Is microsoft on that contact list? While their recent OSes isn't great, they do make pretty Microsoft Office (in terms of usability and features) although I don't really agree with OOXML. No, I have not written to Microsoft. Though I will tell you the truth, I would pay for MSO 2007 if it ran natively in Ubuntu and saved in ODF. I really like the ribbon interface, and I am not a FOSS purist. I do, however, care that my documents themselves are not in a proprietary format even if the program that I am using at the moment is proprietary.
Did you miss something? The question I asked was, what is the software developers incentive to port an app to Linux that everyone is running in Wine? I will repeat myself. Wine and the like make it capable for everyone to switch to Linux AND keep the crappy "mission critical" apps. Wouldn't it be a better idea to create a native app with the desired functionality then port over the crappy app that is part of a large percentage of Windows bad name? So tell them that! Write to the devs and let them know that there is demand for their product on Linux. If you stay quiet, they will never know that you want Linux support.
And in the home users case it is always those damned cheapy Lexmark/HP/etc "Winprinters" or even worse the ever popular all-in one Winprinter/scanner/fax that is pointless to even try to convert. HP? HP has there hplip and hpijs and they work fine. Which HP printer have you had trouble with?
...but those damned Winprinters get you every time. So write to the printer manufacturers! Here is Lexmark: http://support.lexmark.com/
If you let me know what problems you've encountered when compiling for Wine 1.0, and the solutions that you've devised, I'd like to put them on some wiki (does wine have such a wiki?) so that other devs could benefit as well. I wouldn't mind hosting it either, though it is off-topic for my personal homesite.
Thanks. While I know about the games / printers problems, I did not realize that VB is so critical. I will start looking for solutions. As for ActiveX, well, I do not think that there will ever be a real solution. At least on the public internet ActiveX usage is on the decline.
This is essentially saying privacy is privacy. "The set of social boundaries... that we are expected not to cross" really varies from person to person. In fact, if you use this definition, if people accept warrentless wiretapping as the norm, then social expectation will dictate that there really aren't any privacy violations going on, which is a neat little way to define away privacy erosions. What social boundaries are we talking about here, and who is the "we" that are expected not to cross them? I have argued with people in the past who don't care when I show them the keylogger on their Windows computers. They bank online, and I show them that there is a keylogger installed, and they are so stubborn in the mindset that "I don't know what it is, so it won't hurt me and please I don't want to learn". This is actually normal, as I've found this behaviour in many people. It's maddening. These are people that must be saved from themselves.
Sometimes I think that simple GUI computer interfaces like KDE or Windows did to the PC what the automatic transmission did to the automobile. The bar of entry was lowered so low that now the complete idiots of the world can operate the technology and get themselves killed.
Because otherwise it gives Windows an even better lock-in? I have switched a couple of SMBs to Linux and I have long since given up switching home users and most businesses except for the older "giveaway" computers that I get from SOHOs and SMBs updating their hardware which I give to single moms and charities. Why? Because in the SOHO and SMB cases there is always 1 mission critical app that HAS to run for the business to function and that is always a Windows only app. Which is one of the reasons I keep Xandros 4 Business with the latest Crossover installed on my laptop. That way I can try any mission critical apps in Crossover before I even THINK about suggesting Linux.
And in the home users case it is always those damned cheapy Lexmark/HP/etc "Winprinters" or even worse the ever popular all-in one Winprinter/scanner/fax that is pointless to even try to convert. If there was a Ndiswrapper equivalent for printers there would be a huge amount of home users that I could easily convert to Linux. Most of these simply check email,surf,print their pictures,etc and would be perfect candidates for Linux,but those damned Winprinters get you every time.
IMHO the easier we make it for users to have their "must have" apps and hardware the better it will be for us all. The Linux market will grow larger, we will get more and more machines like the EEE with Linux preinstalled,and most importantly,the hardware and software manufacturers might actually start paying attention and make native solutions so in the future we won't HAVE to have things like Wine and Ndiswrapper. But that is my 02c from down here in consumer land,YMMV
This is _exactly_ the reason that I insist that we write to the software developers and request Linux support. It's that one last app that ruins the party. I would actually appreciate if you posted here which particular apps have help you back in the past, or which apps you know are problematic to find Linux replacements for. If you don't want to post here, you can leave me a message at the http://dotancohen.com/ website. Thanks.
You know, I read your post, and immediately thought you were trying to be funny. Instead, I find you've been modded +5 insightful! Whilst what you say would be insightful in an ideal world, I have to reply, "You MUST be joking!".
There are probably MILLIONS of programs written for Windows. Maybe a slight exageration, but maybe not. WINE is extremely useful to me for old, but still useful programs, that may have been written in VB6 or whatever. I personnaly have 4 such apps that will only run under Windows (or emulation), or WINE.
I use WINE whenever I can, it's easier and cleaner for me than emulation.
Just my 2c
I certainly was not joking. But I am not referring to the legacy software that is already out there, rather, I want to see developers write _new_ applications for Linux. We don't need Photoshop 7 on Linux, we need Photoshop CS4 (whenever that will be) on Linux.
While I agree with most of your comment, I would like to point out the obvious:
Few companies are willing to invest this kind of work (and money) for what seems to be a rather small customer base. The key word here is "seems". Linux users need to make themselves more visible, so that the market will not seem so small.
Using wine is a stop-gap measure for running Windows apps on Linux. All users of wine (and I am one) should write to their applications' developers and let them know that they would like native Linux support. I have a list of tens of software house and their contact info, for writing to software developers. Please, if you use wine, at least write to the application developers and let them know that there is demand for their products on Linux. Whether the apps work in wine or not.
My last two phones have been Palm based, and getting them to sync with the "big computer" is truly mindless. Haven't played with the Nokia, but it's demonstrably not true that you must be running Windows on the device to easily sync with the "big computer".
I did not say that you _must_ run Windows to sync between the Nokia and the desktop, I said that it was easier. Easier, in the sense that it is within the realm of the common user, you know, the one who won't google and join mailing lists and compile from SVN.
> In the UMPC's own little world, Linux is fine. But Linux won't talk to the big computer at home for those who run Windows there.
You've got to be kidding. The little Linux box shows up in network neighborhood in the proper workgroup, has it's own netbios name, shares printers, plays well with DHCP, what more do you want?
What else do I want? I want my Korganizer calendar on my 6288. I want my Kaddressbook entries on my 6288. Having a netbios name, sharing printers, and playing well with DHCP have nothing to do with that.
I apologize for this paranoid mindset. I HATE to see rocket science subjugated to politics (as if it never happened before). I really do. But maybe 7.407284965 years under "the current administration" is long enough to get the feeling that if you TRY to do this, you will raise ALL KINDS of attention from a lot of 3-letter organizations. That may be just the point. If launching LEO objects become commonplace, then the launch of one particular LEO object might just go unnoticed. Maybe the N-Prize folks need to launch something unnoticed, and are trying to make sure that there is enough noise to go undetected.
Or, maybe it is a government-involved program to find all those who are capable of launching objects to LEO, to add them to a watch-list so that if the terictz come sweet-talking them, the government will have a one-up. Or, wait, maybe it's the terictz who are looking for those with the know-how to get to LEO. Or, wait, maybe it's just CowboyNeal and... and..
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I had never even heard of the ThinkJet. Sounds like an IBM laptop - HP printer crossbreed. Don't feed it after midnight.
Why would that be maddening to you? I.e. what's it to you? The money that I would otherwise have inherited.
Thanks. I wonder what Linux apps were compiled with this. I suppose Picasa maybe.
Please don't use image-based PDF. It is an accessibility nightmare. Please find some other solution rather than dump the problem on us moles.
While their recent OSes isn't great, they do make pretty Microsoft Office (in terms of usability and features) although I don't really agree with OOXML. No, I have not written to Microsoft. Though I will tell you the truth, I would pay for MSO 2007 if it ran natively in Ubuntu and saved in ODF. I really like the ribbon interface, and I am not a FOSS purist. I do, however, care that my documents themselves are not in a proprietary format even if the program that I am using at the moment is proprietary.
...but those damned Winprinters get you every time. So write to the printer manufacturers! Here is Lexmark:http://support.lexmark.com/
Where is there documentation on this?
In other words, I find your ideas intriguing and...
If you let me know what problems you've encountered when compiling for Wine 1.0, and the solutions that you've devised, I'd like to put them on some wiki (does wine have such a wiki?) so that other devs could benefit as well. I wouldn't mind hosting it either, though it is off-topic for my personal homesite.
Thanks. While I know about the games / printers problems, I did not realize that VB is so critical. I will start looking for solutions. As for ActiveX, well, I do not think that there will ever be a real solution. At least on the public internet ActiveX usage is on the decline.
No, then they blame the banks, or the virus writers, or MS, or the guy who sold them the computer. They themselves are never to blame.
Sometimes I think that simple GUI computer interfaces like KDE or Windows did to the PC what the automatic transmission did to the automobile. The bar of entry was lowered so low that now the complete idiots of the world can operate the technology and get themselves killed.
And in the home users case it is always those damned cheapy Lexmark/HP/etc "Winprinters" or even worse the ever popular all-in one Winprinter/scanner/fax that is pointless to even try to convert. If there was a Ndiswrapper equivalent for printers there would be a huge amount of home users that I could easily convert to Linux. Most of these simply check email,surf,print their pictures,etc and would be perfect candidates for Linux,but those damned Winprinters get you every time.
This is _exactly_ the reason that I insist that we write to the software developers and request Linux support. It's that one last app that ruins the party. I would actually appreciate if you posted here which particular apps have help you back in the past, or which apps you know are problematic to find Linux replacements for. If you don't want to post here, you can leave me a message at the http://dotancohen.com/ website. Thanks.IMHO the easier we make it for users to have their "must have" apps and hardware the better it will be for us all. The Linux market will grow larger, we will get more and more machines like the EEE with Linux preinstalled,and most importantly,the hardware and software manufacturers might actually start paying attention and make native solutions so in the future we won't HAVE to have things like Wine and Ndiswrapper. But that is my 02c from down here in consumer land,YMMV
There are probably MILLIONS of programs written for Windows. Maybe a slight exageration, but maybe not. WINE is extremely useful to me for old, but still useful programs, that may have been written in VB6 or whatever. I personnaly have 4 such apps that will only run under Windows (or emulation), or WINE.
I use WINE whenever I can, it's easier and cleaner for me than emulation.
Just my 2c
I certainly was not joking. But I am not referring to the legacy software that is already out there, rather, I want to see developers write _new_ applications for Linux. We don't need Photoshop 7 on Linux, we need Photoshop CS4 (whenever that will be) on Linux.I think that the point that you make is very important. I've filed a bug at Ubuntu on the subject of collaborating the different package managers:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/apt/+bug/240770
Please add your thoughts as a developer to the bug. Thanks.
Please mod parent insightful so that the maintainers of portage||deb||rpm||yourPMhere will understand the harm they are causing the community.
Using wine is a stop-gap measure for running Windows apps on Linux. All users of wine (and I am one) should write to their applications' developers and let them know that they would like native Linux support. I have a list of tens of software house and their contact info, for writing to software developers. Please, if you use wine, at least write to the application developers and let them know that there is demand for their products on Linux. Whether the apps work in wine or not.
I did not say that you _must_ run Windows to sync between the Nokia and the desktop, I said that it was easier. Easier, in the sense that it is within the realm of the common user, you know, the one who won't google and join mailing lists and compile from SVN.My last two phones have been Palm based, and getting them to sync with the "big computer" is truly mindless. Haven't played with the Nokia, but it's demonstrably not true that you must be running Windows on the device to easily sync with the "big computer".
> In the UMPC's own little world, Linux is fine. But Linux won't talk to the big computer at home for those who run Windows there.
What else do I want? I want my Korganizer calendar on my 6288. I want my Kaddressbook entries on my 6288. Having a netbios name, sharing printers, and playing well with DHCP have nothing to do with that.You've got to be kidding. The little Linux box shows up in network neighborhood in the proper workgroup, has it's own netbios name, shares printers, plays well with DHCP, what more do you want?
Or, maybe it is a government-involved program to find all those who are capable of launching objects to LEO, to add them to a watch-list so that if the terictz come sweet-talking them, the government will have a one-up. Or, wait, maybe it's the terictz who are looking for those with the know-how to get to LEO. Or, wait, maybe it's just CowboyNeal and... and..
I'm sorry, as soon as I got to the LSD part the rest of the post just faded away in a whirl of colour...