I must have been living under a rock, because although I had read the name “Cory Doctorow” online a few times in the past, I really didn’t know who he was or what he was about, until I stumbled upon his book “Little Brother”….
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I think Carlo Wood’s introduction to the problem is about as eloquent as I could say it: “It happens to everyone sooner or later: a split second after you hit Enter you realize your mistake, but it’s too late; you just deleted a valuable file or directory for which no backup exists. Or maybe you have a backup, but it’s a month old… and in shock you see the past month flash before your eyes as you realize in pain what you’ll have to do all over again…”
I have had at least two computers up and running in my house ever since about 1993. At various times in the past twelve years I have toyed with the idea of going back down to one, but it never happens – there is just too much benefit.
I got to wondering today: what do people do when they only have one computer in the house? (I’ll call these “normal people”!)
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I’ve been using and programming computers since the summer of 1983 (obligatory first computer reference: Commodore VIC-20). During the first decade there was quite a vast array of computers and operating systems; the second decade was pretty much dominated by Microsoft Windows. It wasn’t by choice, it was a concession that I made because going through Electrical Engineering in university almost demanded it: having to share files within study groups, using engineering software that would only run on Windows, and cost of hardware on a student budget all weighed as factors. I’m happy to say that I finally feel back in control. I’m now back to using the computer of my choice.
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