posted by George Gaboury on April 10, 2014   Update: 5/9/2014

After updating my Windows XP operating system for what will probably be the last time on Tuesday, April 8, I looked at an old dusty bookshelf of unusable Windows 98 and Windows 95 scientific software near my Windows XP bookshelf - soon to be dusty as well.  I went to bed and dreamt of an ominous Darth Microsith and his horrible agenda that we accept as status quo.

There are two kinds of computer operating systems:
  1) Open source code operating systems where the human friendly source code that generates the operating system's cryptic machine code is shared openly with the public.
  2) Dark source code operating systems: where the human friendly source code that generates the operating system's cryptic machine code is kept secret by its developers and is not shared with the public.

As a cyber Yoda might say, beware the dark side of the source.  Once you give in to the dark side, forever it can dominate your cyber life.

I remember how open source code operating systems supporting popular computers decades ago got faster with time - not slower.

Why do we now accept it as natural that computers with secret operating systems should get slower with time?  Is this any more intelligent than blind acceptance of the indoctrinated notion that terrorists in 2 planes caused three world trade centers to collapse on 9/11?  What is the real agenda of the Microsith with every secret "security" Windows update?

Is it really just the natural way of things for Microsith's operating system to always need relentless updating or is it intentionally designed as buggy in secret to condition us over time into a shock and upgrade traumatized paranoia every five or ten years when the Microsith walks away from supporting their secret system. After several hundreds of security OS updates spread out over years, aren't we thoroughly conditioned toward upgrade or perish paranoia when the "security" updates stop?  Is this really coincidence or is it a subtle scam against the people of the world?

So the Microsith and its parasitic app partners get their pound of flesh out of our wallets every time they end support for one OS after another.  Each time we pay for OS upgrades, app upgrades and hardware upgrades that will be supported once again only for a few more years into the future.

Then the Microsith tries to woo us with the wonders of their newest buggy operating system - if you only knew the power of the dark side of the (new) source . . .

The Applesith isn't much better.  Some of their operating system is open source, but much of it is dark code too with its own time limited sith support scam agenda.

Why should we continue to purchase secret code based computers that only a Microsith can upgrade and only when it wants to  - a Microsith who will abuse you in the future with forced repetitive shock and upgrade trauma for jugular profit.

If you need a part for an old vintage car, you can often find someone in the world on the internet who can get you that part "off market" and sell it to you.  Likewise, anyone in the world can help support and protect a computer with a popular open source operating system 50 or a hundred years from now.

The people and hackers of the world are the auditors of open source OS programmers.  They keep OS programmers honest and on their toes to write good code.  They reward good programmers with meaningful kudos.  Bad or malicious developer code is exposed quickly with few excuses possible.  The OS quickly becomes more stable and more secure.  A Sith can't stop the people from fixing bad open source code.  We the people deserve an internet and PC backbone that runs on open source.

Isn't it time we started weaning ourselves away from the Microsith and Applesith's secretive computer operating systems that security scam us every few years?  Shouldn't the poorer people of the world with older hand me down computers be able to continue using their PC's safely for however long is needed?  Are we going to let the Siths continue to dictate when we must throw out our hardware and software to be cyber safe?.

WALK AWAY FROM THE DARK SOURCE

You can convert your old Windows XP PC to a free Linux open source OS based machine, that can surf the Internet, use Open Office Word / Excel clones for free, watch YouTubes, be protected from viruses and more.  Other software apps may not yet be available, but they could be soon if more of us use these machines and more of us write apps for them.

Ubuntu is an open source form of Linux, that's fairly easy to install on your old XP PC.   See http://ubuntu.com for details.

UPDATE - A BETTER LINUX OPTION

Many users however are justifiably concerned about Ubuntu's capability to data mine some of what you are doing on your computer and forward that information automatically to Amazon, unless you carefully opt out of the data mining default when you install Ubuntu.

Our April 2014 SF Tesla speaker, John Light recommended Linux Mint 16 as a more respectful implementation of Linux and we concur.  It has much of the same user friendly interface of Ubuntu without the Ubuntu data mining issues that could unnecessarily compromise some of your privacy.  Linux Mint 17 is a newer version being released that is also worth considering.

See   http://www.linuxmint.com for details.

You can even boot either Linux version temporarily on your PC from a DVD drive and still run Windows later.  This option lets you try Linux on your XP PC to see how you like it before you commit to installing Linux on your hard drive.

You can also still safely run expensive XP apps on your XP computer as long as they are not internet intensive. You can update your hard drive to let you choose when you want to boot with XP or Linux.  This option lets you run your XP apps from your PC and safely urf the net via Linux when you want.

If you want to use your XP PC for XP apps only, you could  grab an another old XP machine from Ebay or a friend and convert it to/Linux for safe Internet intensive browsing.

Finally, if you are still thinking of throwing out your XP PC, why not convert it to Linux and give it to someone who can use it that way or give it to someone who can convert it for others.  A lucky starving student somewhere might be empowered to write an awesome open source app on your converted open source PC to benefit the whole world.

We're thinking of helping to start a local user group to help us wean each other away from the cyber Siths.  Please let me know if this is something you would like to actively participate in.

Remember, when its open code, the source will be with you always :)

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