jake olsen

I switched to Ubuntu on my laptop, leaving Windows and passing OSX.

My first experience with Linux was in 1997 when I was managing a Windows NT network and wanted to move DHCP off my servers (DHCP and WINS were flaky as hell). Routers were not a commodity at that time, so I took an old 486, loaded Red Hat, setup IPCHAINS and masquerading, and had a DSL connection shared throughout the office in a couple of hours. The last time I tried to run Linux at home was in 2002 with Mandrake, now Mandriva, which worked for about a month, then I realized I actually needed to work (and occasionally game) and not spend so much time tinkering.

Ubuntu has a pretty slick installation, rivals Windows with only ONE massive software update post-install. Synaptic and apt are great for installing/removing software, and the feeling I get for support open source software is pretty good.

I tried AIXGL & Compiz (video here), but it was way too slow on the poor Intel chipset.

Connecting to WPA2 was a pain in the ass until I realized network-manager (nm-applet) helped with this.

We’ll see how much I miss Windows, so far, so good, but my laptop is not my main development machine.

–jake

I wrote this a couple weeks ago. Gordon Smith doesn’t like me.

Mr. Smith,

I am a co-founder of Platial.com, an Internet start-up company, and I wanted you to know that I was extremely discouraged to see your vote against Net Neutrality. I will not guess as to why you voted against the bill, but I will let you know how this affects our business and other small businesses like me.

Entrepreneurship on the Internet has now taken a step back. Access to information was never a barrier to entry as it will become. The US government has created a new competitive advantage for those companies that can afford to pay.

In our business, we connect with many 3rd party services, some large companies, some small. If those organizations cannot afford to pay higher prices, we will no longer be able to provide the quality of service to our customers, we may even lose some of the services we provide.

Personally, I am saddened to see that my access to information will be throttled and limited… to know and understand that my children will not have the same access to information.

Here was a chance to do something right, and you didn’t do it.

I encourage you to support Net Neutrality in your future votes. I have hope with some encouragement, you will make the right decision.

–jake olsen
co-founder & CTO, Platial.com