Gnorb.NET

For a while now, I’ve been buying shows on DVD. Why? Because I don’t want to have to endure one second of a show I can’t stand. It’s been that way for years, which is why I simply don’t watch much television anymore. Add to that the fact that I hate having to watch TV on a schedule and you see my problem: even if there’s a show I like, I’m pretty likely to miss it.

DVDs solve that.

Thing is, finding a DVD in the box, then putting it in, and selecting the episode… well, that’s just too much work. That’s I want an AppleTV.

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As I write this, my old Linux computer, the XCube, sits in the corner of my office, ready to be shipped off to my in-laws. It’s a bittersweet sight. On one hand, that computer has been with me for almost four years, and it’s still extremely capable: a 3.2GHz Intel P4, 1GB RAM (I forget what speed… 3200 maybe?), 200GB hard drive space, ATI 9200 video card, DVD+/-R/CD-R, all in a small form factor body. On the other hand, as it sits there, I sit in front of my new MacBook, a 2.2GHz Inter Core 2 Duo system with 1GB (soon to be upgraded to 4GB) of RAM, 120GB hard drive, almost-crapstacular Intel 950 integrated video (with 64MB shared RAM), DVD+/-R/CD-R, all in a beautiful, pristine white body with a 13-inch, glossy screen.

No one would guess this was a refurb. I got this for $1099, $200 cheaper than normal.

The best part? It just works.

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It’s a shock to me, too.

For years — almost a decade now — I’ve been using Linux almost exclusively at home. I’ve downloaded and installed countless distributions, and have lived with nothing but open sourced and free software, which has served my needs as well as any (Well, I will admit to the guilty pleasure that is the Opera browser. Not open sourced, but man, is it sleek!) And unlike most folks who download and install Linux, I’ve actually paid for open sourced software, paid for the operating systems, paid for support, and donated to the incredible work being done by people bringing all manner of modern functionality to GNU/Linux (including the marketing geniuses who figured out that “Linux” looks and sounds better than “GNU/Linux”) and the free software and open source movements.

The fact of the matter is that free and open sourced software has served me well for 95% of what I normally do. For most people, this would easily be 100%, since 95% of my work is made up of things like browsing the web, getting email, syncing with my MP3 players, viewing DVDs, streaming and recording music, using word processors and spreadsheets, and even doing a little programming. In fact, my productivity on Linux is higher than on Windows because I can tweak the system to work exactly as I want it, and to react to me when I want it to do so. Most people wouldn’t do two-thirds of what I do. They wouldn’t need to, nor would they have the patience to.

But it’s that other 5% that has truly become a hindrance.

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