 pm - You walk to Mavis' room and tell her about your day's progress. You nearly talk to her for 45 minutes before you realize that you have to run to racquetball. You grab your shoes and break into a trot as you head up the hill.
It is 7 pm - Racquetball was a blast. You won the series 3-2. You walk home, get a shower and make some spaghetti. You eat it slowly as you check on recent videos on youtube. After that you grab a cup of Yoghurt and settle on the couch and watch Sportscenter on TV.
It is 8 pm - You head back to lab. Its quiet. Nobody is here. You flip on the lights in your room and get back to work. You turn on the music. It was a good idea to rummage through the old computer equipment to find these speakers. People randomly walk in and out of lab. You briskly walk get some purification done and refine data.
It is 11 pm - You head back home and speak to Subbu along the way. You then speak to mom and dad on skype for 10 minutes, do the dishes, clean up, grab your psp and turn on some comedy videos and flop on the bed. You are asleep in 3 minutes.
It is 7:15 am. You walk into lab, open the -20, get out a frozen cell pellet and put it in the water bath. You head to your desk where two screens of floating 3D bubbles suddenly switch to a login screen as you roll your fingers over the mouse. You want to start your perfect day with checking the news, mail and sporting highlights. John walks into your room and sees you, looks at his watch, smirks and walks away. You look at him, turn back to your screen and smile to yourself. He's not going to ruin this monday. Yeah.
It is 7:45 am. The mail has been marked as read. Some have been responded to. Nothing new in sports or world news. You interlock your fingers and bend them till you hear eight cracking effects in unison. Work begins.
It is 8:45 am. Every one else pours into lab and wishes you a good morning. You pull off your head phones and wish them back. You stop scaling the data that you were at and start discussing with them, your ideas on the idiots of the world.
It is 9 am. Rob walks in with a tall mug of coffee. 'He drinks too much coffee for a Brit', you tell yourself for the nth time. Rob claps his hands and announces, 'protein group meeting'. You grab your notebook and walk over to the meeting desks.
It is 9:30 am. You have to leave for Dr. Muzyczka's Advanced Virology class. But you also want to just leave the lab and run away. John told the others about how you showed up at 7:15 am. Kat raised her eyebrows, Jeanne laughed and Rob nearly spilt his coffee. You gave an uneasy smile and said you do come in early sometimes. They laugh harder. It dies down and the meeting resumes. Near the end Rob says, "The ones of you that are really cool would...". Jeanne buries herself further into her arms, Kat looks straight up at the ceiling and John tilts his chair back further. Rob looks at you and smiles. You open your mouth in horror. He hands you a small list of high school student names and tells you about how they will visit the lab and look to you for a 2 hour tour of the facility. You curse yourself. You want to run away. Rob realizes your plight and smiles wider. John smiles too and Kat gets back to looking around the table. You want to run away. Yeah.
It is 10:30 am - You spent an hour in Dr. Muzyczka's class learning how to tilt your chair on one leg without holding the table. You grab a tall cup of hot chocolate from Starbucks on your way back to lab. You enter and notice that the morning's excitement has died down. People are briskly walking around with gloved hands and others are peering into lines and lines of codes and numbers on their computer screens. You head silently to yours, open a terminal and resume your scaling. You take breaks to go to your wetlab bench and work on the cell pellet.
It is 12:30 pm - Your data scaling has progressed. The cell debris has been seperated from the supernatent. Rob walked in 3 times and informed you that he has emailed you something that he also tells you in person. You nod away to the side and see Kat and Jeanne head out for lunch. You join them and walk over to the cafeteria.
It is 1:00 pm - Life is not fair at all. Tina needed the cells that you had lysed because the virus in them was a mutant virus and not the wild type that you expected it to be. She apologizes to you for not labeling the tube. You get a fleeting image of mahatma gandhi in your head and tell her that she can of course have the sample. She smiles at you and thanks you. You walk back to your desk in the manner of a saint that gave up the last of his clothes to a freezing man. Tina thanks you again and smiles at you. You wave your hand and smile like a good king and sit down at your desk. Tina thanks you again and smiles at you. Something is wrong. It took you too long to realize that it was quite a foolish move to do that in front of the rest of the lab. Everyone else is grinning away too. John turns around, looks at you and a broad grin opens up on his face and mutters, "Waitaminnit. You did that all morning and it wasn't wild type?". He is evil. Rob walks in, smells the air, turns to you and smiles almost identically. You curse both of them and make a mental note to enter their email addresses at a porn site database. On second thoughts, you decide to enter the entire lab's set of email addresses at a porn site database. With the exception of yourself.
It is 2:30 pm - You download the paper that is to be discussed at Crystallography journal club and read through it carefully. You take short breaks in the middle where you stare around at what the others are doing and check your mail.
It is 2:55 pm - You have finished reading the paper. You look up at the Chuck Norris poster that you got on your birthday, grab your laptop and join the rest of the bunch as the head out for journal club.
It is 4 pm - Journal club was fun. Your spirits return. You check your mail. You call the racquetball club and book a court for 6 pm. You do not want to work now so you join the rest of the bunch as they crack jokes on Rob and ridicule his accent. You join in and use the chance to call Rob a few names as Rob sighs silently and takes the hits. You realize that Rob will never be the bully of the lab. Ever.
It is 5 pm - You walk to Mavis' room and tell her about your day's progress. You nearly talk to her for 45 minutes before you realize that you have to run to racquetball. You grab your shoes and break into a trot as you head up the hill.
It is 7 pm - Racquetball was a blast. You won the series 3-2. You walk home, get a shower and make some spaghetti. You eat it slowly as you check on recent videos on youtube. After that you grab a cup of Yoghurt and settle on the couch and watch Sportscenter on TV.
It is 8 pm - You head back to lab. Its quiet. Nobody is here. You flip on the lights in your room and get back to work. You turn on the music. It was a good idea to rummage through the old computer equipment to find these speakers. People randomly walk in and out of lab. You briskly walk get some purification done and refine data.
It is 11 pm - You head back home and speak to Subbu along the way. You then speak to mom and dad on skype for 10 minutes, do the dishes, clean up, grab your psp and turn on some comedy videos and flop on the bed. You are asleep in 3 minutes.
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