Clarifying MyKoz.AI Mission: From Zero to REAL FOSS Automation in 1 Hour
This is a big day for MyKoz.AI. Join me as I guide you through the soft-launch procedure of launching a site, soup to nuts. Learn how to automate Linux servers on boot-up and understand the changes in the SEO industry over the past 30 years. Leverage the amazing Jupyter Lab project to make your Python code immediately cloud compatible and get into the groove of real 24x7x365 automation with the Linux systemd init system.
My 30 Years in SEO Leads to a FOSS Automation Revolution with MyKoz.AI
By Michael Levin
Wednesday, August 9, 2023
Okay, today’s going to be a big day for MyKoz.AI. I’ll go through the whole soft-launch procedure of launching a site, soup to nuts. All I’ve really got is the MyKoz.AI installer script itself, which is something that replaces the default Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) version of Linux (Ubuntu 22.04) with a version that has JuptyerLab installed in such a way that you can run Jupyter Notebooks locally as if on a Linux Server. And this makes all the difference.
I feel the temptation to go into all the marketing and elevator pitch of all this, but that comes later, is already done in many ways, and it’s time for the rubber to hit the road. Yeah, I’m going to use lots of old metaphors like that because I’m old. I’m 52 years old, and I’m going to be 53 in a few weeks. I’ve been in the field of search engine optimization (SEO) for 30 years, since before there was a Google. I watched Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) go from a $14 billion dollar company to a $14 million dollar company even though it basically invented the industry with AltaVista, if not Unix and the Internet itself through its PDP-11 and VAX minicomputers.
So I’ve been around the block a few times. No, I never worked on a VAX, but I knew Commodore’s George Robbins (barely) who did. He’s one of those legendary pioneers who slept in the office and such. I am tangentially tied to all kinds of interesting stuff from back in the day, but am the progenitor of nothing myself. I’m just a guy who’s been around the block a few times, and I’m starting to see the same patterns repeat themselves. It’s time to make my move, and to help all you folks dealing with the existential crisis of AI and automation.
Folks give automation lip service, but they don’t really know what it means from a tech fundamental standpoint. There is no automation. There is only scripts that run anew each time particular hardware is powered on. Whatever happens then is up to the script. Of course, just loading enough for the hardware to be operational at all comes first. It needs a system of operating. And that obviously, is the operating system. And for many years there was a traditional way for this startup sequence to occur on the Unix and Linux equipment that runs the world. And it’s called the System V init system. And it was difficult as heck, requiring all sorts of wizardly and arcane knowledge to get it to work. And it was all done in shell scripts, which are basically command line instructions of the most basic and humanly unfriendly sort.
This has changed. It’s now quite easy to get real automation occurring in Linux. You don’t need paid products. You don’t need cloud services. You don’t even need fancy hardware or home servers or anything different than what you’re already using. All you need is a few moments of suspended disbelief of the same sort you would grant a movie or video game. Stick with me, and I’ll get you automating Linux Servers on boot-up in just a few minutes. Maybe a half-hour depending on how much you already know. The world is different now because the System V init system has been replaced by systemd.
So is SEO dead? Nope. It’s just different. And I’m going to let my different-ness shine for once. I’ve interacted with plenty of people in the SEO industry over the years. I’ve been to conferences. I’ve been to the Googleplex in Mountain View, California. I’ve been to the Microsoft campus in Redmond, Washington. I haven’t been to Yahoo in Sunnyvale, California, but I’ve been in the industry in NYC for awhile and to most of the NY offices of the big players. Oh, and the NYC Tech Meetups when you could just walk in and get a seat. I’ve been around the block a few times. And I thrive on change, even though the changes in the SEO industry over the past 30 years amount to mobile. It’s a big yawn, if you ask me. So why have I been in the industry for so long? It’s enjoyable watching the world change. And I’m going to help you change with it now that there’s a big enough Sea Change to See Change.
And it’s a FOSSy change, at that! Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) is the cornerstone of the new world order. It’s the only way to future-proof yourself against the coming AI and automation. If you ask an AI what it runs on, it’s going to be some combination of Linux and FOSS. More than likely, Python is going to be in the mix. And then everything is expressed in text. Tech is text and text is tech. Generic control of text is power. Controlling text as prescribed by a commercially incentivized vendor is not power. It’s a dependency. And dependencies are the opposite of power.
Bram Moolenaar who brought us the ubiquitous and standard vim text editor passed away 1 week ago today. He created vim, which is an improved version of the vi text editor built into almost every version of Unix and Linux and dates back to 1976. Vi’s creator is Bill Joy is still with us, though he retired from Sun Microsystems in 2003. And vi was based on QED and ex that came before it. So there’s a long history of how to edit text quickly, efficiently, and powerfully. And it’s all FOSS. And it’s all text. And it’s all Linux.
Oh, you can get vim working under Windows in Powershell or the Command Prompt, but it’s just not the same. Your muscle memory gets subtly undermined. All the environment variables that effect how it runs are different, most especially the HOME environment variable and the direction of your path-slashes. DOS (and thus, Windows) use backslashes whereas the entire rest of the world uses forward slashes. You might think this a small issue, but issues like this compound and keep you from ever really getting into the groove. And that’s what I’m here to help you do. Get into the groove.
The main way things are different today than they used to be is that there is not a laptop or piece of hardware out there that you could be working on day-to-day (your daily productivity machine) that can’t or doesn’t support Linux. And no, I’m not talking about replacing Windows with a Linux Desktop. Desktops are stupid, change all the time for no good reason, and are the biggest single enemy to your developing the long-term muscle memory that is your secret weapon. No, I’m talking about running vim in the Linux command line on Windows. Windows supports the Linux command line now. It’s called WSL.
Nobody gets it and nobody is going to continue to get it, unless I step in with a crystal-clear path. And that’s MyKoz.AI. And that’s the site I’m launching today. It’s a crystal-clear path on how to get started with vim in the Linux command-line on Windows. It’s also a gentle introduction to Python through the familiar web browser, without any need to even look at a scary Linux command-line. I leverage the amazing Jupyter Lab project to make this happen. I leverage WSL’s ability to host JupyterLab Linux-side even though you interact with it Windows-side. This is a gentle way to introduce you to Linux. It makes all your Python code immediately cloud compatible, and I throw you right into real 24x7x365 automation with the Linux systemd init system. And I do it all in a way that you can’t possibly get lost.
Most people are going to panic. They’re going to think they’re not smart enough to do this. They’re going to think that the rise of AI is going to make them obsolete. They’re going to think that they’re going to be replaced by robots. The thing is that AI becomes a force-multiplier for those who get it. And so to get it, you have to start somewhere. No, just “talking” isn’t enough. Talking to AI’s might be a good start, but it’s not how you multiply your effectiveness and an individual human being and potential force multiplier.
Yammering on forever, or orating in other words, is not how you organize and articulate your thoughts. I think some people are imagining a day where they don’t have to learn how to even write, much less code. But that’s like looking forward to not even having to think! It’s not going to happen. You’re always going to have to think if you want to do better in life. So, how do you get the ability to think better?
You get it by writing. And you get it by writing in a way that doesn’t require you to think about the actual process of writing. You get it by committing vim to muscle memory. You get it by writing in a way that lets you tap into those force-multipliers that are AI and automation. You get it through MyKoz.AI.