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Introducing Linux to Joe Average
eco2geek writes "The local "alternative newspaper" is running a cover story titled 'The Rebel Alliance: An unlikely army of hacker hippies, geek visionaries, idealistic teachers and corporate giants is making Portland ground zero of a digital revolution.' I'm not sure I'd go so far as to call Portland 'ground zero' of anything, but the article does give the average reader a good introduction to what Linux is, why it's important, and some of the politics surrounding it. (The article also mentions 'the frenetic Slashdot.org.' :-)"
Check these out:
:)
Torvalds, now a 34-year-old tech superstar whom some see as the love child of Thomas Edison and Che Guevara,...
"Linux wasn't started as any kind of rebellion against the 'evil Microsoft empire,'" Torvalds told The New York Times last year. "I'm not out to destroy Microsoft. That will just be a completely unintentional side effect."
"In a school, it's public money. How should it be spent? Is it ethical to buy software instead of hiring an art teacher? Me, I want an art teacher--not the Microsoft help assistant dancing on every student's desktop.
"Why spend billions," said one Amazon tech guru at the time, "when you can spend millions?"
So funny. I'd post more quotes but I'm too lazy too read the rest of the article.
I'm pretty impressed as it's only a 'local alternative newspaper' that it's not buckling under the Slashdot effect, in fact it hasn't even slowed down!
Even stranger is the Netcraft 'what's that site running?' results, showing that the server was recently running MacOS!
When anger rises, think of the consequences.
Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC)
Oh, yes! Right here! The average Joe can handle Linux just as well as he can handle Windows. Teach a little boy Linux from the very first moment he touches a keyboard and he'll be just fine. The sad part is the national government is in bed with Microsoft. Let's hope that little project keeps going.
Frankly I see advertisements of Linux as a good thing, I mean more people should merely just know of Linux.
And the day came when the risk to remain closed in a bud, became more painful than the risk it took to blossom.
And yet another Phys.Rev.B for me!
"It's an MTV-style Death Match," says David Chen
I'd like to see that! Linus vs. Bill
hehe
My ghEtt0 webpage.
If you want Joe Sixpack to use linux, you just have to show him how fun it can be! Like this picture from a wild linux-party :)
4 3. jpg
http://linuxforum.dk/2003/billeder/chlor/r00172
Oh, they're a wild bunch!
It took a while for the words to sink in. I mean, my friend works in the publishing industry, and while she uses computers all day for word processing and presentations and stuff like that, I didn't expect her to know about FreeBSD. So I asked "Why FreeBSD? Have you been reading OSNews again?"
She gave me a strange look and replied "No, because FreeBSD is free, and I've heard all sorts of things about Linux getting picked up by the big corporates. Those IBM ads are everywhere! I thought Linux was going to be expensive...more expensive than Windows!"
I went ahead and install GNU/Debian for her, lecturing her solidly on the finer points of apt-get while we installed all 6 CD-ROMs from my laptop over a heavily degraded 802.11b link (I'd removed all the RF shielding from her PC's case to 'lap' the hard drive). But it got me thinking. Are Linux distros losing out to FreeBSD when it comes to new users simply because of their names? I mean, who's going to know that GNU/Debian Linux doesn't cost $699 per seat? FreeBSD says immediately that the product is free
I'll put a question to the community...do people think that it might be worth re-naming Debian in some markets (like campus bookstores, for instance) to FreeDebian? I mean, Tux could even hold a pitchfork or something. Do people think that a 'marketing friendly' name is important? Would this get the Debian developers off-side with the FSF, or would they understand? Would the viral nature of the BSD license necessitate distribution changes because of the 'Free' in the name? I welcome comments from the GNU/Linux and FreeBSD communities equally!
I'm not sure I'd go so far as to call Portland 'ground zero' of anything. . .
Rain?
KFG
Sure there are small things (not a GNU/Linux in sight) which will probably be the cause of much criticism here but for an INTRODUCTION to Linux, and a brief update on the who SCO joke I thought it was rather well done.
/. effect too... :D
At least it didn't leave me thinking: "What idiots wrote this garbage..."
Kudo's to a small newspaper standing up the
groklaw, wired and slashdot. The holy trinity of work based time wasting.
Does that mean that any company (SCO, M$) could copyright the Tux logo and we won't be able to use it anymore?
DVD Ripping, Divx, VCD, SVCD under Linux
Any effort to familliarize the public with Linux that doesn't involve a creepy-looking 9 year old with yellow hair has my support.
That, and anything that doesn't involve Laverne talking about "chaos theory"..sheesh.
What the hell would be so wrong about simply putting a few kernel/distrib contributors infront of a camera, and letting them talk for 30 seconds? "Hi, I'm Dave. I wrote the part of Linux that makes this camera work. I did it because it's fun....and because the manufacturer wouldn't." Sure, most of us are pretty damn ugly but there's gotta be a few photogenic nerds among us. With good stories, too.
Bowie J. Poag
Luki.org, a German organisation for the spread of the word of Linux in Christian Churches, created a very good "Uberzeugungsmappe", a convincement paper for Joe Enduser. It is slightly outdated and probably not available in English but you could try to tranlate it via Babelfish and correct the mistakes.
Download the German paper in OpenOffice Format or as pdf. More about the Luki-Organisation in English
It would be very helpful to get an English translation of this very good LUKI "Uberzeugungsmappe" paper
Isn't this a repeat of a story put up a month or so ago? I had a quick look on the old articles and couldn't find it but I have a strong sense of deja vu.
I moved to Portland from Hawaii and noticed that the Willamet Week and the Honolulu Weekly both use the same fonts, same format and same general layout as each other. Even the websites share a passing resemblance. Sometimes you gotta wonder just how small, local and alternative some papers are.
Aye, I tried smashing them with a wooden hammer, but after a few hits, the sodden thing was in pieces! Then I tried a bigger one, but to no avail. Then I decided to test my brand new diamond-head drill, but it wouldn't even leave a mark on these numbers! "Bloody hell," I said. And threw the numbers into a furnace. And when I took them out, they were bloody hot (I almost lost my left thumb because of a number 5) and there were some weird markings to be seen on them -- I guess my diamond-head drill still did some damage ;7
Hell is not other people; it is yourself. - Ludwig Wittgenstein
It should be titled: Introducing Linux to Joe User.
Linux is still a techies OS. Any headway made swinging it into the mainstream is by Linux bending towards what the user wants (Start Menus etc.), not by bending the public at large (i.e. not us) towards Linux.
I've heard so much about the so-called "Rebellion" whenever Linux is mentioned. Sometimes I gotta admit that I dunno what they are talking about.
I use Linux not because I rebel against anyone, it's just that I got tired of the blue-screen-of-death cum you-gimme-more-$$$-and-we-still-won't-fix-the-bug thingy so I switched.
No rebellion, just got tired with you-know-who.
In other words, the "Rebellion" thingy may be overated.
Just my thoughts, anyway.
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
Unfortunately for every good article there's another full of FUD about *ix systems. take this one
"A new email virus called MyDoom is spreading rapidly across the Internet through UNIX mail servers, bringing with it a dangerous attachment that, when opened, can give attackers access to users' computers through an electronic backdoor."
Amazing what they'll print these days? unix systems, one of the systems so amazingly resistant to worms like mydoom, and still we have the press implying they're to blame for the spread of windows viruses.
Maybe he should try broadband. He can go googleyed faster! Or get a protective screen for his monitor.
Sig (appended to the end of comments you post, 120 chars)
It should be titled: Introducing Joe Average to Linux.
The articles in the title should be reversed now. Excuse my flu and tiredness...
(That would make a good slogan...)
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
Maybe that Portland read this on slashdot about a year ago, heh.
by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 19, @12:00AM About 500 years ago, a guy named Martin Luther decided to translate the Bible into German, thus was born the Protestant revolution. The point being, that before this, if you were German and could not read Latin, you had to have a priest translate the words of God AKA the Bible.
A Brit named William Tyndale had the same idea, he printed 50 copies of the Bible *in English*, the establishment was that shocked at this idea, they burnt him at the stake. Probably because they thought the idea of the common people having direct access to the 'holy writ' would lead to them thinking for themselves and having dangerous ideas.
How like the current debate between open source and closed source this all sounds. Just substitute operating system for Bible, money for God, the stock market for the Holy Roman Empire and Bill Gates as the Pope and it all lines up!
Have they tried and had the same success with *BSD ;) ?
In this post-Adequacy world, deliberately mis-spelling words will instantly discredit you. Does Mike Bouma, widely respected Amigan, know you're posting this drivel with his name attached?
Using a little hack called page five of a four page story:
http://www.willametteweek.com/story.php?story=4764 &page=5
He who laughs last is stuck in a time dilation bubble.
"IBM's endorsement of Linux has added credibility and an illusion of support and accountability," Ballmer wrote.
So, backing from a huge corporation only gives an illusion of support and accountability, by Ballmers own admission? Something to keep in mind next time "corporate backing" is flounted as a Windows highlight :)
a better slogan i think :)
This is my Sig, this is my Gun. One is for Slashdot and one is for Fun.
Or maybe Bill Gates and Linus Torvalds will turn out to have been switched at birth, and will have to swap places, because it's discovered that the wrong one has "The Mark of Cred" (dun dun DUUUNNNNN!)
Slugs? Ducks?
On a recent United Airlines flight I came across one of the more unlikely places to read on open source: that bastion of the most bland journalism imaginable: the inflight magazine. Generally I only look in the magazine to see what movies might be playing, so I was surprised that the current issue of Hemispheres Magazine has an article on Mitch Kapor, Chandler, and the Open Source Applications Foundation. It's not perfect, but pretty good for an inflight magazine.
Portland is also the home of 6 semiconductor fabrication plants that Intel uses to test development processors.
great article. i particularly like this quote
"It's free, It works, Duh!"
Snappy catchphrase, don't ya think?
Pretty snappy chorus for a rock song as well.
I've talked to several non-linux users about why they don't use it, and I'm not talking about the die-hard MS supporters. I'm talking about people that have tried it at one time or another, ran it for a while, and just gave up on it.
Why did they give up instead of switching over to it as their primary desktop? Answers ranged over several salient (if not because they're real, at least because they're perceived) problems.
Die-hard linux people see variety as a good thing. That's true, and it's not true. Variety always has to be put in context, especially if there's a lot of it. Here's an example that even die-hard linux people can understand (assuming you're not chefs too). Let's say I'm making salsa and I send you to the store to pick up some heat. You don't know the first thing about peppers, and it just so happens I live next to a produce mart the likes of which you've never seen before. To choose from are: jalapenos, habaneros, anaheim, chipotle, ancho, pablano, thai, serrano, scotch bonnet, etc. What are you likely to do? That's right--grab the jalapenos, cuz that's what you've heard of before, even though they're probably not the best solution. Some die-hard linux people would argue, hey, if your goal is to help your buddy out, you'll head over to your favorite bookstore and read up, and then head back to the produce mart armed with this newfound knowledge. To these people I say, you are truly a die-hard fan of linux if you didn't get this point.
This is the pressure novices feel at every turn with linux, not just from what OS to install, but what is the install process? (Depends on the distro you've chosen.) How do I install an application? (Ibid.) Which application do I install if I want, say, an email client? (Good luck wading through all of the available options.) Why is it that everytime I head over to my buddy's house, he always knows about all this crap that I've never heard of, and he's got this smokin' setup that I wouldn't have the first clue how to begin assembling? How does one even keep up with all the choice that's available?
All frustrations that don't happen with Windows. You only rarely head over to a buddy's and see him running Mozilla instead of IE and think, hmm, I'd like that and didn't know about it. 99% of the time, you're both running the same media player, picture editor, etc, and if you're not, there's only a small handful of well-known choices to choose from.
The next barrier to installing/using linux on a long-term basis with these folks is what I call the annoyance/showstopper problem. Eventually, usually sooner than later, these people run into something that's either really annoying (they can't get X to run at a desired resolution, for example), or a really serious problem that impedes their ability to move forward (they can't connect to the web). They also don't really know where to look for help, or even how to find out where they should start. I myself ran into a problem years ago with RedHat, I simply wanted to upgrade the asteroids game, but the web of library dependencies that had to also be updated made it hardly worthwhile. Eventually, I rolled up my sleeves and got to work--I finally got to the end of a long dependency chain and discovered that, no matter what I did to upgrade this particular library, it wouldn't go in because it was replacing a basic graphics library that is used by virtual terminals. Because it was always in use, it couldn't be replaced, even in single-user mode. So I know this frustration well...even I was asking, how great can this OS be if a simple game can't easily be upgraded, and then it turns out when you finally commit yourself to an afternoon of hunting, it simply can't be upgraded at all? The bigger issue here for most users is, why should I have to know about library dependencies to upgrade a game, why are virtual terminals relevant to the problem I'm having, and what is a virtual terminal anyway? (The point is, whatever it is, it's totally unrelated to what I was trying to do, and most people find t
but have you considered the following argument: shut up.
I had a similar experience moving to portland from sacramento, but i used to work for the sacramento indy, so i know it's not so much a giant media conspiricy as it is a case of "oh, i like that layout, let's steal it for our paper"
I'm not sure I'd go so far as to call Portland 'ground zero' of anything
Oh come on you guys, I'm sure Portland must be ground zero for more than a few nuclear missiles in the USS... er, nevermind that either...
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
n/t
The Syllable operating system (forked from the dead AtheOS project) seeks to create a free-software OS without all of these problems Linux faces on the desktop. Boots up fast, isn't bloated, easy to program for, no mishmash of dependencies, etc. It's coming along pretty nicely (the kernel is [quote] "99% complete"), and when the GUI frontend and other parhelia are done, it should become the first GPL operating system normal people can use.
Linux is great for what it does. It's a switz-army knife of an operating system for all sorts of esoteric professional and geek uses. But end-users don't want this, and forging Linux into something it is not is ultimately self-defeating. So be happy with what Linux is and accept for as such, and do not be upset when people say it is not good for grandma. Projects like Syllable are where the future of the free-software desktop lays.
Let Linux do what it is good for, and let the other 99% of the population who isn't technical find their GPl`ed goodness elsewhere.
What about poor old avarage Jill?
heheh http://www.willametteweek.com/admin https://198.107.45.80:19638/webhost/services/virtu alhosting/siteadmin?ocw_login_domain=wweek.com
heh.. it's an ensim server :P rofl
No, YOU have a space before the JPEG, you asswipe.
I cut n pasted the URL, so if there's a space, it's a Slashdot bug.
The article starts off Linux creator Linus Torvalds chose a penguin as Linux's logo after an arctic bird nipped him at a zoo (left column). Well, it wasn't a penguin then - they are from the Antarctic.
The whole thing is a throwback to the days before companies like IBM started coming onboard and Linux became mainstream. I had not realised just how far things have changed until reading that stuff about long-haired hippie programmers (paraphrased). Linus looks pretty presentable (he always did) and photos nowadays are usually of him rather than Alan Cox or RMS.
Around here, Linux is seen as a professional OS and one for professionals. Perceptions . . .
I'm not sure I'd go so far as to call Portland 'ground zero' of anything,
A bit OT, and have some karma to burn, but where exactly do you live that's so important that Portland can't be the epicenter for anything? And what does that comment have anything to do with a tech story? If your "not sure" then don't type it.
Some people forget that even Torvalds came from the igloo cubicles of an obscure University.
[end rant]
Disclaimer: I don't live in Portland.
have contributed a lot to *nix... but my favorite is Knoppix
I keep burned CDs of knoppix with me, so when I start talking to one of my coworkers about linux (I work in a hospital... I'm about the only geek here), I hand them a CD and tell them to give it a whirl, pretty much risk-free to their PC.
I've found that to be one of the best little CDs I have ever encountered... and I looked high and low for a paypal link so I could throw Klaus Knopper a few bones...
Anybody know of one? I, for one, believe in paying for useful stuff.
Even if a man chops off your hand with a sword, you still have two nice, sharp bones to stick in his eyes.
I'm not sure I'd go so far as to call Portland 'ground zero' of anything...
Why not? The Open Source Development Lab (OSDL) is in Portland. I'd think that counts for _something_. Then there's Intel's first real [huge] Linux farm which was instrumental in designing and modelling the Pentium 4 (howdy DPG). Not to mention several Linux developers, coders and doc maintainers and that Randal guy (hey, Randal).
Sign me,
A BiOFH who will always call PDX home
- I am made of meat.
to send the school a licensing agreement now that they've been on /.?
-A
Flamebait huh?
This post makes perfice sence. natural selection at its bets.
Think of it like the Darwin awards for computer users.
What might get more people to at least try GNU/Linux is putting either Live CD distros or full distro installer packs in shops, a la AOL CDs.
Sure, it will require a lot of CDs, but it is in a good cause.
I think AOL gives away about 1000 CDs for every new user (and less than that once you take into account people who just use AOL for the free time and then chuck it away) - does anyone know a CD manufacturer who can do us a good deal on a LOT of CDs?
An infinite number of monkeys will eventually come up with the complete works of
Moderation: 100% troll, but quite funny.
You sez:
"
True.
But for those who have tore thru "The Art of War" knows that many times the best way to fight a war is to let your opponents fighting amongst themselves - which btw MicroSoft is doing, with SCO against the Unices world thingy - and if M$ can do to us, so can we.
M$ has a lot of vulnerabilities, it's practically a leaking dreadnaught. To keep M$ busy, point out to the investors (aka WallStreet) those leaks, one by one (or a dozen at a time, if you choose) and when you watch those WallStreet rats jump ship by the drove, you will see the M$ dreadnaugh starts sinking, and sinks fast.
Just a thought. Not a threat. Never a promise.
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
i'm three semesters away from my term of service and looking to get the hell out of here. i was originally thinking portland, although that plan was pretty much put on back burner on anecdotal accounts of there being shite for jobs there, more so than anywhere else. property values looked a lot more reasonable than wash dc where i am now, which was great, but that does no good when you cant get a job. i'm hoping someone can discuss this point to give me a better idea. i'm technical, but the my friends who want to move with me are mostly non-technical types.
i knew there was a growing tech culture in portland, but in some ways i'm a bit suprised there's a linux/portland article like this. its kind of reminded me about that blip on the radar, and gives it some good light. i still cant tell whether it was just a regional article not unlike many you'd find in many regional papaers, or whether there's some mertis to portland's "linux army" claims. is portland really a rapidly-warming (hot) bed?
i've been wanting to ask this for a while, but didnt know where to ask. even if you just wanna suggest better places for this discussion, i'd be honored by your replies.
Yes, frenetic, that's a good word to describe slashdot:
cout@freakshow:~$ nc dict.org 2628
220 pan.alephnull.com dictd 1.8.0/rf on Linux 2.4.18-14
d frenetic
150 1 definitions retrieved
151 "frenetic" wn "WordNet (r) 2.0"
frenetic
adj : excessively agitated; transported with rage or other violent
emotion; "frantic with anger and frustration";
"frenetic screams followed the accident"; "a frenzied
look in his eye" [syn: {frantic}, {phrenetic}, {frenzied}]
.
250 ok [d/m/c = 1/0/104; 0.000r 0.000u 0.000s]
Last Post! enlightment Google
Linus Torvalds can go anywhere. It's probably no accident that he and the The Open Source Development Lab are in Portland. (Beaverton is one of the towns that are part of the metropolitan area of 1.4 million people called Portland.)
Portland has the largest bookstore in the world.
Portland has one of the largest and most successful dealers in contemporary art in the world. The gallery has a funny name, but shows the work of over 1,100 artists.
Portland has the largest park inside a city in the world. The park has over 74 miles of wilderness hiking trails.
Portland is the home of Pink Martini, a band that writes multi-cultural songs. One of Pink Martini's songs was once one of the most popular songs in France. You can listen to the music video.
It's a 55 minute drive from downtown Portland to the ski areas. "World Class Skiing in Your Own Backyard."
The K-12 Linux Project, in Portland, is one of the more successful projects for giving Linux to average users, who in this case are students.
Portland borders on the confluence of the Willamette River and the Columbia River, one of the largest rivers in the world. The Columbia River Gorge, on the eastern edge of Portland, is a world class wind-surfing area.
On the other hand: Q. Why do hippies come to Portland? A. Because there are no jobs.
Many people don't like the months of rain every year. They say Portland is the perfect place for slugs and ducks. (However, the rain cleans the air.)
This was posted in the disucssion of the 2.4 v 2.6 GNU/Linux kernel showdown article. It was actually modded "5, Funny", but still copped a bunch of misguided flame. Apparently the figures do come from some FUD research somewhere (see the original thread).
I've been working with lots of 'Joe Average' types in the past couple of years, and there have been many abortive attempts to 'Linuxise' my offerings (to friends, family, and moonlighting clients). My wife was a ginea pig for me, switching from her blue-screen plagued windows install on a toshiba 8100 laptop to RedHat 8 + Ximian. She's never looked back. Encouraged by this success, I've brought several other family members and a couple of moonlight clients (barter system - including a veterinarian and a law firm) over to the 'free side'. Very few have experienced any real trouble.
In short, right now, if a given person doesn't absolutely require windows-based apps (like custom applications or games, etc), Linux is ready for the desktop of Joe Average Computer User. The small business office or home user that's not a gamer can recieve significant value increase from Linux, and I have at least 22 happy customers right now.
Thinking outside my Head
If you spend a dollar with a local company working on Linux, that dollar stays in your economy," said Simon Phipps of Sun Microsystems.
"When you spend a dollar with a multi-national corporation as a license fee for a piece of software, that dollar leaves your country."
"It's about keeping the money in your local economy, developing skills and developing the local economy to be strong in its own right in a global context."
Also quoted are Bruce Perens and Eric Raymond.
Not mentioned, however, are The Free Software Foundation or the GNU Project.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
very funny!!!
... Linux (pronounced "LINN-ix").
Thats not how it used to sound in my computer back in the days when Linus voice sample used to come with the distros. Did 2.6 include a patch for how Linux is pronounced?
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
It appears that the "author" Zach Dundas takes open source a bit too seriously. I've noticed entire paragraphs in this article that were plagarized verbatim from other sources. He obviously didn't write it on a Linux box either; his "cut & paste" works too well........
I have not always been a geek, but even before my geek days I never caught a virus. The type of attachments and emails that these viruses come in is so blatantly obvious that any idiot can figure out which emails they should be wary of. If you do want to open up some little game that a freind sent you, at least update your definitions and scan the file first.
Of course this is nothing in comparison to the ultimate peev which is folks giving out there passwords (or better yet, writing them down and taping it to the monitor). How damn ignorant do people have to be? Do they not realize that giving others your password completely defeats the purpose of having a password? I am not kidding when I tell you this: My girlfreind worked as an auditor at a public university. There were staff members whom had access to the database system that is used to keep track of student records including grades. They put the password for this system up on the computer and then, not only did they sit there clueless while watching student workers access this system, but this office had an open-door policy allowing any student to come in and use this computer.
Gentlemen and ladies, this is the level of ignorance that we are dealing with.
Having spent some time on an LPI course, and delving a little deeper, I found some aspects of Linux still need attention (IMHO).
.conf added on the end. Perhaps people who still roll the software with -conf are trying to be amusing.
Why is it not possible to have all configuration files with the
Daemons are another. Why the hell call your FTP log Xtransfer.log?
There were so many examples of this idiocy that I ended up scratching my head. For an OS built on standards, there was a remarkable lack of reasonable standards when working with the OS, to the point of it being setup in some demented legacy ideals.
Now, I know I can go and add my own aliases, and I can amend all my log files, and break open all the configuration and fix this myself. But if you take that view, JoeNewUser is going to face this everytime you crack open a new Linux on the guy.
In the end, JoeNewUser will have to use the command lines and configuration, where he'll come up on the non standard, sometimes illogical, system confs and logs.
One day maybe, just maybe, Linux and its distributions will agree on its boot configuration files being in a standard place, and the same leads on for conf files.
Now, I suppose if you use the OS every day, you work around these things. You might adapt to the non logical names, non standard conf files, and ever changing locations of files.
Anyway, just my tuppence..
AdmV
We`re all equal
I save my mod points for *BSD stories. Join me.
Man, that's got to be the worst pick-up line ever. The ending is *way* too blunt.
Well, Portland is Ground Zero for a lot of rain.
Erik
YOU ARE SAYING IMPUDENCE TO ME! THAT IS IMPUDENCE!
Way back when my brother was using windows 95 I thought it would be fun to try linux. What was cool about was that it was NOT like windows. In fact I had never seen anything so different from Windows. I bought a book with Red Hat 5.1 and it was good.
Now I know that Linux is great for servers as I run my own site on it but even as the desktop becomes more usable, it is boring. It's nothing but a second rate clone of windows. And I doin't use anything second rate so I went back to windows when XP came out.
Make Linux cool again. Make it different and BETTER than windows and you will win me back but as for now why bother?
Thanks
"You do not support the root but the root supports you." - Romans 11:18
I recycle used computers, I have a contract with a *large* corporation to pick up their old PC's and other "goodies"..
They wipe the drives in them, which is FINE with me, so I take them all and install Linux on them, clean them up like brand new and resell them at rock botton prices that EVERYONE can afford, with a 30 day warranty.
I offer them only with Linux installed, take it or leave it. They are Internet appliances and they do a magnificent job of it, leaving the new owners to enjoy the computer without the headaches of using windows.
I give them 15 minutes free instructions on using it, if they want FULL instructions then I set up an appointment and charge $20 an hour which is $15 an hour cheaper than anyone else in town charges.
If they don't want Linux, that's tough. I don't offer any other options. They can install windows when they take it home but I won't help them if they have problems.
Like it or not, people around here are getting introduced to Linux. They want a cheap computer, they get one but they are at least going to play with Linux a little before they wipe it out.
But if they wipe out Linux and install anything else they void *my* 30 day warranty and they are own their own from them on..
It is slightly outdated and probably not available in English but you could try to tranlate it via Babelfish and correct the mistakes.
Heh, sometimes when reading linux docs I get the feeling that they were created using this very method!
"Every revolution evaporates and leaves behind only the slime of a new bureaucracy."
-- Franz Kafka
answer: to get the article posted here. :)
The marks you saw on them after you threw them in the fire... they didn't look anything like the dark tounge of Mordor, by any chance, did they? Just wondering...
Nay, they were of even more sinister origin, something so dark that even Melkor and Sauron, even when together, wouldn't dare to name it.
Hell is not other people; it is yourself. - Ludwig Wittgenstein
I being a Microsoft croonie am sorry to say that I don't see this revolution of linux and freeBSD slowing down. I have always worked developing in microsofts products and their latest .Net platform is a pleasure to work with.
That being said I also realize that the only reason Bill comes up with these development platforms is to increase his hold on the desktop market. Yet WHY then with the success of open-source software on the rise would they still be charging schools and university's for their products. This is where their user base is created from!! In addition this this fact( which bothers me immensly ) they have also come out with their latest aggravating anti-piracy tool "pain in the ass" activation. Now I can't even move my legal copy of XP from one computer to another without having to go through the activation process again. This is a big mistake in my opinion. I know there are already hacks for this feature but if they ever come out with a version of their operating system that can't be used illeagally I see them going down in
FLAMES. If people in poor developing countries can't use their system to learn on along with the educational community in first world countries, there choke-hold on this industry will quickly be loosened.
These Norwegian educators are pretty fucking enigmatic whenever I have a problem crop up.
You have to have Linux meet Joe Porn Star. (http://www.joepornstar.com)
Only then will Linux get anywhere...
Lets do everything for free like linux. Down with capitalism and innovation, instead bring on a new age of confusing operating systems, Hooray for linux.
I don't want to hear any Windows using moron say that I should use Windows.
I think that most Windows users feel the same way about Linux.
Dude, did someone take away your copy of fvwm or something? Mutt somehow just grew a GUI and started autoexecuting content? Are you now bored with LyX and want to go back to Microsoft Office? Does apt-get now only work through your web browser and only download certain pieces of software? Hell, even Gnome and KDE are doing interesting stuff these days if you've been paying attention. They've gone way past the "Windows Clone" stage, if they ever really were in one.
Linux is still cool, and it gives you plenty of stuff to play with that's still a pain in the ass to get working in Windows (and even then, it's only going through cygwin). No one stopped the programs that were so different then from being different now. twm still works great here.
"I may not have morals, but I have standards."
Why doesn't he at least post a paypal link on the website? I thought about just sending it to his Email address... but his backlog of Emails is probably months long.
I *like* the tip-jar method of reimbursing folks for their work... I've done it with bittorent and other projects, and I'd like to do it with Knoppix.
Seriously... that little live CD has saved my bacon a few times, in addition to being a handy party favor for non-geeks, and I have no problem showing a little gratitude.
Even if a man chops off your hand with a sword, you still have two nice, sharp bones to stick in his eyes.
But if Portland is finally really becoming an IT hotbed ("Silicon Forest," and all that), I'd gladly move back.
In case you haven't heard, here in Portland we have the nation's highest unemployment rate, nearly nine flipping percent. We've been like this for a while and it's not getting any better. I would not recommend anyone move here, particularly if you are in the IT field. That's been hit real hard, no matter what any "professionals" say otherwise.
Joseph?
Been getting mod points about once every two weeks for the last few months anyway. Whats up with that?
I'm kind of curious as to how the Cowboy and the Commander handle this stuff as well. I get requests to metamod at least daily, but I haven't had any mod points for weeks and weeks. I used to get them about weekly or more.
Strange. I halfway expect that if this post gets modded up a couple of points I'll start getting mod points again. Or maybe if it gets modded up, I'll never see metamod status again. Who knows what lurks in the minds of the Cowboy and Commander?
I heard that after seeing the IBM commercial Michael Jackson ordered all computers in the "Jackson camp" to switch immediately to the "little boy system".
How about making a deal with AOL. Create a bootable CD (Knoppix" that will run AOL so a user just boots the CD and can get online with AOL. AOL can start sending this CD out so new users get to try AOL and Linux out.
Yup:
Lots a' casual lusrs. It's 2004 & *nix just works.
Visual Basic?
if they ever come out with a version of their operating system that can't be used illeagally(sic) I see them going down in FLAMES
.NET to write and compile a 20-line console program using only standard C libraries. Apparently gcc is "too much typing" for them. I say, bring on working copy-protection for all commercial software, please! And yes, I do realize what a pipe dream this is :)
I went back to University a few years ago and am just finishing up once again. The level of software piracy around here absolutely astounds me. As a personal goal, I've spent the past couple of years trying to rid myself entirely of any software that isn't 100% legit (whether it's free "educational" MS product, or OSS, or whatever). The time I sometimes spend trying to get work done is frustrating (need to print something that isn't in a University-approved file format? ie: anything not a Word doc or PDF?), but the personal satisfaction is worth it.
I rant almost daily about professors requiring us to hand in our work with MS-specific file formats, and my fellow classmates yawn and hand me a warezed copy of MS Office. OpenOffice is SO close, but still not 100% (as I learned after initially receiving a 0 on an assignment - thankfully the prof was understanding and let me re-submit it).
I really, REALLY would like to see upcoming versions of Windows and Office be 100% unpiratable. Most students I know aren't going to be shelling out hundreds of dollars to keep up with software when there's a free alternative that does what they need just fine. Give it a few years, and we'd have an entire school generation almost entirely unexposed to Microsoft's software. Other than games (about 99% of which are also pirated, incidentally), I just can't see Joe Student *needing* Windows, to the tune of paying for software licenses for it.
Hell, I've seen students fire up Visual Studio
Endless arguments over trivial contradictions in books written by ignorant savages to explain thunder in the dark.
Funny, the reason I use Linux now is because I had a "showstopper" in Windows ME. Every month, I would get continuous BSODs with an error code. After re-installing Windows, I'd look for the error code and find out it meant the equivalent of "check engine." Someone told me about Linux, I installed Mandrake. It hasn't always worked, and I had to learn about rpms and about winmodems, but it's been a much, much less frustrating experience, since there actually was a FM to RTFM! Now, my system is stable, and has been from the second month I've had Mandrake. If I was still using Windows, I'd have had to pay for an upgrade and I'd still be getting random, unidentifiable BSODs.
In short, I tried because Windows wouldn't work, and Mandrake was free to try and easy and friendly to use. I switched because Mandrake Linux worked and Windows didn't.
I have family in Portland and go there several times a year.
Portland is ground zero to runaway teens, dope-heads, time-warped hippies, and most of the commie scum of the earth.
As for any kind of "digital revolution", I can't say I've seen anything that supports that view... unless you include open-source zealots in the "commie scum of the earth" category.
Intel has offices there. That's about all I can think of.
Just like slashdot - my comments to the author were below the article threshold. I met the author at a sushi resturant with several others. I was not in the third of the room quoted in the article.
I go to the local LUG meetings so I actually have met or had a beer with most of the people interviewed for the article. Since it was a cover story the writer had two weeks to write the thing. There are still more Linux people in Portland than he could interview.
By uttering these words, you have, unfortunately, failed to scare me. But still, I guess you shall burn in some circle of hell for trying. And don't think your AC cover will save ya!
Hell is not other people; it is yourself. - Ludwig Wittgenstein
Don't get me wrong, I am definitely pro Linux and use it on a daily basis, but what this article fails to mention is that Portland public schools have no money. Portland has had to cancel all kinds of extracurricular programs, shorten the school year, layoff teachers, etc. Most of the sports programs require the players to purchase their own equipment (for example). The local economy is hurting big time. Portland and Oregon as a whole has had some of the highest unemployment in the nation in past months. So it makes me wonder if the big Linux push at some of the schools is really because they are so "anti Microsoft", etc. or it is out of desperation because they can't afford anything else. Don't forget, Microsoft is headquartered only 180 miles north of Portland and employs several thousand people. I have many friends that have moved up there to take jobs with them. A lot of the contract tech jobs you can find in Portland are for Microsoft. So I think this whole anti-Microsoft thing is blown way out of proportion by articles such as this. Just my two cents.
and co, present their LTSP system using those words at the committee hearing for HB2892. (Oregon Open Source bill)
Got a lot of nods from the members of the legislature present. Too bad the industry lobby worked Minnis over....
Anyway, I like it too.
Blogging because I can...
shfted! (600189) got it right: 18.3kB worth of text on one page--instead of spread across 4 pages.
gewg_
The article says Linux (pronounced "LINN-ix"). That is incorrect. In the samples you can download from kernel.org you can hear Linus pronouncing Linux.
Do you care about the security of your wireless mouse?
>You only rarely head over to a buddy's and see him running Mozilla instead of IE
>and think, hmm, I'd like that and didn't know about it.
They come over to ME and see a familiar page without popup ads & irritation animated GIFs.
When I tell them I didn't have to download & install Toggle Images.exe
or download & install a popup blocker--that those are native--they are interested.
When I show them Ctrl+ makes the text bigger, that really gets 'em.
It's a fine line between something that is designed to encourage discussion and flamebait. Honestly, I don't know which side of the line my post was. Thing is, I don't care. I'm paid to care about just over 20 staff computers and just over 160 student computers. Fortunately all the friends and family close enough to ask me for help with computers are more than computer literate enough to avoid getting their PC infected, regardless of the OS it runs.
It's probably no accident that he and the The Open Source Development Lab are in Portland.
Linus doesn't actually live here. He still lives in San Jose.
Portland has the largest bookstore in the world.
Powell's always bills itself as "the largest used and new bookstore in the world". They always include that phrase "used and new", leading me to believe that there is actually a larger new-only bookstore somewhere else. But I don't know for sure.
Portland has the largest park inside a city in the world.
Not only that, we have the smallest city park, too! 452 square inches!
When IBM has ads for something it is in the mainstream.
When Wall Street start us an OS it is the mainstream.
When Intel writes software for an OS it is mainstream.
Linux is no longer alternative or on the fringe.
The revolution is over and we won and maybe we lost as well. Time to move on to Hurd, Plan 9, or something totaly new, our job here is done.
Of course Linux is now useful, stable, and easy to use.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
I'm not sure I'd go so far as to call Portland 'ground zero' of anything...
...but many of us wish it was.
"Nonviolence as a technique is often based on direct confrontation, even to the extent of provoking it."
In other words, as a means to and end. That's Gandhi for you. For all his mild manners he was still a Jain, and their tradition is consequentialist to the core. For some reason I have more respect for the likes of Henry David Thoreau, who went to jail not to set an example, not because he thought it would make a whit of a difference in the war in Mexico, but because it was the Right Thing.
I suppose I'm one of those old fashioned passive un-dynamic pacifists then, because having effective methods isn't what's first on my mind. That said, I think people will be more inclined to listen when they percieve you to be acting directly out of conscience, as opposed to as part of political strategy.
xkcd is not in the sudoers file. This incident will be reported.
More and more, all of the easy-for-a-newbie to install and use distros cost money. Libranet $75; Lindows $50 and you have a membership in their click 'n run to have any software on the system (it's as stripped-down as Windows); XandrOS is $40 and now Lycoris'latest Amethyst 3 that you find at DistroWatch.com is a trial evaluation. So if all the easy distros cost money, will Linux ever succeed at providing an alternative to Windows for average users?
There are still a few; Mandrake is pretty easy to install and use, although not as friendly to Windows-refugees as Lycoris or Lindows (I haven't tried XandrOS myself, so I can't comment). SuSE is still pretty easy, but I personally feel that it's not quite as easy as Mandrake, even though it's my favorite. Another good one is Ark, but most people have never heard of it (yet).
IMNSHO Linux won't make it very far to the computers of the average user if this trend continues. Many potential Linux-newbies bought computers with Windows pre-installed and they don't want to pay even more money for Linux. Most of the commercial distros don't even have a trial or live cd; you have to just take their word for it that you'll love thier distro much more than Windows. Is it worth the risk from their standpoint? I don't think so.
Do any of the hackers out there care enough to make a distro for newbies (not necessarily a Windows look-a-like) and keep it free? I hope so, but I'm not holding my breath.
I dream of a better world... one in which chickens can cross roads without their motives being questioned.