GNUs not Unix

This is a chance to declare that yes I use 'linux'. Yes I love it and I love the Free Software Foundation. I love the idea that it helps with a free society, a society where people can connect to the internet and learn how to use a computer without having to join the apple mac cult. Don't get me wrong Steve Jobs makes nice laptops but I can't accept the price tags along with the culture of churning through 'new' products because a button colour has changed. It is so hard to imagine why anyone would end up in that world but I guess its because you a trapped in the adobe photoshop cage. I imagine that it's the marketing campaign that comes with certain proprietary software products that misinforms and miseducates the next generation of consumers.

I blame 2 things primarily. Identity must play a part and industry culture must play a part. In terms of identity apple mac users must have been drawn towards a certain look. The young, creative. A trendsetter or disruptor. Maybe a f you to the corporate world or a rejection of the IBM computer scientist types. Anti- nerd uber creative types who have carved a niche in content production. Then there is the cultural part that follows. To be seen to be serious about your profession then you must carry the laptop, be a semi hipster because full hipster is whack and finally you are saying that you too are a creative individual juts doing your creative thing.

Well sustainability wasn't cool when I studied Product Design at the University of Leeds, Yorkshire, England. It was a churn of new products under the banner of innovation and creativity. I couldn't work it out. It was such a self serving model that serves the pockets of investors and those looking for the next ipod. I was taught to think like that and I hated it. My conclusion was that the best design is next to no design, invisible design or minimal design. I read Victor Papneks book and it changed everything I thought and I pretty much abandoned the idea of being a designer. Fast forward 15 years and I still think the same and its got worse.

Piles of rubbish pollute the earth. The sea is contaminated with plastic and refuse and most of this is owing to the vast number of products that are made somewhere on earth. Plastic that was created, shipped and used in a manufacturing process. Just imagine the amount of energy used in this and then consider the natural resources that were consumed in the energy processes throughout. This is probably not a thought in most people's mind when buying new plastic but that's part of the problem. Addicts. Things, objects, novelty and bullshit.

It happens with software as well but maybe not as obvious for some. How much energy does a server stack use. The main server, back up then archive. Its a huge footprint for a small imaginary LAN. Must internet culture is dire and further pollutes minds. A dreadful state of affairs in the quest for information. Maybe we could change a bit of this by re-using machines and breathing new life into old devices with replacing batteries with solar panels and cooling on the quarterly sales targets. Some will complain but it is an alternative no matter whether you choose to see it.