I’d make a fortune if I got paid every time I post a note to this blog or to Twitter about how I have found the perfect new system to use. This time I have settled. I have landed. I have decided to stop trying to find a perfect system. I’ve used Linux and tried to keep everything completely free software, then left as I got annoyed at things I couldn’t do. I’ve gone the other way and gone back to the Mac using all paid-for software and got fed up with the lack of freedom and the cost of (for the most part) inferior software.
I am now using Ubuntu, but have enabled Medibuntu and various other repositories that have non-free software. I am using OpenOffice for documents instead of Vim and a LaTeX plugin. I am using Evolution instead of Mutt. I am using Drivel to post this to my blog instead of trying to hack emacs or vim to do it for me with the help of a mere 78 scripts along the way. I am enjoying myself and have not yet found anything I can’t do.
I am selling my Mac and never going back.
For now.
I saw kid on a sliding plastic thing where he could skid from one end to the other - like being on ice but warm and with plastic. He would zoom from one end to the other, loving the the sliding and balancing. I think we are all permanently on a dry-slide between “I will do this completely free” and “I just want it to work today”. And like the kid, we just dont want to get off. Glad someone else is going through it too !
Hi Paul - cheers for posting a comment! I think the sliding is sometimes the fun bit, I’m sure the reason I keep on top of work as effectively as I do is that I see all my notes and tasks at least once a month as I move to yet another text editor or task manager. Although, now I’ve developed my own, and realise it’s possible to build my own usable software, I may not flit as much as I used to. But then again, that sliding sure is fun…