| wIndependence Day Essay: The Return of the Gurus |
by Peter Pyrkosz (August 1, 2002)
by 'Duke Shellwalker'
A long, long time ago on the network far, far away . . .
For more than a thousand hardware generations Unix Gurus were the guardians of peace and justice on the network. Before the dark times. Before the Empire.
I grew up in small farm community. Back then we had one small computer for 30 students at school. I learned my way and become good in that art. But I did not follow my path till personal computing revolution, till late 80s. Unfortunately, it was a time of rising Empire.
My choices were limited. Supporters of Old Republic, like MacIntosh, were hunting down and destroying by the Empire. I was forced to use DOS and have only one type of window at home. Fortunately, there was a New Hope, there was a Linux.
Back then installation was not easy. I was saying to myself: "Alright, I'll give it a try.", but my mind was replying: "No! Try not. Do or do not. There is no try." Yes, my mind never learned proper English.
I installed Linux, and I sense something. A presence I've not felt since... And my mind said: "You must learn the ways of the Source, Duke". And I did.
Technically speaking, I had Linux installed in dual-boot with Windows for sometime. I kept both systems in clean condition. One day, my Windows crashed. I was disappointed, because I spent 2 weeks customizing it for my needs. I recovered from backup, but Windows was never the same. It lost stability and kept crashing on me. I decided to make a move...
I spent money. I ordered the newest official Red Hat Linux 5.2 with official CDE and Applixware Office. I removed Windows completely. Beginnings were not easy. I was struggling reading Other Office documents in Applixware, but I survived hard times. There were more, and more application for Linux. I felt saved. But my employers did not share my feelings. They were finding my lack of faith in Windows disturbing. Fortunately, the Source can have a strong influence on a weak mind. And I show them the light side of the Source.
Some people, looking at my laptop, asked: "You run that thing? You're braver than I thought!" But others noticed: "The Source is strong with this one."
For unbelievers my mind prepared a short speech: "Size matters not. Look at my laptop. Judge it by my size, do you? Hmm? Hmm. And well you should not. It runs Apache, Sendmail, POP3/IMAP, and can support hundreds of users. You can compile anything you want on it. For my ally is the Source, and a powerful ally it is. People create it, make it grow. Its like energy, surrounds us and binds us. You must feel the Source around you; between you, me, the keyboard, the monitor, everywhere. Yes, even between the Net and the computer."
But not all my employers were convinced. One very stubborn once said to me:
"The source is with you young sysadmin, but you are not a Guru yet. If you only knew the power of the dark side. Your Manager never told you what happened to your project."
I replied: "He told me enough! He told me you killed it!"
"No," He answered, "I put it on Windows."
"You can't win, Boss", I fought back, "If you fire me now, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine."
"I don't believe it", He replied.
"That is why you will fail", I said packing my desk, "The source will be with me, always."
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