Episode: 429 Title: HPR0429: She went back to Windows Source: https://hub.hackerpublicradio.org/ccdn.php?filename=/eps/hpr0429/hpr0429.mp3 Transcribed: 2025-10-07 20:22:33 --- 3 You're playing with my mind, baby Always keeping me up doing wrong I say you're playing with my mind, baby You're always keeping me up doing wrong I say you're playing with my mind, baby I can't say your life's on, baby But I can't see, I can't see nobody home Hello, this is Lost in Bronx I wasn't originally going to do an episode about this, but it's timely for me, so here goes My wife bought a new laptop for work, and it runs Vista We'd been a Linux only house for over a year, and hadn't found too many things we couldn't do on machines that didn't run Windows Oh, a few games, maybe, or having to wait for up-to-date flash support, that sort of thing, minor stuff Clearly it was a pleasure, just knowing there was no Microsoft in the house was something I took pride in, but no more She needed to run a proprietary application for work, for which there is no false equivalent that I could find, no active project anyway And she wanted a new machine that was all her own Well, this last part I can certainly understand because sharing a machine with the rest of the house can be a real drag after a while But this special app, which is Windows only of course, well, I couldn't get it up and running under wine And she was unwilling to try a virtual machine or to dual boot, so that was that I went through the options available, as I saw them at the time, and I mean they're simply worn on that it keep us a Linux house We actually had a couple heated discussions along the way, but see, I'm the free and open source software enthusiast here My seven year old, who is virulently anti-windows, don't know where he gets it, notwithstanding it's just me Mrs. Bronx doesn't care what she runs, so long as it runs what she wants, she's married to me, not to the free as in speech content As I've stated in other HPR episodes, FOSS is an inherently political statement, but only if you see it as FOSS If you just see it as software, like she does, then all it needs to do is to friggin' job at hand In fact, anything else gets in the way, I've seen her eyes glaze over enough times while I talk about software freedom to understand I mean I'm slow, but I get there, and I get that, it's boring, at least the way I talk about it apparently And she's stuck with me, and you know, it's just not her thing, I mean, whatever, no biggie And yet it was for me, at least for a while Now, this all came down a couple weeks ago, maybe a month, month and a half at the most, and the machine works fine It has a little trouble getting online with our wireless routers sometimes, but only sometimes Mostly it just works as that phrase goes, and it's reasonably fast for a two or three year old refurb unit of modest specs Can't complain about that, especially since I'm not the one running it, and I guess that's the point here It's not my machine, not my call For me, the freedom side of things, the superiority of the software side of things These trump most other concerns in computing If that proprietary application simply had to be used, and it was up to me, then I'd have gone another route VM, whatever I could figure out, and make easy to use But I came to FOSS in increments, I came to it by inches, not all at once I learned about the software, of course I'm still learning, and then I learned about the philosophies that drive it It struck a chord, and I continued reading, listening, and using stuff But there's no denying that much of it is pretty as so tarot It can be damnnably hard to wrap your head around, unless you're talking about practicalities You know, like open standards, vendor lock-in, etc. I don't blame the average computer user for not getting free and open source software We generally do a horrible job of selling it truth be told Now politicians, on the other hand, I do blame since they're getting paid to understand sometimes complex issues But that's episode fodder for another day Regular folks, I give a pass The philosophy of software freedom is bound up in elements of free speech, creativity, and reduced or non-existent monetary costs All of which are good But it's also composed of arcane terminology, sexism, attendancy towards social ineptitude, and computer-based criminality None of which are good And you can debate the accuracy of any one of the elements I've just mentioned till the crack of doom But the sad fact is, the user, new to free and open source software, is met at the door by all these things Or the accusation of them, and they don't engender love at first sight, even the good stuff It's a sea change in attitude And people, by and large, simply don't want new attitudes, it's work And learning how to use machines that increase in complexity exponentially as new tech is introduced Is more than just a pain in the ass, if not impossible I mean, keep in mind that HPR listeners are computer and technology enthusiasts For some it's a hobby, for others a passion, for some it's a career, and for others just a job, and for many I suspect it's a combination of these things Yet, FOSS, by and large, is our bag here, it's what we're into If we weren't, all of this, the tech, the applications, the philosophies, and politics, all of it would be as boring and impenetrable as hell They've not, find someone who's into something you don't like, something you know they know a lot about Ask them to talk to you about the underlying issues or philosophies involved, but not to stop when you start showing signs of drifting See how that feels, that's what Mrs. Bronx, and a whole whole lot of other people are enduring To them it's my numbing, and technical, and pick you into the point of inanity It's a soteric yet containing of irritating practicalities, in short it's not what they'd prefer to think about And if it sounds like I am a vista-apologist, remember I need peace in my home, in other words yeah, there comes a point when you have to live in the world And sometimes the realization that it isn't a world of your making or choosing is hard I liked having a Linux household, and that might happen for us again But I'm a little more pragmatic now, if we can get what we want done with Linux, then fine, if not well Nah, nah I can't do what I can't do this anymore, I'm talking drivel We had a Linux household, and now we don't, and that bugs the living crap out of me I am living in a world neither of my making or choosing, and I wish it were different Now that should be liberating, practicalities by and large, relieve one of the burden of choice I mean when your needs are imposed over, or trumping of your convictions, you can proceed with a clear conscience And yet, what can I have done differently when the decision isn't mine, where do my obligations lie? I can't be held accountable for Microsoft's shortcomings certainly, but is there more I could have done to make false alternatives more attractive or fundamental to Mrs. Brock's? And the only answer I can come to and continually return to is no, she just wants it to work Which is impossible to fault, and difficult to argue against Oh, advocates often try when confronted by this sort of statement, but I have never heard a free software argument that invalidates the need for ease and expediency Okay, money and security are good ones, but in our case the money wasn't an issue and the security seems manageable, so what else is there? I mean, especially now that it's a done deal, and she's happy with the machine and its software Looking for alternatives is just more false pedantry, even in my head Try as I might, I can think of no compelling reason at this time for her to switch Maybe someday, if and when her VISTA install begins to crawl, it could be examined again as an option, but for the foreseeable future The better solution appears to be the worse alternative The better solution appears to be the worse alternative The better solution appears to be the worse alternative The better solution appears to be the worse alternative The better solution appears to be the worse alternative Rick, baby, that's what I'm going to flip side you head I say to Rick, baby, that's what I'm going to flip side you head Yeah, you got me so worried, got me talking out of my head Yeah, you know I love it, and you know my love is true I'm bringing all this up for selfish reasons I don't have anyone in the real world that I can articulate this sentiment and perhaps argument too No one in my circle of acquaintances is a Linux or FOSS advocate, and increasingly I am one No, I don't shake the tambourine, I hate that shit, and I'm certainly not accomplished enough to even preach to the choir But it's important to me Now I'm not going to stand in front of the crowd on King Street and get mowed down for a cause I don't get me wrong, I'm infinitely glad some people were willing to be But I'm no zealot, use what works, right? That's me And yet it bothers me, pure and simple, I wanted to overcome the software issues And stay in the freer part of the computing spectrum, a little, little thing Without realizing it, free and open source software has come to matter And I'm not sure I can adequately express how rare and occurrence that has been in my life Things just generally don't, and don't ask me to qualify that In fact, I really don't think you should need me to since many of the smiles I've been treated to in my days have been vapid and expedient And doubtlessly, some of those were yours Now that's entirely okay because some of them were mine too To be alive is to be practical When you're not practical, you're that patriot guy that zealot bleeding in the street Forging a new world order perhaps, but maybe missing dinner tonight You're that asshole who used his ideals to bruise the heart in however small a way of one who cares Ideally, the one who cares for the most Now as Arthur Miller wrote denigratingly, the cats in that alley are practical But if you'll pardon my boarding house for each credence saying, it ain't me I'm not privileged, I am no one special I wasn't born to be special, I'm not Richard Stallman or one of his thralls Admire them how I may Now yes, this is a lot of justification for a simple and simple-minded drama But the plain fact is, all things accounted, there's nothing else to be done Vista, friggin Vista, but there it is Because there's a need, a cry in the proverbial dark, which Foss, as yet, hasn't answered Maybe someday it will, but will the call still be going out by then? Practicality being rooted in time and circumstance after all Will anyone care to create the one that we need? Does I'm telling you if I were to do it? If I were to take the time to create such a project myself Assuming, which I do not, it was even possible Man, oh man, a chevets, the very technology was written for, would be long obsolete Before it ever saw the light of day Now I'm just being practical here, but as you can see, it cuts both ways I don't die in the street maybe, but I'm not free And that's a crap place to be, that's a crap place for a lot of us to be Because I'm sure as hell not alone in this Many people who like or are interested or potentially could be interested in free and open source software Are shackled to proprietary solutions to relatively common problems Some of those are due to IT fear or ignorance, but I'm telling you a lot of them Two damn many are not The solutions simply don't exist in Foss As a movement, we have made incredible strides But we have a long way to go and anyone who thinks differently is kidding themselves Because my wife, Mrs. Bronx, who could give a rat-type pink ass about software freedom one way or the other Took a good hard look at every single Foss solution that I could dig up And what would be required to run them and judge them all on their own merits And that weird, meandering trail through free and open source software applications Eventually led to a closed, proprietary and very expensive product Running on Windows Vista Not heaven-honored, not by a long shot But after all, and in the end, the best of all possible worlds Law is so good like that Don't you do it Give me all you got like that Don't you do it My temperature shots so high Don't you do it My system is so light This has been lost in Bronx You can contact me at Lost in Bronx at gmail.com That's L-O-S-T-N-B-R-O-M-X at gmail Feel free to write and tell me just exactly how wrong I am And how important working through the challenges of free and open source software truly is Especially on projects and in professional environments that matter to the wider community Because you know, I think I could stand to hear that sort of stuff right about now Take care Thank you for listening to Hack or Public Radio HBR is sponsored by Carol.net So head on over to C-A-R-O.N-E-T for all of us need Thanks for watching You