A few days ago I turned on my laptop to begin a writing session and was greeted with a pop-up from Microsoft telling me I needed to do a Windows update. I punched go and went to the kitchen to make coffee. Two and a half hours later the computer finally finished downloading and updating and downloading and restarting. Windows has gotten absurd and is driving me to build my special writing computer.
And Microsoft knows it. The company helped lead the computer revolution with the idea that big, mainframe computers with remote terminals were obsolete. Bill Gates envisioned a computer on every desk. In fact, this vision meant Microsoft missed the very beginning of the Internet revolution because Gates didn’t see the usefulness of connected computers.
Now, with cloud computing, Microsoft is all in. They almost require you to be connected to work. They now call Windows a service, not a product, and there are reports that they will soon demand that they control your entire desktop – they call it DaaS Windows and Microsoft Managed Desktop. And of course, for your convenience, they will charge a monthly fee for doing it. If you don’t pay, you don’t need to use a computer.
All of this has led me to investigate building a free software computer for writing.
I’ll update in the category Writing Computer available in the menu at the top of each page.
