Rotting Apple, Rising Penguin?

Most of my aware life involved computers. My dad had Pong when I was six. I had an Atari at 8, and by 12 I was enmeshed in the Commodore family. I grudgingly used Windows until I got out of the Army in 1999. As soon as I could, I switched to Linux. Even in law school, I sported a Linux-powered laptop (Gentoo).

That changed when in 2009 I adopted Apple. I wanted to use Scrivener to write novels, and it was only available on Apple. I spent the next 15 years using Apple iPad and Mac desktops and laptops. Linux was too much of a fight, I thought. I installed Windows in 2017, twenty years after my last install, to play games.

Why did I avoid Windows? They were the evil empire. My professional life was Linux, so it helped to be on the same platform. My Apple adoption was in part because the OS is BSD. But in 2023–24, Apple appeared to have wrested the evil flag from Microsoft.

I’m typing this post on a Dell XPS 13” that dual boots Windows 11 and Ubuntu. I am excited to say it works perfectly with my Apple-only LG monitor via the firewire connector. Fifteen years since I used Linux as my daily driver. I’m taking it easy with Ubuntu 23.10. It just worked. Bluetooth connection with the Apple keyboard was a bit of a lift, but there’s a lot more community support now than then.

For the next 30 days, I’m going to try to drive the Linux only. I have Windows in case I run into a problem. I still have my Apple laptop.

Apart from that, I’ve lost a week programming. My plan was to resume Ameliorate, the next book in the Postal Marines milieu. I’m picking that up tomorrow, with the ambition of adding extra sessions to catch up. My goal is to complete the project by 19 April.

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Ben Wilson, Author