Linux is about choice, isn't it? Didn't Linus once say something to the effect of, "if Linux is the only operating system, then we've lost." To take away the choice of distributions is to take the heart and soul out of Linux. Customization is the key. My system doesn't look like yours and I have the code to change it any way I want.
So how do we make a *distribution* any moron can use? I have a few ideas:
Hide the CLI. tcsh is just a program, so bury it in the back where users aren't likely to look. That way the gurus can find it if something needs fixing, but the average user won't get confused.
An RPM-esque binary distribution format with GUI hooks. That way people using a GUI-only distribution can see feedback, while CLI programs can still extract/install the program just as easily.
A password-optional system. Users without passwords should only be able to login from the console, but for people without their own home LAN (most people?) that shouldn't be a problem. They should just be able to click on their name (IRIX-esque) and be logged-in (or asked for a password first, for those who have one)
A single, consistant desktop environment. I don't think all apps need look/feel identical - people are used to differences in different programs - but the administration utilities and core programs (email, web browser) should meld nicely with the desktop environment.
Remember, nowhere in UNIX does it say you have to have a CLI. Everything is configurable and a distribution can be made to satisfy the "user on the street" without hobbling the entire OS for the rest of us.
Or we could just come up with a second OS for end-users only:)
After awhile, it all starts to look exactly the same. The subjects change, but the arguments are all identical. Seemingly sane, rational people get attached to something, like an operating system (but things like video games, text editors or anything else you can imagine works just as well). Others, who use something different, sometimes feel threatened. So, they feel the need to point out all the deficiencies (real or imagined) of the other item in order to feel more secure about the item they're attached to. Retaliation occurs and a flame war erupts.
This "us versus them" mentality is strengthened by wave after wave of attack and retaliation. So when those from outside the "battlefield" try to bring actual points of rational discussion into the fray, the "dogs of war" rush to attack thinking the newcomer is just another member of the "other side."
The simple solution is simply not to get so attached. Does someone say "Linux sux!"? Ignore it. Does someone say the "UI sux!"? Ask how it could be improved. If their entire argument boils down to "It sux becuz it's not Windows!", no one will take it seriously. But if even the stupidest complaint is seen as a suggestion dropped into the collective suggestion box, maybe people we'll see the open source community is working to help everybody, and not working against them.
Store-bought cases and keyboards are already littered with stickers advertising websites, online services, and all sorts of assorted crap. With the margins on PCs being what they are, it's inevitable that someone is going to try and squeeze every last ounce of advertising space out of every new computer in order to make a buck.
But I expect we'll find hacks to replace such images within a week of their appearance. Windows users will be paying $10 for shareware programs to flash the BIOS with their favorite picture, Word macro viruses will try to install offensive imagery in peoples' BIOSes, Linux users will see Tux at startup, BSD folks will be seeing the daemon, etc. etc.
Don't make the mistaken assumption that the average guy on the street uses Windows because it's "easier" to use that other OSes. A lot of people assume that when Gnome/KDE/whatever makes PCs easy enough for anybody, the average guy on the street will switch to Linux.
That's a mistake. People use Windows because of the amount of programs written for it, not because it has a pretty interface.
When app Foo appears for Linux and people need to use it, you can be sure that they'll learn enough Linux to get by very quickly - the same way they learned how to use enough Windows to get by very quickly.
Because despite Microsoft's propaganda to the contrary, Windows is not trivial to learn for the average guy on the street. For them, learning to double-click on the Netscape icon versus typing "netscape" at a % prompt takes the same amount of effort to learn.
IBM sees that Linux and openware pose a viable threat to Microsoft's desktop dominance and have put their considerable weight of resources toward helping it happen. And the openware movement is too decentralized to do a quick 180 and turn against them without cause, which gives IBM an added sense of security in the post-OS/2-fiasco days.
That's good for openware in general, for the time being.
But the future is still uncertain. All forces have turned against Microsoft and its fall from dominance seems only a matter of time. Only time will tell what will emerge from the resulting chaos.
It's even one of those things they like to brag about on their website. Dunno about the 4.0 support, but I'd imagine that's pending too. Opera likes to pride themselves on standards support, which is nice to see in an ever-more-proprietary world.
I just wonder which will get finished first, Opera or Mozilla? Both seem to creep along at a snail's pace. Graphical browsers are in short supply as it is, so the addition of Opera on Linux will be nice.
I'm sure we don't all use the same mail reader, or news reader, or text editor, or desktop clock, so why should we have to use the same web browser? Not that I have anything against Lynx, but more competition in this area is long overdue.
1024x768 running 24-bit color makes for acceptable X usage. The only problem is, only a few programs actually support 24-bit color. Xanim doesn't. WordPerfect doesn't. Quake doesn't. My display won't handle 32-bits, and 16 leaves me with a smaller colormap than I'd like.
Still, the sharp LCD display makes for fine text-editing over long periods.
I use (registered) Winamp on my gam...er...Windows box, but mpg123 where I do my real work. So from a personal standpoint, this has little interest for me.
But as a greater whole, this move puts AOL in conflict with the RIAA while Microsoft seems content to play both sides of the fence (signing on to support the encrypted vapor-format while retaining mp3 support in other software).
And it seems part of a larger trend. Computer companies have little fear of the RIAA and mp3 continues to grow as an audio standard (has anybody dropped support for mp3 in a product?).
With so many captive subscribers and newly-acquired Winamp, AOL seems in a perfect position to offer pay-to-download mp3s and add audio to its list of provided content.
Like it or not, AOL is trying to get a lock on fancy content to attract new users. But the real opponent in this move is the RIAA more than the average computer user.
That's the impression I got out of the article. Downplaying the grief of the outcasts because it could be much worse. Sortof like, "it's okay that you're picked on because you're just white males." At one point the article states the irony that "the geeks are both oppressors and oppressed."
Geeks didn't ask to come from white middle-class families. And geeks tend toward strong anti-establishment views (due, I'm sure, to the fact that they don't fit in the establishment) which makes it ironic that the seemingly liberal Village Voice should target them because of race/status.
I don't know how to solve society's problems, but I do know that more classification/division isn't the answer.
That's the key to the whole idea, really. I hope these new sites can cooperate with places like freshmeat to publicize and fund new and promising developments. Then maybe the pointy-hairs will realize, "hey, paying programmers to develop openware is a great idea." I think it's important for the less technical-saavy employers to realize the code they're paying to have written isn't being "given away." Instead, it's being given to hundreds or thousands of other potential developers to see and use and possibly improve at no additional cost.
after so many years, I think any legalities will be overshadowed by the film's worth, both monetary and sentimental. And proving the film was stolen will be somewhat difficult at best, assuming the thieves can still be charged after so long.
An entire first-run reel of the Phantom Menace? If those thieves have an ounce of brains, they'll store the film in a very safe place and take good care of it. It'll be worth a fortune someday, I'll bet.
Think about it. Buy a dozen copies of Quake 2 and let kids play after school with some supervision for a couple hours. That'll encourage comraderie and keep them out of trouble until their parents get home in the evening.
Gaming is as mentally rewarding as any physical sport, I'd wager, and costs a lot less for equipment - especially since the computers can be reused for other purposes during the day.
I say let the geeks be given a "sport" all their own.
MS tried to distribute J++ with additional keywords tacked-on to the language and non-compliant API implementations. The resulting backlash from the Java community and Sun's lawsuit resulted in COOL (which, to my knowledge, remains vapor).
To my knowledge, Java continues to thrive on the back-end where its slow startup times and versioning confusion aren't as relevent.
The main problems Java have had is applets were forced to use version 1.0 for far too long because browsers wouldn't/couldn't support anything better (now hopefully fixed using the plugin - an approach that should've been used from the beginning). And Sun neglected any sort of standardized distribution scheme for Java applications. Which makes starting them harder than it should be.
In short, I think the problems with Java are due to actual Java deficiencies rather than FUD on Microsoft's part.
Linux is hyped by those who use it, not by those who are paid to sing its praises.
The average Linux distribution includes quite a bit of software much younger than 20 years old. Including web browsers/servers that were originally intented/implemented on UNIXen (IIRC).
No matter what distribution/desktop environment/window manager you use, Linux (and all UNIXen) provides a good engine under the hood. Plenty of good content there.
"Real software" and games in the same sentance? I think most would agree the Doom/Quake series are good games. And all my work gets done with EMACS, gcc, python, perl, Java, etc. I fail to see how Windows would be of any use whatsoever.
Linux already gives me more value for development work than Windows ever has. Or likely ever will.
Acknowledging the competition is a sure sign of trouble. And spreading FUD about them never works. There's no such thing as bad publicity. I have a feeling this is going to blow up in Microsoft's face in a big way.
But probably not so much from the web aspect. "Clipping" news sites will be a bonus, and very handy for those boring meetings/classes/etc. However, I think wirelessly beaming apps/data to anyone else with a Palm VIII from across town will be the major selling point for people. Integrating these things with cell phones and beepers could cut down on a whole lot of gadget overload.
Heck, Star Wars invented the concept of mass-marketing film merchandise. It's to be expected we'll find Star Wars characters on the back of cereal boxes, on the sides of soda cups and on everything else conceivable. Hype alone will push the film to record-breaking profits on opening day. It's going to be the movie to see for some time to come, and rest assured we'll be seeing it everywhere.
Will it be intelligent and interesting like the original ("A New Hope" is it called now?) and Empire - or will it be a mess like Jedi? Only time will tell.
The DD was vapor since the moment it was announced. The idea was to turn attention from mass-storage media with the promise that "we'll have that too in a year or so..." Nintendo used the same tactic with the SNES-CD to grab attention from the Sega CD. Then Sega made the rather foolish decision to back the FMV game craze that probably set CD media back two years because of all the hype.
Then came polygons. So while Sega of Japan was working on the Saturn, Sega of America launched the ill-conceived 32X add-on that was too underpowered to compete with newer systems and too overpriced to be a cheap accessory.
Of course, Nintendo is trying to forget the Virtual Boy. And the Super Game Boy SNES add-on. New and different? Sure. Marketable? Not hardly.
Then Sega releases the Saturn. Virtually equivilant to the PSX in capability, but the dual processor architecture made development difficult and the powerful 2D capabilities were used only by Capcom and a few others. The Saturn was the unfortunate victim of the catch-22 of consoles. No games mean no consoles sold. No consoles sold mean no developers. No developers mean no games.
Meanwhile, Nintendo was hyping the n64 as the greatest thing since sliced bread. Babylon 5-quality graphics, was the rumor. In the end, the cartridge format forced the system to make heavy use of blurring to hide the fact that its polygons were so poorly detailed. Like all of Nintendo's systems, it had little more power than any of the competition, came in years after they did, and resulted in even more loss of Nintendo marketshare.
Another new Nintendo system announced on the heals of the PSX2 and Dreamcast bodes ill after the relatively new n64 and the long delays in getting it to market. But at least there's hope they'll be getting out of the cartridge business in favor of optical media.
Let's just call it Linux 8, ala Sun :)
on
Linux 2.3.0
·
· Score: 1
Then we won't need archaic tapes any longer. Tape your TV shows into the hard drive for viewing (and archiving to computer, perhaps?) and watch features on DVD. Seems like the perfect solution to me.
Slashdot Mirror
So how do we make a *distribution* any moron can use? I have a few ideas:
- Hide the CLI. tcsh is just a program, so bury it in the back where users aren't likely to look. That way the gurus can find it if something needs fixing, but the average user won't get confused.
- An RPM-esque binary distribution format with GUI hooks. That way people using a GUI-only distribution can see feedback, while CLI programs can still extract/install the program just as easily.
- A password-optional system. Users without passwords should only be able to login from the console, but for people without their own home LAN (most people?) that shouldn't be a problem. They should just be able to click on their name (IRIX-esque) and be logged-in (or asked for a password first, for those who have one)
- A single, consistant desktop environment. I don't think all apps need look/feel identical - people are used to differences in different programs - but the administration utilities and core programs (email, web browser) should meld nicely with the desktop environment.
Remember, nowhere in UNIX does it say you have to have a CLI. Everything is configurable and a distribution can be made to satisfy the "user on the street" without hobbling the entire OS for the rest of us.Or we could just come up with a second OS for end-users only :)
And a configure script too, perhaps? Now that it's open-sourced, maybe we can work together to make it configure;make;make install - compatible.
This "us versus them" mentality is strengthened by wave after wave of attack and retaliation. So when those from outside the "battlefield" try to bring actual points of rational discussion into the fray, the "dogs of war" rush to attack thinking the newcomer is just another member of the "other side."
The simple solution is simply not to get so attached. Does someone say "Linux sux!"? Ignore it. Does someone say the "UI sux!"? Ask how it could be improved. If their entire argument boils down to "It sux becuz it's not Windows!", no one will take it seriously. But if even the stupidest complaint is seen as a suggestion dropped into the collective suggestion box, maybe people we'll see the open source community is working to help everybody, and not working against them.
IMHO
But I expect we'll find hacks to replace such images within a week of their appearance. Windows users will be paying $10 for shareware programs to flash the BIOS with their favorite picture, Word macro viruses will try to install offensive imagery in peoples' BIOSes, Linux users will see Tux at startup, BSD folks will be seeing the daemon, etc. etc.
Welcome to the future :)
Oh, wait, maybe those are mimes. Nevermind.
That's a mistake. People use Windows because of the amount of programs written for it, not because it has a pretty interface.
When app Foo appears for Linux and people need to use it, you can be sure that they'll learn enough Linux to get by very quickly - the same way they learned how to use enough Windows to get by very quickly.
Because despite Microsoft's propaganda to the contrary, Windows is not trivial to learn for the average guy on the street. For them, learning to double-click on the Netscape icon versus typing "netscape" at a % prompt takes the same amount of effort to learn.
It's the apps that matter for the users.
That's good for openware in general, for the time being.
But the future is still uncertain. All forces have turned against Microsoft and its fall from dominance seems only a matter of time. Only time will tell what will emerge from the resulting chaos.
It's even one of those things they like to brag about on their website. Dunno about the 4.0 support, but I'd imagine that's pending too. Opera likes to pride themselves on standards support, which is nice to see in an ever-more-proprietary world.
I'm sure we don't all use the same mail reader, or news reader, or text editor, or desktop clock, so why should we have to use the same web browser? Not that I have anything against Lynx, but more competition in this area is long overdue.
Still, the sharp LCD display makes for fine text-editing over long periods.
But as a greater whole, this move puts AOL in conflict with the RIAA while Microsoft seems content to play both sides of the fence (signing on to support the encrypted vapor-format while retaining mp3 support in other software).
And it seems part of a larger trend. Computer companies have little fear of the RIAA and mp3 continues to grow as an audio standard (has anybody dropped support for mp3 in a product?).
With so many captive subscribers and newly-acquired Winamp, AOL seems in a perfect position to offer pay-to-download mp3s and add audio to its list of provided content.
Like it or not, AOL is trying to get a lock on fancy content to attract new users. But the real opponent in this move is the RIAA more than the average computer user.
Geeks didn't ask to come from white middle-class families. And geeks tend toward strong anti-establishment views (due, I'm sure, to the fact that they don't fit in the establishment) which makes it ironic that the seemingly liberal Village Voice should target them because of race/status.
I don't know how to solve society's problems, but I do know that more classification/division isn't the answer.
That's the key to the whole idea, really. I hope these new sites can cooperate with places like freshmeat to publicize and fund new and promising developments. Then maybe the pointy-hairs will realize, "hey, paying programmers to develop openware is a great idea." I think it's important for the less technical-saavy employers to realize the code they're paying to have written isn't being "given away." Instead, it's being given to hundreds or thousands of other potential developers to see and use and possibly improve at no additional cost.
after so many years, I think any legalities will be overshadowed by the film's worth, both monetary and sentimental. And proving the film was stolen will be somewhat difficult at best, assuming the thieves can still be charged after so long.
An entire first-run reel of the Phantom Menace? If those thieves have an ounce of brains, they'll store the film in a very safe place and take good care of it. It'll be worth a fortune someday, I'll bet.
Gaming is as mentally rewarding as any physical sport, I'd wager, and costs a lot less for equipment - especially since the computers can be reused for other purposes during the day.
I say let the geeks be given a "sport" all their own.
To my knowledge, Java continues to thrive on the back-end where its slow startup times and versioning confusion aren't as relevent.
The main problems Java have had is applets were forced to use version 1.0 for far too long because browsers wouldn't/couldn't support anything better (now hopefully fixed using the plugin - an approach that should've been used from the beginning). And Sun neglected any sort of standardized distribution scheme for Java applications. Which makes starting them harder than it should be.
In short, I think the problems with Java are due to actual Java deficiencies rather than FUD on Microsoft's part.
- Linux is hyped by those who use it, not by those who are paid to sing its praises.
- The average Linux distribution includes quite a bit of software much younger than 20 years old. Including web browsers/servers that were originally intented/implemented on UNIXen (IIRC).
- No matter what distribution/desktop environment/window manager you use, Linux (and all UNIXen) provides a good engine under the hood. Plenty of good content there.
- "Real software" and games in the same sentance? I think most would agree the Doom/Quake series are good games. And all my work gets done with EMACS, gcc, python, perl, Java, etc. I fail to see how Windows would be of any use whatsoever.
- Linux already gives me more value for development work than Windows ever has. Or likely ever will.
Really, you can't possibly be serious.Acknowledging the competition is a sure sign of trouble. And spreading FUD about them never works. There's no such thing as bad publicity. I have a feeling this is going to blow up in Microsoft's face in a big way.
But probably not so much from the web aspect. "Clipping" news sites will be a bonus, and very handy for those boring meetings/classes/etc. However, I think wirelessly beaming apps/data to anyone else with a Palm VIII from across town will be the major selling point for people. Integrating these things with cell phones and beepers could cut down on a whole lot of gadget overload.
Will it be intelligent and interesting like the original ("A New Hope" is it called now?) and Empire - or will it be a mess like Jedi? Only time will tell.
Then came polygons. So while Sega of Japan was working on the Saturn, Sega of America launched the ill-conceived 32X add-on that was too underpowered to compete with newer systems and too overpriced to be a cheap accessory.
Of course, Nintendo is trying to forget the Virtual Boy. And the Super Game Boy SNES add-on. New and different? Sure. Marketable? Not hardly.
Then Sega releases the Saturn. Virtually equivilant to the PSX in capability, but the dual processor architecture made development difficult and the powerful 2D capabilities were used only by Capcom and a few others. The Saturn was the unfortunate victim of the catch-22 of consoles. No games mean no consoles sold. No consoles sold mean no developers. No developers mean no games.
Meanwhile, Nintendo was hyping the n64 as the greatest thing since sliced bread. Babylon 5-quality graphics, was the rumor. In the end, the cartridge format forced the system to make heavy use of blurring to hide the fact that its polygons were so poorly detailed. Like all of Nintendo's systems, it had little more power than any of the competition, came in years after they did, and resulted in even more loss of Nintendo marketshare.
Another new Nintendo system announced on the heals of the PSX2 and Dreamcast bodes ill after the relatively new n64 and the long delays in getting it to market. But at least there's hope they'll be getting out of the cartridge business in favor of optical media.
Makes sense, right? Right? Okay, maybe not.
You can also read about it here.
Then we won't need archaic tapes any longer. Tape your TV shows into the hard drive for viewing (and archiving to computer, perhaps?) and watch features on DVD. Seems like the perfect solution to me.