Technology

Apparently Bill gates was on TV showing off a fancy, new table that can among other things wirelessly transfer photos from a camera or mobile phone, order and pay for stuff using credit cards, etc, etc. its pretty neat.



The table costs about 10,000 dollars (ouch!!) but prices will come down with time. Pretty soon we'll be rebooting our tables, installing anti-viruses and ofcourse, looking at the blue screen of death that we have become accustomed to on Windoze systems. :) With the pace of technology these days one really has to wonder what next. Here are a couple of devices i would like to see

1. The githeri-sniffer

Warns its owner of the prescence of githeri at home or nearby and develops an exit strategy including calculating the location of the nearest Kenchic.

2. Instant IQ upgrader

This would be a best seller, a device that can be implanted in the heads of rdiculously stupid people that immediately increases their IQ. I'm not talking abot people who are not intelligent through no fault of their own, I'm talking about those that do not use their minds for reasons I am yet to discover. These include drivers who do not dim their lights, secretaries who feel they are the most important people on earth and treat the rest of humanity like scum, matatu drivers, George Bush, Jose Mourinho, Charles Njonjo, people who use their mobile phones in churches, cinemas, restuarants and other public places, Donald Trump, Manguerins, and the list goes on and on and on.....

3. Hangover cure

A device that instantly cures a hangover. I have a feeling I will need this one after this long weekend.

4. Temporary Girlfriend Replacement

A device that helps a guy out when, you know, the girlfriend has a headache, is out of town, is pissed at you for some inane reason like you forgot her birthday or you didnt notice that new hairstyle, or you told her the truth (like when she asks, "do these jeans make my butt look big?" and you reply, "No, you butt looks big because your butt IS big).

5. Report Writer

Software that thinks of ridiculous nonsense to write in reports, term papers, assignments, etc. One of my classmates(name withheld) has this knack of writing reports full of bullshit, just so that it is several pages longer than everyone else's. damn chic!!!

If you have ideas of other cool device that you would like to see made, write a comment and I'll send them all to my friend at MIT. Maybe he can help out!

Windows or Linux? To be or not to be?

I switched from Windows to Linux one year ago and while I cant say there havent been any hurdles I havent regretted it for a single minute. Initially, I was just curious and I wanted to know what was so different about Linux. After the initial apprehension, I got used to it and these days I hardly ever use Windows.

For the unintiated, Linux is Free and Open Source operating system developed initially by Linus Torvarlds in the early 90s. "Free and Open Source Software" or FOSS is free in the sense of free speech and not necessarily in the sense of free beer. :-) This means that on acquiring the software one has the right to improve on it and pass it on to other people ie. the source code of the software is available. This however does not mean that one does not pay for the software. There are hundreds of Linux distributions(also called distros) out there, the most popular ones being Ubuntu, Red Hat, SUSE, Fedora, Slackware, Debian and Gentoo.

So why should one make the effort, and its quite an effort to move from a system in which he or she has attained reasonable proficiency (Windows) to one which he knows little or nothing about (Linux)? Here are my reasons

1. Security

Windows is extremely insecure and to make things worse even programs like Internet Explorer are also buggy and easily hacked. Its like Microsoft went out of their way to make an insecure system. Things are set to change with Windows Vista but I'm not holding my breath. Unlike on Windows, security is an integral part of a Linux system and is not an after thought. There are also very few viruses that affect Linux systems, this cannot be said of windows. A whole multi-billion industry in anti-virus software arose because of this. Another important point to note is that since one doesnt need antivirus software on Linux, the computers run alot faster. Anti-virus programs hog alot of resources especially when scanning harddisks in the background.

2. Stability

Numerous jokes have been made about Windows instability over the years and while its stability has improved since windows 95, Windows is not a reliable system. Linux however is more reliable and one can use a Linux desktop for weeks on end without encountering problems.

3. Cost

The Total Cost of Ownership(TCO) of a computer system running on windows is alot higher than that of a computer system running Linux. Linux distributions, unlike Windows, usually come loaded with lots of high quality applications including wordprocessors, spreadsheets, database management systems, games, etc. Some argue that since Linux isnt as easy to use as windows, the time and money spent training personel covers up for this. While this is arguable, its been shown that one requires fewer personel and less time to manage Linux system than a Windows one.

4. Size
Windows 2000 had 29 million lines of C code at a time when the Linux kernel had about 2 million lines of code (Windows XP is estimated to be 50 - 60 million lines of code). Now this is not a fair comparison but it shows how much windows suffers from code bloat. Windows requires alot more CPU and RAM resources than Linux so if you want to use an old computer you find lying about, Linux is your best bet.

5. Flexibility
With Linux there is a lot of flexibility as to how you want to configure your system eg. one can choose from over 20 window managers and desktop environments. For every program in Linux one can find another that competes with it. One can also tweak a Linux system to suit its use and while this may not be very important to the average user, its there if you need it.

6. And many, many, more

So Linux looks pretty good huh... But like everything human its not perfect. Here are a few of Linux's disadvantages

1. Software
Although the average user will find that Linux distributions have all the software he/she needs, Linux lacks high quality specialist software eg. CAD applications, Web design software eg. Dreamweaver. This is set to change as more and more people start using Linux, vendors will start developing software.

2. Drivers
Some device vendors do not provide Linux drivers for the devices they sell for some reason so some devices such as wireless network cards and PCMCIA devices dont work properly on Linux. Its very likely that Linux has some sort of support for your device but if you are buying a new computer especially laptops and tablets make sure it is supported.

3. Ease of use
Many desktop distributions are now very easy to use out of the box but are still not as easy to use as windows is. Users sometimes have to configure or compile kernel modules on the command line. While this is a plus for people who want to get their hands dirty tweaking their machines, some people just want a computer that works without any hassles.

In my opinion the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages so switch over to Linux and join the party!!!!!