The Oscar nominees for 2009 are out and as usual, most of the nominated movies have not come to Mauritian Cinemas!
Indeed, this is the sorry state of Mauritian cinemas. In addition to the cinema tickets being overly expensive (this is what I think anyway) we only get average movies and only very occasionally great movies – if I’m not mistaken, apart from the Dark Knight, we were only served with crappy stuff! How I regret the University Cinema and Kino of the days when I was in England!
However, can we blame the cinema owners? I’m not too sure. Two years back, I went to see “La Mome” – great movie and the small girl singing La Marseillaise is one of the best parts – but I was one of the rare people there! Cinemas are businesses; they want to make money. But what about the Mauritius Film Development Council (MFDC) or Ministry of Arts and Culture? Can’t they try to promote some culture and bring some decent movies! Totally useless!!!
Since Microsoft has released its beta version of Windows 7 for download, the web has been buzzing with articles so full of praises for it and many have quickly spelled the doom of Linux and Macs.
Does that upset me? Not at all. Every year (for maybe the past 5 years) has been the year where Linux would take over from Microsoft according to Linux fans and Microsoft fanboys have in turn derided Macs while the latter have self proclaimed themselves as better than anyone! Has anything changed? Hardly. Microsoft continues to dominate the world and Linux continues to grind small pieces of the market while MACs are progressing.If Windows 7 is as good as they claim it is, it might regain the tiny tiny market share that it has lost to Linux laptops but I don’t foresee any major change in the OS demographics.
Windows 7 might be so much better than Vista but I’m not throwing my Mac away!
Many people tend to think that I’m anti Microsoft coz I prefer Linux and use a Mac. The truth is (apart that I just can’t be bothered) I simply use what makes more sense to me.
I don’t like Windows coz:
- it’s just too slow to start – it might take less than one minute for the login to appear but loading the programs after that takes forever
- it’s such a pain to have to continuously worry about virusses and spyware – I’m not saying that Linux or Mac is virus free but it doesn’t make sense for now (thank God for that) to make a virus to target these users as there are so few!
- I deem it unsatble at times, more unstable than Linux and Mac OS (which is based on UNIX) and stability followed by a nice interface is what I’m after when using a PC
Does that mean that I’m in adoration of Linux? Certainly not. Some time back, I tried to recommend Linux to everyone but the interface and ease of use is not completely there yet. This meant that i often had to attend to new users in distress. People are used to their PCs slopwing down coz of virusses but don’t want not to be able to connect to a wifi network coz there’s no linux driver for their wireless interface and then need to use a hack. It might sound stupid but that;s how things are!
Now what about Macs? As Stefan Brandle puts it: “Macs offer the best of both (Linux and Windows) worlds”. It’s as stable as Linux and offers an interface that has nothing to envy from Microsoft. Of course it comes at a price – it’s more expensive than a standard PC coupled with a Windows license but there’s just no free lunch.
So it’s time that we realise one very important aspect of the OS wars: people use what’s best for them. If windows suits you better, go ahead but don’t complain about virusses and long waiting times. If Linux suits you, don’t complain about occasional idiosyncracies (no driver for some peripheral). If Macs suit you, don’t complain about the price! It’s a free world and meaningless OS wars won’t change a thing!
Most of the parastatal bodies in Mauritius have at their head a political nominee and this has been the practice for a very very long time. Unfortunately, quite a few of them have not been attributed the job on merits but on relations. As long as economic conditions are stable, anyone can manage any company – you just need some common sense and a few good managers that have been around for some time. However, when facing unstable economic conditions … like right now; you need the right man in the right place.
For example, I find it tough to put the blame on Air Mauritius for doing a hedging contract. Everyone was expecting petrol to rise to around $200 and striking a deal on $105 seemed to make sense – of course many are claiming otherwise but I didn’t hear them saying petrol would go down a few months ago! Doing a hedging contract is therefore normal. However, going for 80% of the fuel on such a long contract (2 years) is where “the right man in the right place” would have said: “Guys hold on, I think this is unwise! That much and for two year deal is just too long.”
Divine Retribution!
Many political nominees have been reigning unquestioned over their kingdom until … overthrown by economic crisis! Had the price of petrol gone up, as everyone thought it would, these political nominees would have been seen as heroes praised for their exceptional vision and gift of claivoyance! Unfortunately, for them, it turned out not to be so!
Instead they have been decried as incompetants. Their primary sin, according to me has been their supreme arrogance – how do you call a salary of about Rs 800 000 (when the average salary in Mauritius might be around Rs 10 000 if not lower) and assigning yourself free tickets for life on Air Mauritius? Today, they are paying the price of that, and it will be hard for them to get the sympathy of anyone when they have been so full of themselves!
Though I’m a self proclaimed agnostic (one who continuously ask questions about whether God exists and is just looking for answers), I can’t find a better word for that than “Divine Retribution”. I don’t know if it’s the work of God or just a mere coincidence but that should serve as example for future autarchs!
After a break of nearly 2 months, I’m back blogging again. I did not stop coz I wanted to but it’s just that I was tired, tired of writing, tired of many many things. Had I continued writing, it would have been probably rubbish 
since I would not have adhered to my self imposed convention – I don’t allow myself personal ranting. But after a month or so, I have a better and more objective view and now I can resume blogging.
I noted an interesting thing: my blog can self sustain itself for some time now. Even though I did not post anything for 2 months, I still got around 7000 hits a month. Anyway, let the blogging resume.
