Slashdot Mirror
Installing Linux On A Wal-Mart OS-less machine
Azar writes "An article at Newsforge details the experience of installing Linux on Wal-Mart's OS-less PC. It states: 'A few months ago, super-sized discount store Wal-Mart made the headlines in the Linux world by becoming the first major U.S. retailer to offer PCs without Windows preloaded...While this was widely hailed in the Open Source community as a victory over the "Microsoft tax," which usually afflicts buyers of Linux PCs, one major question remained unanswered: How well do these machines support Linux?' Here is your answer." Newsforge is owned by OSDN, which also owns Slashdot, is all part of the sinister Andover keiretsu.
(Reposted from an eariler story -- worth reading.)
It is now official - a Slashdot poll has confirmed: Slashdot is dyingYet another crippling bombshell hit the beleaguered Slashdot community when recently a poll on the site confirmed that up-to-date and factually-correct stories account for less than 40 percent of all submitted news stories, that the user-moderation system has fallen to pieces through the oppressive power of the editors, and that subscribers don't need to pay and can use such software as JunkBuster to filter out adverts. Coming on the heels of the latest MSNBC survey which plainly states that Slashdot has lost more readers, this news serves to reinforce what we've known all along. Slashdot is collapsing in complete disarray, as further exemplified by failing dead last in the recent Kuro5hin technology site popularity test.
You don't need to be a Kreskin to predict Slashdot's future. The hand writing is on the wall: Slashdot faces a bleak future. In fact there won't be any future at all for it because Slashdot is dying. Things are looking very bad for the site. As many of us are already aware, Slashdot continues to lose readers. Red ink flows like a river of blood. The subscribers scheme is the most endangered of them all, having lost 62% of its paying readers.
Let's keep to the facts and look at the numbers.
Slashdot editor Rob Malda (CmdrTaco) states that there are 700 paying subscribers to Slashdot. How many normal readers are there? Let's see. The number of subscriber versus reader posts on Slashdot is roughly in ratio of 1 to 4. Therefore there are about 700*4 = 2800 normal casual readers. Anonymous Coward posts are about half of the volume of the typical posts. Therefore there are about 1400 readers who can't be bothered setting up an account. A recent article put the Trolls, who post sexual insults, foul ASCII art pictures and links to vile sites, at about 80 percent of the Slashdot readership. Therefore there are (700+8400+4200)*4 = 19600 trolling readers. This is consistent with the number of Troll posts.
Due to the troubles of Andover.net, abysmal hit counts and so on, Slashdot went out of business and was taken over by OSDN who run another troubled site. Now OSDN is also dead, its corpse turned over to yet another charnel house.
All major surveys show that Slashdot has steadily declined in readership. It is very sick and its long term survival prospects are very dim. If Slashdot is to survive at all it will be among geeky hobbyist dabblers. Slashdot continues to decay. Nothing short of a miracle could save it at this point in time. For all practical purposes, Slashdot is dead.
So why now? Why did Slashdot fail? Once you get over the myriad of incompatible personalities, particularly among the editors who have repeatedly failed to check for serious inaccuracies in their stories (see the FreeBSD 4.5 "release" as a shocking example), it's clear that subscribers will continue to decrease. Using software such as JunkBuster, readers can eliminate adverts without having to pay any money. These two significant factors, along with the corrupted "moderation" scheme (where editors have infinite power over the regular moderators), only confirm yet further that Slashdot's glory days are coming to an end.
Fact: Slashdot is dying
Yet another crippling bombshell hit the beleaguered *BSD community when recently IDC confirmed that *BSD accounts for less than a fraction of 1 percent of all servers. Coming on the heels of the latest Netcraft survey which plainly states that *BSD has lost more market share, this news serves to reinforce what we've known all along. *BSD is collapsing in complete disarray, as fittingly exemplified by failing dead last in the recent Sys Admin comprehensive networking test.
You don't need to be a Kreskin to predict *BSD's future. The hand writing is on the wall: *BSD faces a bleak future. In fact there won't be any future at all for *BSD because *BSD is dying. Things are looking very bad for *BSD. As many of us are already aware, *BSD continues to lose market share. Red ink flows like a river of blood. FreeBSD is the most endangered of them all, having lost 93% of its core developers.
Let's keep to the facts and look at the numbers.
OpenBSD leader Theo states that there are 7000 users of OpenBSD. How many users of NetBSD are there? Let's see. The number of OpenBSD versus NetBSD posts on Usenet is roughly in ratio of 5 to 1. Therefore there are about 7000/5 = 1400 NetBSD users. BSD/OS posts on Usenet are about half of the volume of NetBSD posts. Therefore there are about 700 users of BSD/OS. A recent article put FreeBSD at about 80 percent of the *BSD market. Therefore there are (7000+1400+700)*4 = 36400 FreeBSD users. This is consistent with the number of FreeBSD Usenet posts.
Due to the troubles of Walnut Creek, abysmal sales and so on, FreeBSD went out of business and was taken over by BSDI who sell another troubled OS. Now BSDI is also dead, its corpse turned over to yet another charnel house.
All major surveys show that *BSD has steadily declined in market share. *BSD is very sick and its long term survival prospects are very dim. If *BSD is to survive at all it will be among OS hobbyist dabblers. *BSD continues to decay. Nothing short of a miracle could save it at this point in time. For all practical purposes, *BSD is dead.
Fact: *BSD is dead
One more crippling bombshell hit the already beleaguered *BSD community when IDC confirmed that *BSD market share has dropped yet again, now down to less than a fraction of 1 percent of all servers. Coming on the heels of a recent Netcraft survey which plainly states that *BSD has lost more market share, this news serves to reinforce what we've known all along. *BSD is collapsing in complete disarray, as fittingly exemplified by failing dead last in the recent Sys Admin comprehensive networking test.
You don't need to be a Kreskin to predict *BSD's future. The hand writing is on the wall: *BSD faces a bleak future. In fact there won't be any future at all for *BSD because *BSD is dying. Things are looking very bad for *BSD. As many of us are already aware, *BSD continues to lose market share. Red ink flows like a river of blood. FreeBSD is the most endangered of them all, having lost 93% of its core developers.
Let's keep to the facts and look at the numbers.
OpenBSD leader Theo states that there are 7000 users of OpenBSD. How many users of NetBSD are there? Let's see. The number of OpenBSD versus NetBSD posts on Usenet is roughly in ratio of 5 to 1. Therefore there are about 7000/5 = 1400 NetBSD users. BSD/OS posts on Usenet are about half of the volume of NetBSD posts. Therefore there are about 700 users of BSD/OS. A recent article put FreeBSD at about 80 percent of the *BSD market. Therefore there are (7000+1400+700)*4 = 36400 FreeBSD users. This is consistent with the number of FreeBSD Usenet posts.
Due to the troubles of Walnut Creek, abysmal sales and so on, FreeBSD went out of business and was taken over by BSDI who sell another troubled OS. Now BSDI is also dead, its corpse turned over to yet another charnel house.
All major surveys show that *BSD has steadily declined in market share. *BSD is very sick and its long term survival prospects are very dim. If *BSD is to survive at all it will be among OS dilettante dabblers. *BSD continues to decay. Nothing short of a miracle could save it at this point in time. For all practical purposes, *BSD is dead.
Fact: *BSD is dying
He forgot to demonstrate what happens when his average Wal-Mart user decides to install that flashy game they just bought only to find that it only works in Windows.
Why the fuck would Wal-Mart hire a geek ? What possible use would they be ? Geeks have no understanding of business, and generally have different (read: poor) social skills.
Anyway the real reason for selling bare machines is not so that people can run linux (the average Wal-Mart customer does not care about open source).
The real reason is to promote piracy, by allowing people to use their friend's copy of Windows XP.
Do you hear it? It's the sound of ten thousand rednecks in the southern US returning their PC's to wal-mart because they accidently bought a piece of crap they thought would be useful for getting pr0n off the internet. Instead, they got a system that wouldn't even boot. Friggin Wal-mart didn't even have enough clue to test their operating systems with the various "alternative" operating systems. Not that it would matter in the case of the rednecks, but they even lost their potential "niche" market of poor geeks.
Sorry, I know people who work there. It is not rocket science, its simple retail. To expect any retailer to pay more than the local wage for such work is nothing short of ignorance. At least they CAN get medical benefits. It seems Congress only attempts to make it more unaffordable as each week goes by. It *IS* Congress that will make health benefits for the lower income people even less affordable, that is their goal. They want to make sure employers like WALMART cannot afford to provide it. Why? Simple, Congress (read DNC) wants the government to control health care. The easy way to do it is to make it unaffordable for corporations to do it.
Sorry, that article is the typical mud slinging crap that always shows up. Walmart is successful, and those that I do know who work there are just happy as can be. Apparently they know they are not going to get paid 60k a year... and don't feel they deserve to.
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
hahahahahahahaha
God, I love clueless labor types. Go communism! HAHAHA
yeah, it's flame bait. But come on! All of the truly great communist countries ran themselves into the ground! They're dead! If your going to praise the American Labor Movement, why not praise all of the other popular "ism" movements of it's time: Fascism (Nazis), Socialism, Zionism... all of these pre-WWI naive separatist (racist) "you stick to your kind and leave our kind alone" methodolgies. NONE of them have any place in a world trying to bring people together IN SPITE of their differences.
And living out here in Pittsburgh, I can tell you that labor (unions) have done more harm to themselves than any corporate entity! The steel industry is completly GONE because of how greedy the unions were. This pro-labor mentality needs to be completely overhauled. For instance, I went to Atlanta Nabisco to install a few control systems, and their labor was college educated! They were very soft spoken when it came to the stereotypical labor issues, because they knew where their bread was buttered. But back here where LABOR is god, and too many people's lively-hoods and egos depend on the old school unions... we're lucky if our union work can read. We sit by and watch company after company move away... not to cheap labor... but EDUCATED labor!
Open your eyes. The American Labour Movement, like any "liberal" cause, was fantastic IN IT'S TIME, but now causes damage when it has outlived it's usefulness. People derive their self-worth from these causes, and thus are blind to the world moving on without them. So they eventually NEED their cause so much, that they are unwilling to admit when they've accomplished their goals... and they themselves are no longer needed.
rant rant rant
anyway, May Day is a JOKE of a holiday. we don't celebrate in the US, because we know better. Why not celebrate Titanic Day? Or better yet, Wounded Knee day?
Big Labor can FOAD, for all I care.
20 January 2017: the End of an Error.
> I would suggest you all consider NOT shopping at Walmart -- for anything at all -- read this please
I got about through about five paragraphs of "Oh, it's horrible! They *make money!* Dear God, *they employ people!*" and gave up in disgust. Maybe later on they made some real points, but that was about all I could take.
Chris Mattern