Friday, June 20, 2003

'78 Ford Grenada I've been reminiscing recently about my old high school car. It was a beast,but it had its positives. Sure, it was ugly and uncomfortable, and yes, it would often stop working. But when it did stop working, I could fix it. I changed the clutch and the brakes, always changed my own oil and plugs, and I knew how to get it to start when it didn't want to. It wasn't that I was some sort of genius, it was just that it was all there - accessible, assembled with standard tools, and purely mechanical. I open up the hood on my car today and I am completely lost. Electronic ignitions, fuel injectors, computers - even some of the bolts and screws require a specialized tool. If my car breaks down today, I'm screwed. Somewhere along the line, we lost that connection between man and machine where we completely understand how it works. Where everything used to be made up of small discreet components whose function and mechanism that were understandable to the layman, now we open our hoods to a black box that very few people can understand. True, the black box exposes way more of its diagnostics to us in the form of intelligent messages and warnings (my Grenada had one dashboard light labelled  "engine"). But when those systems fail, or even when they tell us something that requires action, we are forced to go to an expert. So are we better off? Well, I have to admit that I would rather drive my Volvo than that old Ford Grenada. It is much more comfortable, has many more amenities, and ultimately, forces me to open the hood much less often. But if I were stuck in a world without mechanics, I would take the Grenada. I think the same argument can be applied to the Unix versus Windows discussion. Windows is more comfortable, has more amenities, and forces the user to get beneath the hood less often. Unix, like my Grenada, is completely accessible. It can be ugly, and may not have all the bells and whistles, but if I need to fix it, I can. Now, I know some people will disagree with me. There are some who are much more comfortable with Unix, just as there are some who still prefer the old cars, and for much the same reasons. But for the most part, the mainstream would agree with my statement. So why is it that we can't have the best of both worlds. You could make the case that Linux is heading in that direction, although I think Mac OSX is closer to what I am looking for. In any case, don't be surprised if you see new cars coming out in the future that return some level of control to the home mechanic. Then again, most in our society would much rather sit in an auto shop lobby than wait on the end of a customer support line... 10:45:16 AM