Skip to main content

Changing bootstrap

Hmm.. almost reminds me of The Gold Rush by Charles Chaplin. Must see if not already. But I refer to the changes the boot sequence of the personal computer has undergone over time. The term booting a computer actually bears its origins I believe to the art of strapping up them boots before heading out to do what was needed to be done. When I first encountered the fancy calculator it had a switch called AC or ON. That's it. You press it and the 7 element LCD started glowing bright. You could proceed to add or multiply or subtract if you chose and get an answer - lightning quick. Then came the need to do more than just algebra. We wanted to process words and work on elaborating the non elaboratable along with spreading the numbers to cover sheets requiring the invention of a personal computing device. This could not merely be a matter of hitting the ON button. OH NO. You now had to coax the sleeping brain out of its stupor by kicking it with an operating system or the OS. So to go from nothing to ON you had to go through the OS. The OS in turn had its own quirks. As the technolgical advances made it possible to share our creative sheets and processed words with others with a similar device there was a need to control the communication lest the bad guys saw the sheets. Hence the IP to IP internet communication had to be secured. This led to the OS getting to work some more so it could fire up other attendants that watched out for these distractions. They are called the Start Up processes. So now to go to ON you had to kick the OS that secured the IP to allow you to communicate or pontificate. All in all the wait time before you could actually do something got to the point that some of us almost forgot what we booted up for in the first place. That is the exsistential question isn't it?

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Of Jims and Johns

Here is another essay on the subject of first names. As in birth names. Or names provided to an offspring at birth. While the developed world tends to shy away from the exotic like Refrigerator or Coca Cola for their new production there is a plethora of Jims and Johns and Bobs or Robs. Speaking of which I do not think there is a categoric decision point at the time of birth if a child will be hereafter called as Bob. I mean have not yet met a toddler called Bob or Rob for that matter. At some point though the parental instinct to mouth out multiple syllables runs out and they switch from calling the crawler Robert to simply Robbie to Rob. Now speaking of - it is strange that the name sounds like something you would not want Rob to do - i.e. Rob anyone. Then why call someone that? After all Rob Peter to Pay Paul is not exactly a maxim to live a young life? Is it? Perhaps Peter or Paul might want to have a say in it? Then there is this matter of going to the John. Why degrad...

But What If We're Wrong?

I attempted to read this book by author Chuck Klosterman backward to forward but it started hurting my brain so I decided to stop and do it like any other publication in the English language.  Start from page 1 and move to the right. Witty, caustic and thought provoking this is a book you want to read if you believe that the status quo might, just might be wrong. At times bordering on being contrarian about most things around us it tries to zero in on the notion of what makes anything believable and certain in our minds.  The fact that there is a fact itself is ironic.  Something analogous to the idea that you can never predict the future because there is no future. Many books and movies have tried to play on this concept - best that I recollect (I think I am) was 'The Truman Show'.  This book by Klosterman attempts to provoke the reader to at least contemplate that what they think they know may be wrong. He uses examples like concept of gravity, and how it ...

Presumptive Society

Today's world is hyper connected.  I am not so sure what it means but you hear it a lot.  It is probably hyper but not sure how connected it is.  Sugar (fermented or not) is available in many ways than before and so getting hyper is easy.  It is probably more a threat than cocaine since it is sold legally. And what is this connected stuff?  Most people I encounter seem disconnected from reality.  So going back to this assumption that we are connected there are subtle and no so subtle instances of how brands and companies and middle men try to portray someone - A linkedin profile for somebody working for X years at a place advertises to the connected network that so and so is CELEBRATING X years @ Such and Such Inc. Do we know if (s)he is celebrating or cringing?  Perhaps a better way to portray will be - So and So LASTED X years @ such & such inc. Then it exhorts the readership to go ahead and congratulate them for this lasting effe...