Hi there, On Tue, 29 Jun 2010, Olwe Bottorff wrote: > One of the problems I see with Linux is how it's still a large, monolithic > system that sits on a large hunk of computer iron, be it a desktop or a > clamshell lap-slab. Of course Apple and Windows have this problem too. And > So if what I'm saying is sorta true, where *does* a full-blown > second-generation Unix workstation like Linux fit in as we move into the > future? Your thoughts.... I just don't understand The Cloud mentality. I want my data on MY MACHINE, in my DIRECT CONTROL. I want my applications running on my machines, in my direct control, because if the apps are running somewhere else, then somewhere else has my data. I know I'm at the extreme on this. Ever since the late 90s I've been running my own webservers, my own DNS servers and my own Email servers. Most people don't go that far, but I want my data and applications on machines I control directly. Most people don't want that or need that. The thing is, it's the future. Kids Nowadays are getting used to not having ANY privacy (thanks so much, Facebook), and really just doing everything on the browser (thanks a lot, Google). Storing everything on "the internet" is the next natural step. Understanding even LESS about how things work is the natural progression. Back In The Day using a computer at all, evenfor relatively simple things like word processing took a certain amount of knowledge. And I'm not talking mainframes. I'll go all the way to "Modern" computing and the PC-Compatible. You still needed to know how to boot DOS, you needed to change floppies or go "B:" and you needed to run wordstar.exe or whatever. You needed to hit ^P^B for boldface. You needed to go ^X^S to save. The knowledge curve is much much lower now, but even with a Brand Spankin' New computer with Windows 7 on it, people still need to get an application installed if they want to word-process, and occasionally go "Start->New Word Document" or whatever. You need to be aware of disk space. The future? You get a new laptop, you type in your Google username and password (or "Create new account") and you're done. There's a big email icon. Someone sends you a doc, it opens it. You don't need to know what's writing the doc. You don't need to know where it's saved. You don't need to worry about disk space. You don't need to know ANYTHING. Not only that, but you don't really get a hell of a lot of choice. Maybe there'll be a "Choose your document editor [x] Google [ ] The Other Guys" but most people will just go with defaults anyway. And then Google will eat everyone else (because someone has to). I'm keeping my desktop, thank yoy. I'm keeping my 'monolithic' operating system. I'm keeping my incredibly overcomplicated system, my incredibly overcomplicated servers, my incredibly overcomplicated network setup, and all my own data. And when there's a network outage, I'll still be able to access my stuff. -Yaron --