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Windows User Experiments With Linux for 10 Days
An anonymous reader writes "Clarence Ladson over at Flexbeta decided to kick Windows to the curb for 10 days in an experiment to find out just how hard it would be to 'quit cold turkey' and move entirely to Linux. It's amazing how many day-to-day operations require the inadvertent use of Windows in our daily lives."
I didn't get past the first page yet (slashdotted), but it would appear that this is...stupid. One, from his references of going to school, this is still a student. Two, his mentions of "using windows whether we know it or not" basically come down to one, the ATM which may or may not have embedded Windows. All of his other examples aren't things that most normal people have, let alone people who chose linux over windows (a Windows CE palm? a Windows Media Center connected TV?). I call possible bull.
Tluin natha Linux xxizzuss uriu olt bwael mon'tun.
dude, win32codecs. it can handle many types of files other than the ones you're interested in.
This technically isn't working at the moment, because the site is well and truly hosed... but PLEASE only try this link instead of hitting the main one, and eventually it will recover:
.nyud.net:8090 to the domain name.
coralized link
Future submitters: PLEASE PLEASE use coralized links! It's easy -- just add
http://www.mysettopbox.tv/knoppmyth.html
I had no luck with it, and went to ubuntu, but that should do it.
http://216.239.59.104/search?q=cache:www.flexbeta. net/main/printarticle.php%3Fid%3D106&hl=en&lr=&str ip=1
An actual link that works. Enjoy!
How am I supposed to fit a pithy, relevant quote into 120 characters?
If your wife doesn't use iTMS, there are Linux sync solutions, e.g. gtkPod. Have you tried them?
Keynote is not as... feature-filled? As Powerpoint?
Are you nuts, or something?
I may be a Linux user, but I've had to put together my share of presentations. I've used Powerpoint, I've used OpenOffice. But then one time, while I was borrowing a friend's Powerbook G4 for a few weeks, I put one together in Keynote. It is, at the very least, the best presentation software ever written, and what's more, it's a pleasure to use. Aligning elements is easy with smartly-coded guides, the output for the presentations are wonderful with elegant themes and fonts, and the transitions are elegant with accelerated 3D transitions and such. But more than anything else, the damn program just "got out of my way." I didn't spend hours tweaking this or that text element a few pixels to the left or right. The damn presentation just came out beautifully even though I had never used the application before.
Powerpoint more featureful? Give me a break.
MS Office still breaks a lot of MS Office documents.
Choose your poison
Information: "I want to be anthropomorphized"
wmv has several differences. They have scripting abilities built-in, and can indeed make popups, download drm licenses, and in some cases install spyware. It's been documented. Playing a WMV in Windows Media player is about as safe as surfing pr0n sites with IE, if you don't have activeX and scripting disabled.
However, I don't believe other players run the scripts in wmv files. But I could be wrong.
I am in the same boat. Windows on regular desktops, Linux on servers and a couple testing desktops. Just can't run the software that business requires on Linux yet. And so far, most Linux desktops are burdened with TOO MANY choices, making it unnecessarily complicated for the average user.
I personally WANT to run Linux on the desktop, not because of cost (we pitch computers every 3 years, never actually "buy" either) or for political reasons (although I am not fond of MS's tactics). Its about the freedom to use the software, and how much easier some tasks are in Linux vs. Windows. I can hack around with Perl and automate backups, updates, and ssh into each station, which is much harder in windows. Yes, there are ways in Windows, but I already know the *nix ways, which are more universal.
To me, I can get more done with Linux on the desktop, I just can't run the software I need in a production environment. So the most productive way for us is Windows desktops/Linux servers.
Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!
Um, no offense, but gtkPod is like trying to interface with a parallel port with a few bits of wire, some chewing gum, and a 9v battery. You have to be MacGuyver to get it right.
That being said, I have 3 iPods, a third gen, a fourth gen, and a fourth.five gen color, all 20GB. Only the third gen syncs with gtkPod without much error, and it's running an extinct version of the iPod firmware.
I tried interfacing with the newest one, and it completely destroyed the filesystem on the iPod. Don't ask me how, but my attempts to plug it into a Mac and a PC both failed, so I had to flip it over to iPod-harddrive mode, and format the bastard. Luckily I didn't lose anything, but it could have been catastrophic.
iTunes is really the best way to use an iPod. If you've got a problem with that, don't buy one. If you don't have a problem with that, like myself, and many I know, buy one, and be happy. And now that iTunes works with Linux, there's no reason not to use it.
"Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is." G.W.Bush
I think the parent post makes an excellent point.
I've been using computers since 1981 (ZX-Spectrum), and I've seen stuff come and go. I have used PCs since DOS, Macs since 1985, Amigas, Atari-STs, CP/M machines and many, many others.
I can run pretty much any computer and OS on the market and do what's required to keep everything up-to-date and working smoothly. It's not hard, but I just can't be bothered.
I want a computer that has the apps I need, works well and doesn't require me to spend my days keeping it running.
For me, a Mac is exactly that. I don't want to have total control over my computer. I'm happy to let the OS do things for me, and I'm happy to have Apple arrange things to suit how I work.
Is it perfect? No.
Is it better than spending my time managing the computer? Absolutely.
Read Entire Story here
This link has entire story cache'd, and looks more like original site. Enjoy.
I8-D
Oh, yeah? Tell me, Windows loyalists, did you ever get Outlook Express to understand the concept of multiple email accounts and different stationary/spam filters for each? Figure out how to stop Windows from dumping icons all over the screen? Get rid of the MS Network and Network Neighborhood because you never use it? Get Windows to recognise your new graphics card without a struggle? Stop Real Player from firing up at startup and immediately demanding your whole machine's resources? Completely remove software you uninstall, without having to go in and manually delete folders? Confess to you where it hides ALL the cookies and let you clean them ALL out? Not show the taskbar?
Yes, I'm sure everybody's done some of what's on this list... but you weren't born knowing how? Right? You had to...guess what?...READ some DOCUMENTATION to learn how to make it do what you want! After all, if Windows is just SO-O-O-O silly easy, why were manuals written about it "for Dummies" flying off the bookstore shelves from 1985 to 1995 or so? Why would people need things simplified to the "Dummies" level if it were as simple as could be, already?
Linux comes with it's own "for Dummies" docs, free. Man pages, info pages, html docbooks, et cettera ad infinitum. Just have a gander through /usr/share/doc and you learn everything in Linux just like the "for Dummies" books in Windows!
In the future, try adding the new kernel as an additional boot option, rather than replacing the old one. Trivially simple to do with LILO and I would presume the same with Grub, though I've never used Grub myself. you should have System.map-$VERSION, config-$VERSION and kernel-$VERSION in your /boot directory, open up your LILO config file (usually in /etc/lilo.conf), copy and paste the block of text that you're using for your current kernel, and replace the version numbers, label it something that you'll recognize. Save the file and run lilo as root, it'll update the MBR and you'll see a new option the next time you boot. If the new kernel doesn't boot, you can just pick the old kernel and try again.
Game! - Where the stick is mightier than the sword!
And don't dare mod this as funny! It's true!
You don't think enough... therefore you better not be!
Windows is a monopoly? Funny then, this Linux thing I'm using now must just be an illusion.
Having an economic monopoly does not mean having 100% of the market, it does mean having such a large majority share of the market that you can basicly dictate your conditions to the market.
Regardless of it being 75,80 or 90% marketshare, MS has an economic monopoly in several software related markets, regardless of the existance of Linux or other systems.
I suggest you go learn a bit about what an economic monopoly is, and while at it, take a peek at what the various laws have to say and maybe remind yourself of the fact that MS has been convicted of using its monopoly in illegal ways. MS being a monopoly with illegal business practises is not just the opinion of quite a few slashdot readers, it is something which is defined by law and confirmed by courts.
Oh and I suggest rereading a few of the slashdot stories about this thing of Apple tryng to stop people from running OS X on generic x86 hardware, this time actually try to read things, you may notice a lot of people complaining about it.