Archive for November, 2006

Operating Systems and Personality


01 Nov

These first two quotes are straightforward explanations of what an operating system actually is. Things are, however, more complex than that.

An operating system (OS) is a computer program that manages the hardware and software resources of a computer. At the foundation of all system software, the OS performs basic tasks such as controlling and allocating memory, prioritizing system requests, controlling input and output devices, facilitating networking, and managing files. It also may provide a graphical user interface for higher level functions.
Wikipedia

Your computer, despite being a collection of highly sophisticated parts, is really just … well, a collection of highly sophisticated parts. On its own, it can do nothing other than switch on and off and spin a disc or two. In order for it to do anything useful, it needs an operating system (OS) to guide it. The OS takes an essentially well-endowed but completely uneducated hunk of a machine and educates it, at least enough so that it will understand what you want it to do. < ?php amm_getMediaID('amm_default_output',29);?>

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Communities and Operating Systems


01 Nov

Among the Oxford English Dictionary definitions of “Community” is the following:

A body of people organized into a political, municipal, or social unity: such as members of a civil community, who have certain circumstances of nativity, religion, or pursuit, common to them, but not shared by those among whom they live.

“Community” and “society” are opposing concepts. We “join” communities. We are a “part” of a society. In a ‘community’ we bring our personal strengths to bear for the common good. In a ‘society’ individuality must be protected against the depersonalizing, anomizing process by which people are grouped together and ‘Wal-marted’ into indistinguishable simulacrums.

The postmodern reaction to the mass-produced, least common denominator impersonalization has been a proliferation of communities. As products have become such a central part of our lives we have seen the growth of “Brand Communities” such as the ones that have developed around Harley Davidson motorcycles and Macintosh Computers. As the Internet becomes the ultimate facilitator of interpersonal communication, “virtual communities”, whether product-related or not, have multiplied at an astonishing rate. (more…)

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