Eulogy for Anandtech
You think I’m being hyperbolic? My dad still starts his Excel functions with a plus sign instead of an equals sign, because that’s how Lotus 1-2-3 did it. This stuff runs in families.
I was 11 years old when I learned what Ubuntu was. I know that because Ryan Smith’s 2009 article about Ubuntu is how I learned about Ubuntu.
I knew Linux existed, and I understood that it was an OS like Windows or MacOS, but I thought it was for “servers” which were huge, alien machines like the ones my dad worked on. So, when Anandtech showed me Linux with detailed screenshots and plain-English descriptions of the user experience, it captured my imagination.
I dug up an old laptop from my dad’s box of “tech stuff that the office didn’t use anymore.” I’m pretty sure it was an HP, but I don’t remember any of the specs. I do recall that the battery lasted about 15 minutes, the CPU overheated constantly, and the GPU was busted which resulted in bizarre video glitches. In any case, it could barely boot Windows XP, and it would keel over if you tried to watch a YouTube video.
I won’t lie, Ubuntu fixed none of that laptop’s problems. But, it was the first computer that was truly mine. Upstairs, my dad had built us a really nice family computer - a Core 2 Duo with 4GB of RAM and Windows Vista Ultimate. I used the family computer, but it wasn’t mine. I couldn’t tinker with it.
