BEDA 2: this BEDA thing is going well

So well in fact that we were organized enough to schedule people for the 32nd and 33rd of March. Shame we forgot. So much shame...

Anyway, here is something. A day late, but it's something. I shall pick the theme "something that has frustrated you lately".

Because I have spent the last couple of days playing around in the boot menus of laptops trying to get them to run Linux. And that is a very frustrating thing. 

Linux is an open-source operating system kernel that has many people working on releasing new variants all the time. Computers running Linux tend to be slightly behind on ease of use compared with Windows and Macs, but they also tend to be simpler in the essentials, and they let you do whatever you like with the computer if you know how. Also if you don't know how, which can get a little dangerous if you're not careful. 

Since I have a decent idea of what I'm doing most of the time I prefer to run an operating system that wasn't written for laymen, and there are many people who agree with me, which is why Linux's market share (if you can say that something free has a market share) is increasing. Naturally, Microsoft and Apple don't like this.

Now for Apple there's not much they can do: their computers are already locked up and pretty secure against anyone running any software that hasn't received their blessing. If you buy a Mac, you run Mac OS*. If you are Microsoft, then your reaction to this is two-fold: start making computers, and write more defensive software.

Now, I wasn't stupid enough to try to install Linux on one of Microsoft's "sufaces", but I didn't realize just how well Windows 8 and the Microsoft Boot loader could cling to a computer. I spent a day with a new laptop, trying first to get the computer to recognize that there were other boot options than just Windows, and then to get it to actually boot them successfully. Eventually I took it back. Luckily I had explicitly asked the shop assistant if I would be able to install Linux and he had said yes, so the guy behind the help desk who was of the opinion that obviously that PC wouldn't take Linux was willing to refund it as I was wrongly advised. Half a day of research and a different shop later and I had a new laptop. The one on which I am now typing. 

It appears that, for the most part**, ASUS make computers that are not hardwired to defend Microsoft's territory. Acer are not so good. I assume money exchanged hands. But I now have a Linux Laptop***, so I'm happy. 

So that's what I've been doing the last couple of days. I hope your Aprils have all been more rewarding so far.

* Unless you're Linus Torvalds, the guy who started Linux. He reputedly runs his own OS on a Mac. But he seriously knows what he's doing. 

**Check before buying, don't take my word for it, if you want to do this...

***The particular variant of Linux that it runs is called Fedora. That's right, my computer is a Nice Computer.