My new Guardian column, “My new Ubuntu-flavoured ThinkPad is computing heaven,” describes the miraculously drama-free life I’ve discovered by buying ThinkPads with extended warranties and running the Ubuntu flavor of GNU/Linux on them:
The problem with writing about switching to Ubuntu is that there’s very little to report on, because it is just about the least dramatic operating system I’ve used, especially when paired with the extended warranties Lenovo sells for its ThinkPads. By this I mean that Ubuntu, basically, just works as well as or better than any other OS I’ve ever used, and what’s more, it fails with incredible grace.
This graceful failure is wonderful stuff, and after a lifetime of using computers I’ve decided that it’s the thing I value most in my technology. Ubuntu is free – free as in beer, costing nothing; free as in speech, in that anyone can modify or improve it. That means that on those occasions where I’ve had a bad disk or some other problem, I could simply download a new copy of the OS, stick it on a USB drive and restart from the drive to troubleshoot and repair the OS. I don’t have to take a rescue disk on the road with me, don’t have to try to run out to the Apple store at 8:55PM to try to buy another copy of the OS before the shop closes. Anywhere I’ve got a working computer and an internet connection, I’ve got everything I need to fail gracefully.
Here’s part three of my reading of my story-in-progress, Knights of the Rainbow Table, a story commissioned by Intel’s Chief Futurist, Brian David Johnson. Brian oversees Intel’s Tomorrow project, which uses science fiction to spark conversations about product design and use among Intel’s engineers, and he was kind enough to invite me to write a story of my choosing for the project. Intel gets first dibs on putting it online, but that’s it — I retain full creative control and the right to re-use it as I see fit.
Mastering by John Taylor Williams: wryneckstudio@gmail.com
J ohn Taylor Williams is a full-time self-employed audio engineer, producer, composer, and sound designer. In his free time, he makes beer, jewelry, odd musical instruments and furniture. He likes to meditate, to read and to cook.
I’m taking a day off from writing next week to speak at the Open University and Oxford. On May 18, I’ll give a talk on technology, regulation and general-purpose computing at the OU in Milton Keynes and at the Oxford University Scientific Society. Both talks are open to the public. Here are the details for each one:
Open University:
Date/Time: 18 May 2011 at 2PM
Venue: Jenny Lee Room 1 (Ground Floor, entrance via balcony)
Seating is limited, so if you plan to attend please email Mary McMahon (M.McMahon@open.ac.uk) as soon as possible so we can advise you if there is sufficient space.
Oxford:
Wednesday, 18th May 2011, 8.15 PM
University of Oxford, Inorganic Chemistry Lecture Theatre, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QR, UK
Talks are FREE for members and cost £2 for non-members. Refreshments will be served after the talk. Each lecture is followed by a reception with drinks, snacks, and the opportunity to talk to the speaker. If you would like to come to dinner with the speaker beforehand, please email the President (aguharoy@gmail.com) before 12 midday on the day of the talk.
Review:
ALA Booklist
no one can dole out technological cautionary tales while simultaneously celebrating technology as cunningly as Doctorow
Daniel Kraus, Booklist
Review:
MBR Bookwatch
“With a Little Help” is a fun read of science fiction, highly recommended.
Paul T Vogel, Midwest Book Review
ALA Booklist has posted a stonking review of With a Little Help:
Anyone who grooved to the counterculture vibe of Doctorow’s young-adult novels Little Brother (2008) and For the Win (2010) will embrace these stories heartily—no one can dole out technological cautionary tales while simultaneously celebrating technology as cunningly as Doctorow. This volume’s single never-before-published story, “Epoch,” is the standout, an ethically thorny but heartfelt update on the classic sf conceit of an AI that becomes too self-aware. Never one to avoid the jugular, Doctorow doesn’t bother to assign Google an alias in “Scroogled”; the depiction of a world where we’re all “Googlestalked” until we’re “guilty of something” feels chillingly immediate. It’s not always easy to warm up to Doctorow’s purposeful characters, but it’s easy to be swept up in their just-barely-futuristic travails of surveillance gone wrong and privacy shattered. Reading this on your iPhone? Then these stories are probably for you.
ALA Booklist has posted a stonking review of With a Little Help:
Anyone who grooved to the counterculture vibe of Doctorow’s young-adult novels Little Brother (2008) and For the Win (2010) will embrace these stories heartily—no one can dole out technological cautionary tales while simultaneously celebrating technology as cunningly as Doctorow. This volume’s single never-before-published story, “Epoch,” is the standout, an ethically thorny but heartfelt update on the classic sf conceit of an AI that becomes too self-aware. Never one to avoid the jugular, Doctorow doesn’t bother to assign Google an alias in “Scroogled”; the depiction of a world where we’re all “Googlestalked” until we’re “guilty of something” feels chillingly immediate. It’s not always easy to warm up to Doctorow’s purposeful characters, but it’s easy to be swept up in their just-barely-futuristic travails of surveillance gone wrong and privacy shattered. Reading this on your iPhone? Then these stories are probably for you.
Here’s part two of my reading of my story-in-progress, Knights of the Rainbow Table, a story commissioned by Intel’s Chief Futurist, Brian David Johnson. Brian oversees Intel’s Tomorrow project, which uses science fiction to spark conversations about product design and use among Intel’s engineers, and he was kind enough to invite me to write a story of my choosing for the project. Intel gets first dibs on putting it online, but that’s it — I retain full creative control and the right to re-use it as I see fit.
Mastering by John Taylor Williams: wryneckstudio@gmail.com
J ohn Taylor Williams is a full-time self-employed audio engineer, producer, composer, and sound designer. In his free time, he makes beer, jewelry, odd musical instruments and furniture. He likes to meditate, to read and to cook.
The Escape Pod people had some technical problems with their Shannon’s Law podcast. Here’s the fixed MP3.
