There I was last Saturday night, having dinner with AWB and his wife Laura during a lightning visit to Australia. Well, it’s a well-known fact that all good things must come to end, and this evening was no exception, but when the bill arrived, AWB offered to pay and, I’ll tell you, I froze. Alarm bells exploded inside my head, and my guts twisted with uncertainty and conflicting emotions.
I felt like I was stepping onto a slippery slope; sure, it started with a free dinner, but where would it end up? Me, splashed across the front page of every newspaper in the country in disgrace, or even worse, shipped to Iraq and dumped in the dock with Saddam?! I mean, how would you respond if you were offered a ‘free meal’ by the AWB? (And to me this is the AWB). Would you think twice?
I quickly cleared my head, and realised the foolishness of my thoughts, but that I could hesitate for a moment - that I could question everything I’ve always taken for granted - shows how insidious this situation is, and how real is its potential for harm.
Then, while still reeling from my brush with corporate kickbacks, JJ emailed me* some breaking and troubling news concerning AWB and another of my close friends who had somehow been drawn into this scandalous affair: ‘AWB bigger terror threat than Thomas: QC’.
It suddenly occurred to me that my friend ‘Bomber’ Thomas might have got his nickname for reasons other than his love of the Essendon Football Club. I’ll make no unsubstantiated claims though, and take consolation in the fact that if AWB is, as claimed, a bigger threat than Thomas, and if I can handle AWB, then I should be ok with this new challenge as well. Time will tell.
* Let me restate that this image was sent to me by JJ, which is why it has that Fisher Price, pre-school look-and-feel of Windoze XP, and not the refined sophistication of OS X. :-)
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The easiest way to clear the confusion from your head about AWB is to pronounce him in your mind/verbally, like I do, as a singular noun....'aWob'.
ReplyDeleteI think I might take a leaf from the nab’s book and call him 'awb' (ORB)?
ReplyDeleteNot that I should feel any need to defend myself against the charge of not swigging Steve Jobs' kool-aid and agreeing that, yes, his latest overpriced, underpowered, closed-standard piece of crap is fantastic simply because it comes in a pretty, drool-proof box.
ReplyDeleteTake a closer look at the icons on the taskbar, representing the programs I was running at the time: Gaim (an IM client, replacing MSN Messenger); Eudora (a mail program, replacing MS Outlook); Mozilla Firefox (a web browser, replacing Internet Explorer); Lemmy (a text editor, replacing Notepad); and StarOffice (an office suite, replacing MS Office).
Isn't it marvellous to use a platform so ubiquitous that you can source any application you choose, and even the Operating System, from one of many third-party developers?
I can certainly see why Apple ditched its old OS for a new, UNIX-based OS only ten short years after Linux was first available for PCs.
P.S. Also there is BitComet, being used - of course - to download a large publicly available software patch, as was intended by the originators of the BitTorrent protocol.
P.P.S. Sure, IE is open, but as you can see it is still set to the default home page.
I feel violated.
ReplyDeleteNot that I should feel any need to defend myself
ReplyDeleteNever again are you allowed to make that fishing rod/reeling in panto that you love to do when I ‘bite’ because you, my friend, are easier to land than an empty hook. :-)
against the charge of not swigging Steve Jobs' kool-aid and agreeing that, yes, his latest overpriced
In my experience you get what you pay for.
underpowered
I wouldn’t call quad-processor desktops and supercomputers underpowered.
And with the entry-level machines, what are you wanting to run that they wouldn’t have enough power for?
closed-standard piece of crap is fantastic simply because it comes in a pretty, drool-proof box.
Whilst being indicative of a holistic approach to design and an enviable attention to detail, the box is really just a bonus.
Isn't it marvellous to use a platform so ubiquitous that you can source any application you choose, and even the Operating System, from one of many third-party developers?
I don’t actually need to source alternate apps because Apple’s ones are so good, but if I actually wanted to, I’d find it no harder than you:
Adium (a multi-protocol IM client, replacing iChat), Eudora / Thunderbird (mail programs replacing Mail.app); Mozilla Firefox (a web browser, replacing Safari); BBEdit / Pico (text editors replacing TextEdit); OpenOffice (an office suite replacing MS Office); and Azureus for downloading legally available files as was intended by the originators of the BitTorrent protocol. I might add that there’s also VLC: a media player replacing Quicktime.
And even the Operating System? Maybe it’s not that far off...
I can certainly see why Apple ditched its old OS for a new, UNIX-based OS only ten short years after Linux was first available for PCs.
Better late than never. It’s a great company that can have both the vision to see where it can improve and the courage to make that change despite the many obstacles in its way.
Back and forths aside, I’ve always found your commitment to your principles to be inspiring, JJ, and I love it that you’ve got all these alternates... even if your replacement for Windows Media Player sucks. :-)
And even the Operating System? Maybe it’s not that far off...
ReplyDeleteIn fact, so not far off that it's already here! :-)