Just had a #DogWalkFlashBack to '94, the week I first arrived in Aotearoa. I installed Linux for the first time, on my desktop computer (486 dx2 66MHz, 32MB RAM, monitor was 800x600 pixels, common at the time). I remember the giddy feeling of realising that I had actual real multi-tasking, and I could log into my system from outside the Lincoln Uni campus. Plus I could log into my old account at UW (Seattle) & from it back into my desktop. Heady days. People came from all over campus to see it.
Those were the days when most people ran crappy old Windows 3.1 or, if they were very lucky and extravagant, a Mac 'doorstop' (as we used to call the little towers). A monitor that could do 1280x1024 pixel resolution cost over $1000. One that could do 1600x1200 cost $2500 & required you to reinforce your desk to be able to hold it up. The graphics cards (Matrox were a market leader back then) came with a few MB of RAM & you bought a separate CreativeLogic sound card to get more than squawks.
I can still remember how privileged I felt being one of probably just a handful of people in Aotearoa running Linux in those days - we were a small, tight-knit community. There were 2 other people on Lincolns campus where were doing it. I remember getting called into Royston Boot's office (the aptly named Lincoln IT manager) because I'd been saturating the Uni link trying to download the 25 floppy disk images required to install Slackware... Took me a week got get valid images copied to disks.
30 years later, I still feel fortunate every day to have this embarrassment of riches that is #libre | #FOSS | #openSource (I vastly prefer #Copyleft) software, & that I've been been able make it a viable, even prosperous careers. Because I know that if I can do it, others can too! More details: https://davelane.nz/my-open-history
Every day, I also think of the fact that the computer systems I run every day & through which I provide useful, gratis, non-exploitative services to many people (& make a reasonable living) are entirely dependent on code written by thousands of clever, generous, dedicated people - with a hugely disproportionate number of neuro-diverse and transgender folk among them - who've quietly poured their hearts & souls into that work. Making it way better than closed code written purely for profit.
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