"Give a man a fish, and he can fix himself a meal. Teach a man to fish and he can feed himself anytime."
Just curious, y'all:
Software:
Is everybody doing microsoft? Are there any apple users? Are there any open source users? (Free/Net/OpenBSD, Linux, etc.) What are you doing for home system security? (Anti virus, adware control, malware defense, hardware/software firewall.) (Actually, virii, trojans, keyloggers, pop-ups/unders, browser helper objects, (some) toolbars (and sometimes cookies, java/javascript apps, flash), can all be lumped under the label "malware".)
Hardware:
What kinda hardware are you running? (Which CPU; how much memory; which graphics controller; serial or parallel ATA; USB 1 or 2; firewire; peripherals?)
Are there any African tech businesses that do hardware stuff? Are there any African businesses that are marketing complete computer systems? (I'm thinking "white box" systems where one orders the parts, builds puters in-house and sells them out of one's own store-front/home business.)
Independence:
Are any of the African businesses NOT running on microsoft? (UNIX, Solaris, AIX. HP/UX, AS400? Or?) Are there any African businesses doing their own security/system administration/maintenance? Can you still access backups from two, five or more years ago?
Education:
Is there anyone interested in getting to know technology well enough to be self-sufficient?
(I'm runnng FreeBSD 4.10, on a 667Mhz Celeron board, with an XFCE4.2.1 desktop, using Mozilla 1.7.6. My firewall/gateway is a 486/66Mhz box running IPFW on FreeBSD 4.8, doing 1.5/768 DSL through Speakeasy. I've got a few other Pentium 1 machines networked with a Netgear 10baseT hub. All this stuff is administered/maintained and put together by me; such a nice feeling of accomplishment to feel safe to surf with tools that I built! No malware, no pop-ups, no central registry for just any web site to dig my personal info out of!! (That's how some of the "identity theft" happens; drive-by reading of your registry.)
<shrug> I like the idea of selecting my own rod, reel, line and lures, and then deciding where I want to go today to fish. I like the feeling of deciding just which fish I want to throw back, which go into the freezer and which go into the frying pan tonight! Not for me the one size fits all supermarket where they allow me only certain wines with my fish, and only certain sizes and types of fish, conveniently configured for broiling, baking or frying, and do their best to say that I have to store it in this freezer and use that stove with these pans!)
Just curious, y'all:
Software:
Is everybody doing microsoft? Are there any apple users? Are there any open source users? (Free/Net/OpenBSD, Linux, etc.) What are you doing for home system security? (Anti virus, adware control, malware defense, hardware/software firewall.) (Actually, virii, trojans, keyloggers, pop-ups/unders, browser helper objects, (some) toolbars (and sometimes cookies, java/javascript apps, flash), can all be lumped under the label "malware".)
Hardware:
What kinda hardware are you running? (Which CPU; how much memory; which graphics controller; serial or parallel ATA; USB 1 or 2; firewire; peripherals?)
Are there any African tech businesses that do hardware stuff? Are there any African businesses that are marketing complete computer systems? (I'm thinking "white box" systems where one orders the parts, builds puters in-house and sells them out of one's own store-front/home business.)
Independence:
Are any of the African businesses NOT running on microsoft? (UNIX, Solaris, AIX. HP/UX, AS400? Or?) Are there any African businesses doing their own security/system administration/maintenance? Can you still access backups from two, five or more years ago?
Education:
Is there anyone interested in getting to know technology well enough to be self-sufficient?
(I'm runnng FreeBSD 4.10, on a 667Mhz Celeron board, with an XFCE4.2.1 desktop, using Mozilla 1.7.6. My firewall/gateway is a 486/66Mhz box running IPFW on FreeBSD 4.8, doing 1.5/768 DSL through Speakeasy. I've got a few other Pentium 1 machines networked with a Netgear 10baseT hub. All this stuff is administered/maintained and put together by me; such a nice feeling of accomplishment to feel safe to surf with tools that I built! No malware, no pop-ups, no central registry for just any web site to dig my personal info out of!! (That's how some of the "identity theft" happens; drive-by reading of your registry.)
<shrug> I like the idea of selecting my own rod, reel, line and lures, and then deciding where I want to go today to fish. I like the feeling of deciding just which fish I want to throw back, which go into the freezer and which go into the frying pan tonight! Not for me the one size fits all supermarket where they allow me only certain wines with my fish, and only certain sizes and types of fish, conveniently configured for broiling, baking or frying, and do their best to say that I have to store it in this freezer and use that stove with these pans!)