wip: post on Unix.

1 files changed, 27 insertions, 15 deletions

diff --git a/_site/archive/desktop-unix/index.html b/_site/archive/desktop-unix/index.html
index 02d4325..82acb97 100644
--- a/_site/archive/desktop-unix/index.html
+++ b/_site/archive/desktop-unix/index.html
@@ -67,27 +67,39 @@ Capitalism’ by Professor Shoshana Zuboff documents in detail unassailable
 evidence and poignant consequences of the surveillance activities by these
 corporations.</p>
 
-<p>The year 2020 transformed my personal computing experience. In March 2020, I
-stumbled upon Arch Linux and discovered that I could customize my desktop
-environment to look and work any way I liked. I exercised that newfound freedom
-to create a Matrix-themed setup:</p>
+<p>Conversely, Unix-like operating systems are open to the user to use them as
+they deem fit. They do not spy on their users, sell hidden agendas, and some,
+like OpenBSD, do not show commercial interests whatsoever. The following is a
+screenshot of my custom Arch Linux setup in 2020. It uses X display server and
+i3 for window management, Urxvt terminal emulator made translucent with the
+help of the Xcompmgr compositor.</p>
 
 <p><img src="linux.png" alt="Arch Linux" /></p>
 
-<p>The system employs the X display server and the i3 window manager. The terminal
-emulator used is Urxvt. The translucent effect is achieved with the help of the
-Xcompmgr compositor. This sort of setup was popular among minimalist Linux
-users.</p>
-
-<p>In February 2024, I switched to an OpenBSD system with Xenocara (the OpenBSD
-build of X display server) as the display server and i3 as the window manager:</p>
+<p>The following is an equivalent setup on OpenBSD from my 2024 desktop:</p>
 
 <p><img src="openbsd.png" alt="OpenBSD i3" /></p>
 
-<p>Unlike Linux, OpenBSD includes a coherent desktop environment out of the box.
-Except for the window manager, for which I prefer a tiling one, I’m now using
-the default OpenBSD setup. For the window manager, I use dwm from the Suckless
-team.</p>
+<p>This degree of customization is impossible with commercial operating systems.
+The operating system vendor sets firm boundaries around how the machine should
+be used. As a consequence, the user is forced to suffer slow animations,
+arrangement of windows, and blatant infringements of privacy.</p>
+
+<p>The conceptual elegance and technological superiority of Unix-like operating
+systems lie in how programs developed independently come together to accomplish
+complex tasks. For instance, to read and reply to an HTML email on OpenBSD,
+Mutt, my email client, requests credentials from Pass, which retrieves
+credentials and requests GPG to decrypt them. With the decrypted credentials
+Mutt fetches the email, opens the Lynx browser to render the HTML content. To
+reply, I press Shift+R key, which opens Vim, the text editor I use for all my
+text editing tasks. I prepare the reply and press ‘y’ to dispatch it.</p>
+
+<p>The entire process of handing control from one program to another is seamless
+and instantaneous. The magic is in the fact each of these programs are
+developed by different programmers, without so much as exchanging an email to
+make sure that they can interoperate. In fact, none of these programs were
+designed to interoperate for the specific use case of sending an email. The
+interoperability is a direct consequence of how Unix was designed.</p>
 
 <p>Files: <a href="dotfiles.tar.gz">dotfiles.tar.gz</a></p>
 </div>