From e98506bcc846b86092cc0f9ea77fd8c9f9be3a1a Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Sadeep Madurange Date: Sun, 2 Nov 2025 20:52:40 +0800 Subject: wip: post on Unix. --- _archive/desktop-unix.md | 26 +++++++++++++++++++++++++- 1 file changed, 25 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-) (limited to '_archive') diff --git a/_archive/desktop-unix.md b/_archive/desktop-unix.md index 875e362..ebfdf81 100644 --- a/_archive/desktop-unix.md +++ b/_archive/desktop-unix.md @@ -2,10 +2,34 @@ title: Unix-like operating systems date: 2025-09-21 author: Wickramage Don Sadeep Madurange -thumbnail: linux.png layout: post --- +The Unix operating system project appears to have started in 1969 at Bell Labs. +Something resembling contemporary Unix-like systems may have been developed in +1973 when Dennis Ritchie and Ken Thompson rewrote the Unix kernel in C. Both of +these important milestones, unfortunately, predate me by a number of years. + +Nevertheless, operating systems created in the image of Unix and, more +importantly, that inherit its philosophy, have survived. Linux and OpenBSD are +two such systems that I am personally familiar with. + +Operating systems like OpenBSD and Linux are free and open-source alternatives +to commercial operating systems such as Apple macOS and Microsoft Windows. +OpenBSD is developed by a group of hackers led by Theo de Raadt. Linux is +community-driven, although, increasingly and ironically, under the stewardship +of corporations such as IBM and Microsoft. + +Commercial operating systems, and the corporations behind them, are becoming +increasily hostile towards their users. Viewing their users merely as a means +to an end, the unbridled harvesting of personal data for targetted advertising, +influencing the behavior of the masses, and training generative neural networks +has become their primary objective. the book 'The Age of Surveillance +Capitalism' by Professor Shoshana Zuboff documents in detail unassailable +evidence and poignant consequences of the surveillance activities by these +corporations. + + 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 -- cgit v1.2.3