An acquaintance kindly provided me with a real, oldstyle keyboard; as I type 100 wpm. ?What do dancing fingers do on a laptop computer?! I went into a pre-holiay Apple store in the mall; not any keyboards in sight.

Steve would have acted more quickly that Tim C in the Foxconn policy adjustments, maybe; but Apple maps Steve would have chastened in his famous scimitar fashion.

Nowadays, Google has kept a banner atop gmail for months; it warns that ‘some featues’ of IE8’s browser are ‘obsolete’, or about to be so frustratingly implemented on Google that I will leap into the arms of Chrome. ?Who is driving this bike?

What I notice is people with Apple apparatus have bulletproof hardware and software. In the IE environment, the daily routine is virus watchfulness.

But I followed Bill G. and Steve J. from the time each was stepping out, early; I daresay Bill wrote better BASIC. Steve always could find people who could rob clock cycles to make cute utils, until another 1,000,000 lines of code could start working.

And Al Gore was very wrong to hire the anti-MSFT atty to prosecute Bush in Y2K’s election dispute. It’s a business rivalry, not a crusade. I’m not sure how Al G looked at that, or whether simply he was deferring to his Party’s leadership in counsel selection.

Steve J saw a path to riches for his company and functionality for a lot of people at a fair market price.

I have not followes S Ballmer’s policy statements. But that’s probably where I begin when assessing another computer. Meanwhile, there is a once-editor of Dr. Dobb’s whose work with new code and new languages always is of interest; those snippets lay the foundation of future OSs. No way I am going to opine on Linus, bless his heart; I hear Mitch Kapoor likes open source, too.

There are those who have a preference for certainty.

Not saying I’m one, but sometimes I can sympathize.

“When the Curtain Comes Down,” performed by Diana Krall and Steve Buscemi.

Think of it as that shiver of dread just before the revelation of a glorious dawn;) Anyway, Happy New Year everyone.

@person1597: I appreciate your quoting Machiavelli;
“There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things. For the reformer has enemies in all those who profit by the old order, and only lukewarm defenders in all those who would profit by the new order, this lukewarmness arising partly from fear of their adversaries … and partly from the incredulity of mankind, who do not truly believe in anything new until they have had actual experience of it.”
I feel like i’m on the edge of things, and sometimes it is scary. I think that evil corporations would wither and die if we did not give our money to them, and that what we need to do is turn our backs on them and see what a non-corporate life would be like. i am part of the Transition Town movement (from England to VT then the Berkshires of Mass) trying to relearn the old skills, rebuild a localized economy. And in that spirit, i ripped out my heating oil system and built a masonry heater. I didn’t blog about it because i didn’t want to discourage anyone should my efforts end in disaster. But i’m feeling rather safe and secure – i have figured out this new system (ilnvolves shopping wood!!!1!) and i am actuarially doing it! And enjoying health benefits in addition. (Good thing as this system does require physical effort)

@Kathryn in MA:
Keep chopping! (Cedar splits easiest for me.) Here’s a chart of firewood Heat content

Tech is still fascinating to innovators because, like a blank canvas, the solution to the puzzle is a work of art. Mundane stuff (like infrastructure) is the bread and butter of corporate continuity, but sometimes it is fun to make things that are just for grins and not necessarily practical in any sort of corporate utility.

Whimsey is not part of what makes Moore’s law so effectively deflationary, but sometimes, once in a while, a joy-ride ends in epiphany.

In his most noted letter (December 10, 1513), he described one of his days—in the morning walking in the woods, in the afternoon drinking and gambling with friends at the inn, and in the evening reading and reflecting in his study, where, he says, “I feed on the food that alone is mine and that I was born for.” In the same letter, Machiavelli remarks that he has just composed a little work on princes—a “whimsy”—and thus lightly introduces arguably the most famous book on politics ever written, the work that was to give the name Machiavellian to the teaching of worldly success through scheming deceit.

When newer-faster-better becomes leaner-meaner–killing-cleaner then uh,oh… the cutting edge becomes the bleeding edge. That is the dark side of engineering, one that nags the conscience. Engineered repugnance, one might say.

While “making things better” is the intent, the actions taken inevitably create visceral reactions as participants must adjust to a new configuration in the zero-sum game that is politics — local or global. Folks just can’t give up their cherished indoctrinations without grief.

One might simply say…

Food, clothing and shelter — these are the basic needs. Beyond that, if you want anything, it is the beginning of self-deception.