Re: [9fans] nix at lsub

[Comeau At9Fans <comeauat9fans@gmail.com>]

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On Thu, Apr 19, 2012 at 1:56 PM, Lucio De Re <lucio@proxima.alt.za> wrote:

> > I may be biased, but still sure some general flavor of Comeau for
> > Plan 9 could be a near term and not expensive endeavor (though it
> > depends upon ones definition of inexpensive too I guess).  And Qt
> > definitely has its place in the world.
>
> I've bought the Go faith lock, stock and barrel, to mix a couple of
> metaphors.  And I like Go specifically because its core belief is that
> it is high time conventions were tossed out the window.  I am actually
> quite frustrated because I feel that evolution in the IT field is
> taking a path of least resistance (I have occasionally pressed Russ
> Cox to relent on the policy of minimal change in the Go toolchain, I
> seldom, if ever, won on principle) and wish "I had words like a
> hammer" to promote a much more aggressive approach to do what is right
> rather than what is expedient.
>

IMO, there is nothing generally wrong with taking the path of least
resistence, so long as open is open minded and also so long as it is not
the only path being considered.


> I'd like to mention, for example, the idea expressed here that a $35
> device will give you 3D capabilities.  Sure, but the same $35 could
> give you considerably more and accepting what's on offer is, in my
> opinion, wimping out.  Maybe I can immodestly (and probably
> untruthfully) say that _I_ could do better than that and that so could
> many others in this forum and we are all compelled to sacrifice our
> possible contributions to a better world by those in the industry that
> know how to manipulate our gratification sensors.
>
> I could list many examples (and so no doubt could each one of us here)
> of benefits whose real cost is much higher than the amount of dollars
> being spent on them.  In some respects I am fortunate: I live in an
> old Apartheid-built small town in South Africa and the digital divide
> is so obvious here, yet there is no real cause for it.  But I don't
> have the skill to express how infuriating it all is...
>
> What I'm looking for is to replace obsolescence with efficiency: 3000
> pupils in my immediate vicinity could enjoy much better access to the
> Internet (_any_ access to the Internet) if I could deploy KA9Q over
> MSDOS as the primary software on 8088 based computers.  I know this
> because back in 1992 I had precisely that hardware serving single
> dial-up connections from a small community of BBSers.  These children
> don't need pr0n or video clips, Facebook or twitter, they need text
> access, e-mail, the much maligned and damaged e-news, just as I found
> them useful back in the very early 1990s.  But we are stealing that
> from them by moving the entry bar ever higher so that our obsolete
> computers and our mobile phones with dead batteries and incompatible
> SIM cards, VGA monitors, memory simms and all manners of perfectly
> useful IT equipment cannot conceivably be deployed to improve their
> standard of living and their ability to catch up.
>
Understood.


> What I'm looking for is the community that is savvy enough to embrace
> new technology and caring enough to propagate their gains to those who
> do not have the same access to that technology instead of making sure
> of the opposite.  I don't believe that there is a conflict, in fact, I
> think that's the only option open to us, I'm just waving its flag a
> little ahead of the tsunami.  And that tsunami includes Go, Plan 9,
> possibly Android, vx32 and Raspberry Pie.  I pray that I'm not just a
> crazy visionary.
>
Why not pray that you *are* a crazy visionary? :)


> Anyway, sorry to rant like this, I don't even know if it made me feel
> any better to do it, I do hope that some of you will see things from
> my perspective and perhaps my feelings will resonate with your own.
>
> Lucio.
>
>
>


--
Greg Comeau / 4.3.10.1 with C++0xisms now in beta!
Comeau C/C++ ONLINE ==>     http://www.comeaucomputing.com/tryitout
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