Wanderings

Regarding the current situation with the United States’ undeclared war on Iraq, perhaps a quote from the German National Socialist (Nazi) Hermann Göring is in order:

“Naturally, the common people don’t want war, but after all, it is the leaders of a country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag people along whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. This is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country.”

—Hermann Göring, at the Nüremberg trials after WWII

My cynicism about computers and the power hungry ways of operating system (OS) manufacturers have tended to temper my willingness to enter the “PC vs. Mac” debate. However, I have just read the most articulate and beautiful exposition as to why Mac OS X is so much better than Windows, and I have found it reverberating in unexpected ways in terms of how I think about all the little things I immerse myself in daily. Compared to what computers should be, both OS options (as well as Linux, Solaris, etc.) are quite terrible. But within the general failings, there are differences, and significant differences. Some differences might even lead to inspiration. An excerpt: