Slashdot Mirror

Agreed, MS can download (most likely has already) and can do whatever they want with it within the limits of the license.

MS has made contributions to GPL'd software in the past. The difference in this case is that the picture was not used according to the license it was under.

If someone produces something, they should have the right to be acknowledged as the creator, and be able to make a dollar from their creation if someone is willing to pay for its use. If it is worth stealing, most likely its worth paying for. If the author charges too much, well, then not many folks will pay for it. We need to find a balance here, make it easy to pay, and keep the cost reasonable. If buying something is less hassle than pirating it, guess what most folks will do.

[Linux Foundation Executive Director Jim] Zemlin says the Linux Foundation wants to build a collaborative forum where Linux users can share ideas and get information on the Linux operating system.

Great, but do we really need a new linux forum?

The idea is that you are paying directly for the assistance in finding what you want, not the good you finally decide on, thus removing the conflicts of interest and getting the "best of both worlds".
This is the business model of Consumer Reports. They research products and then write about them. Usually they give them a rating. I have a subscription.

My history on other forums has nothing to do with the idea.
Basically what you are proposing is a support forum where people interested in a particular electronic appliance get together and help each other, to their mutual benefit. They have these all over the web. You can visit them without even getting in your automobile! And if you only knew enough to be a web admin, you could even host one for a very minimal cost, without having to rent floor space, hire security guards, or form a corporation.

Basically, you acted like a jackass on a support forum. Now you are proposing a "great new idea"-- support forums.
Ever hear about irony?

Debian has a floozy:
http://www.linuxforum.com/linux_wallpapers_full/10 4.php

Probably a Cisco box rather

Very true. And the reason for this is so many people have Windows. Almost 90% of PCs on W3C have some variant of Windows. Baring in mind that this will be particularly techie community, it doesn't bode well.

The fact of the matter is, for most manufacturers, it just isn't cost effective to make their devices compatible with Linux, then test against various distros with various kernel configurations on various hardwares just to tap into under 4% of the market. Firefox has almost 1 in 10 people on the web, and some businesses still think its not viable to support it.

It's going to take some dedicated geeks to introduce Linux to the general public. Without market share, no-one's going to bother.

Linspire and (though it pains me to say this) Xandros are two viable distros that are either ready or nearly ready for the main-stream market. Hell, even SUSE is pretty useable for Linux n00bs.

As for lack of support, there are plenty of forums full of friendly people willing to help, or providing in depth documentation.

Give a man Linux, and he'll use it, get stuck and return to Windows. Teach him to use Linux, and how to find help, and we've improved our market share.

a step up from the Linux mantra: "RTFM noob"

Well, let's have a look at those planned improvements:

"Jim Allchin details various planned Longhorn features to meet this goal, such as auto-defragmenting in the background"

RTFM

"the ability to have files in more than one folder simultaneously"

RTFM

"and the new ad campaign"

Yeah well, I'm assuming you don't care so much about that one, given that the rest of it has been part of Linux for the last... well, forever.

You see, "RTFM" means, "it just works". What exactly do you think the Windows folks are going to tell you when you ask how to defrag Longhorn...? That's right, RTFM!

1) What I'm saying in regards to the space used is that in order to use IE, you *have* to have Windows, which has a certain space requirement. If you're running anything else, Firefox is just a small program to add to it. You can't use IE on Linux, for example. (disregarding WINE/Crossover Plugin)

It's still a bullshit comparison. You have to have any operating system. Every operating system has space requirements. Apple says MacOSX requires 2GB. Solaris requires 1-2GB. Even Redhat requires 1.7GB for the "personal desktop" install. Yes, you can fit linux in 500mb, but you can do that with any of them. It's just a matter of how much you can do without.

If you're running anything else, Firefox is just a small program to add to it.

Well since Firefox isn't included with any operating system, it's "just a small program to add" to every operating system it runs on, including Windows! Now if you're running Windows, IE is included so you don't have to install anything. You don't get a much smaller footprint than zero!

See how filesize is a bullshit argument?

2) If you had to add anything to the api layer (Or just a plugin) which would be easier to do? Firefox, which is open source, and you don't have to ask permission and sign away your rights and life, or IE, which you probably couldn't even get access unless you paid a crapload of money, or were already a "partner" with Microsoft.

Yes you can change the API, but you typically don't need to, and even if you do it's not always advisable. Doing so introduces all sorts of deployment issues, and isn't always as easy as it sounds.

Yes, it is MUCH cheaper to use OSS platforms over propretary plaforms. Assuming of course the platforms are equally effective for the application domain. If you have to patch the OSS platform and/or extend it in any significant way it can change the economics. (i.e. You spend more time and money developing the platform itself, than it would have to just gone and bought a proprietary platform.)

I'm not saying IE is superior. I'm not saying Mozilla is superior. I'm not even saying IE and Mozilla are equal. What I am saying is that there are plenty of arguments for why one should prefer Mozilla over IE without having to resorting to making up crap.

Eventually I'll be able to do stuff like close out a X server session on one computer, move to another computer and re-open it. Thanks to improvements in X.org.

hopefully sooner then later. i'd also like to see this in a per window capacity, like screen does for shells.

Your definition is a backronym, as can be seen from the first link found when googling for '"user system resources" usr'

I'll take the Linux women over the BSD women any day.

http://www.linuxforum.com/linux_wallpapers_full/53 .php

GNU Zebra is a cisco IOS clone for linux. i think its what you're looking for.

I managed to make this work on my RedHat 9.0 box last week, after a great deal of googling and lots of trial and error. The best page I found on the subject was probably this one, and there were also some forum posts here and here.

[off-topic, but what the hell...]

-- Laura, disappointed that RedHat's mouse-configuration tool didn't handle this automagically

Want a low-buck firewall? How about a 386, 8MB ram, two NIC's or a NIC and a modem and a floppy drive? That's all it takes using FREESCO. Look at a review of an earlier version. You should have most of that $100 left over.