Something Beyond

“Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow.”

Ralph Walso Emerson

Google yesterday announced their plan to come up with a new Operating System, and although this is being treated with caution, it is a fresh and very bold idea: pc's that come with an operating system other than Windows.

Not a new idea of course and Linux has long been the operating system of choice for academics and software developers. But the idea is appealing, especially in the context of Net book computers. I can imagine going to Future Shop (or some other PC supplier) and seeing a row of PC's running Chrome instead of Windows. I've wondered for a long time why, when I buy a PC, I also buy Windows.

An interesting idea comes to mind. I have an old PC in the basement that stopped working, and I pulled the hard disk to save some photos. Suppose I could make it work again and simply put in a new, clean hard drive. Then, instead of Windows, I install Linux as the operating system. I would have a PC that runs UNIX in a native way - not dual boot and totally independent of Windows. It's probably doable, and might make an interesting project. It would also be a good way of evaluating the Chrome PC idea.