Welcome to the Fast-Air Tech Talk newsletter. The Tech Talk newsletter is a free service for all Fast-Air customers. Please feel encouraged to suggest newsletter topics.
Windows 10 is a data mining surveillance tool. There is no privacy. The Windows 10 Anniversary Update worsens privacy concerns and includes more advertising. You are the product.
Perhaps you have hardware not supported by Windows 10. Perhaps you are concerned about the remaining lifetime of the Windows system you are using. Perhaps you do not want to spend money on a new computer. Perhaps you are tired of the entire Windows way of doing things, the malware, the relentless cycle of paying hard-earned money to keep your computer functional and safe.
Is there an alternative? One without the annoyances, encumbrances, spyware, and privacy invasions? One that is truly free, with no trickery, and users are not the product?
Imagine doing the following with your computer: surf the web, exchange email, use reminders, read the news, participate in online discussion forums, watch videos, stream music, create song play lists, manage photos, write, and use spreadsheets. Run virtual machines to run additional computer systems on a single physical computer. Record videos, use a media center computer to watch videos on the TV. Remotely manage computers. Play Solitaire — freely and peacefully with no disrupting ads or nag notices.
Consider better security. Not worrying about malware and viruses. About ransomware. About browser hijackers. About spyware. About privacy. About data mining. About anything phoning home. About usage telemetry. About nagging to update. About being coerced or tricked into updating.
Consider security updates being released in a timely manner. Critical and well published security exploits being patched and released within only a few days, sometimes within hours.
Consider never worrying about defragging hard drives. About reinstalling the operating system every few months. About waiting hours to shut down or reboot the computer. About system cleaning or removing junk and bloatware. About computers getting slower. About malware popups trying to fool users into installing malware.
Imagine not needing to restart a computer after performing most updates. Imagine trusting all updates. Imagine fast updates rather than waiting hours to use your computer.
Imagine no tracking or data mining on the computer.
Imagine using a computer the way you want. The freedom to modify programs. The freedom to study source code. The freedom to improve programs. The freedom to tinker. The freedom to choose. The freedom to contribute and participate.
Imagine software development being community driven rather than stockholder driven. Imagine a community of people sharing software with one another to avoid proprietary vendor lock-in. Imagine never worrying about being locked out of data and files. Or that data files become unusable after updating software.
Imagine no minimal cost or fees to use this software. Free. Forever.
Imagine installing a fully functional system that includes popular app software and not just the operating system. Imagine after installing a full gamut of app software, the hard drive space used is less than 10 GB.
Imagine moving a hard drive from one computer to another without needing to install new drivers. Imagine not needing to reactivate a license because there is no activation at all. Imagine not worrying about licenses at all.
Imagine using aging hardware and avoiding pressure to continually buy new hardware.
The secret? Installing Linux.
Caveats? Depends. Some sweat equity is needed to run specialty or vertical Windows software. Examples include Quicken and QuickBooks, AutoCAD for professionals and engineers, tax software, fillable PDF forms, and some online multi-player gaming. Many people do not use such software and could find themselves free of the Windows nightmare. For those who use such software there are options of using equivalent software or running Windows concurrently with Linux.
Want to see Linux in action? Play with the Fast-Air demo system. The demo system runs Linux and demonstrates one way of running Windows specialty software. The demo system also has a lot of equivalent software already installed, which demonstrates not using Windows at all.
For those wanting to dip their toes without actually yet trying Linux, using equivalent apps on Windows is a safe way to get acclimated. Examples of such software is available in a previous Tech Talk article.
Most of the Fast-Air servers use Linux. The Backwoods Geek has used Linux for many years, which includes five networked computers.
Contact us for more information.
Technical trivia: Grace Hopper is credited with coining the term “debugging” as to how she fixed the Mark II computer in 1947. She had found and removed a dead moth inside a mechanical relay. Hopper also developed the high-level programming language called FLOW-MATIC, which influenced the development of the COBOL language.
Next issue: Click Bait and FUD
‘Tis a big and beautiful world. (Music by First Aid Kit).
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