That’s pretty tempting. I’d have to make myself a new case, though. I don’t think I could ever live down that logo in my house.

XBMC + original Xbox from ebay ($40) = AWESOME

…more open source goodness, too. I just installed a Python script on mine that lets me watch YouTube vids on my TV. Pretty cool stuff, and if you’re ever interested, I’d gladly help you set one up. I have all the necessary goodies.

But as a graphic designer, I have to ask this question: when I downloaded Scribus, “used” it for a little while, then wrote feedback saying, “In MacOS, you don’t make invisible files to hold your preferences in the app folder; You put them in /Library/Preferences” and the support folks said, “Then that’s MacOS’s problem” the Open Source movement showed all of its warts at once.

Wait… that wasn’t a question. It was a statement.

Anyway, I don’t think I could stand that type of attitude for long, and certainly not with such core things as my OS. I really want there to be OSS apps to do all the stuff I want to do. I really do! I think it’s an awesome and bafflingly futuriffic way of creating and distributing software (and stuff, if the RepRap people get their thing flying). It foretells an entirely new way of thinking about resources. But when you have to pay for it through hazing, I think it’s doomed.

So if Ubuntu solves that issue with its local cultre, awesome. The RepRap guys seem to have a similarly “We’ll help you!” attitude. So maybe that will wind up being the culture that survives this primordial soup phase. Maybe the “Install Linux because I hate my mom” culture will fade away.

Ubuntu Linux is far and away the greatest example of DIY culture I think the tech world has yet created. I’m sick in bed today so I decided to fiddle around with the latest 7.04 release on an old Thinkpad, and wow — they’ve come a long way in a short time.

And what’s really nifty about it is the communty around the software — google just about any thing you’d like to do with Ubuntu, or any problem you’re having, and there are other people willing to help. Not that I’ve seen any problems at all in this release — from installation to desktop setup, everything so far has Just Worked(tm).

I remember a while back I was evangelizing Ubuntu to you and your question (and it’s a good one) was “as a graphic designer, why should I want to use linux?” and I didn’t have an answer. I do now: because it’s inspiring. And, also, it’s really fun.