Logistics: the mantra of the adult
One of the rather unfortunate characteristics of humans is that we want the affirmation of others. Despite Richard Feynman’s polemic we are still fundamentally social animals and hence are driven to inflict all manner of pain and suffering upon ourselves.
Because of this I felt a twinge of irrational emotion when I read in Lifehacker [Link] that the mob, or at least the approximation that wastes time at Lifehacker, had ‘voted’ that the best software update tool was Synaptic.
Synaptic, of course, is Linux, and that was at the crux of the matter. For those who are still serfs of MegaHard there is the File Hippo Update tool, which came in number two. No mention, thankfully and appropriately, is made of MegaHard’s update engines that rather put one in mind of a miscegenatious cross of a 500 BCE classic Greek autark and a Third Reich eugenicist. Oh!, and a sprinkling of puppy genes to mislead the acognitive consumer!
I still admit to my own serfdom to Megahard, entirely because of dependence on clients that only execute on Windows, notably the sphincterless wonder that is the PFAFF sewing software necessary to FD SCP and hence, my continued existence on Tellus. Its only redeeming values to me are its inherent disrespect for the OS and its value to FD SCP. In some domains I make no claims not to be irrational. But what is relevant here is that on the Windows boxes I am troubled with – in the sense of that old Jefferson quote
Our particular principles of religion are a subject of accountability to our god alone. I enquire after no man’s and trouble none with mine; nor is it given to us in this life to know whether yours or mine, our friend’s or our foe’s, are exactly the right.
there I do have the File Hippo utility installed for the same reason that I find Synaptic, and its recognition, so compelling.
The simple fact is that Synaptic is the damning anecdote of evidence that Windows is harshly broken in MegaHard’s Coleridge dream of self-sufficiency. Its update apparat apply only to MegaHard products and that, simply put, is not only abysmally inadequate in this day when clients, and NOT OS, define the use of computers, but pathetic, cancerous, and inept as well. Synaptic is a shining example of how an integrated update capability may work and its daily existence and functionality damn MegaHard for the hypocrisy it is.
As I have said previously, it is not how fast an OS boots but how fast it shuts down that is an accurate and useful metric of its functionality. And how it maintains and sustains itself is a better metric than any amount of eye candy or organ pipes. Calliopes may be good entertainment but one may not long survive on a steady diet of circus. Happily there are humans who recognize this. There may yet be hope for the survival of the species.
