Burps and belly rumbles

So far this has just been a duping ground for moans, groans and over exagerated injustices that have rained down on me. If you look close though, you might just find a post or two of opinion and not complaint.

Wednesday 19 September 2012

Community

I like community, whether it be the local community where I live, or my work community at the pub, or as is often most described as community these days, the people who you spend time interacting with on-line. I get on well with most of the neighborhood where I live, to the extent that we lend each other tools etc the way you used to see in those dodgy sitcoms from the 70's. I also mix pretty well with the majority of punters and staff in the pub, even if the job itself is getting me down right now.

On-line communities can be a little bit different from the other kinds. You don't judge people on how they look, or what they wear, and they also tend to be a little more frank in their views than perhaps they would be in real life. I like to think (foolishly maybe) that on the whole, that people are more honest with their feelings and views in a semi autonomous situation. When I first switched to using Ubuntu over Windows, it was the on-line community at Ubuntu forums that really blew me away, until that point I had never been one to indulge in chat with people I didn't know from Adam. This situation repeated itself when i got my Hero, the Android community, and the guys at VillainROM specifically were the a perfect example of what a community should be, and how everyone tried to help each other out. Since then I have joined twitter, and Google + and my circle of on-line friends has grown. I also think friends is the right word to use, I may not have met many in person, but the amount of time we spend in each others company far out weighs the time I spend chatting to the guys I grew up with.

The circle of friends I have on-line tend to have one thing in common, a lovely for technology. Unlike some technology and gadgets is not my living (although I wish it was), but is instead my greatest hobby (or vice if you ask Angela). That means for me its about enjoyment, which is why the last few weeks has been so annoying. Since the week or two before the Apple announcement my timelines have been full of Apple this, and Apple that, S3 this and S3 that. Its been pretty mundane and boring to say the least. What's worse is the amount of people falling out and holding grudges. I even read a piece from a tech writer who won't be attending the big Android BBQ due to threatening comments as she bought an iPhone to go with all the Android handsets she owns. I have to this point never blocked anyone on-line, or even considered it. But I think I may be getting close.

Technology, and mobile phones have reached a point where there is very little they can't do. It seems to me its more about what suits the way you use them, and your pocket. I have an S2, first released about 18 months ago. Sure you can get quicker, bigger, better camera etc, but does any of that actually lessen what my handset can do? Of course not, the pics I take are more than fine, I can store all the content I want, and play anything I need to. I have a healthy developer base to keep the geek in me happy. With all that in mind is it really worth falling out over, is there anything I have missed that justifies sitting with veins popping out your neck because the panorama pic I can take but will never use is ever so slightly different than the one you can take and after showing it off never will either? Nope, didn't think so.

Everyone really needs to chill out, have a beer, visit your family and see what in your life is really worth all that energy. And remember this - its only a phone.