Ubuntucat

I’m always appreciative of comments on my blog, even from those who disagree with me (as long as people can be civil about it). It’s one thing to know “X visits have been made to your blog,” but it’s another to know what people actually think (I agree / I disagree / I sort of agree-disagree). At least those are real people and not spambots.

Fortunately, for me and a lot of other bloggers, the Akismet plugin WordPress is pretty good filters out the comment spam. Nevertheless, I’m confused by these spammers who say things like “I’ve enjoyed reading your post [proceeds to quote the entire title of the post]. I’ll be adding you to my blogroll. Thanks!” and the website of the commenter has the word viagra in it. I mean, come on! Does anyone fall for this?

Don’t answer. I know someone must. I know there must be some people who approve the spam, just as there are some people who click on phishing links or fall for the I’ll-wire-you-money-from-Nigeria scams. If people didn’t fall for this stuff, the spammers wouldn’t continue with this stuff.

I guess this just makes me sad about humanity—both that some people lack a conscience and that others are gullible or ignorant enough to be taken advantage of by the non-consciencers.

You may enjoy “reading” my blog, but I’m not going to post a link to your viagra, pills, meds, child porn, or real estate website. Sorry!

Linux users love to be outraged.

Ever since Dell started selling certain models with Ubuntu Linux preinstalled, Linux users on forums and blogs have been complaining that Dell hasn’t been doing Linux justice. Why did they pick Ubuntu instead of another distro? Why is Ubuntu available in that country and not my country? Why is Ubuntu available on only these certain models? Why isn’t Ubuntu advertised better on the Dell website? Why does Dell keep recommending Windows Vista Home Premium, even on the Ubuntu build-your-system-page? And why would a computer with a cost-free operating system (Ubuntu) ever be more expensive or the same cost as the same computer with a costly operating system (Windows)?

Back in 12 July 2007, after much outrage from the Linux community, Dell finally admitted the pricing difference was a mistake:

Dell Ubuntu Linux buyers were recently outraged when a price comparison between identical Inspiron 1420 laptops showed that instead of the Ubuntu system being cheaper, it actually ended up costing $225 more than the same laptop with Vista Home Basic Edition. This was after Dell had announced the week before that Ubuntu systems would be $50 cheaper than similar systems running Vista Home Basic Edition.

“Bottom line this was an oversight, pure and simple,” a Dell spokesperson told DesktopLinux.com. “We will be posting a comment to IdeaStorm to that effect by tomorrow.” In the meantime, Dell says that the prices have been reset to the appropriate prices.

Since then, though, comparative prices of Vista and similarly spec’ed Ubuntu computers has fluctuated. At times, both are roughly the same price. Then Ubuntu is slightly more expensive. Then Ubuntu is slightly cheaper. As far as I can tell, it comes down to Dell occasionally offering special discounts, “instant savings,” and promotional upgrades on only the Vista computers. So if you take the price as is, Ubuntu is cheaper. But if Vista happens to have a special deal that week, Vista will end up cheaper or with better specs for the same price. In other words, Dell is promoting Windows computers and only offering Ubuntu ones.

Various Linux users have proposed reasons as to why the Ubuntu computers might sometimes cost more or be only slightly cheaper than the same Windows computers:

• Windows computers usually come with what’s known as “crapware” (all the free trial software people typically uninstall—AOL, Norton Antivirus, etc.). Those companies pay Dell to put that “crapware” (i.e., advertising) on its computers. And you typically see these programs on Windows installations more than Ubuntu ones, so the Windows computers are subsidized by third-party software vendors.
• Windows licenses may be so cheap as to be practically free. Dell probably has bulk deals with Microsoft. I can’t imagine they pay even close to full retail on those OEM Windows licenses.
• Microsoft, in fact, probably pays Dell. Why else would Dell Recommends Windows Vista Home Premium be plastered all over the Dell website? Do you really think they recommend Vista? No. They’re paid to recommend Vista.
• Dell has operational costs. It is not as if offering Ubuntu is free, even though the operating system itself is free. It takes a lot of time to develop proposals, test hardware, work with Canonical, develop an infrastructure for support, and adjust the Dell website accordingly in order to offer a new option apart from Windows. Dell has to recoup that loss, just as a bookstore that orders you a special copy of a rare book might have to charge you more for that book than for a New York Times bestseller.
• There are other components that do cost money. Even though Ubuntu itself is free, Dell has now added in legal commercial DVD playback and MP3 playback. Those licenses cost money, even if the Ubuntu ones don’t.

Given all of those factors, I’m frankly surprised the Ubuntu computers do not always cost more than their Windows counterparts.

I will say that given the price difference is usually quite small, you should buy the Ubuntu model if you want to use Ubuntu (instead of buying the slightly cheaper Windows model and then installing Ubuntu yourself). Just as there are short-term freedoms (I want to play this proprietary multimedia format now) and long-term freedoms (I want to be able to choose what multimedia format I play), there are short-term costs (paying a few dollars more for a Ubuntu laptop) and long-term costs (having Windows continue to be the main or only preinstalled option).

Money talks. Petitions walk.

You can petition and Idea Storm and Digg and blog and forum rant all you want, but if you tell Dell “We want Ubuntu preinstalled!” and then you buy Windows computers and install Ubuntu yourself, you’re really telling Dell “Linux users are all talk and no action,” which also means if you ever want to present Linux as a viable option for someone who wants it, you’ll have to keep telling them “Find a Linux geek to install and configure it for you or become a Linux geek yourself” instead of “Buy it online from this well-known company.”

I know people who pay more for organic or locally grown produce. I know people who pay more to support mom-and-pop businesses over Wal-Mart. Is it so wrong to pay a little more for Ubuntu when you know there are good reasons for it being slightly more expensive (it’s not just “Dell is out to screw us!”)? You can call it “voting with your wallet,” because that’s what it is.

That said, I really don’t understand where the whining about the recent Dell Inspiron Mini 9 release is coming from.

Let’s take a look at this on the US site. Right now, we have three base options:

• $349 with Ubuntu advertised as 2GB of free internet storage from Box.net
• $399 with Windows XP advertised as Larger Hard Drive
• $449 with Windows XP advertised as More Memory and Larger Hard Drive

First of all, the Ubuntu one is the cheapest. I’m not talking value here. I’m not saying if you get the same specs, this one is cheaper than that one. I’m talking sheer money. So if you want to say “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Talk is cheap, and I should vote with my wallet, but that’s easy to say if you have money,” then that line of reasoning won’t fly. If you’re short on cash and have only $349, Ubuntu is actually your only option.

That said, it’s usually cheaper to have a base model than to upgrade. Some people have pointed out that after you match the Ubuntu specs to the highest model XP specs, the Ubuntu one is more expensive. Yes, that’s true, but after you match the middle-spec’ed XP to the higher-spec’ed XP, it’s also more expensive. After you upgrade the RAM to 1 GB and the hard drive to 16 GB, the middle model becomes $464, which is $15 more than the higher model’s base price ($449). So if you want to argue that Ubuntu is “more expensive” than Windows, you’d also have to recognize that Windows itself is “more expensive” than Windows. As a matter of fact, when you upgrade the Ubuntu model to 1 GB of RAM and a 16 GB hard drive and add in the 0.3 megapixel webcam, it’s also $464.

It’s not exactly clear from Dell’s website whether the XP models have the 2GB of free online storage or not, so I don’t know how that factors into the pricing. The main Mini page seems to indicate it’s Ubuntu-specific, but if you click on the Design tab, it has this little blurb, which seems to be attached to all the Minis:

Keep your files online! We’ve partnered with Box.net to provide 2GB of free internet storage for every Inspiron Mini 9 customer. Store, access, collaborate, and share any type of file through a secure, simple, and intuitive web browser experience. Plus, upgrade to larger accounts to store more files.

All that said, I am a little disappointed with the pricing overall (not Ubuntu pricing v. Windows pricing). When Eee launched its Asus Eee PCs last year, they were hyped as being as low as $199 but eventually came out as $399 with a later $299 model. The Inspiron Minis were hyped as being as low as $299, but now we see the cheapest model is $349, and its specs aren’t much better than the original Eee PCs (Atom processor and slightly larger screen, but that’s it).

I have a feeling netbooks will really take off when you can get a decent model with amazing battery life for $150 or $199.

In the meantime, if you want companies to sell Linux preinstalled computers, you have to buy Linux preinstalled computers. I thought it was “free as in freedom, not free as in beer.”

Discussions of racism and sexism (or any *ism, really) in mixed company can easily become heated, especially if some people in the discussion try to combat the notion that we are “all in the same boat.” I don’t think the emotional charge of the discussion comes so much from what is being described as how it’s being described.

Usually, people trying to combat the notion of us “all being in the same boat” will use one or more of the following words: power, privilege, oppression. The “all in the same boat” or “reverse *ism” people will usually counter by using words such as victim mentality or whining.

Gender and race relations aren’t that difficult to understand. I think most people understand sociological phenomenon quite well, as examples are usually not argued with—it usually the meaning made of the examples that is cause for debate, offense, and possibly denial.

The problem, as I see it, is the lack of a proper word to describe a sociological problem that can’t be accurately described with the phrases “It goes both ways” or “We’re all in the same boat.” The word power isn’t exactly accurate to describe race or gender relations, nor is privilege. To say “you have power” with the implication “I don’t have power” makes the sociological problem too simplistic. To counter this claim, all the person who “has power” has to do is give an example of how the “powerless” has some kind of beneft the “powerful” doesn’t. The same limitation of the word privilege applies as well. The word oppression also makes it sound as if the “oppressor” is doing something deliberately malicious and invites the “oppressor” to accuse the “oppressed” of having a victim mentality.

I don’t know what this new word is, but I’ll try to explain why I think we need one, lest the status quo remain, wherein many Whites and males in America (the same may apply to other countries as well, but I can speak only for the US) feel hedged in by “political correctness” and accusations of “power,” “privilege,” and “oppression”; while many non-Whites and females in America (same disclaimer) feel frustrated by what they perceive as apathy, denial, and ignorance. Clearly, there are problems (again, at least in America) with regard to gender and race. Almost everyone knows there are problems. But we need a vocabulary to talk about these problems without making it personal.

I will say, as someone who has seen both sides of this debate (as a male “oppressor” and as a non-White “oppressed person”), that no one should take anything personally in these discussions. When feminists talk about the patriarchy, they are talking about a culture that both men and women perpetuate that is more than a collection of sexist actions by individuals. Likewise, when antiracists talk about systematic racism, they are talking about a culture that both Whites and non-Whites perpetuate that is more than a collection of racist actions by individuals.

Let’s take a break from race and sex for a moment, though. I can already anticipate the blood boiling of some of my readers. I know Hari is dying to talk about dowry harassment again.

I’ve always worked in schools. I’ve worked in many schools, and I know that not everyone in a school is equal. There are students. There are younger students and older students. There are students making good grades. There are students about to fail out. There are faculty members. Some faculty have been teaching for years. Others are new. Some faculty are prized by the community. Others are on the brink of being fired. There are staff members. Some staff have a higher position than other staff. Some staff get paid more than other staff, even though they work the same hours. There’s a principal or head of school. And there may be a board of trustees or some kind of school board. Maybe a superintendent.

In a school, I wouldn’t exactly say that the teachers are more privileged than the students. Yes, the teachers can come and go without getting a hall pass. They don’t have to have “senior privileges” to go off-campus. They get paid to be in school, whereas the students have to pay (through taxes, tuition, or both) to go to school. Nevertheless, you could argue, I guess, that faculty don’t have the same privileges students have. If a faculty member’s performance is poor, she may get a warning and a little support, but basically she’ll end up fired if it continues. It’s not difficult to be fired if you’re a teacher, even if you’re trying your best.

It is, however, quite difficult to fail out as a student if you’re putting in any kind of effort. When you’re a student, everything revolves around you. You do what interests you. If you aren’t doing all your work well, you are the only one who suffers. If you’re a teacher and aren’t doing all your work well, all your students suffer.

Do teachers have more power than students? Ostensibly so. If a teacher tells an administrator or another teacher “Jenny was cheating on her final exam,” most likely the administrator or other teacher will believe that Jenny has cheated. Teachers can make arbitrary rules students have to follow. Teachers decide how much work students have to do. On the other hand, if a student tells an administrator, “Mr. Neruda touched me inappropriately and tried to have sex with me,” that student has pretty much ruined Mr. Neruda’s teaching career, whether the charges are true or not. A student can fail out of school or get kicked out of school and still get an education at another school. Once a teacher has been accused of sexual misconduct with a student, that teacher is very likely not to get a job teaching again… anywhere.

Are students oppressed? Not really. They can’t make the rules. They’re often considered less credible than the teachers. But the school is really all about them. If the students’ needs aren’t getting met, the staff and faculty are expendible and can be replaced.

Of course, there are limitations to this analogy as it applies to race and gender relations. After all, one could easily sum up what the teachers have that the students don’t have with the word authority. You can argue with power and privilege, but ultimately teachers have authority, and students don’t. Even when a student accuses a teacher of sexual misconduct, the student has to be believed by other adults, not by peers alone. You can’t say White people have authority and non-Whites don’t. Nor can you say men have authority and women don’t. Or if you do, that would be only one small part of the problem.

I don’t know what the solution is. All I know is that we aren’t all in the same boat, and I don’t really know how to convey that without people accusing me of having a victim mentality or of misusing the words power and privilege. I do know that it’s important to realize that we are all dependent on each other and that sociological phenomena is not a zero-sum game. White people were not better or happier people in 1850 in America than they are in 2008 in America. Men were not better or happier people in 1900 in America than they are in 2008 in America. But you would think they would have been if the words power and privilege applied. After all, if you consider me to have power and want me to give up that power, then I have less power. If you consider me to have privilege and want me to give up that privilege, I have less privilege.

All I know is that with all the fighting, backlash, more fighting, concessions, denial, arguments, and semantics debates, sociological problems are staying just the way they are. I don’t want America to be a place where politicians and celebrities make racist and sexist remarks or “jokes,” get protested by various activist groups, and then give a token apology or retraction.