Greetings, obviously I’m totally new to this so instead of side tracking myself with an introduction probably boring most of you, I’m just going to do that here and jump right in.
I’m Ray but I use XSIV as my UN, long story, also probably boring to most. Anyhow, I decided that I wanted to see if I could find an alternative to Google and Microsoft Bing, Yahoo, DDG, etc., basically something off the beaten path so to speak. Such is the case with most things in my life, my first choice from the list of options that Wikipedia has listed just suddenly and without explanation dissolved about a year or so ago. I’m not intending to offend anyone here by saying this so I hope I don’t, but if I do I’m sure I’ll know right away and apologies in advance but I’m just being honest and being new to this I’m not really sure how others are. However based on most things I’ve experienced on the internet over the years it’s either a peaceful community where honest opinions won’t bother many, if any, or I will be met with a wall of hostility. I hope the latter will not be the case as I hate to start off on the wrong foot right away because it’s very difficult, if even possible at all to gain any credibility with members once the “damage” is done.
In any case, I’m here to ask, if I don’t get crushed right away that is, where a good starting point is to learn this platform in a way that it will hold my attention being a life long Google and prior to that, Yahoo user for searching and navigating the internet?
I suppose a bit of history would help, that is if you’re still reading. I got my first Windows PC in 1996. Before that I had only briefly played around with my uncle’s computers. He had a C/64, VIC 20, and an Amiga prior to building his first Windows PC if I remember correctly, in the late 80s. Through all this I knew of the internet but nothing really about it, nor was I that interested as a teenager trying to figure out life.
My first one was a Gateway with Windows 98 and I quickly learned the hard way why my uncle built his so I got with him to help me with my first build. He set me up with Windows XP, which is to this day my favorite version of Windows followed by 98 and I’ve struggled with all versions that I’ve had since.
By this time however my uncle had been well into Linux and he tried to get me into it but the person I am already being on Windows wasn’t really interested. I was busy with my first baby boy, a marriage that was doomed before it started, working a lot, etc… But I was using the internet a lot. I have many and varying areas of interest and I crave knowledge. I also have many hobbies and I enjoy experimenting with various things. At least ones that don’t have the potential to explode enough to cause bodily injury or property damage, most of the time anyway. I guess that depends on who I’m around.
Next on my journey came the mobile phone and, you guessed it, Google. I was very disappointed with Windows Vista at this time, which was on my first laptop and once I got comfortable with using Android, I completely lost interest in Windows based devices and became strictly Googlized for the next few years. I ended up getting another laptop with Win 10 and now have one with 11pro for work but still primarily use my Android phone 70 to 80 % of the time.
I’m not really any kind of developer or other IT professional or even very knowledgeable about most of it. I’m just an end user for the most part. I have interest in some of it and I dabble here and there but nothing so far has caught my interest with enough force to suck me in and at the ripe age of 52, I’m not sure if anything will, however I do like to keep my eye open because we really never do know what’s to come of ourselves so I can’t rule anything out. If it does, it will more than likely be in some form that can be useful to the music industry because that is my number 1 passion in life and I don’t ever see that changing.
So basically I’m looking to get away from mainstream search engines and in choosing this one with the suite of development tools and other goodies that are available with it, I’m interested in learning as much as possible hoping that something will pop out at me and say, “hey man guess what! I’m what you want to invest your time into because…”. I’m divorced, the boys are grown and off with their own lives. I still work a lot out of necessity but I still also find myself with quite a bit of time to become bored and I’m hoping, as I have been pretty much all my adult life, that something will find me that will captivate me enough to actually follow through to something meaningful and purposeful. I’ve been a construction worker most of my life, which is neither of those things and is also why I have to work a lot but my body is getting to the point where it doesn’t like to cooperate at full potential some days and those days are becoming more frequent lately. I have abused it a lot over the years and although I have discontinued many of the harmful things and am attempting to take a bit better care of myself, my label, XSIV will never really go away until I do and the damage that I have done is already there and more evident nowadays. I am amazed at how rugged a human body can be, but at the same time how frail some others are and I sometimes almost feel guilty about how I have treated mine and not done anything very contributive to humanity when maybe one of those not so fortunate could. But it is what it is and I still have to try to get the most out of what I have left so, here I am… in excess.
I’m just looking for some input on possible paths of advancement through this without going about it blind and causing myself to lose interest. Sort of a structured “map” from those with experience. I know I have potential if I can get my head wrapped around it. Or get it wrapped around my head!
Apologies for the lengthy post with all my mindless rambling but that’s me. If I don’t belong here, please tell me so in a civil manner. I’m not doing well with the levels of ignorance which seem to be running rampant with people these days. Thank you.