Reasons to use plan9 06/02/21
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I figured I couldn't determine why I should or shouldn't use
plan9, until I had used it for a while on hardware. VMs are
good and fine, and I use them all the time, but they're not
intimate enough for me.
So, here I am, using plan9 on hardware. I suppose it's been
a week or so, I haven't looked. I've got the thing working
well enough, and I'm comfortable enough with the system that
things are making sense and I'm not feeling lost.
From this point, I can't see any reasons *as a user* to keep
plan9 on this laptop. It doesn't have any great benefit for
a user--after all, it's not a product.
There is, of course, the value of plan9 as an experiment or
learning tool. And that, I suppose, is what separates the
users from the scientists, or true explorers.
Which am I?
My vanity wants me to believe that I'm a true explorer when
it comes to computers. I do love to explore, and I do a
great many things that most users wouldn't do. I fiddle with
projects of different kinds, for no other reason than to
learn.
Another piece of the puzzle is this: what does plan9 have to
offer in terms of exploration, that other more useful
systems can't offer? I suppose it gives a peek into an
alternative way of computing, apart from the mainline path
other modern OSes have taken. I suppose in that regard,
running from a VM would be just as good.
I have no particular conclusion, I think. This laptop wasn't
seeing a lot of use anyway, so I'm not in a hurry to make it
more servicable by putting a product OS on it. It's
interesting to poke around and learn plan9, and I might just
have some fun. Maybe that's a good enough reason in and of
itself...
