1 From: Boris Kraut <krt@nurfuerspam.de>
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2 Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2013 20:37:22 +0100
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4 Message-ID: <20130129203722._vZXI4@silberbruch>
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8 To: undisclosed-recipients: ;
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9 Subject: [.plan] IOException-Interview
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11 Vor nem guten halben Jahr, hab ich Michi auf der GPN12 zum ersten
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12 Mal 'live' gesehen und nachdem wir nen bisserl geredet haben, hat
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13 er mich gebeten, fuer seine Interview-Serie auf IOException.de [0]
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14 ein paar Fragen zu beantworten. Ich habe zu gestimmt, es verplant,
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15 dann doch gemacht (HEADSUP: auch mit Bild!), dann hat er es vor
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16 sich hergeschoben, aber jetzt, jetzt ist es da. Entweder unter
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18 http://www.ioexception.de/2013/01/29/interview-krt/
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22 > I got to know Boris a while ago through a common friend. He
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23 > regularly writes text, which are online accesible here. He is
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24 > quite active at the "Chaos macht Schule" program and I found him
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25 > to be quite an interesting person, meaning that he deviates from
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26 > the mindset and opinions of average people. After I talked to him
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27 > at the GPN '12 I asked him if he would like to participate in
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28 > this series and he agreed. So here you go!
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30 > Who are you and what do you do?
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32 My name is Boris 'krt' Kraut, but it could as well be anything else:
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33 You don't choose your name, it is given to you by others. Even if you
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34 pick your name by yourself, e.g. a nickname, you can't enforce its
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35 usage. In fact, sometimes you have to earn your name. Imagine a world
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36 where we all are numbers and you have to behave to earn the right to
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37 have a name. Sounds fucked up? It sure is! But have a closer look at
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38 reality: We just are labeled numbers, because what really matters is
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39 your 'score'. Despite everything you have been told, nobody cares
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40 about you, your strengths, your weaknesses, yourself anymore. It's all
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41 about receiving scoring 'higher' on somewhat standardized tests to get
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42 a 'better' chance to earn 'more' money to have 'more' free-time. This
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45 So, what do I do? I follow a philosophy to improve everywhere: If
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46 there is a problem you can fix without negative consequences, it
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47 doesn't matter if it's your job or not. Just fix it. Sure, you can't
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48 fix everything -- either because you just are not able to or because
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49 you have something better/more important to do. It's just that you can
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50 improve so much with little to no costs. We shouldn't miss those
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51 opportunities. In the past years I have been focusing on
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52 'computer/media literacy', especially the educational system in a
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55 I study at the University of Education, Karlsruhe, and participate in
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56 the 'Chaos macht Schule' movement. I like swimming and support the
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57 local lifeguards (DLRG), but I resigned from active duty due to my
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60 > Which software or programs do you use most frequently?
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62 Tough questions. We are all using software all the day, we know what
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63 our work setup is like, which programs we use on a daily base, but we
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64 often miss the underlying complexity of the operating systems. Even if
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65 we don't use our laptop or smartphone, we are using software, we are
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66 depending on software each day: Taking the bus? Guess what, you are
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67 using software. Doing the laundry? Software. Reading a book? Hell,
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68 yeah, somewhere in the process of writing, printing, delivering and
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69 reading it, there is likely software involved...
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71 ..but to answer your question in a more convenient way I'd pick
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72 'openssh','dtach', 'vim', 'mutt' and 'firefox'.
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74 > Why did you decide to use your particular operating system(s) of
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76 Postponing my answers for a while turns out to be right: I can proudly
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77 say I am no longer with Ubuntu anymore. Don't get me wrong, it's not
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78 that bad, it even might just be the OS which fits you, but the reason
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79 I had to use it was a fracked up graphics card with a picky driver
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80 (Intel GMA500, featuring the famous ImgTec PowerVR). Nowadays I use
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81 Debian on my notebook, but it will most likely be replaced sometime
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82 soon. I went with Debian for obvious reasons: I wanted to drop Ubuntu
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83 but hadn't the time to evaluate what I really want. I really hope to
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84 get in touch with BSDs again as I have been a long time FreeBSD user.
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86 I really like fanless systems. I'm frequently checking out ARM based
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87 computers, tablets and smartphones, and so I am using Android a lot. I
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88 don't know if I like it or not, I will have a deeper look at it..
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91 Oh, I do like TinyCoreLinux :)
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93 > In what manner do you communicate online?
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94 E-mail is the preferred way to communicate with me. In fact, I even
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95 use it for news feeds, task management and my blogging system. I tried
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96 a couple of MUAs, 'nmh', 'mmh' and 'mutt', just to name a few. Right
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97 now, I am using 'mutt', but I am looking for an 'nmh'/'mmh' like
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98 alternative that handles Maildirs and IMAP. I don't like programs that
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99 take you hostage: Give me my shell back!
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101 I also was very active on IRC, but I dumped it because it -- or at
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102 least the channels I used to hang out on -- didn't had to offer
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103 anything relevant for my life. I don't like the design of having
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104 multiple not interconnected networks, but this feature might just save
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105 us one day. Anyways, I reconsider going back to IRC from time to time.
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106 My preferred client was 'irssi', but I really liked the way 'ii'
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109 At last, there's XMPP. I used it, I dropped it, I got back to it. I
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110 don't like XML, I don't like the way how it handles some things, but
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111 after all it's the open instant messaging standard, you better support
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112 it. Currently, I prepare to drop text messaging (SMS) from my
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113 "supported" contact options and replace it with XMPP. My long-term
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114 target is to move voice calls as well to XMPP -- and later upgrade
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115 them to possible video calls. On Android I use the 'beem' and 'yaxim'
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116 clients, however I have yet to find one to support all feature from my
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117 wishlist; Jingle Audio/Video support can be chippy, just like
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118 persistent connections... On the shell, there's currently only one
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119 choice: 'mcabber'. However, just like 'mutt' It captures your term.
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120 There are at least two 'ii' inspired clients, one of them is 'jj' --
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121 obviously. I even tried to write two XMPP clients on my own: One fed
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122 the messages into my mail setup -- there are even two kinds of
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123 messages types defined by XMPP, mail-like normal and chat -- and
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124 another one to resemble the 'talk' messaging system with a 'jfinger'
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125 to receive a users xCard. Speaking of xCards: I think letting each
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126 user keep it's own contact information up-to-date is the sane way
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127 doing it. Keeping files on persons is just not right, it's creepy and
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128 reminds me of Germany's history. Besides, you never gonna keep the
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129 information up-to-date on your own.
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131 By the way, I don't do web-based communication, neither Twitter nor
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132 Facebook. I think they are bloody awful and are doing harm to
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133 humanity. They kill cute kitties and ponies, too. However, I try to
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134 evaluate such services every now and then. Buddycloud looks
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137 > Which folders can be found in your home directory?
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138 Having used the same home directory for ages, it has become cluttered
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139 and now shows elements from different naming schemes. I really want to
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140 clean it up, but I can't come up with a sane solution. I am currently
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141 using some sort of task based naming, but maybe project based would be
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142 better? I don't know.. Oh, and... XDG default names are awful. They
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143 brake existing naming traditions. Their scheme is not bad, it's well
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144 thought, but it doesn't feel right for me.
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146 bin: user binaries and scripts
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148 man: manuals, rfcs, technical documents and tutorials
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149 gfx: graphics.. haven't used it in ages...
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151 mail: mail, tasks, contacts, blog, ...
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152 ppt: presentations and talks I have given.. no I won't rename it to
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154 tmp: temporary files; can be purged after logoff
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156 Downloads: here be dragons... currently flooded with talks/recordings
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157 I want to watch.. misc: everything else; sorted
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159 > Which paper or literature has had the most impact on you?
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160 I have yet to find the one true thing, the book or paper that catches
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161 the essence of how and why. I have been influenced by a lot of papers
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162 and persons. I could name a few, but that would be unkind to all
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163 those I would not include. I actually don't even care much for names
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164 nor bibliographic links, I care for thoughts and ideas.
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166 > What has had the greatest positive influence on your efficiency?
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167 I am not efficient at all, but I try to follow inbox zero. I like KISS
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168 stuff. I avoid complexity or at least try to brake it up to manageable
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169 chunks. Humans and social interaction are a complexity nightmare. They
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170 might be efficient for themselves, but me interacting with them or
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171 vice verse slows things down. I don't understand them. That's where a
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172 lot of my efficiency problems come from.
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174 > How do you approach the development of a new project?
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175 Tossing around ideas in my head. Scribbling them on a sheet of paper
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176 or on a whiteboard. Sort them. Structure them. Look at what is already
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177 there. What's the goal. Talk with people. Listen to people...
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178 actually I really don't know what to say.
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180 > Which programming language do you like working with most?
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181 I left the path of a "programmers" many years ago. I spend most of my
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182 programming time writing glue code in plain sh. The last few projects
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183 I worked on have been done in ruby, as will be my next/last project
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184 for university. It wasn't my decision to use ruby, but it's an
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185 interesting language. I kinda like it and it worked out okay most
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186 times. Fair enough, but I don't know if I really stick with it.
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188 > In your opinion, which piece of software should be rewritten from
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190 Hardware sucks, software sucks, implementations are bad and most
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191 standards are even worse. I complain a lot because something might not
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192 fit my view/guidelines. But it doesn't matter. Don't fix software, fix
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193 humanity. Seriously, why can't we all be a little nicer to others?
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195 > What would your ideal setup look like?
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196 Actually, I don't know. Small, no bloat, sane. I could write a lot
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197 about CLI, X and what's wrong or right. But a more fundamental
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198 question I still have to answer is whether I want a client/server
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199 setup -- a dump client and a freedom box in every house, meshed
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200 wireless networking, controlled by the people and not the government
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201 or corporations.. -- or a complete road-warrior setup, where
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202 everything is right on my notebook. Do I want a notebook at all? Or
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203 could I use a smartphone/tablet/$futuredevice with an external
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204 keyboard? I don't know..
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207 [0] http://www.ioexception.de/2013/01/29/interview-krt/
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208 [1] http://www.ph-karlsruhe.de/
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209 [2] http://dlrg.de/
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210 [3] http://ccc.de/schule
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211 [4] http://www.openssh.com/
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212 [5] http://dtach.sourceforge.net/
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213 [6] http://www.vim.org/
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214 [7] http://www.mutt.org/
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215 [8] http://www.mozilla.org/firefox/
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216 [9] http://www.ubuntu.com/
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217 [10] http://www.debian.org/
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218 [11] http://www.freebsd.org/
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219 [12] http://source.android.com/
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220 [13] http://distro.ibiblio.org/tinycorelinux/
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221 [14] http://www.nongnu.org/nmh/
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222 [15] http://marmaro.de/prog/mmh/
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223 [16] http://www.irssi.org/
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224 [17] http://tools.suckless.org/ii/
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225 [18] http://beem-project.com/
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226 [19] https://github.com/pfleidi/yaxim/wiki
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227 [20] http://mcabber.com/
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228 [21] http://23.fi/jj/
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229 [22] http://buddycloud.com/
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projects / krt-msg / blob