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

On the go(zay masta) in Japan again

Cool cat the Japanese are Tokyo at dusk  My second visit to this land of the rising sun after almost a decade. Back then clearly I was wet behind the ears product manager and likely didn’t pay attention to all (efficient) things Japanese. But today I did and of course continue to be impressed. It is as much the obvious stuff like on time travel that is both clean and comfortable and all that which makes it possible. The impressive landmark and landscapes that these humans have put together despite their cramped (or because of it) surroundings and precarious geological conditions could amaze a novice architect among us. But it’s also the little things that someone had to think about which have a phenomenal impact on day to day lives that make the Japanese stand apart. Below are few random examples- 1. Providing a very fine machined wooden toothpick in every packet of wooden chopsticks. The said chapsticks are simply set on the To Go counter of any food vendor/ convenience store wher...

A few good books

 On an informal mission to read one book a week as long as the eyes allow for such ambition. Fiction or non is not important as long as it entertains and /or educates. To that end the past few weeks have brought a bounty in the form of some wonderful and then not so engaging literature. Among the notables are - Non fiction category: 1. Good arguments by Bo Seo (how to handle a dispute or debate the most efficient way possible) 2. Genesis by Eric Schmidt (and former US Secy of State Henry Kissinger, who recently passed) - how AI might affect our lives as we know it 3. One in a billion - Zarna Garg (an autobiographical look at an Indian born American woman with a bindi narrated in a standup format - yes it is at times cliched but still funny) Fiction: 1. Personal by Lee Child (a vigilante story with Jack Reacher the giant, nomad protagonist of Child's novels goes hunting for a sniper) 2. Ramayana unraveled by Ami Ganatra (she might disagree about it being a work of fiction but oh wel...

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...