Today I had to assemble one more rack in order to finally unpack the last round of boxes. In the process of placing it I had to turn off puppy, my home server. Unfortunately, the power supply started again to misbehave. As before, I open it up and blow the dust. The good news is that, after a few hiccups, it started working again, but the sounds I heard do not predict a very bright future. So I had to spend the some time to find and order a new power supply. While doing all these I realized something rather unexpected: that I wanted to be a father; I wanted a kid that is old enough to know how to use a computer and passionate about it to the extend of wanting to learn more about it. And I would have like to have the chance to give him (or her) a server. A machine that he could do whatever he want: use it, learn it, experiment with it, break it, fix it, take care of it. A machine that will, piece by piece, die, perhaps teaching him something useful in doing this. I know that this will probably not make sense some time for now. Everything is moving to the cloud and less and less people are willing to go through the hassle of managing their own machines. But we are not there yet and, in the same way some people like to fix their own cars, motorcycles, bikes or houses, there will be some that will also enjoy trusting their own servers.
I hope that among the parents that try to give their children the best opportunities to discover their talent for arts and science there will be some that will give them a server to play.
