American Idols (3) 20/12/2004 (to see previous American Idol awards, click here)Numero Tres: Microsoft WindowsMuch of my time in America has been spent just as it was in England: in front of a computer. It was only ten years ago that I began my education into computers and that I was successful in this was entirely due to the invention of the Graphical User Interface (GUI) and the mouse. I had glanced at computers prior to this and always been horrified at the strange code it was necessary to learn before one could even start. The discovery that I could now access the wonders of computing through a visual representation and a pointer was a revelation to me. I was hooked immediately and was soon spending all my time investigating the new world that had opened before me.Now, I know that it was Xerox that invented the GUI, but they did nothing with it. I know, too, that Apple stole the idea and made it usable. But it was Microsoft that stole it yet again, made it usable and then sold the idea to the public. And that is what counted in the end. No matter how many versions he had to go through before he got it right, our friend Bill managed to persuade all of us to use his system. Apple have only their greed and poor organization to blame for not dominating the market as Microsoft does.This domination of Windows in the computing world affects the way we foreigners see America. Films and television have shown us what the USA looks like and how Americans speak. Now Windows teaches us about how they spell. No longer do we think in terms of programmes and dialogues, advertise and harbour; nowadays we are getting used to programs and dialogs, we advertize and find a safe harbor.Windows is also the umm "window" to the internet for the vast majority of us. We see this ever-growing worldwide databank and debate forum through an interface designed by Americans. The language that dominates it is called English but is really American, and it's America that shapes the destiny and direction of the net (no bad thing - imagine if it were North Korea leading the way); and all by courtesy of this thing we call Windows. Love it or hate it, the fact remains - it's Windows that brings the net to the masses and vice versa.I can see the Mac-users and Linux geeks standing and yelling at the back. To the Mac-users I have only this to say: you had your chance and blew it - get over it. And as for the Linux dudes, I can only suggest that they stop proliferating pretty GUIs to compete with Windows and look at the way Microsoft does things. Design a file system that makes sense to the layman, stop using meaningless filenames, copy the way Windows installs programs, stop imagining that networking is the driving force behind everyday computing and you might stand a chance, a very faint chance, of beating Windows in the end. In fact, if you do that I'll swap to Linux tomorrow. But until you geeks get your heads out of the sand and look at the way ordinary people use computers, you will never see Linux dominate as Windows does.I am no great fan of Windows and the way it tries to think for us. But I do appreciate that without it computing would still be the preserve of the programmers and professionals. And I think we should honor it for what it is - America's way to bring computing to the world. We've cursed it and kicked it and bad-mouthed it for years - but let's face it: where would we be without it?Like it or not, Microsoft Windows is an American Icon.(to see the fourth American Idol Award, click here)
Clive
Mad Ooooh controversial (is there a MS spelling of that?) dad. Nice one, I agree. Down with Jobs! Down with Linus and er (nope I can't say up with Bill sorry) down with Bill too!! Date Added: 20/12/2004
Gone Away Well it's the way I see it, Mad... ;) Date Added: 20/12/2004
bumpy_beth I am not to brightest about that stuff... but I love windows, its the only thing easy enough for me to use, i hated that DOS junk. Date Added: 20/12/2004
josh Ho Hum. I guess I am one of the aforementioned linux geeks, but I use windows as well. I think it is an unfair stereotype that linux users are fascistas; quite ironic, if you think about it. Me? I am drawn by the simple fact that I can go to the flea market, buy a piece of crap computer for $20, and with a little luck and some work, I can have a functional personal computer, without infringing on some EndUserLicenseAgreement. It appeals to my engineering background. Don't get me wrong - I would be the first to tell you that running Linux as your desktop is akin to shoveling fleas across a barnyard - but that is no reason for the general public to poopoo the noble idea that is OpenSource because it is easier to just agree with Gates' minions and forget about it. Something akin to Niemöller, after a fashion: "When they destroyed Linux, I said nothing; after all, I was not a Linux user." Some of Microsoft's ad campaigns are despicable propaganda, and they have even gone so far as to support a frivilous multi-billion dollar lawsuit, for no other reason than to frighten the corporate world into believing that OpenSource licensing can, in one fell swoop, have them bankrupted by copyright litigation. I have an analogue from recent history on this topic, but I already told bubs, so I will just shut up now. :-) Safe to say I can ramble with the best of 'em on this topic. Date Added: 21/12/2004
josh Oh! I forgot to mention: [quote]... stop imagining that networking is the driving force behind everyday computing...[/quote] Mr. Gone! You might as well put a knife in my back! I am An Aspiring network engineer! Are you telling me that internetworking is dead?!?!?Say it ain't so, Joe. Date Added: 21/12/2004
Gone Away I agree with almost everything you say Josh. But you are missing my point, I think. The reason I gave the award to Windows is purely because it makes computers accessible to the masses. Yes, YOU can get any old computer, load Linux and have a perfectly functional machine without offending any copyright (and I approve of GNU and OpenSource too). But that makes you one of a select few. Most of us mere mortals couldn't do that and depend on the evil empire to be able to share in the world of computing.
And I'm not denigrating networking - it is a wonderful thing and very few businesses of any size could run without it. But, sgain, networking is one of those esoteric arts we leave to the wise and great; most of us have our hands full enough just pecking away at our stand-alones, only dimly aware that this net thingy we're connected to is a form of network. I salute you, Josh, that you are brave enough to handle the complexities of networking. Myself, when I run into trouble like that, I yell for Mad. ;) Date Added: 21/12/2004
josh Yeah, I gotcha. I just like whining about the elephant in the room (to parlay an old, hackneyed cliché into a new triter one). I suppose it is like the excessive criticism of these United States -- no one likes to give it up to the big guy. Postscript: Is triter even a word? Date Added: 21/12/2004
Gone Away I think it's avoided by saying "more trite". ;) The big guy always gets the criticism - and works harder because of it. God bless America (and may Linux bring out a dummy-friendly interface)! Date Added: 21/12/2004
Hannah What to say? Hang on, I must close the windows-- chilly in here. Hey! Where did my desktop go? Oh, sorry-- closed the wrong Windows. Date Added: 21/12/2004
Way Perhaps you have reeled in to shore one of the less-snobbish species of Americana icons, Gone - a particular breed of the common Yankee computuri, appointed with the mundane name of "Windows". But the way the thing continues to flop around on the bank leads me to conclude it must be an air-breather, and it ain't gonna perish easy. And I doubt if it's edible, by its strange features, so either throw the pitiful thing back, or better yet, whack it with an oar and have the beast mounted. And if you happen to snag onto a typewriter later, give me a shout. Date Added: 21/12/2004
josh Not sure if congratulations are on order, Mr. Gone, but you are officially syndicated. :P I must add that this is in some ways a hollow victory, at best; my site is a pitiful stub -- a veritable cul de sac on the information surperhighway. No worries. I have seen a blog or 10,000, and there are bigger and brighter links in your future. ;) ***this link is not intended as a cheap attempt to garner traffic***(but click it anyway, please?) Date Added: 21/12/2004
Ned Perhaps I should have mentioned it the first time you used the spelling, way back in the days when you were writing about your experiences in America, but now you have done it again and I feel compelled to point out that advertise is one of those strange words we don't spell with a "z". Date Added: 21/12/2004
Mad Don't worry Josh I've linked yer up! Place of honour as promised (and the money's is in the post too). Date Added: 21/12/2004
Way Hm? Date Added: 21/12/2004
Gone Away Way It's to do with the RSS we were talking about, Way. Click on the link Josh has provided, then scroll down a bit, looking at the right-hand column of the Hinkybox site...
Hannah Brrr, close the right window this time, it's freezing in here!
Josh Thank you, Mr Josh, I appreciate the honor you have done me. And I'm glad that Mad has reciprocated by placing your link immediately below his CV (translation: resumé).
Ned And thank you Ned, too. It looked so terribly wrong to me, I admit, but then I thought: Oh well, Americans are so in love with the letter Z...
Gone Grab a few hours sleep and look what happens... Date Added: 21/12/2004
Gone Away Oh and Mad, thank you kindly for the implementation of RSS... *grovels charmingly in the dust* At last, a way to navigate! Date Added: 21/12/2004
Way "Hinky" I got. The twelve other nouns or verbs... Date Added: 21/12/2004
Gone Away Did you ever get Firefox, Way? Date Added: 21/12/2004
Way Yup, I did, but the difference seems minimal at best. As far as being really user-friendly, that animal has yet to be born as far as this old man is concerned, but hey, that's my usual rant. Date Added: 21/12/2004
Way Oh, and I have to add...Ali gave me a laff this morning when I complained about a particular detail..."Ask your friends on the net," She quipped. My response: I'd rather keep my friends than put them thru that much torture. Date Added: 21/12/2004
Gone Away OK Way, welcome to RSS feeds. In the bottom right-hand corner you should see a little orange icon. Hover the pointer over that icon and you will see a suggestion that you "Add Live Bookmark for this page's feed". Click on that and then have a look at your bookmarks. You should see a bookmark for Gone Away with a little RSS icon and a tiny arrow. Move the pointer to the bookmark and voila! A list of all the blogs on my page! Clever, huh? As regards differences, yup, a browser is a browser. But FF is pretty nifty in a few extra little things and, best of all, it's not a Microsoft product! :D Date Added: 21/12/2004
Way "This XML file does not appear to have any style information associated with it. The document tree is shown below." ooookay... One featured improvement is the Name* and Email* now have the shortcut feature, which A had to explain: "Just click on it, darlin'. Then hit Enter." Your "tree" looks worse than my fake one we put up. Date Added: 21/12/2004
Gone Away Hmmm, you're losing me, Way; not sure I understand all that. But I'm sure Mad will. He's out at the moment but should be back sometime. Name and email, huh? Let me try that... Nope, doesn't work for me. LOL Date Added: 21/12/2004
Way It's simple. Let's do the email part while the boy is in the loo, reading; instead of typing out the whole thing, I type a W. Viola! The entire Undeniable Risky Line (URL?) appears pre-typed in the proper space. Then I right-click, and double wa-lah. Done for submission. (The student boldly presumes upon poor teacher) Date Added: 21/12/2004
Way And only Josh seems to have mastered making paragraphs.
Damn. Date Added: 21/12/2004
Way Yay for Way.
I'll retire now. Date Added: 21/12/2004
Gone Away Oh that's how I do it too, Way. You left out the bit about typing in the first letter of the address and I thought you'd found an even quicker way... :D
Paragraphs? What paragraphs? ;) Date Added: 21/12/2004
Mad I see where it all went wrong Way, you clicked the "XML - RSS" button on the actual page. That's for other things. What my Dad meant was in the bottom right hand corner of the actual browser window (not on the page at all) should be a square orange icon (assuming you are using Firefox 1.0) with a white dot and two white lines on it. Click that and it'll add a live bookmark in your Firefox bookmarks. Hover your mouse over that bookmark and you'll see all the latest post and be able to click to 'em. Incidentally Way I use the RSS feed on your blog, to see what you've posted recently its very handy... Date Added: 21/12/2004
Way Thanks, Mad. That worked. Not sure exactly what the advantage is yet, as I have yours and other favorite URLs added at the top of my Word page (I always keep that open [in case rosy inspired dawn comes], but I'll play with it for a few days at least). Date Added: 21/12/2004
Gone Away It makes things much easier for me, Way. Instead of having to click all the way through to reach the blog I want to go to, I can now use the RSS feed to go straight to it. There is also a hope that newcomers who might want to start from the beginning could use the RSS feed to do so. Date Added: 21/12/2004
josh As nifty as the built-in RSS functionality of Firefinux is, it is a bit of a hawg. The system I am typing on right now is a Winders machine, XP pro on a Pentium 3 850 with 512k, and when I am running Firefox with Paint Shop Pro and Dreamweaver together, I have time to go get a popsicle in between page loads. That, and the fact that any sort of static background-image (as is the case with this page, I suspect) makes scrolling chunky and wierd. This pretty much explains why I have added RSS feeds to my web page - it is basically a very, very, very convoluted and circuitous way to keep up with the blogs and news I read. ;) Date Added: 22/12/2004
Gone Away Now that's what I call a power user. Dreamweaver and PSP with FF chugging away as well... But the real problem is that XP thing you've got there. Anything less than the latest kit is going to struggle to keep that top-heavy monster turning over. But RSS is great from my point of view - I know it's really supposed to be for news feeds but it certainly solves my navigation problems! Date Added: 22/12/2004
josh Power User, indeed. Really, it is disturbing. This house has 7 computers, 5 of which are constantly on. Web Server File Server Firewall This desktop Media Server (downstairs living room) Laptop(s) I find myself looking for a word like bibliomane to describe my computer habits. I need help. Date Added: 22/12/2004
Mad Josh, just buy a real computer these yard sale $20 wonders can only do so much... *settles back down to his dual pentium box with three monitors and dual SATA drives* Date Added: 22/12/2004
josh Ahh, you must code for the least among us, bubs. But alas - I guess you need such hardware to run that hog VisualStudio :)) *does not run, but stands his ground and smirks* Dork Fight! Date Added: 22/12/2004
Mad Nope I ain't getting into a fight with you Josh, not after the "Is this thing working" debacle. I shall retire gracefully. Mr Hill the field is yours... Date Added: 22/12/2004
josh Was it a debacle? I saw it more as a minor hullaballoo, really. Little more than a hubbub. Date Added: 22/12/2004
Gone Away Compared to what I'm having to use at the moment, everyone's a power user... Date Added: 22/12/2004
Mad More of a kerfuffle if you ask me... Date Added: 22/12/2004
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