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authormms <michal@sapka.me>2024-07-09 00:21:40 +0200
committermms <michal@sapka.me>2024-07-09 00:21:40 +0200
commitc54a068132c7ff4d53db49459eed69c8646d1005 (patch)
tree4ef8246a88ea63d98e8c5cd0c0264ca106ac9c34
parent01c8e61b467355dd31e35c4b218ecd7a308916de (diff)
feat(blog): computing happy
-rw-r--r--content-org/blog.org166
-rw-r--r--content/blog/2024/computing-happy.md77
2 files changed, 242 insertions, 1 deletions
diff --git a/content-org/blog.org b/content-org/blog.org
index 6446fc9..614707b 100644
--- a/content-org/blog.org
+++ b/content-org/blog.org
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
#+HUGO_WEIGHT: auto
#+HUGO_SECTION: blog
-* 2024 [48/48] :@blog:
+* 2024 [49/49] :@blog:
:PROPERTIES:
:EXPORT_HUGO_SECTION: blog/2024
:EXPORT_HUGO_CUSTOM_FRONT_MATTER+: :image_dir "blog/images" :image_max_width 600
@@ -15,6 +15,170 @@
:END:
+** Free Software and the wrong crowd
+:PROPERTIES:
+:EXPORT_FILE_NAME: foss-wrong-crowd
+:EXPORT_HUGO_CUSTOM_FRONT_MATTER+: :abstract An essey about Free Software and the "wrong crowd" for it
+:END:
+
+Free Software is a movement aiming at changing the world.
+Seize the means of computation!
+
+
+#+begin_quote
+Complete system sources will be available to everyone.
+As a result, a user who needs changes in the system will always be free to make them himself, or hire any available programmer or company to make them for him.
+Users will no longer be at the mercy of one programmer or company which owns the sources and is in sole position to make changes.
+
+[...]
+
+Copying all or parts of a program is as natural to a programmer as breathing, and as productive. It ought to be as free.
+
+-- [[https://www.gnu.org/gnu/manifesto.en.html][The GNU Manifesto, Richard Stallman, 1983]]
+#+end_quote
+
+Stallman wrote it 40 years ago.
+It's obvious that Open Source has won!
+We have GNU/Linux, Redis, Android, Emacs.
+Time to open champagne and dance on the grave of System V.
+But is is really the best it's ever been?
+
+Personal computing is as widepsread as it never has been.
+Virtually everyone, in every midly developed country has used a computer - even if in the form of a phone.
+We are living in the world of tomorrow.
+
+And yes, open source software is the backbone of this world.
+While there are still places where propetiery systems run the serverland, Linux is the default.
+Most people don't even think about too deep.
+Web services run Linux (be it GNU or not).
+Install Linux on AWS, throw Docker on top of it, sprinkle with Kubernetess and boom - a startup was born.
+
+The desktop is also having a pinguin moment.
+Steam gave it the biggest push towards mass appeal.
+People can finally do their computing on a Linux machine - use the browser and play games.
+
+But note the trend here.
+It's all intertwined with propietery software.
+Linux popularity is not because it's free (as freedom), but /despite/ of it.
+The push is happening because propetiery software can run on it!
+I even think, that in 2024 Linux is actually free as in /free beer/.
+It is owned by big tech, and while Linux still controls the kernel, he is paid by them.
+
+It made him a (very) rich man, but in the process broader Linux is less GNU.
+
+#+begin_quote
+ ... many people will program with absolutely no monetary incentive.
+ Programming has an irresistible fascination for some people, usually the people who are best at it.
+ There is no shortage of professional musicians who keep at it even though they have no hope of making a living that way.
+
+ -- [[https://www.gnu.org/gnu/manifesto.en.html][The GNU Manifesto, Richard Stallman, 1983]]
+#+end_quote
+
+And people clap, and party, and pat each other on the backs.
+/Open Source/ is eating the world!
+Even your phone most likely run a semi-open source operating system.
+
+But in reality, unless you are talkig with people into FOSS, they don't care about any idealogy behind the software.
+Whatever makes them productive, or simply get the thing done.
+Tinkering is just a nuasance, a problem one needs to overcome to do the thing.
+
+I got my firt computer at the age of 8.
+A glorious MS-DOS running 386 beast.
+When I saw my mother running a game, it was magical.
+But my actual love started with me discovering scripting with .bat files.
+Writing a dedicated runner for the games was almost as cool as those 8 following hours spend building my Civilization.
+I had a huge grim when I changed the boring =C:/= promt to =Yes Master?=.
+
+You can no longer do any of that on the most popular computers.
+Software freedom has significantly dicreased in those 30 years since I first started discovering computing.
+It's much harder to adjust modern OS to own needs (or even run it without an internet account), than it was back then.
+Yes, the first few steps are much more noob friendly.
+The very /basics/ of using the computer are easy.
+But to go furher?
+To make the computer /your own/?
+It's difficult!
+
+Try changing accent color to =poo-brown= in MacOS.
+It's impossible, while my Windows 95 was gloriously ugly.
+
+
+- freedom is limitted
+- people are forbidden to participate
+- folks clap happily
+
+
+** DONE Computing happy
+CLOSED: [2024-07-08 Mon 23:24]
+:PROPERTIES:
+:EXPORT_FILE_NAME: computing-happy
+:EXPORT_HUGO_CUSTOM_FRONT_MATTER+: :abstract A short, 3-hour long video essay
+:END:
+One thing I've noticed about myself and my relationship with technology is that I care.
+Not about productivity, getting stuff done and all those things.
+I do them at my job, they pay bills.
+
+But what I actually want to do with computes is to have a damn good time.
+This is why I am so peculiar when it comes to choosing software.
+In my =meatsuit= life, I am the only person I know who uses Emacs or BSD.
+There are some folks who used to us Emacs, some use Linux.
+But I am on the far end of the popular-obscure software spectrum.
+
+I do this not because I like to make things harder to myself, but because I love tinkering.
+Yes, I can get a clean MacBook into a working shape faster than my personal laptop, but it doesn't spark any joy.
+Apple hardware and software in 2024 is devoid of any happiness.
+It's boring, it's corporate, it =locked down=.
+And while I understand why they pay me to use it, I don't enjoy it.
+
+But should work bring happiness?
+It should not bring sorrow, that's for sure.
+My previous job, 10 years ago, was a gruelling MS Office sadness fest.
+It gave me a lot of spare time, but I really wanted to go into software development.
+
+And I did.
+I learned Ruby on Rails and joined a software product company.
+It was full of joy and excitement!
+For the first few months, going to the office was /the shit/.
+
+But 10 years have passed.
+I still enjoy what I do, and I like our product.
+But does it spark any actual excitement?
+I am not the same person I've been back then.
+
+I grew to love computers on a whole different level.
+They are not a /tool/, but a /goal/.
+And it all comes to this: I don't care if my software is making me productive.
+I want to enjoy using it.
+And for the last few years, this means only one thing: free software… and lack of web browser in between.
+
+That's the distinction between software I /have/ to use and which I /choose/ to use.
+But this also means I look at the computer-crowd differently.
+People I care about are not the ones who I cared about before.
+I can proudly say, Apple is out of my bloodstream.
+It /used/ to be great, but it became terrible even before I was earning enough to buy myself a Mac.
+Currently, everyone I admire are on the other side of the FOSS battlefield.
+Stallman is where it's at, not Jobs!
+And most definitely not Nadella/Cook/Bezos/Musk/Zuck or whoever there is now.
+
+But this is me.
+You may be entirely different.
+You may /enjoy/ getting stuff done and be glad to be done with it.
+Likewise, you make love that IntelliJ and spinning EC2 instances.
+I get it.
+I disagree fundamentally, but I get it.
+It's the same with cars: there are people who know everything about them, and then there's me who only knows where my mechanic is.
+And while I have no idea how to fix a car, I admire people who can do it.
+
+Similarly, I grew to /envy/ sysadmins.
+Damn, how I wish I was administering a bunch of Open/Net/FreeBSD…. But wait! I do.
+I don't get paid for it, but I do it on my personal infrastructure.
+It all /ties together/: I choose the software which makes me happy, as computers are my only hobby.
+And what a hobby would be, if it didn't bring me fun?
+
+Computes were a passion for many, and they still are for many people.
+And that's what great about them.
+
+But really, sysadmins are amazing.
+
** DONE The Rise and Fall of The Witcher
CLOSED: [2024-07-05 Fri 11:23]
:PROPERTIES:
diff --git a/content/blog/2024/computing-happy.md b/content/blog/2024/computing-happy.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c4daf3d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/content/blog/2024/computing-happy.md
@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
++++
+title = "Computing happy"
+author = ["Michał Sapka"]
+date = 2024-07-08T23:24:00+02:00
+categories = ["blog"]
+draft = false
+weight = 2002
+image_dir = "blog/images"
+image_max_width = 600
+abstract = "A short, 3-hour long video essay"
++++
+
+One thing I've noticed about myself and my relationship with technology is that I care.
+Not about productivity, getting stuff done and all those things.
+I do them at my job, they pay bills.
+
+But what I actually want to do with computes is to have a damn good time.
+This is why I am so peculiar when it comes to choosing software.
+In my `meatsuit` life, I am the only person I know who uses Emacs or BSD.
+There are some folks who used to us Emacs, some use Linux.
+But I am on the far end of the popular-obscure software spectrum.
+
+I do this not because I like to make things harder to myself, but because I love tinkering.
+Yes, I can get a clean MacBook into a working shape faster than my personal laptop, but it doesn't spark any joy.
+Apple hardware and software in 2024 is devoid of any happiness.
+It's boring, it's corporate, it `locked down`.
+And while I understand why they pay me to use it, I don't enjoy it.
+
+But should work bring happiness?
+It should not bring sorrow, that's for sure.
+My previous job, 10 years ago, was a gruelling MS Office sadness fest.
+It gave me a lot of spare time, but I really wanted to go into software development.
+
+And I did.
+I learned Ruby on Rails and joined a software product company.
+It was full of joy and excitement!
+For the first few months, going to the office was _the shit_.
+
+But 10 years have passed.
+I still enjoy what I do, and I like our product.
+But does it spark any actual excitement?
+I am not the same person I've been back then.
+
+I grew to love computers on a whole different level.
+They are not a _tool_, but a _goal_.
+And it all comes to this: I don't care if my software is making me productive.
+I want to enjoy using it.
+And for the last few years, this means only one thing: free software… and lack of web browser in between.
+
+That's the distinction between software I _have_ to use and which I _choose_ to use.
+But this also means I look at the computer-crowd differently.
+People I care about are not the ones who I cared about before.
+I can proudly say, Apple is out of my bloodstream.
+It _used_ to be great, but it became terrible even before I was earning enough to buy myself a Mac.
+Currently, everyone I admire are on the other side of the FOSS battlefield.
+Stallman is where it's at, not Jobs!
+And most definitely not Nadella/Cook/Bezos/Musk/Zuck or whoever there is now.
+
+But this is me.
+You may be entirely different.
+You may _enjoy_ getting stuff done and be glad to be done with it.
+Likewise, you make love that IntelliJ and spinning EC2 instances.
+I get it.
+I disagree fundamentally, but I get it.
+It's the same with cars: there are people who know everything about them, and then there's me who only knows where my mechanic is.
+And while I have no idea how to fix a car, I admire people who can do it.
+
+Similarly, I grew to _envy_ sysadmins.
+Damn, how I wish I was administering a bunch of Open/Net/FreeBSD…. But wait! I do.
+I don't get paid for it, but I do it on my personal infrastructure.
+It all _ties together_: I choose the software which makes me happy, as computers are my only hobby.
+And what a hobby would be, if it didn't bring me fun?
+
+Computes were a passion for many, and they still are for many people.
+And that's what great about them.
+
+But really, sysadmins are amazing.