Everyone knew this was going to be an interesting one to watch. Die-hard Microsoft fans were sure Vista would be the final nail in the Open Source coffin, die-hard Linux fans were sure that the release would be Microsoft’s demise. Myself - I’m sitting and enjoying the show.

It’s always very interesting to show Beryl to non-Linux users. They are almost always highly impressed, and are often completely in shock that Linux is a graphical system - many people still believe Linux is command-line only. But the funniest thing is that they always seem to care more about useless, spinning, transparent desktop cubes than, say, security. This holds for Vista’s flashy new graphics, as well - mainstream media seems to be focusing on Vista’s GUI a lot more than they are about its controversial new security features. Very interesting, keeping in mind that Windows has never been “not pretty enough” in consumer’s eyes, but rather too unstable or virus-prone.

This is absolutely antique (2000), but it’s good to hear an artist with a clue.

http://archive.salon.com/tech/feature/2000/06/14/love/print.html

If you’re like me, and don’t use Gnome or KDE, then you probably use the pmount or pmount-hal applications to mount removable media. Here’s a neat thing to add to your .bash_aliases:

1
2
3
4
5

function pmh {
    pmount-hal $1
    UDI=`hal-find-by-property --key block.device --string $1`
    cd "`hal-get-property --udi $UDI --key volume.mount_point`"
}

I do type mesmerizingly fast, though… :)

I am told these were scattered around Taub… I haven’t been there to day, but it feels good to be infamous.

My lecture slides. Have a peek if you like :)

When approaching a port, the Scotsman:

You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villany. And the crab cakes ain’t too bad, either!

Later on:

• Is it fast?
• It sure is. But it’s gonna cost ya - 10,000 up-front.
• 10,000? We could buy our own ship for that!
• But who’s gonna sail it?
• I can. I piloted (some smaller kind of ship) back when I was a kid.

(and if you haven’t seen Star Wars, you’re just not gonna get it)