Bucking the Technology Trends
Looking back I have to wonder if I have done this my entire life or is it a fairly recent phenomena. The ‘this’ being the seeming running in opposite directions of the technological trends. I have looked around recently and found several cases where I am seeming going in the opposite direction of the popular tide in regards to a technological trend. A few, going back a bit more, are really not that hard to grasp. For instance, the entire push toward the mini-laptop computers just really made little sense to me. Sure, they are inexpensive extremely light weight machines, that with a light O/S like my usual Linux can do a pretty good amount of stuff. On the other hand, they are extremely limited in processing power, usually light on memory and such as well, and having hands like Kurt Warner, using a keyboard that is smaller by approximately a third just does not work well.
A big example of what I am talking about is the concept of cloud computing. In my little IT world it all anyone hears and every seminar in the last year has touched on the concept in some way. I have to wonder if there is really that much to be gained outside of storage and a few applications that are really suited to the concept of the cloud. Okay, yes, I fully admit to using Dropbox – file storage in the cloud for both Linux, Windows, and even Macs. And once it is set up, you can run multiple machines to the same directory set and keep everything in synch/backed up. But what other apps run out there in the cloud? Despite all the hype, aside from a few things that are Silverlight based, what else is there besides email? And by the way, things like email out in the internet have been around for longer the term cloud has been used to refer to running things on the internet. I guess one could argue that any web-based application is running in the ‘cloud’ – but by that token it has been around for a long time – and besides, I do not think that is in the spirit of what is meant at least. I for one, aside from my websites and storage, have nothing besides one, ever shrinking email account that runs out there in the cloud.
Speaking of email, there was a time when I could not wait to get an invite to Google’s GMail product, so that I to could give it whirl and see what the hype was about. I admit, that over the last probably three, maybe six years I have used it a lot. It solved the one problem I was having back at the time and even before then. I had a desktop system at home and varied between desktop, laptop, and nothing that was personally mine at the respective office. It gave me a way to consolidate all my emails into one location and check them online. Not then I did not have a way to check them otherwise online – it was just one at time using cumbersome and sometimes buggy/dorky web-based clients. Welcome to 2010 though and I have my own personal laptop, as well as the one that I have with my at almost all times from the office. Also welcome I-MAP, where I can set up the client, check, move things around, and it stays the same on the server so when I hit it from the second computer. Also there was that whole thing that really left a foul taste in my mouth regarding Google saying, yeah, lets give providers the option to charge more for a fast lane on the internet. Add to that the confusion (I admit, often my own doing) from keeping my very hobby oriented email addresses separate from the more business venture or even just plan personal emails. Long story short, all the world it would seem is moving toward GMail at break neck speed and I, except for a handful of email addresses that have not been changed now have everything going back to the original emails I have had for twelve plus years and am using Thunderbird with its IMAP capabilities on the local machines.
Another trend I am bucking is getting rid of a LOT of plugins on the browsers. Granted, there are two are three that I still keep around and will do so for some time into the future. An example of my ditching that though is FireFTP for the Firefox Browser. I was watching it closely one day and realized just how slow it was compared to a normal outside of the browser FTP protocol program. Additionally, most stand alone programs support additional transport protocols, some of which are and some of which are not in FireFTP. The last straw though is when I had several browsing tabs open and FireFTP was running, it would slow the browser down to the point of graying out while processing caught up. FileZilla running by itself moves the data quickly and does not hinder my ability to browse otherwise.
Another place I have bucked the trend is my lack of experience in gaming either the MMOG or even that much of the Facebook time stealers. I dabbled some in both of them back at some point in time, mostly to see what they were all about. I admit both could become addictive, for different reasons mind you. But then I think about how much time has to be wasted to well in either of the platforms and I am quickly turned off. I think it has been at least three, maybe closer to five since I bought a new game to be honest. Yeah, when I get the hankering to waste some time and relax with some mind challenge but nothing so stressful as the real world I turn to a few old favorite like Railroad Tycoon II, Medieval: Total War, 1492, or Lords of the Realm. Be sure and check on the publication date on those to give you and idea of my being stuck in the past.
Last one I am going to mention is my extreme, almost die-hard usage of Linux lately. All the trends indicate that Linus as a desktop system is on the way down, dropping a lot to the various Mac systems that have come out lately, while Windows has remained fairly steady. I find that so interested. Aside from the occasional, mostly boot and get the current round of patches or to do something that was specific to Windows I have not used my Windows boot on my work laptop in approximately six months. It felt odd to boot into it last week for some extensive work that needed to be done.
Anyone else out there bucking the current technology trends?
** – Image originally from TheHerald.Com.Au
