Re: [9fans] nix at lsub

[Lucio De Re <lucio@proxima.alt.za>]

> 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.

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.

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.

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.