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Microsoft Sends Linux Survey
GnrlFajita writes "According to Newsforge, Microsoft is sending Linux users a survey asking why they use Linux, and what can be done to make Windows better. The article suggests taking the survey (or surveys, one for business users and one for home users), then sharing your answers with others in the community." Newsforge and Slashdot are both part of OSDN.
...and what can be done to make Windows better.
Mr. Gates taking a long walk off a short pier?
--
...how about fully documenting all protocols and formats used (under a nice license) so that people can make products interoperable?
Newsforge and Slashdot are both part of OSDN.
...so linux followers we can't bash newsforge for that article?
Last four options in the "rank the reasons you like Linux for the home" section:
The satisfaction of not giving Microsoft more money.
I don't trust Microsoft.
I don't want to use proprietary software.
I don't want to use commercial software.
I was almost taking the survey seriously until I saw those options.
In related news, Linux developers considered asking Windows users what would get them to switch, but then realized they were already doing their best to clone Windows to the finest detail.
like when the retarded kid at school asks you how to become more popular..
Still, the biggest advantage I can think of is the open source model - the industry has been working for years on ways to increase reuse, but commercial licensing and patent issues get in the way of that.
First they were insulting Linux and saying it has problems bigger than windows, and in the last week they seem to have shown interest in learning from windows. this is like an admission that their software is worse than linux. just my $.02
Investing forum
That would make Windows better for customers.
Oh, you wanted to know how to make it better for MICROSOFT.
If we were all really non-hypocritical, and truly interested in security, and usability, and not just microsoft bashing, this is a great opportunity to help them out and point out their flaws.... NAH!!
But seriously, we all complain about MS's problems, now we've actually got a outlet to complain to. If you don't speak up now, you really have no room to speak later!
I find that most often I end up learning from necessity, rather than for enjoyment.
How about making Windows Free?
0110100100100000011000010110110100100000011000100
They apparently don't plan to release the results of their surveys...
They just don't get it, do they?
Otherwise, I agree with some of the respondants on NewsForge - don't do the survey. It's just free marketing etc. info for Microsoft. They're not worth it.
People say I'm crazy, I got diamonds on the soles of my shoes...
I hope they didn't ask any Debian users. Their suggestion would be "Go back to Windows 3.1!"
Of course the parent post in on topic! Didn't the terrorists use Microsoft Flight Simulator to practice?
By using Windows you are supporting Usama! Please think about it.
I don't trust Microsoft.
Karma: Bad. Calmer, good.
I use linux because..
[ ] I am a communist
[ ] I am a terrorist
[ ] All of the above
It's the licensing, pricing, and force-fed dependencies that suck. None of these are technical issues.
"Microsoft is sending Linux users a survey asking why they use Linux"
umm... we use linux because its NOT windows. ( lets see the Good Bill fix THAT)
i'm not trolling,
... we all remember the 'viral GPL' attack
but i think this may be a way to find out the most popular 'features' of linux so MS knows where to attack next
Marge, get me your address book, 4 beers, and my conversation hat.
because it is FREE and not owned by a greedy corporation that is bent on world domination of everyones desktop with vulnerable Kludgeware that calls home to mamma-M$FT...
While Microsoft works hard to make its products better, many non-developer open source insecure "advocates" work hard to rant Microsoft, assuming that propaganda and ranting will make Linux and open source better.
Could this possibly be a fake? You would think Microsoft would plaster the website with TMs, and legalese.
Also is it common practice for big corps to use SurveyMonkey. If they are being so open about it, why didn't they have it someplace on Microsoft's site?
Just a thought..
Windows 2000 and Windows XP are superior to anything Linux for home users. Here is an opportunity to ask Linux users why they use Windows, and what can be done to make Linux better.
Why did MS choose to use surveymonkey? This seems like a hoax.
scott
Dear Mr MS Marketing,
I use linux because
1. I expect to own software I pay for
2. I expect software I pay for to work as advertised
3. I expect not to be foreced into downloading other components I don't want of said software to keep my machine secure. (IE media player has to be downloaded to make explorer secure)
4. I expect to not be forced to give up all and any reasonable legal rights when I open the package.
5. I do not want to deal with software that guarantees via the liscence agreeement that the publisher can remotely look at my computer at will.
As soon as the law makers get their opposable digit out of their anal orpheus, and restore a modicum of protection to consumers I don't have any faith that any of the points that I have outlined above will be addressed. Lets face it, you pay for the software, break open the box, and you have no legal expectation that the software will work, in any way shape or form.
AngryPeopleRule
"Science is about ego as much as it is about discovery and truth " - I said it, so sue me.
So what about us BSD users? They don't want our opinions? BSD is after all very different than linux in many ways.
Don't change a thing. Remain closed source and proprietary, release all software under draconian EULA's and other hamstringing legalities, and keep the security model (or lack thereof) exactly as it is, because like Richard Nixon said, you can't know what it's like to stand on the highest mountain (Linux) until you've been in the deepest valley (Windows).
Really, You believe Microsoft would put a survey on monkeysurvey or somth like that? Wouldn't it be somebody else just fooling around?
number of CPUs
please select from:
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8
anyone saw a mobo with 5 CPU slots?
#
#\ @ ? Colonize Mars
#
For a start... and oh yeah, charge nothing (ok, $10 for manuals if ya must) for windows.
Stupid people make stupid things profitable.
We also worship caffiene and you have done bad things to Java.
"Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival."
--Dr.W.Edwards Deming
on the Home User survey:
Reasons you like Linux for the home:
"The satisfaction of not giving Microsoft more money."
and
"I don't trust Microsoft"
At least they ask honest questions.
Yeppers. That's the real deal.
4) Why do you use Linux? (check all that apply)
( ) It's not Windows
( ) It's not Windows-like
( ) It's not a Microsoft product
( ) It doesn't crush innovation with its monopoly
( ) It doesn't need a security patch every 15 minutes
5) How can Windows be better? (check all that apply)
( ) By being Linux
( ) By being Linux-like
( ) By not being a Microsoft product
( ) By not crushing innovation with its monopoly
( ) By not needing a security patch every 15 minutes
--Rick "If it isn't broken, take it apart and find out why."
way to go, already slashdoted!!!
Just post your answers at newsforge after only "looking" at the MS survey.
/. poster says they said "submit." I hope this is an innocent mistake . . .
Newsforge says "look" at the survey, while the
Sdelat' Ameriku velikoy Snova!
Dear Rebel Alliance
Why don't you like me anymore?
Love
Palpatine
1) Stop violating the law and pay restitution to each and every company that has been damaged and run out of business by Microsoft's immoral business practices.
2) Rescind the patent for the "long file name."
3) Have Bill Gates and the current management team resign from the company.
4) Drop your prices for your Office suite and OS to zero dollars and zero cents (plus or minus zero) to make it competitive.
5) Do not release your code until it's done, so security can be improved (like some open source projects are able to do).
6) Remove the requirements enter authentication codes and product keys. (Many open source products don't require this.)
7) Use open protocols and stop trying to sabotage everything to make a buck.
8) Try and improve your dismal reputation for shoddy work.
9) When making a charitable contribution cease donating "in-kind" the value of software given just so you can fleece the taxpayers of the tax deduction.
10) God forbid, pay some federal income tax you dirtbags.
11) In short, there is nothing you can do. Have a nice day.
The baby's fine -- please stop sending business cards.
I always looked at stuff like this as helping some executive somewhere in the marketing deparment get a huge bonus.
Give me some!
They're simply using this list to round up all the Linux users and present them to SCO on a silver platter (like Spiderman!). Then, when SCO wins the suit, Linux will be destroyed!!! MUAHAHAHA!!!!
--Stephen
Did you ever notice that *nix doesn't even cover Linux?
Just how long do you think it will take M$ to follow apple and rape BSD to make a new OS?
The more clueless Microsoft is about Linux, the harder it will be for them to attack Linux. The ultimate reason behind this survey is so they can know better how to herd Linux users back into the M$ fold.
Why is "Don't want to help hegemonic evil spread across the face of the Earth" not one of the options?
that's why it's the intelligent user's duty to fill out the survey in a random, but believable way.
make their data useless in the aggregate.
pr0n - keeping monitor glass spotless since 1981.
When Microsoft cares to release Windows Media Player, Microsoft Messenger and stuff like that for Linux, maybe then I would consider spending some time for them. I will have to add to that list the promotion of incompatible web pages (read OCX or IE based).
the questions in the business survey are very poor and often cannot be related to real-world linux installations.
One question asks about linux clusters and offers a selection of maximum "nodes" which stops at eight?!
The problem seems to be that the questions are designed to gather a "checklist" of features that when added to windows would make it a viable alternative to linux. As the Irishman would say when asked for directions to the next town, "If I were you, I wouldn't start from here."
Act now and be the first to receive a $200 gift certificate for switching back to MS from Linux. Microsoft "Because We Can Buy It or Break It"
MoFscker
This makes me wonder about the integrity of their claims, because it's hard to imagine that anyone at Microsoft believes that the best way to reach their customers is via Linux Users Groups. So, if that's not really their intention, what ARE they trying to do?
One of the guys in our local user's group, Anthony Earl, suggested that we give them some ideas that will slow them down, like strict security on the desktop. James DeWitt suggested "Clippy, only MUCH BIGGER!" Sean
Maybe we should do a survey similar to this one so that we can learn from Windows users as well.
Well they can kiss my contribution goodbye...for the exact same reasons I refuse to sign up to a Passport account and refuse to permit my kids to use hotmail accounts or anything else tainted by similar legal agreements...
Donald 'Duck' Dunn: We had a band powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline.
A. More evil
B. Less evil
C. Microsoft is just the right amount of evil right now.
Question 2: Concerning how much the next version of Windows should steal from Macintosh OS 10.3, Windows should:
A. Steal more from Apple
B. Steal a lot more from Apple
C. Still every single element of OS 10.3
D. The current crappy, half-assed ripoff of OS X is currently sufficient for all my computing needs.
Question 3: Next year, how many Windows-specific viruses would you like to receive in e-mail:
A. The same amount as now
B. More
C. A whole lot more
D. I have a Windows box still sending out copies of SoBig at this very moment.
Question 4: How large would you like the next Windows security hole to be?
A. Large enough to accommodate a small dog.
B. Large enough to drive an SUV through.
C. Large enough to drive a Mack truck through.
D. You know that huge crawler thing NASA uses to take the space shuttle out to the pad? Yeah, that big.
Question 5: C'mon, be serious. How much for your soul?
A. Already sold mine.
B. An Xbox with the complete library of available games.
C. 10000 shares of Microsoft stock.
D. Natalie Portman
E. CowboyNeal
Lawrence Person (lawrencepersonh@gmailh.com (remove all "h"s to mail)
http://www.lawrenceperson.com/
- We are the slashdot. Resistance is futile. Prepare to be moderated -
Don't do homework for MS. After they GPL their OS i'll fill out any survey they wish; but until then they bite me. "no silly rabbit, trix are for kids"
this looks like a fake survey, microsoft wouldnt have this much humility, and it wouldnt be on some generic survey site.
Microsoft has these posters floating around with pictures of Tux on a milk carton "with a frown". It says "two down, three to go" Then it goes on to say if each MS employee converts 5 linux installs into Windows server installs, that MS could then "outsell" linux in the server market.
It's about the opensource philosophy for many people. Unless they decide to make windows truly open source, not shared source, many people will continue to use GNU/Linux. duh. Also, DRM and palladium will just convert more people over to linux. I like to decide what files can open and what programs can run on my computer. It's MY COMPUTER. I should be in control.
Real competition drives innovation and makes good for customers.
why run from Vincenzo?
Why? Because they don't want a free replacement available so no one can do to that like SAMBA did and is still doing to SMB/CIFS.
Want to see why they do this? Load up a Win2K/WinXP file server/domain controller. Measure its performance. Reformat the hard drives and install Linux/SAMBA. Measure the much better performance now.
If this is indeed real, it simply shows how out of touch MS is with the realities behind why OSS is being adopted by so many people.
Questions that say things like, "What is the importance of finding qualified help?" in terms of why chose linux, are absurd. They're basically assuming things, such as that finding experienced linux folks is less expensive than finding experienced windows folks, ad nausium. Their just trolls.
~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
Because Ghostbusters (II) already did that theme.
I attempted to take the survey, and for one targeted toward Linux end-users, you think they'd make one that was functional with MozillaFirebird.
I tried clicking on all of the little radio buttons, which instead of being normal radio buttons, are stupid little images that are supposed to do something when clicked.
Well, I clicked and I clicked and none of them were selected. I submitted the survey anyway, and ended up with a blank page so I don't even know what will happen.
I used Firebird on Jaguar (my stupid KVM broke, so no Linux box for a few days). But, I don't think Firebird acts radically different on OS X than on Linux.
Guess they don't really want my feedback, eh?
1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21 -- Mathematics is the Language of Nature.
In 1999 or so, when I started using Linux for most time, Windows WAS a lot better for most purposes -- if you forget stability. For example, there was no decent web browser for Linux, only Netscape 4 which crashed all the time. Basically, it was really hard to get even basic desktop functionality.
Today, Mozilla Firebird is much better than IE, and in general, Linux has a good or at least useable solution for any need I have. In addition, it's getting better every month. Bad fonts were fixed with BitstreamVera and OpenOffice 1.1 is finally "good enough". Programming tools, etc, were much better for Linux back in 1995. On the other hand, MS products have mainly become slower, more bloated and even clumsier to use.
I would choose Linux over Windows based on merit and usability alone even in the case both were equally free.
Auferre trucidare rapere falsis nominibus imperium, atque ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant.
I am sorry, but I believe this to be the point which they continue to miss . . . and apparently you do too. Without a process being "Open" there is no accountability and no assurance that the process meets the claimed criteria.
What value is there for me to fill out this closed survey? So that MS can later make false claims about Linux users that I can never check because the survey was closed?
It is not a matter of MS being able to scrutinize the community through surveys. It is a matter of the community being able to scrutinize the claims MS makes that affect us. The goal is to attain the truth, which is impossible in a closed process.
Sdelat' Ameriku velikoy Snova!
Right... the universally accepted principle that if a corporation you hate holds out the olive branch of a survey, you have to take the survey or give up your position against the company. Mm hmm. Good.
- First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then ???, then profit.
Better gaming experience and
Better install and uninstall of additional software
Can you elaborate on these? I agree with the rest, but I'd be interested in hearing about how to improve my gaming experience and the installation of software.
I just want to read and write word, excel, powerpoint and access files without having to buy MS Office because it is so expensive.
If they actually plan on using the answers to the survey when making subsequent decisions, let's lead them to make wrong decisions.
Actually, that may not be far wrong. Think of it: Whoever answers this survey as if it were realistic may also be gullible enough to fall for an RIAA-like lawsuit from SCO.
All MS has to do is enter into some kind, any kind of "business partnership" with SCO, then they're free to share any data confidentially without the slightest fear of any taint or PR disaster.
OH WAIT - they're already business partners with SCO to the tune of $6 million for "Linux licenses".
PS: What kind of ActiveX crap does the survey download? What settings on Windows does it change? I'm afraid to even follow the link. What MS does to Windows machines, IMHO, is just as evil as anything done by virii / blackhats.
Pavlov wouldn't be so famous if he'd used a can opener instead of a bell.
when i go on the home user one it just either loads or says "updating page" with 404 in the URL. same with business now just wanted to see wtf they are gonna be asking :-)
All of my gripes are related to server use. You want too talk about desktop use, send the survey to OSX users.
From the Linux at work-survey: "How complete of a replacement for Windows do you feel Linux is?"
*sigh*
Of course not.
So follow that logic to a logical conclusion:
Feed M$ bad data so they make bad decisions.
The whole problem with MS is that they don't really want to be better for the customer, they just want to look better to the customer.
Everything they do is concentrated on marketability. With this in mind actual quality becomes much less important than perceived quality. And compared to non-software and OSS companies their product cannot be taken apart and inspected (and for that matter put back together).
So when they ask Linux users what they could improve they will hopefully realize that they can't satisfy them without changing their entire business model.
***Quis custodiet ipsos custodes***
This is golden. Right off the survey, written by microsoft employee(s), suggested reasons you might not like M$!
foo mane padme hum
As we all know Microsoft has absolutely no interest in improving their products, lowering costs, or using open standards to prevent vendor lock-in and forced upgrades.
So this leads me to believe the only valid reason for a survey is for a disinformation/FUD to gather counterpoints that PHBs and CIOs that will bring up about linux to the negotiating table:
PHB: I heard that linux is free?
Microsoft: But TCO is higher! (a lie)
PHB: I have heard that openoffice can do everything that MS office can, why should I pay?
MS: Oh, but it wont be [insert buzzword] compliant!
PHB: Why should I pay $X for a web server when I can use Apache/PHP which are free?
MS: Well IIS integrates better with XML and Office! (FUD/BS)
I suggest either refusing to take the survey, or better yet giving the totally opposite answer of the real reason you use linux. Because any answer you give, provides a MS marketing/sales person ammo for disinformation.
You have three choices: a) abstain, b) fill out the survey in good faith, c) answer disingenuously and randomly.
If this survey were actually going to be used to improve Microsoft's _products_, then giving them helpful advice might be fine. But Linux is just one small factor in their long-term product strategy, and your answers aren't going to turn that very large ship around. What this _will_ be used for is marketing. You might well see Linux-user-targeted marketing materials come out of this that mention the top three reasons people have given for being dissatisfied with MSFT products, even if the product itself hasn't been changed at all.
If you don't want their marketing efforts to combat Linux more effectively, then add some noise to their data. Make random choices from the multiple-choice sections, and write something inoffensive but inaccurate in the essay portions.
Their conclusion? These Linux zealots are sure are schizophrenic.
Did anyone have a problem filling out the survey with Firebird? Whenever I submitted it, it said that I hadn't answered all the questions. Then it highlighted almost all the questions, all of which were answered.
So a site can survive the slashdot effect. (It only took about 2 minutes to bring up the first page)
Netcraft says survey monkey is Windows 2000 server running IIS 5.0
p.s. Maybe someone should poll surveymoney to find out why they haven't bothered upgrading to 2003 server yet...
No, I don't mean Microsoft, I mean all the posts I've read here so far.
We have nothing to fear from the world's largest software maker paying attention to the needs and wants of the Linux community. Really. Honestly. We've loathed them for years because their software sucks -- why not help them do it better? If your answer is that they *can't* do it better, then fine. But that's not my answer. I can think of a number of things that I'd like them to do. I'll still use Linux, but I'm hopeful that those times I'm obligated to use Windows won't be as painful.
Or are you too afraid that Microsoft can beat Linux after all?
extend, extinguish.
i think they are worried that linux could hit critical mass, cuz once it do, they're toast (0ff t3h 5p0k3).
I have plenty of common sense, I just choose to ignore it. -- Calvin
There is no option for "I prefer Linux over Windows", or "Linux suites my needs nicely and it's free". I don't know if its done on purpose or it's just arrogance but the question seems to assume that Linux is not very good and there must be some other reason for you using it home.
Dear Microsoft:
I use Linux because I don't like the color blue (wink wink). I like wearing red hats.
I use Mac OS X 10.3 because I can write full interoperability accross most programs with AppleScript in a matter of minutes.
I use it because the developer tools are free with open source.
Virus... worm... malicious pop ups... on my Mac? I have a hard time beleiving it even if I see it.
I use it because I don't give a damn about DRM. There is ALWAYS a way around the gate. In my estimate this whole DRM lockdown planned with Longhorn is going to hurt you when people can't use their computer for what they want.
Linux and Mac OS X will always be something Windows can never be... and that is a good thing.
Switched to Linux/Mac OS X in May. - Ken
.deviatefromtheabsolute.
...because, any software written to work with Windows that isn't written by Microsoft is a competitor... *sigh*
Q: What do MS, an Ostrich, and The IRS have in common?
A: The can all shove their bills up their arses.
(props to Billy Connolly)
The BSD ports systems and Gentoo's portage are very simple ways to install and uninstall software while keeping it up to date.
And the muscular cyborg German dudes dance with sexy French Canadians
I mean, it's a propietary product from a company that in a daily basis attacks our comunity.
Should we help Micro$oft?; and, in fact, it's impossible to make windoze better, because what really makes it a bad product, is the ethical issue of using propietary software, all the other wars about GNU/Linux Being "Technically superior", are just miscellaneous. We shoudln't use windoze because it's wrong to restrict people's Freedom and Minds to achieve a comercial goal. The other "My OS is better than yours" thing is just a childish flame (Doesn't matter if Unix is actually superior or not, or if it turns out that Dr. DOS is the best OS out there, it's not about that). If we are going to have a technicall discusion on OSs , let's have it forgetting what licenses they are released under, and if we are going to discuss how software should be released and distributed, forgot first about the technicall stuff.
WTF am I doing replying to an AC at 5 A.M on a Friday night?
It might be helpful if Microsoft would act like a real business instead of a government subsidized utility and do some real risk analysis of the security risks associated with Windows. Is there any reason to assume that ever major gang tjat conducts financial fraud hasn't infiltrated Micro$oft at this point? What audits of the security of Windows have been conducted that would mitigate this?
Dear Convicted Monopolists,
Back in the 80's you made the decision that you would gain more marketshare by turning the PC hardware market into a commodity market. That is fine. That is a business decision. The open source community is now turning your cash cow market niches into commodities. Furthermore, we are setting the price per unit at as close to zero as we can manage. I don't want to hear a peep out of you about it being unfair. And if you make any claims about your products or open source that aren't true or that are in any way misleading, expect us to challenge them, loudly and in open forums that are not sympathetic to you.
If you want to sell to us, you will have to recognize one thing: the customer is always right. That applies to every customer, all the time. If you disagree, it isn't our fault. You have repeatedly told the open source community that we are wrong. We told you we don't need you. Retract every lie you have ever told to us or about us. Repudiate them publicly. Then, refund all of the money we've had to pay for hardware that came with Microsoft products we never wanted. After you are done with that, we might be willing to fill out a survey explaining why we don't ever want to use your products and why we look forward to your eventual bankruptcy.
Sincerely,
One happy Linux user.
Microsoft can't figure sh-t out for themselves so they have to send out surveys to linux users so they can leech ideas to make themselves better...
#1 Stability - Windows 2000 fixes this, relatively speaking. Still, it wasn't even targeted to me, the home user. Figures.
#2 Webserver - I've been known to run a website off my cable modem, and while Windows could handle this, the 10 concurrent connections thing is ridiculous. They can't figure out how to license it to make money, without making is useless to me, that's their problem. And don't even get me started on IIS/PWS exploits.
#3 Command line - It's taken a few years for me to become competent with it... but I never want to go back to the control panel bullshit. I don't why they're so scared of it, short of being ashamed of dos.
#4 Developer tools - Let's face it, I'll never be a kernel hacker. The little coding I do, does suck, and that will never change. But I can, with so many languages, I couldn't even list them all. And for free. Compare this to $600 for a non-crippled Visual Studio. C'mon... something is wrong here. No provision is made for the hobbyist developer. Trying to wring money out of someone that is constantly broke like I am, or maybe even a teenager, just so they can write little doodad programs, it stinks. Hell, maybe even a crippled VS would do, if it were free. Even command line tools. The only guy I know who can honestly be called a guru, says that he might never have tried linux, if there had been some sort of hobbyist Visual C in win3.11/95...
#5 You never innovate. Ever. Just steal ideas... I can think of 20 things off the top of my head that windows could improve, if it cared to. For brevity's sake, here's one example: Why can I only copy/paste one thing at a time? I'd much rather have a queue-based copy, so that it doesn't overwrite the last clipboard object. To select which to paste, hold the control, and keep tapping V until my correct paste appears. This is so simple, so obvious, that a loser like me sees it. Why can't the geniuses at M$? And don't even start with the little graphical widget in Office, not only is it Office specific, but it's the wrong idea. Duh.
An unpopular guy pays a popular girl to pretend to be his girlfriend so everyone will think he's cooler than he is.
So, Bill throws a party and pays Linus to show up everyone thinks Windows is cooler because Linus goes to Bill's parties.
... how about fully documenting all protocols and formats used (under a nice license) so that people can make products interoperable?
15. List the top one or two possible improvements that you would like to see made to Windows.
./configure --disable-nls and not have the script ignore us. We don't want all the translations and some of us do notice and don't like it when we tell software to do something basic like this and it ignores us.
Nothing. You don't understand, your whole design philosiphy is flawed. You are presenting to the user little boxes that say "this far and no further" Such boxes do not exist with Linux. For instance, I can network every computer in my home, multiple firewire, multiple ethernet, SCSI if I want to, bond them all into one virtual interface, install openmosix, have a cluster, have it serve a webpage or my mp3s and I can do it from the internet cafe. From the command line. For free.
I don't have to worry about viruses. I don't have to worry about a document I write containing identifying information about me. I don't have to worry about what's the next thing that is going to attack my box, due to your screw ups. I don't have to worry about my computer doing things that you want it to do rather that what I want it to do. Free upgrades, for life. Don't like something? Change it. Would you like to have no bloat? Rip out X Would you like your apps to be optimized to your CPU? OK, change your $CFLAGS. Got old hardware? No problem, what do you want to do? Mail? Web? Game server? GUI overhead? What's that? You don't understand. Windows is a fisher price toy.
16. List the top one or two improvements that you would like to see made to Linux.
Gnome, stop trying to be another microsoft. Don't walk down the same road. Some of us don't want binary format registry file configuration files that can't be edited by hand.
GTK, some of us like to run
Glibc, modualize the security options. Let the user choose the level of encryption. There is a project that replaced the stock md5 with blowfish. This is a good idea.
SealBeater
-- Its survival of the fittest...and we got the fucking guns!!!
The OSDN story describes a short e-mail exchange that seems to be managed by someone who says he is working with Microsoft, but gee, he seems to be sending from a disposable Hotmail account, jsut like I use when I want to Spam, err, annoy people.
"Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!" - Glen Beck
...to answer this survey would be, "we use Linux because it is Free as in Speech." Any other answer is just a cheap way of giving MS helpful tips on how to make more money. Too bad the survey does not really allow this kind of answer. But, I think, if everybody participating said that (GNU/)Linux is the single choice because it is Free, we could leave a good impression... at least I suppose RMS would agree.
/really/ use GNU/Linux (although, of course, I get all these reasons as a side effect). I use it because it is Free." I wonder what MS would do if everybody answered the survey like that?
So, if it is possible in any way, fill out the survey saying, "none of the given reasons are why I
I would never complete this survey. Aside from the information collected within the survey itself, your IP will be logged and who knows what they'll do with the info. If you think completing a survey is going to give Microsoft some epiphany that they've been going in the wrong direction, I'd beg to differ. However, it might give them a huge database of IPs and personal information that they can use in the future to fine-tune the demographic and location of those they consider unsupportive of their efforts.
They've run study after study on why people use Linux.
I'm sure they can read the trade rags where people are quoted as saying that they prefer Linux because Linux is more secure and more stable.
In fact, I'm positive they read them because every so often you'll hear about another Microsoft push to increase stability or security.
When you already have the answers, but you're still asking the questions, there is something else going on.
Hey-- We ALL know why we don't use M$ products, so you're preaching to the choir if you're airing all your complaints here.
...
It would make more sense to discuss the survey itself rather than posting your bitch list here for MS employees to troll anyways. If you don't want to answer, don't. If you do, then post your issues on their survey site. We still have to deal with their software so you might as well see if they can reduce the suck coeffecient just a bit.
In the mean time, discuss their motives, their stategy, their callous disregard for quality and lust for money. I like reading all the juicy hatred flowing from the pits of your souls. Give into your hate, young Skywalker.
1. What best describes your Linux knowledge level?
2. What best describes your involvment with Linux?
3. What region are you from?
4. How many systems does your organization have?
5. What is the typical hardware used in your Linux systems?
6. What is the primary Linux distribution you use?
7. How complete of a replacement for Windows do you feel Linux is?
This question refers you to the top of the page (an error maybe in Mozilla ID:2002122222) It also contains the words "DO_NOT_COPY_THIS_LINK" 8. What organizations would you recommend use Linux?
9. Rank the importance of support resources you use for Linux.
10. Rank the importance of server operating attributes to your organization. (1 indicates a preference for low product cost and more administive and end-user time. 5 indicates a high up-front product cost but less user effort)
11. Rank the importance of easy initial configuration and setup of a server operating system against easier administration. (1 is easy initial setup and lousy administration and 5 is difficult initial setup and great administration)
12. Rank the reasons you like Linux as a server compared to Windows Server 2003.
There are about twenty sub questions here.
Look at this comment 13. What do you use Linux servers for in your organization?
14. If you are running a Linux cluster, how many nodes are there?
15. What does your organization use Linux clients for?
16. Do you run Windows emulators or virtual machines?
17. List the top one or two possible improvements that you would like to see made to Windows Server.
18. List the top one or two improvements that you would like to see made to Linux.
19. Please list your e-mail address if you don't mind answering follow-up questions. Your e-mail address will only be used for follow-up on this survey.
Many of the questions that are actually buttons are broken (at least on my browser) so I couldn't get past this page.
Home
Refused to load. Probably due to the Slashdot effect.
Well there they are.
Restore America: Dr. Ron Paul for President!
Last four options in the "rank the reasons you like Linux for the home" section:
The satisfaction of not giving Microsoft more money.
I don't trust Microsoft.
I don't want to use proprietary software.
I don't want to use commercial software.
I was almost taking the survey seriously until I saw those options.
I think he included those to prove that he was a crack baby. And Linux sucks.
The best reply to this has been one that Jonathan Hutchins posted to our KCLUG mailing list:
Yes, I know it's a troll post, but it's hard to resist sometimes: GO TO ANY FUCKING BOOK STORE! There are thousends of Linux references.
"Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!" - Glen Beck
First they were insulting Linux and saying it has problems bigger than windows, and in the last week they seem to have shown interest in learning from windows. this is like an admission that their software is worse than linux. just my $.02
If we were all really non-hypocritical, and truly interested in security, and usability, and not just microsoft bashing, this is a great opportunity to help them out and point out their flaws.... NAH!!
But seriously, we all complain about MS's problems, now we've actually got a outlet to complain to. If you don't speak up now, you really have no room to speak later!
As far as gaming goes, I bought a PlayStation 'cuz its easier to pass around a pair of controllers than a keyboard when friends come over...
As far as installers/package managers go, any of the latest distros should be adaquate. I know first hand that SuSE 8.x is at least as difficult as Win2K, and that SuSE 9.0 can be done blindfolded.
Q: How can we make Windows better?
A: Replace with Linux.
Dear Mr MS Marketing,
I use linux because
1. I expect to own software I pay for
2. I expect software I pay for to work as advertised
3. I expect not to be foreced into downloading other components I don't want of said software to keep my machine secure. (IE media player has to be downloaded to make explorer secure)
4. I expect to not be forced to give up all and any reasonable legal rights when I open the package.
5. I do not want to deal with software that guarantees via the liscence agreeement that the publisher can remotely look at my computer at will.
As soon as the law makers get their opposable digit out of their anal orpheus, and restore a modicum of protection to consumers I don't have any faith that any of the points that I have outlined above will be addressed. Lets face it, you pay for the software, break open the box, and you have no legal expectation that the software will work, in any way shape or form.
I was expecting some degree of enthusiasm towards a survey like this... but instead there just seems to be a lot of bitching and whining which, forgive me, I should have seen coming. Some of you slashdotters spend half the time pointing out the flaws (as you should), but when they try to correct them or take some community input, you accuse them of 'looking stupid' and 'being pathetic'. What, would you rather have them not change their ways just to look consistent?
/.ed after lengthily filling out that survey, so I'm going to post them here).
Some of my responses (which I'm not even sure got through, because the site got
My problems with MS:
It is relatively unreliable. MS software crashes on me (still). Linux does occasionally (seriously, though Kkword crashed on me the other day, that's pretty damn bad!), but not a third as much. I'm glad they put in that error reporting feature, it's a step in the right direction.
Sometimes this isn't MS's fault: people providing other faulty software may be to blame. I just think the base platform isn't as good (and I know others can prove this more technically).
2. MAKING IE unremovable, and explorer a critical kernel process?!!! WTF IS THAT??
3.I don't trust it. Sorry, but I will have no part in a corporation of the USA (read: corporation - a business with the goal of market and financial gain ALONE) which supplies software for governments: you must agree that software like this must be open to the people (I mean come on, say MS were a government company, do you doubt that the US governement would not put back-doors when deploying software to 'terrorist prone' countries? All the phone conversations in the US are by law tapped, and you know the presidency is corrupt - it's just a fact)).
3. The Command line sucks. I'm a computer programmer, you think I like bright colours and and big icons??! Your operating system isn't targetted towards me, just like older versions of linux had no appeal to the average home user. HOWEVER, my X/KDE desktop is now, in 2003, WAY more customisable than windows, just as easy (kcontrol is all GUI), and a lot prettier. Just go to KDE look.org for proof. My comment was that Linux gives me the choice of geek command line, and a desktop that is truly a piece of art. Windows does not encourage command lines and scripting. It probably never will. You just lost the core geek/programmer vote. And in the same vein, I'm sorry, but make some of your standards more universal. Porting is great: it shouldn't be the MS OS and then the rest, one should see the choice of operating systems, and regard one as their OS of choice, not the one they are forced into (because if they don't, they will be excluded from using MS only protocols). Linux shouldn't be regarded as an enemy, but a competitor. However, it probably will, because you are a corporation (see definition above).
DRM. Sorry, again, governemnt induced stupid bills which look like they will pass (thanks to the hoards of money from other monopolistic corporations, RIAA, MPAA), will without doubt implement standards that which MS will BY LAW incorporate. This makes me sound like a law breaker: but, and get this damn clear politicians, if you take away my rights of legitimate use, in some blanket law which eliminates a lot of pirates, but also those who were never breaking the law in the first place, then I will go out of my way to circumvent it. I pay $18-26 for a CD (yes $26 in England), then I will copy it to my mindisc player for (obviously) my own personal use.
My problems with linux:
I use linux (Slack) 23/7: here's why it's not 100%. I buy commerical products, and I wan't to use them with my computer. Hardware isn't like code: it takes money to distribute. So I will wind up buying my Netmd from a money hungry corporation (Sony): and no, I still can't use it on Linux (after about a year and a half). I need to reboot to burn my damn MP3's every time I wan't to go out. Linux needs better support from corporations selling hardware (fine,
"You know you don't act like a scientist, you're more like a game show host." Dana Barret
This is a step in the right direction for computer users, I think. If Microsoft gets well thought out feedback from linux users they could then improve their product if they wished to. If they open up their source or at least document their software so that developers can make better programs for it, it would raise the standards. Face it, most people would rather use Windows over KDE or GNOME. Most people do not want to have to play around with their camera or scanner or printer to have to get it to work. Most people want to go to a store and buy software and have it work out of the box. Most people don't want 15 choices, they want something that works. The masses aren't going to switch to linux because it's free or open, they don't give a shit. If microsoft fixes some of the things that drives people to linux and then the people go back to windows, then the linux distros will have to work harder to get them back. All this is going to do is increase competition and make the end result, windows and/or linux better.
Bash bash, Microsoft sucks, Linux = automatically better yadda yadda yadda. What I'd really like to see the Linux community issue one of these surveys, and then address the issues that the users bring up.
"Derp de derp."
Question 1: Do you think Microsoft should be:
A. More evil
B. Less evil
C. Microsoft is just the right amount of evil right now.
Question 2: Concerning how much the next version of Windows should steal from Macintosh OS 10.3, Windows should:
A. Steal more from Apple
B. Steal a lot more from Apple
C. Still every single element of OS 10.3
D. The current crappy, half-assed ripoff of OS X is currently sufficient for all my computing needs.
Question 3: Next year, how many Windows-specific viruses would you like to receive in e-mail:
A. The same amount as now
B. More
C. A whole lot more
D. I have a Windows box still sending out copies of SoBig at this very moment.
Question 4: How large would you like the next Windows security hole to be?
A. Large enough to accommodate a small dog.
B. Large enough to drive an SUV through.
C. Large enough to drive a Mack truck through.
D. You know that huge crawler thing NASA uses to take the space shuttle out to the pad? Yeah, that big.
Question 5: C'mon, be serious. How much for your soul?
A. Already sold mine.
B. An Xbox with the complete library of available games.
C. 10000 shares of Microsoft stock.
D. Natalie Portman
E. CowboyNeal
I like Linux better than Microsoft beccause Linux has a Penguin for a mascot and MS has a butterfly. Penguins are cool. Butterflies are for fairies.
The survey sites themselves are slashdotted but from people's comments here and on NF, I can tell Microsoft have tailored these surveys very specifically to make it easy for them to simply filter out all the zealots. For example, anyone who suggests Linux provides a superior gaming experience, better hardware support, or other things which are known Linux weak points is an obvious zealot and can be safely ignored.
There was apparently a section at the end of one survey asking users why they didn't want to use Microsoft - and the options included "don't want to use commercial software", "I feel satisfaction in not giving Microsoft any money", something like that. Another obvious zealot filter. And from the comments, people seem to be falling for it big time. Seriously, zealots do nothing but hurt the free software movement in taking every chance to ridicule Microsoft, no matter what they do. Eventually, someone will go too far, Microsoft will slam him/her with a lawsuit and it will be another HUGE PR fiasco for free software - even if the person was just a random zealot and not in any way involved with any free software projects.
What zealots don't realize is that by posting bogus and/or hateful answers to the survey, they will in fact be helping Microsoft - moreso than if they were to answer it seriously and professionally. When trying to persuade a company to use MS products rather than free-software ones, MS will be able to simply show them some survey results and say "look, these are the people you will be trusting your business with". And noone will be there to contradict them, obviously.
But if that's the way you want it, fine. Not my problem. I've always chosen software depending on what gets the work done, I don't care much about whose license says what or whose software is free as in speech or in beer. Being zealoty about software is useless. But being zealoty and accomplishing the exact opposite of what you're trying to do is ridicilious, and I laugh at those people.
Quality, performance, value; you get only two, and you don't always get to pick.
Not as long as I'm stil here...
1. Use GNU/Linux
2. Make deal with devil/SCO
3. Insert intellectual property of SCO
4. Buy SCO stock
5. Profit!
Please kick me for making jokes about SCO, couldn't help it.
And have it standard equipment, not some overpriced add-on package.
Let us write software that is cross-platform.
on the business survey this is question #17 and is phrased 'List the top one or two possible improvements that you would like to see made to Windows Server."
I answered with this link
Creationists are a lot like zombies. Slow, but powerful and numerous. And they all want to eat our brains.
Should have checked out epsxe, runs on linux with opengl hardware acceleration. So you get higher resolutions, more colors, and fancy filtering. It also runs your cdr "backups" without the need for a mod chip.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
The best reply I've seen so far, from any LUG member is the following:
It's going to come down like a ton of bricks when the news that OSX has only 25 users leaks out.
"Seven Deadly Sins? I thought it was a to-do list!"
I have access to win 98 xp and redhat 8. My preference leans towards redhat.
Why would I want to help microsoft develope their products. Microsoft has never offered the Open Source community anything. Microsoft has manipulated the truth and out right lied about Linux and open source. Microsoft threatens it's business customers to keep open sourced products out.
Now microsoft wants linux users to do some R&D for it.
My 2 cents, drop xp home down to 50 bucks and professional down to 90. Better yet drop the home platform entirely.
I am absolutely amazed that the local Cabal let you say that with modding you down to:
-10 (publish phone number and stalk)
You are absolutely correct. Since NT 4.0, Windows has been very good on a technical level.
Cant get to the site, looks like its suffering /.
At the moment im between both. Some of the hardware support on Linux just gives me a headache but thats nothing to do with either community, it just seems that most hardware manufacturers concentrate on windows. Sure you can shop around and find some excellently supported hardware for Linux but me and lots of others just dont have the money.
Windows comes with jack shit. Until you get to NT their notepad doesnt even do search and replace and Ctrl+S doesnt save. Most linux distros come with so much that you almost never need the sort of apps that have become the essential after-install things in windows. If windows came with text and hex tools of the like of TextPad and Kate that would be cool. Almost every major Linux distro comes out of the box with feature packed compression, graphics and office tools, Windows comes with wordpad and paint, and sometimes zip support.
Microsoft cant compete with free and open and bullying hardware companies into exclusiveness is not fair play, neither is locking people in with proprietry formats and DMCA threats, and pursuading intel/amd to make windows-only TCPA chips. Infact, given fair play only and short of re-designing their entire OS and philosophy, they could never win back true geeks from *nix or anyone whos seen the free/OSS light. Its like converting the pope.
This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
At any rate, if they truly want to know why I don't like Windows and why I as a sysadmin would refuse to run it on any of our servers, here it is (again):
I'm not going to submit it to their damn survey. I'd rather do it this way. It's called an open letter. But then I guess they just don't like *anything* that's open.
"No problem. I have the capacity to do infinite work so long as you don't mind that my quality approaches zero."-Dilbert
I urge everyone to be very careful in answering the "what could be done to make Linux better" questions.
Microsoft could turn around and try to get patents on the obvious implementations of any ideas that you submit.
DO NOT GIVE SUGGESTIONS IN A PRIVATE SURVEY!
...with one stone. If people answewred this this survey with the answers they gave here then Microsoft got you guys hook, line, and sinker. Now they can demonstrate to the business community that you guys are irrational morons with the intellect of a three year old. Congratulations.
If on the other hand you truly answered as responsible adults, which many of you don't seem to be, then they got some excellent advice on ways they can make Windows better and stem the adoption of Linux at home and businesses.
This has to be one of Microsoft's more ingenious marketing efforts to date.
Why does the survey have to be "closed" when it is on an "Open" community? Closing the survey does nothing but decrease accountability and credibility and increase the probability of error and misrepresentation of the data.
How about we have an "Open" survey with the exact same questions, and MS can get its data from the same place that everyone else can.
If I am going to contribute to something, I need to know my contributions are not going to be used against me, at the very least, and I probably will also need some kind of incentive other than "we'll be able to better misrepresent your community to the rest of the world."
Perhaps another company would not require so much scrutiny, but MS has very little goodwill left when it comes to "integrity."
Sdelat' Ameriku velikoy Snova!
For me using mozilla none of the buttons would work.
You would think if you wanted answers you would
cater to the widest possible audience.
Evidently most people did not have this problem.
If they were serious about learning, then why haven't there been any Mac surveys?
...answering the survey and pretending Windows is the greatest thing ever, and they don't have to change a thing to fend off Linux, thereby helping ensure its domination?
I just installed RH9. Way more questions than XP.
under the comment of what i'd like to see as an improvement to linux, i replied as follows For Linus to get caught FSCKing Gates' wife :)
wonder if i'll hear back on that improvement...
I looked at the survey
What kind of a survey has a question like, "To send a message to the greedy corporations"?
This is a sick joke that is nothing but a mis-conception and falsehood.
This is probably the ultimate FUD I've ever seen.
I was almost taking the survey seriously until I saw those options.
They are in there so MSFT can, when publishing the results, claim that Linux users avoid Windows for "irrational" reasons.
Save your wrists today - switch to Dvorak
I don't usually respond to *any* surveys simply b/c my time is more valuable than offering it for free to some company.
With that said, this is yet more evidence - along with the price drops in Thailand, Ballmer's world travels and all their other efforts to quell the tide - that Linux is slowly restoring competition to the marketplace.
Linux may one day supplant MS, it may not. It might garner a significant market share and co-exist with MS. As long as there is competition in the market, MS can't abuse their power and THAT is what is important to me.
Windoze is Propietary Software. It can't be improved
What you don't understand, is the fact that real GNU users use Free Software not because of the technicall improvement, but because of the Ethical Improve. If you want to has a Tech discuse with Free Software comunity, say so, but even if you can turn windoze into a Real OS, into the Best OS in history, i would continue using Free Software.
But, of course, you don't understand what i am talking about.
May be if you take a look at this [http://en2.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethic] you will know what i am talking about. There is the answer to "make windoze better"
WTF am I doing replying to an AC at 5 A.M on a Friday night?
I see lots of people posting their comments here; why not just fill out the survey? Are you afraid that MS might take your ideas and *gasp* build their OS better and more secure, adding competition to the market which benefits everyone?
I'd like to see all you armchair referees tell MS what you really think. MS is literally "asking for it", so tell them their OS sucks and why Linux is better. Isn't this what you always wanted to do?
The next reason has to do with "Michael Surkan". Do a google search on the name and you will find it synonymous with FUD, insult and cluelessnes. The most damning quotes atributed to him are:
Additionally, he denied official backing from Microsoft in his letter to the gslug list maintainers, "P.S. This report is a skunkworks project of mine, and really doesn't have anything to do with my "day job". As if any Microsoft employee were free say what they think. Such typical Microsoft.
I have yet to look for Frank, but I imagine another blast of BS awaits anyone who does. Oh, hell, I'll look.
Don't waste much time on the survey. The answer is sure to be, "Remember to eat our dog food".
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
Ask the users what they want.
Sorta give it to them (sell it to them) in part while then asking them to help debug it. Again selling them imcomplete upgrades and entrapping them in your proprietary property for which you got the ideas from them..
Repeat.
Now try telling MS to knock it the hell off.
Any questions as to why MS can not compete with FreeSoftware?
Microsoft is full of smart people and can determine the technical weaknesses of Linux without Linux Zealot Fred Jones's help. Or, MS can go right to the source in the public developer mailing lists.
What you guys seem to be suggesting is some sort of GNU/Stalinist censorship: No one may say anything bad about Linux because it could be used against us.
Sorry, it's Open software and an Open community. Circling the wagons is impossible.
That one turned up on the AberLUG mailing list the other day. It one came from Michael Surkan though.
Surrender your code and a new world awaits you. We demand it. -tick tick - Nuclear fireball envelopes Redmond.
Really. Every day Microsoft's codebase falls further behind the geometrically expanding and evolving free code base. There's already little reason to use their stuff. If they wait much longer, that same stuff will be hopelessly obsolete and impossible to salvage anything useful from.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
Couldn't resist the opportunity:
How to improve Windows:
Improve the company that makes Windows: Were we to develop a multimedia product for Linux, we could be far more certain that our Linux vendor would not eventually take over the whole market pie (like a Commie Dictator) by obscuring the API to Linux and using other draconian tactics.
You have embittered the very people who once rallied to your banner and helped you build a once great product. We don't fear Open Source for any reason; We fear Microsoft.
How to improve Linux:
Take over 99.9% of the consumer, embedded, laptop, desktop and server markets -- faster than it has been. Put the Destroyer of free and open computing markets out of business. BTW, this survey feels like being watched by an All Seeing Eye...
[end]
(Just felt good to get 5+ years of bitterness off my chest.)
gullible.
whois 64.73.28.20
OrgName: Berbee Information Networks Corporation
OrgID: BINC
Address: 455 Science Drive
City: Madison
StateProv: WI
PostalCode: 53711
Country: US
NetRange: 64.73.0.0 - 64.73.191.255
CIDR: 64.73.0.0/17, 64.73.128.0/18
NetName: BINC-BLK-1
NetHandle: NET-64-73-0-0-1
Parent: NET-64-0-0-0-0
NetType: Direct Allocation
NameServer: NS1.BINC.NET
NameServer: NS2.BINC.NET
Comment: ADDRESSES WITHIN THIS BLOCK ARE NON-PORTABLE
RegDate: 2000-03-31
Updated: 2002-06-19
TechHandle: JS180-ARIN
TechName: Stahr, James
TechPhone: +1-608-288-3000
TechEmail: stahr@binc.net
Is this how SCO is going to find out who to sue?
Nobody's going to tell SCO directly that they are strapped for cash (can't afford licenses or lawyers) so they have a couple thousand linux boxen instead. So MS puts out this 'improve windows' survey to do that job. Then they 'publish' the results to 'select partners' , SCO being one of them.
Then SCO knows who will be a pushover for setting precedent. Maybe that or get the 'proof' that IBM is able to refute accepted by another judge in another venue.
In other words, don't fill out this survey unless you've got a few hundred million dollars laying around and the will to spend it on lawyers.
"Let him go, Ralph. He knows what he's doing." --Otto Mann (simpsons)
- Better gaming experience
- Integration with consumer electronics devices
- Better install and uninstall of additional software
- More intuitive, simpler to understand
Linux doesn't have nearly as many games as Windows. Consumer electronics thinks Windows first, hopefully Mac&Linux second. For all the rpms in the world, Linux still need something like setup.exe that won't fail on some dependancy (though e.g. installing the distro with OS + apps is as easy as Windows IMO, it's the downloadables...) And while I can buy "Easier to use than Windows" as in "once you get to know it", there's no way I'd call Linux particularly intuitive.It's a long list, of some very strong points too... but if you check "All of the above", you're definately a zealot. But if you look at the rate of improvement, I haven't really been impressed by anything new in Windows since around Windows 2000. While Linux on the other hand seems to not only be improving, but improving more and more as more people, developers and companies get involved in Linux.
That, should in my opinion be the most important reason for most companies looking to create a stable computing platform. Linux is coming, the core question is simply "Is it good enough today?" For some, the answer is still no. But if it is, there's really not much doubt because it will improve. A lot. Of course, I didn't expect Microsoft to put that kind of negative long-term outlook on it.
Kjella
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
Please don't flame me for sounding pro-Microsoft until you think about what I've said for a few minutes.
Microsoft didn't get where they are today without having a few things going for them. They are a savvy competitor and ruthelss opponents. Like a good football team, they have a good offense, and a good defense. They have forward looking vision and they try like hell to react to the market place. They measure their success by both profit and marketshare. You can be sure that anything threatens either profit or marketshare they will try to beat it.
Linux alone has not been a real threat to Microsoft, it has been seen as too geeky, too limited, and too difficult to use. But other open-source projects have come along and helped fill in the voids (projects like KDE) and now, Linux and open source in general have risen to the level where they can no longer escape Microsoft's attention.
Product surveys are nothing new. Ford sends them to Chevy & Dodge owners. I don't really see much difference in Microsoft sending them out to Linux users. As a matter of fact, I think good things could come from them.
Most people who use Linux have used Windows, they know what they like about Linux and what they dislike about Windows. They know why they have changed and they know what it would take to make them change back to Microsoft's Windows.
Survey's cost money. Companys spend money on them to learn things about their products stengths and weaknesses. They use this data to make product and marketing changes.
What they are likely to hear from Linux users is that they like Linux's license, Linux's cost-to-performance ratio, and that they feel that Linux is getting close to Windows in the Look-and-Feel category.
They are going to also hear Microsoft Windows is too expensive, that the product has flaws that they find intolerable (security risks, crashes, and so on).
Then the marketing types will talk to the developer types and try to fix the product so that Linux users will consider returning to the fold.
This is a smart, good, and ethical business practice although I find it difficult to believe that they would take it far enough. I just can't see them writing extenstions for Windows that would run *nix compatible software. Nor can I see them giving away either Windows or Office.
Business history shows us that almost every company that has climbed to the top of the heap has lost its footing and slips. They usually fall because they are arrogent and ignore some basic solid business theory. In Microsoft's case, this is likely to be the case. They feel they have such a grip on the market that they can charge excessive license fees. By the time they finish milking this cash cow they will have dried her up.
So where are these Development tools for Linux that are better than the ones you can get for Windows?
I miss the Visual Studio debugger so...
Hey, at the end of the quiz I can't seem to find the part where it tells you which Icon of Open Source you are most like, and gives you a nice bit of html to copy into your Blog. I was guessing I was somewhere in between Wil Wheaton and Joe Greyhat.
||:|::
At first glance the trusting side of me thinks this is a good idea. It seems like one appropriate way for MS to approach their problems.
On the other hand they might just use the information for propaganda, publicity and FUD, whilst carrying on regardless about the real issues
I'm still undecided on whether filling it out will do any good.
The price of every response past 1000 is a nickel. Maybe someone can script a random response generator and skew the results? If we get a few million responses, maybe MS will get the point that they aren't going to ingratiate themselves to Linux users. No sig here.
Only the default configurations are stored in the app folder in OSX. Per-user configuration is stored in $HOME/Library/Preferences. I'd really hate to see a system which stores user prefs with the app... for starters, that means you already have crap for filesystem-level security (since it needs world-writeable access to the app folder) and then also, then if you uninstall an app then reinstall it later you'd have to recover your settings.
Also, OSX provides some very nice API-level functionality for working with the plist files... like, you never, ever have to even think about how the file is stored as XML, or worry about file synchronization or anything since that's all handled by the NSUserPreferences class. And when you instantiate your NSUserPreferences object, it even handles default vs. per-user vs. site-wide configuration too! (User overrides default, site overrides user or default depending on admin settings.) It's rather neat.
The only thing I don't like about the plist format is that it's one of those XML formats which is XML in syntax but not in "spirit." It uses order to perform the key-data pairing rather than structure, and it's rather ugly and uses tags with cdata instead of tags with attributes (it does something like FooBar instead of just doing something like Bar). But it still gets the job done.
1: Advanced.
.tar.gz is still the most reliable package format, as it works equally well - when it works, which is whenever you can satisfy the dependencies - on all distributions and well-made installs from scratch}.
2: > 2 years.
3: yes
10: everyone
15: Availability of the entire source code to all current and obsolete Microsoft products; either under a Copyleft licence {such as the GNU GPL or the Creative Commons Attribution / ShareAlike licence} or by placing it in the Public Domain.
16: Hardware vendors need to adhere more closely to published standards, or else provide full disclosure to enable the creation of open-source drivers; and to label products as compatible with Linux {and for that matter, the BSD family}.
I'm not sure the survey isn't a fake, but on the other hand I'm not ashamed of what I think. I honestly believe that the closed-source model, by the way it keeps victims beholden to a single entity, is tantamount to slavery. And I don't think Linux needs to change so much as other people's attitudes need to change. I'm -- to put it extremely mildly -- annoyed at the fact that almost every piece of hardware I pick up trumpets its compatibility with the latest Windows and MacOS, yet fails to mention Linux and the BSDs. Even things like keyboards, mice, network switches and USB hubs -- which are to all intents and purposes OS-independent. That sort of thing is exactly why Linux et al are considered to be "alternative" OSes.
In the meantime, what we -- as a community which values honesty and mutual assistance -- can and should do is twofold. Firstly, if we are ever forced to purchase an unwanted Microsoft product, we should exercise our right to explicitly decline the EULA, and make sure Microsoft knows; that way, we will not be counted as Windows users to inflate Microsoft's statistics. Secondly, we should let hardware manufacturers know that Linux/BSD users use their products, and post reviews of hardware we have used so that other Linux/BSD users -- and would-be converts -- can see that hardware they might like to buy is compatible with such systems. We must lead by example a little -- we can't expect anyone to help us if we aren't willing to help ourselves.
Once more hardware is seen to be compatible with Linux and the BSD family -- thereby answering a common, if not entirely undeserved, critisism often levelled at such operating systems -- then it will be feasible for non-specialist retailers to offer family-friendly, matched packages of PC, video-in, printer, camera and scanner, with a GNU/Linux or BSD operating system and appropriate drivers already installed. Bye-bye to the criticism of difficult initial installations. Supply a recovery CD which allows you to boot up, login as root and set up user accounts {in case someone forgets their root password}.
To answer the criticism of software dependencies, I propose for someone to distribute a series of CDs which contain the source code for an application and, crucially, all the libraries it requires, so dependencies can be met from a single place. {IMLE
Je fume. Tu fumes. Nous fûmes!
- Drivers. The support for many devices is just not there.
- Modems. The support for cheap PCI modems is very spotty.
- Scanners. Support for many scanners is very difficult to set up, or simply not there.
- Recognition software.
- There is no voice recognition software.
- There is no optical character recognition software that works even vaguely properly.
- User Interface inconsistency. Linux has so many differing keystroke sequencies to do the same things in applications which do similar things. e.g. Full screen display is: CTRL-L in Acrobat; Fkey-11 in Mozilla; and CTRL-SHIFT-F in Konqueror. This happens over and over, and drives new users nuts.
- AFAIK There is no coloured picture printing to match the intrinsic quality offered by the printers themselves.
Other than those details I find Linux more than fulfills my needs.Obviously Microsoft is trying to figure out what they need to do to get Linux people to switch. Why are some of you complaining and offering to skew the results so it costs them money? Why not answer the survey honestly and see what happens? The only thing you're doing by showing your teen angst is letting the world know that Linux users are immature and really don't know what they want. I'm in favor of both Windows and Linux depending on what your job description is. Windows is a superior workstation OS and Linux is a superior server OS. Why can't we all just get along? :)
My sig of choice is Marlboro
I thought 'plain old text' wouldn't try to parse my XML as HTML.
Replace the "FooBar" with <key>Foo</key> <string>Bar</string> and the "Bar" with <string name="Foo">Bar</string>
Not like anyone's gonna read this anyway, what with me being too lazy to get another account.
Just reading their questions makes it abundantly clear to me that they don't understand the potential of Linux:
2.What best describes your involvment with Linux?
Hobbyist
End user
Informal team computer expert
Front lines IT support
IT administrator
Developer of internally used applications
Developer of applications for sale
IT manager
Consultant
I'm focusing in particular on "Developer of internally used applications" vs "Developer of applications for sale". In Microsoft's world, those are the only two alternatives. In the world of open-source, there's a wonderfully happy medium in-between. What about the growing group of developers whose job is to take existing open-source software, improve it for internal use, then release it back to the community (like RedHat, Apple, AOL, RealNetworks, NASA, etc.)? What about developers who write free, open-source software to work with the hardware that their company produces (like Myricom)?
In Microsoft's world, the only reasons to develop software are for your own personal needs, or to sell to make a profit.
The purpose of the survey, at least the one for corporate users is not to get results, but to convince people that it's more reasonable to use Windows.
Just look at this question:
8. What organizations would you recommend use Linux?
Organizations that have good IT help
Organizations that want to send a message to the greedy computer industry
Only organizations that have a lot of patience
Organizations that don't mind doing things on their own
Organizations that only have limited computing needs
45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
improving windows,i DO realize that this very well may hurt linux, not help it in anyway. say microsoft (though this is unlikely) decides to just create its own linux distro!, well in a sense. itll be called windows Li, however it wouldnt really be linux, but based off of unix, a linux clone maybe. their own written kernel, etc etc. now imagine this, i would NOT be gpled, or have ANY user friendly license. no one in the open source community would benefit, and non-hardcore linux users may very well switch to this microsoft OS. where does that leave linux? falling behind instead of over taking, which i truley belive linux is doing now, it is moving up. i would just not respond to this survey at all.
Uhm...ever heard of VBA? Where I work it is standard practice to use VBA and excel to write data to EEPROMs using MsComm, which actually works quite well. I would consider this an "advanced" feature of MS Office.
"What region are you from?
USA/Canada
Africa
Asia
Europe
Middle East
South America
Caribbean
Mexico/Central America"
Umm... where is Australia, you fucking retards?
While I'm at it, the options for "How do you connect to the internet" aren't wide enough because it doesn't offer "ip masquerading" as an option. Also it doesn't list "ethernet SWITCH" in the "How do you connect to the home network" question.
Just another display of Microsoft's "skill".
Karma: It's all a bunch of tree-huggin' hippy crap!
Hard to tell, someone could write a book about this theme.
A good starting point: release all windows OS under the GPL. We will see how the rest sort out.
You have been actively taking steps backwards with your command line.
What backward steps are you talking about? The Microsoft command line was abysmal in DOS, and has steadily climbed to not-nearly-so-abysmal in 2k/XP.
With everyone advocating "don't give MS ways to beat us" or "don't give MS more ammo to twist for their next FUD campaign", there's one thought that bothers me...
All the Windows zealots are going to go and fill in hundreds of 'reasons' why linux sucks. And MS' data is going to say "hundreds of people think linux sucks!"
AC or not, this is very true.
Linux and its accompanying suite of software is a viable alternative for a MS setup and it is borne out by entire countries switching over to Linux, eg. Israel, Brazil, South Africa - those are quite modern countries - not total backwaters.
So, if MS really wants to know why some people prefer Linux, they just need to install and use it themselves for a while - it is free...
Microsoft could have crushed the Open Source movement if it had given away one of it's development platforms for free. If they had fostered a Java-esque or CPAN-esque software repository... if they had given free SDK's for windows out... if they supported or encouraged the development of free servers, browsers, desktop systems, and support utilities... THEN Microsoft could have crushed the Open Source movement when it was just beginning.
... would you? Many people say yes, many people say no. Are enough people that are lazy enough to "just stay with Microsoft" developers? Are they a large enough group that they'd cripple the OSS movement?
But, then... it wouldn't be "Microsoft" would it? If Microsoft does these things... will Microsoft keep "Microsoft-like" control over the software market?
People are lazy. If you could do everything you do now on Linux without having to learn Linux
I doubt it. But, I think that it's still early enough for Microsoft to do a complete 180 and hold it's market share virtually indefinately. Try this on for size: GNUM, GNUM is Not Unix by Microsoft. I'm sure they'll call it something different.
[signature]
Note how they say "possible improvements" when they ask about Windows and flat-out "improvements" when they ask about Linux. This sounds to me like: you (the user) say it's an improvement, we will see if we think that it really would be an improvement and we will decide if we will put it in there. Figures. It's probably just an unintentional inconsistency so we shouldn't attach that much value to it. However, for me this is a strong reminder about the most important thing that should have to change about Windows -- the attitude of the supplier.
Oh, and did you notice that they spelled "Motorolla"? Two words they must have been thinking of: Toyotta Corrola...
This is why they have Windows Services for UNIX
Just like the old days with Novell.
Right now it's for "integrating Windows into existing UNIX-based environments.".
If all goes "well", I expect it will soon be for helping you migrate/upgrade you UNIX machines to Windows.
What gives? there are a lot of slants in this survey. Look at #10 for the business side:
10. Rank the importance of server operating attributes to your organization. (1 indicates a preference for low product cost and more administive and end-user time. 5 indicates a high up-front product cost but less user effort)
What gives? I already use mutiple servers that are FREE: E-Smith AND Easy to set up. It takes, honestly, 15 minutes to set up (Includes formatting drives), and 15 minutes to install filters if it will be used as a web proxy. Then I leave it set for 6 to 8 months. It doesn;t get any freer withless effort.
Yes, you can have it both ways.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"First things first -- but not necessarily in that order"
-- The Doctor, "Doctor
Why give the manything to use at all, either against Linux or for their own advancement. Just ignore them...
I don't know about gaming, but (un)installing software on Linux is so much easier and better than Windows it's not even funny. Everyone always complains about different package managers in Linux being difficult to use, but they forget that Windows has no package management system to speak of at all! Sure, there are some unstallation registry keys that can be set, but there's no depdency management, and (un)installation consists of running some 3rd party binary.
That's not to say that Linux package management is perfect, but when compared to Windows (which has practically nothing), it's much better, and it (portage in my case) is one of the big benefits to using Linux.
"Save the whales, feed the hungry, free the mallocs" -- author unknown
Do you care about the security of your wireless mouse?
We were recently graced(?) by a visit from Microsoft's CFO John Connors. Standing in line for buffet lunch a few of us gladhanded Mr. Connors to ask why MS had to charge so much for just the starter kit tools to be able to even do minimal work, specifically Visual Studio and .NET development tools. We politely explained we were more inclined to learn and work with their technology if we didn't have to invest $2000 (approx) just to write "Hello World".
Lunch platter in hand, Mr. Connors graciously, even animatedly listened and discussed this with us, agreeing vigorously, saying at one point (and I paraphrase), "You guys are ABSOLUTELY right! These are very good points! I'm going to look into this! I've enjoyed this conversation!"
My peers were impressed, almost giddy! "He listened to us!, He's going to look into this!..." I interjected my doubts, but they were not to be subdued.
Mid-afternoon that same day when Mr. Connors had to make his exit, he stood up at the podium, thanked everyone, then said (and I paraphrase here, too), "During lunch, your developers were asking me why Microsoft has to charge so much for our development tools. And it occured to me, Microsoft just happens to be in the business of making money!"
True story, but hardly unbelievable. (but, unfortunately, the reason I post this anonymously).
100 megaton Hydrogen bomb on Redmond..
How about a survey that doesn't need IE to fill it in? Lynx seems to end up in an infinate redirection loop.
Sure, which is why TweakUI is so necessary and as opposed to clear-as-day MS operations like:
This will remove the shared document folders that show up at the top of the My Computer window. Navigate to: HKEY LOCAL MACHINE SOFTWARE Microsoft Windows CurrentVersion Explorer MyComputer NameSpace DelegateFolders Delete the key {59031a47-3f72-44a7-89c5-5595fe6b30ee}
It was ( is? ) part of the Japanese version of MSO 98.. ( yes.. i said 98, there was one for them.... )
And yes, I know a dolphin isn't a fish, but its close enough for this discussion
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Some poeple should just get with the program and understand that if I don't eat windose for breakfast or lunch or dinner, then asking if I want windose for dessert is out of the question. And this starts of with a legal agreement. Do they think 10 million people are stupid and will willingly walk passed this click without thinking about what they are doing. Get off the menu and out of the kitchen, their's been better software smelling in the kitchen for years. That means you MS - leave! ;)
The immature mind measures.
Yet no one seemed to notice
Surkan
Kansur
Cancer -- hey, look! It's Linux.
deltree/y c:/ open cd drive insert linux cd All done.
Sig (appended to the end of comments you post, 120 chars)
(I'm sure no one will read this comment because I'm about 3 hours too late, but whatever...)
First, IAAMR (I am a market researcher.) I wasn't able to get into the survey, but a Newsforge reader posted the questions here.
I've seen a lot of consumer surveys over the years, and this looks fairly typical. Most surveys of this nature are proprietary -- the research results will be for internal use only and will not be released to the public, mainly because most companies don't want their competitors or detractors to find out about their product development or marketing plans in advance. Whenever possible, companies will try to prevent anyone from even knowing that they're conducting a survey. [1] Obviously, in this case, there's no way that Microsoft can prevent the (Linux-using) world at large from finding out that they're doing a survey, but I guarantee you that they do not plan to release the results to anyone outside Microsoft.
This sort of questionnaire is designed to find out:
The questions that are of the most interest to Microsoft will be those asking for the respondent's opinions:
The rest of the questions require factual responses, and the responses gathered from them will be used to see if there are any patterns in the opinion data. In market research data analysis, we're not looking at the opinions of any specific individual; only those of various groups (Linux novices vs. experts, dual-booters vs. non, etc.), so you needn't worry about any personal retribution from Microsoft. They won't care that John Doe in Nebraska likes Linux for the home because it's "More secure than Windows", but they will be interested to learn that in general, the people who dual boot (Question 14) are more likely than those who don't to say that they like Linux for the home because it has "Better command line" (Question 11).
You may have noticed the italicized phrase "in our target market" in point (c) above. Microsoft isn't going to try to convince the hardcore Linux zealots(TM) to switch to Windows. They're going after people who aren't totally committed to either Linux or Windows yet. People who have a strong preference for Windows are already in the bag; and it would be a waste of time and money to try to convert the diehard Linux advocates. Any product development or advertising based on the results of this survey will have only 2 aims: to make the lukewarm Windows users feel that they've made the right decision, and to make the lukewarm Linux users feel that they're missing out on something better.
[1] Case in point: While I was typing this, my phone rang. It was a market research company (one of my company's competitors) conducting a survey. I agreed to participate, and lied when they asked, "Do you work for a market research company?" (People in my field do this all the time to find out what contracts our competitors have been awarded. We like to call it "gathering competitive intelligence".) Unfortunately, one of my responses to another question disqualified me from the survey. But now I know that our competitor has a contract to conduct research about tooth whitening for a manufacturer of dental care products. I'll be checking with our sales department on Monday to see if we recently lost out on a bid for this contract.
Yqy...K ecp'v dgnkgxg aqw cevwcnna vqqm vjg vkog vq vtcpuncvg oa uki. Kh aqw vjkpm vjku ku tkfkewnqwu, tgcf oa dkq.
Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken - Tyler Durden
I can't find a correct answer to this question:
9. What region are you from?
USA/Canada
Africa
Asia
Europe
Middle East
South America
Carribean
Mexico/Central America
Australia is sort of Asia, but not really. How am I meant to answer this survey if they don't even put an Oceania region to choose from.
TweakUI *is* the gui workaround in this case. Hacking that key out of the registry is the WIndows equivalent of editing a config file.
The average computer user is going to find editing their XF86Config file every bit as daunting, difficult to do and error prone as editing their registry.
It's official. Most of you are morons.
(getting madder all the time)
You sit around here and you spin your little webs and you think the whole world revolves around you and your money. Well, it doesn't, Mr. Potter! In the . . . in the whole vast configuration of things, I'd say you were nothing but a scurvy little spider.Participating in this 'survey' will assure your perpetual receipt of a flood of pro-MS propoganda.
And...investing in Microsoft is risking having your own money used against you in the marketplace.
Best advice...steer clear, there's no good news about dealing with the beast.
This survey does look rather unprofessional. The questions are a tad unbalanced and doesn't really seem well thought out. For instance the two cluster related questions limits you to 8 nodes in your cluster. Also I'm not sure what to make of these questions:
low price and greater complexity vs little easy setup and administration with high price
easy setup & lousy administration vs difficult setup and great administration
since both seem to imply that you can only get one or the other. I don't feel the questions really describes the current situation with Windows vs. Linux in more than a very superficial way. Also I take isssue with the comparison being against 2003 which relatively few people have any experience with yet.
The alternatives for desktop linux use look random as well.
My guess is that the survey is either a hoax or some department outsourced a request for information in linux vs windows.
If I were the biggest software company in the world, I'd ask... my employees? Is it possible that there could be a communication problem at Redmond? Or are Microsoft programmers so different from us, like some sort of stepford wives thing?
My guess is that the real reason for the hoax is to harvest e-mail addresses for spam. "Your e-mail address will only be used for follow-up on this survey.", riiiiight.
Here is my reply for the question "List the top one or two possible improvements that you would like to see made to Windows":
:P"
One: Freedom. Everything comes with a EULA that's non-negotiable and heavily tilted to one side, and it's generally NOT to the consumer's side.
Two: Forced upgrades (due to support for old software being killed off). File formats being broken and backward compatibility is not necessarily guaranteed.
Three: Less bloat. Linux can be as slim or as bloated as I want it to be. For example, I can actually completely uninstall web browsers! (as in actually removing all physical files from the hard drive)
Here is my question for the Linux version of the same question:
"Good question
This may seem like a smart-ass answer, but I was VERY mindful of the fact that anything negative I say will be leaped on, while anything positive will be ignored. So this was really the only answer I would be willing to give to Microsoft.
The purpose of this one is to dispense opinion, not gather it:
What organizations would to recommend use Linux?
Organizations who want to send a message to the greedy computer industry.
Score -1 (Troll) - We don't oppose the computer industry. We oppose Microsoft. We oppose Microsoft not because they are greedy, but because they are predatory, monopolistic, and actively restrict freedom of information to support their bottom line.
who are those slashdot people? they swept over like Mongol-Tartars.
Is there a particular reason you feel obligated to assist this very large corporation?
People are tired of being treated like criminals with access to a bottomless ATM machine. It doesn't take a survey to figure that out. Take your survey and stick it up your ass, Gates. Assholes.
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
You have to admit, these are reasons. Oh yeah, one more:
- MS Access
Sorry.DT
Is this thing on? Hello?
M$ hosts everything themselves, they're one of the top 5 largest ISP's they have the bandwidth I'm sure. This appears to be an unrelated hosting place's server...
go on, emerge whois and check it out... I'm too lazy to linebreak the command's return. Alright... fine, here:
red future # whois 64.73.28.28
OrgName: Berbee Information Networks Corporation
OrgID: BINC
Address: 455 Science Drive
City: Madison
StateProv: WI
PostalCode: 53711
Country: US
NetRange: 64.73.0.0 - 64.73.191.255
CIDR: 64.73.0.0/17, 64.73.128.0/18
NetName: BINC-BLK-1
NetHandle: NET-64-73-0-0-1
Parent: NET-64-0-0-0-0
NetType: Direct Allocation
NameServer: NS1.BINC.NET
NameServer: NS2.BINC.NET
Comment: ADDRESSES WITHIN THIS BLOCK ARE NON-PORTABLE
RegDate: 2000-03-31
Updated: 2002-06-19
TechHandle: JS180-ARIN
TechName: Stahr, James
TechPhone: +1-608-288-3000
TechEmail: stahr@binc.net
I haven't posted in so long, my sig is out of date.
I actually do not want MS to bundle anymore software. I especially do not like the restriction of choice, meaning that regardless of any conspiracy theory or fact... I should not have apps break after patches due to API changes or re-routed calls not done in a proper abstracted method. The Hidden API that was apparently supposed to be disclosed way back when (but due to political changes was pulled back) would be nice as well. I don't believe MS should be legally forced to disclose this unless there is an actual contractual breech to customers and vendors surrounding it. Simply put, I CHOOSE not to use MS whenever possible for these reasons. That is as a user and a developer.
I always thought it would be neat to write something that would add a "Fuck you!" button or something similar - clicking on it would be the same as clicking on the "ok" button, but at least the user would feel better.
I completed the survey and was very honest.
There is some question as to the authenticity of this survey.
Do you suppose it's really SCO getting info on linux users for their upcoming (threats of) lawsuits?
Why shouldn't Linus send out the same survey to see what will take to get Linux on the desktop in place of windows?
Maybe because all the geeks would be threatened by the reponses? What, replace sendmail configuration with something that does not take a whole book to document? Don't require novice users (and those who cannot type) to use the command line? Easy printer configuration? Where would linux geeks find jobs where they can actually look down at people?
I do not see anythign wrong with what MS is doing. If they asked me, and they implemented all my suggestions, I would use their product. Every product should be customer driven instead of techno-nerd-programmer driven.
Opening up Word resulted in an error stating that Word did not have any Office assistants installed on the system
and that it required at least one to function (or something similiar).
If stupid random shit like that isn't an excuse to be upset with Windows then nothing is.
If individuals don't trust Microsoft, MS can bang their heads against the wall making their OS less buggy and more stable, to no avail. If that's the case, the way for MS to make more money may be changing some of it's behaviour.
social sciences can never use experience to verify their statemen
I guess it is safe to assume the Microsoft isn't going to share the results of this poll with us.
I hear the sound that the machines make, and feel my heart break, just for a moment.
The whole problem with Windows is that its a patchwork of legacy primitive code. The only way to fix it is a complete re-write!
Apple got rid of their old OS and used the guts of NeXTstep in OS-X, Microsoft needs to make a similar quantum leap, but they will never do it!
Avoiding Windows is the thing to do these days!
1. Stop moving admin shit around!
2. If I deinstall windows sharing (for security) I
do NOT expect XP to reinstall it for me when adding an adapter.
3. Tell me how I can turn off your moronic services safely ( for security ). I hosed a machine by turning too much off.
4. There should be a single interface to install stuff. There should be warnings that you are doing it. Adware should be impossible to sneak onto a machine.
5. Stop betraying your business partners you evil pricks. Nobody trusts you for good reason.
6. Ship media. We bought it and we should own it.
7. The registry is a frigging nightmare waiting to happen. Its insecure. Its unmanageable.
8. You have no taste.
9. You have no taste.
10. I cant tell what files belong to which package. I cant verify the contents of a package.
11. I want more UI flexibility
12. Stop trying to spy on your customers you evil fucking pricks.
13. Your terminal sucks
14. Inconsistant command line parameter handling
15. Give me a way to transfer files without running your damn insecure filesharing system. ssh.
16. Stop changing interfaces to murder your competition you evil fucking pricks!
17. Make file saves stay under Documents and Settings so I can backup easier.
18. Make c:\ unwriteable by lusers by default.
19. Your NT permissions system is completely incomprehensbile and dangerous. Misuse can force a resinstallation.
20. Dont put a button in an admin panel that takes you to a site to sell more software:
It shows you have no Taste!
And why exactly can't GNU/Linux distros run on a 2.6 GHz P4 with kick-ass sound and video, with lots of programs?
social sciences can never use experience to verify their statemen
just a hint, i've used winamp with task scheduler, just set it "winamp.exe "d:\track01.cda"" (i used an mp3 instead of a cdtrack, but i'm sure it will work.) at 6 am, yes, waking up to 311-down a couple times is fun.
"No accountability"? That's bull-crap. They're held accountable by free-market response, people moving to other OS'. Which is exactly what most GNU/Linux users have done. This means less profit for them. As for assurance of meeting claimed criteria, there's none of that in FOSS either...just because the code is Free doesn't mean anyone actually looks at it, nor that everyone is even capable of doing such. Attaining the truth? Well, we may not know how MS programs do what they do, but we do know whether or not they work (granted, there's no way of finding bugs before they're exploited, but most of us don't do that in FOSS anyways) and how good they work. Anyone using MS Word and Excel know, for example, that they have gotten progressively worse from 1998 or maybe even before.
social sciences can never use experience to verify their statemen
stop anti-competitive pricing policies with OEMs and let them sell me Linux!
You rape small companies and destroy competition with your wad of cash and thousands of solicitors. You are scum and windows is the bottom of the pile. OS/2 should have blitzed your low grade offering into ancient history. I will never forgive IBM for that. I will never forgive you for Netscape. May Sendo be the ones that finally make you pay for your apalling behaviour. I'd piss on you, but not if you were on fire.
> what can be done to make Windows better
Microsoft is not gonna like what they hear. Many IT managers are very nervous about the single-supplier issue. They HATE to be locked into a single supplier, they NEED a way out of that trap. That's gotta be issue #1, hands down. The only way out of that trap is to open up the Windows source.
Microsoft funds an idiotic site called "softwarechoice.org". The point of that site is to try to tell customers that the single-supplier issue (and other licensing issues) are "illegitimate" reason to choose their software solution. Given Microsoft's attitude about this, there's just no way that they intend to listen to what customers REALLY want.
Leave Windows as just an OS and not an industry gobbling monster. Bill G's brainchild Windows (and Microsoft itself) are gobbling up / crushing / absorbing all of the new innovation and forthcoming technology. THAT very thing is why Linux users love to "hack" the kernel, code, etc. and why they don't use Windows. If Linux was an OS back when Bill G. was in the homebrew computer club, HE'D BE A LINUX GEEK! Ironically, he's lost touch with the joy that comes from a cool hack / tweak / project / idea and he's using his company to SMASH all the potential (the Linux/OS community) that he once would've lived for.
Bill if you read this, work WITH US (the hackers and computer/tech enthusiats). Give us opportunities for innovation and creating our own successes. If you don't help us, by definition the only action we can reaonsably take is to circumvent and otherwise destroy your flagship product. We'll dilute it. We'll out-innovate it. Bill, we have the same mentality that you had / have. Millions of programmers and converts can't be wrong.
Don't think that a small group of dedicated individuals can't change the world. It's the only thing that ever has.
DHS Will be in contact with you shortly.
'nuf said.
I browse with cookies disabled most of the time - it complained and then told me how to enable cookies on various flavors of IE .... nothing at all about konq
There are some exceptions. The entire Gentoo community seems to be friendly to newbies, with clear documentation and a well-organized website. When I first installed GNU/Linux, I found Gentoo to be easier to install than Debian, despite the fact that Gentoo's install process is more archaic. Good step-by-step manuals and helpful users who are willing to say something more helpful than "man 'command'" do make a difference.
The biggest problem is the common attitude that help in IRC rooms should only be sought after the manuals have been exhausted and exhaustive search efforts on Google have failed. People don't want to read hundreds of pages of documentation. Quite frankly, I don't give a shit about the details of emerge or dpkg commands. I just want to get a program installed and get to work. For example, a while ago, I wanted to install Free Mind. This program requires Java SDK 1.4. Unfortunately, my stable release of Debian (it's actually LibraNet, but who cares) doesn't allow me to apt-get that.
So, I had to get it from Sun's official site, go through the install process. I did matters backwards and downloaded the rpm. So, I had to use alien to convert it to a deb and then figure out how to install a deb locally. Up until then, I'd simply always installed thing from apt-get, which installs over the the net and had never used alien. So I went in a #Debian room to find out how, and I got "RTFM, 'man alien' 'man dpkg'". Now, anyone who said that would know that what I had to type 'alien -d -i j2re.rpm'...would it really have been that much extra work to type that? Instead, I had to waste time going through the alien man-pages to figure that out. As it happens, it was relatively quick, but it just adds to annoyance. This is the same type of response you get for everything, which results in individuals wasting lots of time sifting through information which they will never use. Of course, what I didn't tell these dimwits is that I was doing that to avoid having to regularly boot into Windows to use FreeMind to take notes on Think and Grow Rich.
social sciences can never use experience to verify their statemen
Package Selection.
Make it easy, with options like in some of the linux installers (Anaconda, whatever slackware uses). Have a 'install all', 'install sets', 'expert (select individual packages)'. Divide everything up into logical sets, and make sure that you have to install required components (and I don't mean IE or Windows Media Player). Perhaps have an 'Express Install' option that will install all the basic sets. You should also have the ability to add/remove sets or packages after the install.
Just my $0.02,
Landrocker
a bazaar perspective rather than the cathedral as far as I can see...
more naivity from users or M$?
A blog I run for the wealth
Boycott
There are just a few reasons to run Linux instead of Windoze.
1. I can back up and restore the entire box effortlessly. You can't do a full disk backup on Windoze that I know about. There is even a page on the M$ site that says it can't be done.
2. Security Security Security
3. Stability Stability Stability
4. I don't need to reboot after every little change with Linux.
5. Patches and upgrades don't render existing services and applications broken and require days or weeks to recover.
That's enough for me to keep using Linux/Solaris/*nix systems.
Banjo - The more I know about Windoze, the more I love *nix
That's one of the most intelligent things that Microsoft has done in two decades, which isn't saying much.
I intended to take the survey, but was referred to a page asking me to enable JavaScript in my browser, followed by explicit instructions for Internet Explorer and Netscape. I use Lynx right now. How do I proceed?
They also try to argue that their JavaScript will be nice to me, and refer me to their privacy policy - a nonexistant page...
If I have one suggestion for Microsoft, it's for them to stop insisting that my computer should run other people's code without asking me (the user) for permission.
to improve their bottomline as well as acceptance across the board while combatting piracy would be to offer a Windows personality that runs on top of Linux. Wine on steroids.
Of course, they have all the knowledge about secret APIs and whatever to make their Wine run perfectly with almost all Windows applications. They could just start with a BSD-licenced Wine variant or save time by buying out one of the companies with closed variants.
This offer would make Linux users stop ignoring sour grapes like unplayable games and applications. It would stop people that don't actually want Windows for reasons other than insufficiently deep pockets from buying Staroffice out of necessity instead of Office. It would certainly not reduce revenue much since most people get their paid Windows versions nowadays as OEM on new machines, and new machines would probably come without a perfect Wine which would have to be paid for separately.
And if people acquired the perfect Wine from Microsoft, they might be more inclined to actually buy instead of pirate further software, if you want to call copying, checking that it does still not run satisfactorily under Wine, and forgetting about it "pirating" in the first place.
The next step of lethal embracing would be to make a later generation Windows as distributed actually run on top of Linux instead of standalone. They would get enterprise-level operating system and security features and performance for free. They could compile their Linux kernel with proprietary compilers that would make Microsoft Linux run quite faster on average than Linux kernels compiled elsewhere. They could put code into the kernel that would not compile except when using those proprietary compilers, keeping the main Linux kernel compilations unable to catch up to MSLinux or Lindows (oops, name taken already), even though Microsoft would provide the source of their kernel changes and additions on demand.
Of course, the favorite Linux distribution would then become Microsoft Linux, since it would come bundled with Microsoft's Windows personality emulator, and since that would be the Linux variant most guaranteed to cooperate with it, even if they sold it separately as well in order to placate antimonopolist laws. But would they be applicable if Microsoft just offers some Linux distribution and a Windows emulator, like quite a few competitors do already?
Be very, very glad that Microsoft currently only thinks about how to improve Windows rather than Linux. They would have the means to succeed with either. And it's one of my worst nightmares to think about what would happen if they gave the latter a serious try.
IBM is also a heavyweight, and they have been very careful about how to get involved with Linux, not wanting to kill the goose that is laying golden eggs and opportunities.
Microsoft would have no qualms in that respect.
Only two points:
1. Do not be surprised if the results of this survey end up in MS anti-Linux propaganda, or are otherwise used in a manner (hoped by MS, at least, to be) detrimental to Linux, or to OS in general.
Their PR goons and lawyers probably already know what response they are looking for, and it is virtually certain that the statstics of the answers they do receive will be able to be manipulated to give it to them. In addition, the answers in general may provide new insights and ideas for, say , undermining the motivation of programmers to work on OS, or other forms of psychological warfare. After all, they have already gone after the end users, where they are discovering that bludgeoning doesn't work. Who remains to attack?
Make no mistake: MS is fighting desperately on every front to undermine Linux, and one would be badly mistaken, IMHO, to assume that this survey represents any change of heart. This is just one more strategy to get inside the enemy's head in order to destroy him. There are bombs, and there was Mata Hari... and being asked deferentially for your opinion can be flattering, can it not?
2. Re the sruvey itself: As Louis Armstrong famously said, "If you got to ask, you ain't never gonna know!"
-- A.C.
1: asking why they use Linux
It's free, it works and does what I need it to (which is a lot more than 90% of computer users need)without crashing
and
2: What can be done to make Windows better
Make it free, make it work and do what I need it to without crashing.
Seriously, this is what it boils down to at base level. I have a free OS, free upgrades, I give and receive free support, submit bug reports etc. and I have not needed to use Win98 on my desktop or WinXP on my laptop for anything. People want documents, send them a PDF and I can say all I need to in spreadsheet with OO.org and no macros and it'll open in Excel.
For me to pay hundreds or thousands of pounds to do the same things I do now with MS would make me either so rich that I don't know what to do with my money or certifiably insane.
Hmmmmmm..... Deep fried and look like Squirrel.
To put the source code of Clippy under the GPL
"Use cases are fairy tales..." I. S. 2005
1) Organize the file system coherently instead of counting on a megabyte of environment varialbles, file indexing, WinFS, *COM[+] and other forms bloat to "fix" the resulting mess. Come up with a better version system for dll's, too, and integrate the core compilers and utilities of Visual Studio into the Windows tree (assuming they don't offer the compilers with the next version of windows)
2) Stop using "\r\n" for the EOL character. The '\r' serves no purpose other than to confuse programs that expect only one character instead of two.
3) Give users the option to not install the "Tour of Windows XP", Active Desktop, Utility Manager, Themes, and other crap if they don't want to, and then refrain from actually installing that crap on their hard disks when the user asks that it not be included.
4) Fully support having a computer's real time clock set to use GMT.
5) Disable all network services by default, especially on isp connections.
6) Provide support for other file systems such as FFS, ext2fs, HFS, etc.
7) Develop a fork() implementation. If practical, base all spawn()-like system calls on it.
Is it me, or does it seem weird that the URL has nothing to do with Microsoft. It is a hardcoded IP address. Yes it does use .ASP but not .ASPX or whatever the heck that .NET crap is.
I don't think this is from Microsoft.
On a somewhat related topic...
I was contacted by phone, from an outside company (not Microsoft) but sponsored by Microsoft to answer development questions. I was suppose to get $25 for their "brief" survey. I remember the last question.
"What could Microsoft do to get you to use their software?"
My anwer
"GPL all your software"
I never got my $25... Shocker!!!!
The more I learn about science, the more my faith in God increases.
It's the one thing they don't "get". We don't want a feature, or a frill, or any particular thrill -- just the source, the full source, unrestricted for all to use or see.
So in any future era, like the present one now at hand, when MS says goodbye to Windows [X] (current, 98), anyone can make the decision to transition based not on fear of no more security fixes or fear of being unable to keep up with new hardware -- but based on need or want for the new things in whatever
new Win OS delights!
That's the enduring process of open-source. The maker goes out of business and you aren't left stranded -- you have all the source code for your product. How many pieces of junk CD's have I tossed because the no longer ran on newer OS's and the companies no longer support them (assuming the company is still around). You get to a point when you want to say "STOP".
Even linux, I watch...was true with 2.4 and 2.6....the benchmarks showed
how nicely linux scaled under load with multiple processors...but the bottom end response time seemed to increase in both (just looking at
graphs). Yeah, 2.4 handles itself better under high load and might not lock up like 2.2, but under low load that my system is at 99.9% of the time...?
Does anyone still run linux on an i386? or even i586? aren't most at the Pentium-Pro/PII/PIII or better level? Does linux still run on a 386 or 486?
Anyway...seems like so much "growth" is by forced change...is that really growth -- the music industry thought the upspurt in CD sales in the 90's was. When it was just the public playing "catchup". Now they have to go and invent a new format (duh...it's not about piracy...)
-l
I am going to wait until M$ recognises Australia or Asia/Pacific as a region before filling out their crappy surveys.
I found Microsoft's representation of what its products could do and how they compared to other products to be a misrepresentation. Since then, I have heard so much BS out of MS that I am not about to try any of their newer operating systems, no matter how much improvement MS and their shills claim. My limited earlier experience was that Linux improves at a much faster rate than MS operating systems. Since I am unwilling to give new MS operating systems a try, I take it as a matter of faith that by now they must be at least a decade behind Linux.
>rpm -ivh xxx.rpm
Query to find out what's happening:
>rpm -ql xxx.rpm
RPM has horrid problems such as the above.
Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
because most user's don't actually look at the source. The reason people trust GNU/Linux more than Windows is because it has a record of better security than Windows. So-long as there is real competition between various companies and products -- and I argue GNU/Linux is a competing product put forth by capitalists for non-monetary profit -- individuals can make choices so as to protect their data. The problem is that The State has created an artificial scarcity of resources, by creating property rights in information. The solution is to eliminate this artificially created scarcity (which violates real property rights). You may be interested in Against Intellectual Property by Stephen Kinsella.
social sciences can never use experience to verify their statemen
I have completed the business users survey.
What I didn't like, and what they obviously just plain don't get is the fact that the software that I am using under Linux at the moment is both cheaper and better. (Temporarily forgetting the whole open source thing)
All through the survey were things like:
How good a replacement is Linux for Windows?
(I don't see Linux as a replacement for Windows, Linux is my first choice)
Rank the importance of server operating attributes to your organization.
The options on this chart are:
higher price & less effort
lower price & more effort
They can only be looking at it from the point of view that lower price (linux) is more effort, when in actual fact it isn't. Windows is a much higher cost as I don't have access to the source.
With the server environment that I have at the moment on linux, I use APT to pick up and install packages from an internal mirror once they are tested and I am happy with them. This happens automatically. This therefore means that it is a lower price and less effort.
The whole way through this survey all I could think of was "They don't get it do they? They just don't get it. How can it be so hard for them to understand?"
They are already behind the 8 ball, and they know it. They can't escape what's happening, so now they turn to the open Linux community to ask how the hell to get them out of the mess they are in.
Integrated products, open standards, lower costs.
They just don't get it.
Berny
Curiosity was framed; ignorance killed the cat. -- Author unknown
I don't know much about Microsoft Windows, which is to say, I know even less about Windows than the little I know about Linux or Mac OS / Mac OS X. The reasons why are partly philosophical (I like Free software), partly monetary (I like free software) but mostly aesthetic (YMMV, but I like both the various Apple OSes and various *nix varieties more than I have ever liked Windows, *shrug*,no accounting for taste). That said, I've found that some software for Windows goes on easy, some doesn't -- the one time I made the mistake of actually *installing* Windows 98 on a computer, the process failed at multiple points and led to an all-day hair-pulling fest. Hardware problem? Maybe, but that hardware ran Linux fine ... My limited experience since then with Windows software has been mostly attempts to help my dad install drivers for gadgets he's bought for his several computers. My conclusion about those is that most drivers may *install* correctly, but are hampered by very poorly constructed configuration phases in the form of "Wizards" which are not very wizardly, just ambiguous exercises in condescending presumption. It's lovely when the light on a wireless card shows it's powered up and getting signal, but the driver that comes with the card says it can find no appropriate hardware ... PnP, whatever :) Isn't this the year 2003?
... for another friend, same thing a few nights back, and on her computer we used some other random unzipping utility. Where does WinZip disappear to? Or did I just hallucinate that it used to be on Windows machines by default? Are there any good open-source unzipping programs that work on Windows? What is the airspeed velocity of a coconut-laden European swallow?]
... huh?), but I will echo another respondent by suggesting the front-end called Synaptic. Synaptic is really quite good ... it's not *completely* transparent (what is?) and it certainly is not perfect, but anything I can get to work I figure must be child's play for anyone else :)
:) Two other projects which cer
If you see *nix software installation as downloading sources, configuring and compiling, then Yes, it would be a bear to anyone new to it. However, that's not the only way to install software on Linux -- software installation has come a long way in the last several years.
[Aside #1: OK, I'll take back what I said about my Windows experience being mostly about installing random drivers for peripherals: I sometimes upgrade other people's Windows machines by adding various free software pieces, and for the software I add, the effort of installation is about the same either way, when unzipping / untar-ing with Linux vs. using WinZip or similar under Windows.]
[Aside #2: A surprizing number of Windows machines don't have an unzipping utility built in, at least machines running Windows 98. I thought it was included, if not part of the actual OS -- am I wrong? Maybe people just throw it away, or stash it in a folder that the OS doesn't search when finding appropriate apps for compressed archives? This, like the 'just hit enter' password screen, will remain one of the Windows Universe's mysteries. In such cases, I download an unzipping utility; I found one tonight called FreeZip, which I used to put Mozilla Firebird on an unsuspecting friend's computer
However, if your system can use apt-get (Debian, Red Hat) or Mandrake's urpmi, these (in most cases) wins hands-down vs. the various 'unzip, then run an installer' methods. I *have* run into some weirdnesses with apt-get (like when upgrading a 700k program tries to trigger a 300MB total system upgrade
Once it's set up on your machine though, apt-get install $softwarepackage is a pretty low-impact installation method.
[Aside #3: The "last couple of years" stuff includes synaptic, but not apt-get itself, which has been around for a while now
jrnl: http://tinyurl.com/c2l8yr / foes: http://tinyurl.com/ckjno5
Consider that Microsoft is a corporation and as such their goal (and their responsibility to their shareholders) is to increase revenue. Over the past several years -- and especially since Linux has become a serious contender in the OS field -- Microsoft has slowly been losing market share (read: revenue) to what it sees as a rogue platform that is primarily developed by idealogs and hobby programmers.
It would stand to reason that Microsoft wants to find out *why* so many of its customers are asking about -- and moving to -- Linux dispite all of the FUD and propaganda they've so artfully slung in recent times. They want to understand the competition, how it does things, and how it's getting things RIGHT that Microsoft has struggled with for so long (security, stability, etc). Yes, they will use this information to compete with Linux and make money. But there is nothing wrong with that. This silly belief that anyone who wants to make money writing and selling software is ridiculous. It's one of the reasons why those of us in the community are seen as zealots and idealogs. Microsoft should use whatever means it can (ethically, I mean and there is nothing unethical about research) to increase it's profit and effectively compete in the marketplace.
So I think that, if Microsoft is in any way involved in this survey, it's a good thing. Yes, they will use the information to their advantage. But to use that information to their advantage will mean making Windows more secure, more stable, etc. That is, in no way, a bad thing. If the community really IS interested in choice as it claims then that also means supporting the "choice" of those who choose Windows (for whatever reason) over Linux. If Linux is as good as we all say (which I thin it is) then it will still win out in the end.
Anthony Papillion
Advanced Data Concepts, Inc.
"Quality Custom Software and IT Services"
Microsoft should follow suit and use BSD as a kernel. It's better than Linux because of it's license allows for them to keep modifications closed source. This is very attractive to profit centric companies. With a strong Kernel and a excellent command line Microsoft could focus on the GUI.
IMHO Linux and other UNIX based operating systems, besides Mac OS X, suffers mainly from having a poor GUI Xwindows should be abandon.
Of course Apple beat them to the punch but Microsoft has never been afraid to copy good ideas from another company have they?
Nick Powers
Encryption: I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend your right to encrypt it...
"10.Rank the importance of server operating attributes to your organization.
(1 indicates a preference for low product cost and more administive and end-user time. 5 indicates a high up-front product cost but less user effort)"
Note that this assumes that your two choices are "low cost/more administration" and "high code/less administration". In practice, Linus is both lower cost and lower administrative overhead, while Windows is higher cost and higher administrative overhead.
"11.Rank the importance of easy initial configuration and setup of a server operating system against easier administration.
(1 is easy initial setup and lousy administration and 5 is difficult initial setup and great administration)"
Similarly, this question assumes that you have to choose between "hard setup/easy administration" and "easy setup/hard administration". Linux is both easier to install and easier to administer than Windows.
Ah well, perhaps even by setting up false options, they'll learn something about what people consider important.
Enable 3D printed prosthetics!
How to improve windows:
1. Abolish the binary-only registry and go back to text files for configuration, it has proven over the years to be an overwhelming net-negative for the platform. XML files might be worthwhile and they could be cached in memory for speed if necessary, but the master location of this should be fixable, like WIN.INI in the old 3.1 days.
2. Implement some sort of Mandatory Access Control (MAC) system similar to BSD's systrace, as well as network egress filtering, in order to cut down on the platform being such a virus, spambot and scumware haven.
3. The endless install-patch, reboot, install driver, reboot, install service pack, reboot, reboot, reboot. method of bringing a system up to date is very tiresome. It takes sometimes hours to bring a system up to date after the initial OS install. Linux is install once, update whevener but force a reboot only if there is a new kernel.
How to improve Linux:
1. Adopt Mac OS X concept of application bundles (all required files / libraries for an app appear as one 'Icon' in the UI) instead of making us fight with package management systems like RPM to get all dependencies.
2. Developers to be more conservative about the libraries they require (back to last major release version (whatever that would be) instead of forcing huge dependencies to bleeding edge libraries, which causes fighting with package system.
3. Also, I look forward cessation of further development of glibc except for bugfixes, so there is a stable platform for third-party development for a decent amount of time for once. (combines nicely with 1)
Hmmm, Microsoft planning on releasing a Linux distro?
Regardless, I told them that the number one improvement I would like to see in Linux is more installations.... so many installations that there are no more Windows boxen left.
I think that would be a great improvement for Linux.
Let me see the source. I can't trust what I can't see. "Trusted Computing" is being able to view the code.
No fucking way.
What does HKEY-LOCAL{59031a47-3f72-.....} even signify? Nothing unless you read somewhere that it is the container for the config you wish to alter.
At least the unix configs have comments in them and the entries make sense, AND it's plain text so you can just copy it over to another system if you want. That is the biggest disadvantage to the registry. You never know where your program's settings are and therefore can't edit/copy/back up everything related to it unless you image the entire drive. That's just stupid.
though I still think there's no problem if there's sufficient competition (not possible with IP). The article I linked to is interesting, check it out.
social sciences can never use experience to verify their statemen
15. List the top one or two possible improvements that you would like to see made to Windows.
The surveyor might want to put a little note at the top of this survey, pointing out that Javascript must be enabled for the form to work properly.
From a technical standpoint, I would advise Microsoft to continue working towards greater reliability and security.
But even if Windows leapfrogged far ahead of Linux in both those areas, I wouldn't switch. As I answered earlier in the survey, I don't trust Microsoft. I don't trust their business practices. I don't trust them to be open and honest about what is going on inside my computer. I don't trust them to do anything other than find ways to derive the maximum revenue from me personally.
It's nothing personal. Give Sun or IBM the same sort of complete control over 95% of the desktops out there, and the situation wouldn't be significantly altered. The thing is, Microsoft is forced to reconcile two orthogonal goals: Doing what is best for the users of Microsoft products, and doing what is best for their own bottom line.
They don't know me, and they don't know what is best for me or any other individual. With Linux, I can choose exactly what my computer does, to the extent that my own computer skills will allow. Under the Microsoft paradigm, I can't tinker. I can't experiment. I might be able to study the source under their Shared-Source license if I meet certain requirements, but I can't make improvements. Hell, the rumor mill says that even suggesting improvements can be an ordeal [I can't say I have firsthand experience].
I trust Linux and Open Source because I don't have to worry about other agendas. This isn't because everyone involved is agenda free, but because the process is transparent and no one agenda can dominate.
The big fixes cannot be made to Windows; they must be performed on Microsoft itself. They must stop trying to take over every market, eliminate every competitor, and control the direction of an entire industry. If they open their file formats, become more responsive to reports of security threats, and begin supporting open standards, they'll find they have a huge role in the future of computing.
More likely, I believe they'll stick with the same strategy that put them on top: Crush the competition, embrace/extend/extinguish any good ideas that come along, and do whatever it takes to "maximize shareholder value." If that's the case, I'll continue supporting Linux with my time and dollars, and watch as the world rejects their demand for total control.
16. List the top one or two improvements that you would like to see made to Linux.
More vendor support for hardware. Open source drivers often have to be written blindly because the manufacturer doesn't care to support it.
More application and game support. Especially game support. For example, Microsoft has Windows/DirectX, which is certainly a powerful game development platform. Unfortunately, we're never going to see DirectX ported to Linux, and so long as game developers target only that framework, I think Linux will have to be content with a few crappy ports long after the original.
Linux isn't without its problems. However, the biggest ones that I've mentioned aren't a problem with Linux per se, but with how others choose not to support it.
You want the truthiness? You can't handle the truthiness!
compare the market shares for Windows vs. Linux.
You see, the retard already IS the most popular.
Let's see - a monoply business is threatened by the reality that their product has become replaceable by a band of superior technical people, and they are asking why. If your company had superior technical capabilities, wouldn't you just develop the superior product rather that placing the burden on your users to tell you why your product is replaceable? If this is not ingrained arrogance, what else could it be? They don't have an answer, so they spend their vast resources in the hope that their users will tell them the solution. My word for this is pathetic - but then I thought that about DOS when it first came out. Gates is not the innovator that he tells himself that he is, and, his products have reflected that for years now. DOS existed on an IBM 1130 20 years before he re-incarnated it.
...if you don't know, I'm not going tell you!
I Come Not to Praise Linux...
Claiming to be an "engineer", Mr. Surkan lures Linux people into responding either directly or to his survey. The information is then apparently used when discussing Microsoft products with companies that are using Linux or considering the use of Linux.
Mr. Surkan uses a similar technique for any market area for which Microsoft has a vested interest. Not just Linux.
You can read more: http://linuxtoday.com/news/1998111802110PS
The link I think is dead in the post... but look at the comments.
More...m l
http://slashdot.org/articles/98/11/23/2056205.sht
More... (guy really needs a psuedonym)a se/+0wo_qr+W_88Ks/zdisplay.html
http://cma.zdnet.com/texis/techinfobase/techinfob
(pay site link to original article)
Dig deeper and you find a lot more... a WHOLE LOT MORE. This guy has more titles than than the Library of Congress.
You can supposedly give input directly via email to lnq@microsoft.com or msurkan@microsoft.com
But an advanced computer user (i.e. the person who will be doing complex things anyway) will find the configuration file much easier, and will be able to remember it next time.
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=13283
Let us have a short retrospect of a quotation of Mr. Mahatma Gandhi:
"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they attack you, then you win."
"It is not how things are in the world that is mystical, but that it exists." -Ludwig Wittgenstein
On Windows, this is the problem. How to keep the 5-15 year old members from accidently installing nasty stuff from the web and e-mail.
I think better package management does not always mean the 9 year old can install and run the Blaster worm as root without help.
The truth shall set you free!
Games are becoming more commonplace on Linux. If the PC Game market holds out for a few more turns I've got no use for Windows.
Alas, the console will kill the PC Games market in the significant numbers and therefore I don't see games becoming ubiquitous enough on Linux to make this happen. What a shame.
All my non gaming machines are BSD and Linux boxes tho. Just my Game Rig.
"Last one in is a rotten goblin!" - Kepp
-Dump "Clippy" from Office in favor of "Cowboy Neil" assistant.
-Sorry, I don't do windows.
and last, but not least...
-I tried to take your survey buy IE crashed my computer you insensitive clod!
It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men. -Frederick Douglass
With all the little windows with select boxes maybe someone with a more artistic bend could make an art piece out of their survey and we could have a contest. Snap shot your answers and submit them for the first annual MS answers art show. We could do this every year and I could bring the tent with lemonade and cookies.
He who said 1,000,000 monkeys on 1,000,000 typewriters would eventually type the great novel, never saw an AOL chat room
(you = one)
I think if people are complaining about lack of software quality, well here's an opportunity to do something. No one is forcing anyone to fill out the survey, but if you don't on the premise that you're aiding Microsoft, then it is clear from your actions that your goal never really was quality software-- it was simply to get the guttural satisfaction of labeling someone as the enemy. Well, I'm not going to debate that point, but if you want change then you gotta starting practicing what you preach, even in the face of the "enemy".
[dave steps down from his imaginary podium, nervously eyes the gathering mob in the corner...]
I mean really, I use many o.s.'es and I have NEVER had to "register an ActiveX control" you fucking moron...nice troll....I use Mac OS X every day, OpenBSD and FreeBSD everyday, and win32 whenever I am gaming or working on my girlfriend's machine (btw...I am in the industry, so don't take that comment as "just any teen talking out his ass"....ya turd) I've never had this come up in casual browsing/email/gaming/just daily use (nice special case...what, do you work for MS? the gov't? ...sheesh)
try both for a time and see..install a bunch of bleeding-edge progs or fringe type stuff and see....win32 will either do it or not (and not choke as easily), whereas linux will happily go UNTIL SOMETHING BREAKS, leaving you CLUELESS unless you can read code or whatever...really...think of the public (not your elitist programming ass) and you'll see he's right
:)
now bsd....that's a diff story...got it right
OS X or Darwin or whatever you want to call it, is definitely BSD-type licensed. It's largely Mach/FreeBSD based, and so they have no obligation to release the source, but they do...
cmon...easily half that hardware (I know cause I loaded XP on 2 pcs this last week by hand and they had ati/nvida/&sblive) IS detected during install...you're definitely FUD'ing a lot or just stupid (or possibly analretentive asshole..what, WHQL drivers included STOCK aren't good enough for you?)..lemme guess..you expected the latest Detonators in your build...fuck why bother with you stupid slashbots anymore...most of your questions give away the fact you haven't worked in the "biz" yet...cmon....all your "special case" questions are dead giveaways...who partitions and installs BY HAND anymore? right...nobody...imaging is where ALL corp action happens, fool (try ghost...you'll be amazed...or just try Norton since you sound like a weasel who lives at home and is too myopic to see past your parent's basement anyway)
see title, fucker...oh yeah...keep yer baseless juvenile comments coming. as I like to prove people wrong about WINDOWS, so there, I said it...not true but you'll think it anyway...wow, I've got a live one tonight
The win32 API seems well ducment to me. Compare it to other API.
The names of the function calls are meaninfull, and there are large references published by microsoft press. Also, the SDK comes with extensive documentation. Avoid MSDN as a source of documentation though
I've never quite understood why neither X11 nor Windows can handle the idea that an application can be running, but not have any currently open windows...
What could be improved about Windows?
Litigious bastards
Microsoft is sending Linux users a survey asking why they use Linux, and what can be done to make Windows better.
Hmmm...Looks like everything SCO needs for their lawsuit.
# Linux of computers,
# of CPUs
How much did Microsoft give SCO to wage war again?
Sigh. Hotmail email. Surveymonkey hosting... Get everybody all fired up over something and in their rush to 'be heard' they'll overlook the fact that there is not one part of this 'survey' that directly links it to microsoft. Somebody somewhere is laughing their asses off about how they got the 'linux crunchies' to go ape over a pretend survey. Nice going, Newsforge. Whatever happened to journalists checking with sources... um, like Microsoft??
What backward steps are you talking about?
Simple navigation for starters. Doskey doesn't even exist anymore. Bash-like features would be basically essential for anyone who spends more than 30 seconds at a command prompt.
Maybe the scripting has gotten better, but that's not saying much either. I gave up on it a long, long time ago.
"No problem. I have the capacity to do infinite work so long as you don't mind that my quality approaches zero."-Dilbert
They asked me for an email adress and lo and behold ... I created a hotmail account ! :)
A bad analogy is like a leaky screwdriver.
Why should I help Microsoft?
Interociter
-=What do I want? I'm an American. I want more.
don't believe it for a minute...
no links to microsoft...no microsoft mention...ip address and no domain name...
ohh and it doesn't work in firebird...
so all in all, a 0 out of a possible 10
Now every /.er go and give MS some data to chew. You need temporarily to accept cookies. I filled both home and work inquiry with qute random data. It was fun.
:
"List the top one or two improvements that you would like to see made to Linux"
1. Conquer the world.
2. Conquer the known universe.
In that instant, Microsoft went poof and disappeared.
Aside from not trusting msft, I'm also disgusted with msft.
- Studies that "prove" msft superiority - secretly funded by msft.
- supporting scox's extortion, fud, stock-scam.
- sick of msft fud.
- "updates" designed to lock-in users, instead of improving products.
- strategically buying other companies, only to wreck products that might threaten msft.
- deliberately breaking the law, then setteling when they get caught, as a way of doing business.
- assorted other monopolist tactics.
btw: I still use XP. Linux just doesn't do what I need it to do.
at least they check their facts, and would have picked up the phone to M$ after less than a minute's thought.
No, I don't find it much easier. (I consider myself an advanced user)
In my experience, most registry keys have much more sensible, descriptive names than the quoted example, in which case there's no practical difference between editing the text file and editing the registry. In both cases, you open the file in an editor (vi/emacs/joe/whatever or regedit), search for the thing to edit, and change it.
In both cases, an advanced user will be fine, while a new user may well not be. New users will still want to change their screen resolution, though...
It's official. Most of you are morons.
1)unbundled, untied browser, media player, messenger services, streaming players 2)no enforced registration 3)easier more accurate install/uninstall routines 4)no DRM or similar abuse of MY system and freedoms 5)more thorough release of programming API's - no more secrets to provide for competitive products, rather than hobbling non-Microsoft products 6)no more anti-competitive behaviour 7)no more lying to the courts or the people about Microsoft software and business practices 8)what is with this Microsoft certified driver thingey? another way to get money from device manufacturers, which directly gets passed to consumers ??? and gives Microsoft MORE unwanted, undesired control over MY choices ...
9)no more ILLEGAL, improper, undisclosed surreptitious gathering of information about me, my products, my activities, my wants, desires, or needs, my passwords, my software - in short CEASE AND DESIST SPYING on consumers ... it is not for our benefit and NEVER CAN be ...
10)tight, secure, finished code in Microsoft products, meaning no more bloat, no more back doors, no more viruses, no more vulnerabilities
11)open formats, codecs, and interoperability
12) stop stealing others work and products and trying to bastardize it or manipulate it's operation, usage, usability, functioning, distribution
13)stop bundling said bastardizations into an operating system
14)OS is an OS work on it and improve it
15)apps and apps, they will take care of themselves - or not
16)continueing Microsoft's substandard work and products will continue to drive / force Microsoft users to FOSS or another proprietary product, but still away from MS - read 1 through 15
17)continueing support for existing and opening file formats unto perpetuity
18)proper tools sets / compilers etc ...
19)CHOICES
20)retraction/repudiation of all current and prior
EULA's
Question Authority before it questions YOU
Did you ever stop to think that perhaps, that's a config that MS didn't think anyone would ever want to modify? That's why it has a guid rather than a name - it's something you're not meant to want to touch.
/etc over to a different machine with different hardware, etc)
Now, we can argue the pros and cons of that all day, and personally no, I don't think it's right - slapping in a guid for it stinks of a lazy, "oh, no-one'll want to touch it anyway, I can't be bothered to think of a decent name for it" approach.
It's just one isolated example though, specifically chosen to make the registry & MS look bad. Here's one for Unix - the Sendmail config file.
That is the biggest disadvantage to the registry. You never know where your program's settings are and therefore can't edit/copy/back up everything related to it unless you image the entire drive.
Bullshit. The registry is just a file (okay, a couple of files), sat on the disk like any other, and like any other, it can be copied. Regedit has an export function - if you like, you can export individual keys/branches or the whole damn thing. That gives you a file you can dump on another machine, double-click and have merged automatically. (And yes, if you do the whole thing, you're liable to trash the other machine, just as if you copied the whole of
If your applications are dumping settings all over the place willy-nilly, that's not MS's fault. You'll be wanting to talk to the application developers.
It's official. Most of you are morons.
See subject. :)
64.73.28.28 ??? could not be found on internic ...
Question Authority before it questions YOU
grizzly@fuck.off.m$.u.bastards
in my life God comes first.... but Linux is pretty high after that
Francis Smit
So now tell me was it a joke or for real? The questions are pretty loaded and it is impossible to either avoid being a total windows bigot and answer truthfully. BTW I am an MCSE because my company needed one and none of the Windows admins could pass the test. (Yes MS many of your supporters are stone illeterate even in your own OS and come to us Lin admins as we actually read the RFCs and study.) Yes I also have RHCE, LPI and Sair LCA a CCNA and other so cut me a break on the (MCP, MCSA, MCSE) The test were actually funy and the only one that gave me a worry was the Designing AD =---=what a pain answer read a huge paragraph and then answer a question that is nothing more than an opinion and and there are two-to-three technically correct ways to do it listed. Anyway MS can have me back when 1-they drop the GUI requirement 2-drop IIS and use Apache. 3-change their licenses away from me being a crook to use my system the way I want (Guess I am with Linux for Life then :) )
Well, it's almost certainly not a hoax.
Michael Surkan has also sent a similar survey request to a lot of security mailing lists, asking about the future of network security. A quick google for him suggests that he really does have the job at MS he says he has, and the email he used to post to firewall-wizards checks out.
Personally, I'm a little alarmed to now read this article and see what _else_ he's gathering info on...
I've got an eight page dissertation on what MS needs to fix in their OS before I can consider switching to it from Linux, and I send it in every time a company rep. is drunk enough to ask.
How many respones have I received? 0.
The problem is not Linux users inability to express dissatisfaction. Many of us have installed and administered large MS implementations and found them to be architectural horse shit. The problem is literally with the MS OS cap-a-pe.
Need examples? Great, how about default install of pagefile (swap) to system partition, DLL caching to disk, PIO default HD access, and kernel cached to disk by default? When base systems are coming with >= 256 meg RAM by default, none of the these choices make any sense whatsoever, but because MS's setup is completely retarded, you're stuck with a machine working at 20-40% capacity directly from install.
I've got 7.8 pages of more friendly suggestions, but frankly since Samba 3.0, it's easier to completely ignore MS at least on the servers. Hopefully UserLinux will pull a miracle out of Peren's sphincter and do the same for the DE.
NT
Do not meddle in the affairs of geeks for they are subtle and quick to anger
It strikes me as kind of fishy that MS would A) use a third party survey company to do this (or does MS own SurveyMonkey?) or B) allow this at all. I read the article and niether the author nor the LUG got a reply from Frank Williams or Michael Surkan. Is there any more evidence that it's real? I don't know what the motive could be for faking the survey.
Follow Apple's lead (again!) and dump the 20-year-old DOS core of your OS, replacing it with one of the unix variants out there. Now, go rewrite your GUI and desktop API to work on top of it.
Make a legacy layer (MS-WineX?) to run "old" apps, and have a well-documented standard API -- just ONE -- no "magical hidden" parts for people with deeper pockets -- which all developers can use to write applications. If you need help with this, find an old AmigaOS kernel/intuition reference set and read it.
Force the hardware industry (and MS is the only one really able to do that) to get rid of the antique BIOS garbage, and adopt something more flexible like what recent Suns use. While you're at it, ditch ISA and let it rust in peace. Send the keyboard/ps2 moue controllers off with it and standardize on USB.
At that point, you'd have a solid stable environment which CAN emulate all the bugs of yesteryear, but doesn't have to. You'd also have nicely put yourself in place as the desktop linux solution.
One other tip.... listen to your customers. When they've been telling you your system is bug-ridden, unstable, and insecure for YEARS on end, and are CONSISTANT about these reports... maybe you should do something more than have Steve Ballmer run around on stage yelling about how great your company is?
letting me buy one license for home use and letting me install it on those machines that I own! The cost can get pretty step for a household when computing as a hobby and having more than 1, 2, or 3 machines ... afterall - I don't feel like buying 6 licenses of XP Professional for each of my boxes ... as least I can buy a copy of Linux and put it on multiple boxes! Until then ... Linux is my choice!
And for the looks of it, people are falling on themselves like lemmings. Do you guys really need that much the attention of MS?
For once RTFA.
You will see that somebody replied to the given address
QUOTE
It was signed by "Michael Surkan," using the "Reply To" address lnq@microsoft.com
UNQUOTE
And what did they get as a reply? this:
QUOTE
From: frankwilliams291@hotmail.com (Frank Williams)
To: [name and email address removed]
UNQUOTE
So Frank Williams, via a Hotmail email address is helping out Mr Surkan from his hotmail account. Because arguably this Mr SUlkan is checking his own Inbox by hand? (look at the article, honest).
And the survey is carried out in webmonkey.com Mmmmmh?!?!?
It seems fake, it sounds fake, it must be fake and it seems like many people, on their eagernes (of what exactly?), felt for it.
Where is all that critical thinking so many people talk about around here?
I would not get involved with a survey I am not absolutely 100% sure it is what is says it is.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
I just tried to fill out the business questionare honestly so they MIGHT actually use the data to improve Windows.
Upon submission, after a very long wait, I got back document contains no data.
I guess they should have run it on a Linux server.
This is a handy way for an IP address to be linked to a self-admitted number of Linux installations. I got halfway through the "at work" survey before I realized that I was quoting my company's assets and Linux installs to a web site on an IP address instead of a name. For all I know, that IP could be a guy on a cable modem, working for SCO or the BSA. No thanks. Not for me.
-j
It's a fact that my Linux box crashes far less than my Windows98 box.
It would be faith to think that giving Microsoft another $100 of my money for WindowsXP would be worthwhile, considering that every version of Windows I've used, going back to 3.0, has been terribly unstable.
Common, they may not be the brightest sparks, but they are not that incapable....
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
DOSKEY is missing because command line history is built in now. But I guess if you gave up on it a long time ago, then you really have no business commenting on it now.
/? will tell you all about it.
It's still not as good as bash, but it's much better than it used to be. It even has tab completion, provided you enable it in the registry. And before you complain about esoteric registry changes, cmd
Too bad that this isn't rated "Score: 5, Funny"
-and his getting people to believe in his non-existence is one of the most subtle marketing ploys since Old Scratch did it...
There's no wrong way, to eat a Rhesus...
I guess we're already on phase 4: we won.
Microsoft is in its initial steps of adapting to a Linux-ruled world. They are starting to change their powerful marketing machinery towards a conciliation strategy, they want to show interest, then change their "collective mind", and one day we will forget they were against linux, just like we forgot they were against the internet.
Do they care about Windows?
With basically everything you've said. However, I think we're being far too narrow in looking at the problem. The real problem is that ideas and expressions are aggregiously being treated as if they are scarce-resoucres, that is are subject to ownership. By creating an artificial scarcity -- which is what patents and copyrights do, and what alot of other government regulations in real property do -- you artificially raise prices and hinder production, which is harmful to increases in the standard of living.
social sciences can never use experience to verify their statemen
Im using Firebird 0.7 (On Windows :X) but it worked okay.
"...a generation of kids has grown up thinking Trance is the shittiest music since country and western." - Paul van Dyk
Irrelevant of all the (valid) poitns you made about how patents are often harmful, they are simply inconsistent with property rights and should not be subject to ownership. Only scarce resources are subject to becoming property (privitization). Furthermore, creating legal rights (patents) in ideas violates real property rights, by telling the owner of one piece of property that he can't mold it in the way of his choosing. (see the excellent Kinsella paper I pointed out).
social sciences can never use experience to verify their statemen