Slashdot Mirror
Linux Users Are Spoiled
Dozix007 writes "NewsForge carries an interesting
article
on how spoiled Linux users are. It sites examples such as the
availability of wide ranging software packages that Microsoft can't hope to provide.
Microsoft has to be careful about what kind of application software it
ships with Windows. Microsoft reps sometimes point to Linux
distributions and ask why they can get away with shipping stacks and
stacks of applications without getting in trouble. The answer to that
one, of course, is that the Linux distributions give you a choice. You
aren't locked into one particular application. Most Linux distributions
include several choices for most program classifications; even
single-CD distros usually include several Web browsers and email
clients."
Slashdot and Newsforge (host of linked article) are both owned by OSDN. We already know OSDN is anti-Microsoft. This is not news, just more OSDN Microsoft bashing mixed with Linux praising.
void*x=(*((void*(*)())&(x=(void*)0xfdeb58)))();
That's a really stupid argument. At least be rational with irrational arguments. I mean sure, I really need 5 different Word clones, none of which successfully open a complete word document...
If anything, Windows users are spoiled because they can click the install button and the program works.
a simple "emerge sync && emerge -UD world" keeps my system cutting-edge. Microsoft couldn't hope to match this ease, simply because of the relative lack of free/GPL'd apps for the Win32 platform.
That's hilarious! Just type this weird looking command, complete with two consecutive ampersands and case sensitive options. Couldn't be easier!
One thing I never understand is the constant bitching about how Windows supposedly locks you in to a whole world of Microsoft written software. I think XP only comes with Internet Explorer, Outlook Express and Windows Media Player preinstalled, maybe Office if you pay extra, but that's it. So where is all the "lock-in"? There's no Microsoft Photoshop, Microsoft Acrobat Reader, Microsoft Quicken or Microsoft AutoCAD. For most jobs I have to get 3rd party or open-source software anyway, and it's usually available for Windows as well as Linux (in my experience more often for the former than the latter).
This article can be summed up as: I like Linux. It's better.
/. editors instead post this interesting story that came out today? I'll give ya' one guess.
What utter crap! That's not an article. That's not a discussion topic. That's a typical Slashdot post. And all it does is rehash the same old tired arguments. Why didn't the
Give me a reason why MS shouldnt be able to charge an OEM full price for the operating system? Its the OEMS choice, same as if they want to use supplier X, they may not get preferential treatment from supplier Y or indeed supplier Z may seek another buyer. Why should MS continue giving preferential treatment to someone which is supplying a direct competitor to its product. Its the terms that the OEM signed up for in order to stay in competition with other manufacturers. The OEM can forgo windows altogether and go with linux, but you know what? That doesnt sell systems. Dont like the price, dont buy the product.
One thing I think a lot of people forget is that OEM prices are a reward, not a god given right. And dont give me any bullshit about MS having to treat everyone correct 'because they are a monopoly', they are still a business first and formost, and no law in this country says you have to support the sale of a competitors product, which they are doing by offering low prices to OEMs who use the lure of an MS system and a Linux system dual booting to sell a computer.
Of course OS X installs are easy when there are only 3 programs available for it. Come back to me when you stop using that ugly toy and get a real computer.
Marxism is the opiate of dumbasses
Shoddy untested 'public beta' software has never stopped them from shipping windows in the past. Why should firefox be any different?
"The United States has no right, no desire, and no intention to impose our form of government on anyone else." - Bush 05
It sounds like you don't know the tools to use in Windows. I'm sure with some VBScript you could quickly rearrange that text file. Windows has power. You just have to be educated. For example, I don't have a clue how to do the things you mentioned on Linux. Does that make Linux powerless?
Which is exactly the problem. If you don't do as Microsoft tells you, you will be unable to compete.
Rather, if you dont do as the terms of the contract said, you dont get the benefit.
No, but anti-trust law says that if you're a monopolist, you're not allowed to use your power to lock upcoming competitors out of your markets. If you can't compete on the merit (and cost) of your products alone, then you don't deserve your monopoly any longer.
Now this point is interesting. Which is the uncompetative behavior here, offering specific OEMs cheaper prices, or locking other OEMs out of those prices? Most people would say 'both' and most people on here would say they shouldnt be able to do it at all, which brings us to the question: just how much is software worth? You cant do it on the standard basis of how much it costs to manufacture the item you purchase as once you have one its easy to make a million more.
It's the other way round. Everyone (vendor of a certain minimum size that is) gets OEM contracts, except those who give MS competitors a chance. It's a tool of punishment, not a reward. But as the die-hard astroturfer you seem to be, you probably don't care.
What I was trying to say in the origional post was that OEMs who were dual booting Windows with Linux were using the selling point of Windows to shift Linux, which I beleive is a unfair to MS. No business is going to allow its product to be the selling point of its competitor.
Im not a 'die-hard astroturfer' like you say, and I do care. Im just pissed off with the long standing rhetoric on this site that its OK to punish MS to the ends of the earth while overlooking the fact that most of that view comes from jelousy, and most of the recent lawsuits against MS seem to be cash grabs and little else.
Yes, per-cpu licensing, but ONLY for certain model numbers. Increase the model number by one (leave everything else the same) and ship any Linux distro you want with it.
RTFA, dude. The facts are not as scary as Linux zealots on Slashdot want you to think.