killing time

At the moment I'm hopeful.

I've been partaking in a discussion in an online forum on the importance of grades (at school, university, etc.). My knee jerk reaction to grades is annoyance. So much emphasis is put on grades, especially in highschool. Get good grades, go to a good school, be successful, be happy. We all know there is more to life than this. Yes, the emphasis on grades can be a downer. We can pick apart the system and point out its flaws - grades are not necessarily an accurate indicator of future merit or intelligence. There are plenty of examples of people who got good grades simply because they test well and then can't do anything, or those who test poorly and go on to do some amazing things.

So, if they're not a good indicator, why not get rid of them? Well, used in conjunction with other things, they can be helpful. As I said, my initial response is disdain for grades - on the surface, those who make important decision in a person's life (school admissions staff, potential employers, etc.) seem to take too much stock in what grades a person got. I don't think that's really the case though and I'm hopeful because I think those with any real sense weigh things up correctly. Unfortunately for all of us, people with sense aren't always the ones make important decisions.

Because of this, we have a few options. One option is to complain about the system, decide it's fucked up and have disdain for society. The next option is to subscribe to the status quo without question. The third is to use the system to your advantage and maybe make some positive change.

It's nearly lunch time

At the moment I'm hopeful.

A couple of months ago, I started duel booting Ubuntu with Windows XP. After a few weeks, I wiped XP off my computer. Since then, I've started learning more and more about Linux and open source software in general.

Through this learning process, I've gone through periods of rage and joy. If companies want to charge for a piece of software, that's fine. I'll gladly pay for software if I think it's worth it. There is just plenty of free software out there that works just as well or better than something you have to pay for. The rage comes when companies luck Microsoft effectively trick people into think that their software is the only way to go. This practice not only impedes the development of great open source and/or free software, but it costs people money. The joy comes when I know that what is right will win in the end.

A recent experience with my MSI netbook bugger me. I needed to update the bios in order to get it to function properly with Ubuntu 9.10. MSI supplied the bios update on their website. Unfortunately, the simple way of updating was only available using Internet Explorer (while obviously running Windows). There was another option to flash the bios through DOS, which a did, but was a bit tricky. Why Internet Explorer? Does anybody actually use IE?

I suppose a company like MSI could turn around and say they can't make an easily installable update for every operating system. Actually, they can. They make one for Windows, one for Apple, and one that can be run in the terminal of a Linux machine. I bring up Apple because they are shooting themselves in the foot making people think that you can only run a Mac OS on a Mac machine. If they really wanted to take on Microsoft they'd make this more apparent.

But, back to hopeful. Everyday I see that more and more people are using Open Office rather than Microsoft Office. That's a step in the right direction.