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multiplicity_archivesThere's a lot of computers out there. Most of them run Windows as a primary OS, and as such communicate pretty well and understand how each other works. But a percentage of computers don't - they might run Mac OS, Unix, Linux, a BSD variant, or any of a few other OSes. These computers communicate well with each other and understand what makes each other work - but they and the windows boxes don't always play nice.
I mean, basic communication is fine. The vast majority of what you want to do on the internet, communication is fine - it only gets hairy when you want to do things that directly involve the inner workings of the OS, like set up a home network and use the same printer on both machines. This gets a little more complicated because those inner workings are just a bit different - what usually happens is the non-windows machine adapts to communicate with the Windows machine - like a *nix and windows box networking using Samba. It pretends it works like windows while they are talking, but it secretly is doing things differently than it says it is...it conforms. Since the majority of computes use windows, that works pretty well...almost too well, as the windows boxes now simply expect everyone else to act like them and very rarely adapt to work better with other OSes any more.
Now, Linux and Windows have one very interesting difference...multiple users. Without getting into a discussion on OS fundamnetals that most people who could understand already know how this works anyways, there's no real difference between user accounts in the OS - if one person logs in, then switches to another user, all Windows really does is not let you see the stuff the other user is doing. Fundamentally, it's a single user system. Linux, on the other hand, was designed from the ground up to be used by multiple users, so that there is a complete and total seperation between multiple logged in users. Say two college programming students are connected to the same Linux machine through different terminals to do their programming work. As far as each one is concerned, the other person isn't there at all, it's like they're runnning on different computers. With Windows, you just need to get around the barriers seperating user privlidges to access the other person's stuff.
While most desktop Linux boxes only run a single user, they all have the capability for more. We are the linux boxes that do. Each personality is a user account, and while we share a box / body, we ae seperate individuals. I cannot control my headmates' thoughts or emotions any more than I could close a program another user is running. We pretend to act as a single user when communicating with windows boxes, since it makes things easier, but there is a fundamental difference there, and try as they might, a windows box cannot fully grasp what it's like to have seperate accounts, the closest they understand is how Windows does it, one user/mind that fragments - they can do some stuff different, but in the end they're the same, I can hit control-alt-delete and it will show your and my programs, it just will say I'm not allowed to close them if I try, whereas on linux each user is totally unaware of the processes the other user is running at the OS level.
That's why it's hard to "come out" to singlets. They work in a fundamentally different way and can't relate, except in their terms, just as we can't truly relate to what it's like to be wholly and completely alone. That's also why for a long time the only answer was integrate - become like the rest of us. Why are you running Linux, what's that? It's differnt than Windows? But there's no games, no Direct X. Software XYZ needs XP to run, you can't use it. Switch to Windows, or at least run Wine. But now people are starting to understand (slowly) that we are different on a fundamental level, and the answer isn't try to be like them but learn how to be ourselves. We are part of a system, and none of us are root! Just because one person logs in more doesn't mean they're the "real" one! None of us is the "true" person, we're all equal, whether there's 2 or 200. Accept us as we are, don't make us go back into hiding, and maybe the world will be one small step closer towards that lofty goal of peace.
I want to post this on a computer-centered board/community/journal/whatever now >.>
-Dan
I mean, basic communication is fine. The vast majority of what you want to do on the internet, communication is fine - it only gets hairy when you want to do things that directly involve the inner workings of the OS, like set up a home network and use the same printer on both machines. This gets a little more complicated because those inner workings are just a bit different - what usually happens is the non-windows machine adapts to communicate with the Windows machine - like a *nix and windows box networking using Samba. It pretends it works like windows while they are talking, but it secretly is doing things differently than it says it is...it conforms. Since the majority of computes use windows, that works pretty well...almost too well, as the windows boxes now simply expect everyone else to act like them and very rarely adapt to work better with other OSes any more.
Now, Linux and Windows have one very interesting difference...multiple users. Without getting into a discussion on OS fundamnetals that most people who could understand already know how this works anyways, there's no real difference between user accounts in the OS - if one person logs in, then switches to another user, all Windows really does is not let you see the stuff the other user is doing. Fundamentally, it's a single user system. Linux, on the other hand, was designed from the ground up to be used by multiple users, so that there is a complete and total seperation between multiple logged in users. Say two college programming students are connected to the same Linux machine through different terminals to do their programming work. As far as each one is concerned, the other person isn't there at all, it's like they're runnning on different computers. With Windows, you just need to get around the barriers seperating user privlidges to access the other person's stuff.
While most desktop Linux boxes only run a single user, they all have the capability for more. We are the linux boxes that do. Each personality is a user account, and while we share a box / body, we ae seperate individuals. I cannot control my headmates' thoughts or emotions any more than I could close a program another user is running. We pretend to act as a single user when communicating with windows boxes, since it makes things easier, but there is a fundamental difference there, and try as they might, a windows box cannot fully grasp what it's like to have seperate accounts, the closest they understand is how Windows does it, one user/mind that fragments - they can do some stuff different, but in the end they're the same, I can hit control-alt-delete and it will show your and my programs, it just will say I'm not allowed to close them if I try, whereas on linux each user is totally unaware of the processes the other user is running at the OS level.
That's why it's hard to "come out" to singlets. They work in a fundamentally different way and can't relate, except in their terms, just as we can't truly relate to what it's like to be wholly and completely alone. That's also why for a long time the only answer was integrate - become like the rest of us. Why are you running Linux, what's that? It's differnt than Windows? But there's no games, no Direct X. Software XYZ needs XP to run, you can't use it. Switch to Windows, or at least run Wine. But now people are starting to understand (slowly) that we are different on a fundamental level, and the answer isn't try to be like them but learn how to be ourselves. We are part of a system, and none of us are root! Just because one person logs in more doesn't mean they're the "real" one! None of us is the "true" person, we're all equal, whether there's 2 or 200. Accept us as we are, don't make us go back into hiding, and maybe the world will be one small step closer towards that lofty goal of peace.
I want to post this on a computer-centered board/community/journal/whatever now >.>
-Dan
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no subject
Date: 2006-08-11 01:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-11 02:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-11 01:58 am (UTC)ADDITION
Date: 2006-08-11 02:13 am (UTC)Re: ADDITION
Date: 2006-08-11 02:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-11 12:33 pm (UTC);)
I think
Date: 2006-08-11 03:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-11 04:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-11 04:39 am (UTC)ps -aux. Even as a user.
On openbsd there was a patch called 'Stephanie' that would
stop even that.
In Plan9 the compartmentalization is even more so that under
unix - each process has it's own namespace that can include
it's own filesystems not shared or even known by the other
users or even processes of the same user - unless they share
the namespace intentionally.
The discussion about the difference between monolithic and
microkernel architecture was best illustrated in the debate
between Andy Tannenbaum and Linus Torvalds.
With the microkernel architecture - the biggest challenge is
communication between the different processes that make up
the OS.
With the monolithic kernels - they get so big and complicated
it is hard to change or modify them,
Microkernel - multiple (Plan9, Minix, Amoeba etc)
Monolithic - singlet (Most BSD, Linux)
Hybrid - median ? (windows, novell, Mach i think)
--- Miri
MOD PARENT UP, INSIGHTFUL
Date: 2006-08-11 10:44 am (UTC)Ah well, the analog was cool in theory...
Re: MOD PARENT UP, INSIGHTFUL
Date: 2006-08-11 01:16 pm (UTC)Analogy good in the differences.
--- Miri
no subject
Date: 2006-08-11 04:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-11 07:40 am (UTC)With your permission we'd like to run this as a guest article (http://www.astraeasweb.net/plural/guest.html).
no subject
Date: 2006-08-11 10:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-11 12:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-13 11:26 pm (UTC)