Original Syn - Linux & FOSS

This is really more of an entry point to what I hope will be more than just mindless ramblings of a guy who has been able to watch the rise of Linux from the beginning.

Who am I?

Social media wise, I don’t have much presence as it is not something I have ever tried to achieve, but there I do go by the name of my new blog, Original Syn. Yeah, the name is a bit different. It is just something I came up with, mixing a little of my cyber/tech background. Syn came from the old SYN-ACK attack in the late 90s. Original was a play on words with the Syn for the birth of Linux.

Personal / professionally, I got started in the late 80s as a 13-year-old teen that enjoyed learning technology, both the hardware and software side of it. I got my start with an old IBM XT with an 8088, learning the very basics. I was also able to get my hands on an old TRS-80 III. Learning some basic DOS, Assembly, and so on. Thanks to teachers and my dad, I got into BSD as well, a bit later. Eventually I found my way on to the social media of the day, in the form of dial-up BBS and newsgroups. With that, I was off, delving into software and hardware. Trying all kinds of things. Then one particular day I heard about this new thing called Linux. Being that we were in the middle of the infamous UNIX wars, I thought I would check it out. Something just clicked with me. Much to the dismay of a teacher who had helped me learn UNIX and C. I still reminded him later that he said, Linux would never go anywhere.

Through the 90s I worked for Dell, first more on the hardware development side, writing test code and firmware, but then later moving to the software side. Meanwhile, my passion was Linux. I had installed Softlanding Linux System, followed by Yggdrasil. I was contributing a little here and there. And I do mean a little; I do not want this coming off as I was some major contributor. But I helped where I could. After that, I installed the first versions of Slackware, Debian, Red Hat, and many other smaller distros of the time. I have actually installed over 120 distinct distros over the decades. Being I was so into it, when Red Hat came to Dell about Red Hat Linux, I got involved as a local subject matter expert. Something I truly enjoyed. After Dell I did the systems engineer roles at a few companies over the next 15 years before going out on my own and eventually becoming a co-founder of CyberCompass, where I designed and developed our SaaS solution. I won’t go much into that, as that is not why I am here.

Watching Linux Grow

It has been an interesting ride. Even the most enthusiastic of us back then saw what Linux would become, especially on the server side of things. We knew it was something special, but with all the money behind Windows, UNIX, and the like, it was difficult to imagine it taking off like it did. But here we are with Linux ruling the world behind the scenes.

The desktop side, yeah, that was much slower to grow, and honestly, that was to be expected. When Windows 95 came out and Microsoft made sure every PC/Laptop sold had Windows pre-installed, that was going to be an impossible mountain to climb. That is still true today, although that mountain has been weathered down quite a bit. Linux has shown that it has a place on the desktop and has solid corporate backing, which is an unfortunate evil that is needed to push it there. Will it ever be the dominant desktop? Possible, yes, likely, not so much. But it really does not have to. All it needs is to get closer to where MacOS is, and you will see software companies start to consider Linux when they are building games, business software, etc. as the ROI is there.

Where is this going? (Come on, old man, get to the point already.)

It has been a fun ride. It has had the big highs and lows expected in any good story. Now that I am in my 50s, I feel it is my time to help from a different perspective. I enjoy teaching and I love promoting. Having worked in everything from hardware/software engineering to marketing and sales, I feel it is an area I can help and so I will. This blog is not much and it may never be much. I am not looking for attention or trying to get rich. All I really want to do is start posting some information here and there that might be helpful for those thinking about getting into Linux or even experienced Linux users that are looking for a different perspective. I cannot promise you will like my views or opinions, but that is why they are opinions, and I always enjoy hearing others, even if we see things differently. There is no hate here.