Computer for gradma and world domination

This entry was inspired by latest entry in LinuxToday, but refers to such topic as “Computers for gramma” or “Linux on a desktop” in general.

These topics have history now, and they’ve been “refurbished” at least once per few weeks. The major points of those are twofold (althouth highly interconnected). Those points are being:

1. Whether my {favorite non-technical member of the family} can easily use computer?
2. Is Linux ready for desktop?

Please allow me to explain, why those 2 are interconnected.

Well, the first one is well understood. In last 15 or so years, computers transformed from geaky toy to a “in any home” appliance. We do many of day to day tasks with it: We send and read our mail. We read, see and listen to a news. We listen to a music/radio. We watch movies (and sometimes TV). We record music, speech and TV. We play. We talk.

So, if my grandma can operate a TV/VCR, why can’t she operate a computer system? Of course she can. In the matter of simplicity, I’ll ask anyone who is familiar with computers, to perform the following tasks:

• Check/Send an email
• Read/check news on favorite website
• Listen to a music
• Watch a movie/DVD (all legal, don’t worry)
• Write a simple document (such as you shop list)

I’d believe that anyone who’s been using a computer for at least a month, would be able to perform all these tasks.

Now consider the following: the “Alex computer system” that I asked to perform those tasks on has nothing but pretty picture on the desktop, with the following icons:

• Mail
• Internet
• Documents
• Music/Movies

Wouldn’t you agree, that using only common sense performing the aforementioned tasks would not be too hard? Say, Mail would present some pretty interface to email (or Gmail, Yahoo or anything else – all our email interfaces are alike and pretty self explanatory), Internet would fire up Firefox (or any other browser; and all our browser interfaces are alike and self explanatory), Music/Movies would start something like “media center” application (like Windows Media Center/Tivo/MythTv/Telly, or any other similar application) which is pretty straight forward to use and self explanatory, and Documents will start simple document editor, either local or browser-based (they do have similar interfaces anyway, except MS Office 2007, of course).

Now, I still believe, that no age-related neither intellectual issues have been discussed here yet. It is all very intuitive and common sense.

Just like the TV.

So, at this point, considering all I discussed before, could you answer the following question, please, :

Do you know which operating system “Alex computer system” runs? And more important, does it matter?

This is what I’ve been trying to explain. I sustain, that there’s sincerely and absolutely no importance in which operating system powers the all-powerful “Alex computer system“. This, as great result, leads me to the following:

For any such general-purpose computing, Linux-based OS (all you zealots, I know the difference between GNU/Linux and Linux, but I don’t want to go into politics for a moment) is completely ready for massive desktop usage, as long as it can be installed and maintained in a way that makes sense to a general public.

Please, note the “common sense” part. I don’t think that working with “Start” (or “applications” or whatever) menu is very intuitive (although I have to agree that “Applications” is much better than “Start”). To watch TV, one has to press an “on” and that’s it. To play a movie on a VCR one presses “play”. That’s common sense. That’s intuitive.

So here’s my initial suggestion to all those aspiring to “prove” to everyone that Linux is ready. Create an application with the following features:

1. Create a very beautiful GUI with pre-defined tasks, such as those mentioned above.
2. Make sure it works as stable and as predictable as TV.
3. Make sure that interface is consistent thorough the applications.
4. Try it on your not so technical {member of your family} to see whether it is intuitive enough.

Until now, we’ve been preparing to world domination. Now the final part:

When they are asleep, swap the OS to Linux. Enjoy the fruits of your labour.

Heh, that would be fun and easy. Wouldn’t it?

Technorati : technology

Computing revised – Part I

Hi all

This is what I’ve been recently thinking. We’re all hearing a lot about computing development. Our systems evolve. They become more powerful, software more bloated (but sometimes better), and our spending grows.

Why? Why do we have to buy a new computer every few years? Is the one we have not enough anymore? If we consider the tasks we perform on it, then not necessarily. Lets define few supposedly major computer users in the world:

1. Low-level developer
2. High-level developer
3. Business User
4. Power User
5. Home User
6. Gamer
7. Mobile user / Small mobile user
8. Embedded device (special one)

So I will try to explain those types of computer system users. Each user will have different “relations” with hardware and software, and for each one the importance of these lies in different usage patterns. Then I will try to analyze each one’s habits, and try to find ways to improve upon those. In the end, I will try to perform a “research” about how can we make the computing experience better than it is today.

Let me begin then. I’m going to explain what I mean by user types:

1. Low-level developer.

Low level developer in my book, is a developer of computing hardware or devices. This computer user doesn’t generally have high requirements, he often uses very specific hardware/devices or those created by him or other developers alike. Software he uses generally specific as well, and not required by majority of other computer users. His major requirement is that a computer system will work stable, consistent and predictable. There’s almost never requirement of high performance (unless the hardware/device itself created for providing it) or “pretty GUI” (unless, again, provided by the very hardware being developed).

2. High-Level developer.

This type of a user is different from a previous one. This is a developer of a software. Software can be of any kind: Operating system, drivers, office applications, graphical applications, internet/email applications, or games. This type of user will almost always request for the fastest processors available, fastest hard drives available. Multiple processors are welcomed if possible. Graphics power will not always mean much (unless application development requires such a thing). Software he uses is not very special, and can be similar to that used by many other users.

In the next part I will continue talking about different user types, and will explain them more.

Tagging revised

Recently, I had an idea for a new site of mine. It was a nice idea, and while I was thinking about different aspects of implementation, I tried to outline for myself how would I like to create it.

It was fairly simple. I wanted to post an informational articles/essays on a chosen subject, with categories/labels/tags. I wanted readers to able to comment. I wanted readers to contribute (as actively as possible of course). I wanted it to drive traffic.

I would be ready to invest my time around this, as it is on subject of an interest for me. I would pet this site and care for it as long as it doesn’t require too much effort, because otherwise I have rather more interesting/important things to do with my life.

So, while I was thinking about it, I finally decided that the easiest way to start this would be a blog. I’d start a simple blog using one of multiple blog hosting platforms around the web, and then, if when it drives enough traffic or I’d like features that platform would not offer, I’d move it to more private infrastructure, with more features, etc.

Easy, isn’t it?

But then it hit me: tags/labels would not do. At least not always.

Let me start with a little bit of obvious stuff: what are tags? Citing wikipedia,
“A tag is a (relevant) keyword or term associated with or assigned to a piece of information (like picture, article, or video clip), thus describing the item and enabling keyword-based classification of information it is applied to”.

In general, ‘tagging’ could be defined as appling a set of semantic labels on different types of fairly complex objects of data, such as text (say, on more text than one word – essays, articles, posts, etc.), video files, audio files, pictures and combinations of all these. We do it for 3 major reasons:

1. To find things faster.

This one is self explanatory. We “label” things in our mind according to our way of thinking. So when I create/absorb a peace of information, I associate few concepts with it. When I want to retrieve that peace of information, it is very probable that I’d use the same associations, so here it is – I semantically create a way for myself to retrieve information I might be looking for.

2. Help other people to find things faster.

The same thing as before, but other way around. I create categories, and when someone looks at all sorts of things I created/found, she’d like to find something particular. So, by looking at list of different categories, she could do it relatively easy. Just like search in library archives.

3. It’s easy.

This one is the real deal. I’m starting to believe, that people can develop an addiction to tagging. For seasoned blogger/writer in so-called “Web 2.0” era (definition from Wikipedia), tagging is like second nature. We don’t think when we’re doing it. It is so easy, that not doing it probably considered weird and strange. Its like we can’t help it.

Here are few examples when we use tagging:

1. Blogging/Blogs or News reading

Heh, that’s the easiest. We all blog. We write journal entries. We know what are they about, right? So we ‘tag’ or label them with our own associative words/labels. Those labels are tags. When someone wants to read what we (or someone else wrote), she just has to choose an appropriate ‘tag’ (like choosing a genre in a library).

2. Thunderbird 2.0

This is a new one. Released practically few days ago, this is an email client software. This new 2.0 version supports email’s tagging. What is that? Well, instead of putting my mail message to one specific folder, tagging allows me to keep all my mail messages in one folder, hidden somewhere in the system, but at the same time it allows me to have “virtual folders” defined by tags. This, in turn, allows me to see/find the same message within multiple “virtual folders”. This is the feature I’ve been always missing; I was craving to find a program which can provide it. Such emailing software exists for awhile now, and it is, of course,

3. Gmail.

The problem with tags/labels in Gmail was greatly resolved. You only have one “Inbox” folder and multiple “label” folders, and every message can appear in any such folder you like. The problem with Gmail though, is a limitation on a number of labels (which may not be a bad thing after all – how many folders do we use anyway?), and, of course, it is not connected to my corporate Exchange server (yeah, I know….please don’t comment on this).

4. RSS readers.

Recent development of “Web 2.0” bubble, and as a result of it – all sorts of content management systems, we came to a development of aggregations.
I can get a short list of recent changes on a particular site in a text file. So, when I follow multiple sites for essays, news, articles – or just changes, I just “sign-up” to that file, and then I read everything in one place using a special program which aggregates all these files in one centralized place. It is convenient and it is very easy.
Almost every time we use this technique, each of these files will be created automatically, based on chosen ‘tags’ (or labels, or categories).

But this time, I thought tagging is failing.

I will explain myself here. I like wandering around the city (it doesn’t actually matter which one, all cities around here are bordering each other), looking into stuff, such as graffiti, streets, buildings, and people. I like to see things that other people don’t, or just don’t bother.

So recently, I started noticing some sticker in different places. On bus stops. On power stands. On power closets on streets. On trees. It was a sort of armadillo picture, and that’s it. Nothing more.

A couple of weeks later, I was walking down the street in central Tel Aviv, and saw the same animal on the window. You know what? It was a bar – coffee shop (cafe as we call it here). I really liked the “commercial” – they stuck all those cute stickers around, without saying what they are, and then when I finally saw it somewhere else -I was really and genuinely intrigued.

Whether I ate at that cafe or not, is besides the point. What I really digging to, is this:
If I were to blog about this cool “sticker” campaign, and would like to “attribute” tags/labels to it, I’d be really tempted to use this exact image. Not some general armadillo picture – this specific one.

So, here it is. This is what had hit me. I would like to use nearly the most basic “feature” of most recent and up to date content management software available, and it is not enough. Because all of them allow only text tagging.

So this got me thinking. If we’re using tagging to simplify our own minds way for searching things – even that we had barely started doing it en masse, we might be already overloaded the feature many times over. We may have overgrown it much faster, than it got really adopted.

How can it be “resolved” (if there’s anything to resolve at all)? I was thinking about that as well.

If modern content management software regards tags/labels as metadata, maybe this metadata needs its own metadata as well. So, instead of using text tags/labels for ‘tagging’ our content, we could use metalabels/metatags to ‘tag’ our tags. So, in the end, I could use a picture (or any complex object) to tag my information.

Wouldn’t that be handful and interesting?

Pranked!

Steve 🙂

I got you now. Good joke.

But I’m standing still. I won’t change portage in a meantime, because the “only” features I use from it is to sync and install packages.

Now, 2 more things (also funny):

1. Patrick is an ex-dev (you can find multiple sources of that online, including my own rants few months ago), and he’s definitely close to pkgcore team. If I’m not mistaken, he’s even providing them with hosting services for the site.
2. The “cokehabit” being japanese guy is a prank on its own. Patrick is just evil 🙂 (aren’t ya, mr. DrEeevil?)

He’s real name is George, and he’s british. Besides, he has nothing to do with Paludis project.

But that was a good one, sorry for being harsh 🙂

Bitter commentary in free software world

I’ve been long-time reader of Linux Watch, and its journalist Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols (S.V.N).

He recently wrote a column, about Debian’s latest release – new stable version, 4.0, codenamed Etch.

His comments, while harsh towards Debian Linux, are correct. He’s mostly talking about decisions made by Debian developers in making this version, such as name changes for some applications, or flame wars led on developers mail lists.

But now, I’ve read comments by Debian developer Thaddeus H. Black, and some more by other journalist (can I say Debian-zealot? probably I can) Sam Varghese. These comments, while being probably correct by fact, sound like a bitter cry for me.

So, ok, Steve has very strong views and opinions about free/open software. But such comments are not adding anything to the issue. They seem to me, as like a developer being defensive and trying to justify and explain problems (nuances for my taste) in S.V.N’s article, and Sam Varghese article sound totally like disgruntled guy got offended by some “mistakes” and opinions. He’s much more offensive in his articles, bashing everything not truly “open” with much persistence.

Some people don’t get it, ain’t? That’s why combined, OpenSuse and Ubuntu have almost 5 times the rating of Debian, according to Distrowatch.

I don’t really understand, why these people are so offended by personal choices of other people. If I decide to use non-free (in RMS sense of the free) software/product, it is like I’m being treated as heretic. It is like such a thing is a total abomination.

I think, all people should be more tolerant to each other and respect each other’s opinions and decisions.

If S.V.N likes Ubuntu – let him. If I like Ubuntu let me. If I choose Gentoo let me.

So, just let me be with my fully functional system and I will let you do with yours, however incomplete it may be. I don’t care if it is not “free” enough to you. It is free enough for me.

It is my choice after all.

Blogger’s code of conduct – Gentoo derived

Its a weird thing, but there are some attempts to create a code of conduct for bloggers.

You all can see those here.

But, what’s more interesting, even besides the point of agreeing or disagreeing with any blogging etiquette, is this specific one.

Derived from Gentoo, no less.

Ain’t life surprising, or what?

The OLPC reviews review – the alternative standpoint

Dear reader,

I’d like to review all sorts of reviews that have appeared lately online.
I believe, that almost all of them are missing the point.

All these reviews show, or assess, what kind of computer system the OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) is and how does it compare to other [known] computer systems.

So, the following components are being compared:

1. Hardware specs (specifications)
2. GUI (Graphical User Interface)
3. Applications choices

So, lets go over those components:

1. Hardware specs.

It is well known, that OLPC is nowhere in top 500 HPC systems list. But such a list is not its purpose. Say, if you build the system, and you require it to do the following:

• Surf the web
• Chat with other people (either text, voice or video)
• Write docs
• Read books/other electronic material (and especially in a direct light environment)
• Have a battery life as prolonged as possible
• Lightweight
• Have an alternative power source (alternative to standard power outlet which can be found in most homes in developed countries).

So, what specs would you need then? Do you need a computer system, that would be able to land a man on moon for that? (In fact, humankind has such systems for a long long time, and many of today’s calculators are capable of necessary calculations. So this would be not really such a good of an example).

Well, considering that all aforementioned tasks are not computing-intensive (except maybe video/chat, which is not that intensive load on the system after all), you won’t have to have state of the art machine. I remember being a student in late 90′ and being able to surf the net, listen to music, read the books, write lab reports and chat on ICQ with my friends. And that was on Cyrix 120 MHz machine, with 500MB hard drive and lousy 1MB Cirrus Logic VGA chip.

And you know what? Yes, it was slow. I had my kernel (I used Red Hat 5.2 then) compiling in 48 minutes. Compare that to two minutes 20 seconds on today’s computers. But still, it did everything I wanted it to do. And did it ok.

I even played really good games on it (at least I think they were good).

So, considering today’s applications for surfing, chat, music and reading are not much different (even sometimes even more efficient than those 10 years ago), I believe 300Mhz machine would be up to the task.

2. GUI

Hm, If I were to choose my favorite complain, this would be it.

Many articles complain, how not native this interface to people or even seasoned computer users. The common misconception as I understand it, is the assumption, that OLPC is the first computer that child will have, and it should teach a kid to use a computer.

Wrong.

First and foremost, it is not about teaching children to work with a computer. It is about teaching. It means, that OLPC and especially its GUI should not be directly compared to any other computer system.

Compare it to other education materials instead.
That’s what main issue is all about. These computers is education tool. They will be delivered instead of schoolbooks.

Now imagine the potential this thing has.

Reading books (huh, well, any book has this feature, right?)
Editing book which is allowed to be edited.
Writing you school work, and allowing a teacher to test it.
Chat with friends.
Surf the web.
Compose music
Play
Imagine and do your own.

So, I think, if the child is about to learn something new and exciting – she will. And all you grownups computer whiz-es, who can’t figure out the interface -thats not the problem for them. For them its a game.

3. Applications

So, as much as what I said about GUI, I have to say about applications chosen.

First, let me tell you about an OS chosen.

It is Linux OS, based on Fedora Core (GNU/Linux for you zealots). If someone asks why wasn’t Windows/Apple OS X chosen – it is very simple. It is not about money. It is not about technology (almost). Its not about politics.

It’s about choice.

When you choose a Linux to build your product upon, you have the fullest control possible over final product, both technologically speaking and IP-(intellectual property) speaking. I mean, it is so easy to develop product, when you can change every bit of it for your liking. It is not possible with Windows/OS X.

Besides, technology-wise, the improvements made to different subsystems which comprise the standard distributions (such as kernel, X, Gnome, etc) are to benefit us all.

Second, the applications.

If one would review again the list of requirement, she would understand, that apps she needs are as follows:

• IM (including text, voice and video)
• Browser
• Book reader (supporting standard formats, such as PDF/RTF/text)
• Games
• Music player
• Document writer

So – chat application (with text, voice and video), browser based on xulrunner, reader (evince), games, music app and doc writer (abiword) – that is actually everything required for this work.

There are more.

But no scientific calculator (though it might be useful for older than 7 y.o kids). No shooter games.
Just tetris 🙂

Now, to the rest of things.

• I like that OLPC has a screen, that can be read at direct sunlight. If it’s for reading books, what else would you need?
• I like that OLPC will have longer work time than most other laptops out there.
• I like that it can be put to sleep in few seconds. I like that it can be awaken in few seconds.
• I like that it weights about 1.5kg
• I like that it has an alternative power source. It means that I’d never have to worry about power outlets around me.

So, all those comparing OLPC to conventional computer systems, are not comparing it to the comparable one. They expect OLPC to behave like a conventional computer system, and when it fails to comply they say all these negative things, such as its “stupid” or “unnecessary” or “why, oh God, you didn’t put full fledged system on this laptop?”.

All this because comparisons are basically flawed. They all compare OLPC to something it is not really made to be comparable with. One should try and compare it to something better for reaching that goal.

Try a printed book.

QA in Gentoo, and Microsoft vs. Linux

Diego,

I’m totally agree with you on the matter. I was actually talking with Patrick about QA awhile ago, and if you hold the same stance as he does on the matter – that is great. I think one should take apart the 2 definitions about application quality: the one is being made with high quality, and the second is being working stable as specified.

The first one is regarded in software as “code style policies” and such, which means the rules and choices made when creating products (such as variables/function names, code styles, etc). It is sometimes even implemented by using automated tools for creating skeletons in code, and running automatic parsers to check the usage.

On the other hand, Quality Assurance means testing created products for bugs, features and stability, and generally speaking has nothing to do with coding policies – as long as product is stable and performs as expected.

So for Gentoo, I would believe that the main things that QA team should always check, are the following:

1. Package can be built.
2. The result can be ran/executed/used.

If 1. doesn’t pass in at least some 50%, package cannot be unmasked or even added to the tree.

When 1. is OK, and 2. is almost OK (say, it runs but some problems exist), package can be marked ~.

I only believe there are 2 cases when package can be marked stable:
1. The 1. above has near 100% positive result for all the deps.
2. The 2. from the above is considered positive, when tested by multiple users for given period of time (say at least a week) and no problems are being reported.

Thats the way I think QA issues should be handled in Gentoo.

Regarding your resignation – although I’m sure it is a lost for the official Gentoo, I hope you still stick around and help to people in need. I also believe that everyone is free community is entitled to personal wishes, and if you want to resign – its your right to do so, I don’t understand why people bother you to explain yourself (like you own them or something.)

Now, to the Microsoft vs. Linux issue.

As Daniel de Oliveira already mentioned, Microsoft has created a new site, (currently down by the way), where they explain their potential partners and salesforce, how to win the sales case against Linux offerings.

I personally think it is important, because it is not blatant “Get The Facts” campain. It is a very business-case oriented, detailed and organized guide to winning businesses.

You do such guides only when you consider your opponent very serious contender, and that requires you to concentrate on important stuff. It also means, that Linux (I mean OS here, not just kernel), is considered by Microsoft very serious, and its not “only for ….. people anymore” (fill the blanks on your own; may I suggest “supergeeks”?).

So, I’d say that Ubuntu bug #1 set by Mark Shuttleworth, is being slowly but surely resolved.

Wouldn’t you ?!

Gentoo, FOSDEM07 and stuff

Well, after not being successfully able to orginize the trip with work, I’m almost decided to go by my own.

So its now 85% chance that I’ll be at Fosdem!! I’ve talked with diox (who’s organizing things on Gentoo’s part), and I might get help with accommodation, which would be totally awesome!! And then I’ll be at the event itself and I hope that I’ll catch that beer Friday as well.

As to a more Gentoo-related things, I’ve been asked by Steve to help him out running this very planet, which I agreed (for a time being at least for foreseeable future). So, until we update the site with our details, you can talk to me if you’re experiencing problem with our world.

So, all seem good, some userreps answered my wake up call, and I hope to get us back in short time.

Have a great time all!

Userrep restaffing

OK, now as its not a secret anymore.

As I already said before, cokehabit was removed from his post as User Representative. It doesn’t mean George is a bad person or something. Promised announcement was made on forums, but to understand reasons more clearly I suggest reading Christel’s blogpost.

As you can see in that forum post, I was instated as 11th User Representative instead of George. I was flattered when suggested to do so, and of course I agreed, although the only thing that it changes in my approach is sort of responsibility I now have towards the project.

If before that I had none, now if I say something or suggest something or take upon myself something, I have to answer on that promise. That is kinda new for me in open source project, but in no way a bad thing. I’d love to contribute in any way I can, and help out as time and my knowledge will allow.

So thanks to George for his efforts and for all that he has done being User Representative.