Michael Dell sends a signal on Ubuntu

Michael Dell is using Ubuntu on his desktop computer according to an email from him to Martin Varsavsky. Michael obviously didn’t tell Martin this to indulge in idle banter, and I’m sure he wasn’t too surprised to see it on Martin’s blog.

Dell is sending out a clear signal to Microsoft. We don’t need you anymore. The desktop operating system and the standard productivity applications are becoming a commodity. Give us a better deal.

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Umberto Eco on the Macintosh

Tom met Steve Jobs and talked about Freedom vs Simplicity. This is something Umberto Eco wrote on the topic quite a while ago.

The fact is that the world is divided between users of the Macintosh computer and users of MS-DOS compatible computers. I am firmly of the opinion that the Macintosh is Catholic and that DOS is Protestant. Indeed, the Macintosh is counterreformist and has been influenced by the “ratio studiorum” of the Jesuits. It is cheerful, friendly, conciliatory, it tells the faithful how they must proceed step by step to reach – if not the Kingdom of Heaven – the moment in which their document is printed. It is catechistic: the essence of revelation is dealt with via simple formulae and sumptuous icons. Everyone has a right to salvation.

DOS is Protestant, or even Calvinistic. Continue reading