I am not biased
I have been ranting to my students about Windows again recently. I do this whenever I’m forced to use it. The only thing that makes me use it these days is when I need to get something that I’m teaching working for my poor students who need to use it. This usually results in me playfully getting accused of being biased, of being one of those crazy mac-zealots that has tunnel vision. I usually just laugh it off and say something like, “If you only knew!”
But, this time it made me a little annoyed and uncomfortable. So, I looked up the word biased to see if I was. Here is the definition I found:
verb ( biased , biasing or biassed, biassing) 1 [ trans. ] (usu. be biased) show prejudice for or against (someone or something) unfairly : readers said the paper was biased toward the conservatives | the tests were biased against women and minorities | [as adj. ] ( biased) a biased view of the world. • influence unfairly to invoke favoritism : her well-rehearsed sob story failed to bias the jury.
I am not biased
Based on this definition I hereby declare myself to be unbiased about computers and operating systems. How can I claim this? Well, here is a list of the operating systems that I have used to the point of being a power user or expert during my career:
- Apple IIe
- IBM Mainframe (whatever that call the OS now)
- Vax
- DEC Unix
- Intergraph workstation Unix
- Macintosh System 6 through 9
- Macintosh OS X 10.1 through 10.4
- DOS
- Windows versions 3.1 through XP
- Linux (many distributions on servers and desktops)
At this point in my career I find that I am much more productive and happy on a unix variant. The current best one is Mac OS X. The current best hardware out there is from Apple. I like to use the best and that is my only bias.
Great comments. It’s good to initiate the Windows “experience” at the educational level, introducing the students to the upcoming Windows woes in the workplace.
I have tried out Linux myself and to be perfectly honest I find it easier to maneuver in Windows. I guess thats because I have been using it longer and that is what I’m used to…
Just like many development tools, it takes some investment to see the gains that it can produce. Tools like TextMate, Vim, emacs, Eclipse, and other text editors/IDEs can produce huge gains in productivity, but there is an investment in learning the environment before you become proficient in it. *nix variants do not escape the need for such an investment, but once you invest the time you see enormous gains. You also realize what a crippling influence Windows is.
Keep up this good fight.
Man, how can you be so biased!
I don’t think you make your point that well, oh mentor. For starters, the fact that you have mastered all those operating systems does not make your preference for the apple machines any less “fair” by its own Webster definition: “marked by impartiality and honesty : free from self-interest, prejudice, or favoritism b (1): conforming with the established rules”...the key being self-interest…just be honest that you like Mac OsX better and that its based on an aesthetic preference and if they don’t like it…well…you’re the teacher at least you are not making them buy new laptops.
sorry I should’ve written “does not make your preference for the apple machines any more “fair”..” Just posting a correction.