The End of an Era

Today I arrived at my office (which just happens to be wherever I sit down with my notebook), and was quite contented to read that Linus has seemingly decided to move on to the next major version change. This will probably also include a change in the numbering system that is currently used for kernal releases, much to the appeal of GregKH.

I have been using Linux since around the 2.2 days, and have been actively hacking / employed with Linux related projects on various architectures with both the 2.4 and 2.6 kernels. I guess you could say that I have Linus and many other kernel, arch, & subsystem maintainers to thank for that.
Sentimentally speaking, I find it immensely cool that I am currently writing this blog post using a phone running Linux/Android released by a company that leveraged the power of Linux for a significant part of their commercial success. If anyone is wondering, the phone is a Nexus S and the company is Google.

Here's to all Linux hackers, wherever your workstations may be.

update-20110529: 3.0!

Time for Change

Lately I've been trying to write less political editorial on my blog, but I'll make an exception just for today.

There are some things that I'm very (indeed, historically) happy about after yesterday's Canadian Federal Election and there are things that also make my skin crawl. What those things are is an exercise for the reader to determine.

Regardless of the winners and losers of the election, I wanted to write about the topic of proportional representation in the house of commons.

Most of the time

... when somebody argues against proportional representation, they usually make the argument that small communities will suffer if they do not share the same ideals as the majority

That argument has some merit particularly when considering the right to maintain a cultural identity or a specific type of business or industry in Canada.

In this context, there are some cases where locality does play a major role. However, for the most part, Canada is everywhere-diverse in terms of culture. Almost everywhere in the country, there are people celebrating and learning about their own and different cultures, together as Canadians.

In terms of industrial locality, the issue can be fairly easily solved by transferring more power to the provincial governments and by supporting particular focus groups rather than dismantling them. It also affords voters the privilege of having an equal voice at the federal level.

That is the argument... most of the time.

Occasionally

... when somebody argues for proportional representation, they usually make the argument that large communities will suffer if they do not share the same ideals as the minority. To put more of a positive spin on it, one could also make the argument that the majority would not have the benefit of hearing the oft important message of a marginalized voice.

Why not let our political system reflect the diversity of our population? Let unique voices be heard & eliminate redundancy.