Night of the long queue
Should any photos surface that show me attending the "Night of the Panther" launch last night (hint: I'll be the only one not wearing black) let me just assure you I haven't become one of those "switchers". The evangelical apple-turnovers. The iPod-people.
No, my serious philosophical commitment to the ideals of free-as-in-freedom software would prevent me from ever being tempted by the dark side. That and the fact that I've never been in a financial position to afford an Apple machine. I've been happy enough using Macs at work and ever since OSX, I've thought of Macs as being the machines I'd prefer other people were using. Young, rich, sophisticated urbanites with well-honed aesthetic tastes. Those I am wont to mock but secretly envy. Conversely, it is relatively easy not to aspire to owning a machine capable of running the latest Microsoft offering.
Perhaps it's a shame that you'll never see a long queue of people along Tottenham Court Road awaiting the latest release of Debian buzzing with raw geek-energy and anticipation little removed from that of a sci-fi sequel premiere. For the hard core, the "Debian unstable", every night is an upgrade. Every apt-get promises the thrill (or the shock) of the new.
Drawn, cheifly by the prospect of beer 'n' pizza, I was present at the scared rite of "installation" that followed - but fear not, I maintained my cool cynical distance by occasionally pointing out how the emperor was clad rather scantily on that chilly October night:
Me: I don't think I'd happily pay another 100 quid just
for a point release.
Nick: Ahh, but it's much more than just a point release.
Me: So what sort of new stuff does it have?
Matt: It doesn't really have new stuff, it has significant improvements
on previous features. Better bindings for python and perl, that
sort of thing.
Me: Ahh, so it's a sort of... update. Like a... point release?
Tom: I don't think I like you.
