28 April 2010
WINDOWS
“No, Steve, I think its more like we both have a rich neighbor named Xerox, and you broke in to steal the TV set, and you found out I'd been there first, and you said. "Hey that's no fair! I wanted to steal the TV set!”
- Bill Gates' response to Steve Jobs, after Apple accused Microsoft of “borrowing” the GUI (Graphical User Interface) for Windows 1.0*
Windows is an operating system, of course, and the dogged determination of Bill Gates to apply someone else’s vision has made him among the wealthiest humans on this planet. Bless him for his energy, and by report, Windows 7 is actually a pretty good system.
Bill Gates is paying his dues these days, based on the unimaginable wealth he has amassed through ruthless business practice. He wiped out the major competitor to devise the code that ran on the first IBM Personal Computer, and based his "Microsoft Disk Operating System" on QDOS, the "Quick and Dirty Operating System" owned by an outfit called Seattle Computer Products.
Bill bought the rights to QDOS for $50,000, keeping his deal with IBM a secret. Then he brokered a deal retain the rights to market MS-DOS separate from the IBM PC project. The graphic user interface- the Window itself- was stolen from Steve Jobs, who is responsible for the sleek white laptop that provides my window on the internet.
I wouldn’t touch Microsoft products with a ten-foot pole, any more than I would shop at WalMart. Unfortunately, Bill’s stuff is ubiquitous. My office is wary of the new Windows release, having been burned by that Vista monstrosity. We are still stuck on the XP release at the office, and between the network and the servers, it takes about ten minutes for the system to boot up. There is plenty of time to wander off and fix a cup of coffee and chat with the office buddies before it is ready to roll for the morning.
It even leaves you enough time to look out the real window. The workers down below the modest tower where I work are making great progress on the multi-use structure that will serve the interests of Virginia Tech. The trick is scooping out the basement; once that is done it is just a matter of pouring concrete through the towering tube. They are coming up a floor a week, it seems, and are well on their way to blocking my view of the low ridge that marks the edge of Arlington County and the beginning of the madness of Fairfax.
I had to drive out there, through the Jersey Barriers that mark the current chaos of the Metro expansion out to Dulles International and the re-wickering of the junction between I-66 and The Beltway. The traffic keeps coming, whether the road is constricted or not. In the face of the great recession the construction continues here in the capital. I don’t know if it is stimulus money being spent, or if this seemingly endless disruption has been strung out longer than necessary due to funding problems.
Going anywhere out there in the County is enough to give you the willies. Something is always going on out there, lane closures, dump trucks abruptly entering the high-speed lanes.
I was in the Hubrismobile, which is running just fine after spending the winter in semi-retirement in the cavernous Big Pink garage. The fine precision machinery produced by the German elves is a classic mis-match for the broken concrete reality. Passing one of the ubiquitous trucks a chunk of pavement flew through air with the force of a bullet, impacting the driver’s side window. I cursed and glared at the chip to see if spider lines would start to radiate.
I calculated what a German window cost to replace and sighed. I should have been driving he Bluesmobile, whose tank-like body and massive windows would have shrugged off the missile.
I thought about simplifying things. Maybe the precision machinery has to go. Maybe a lot of things need to go.
The spider web did not radiate. I counted that among the blessings of the day. I am lucky to have a window, I know that, and the opportunity to watch people who are really working. There is nothing more important than a window in government work. I used my first one in the Pentagon E Ring as a weather forecasting tool, signaling device and crude clock. It was quite remarkable. I was promoted and got an interior office in the D Ring, no window, and it was a tough couple years.
This sickly season only began to dissipate for me when I was able to get outside and expose my skin to the sun, gaining vitamin D and a growing confidence that the world will spin on and things- all of them- will work out.
Then I opened an e-mail and read that an old family friend had passed away unexpectedly. It was so surprising, since she was fit and energetic and five years younger than I am. Random tragedy; no way to prepare for it, no telegraphed signal that something horrible was going to happen. I sat stunned, looking out the window.
In the background, the radio murmured as some Senator was lecturing the bastards from Goldman-Sachs. It was a set-piece of phony emotion, since the lawmakers had permitted the whole house of cards to be erected, and now feigned outrage on our behalf. It was a real window into something that reeks of corruption.
I turned it off. If I think about those idiots and what they cost us all I would get angry again. Very angry. Those jerks should do some jail time for what they did with their clever instruments of finance, designed to fail.
Lord, I am glad the sun is shining later in the afternoon now. I looked out the window and watched the real workers clock out for the afternoon. Then I reached out to the computer and shut the stupid operating system down and joined them on the other side of the glass, where the air was fresh, and the fullness of spring was in the air.
Copyright 2010 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com
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