True, a downloaded malicious program needs to be chmod +x, just like the installer for any other program that sits outside the package system. But what exactly were you talking about?
The comparison I was making was to downloaded.exe files in Windows, which by default are executable.
The only time you need to pay for a Windows OS upgrade is either A. for a new machine or B. for the equivalent to an upgrade from one Ubuntu LTS to the next LTS.
A regular release upgrade in Ubuntu is not equivalent to a ServicePack in Windows. Nor is an LTS release upgrade necessarily equivalent to a regular release upgrade in Windows. But either way, Ubuntu releases will continue to be free, where as you'll eventually run out of SP upgrades on your version of Windows.
Ksplice costs 48 USD per year [ksplice.com] unless you're on Ubuntu, and it isn't available for SuSE or Fedora at all.
KSplice Uptrack is a service that costs money. KSplice itself is open source, and available for free.
So in other words, you're saying preinstalled Windows is free only if your time is worth nothing. Where have I heard that one before?
No, he's saying that the total cost of Windows is greater than the purchase cost of Windows. He's also saying that the total cost of Windows is greater than the total cost of some alternative, one which doesn't have the same problems.
Viruses exist for all operating systems.
True.
ake GNU/Linux on x86 for example: a virus running as a limited user can infect all programs installed into a user's home directory.
Also true, with the caveat that on GNU/Linux, a downloaded virus doesn't automatically have the ability to be run.
If Linux had majority desktop market share, it would have the same virus problem as Windows.
This is a non-sequitur, none of your prior assertions implies this.
Windows has RTM through Service Pack 3; Ubuntu has Hardy Heron through Karmic Koala.
Number of upgrades is meaningless, cost of upgrades, in both time and money, is meaningful.
What operating system doesn't need to reboot for a kernel update?
I'm not sure about other *nixes, but rebooting for a kernel update isn't strictly necessary in Linux if you use KSplice.
If you're writing a virus, do you go after the platform where 95% of users have one or more anti-virus tools installed to thwart your attempts, or the platforms where less than 5% of the users have such?
Killing the ignition isn't usually recommended because then you lose power steering and power breaking, which makes controlling your care very difficult at high speeds.
Automatic transmissions can be put into Neutral with a small move of the shifter, even while accelerating. This would have the same effect as pressing a clutch in a manual.
What are your plans for getting educational institutions like schools to switch to Ubuntu, the way Microsoft and Apple have historically captured mind share in the past? There is a lot of work being done by volunteers in Edubuntu to make it easy to deploy and manage a school-wide network of workstations, but so far very little support from Canonical in turning that product into an initiative.
My 5 year old learned to install Ubuntu just a couple weeks ago. I don't think he understands what the password is for, or why the default option of using the entire hard drive was desired over of the other options, but everything else he could figure out on his own.
I'd hazard to guess that most authors don't make a living writing books.
But no, I'm not an author, I'm a reader, a book buyer, the source of the money that authors will see some small portion of. As a consumer, I'd rather put up $5, $10, $15 to have my favorite authors write their next book, instead of paying a publisher $20 after it's done.
Cory Doctorow, who this whole article is about, has been releasing his books as free electronic downloads, and he still makes a decent amount from physical sales. Jono Bacon, author of "The Art of Community", has been doing the same. There are many many more examples of authors doing this. Just because Steven King didn't get the results he was after, doesn't mean the concept is flawed.
I'm okay with that, an author shouldn't expect to make a living solely by writing books, until he has written something good enough to make people want to pay a living wage for more books. Plenty of new authors take time off from their day jobs to write, it's not a new concept.
Guess what, most artists of any kind don't get to take time off from their "real jobs" until they become well known.
If it makes you feel better, we can modify my list to include writing a short story, then raising funds to write a full-length novel based on that.
The point I was making is that instead of getting an advance from a publisher who wants a return on investment, authors would get an advance from their audience who want the finished work itself.
Yes, but if you drop a physical book into the bathtub, you don't lose your entire library, just one book. It'll probably cost between $5 and $20 to replace the physical book, compared to $200+ to replace a digital reader.
Who says authors have to make money by selling books? Here's how I see the future for authors:
1) Up and coming author puts his first books on the net for free, hoping to gain readership. 2) Author requests donations from those who like his book (yes, we're at "Profit!" at step 2, but it's small so stay with me here) 3) Author gains a good sized fan base and a reputation (think Dean Koontz) 4) Author announces a future book, and sells "access" to parts of the writing process to his fans ("Profit!" again) 5) Author now has a run-away hit series ala Harry Potter or Twilight (or, god forbid, another Dan Brown book) 6) Repeat step 4, only with more Profit! 7) Author sells movie and merchandising rights for big Profit! (this is where authors get rich nowadays anyway, not from book sales)
Etherpad doesn't have a client, it runs entirely in a browser windows. There is already discussion of getting an instance hosted by Ubuntu, but it will have to be checked out by their security team before it is made official. Also, Debian and Ubuntu are trying to phase out Sun Java in favor of OpenJDK, but OpenJDK wouldn't compile Etherpad when I tried it, I had to use Sun's JDK.
From what I read, the infected packages were on gnome-look.org, not a repository.
Ubuntu 9.10 makes it easier to add repositories, which contain signed packages, which you can trust as much as you trust the owner of the repository. This means that I can go to winehq.org and easily add their repository to my sources. It also means that if someone hacks into their repository server, and uploads a virus-laden package, it won't install on my system, because it wasn't signed by winehq.org.
Your point is that in order to get Windows to run on a low-cost, high-efficiency platform, manufacturers will simply switch to a high-cost, low-efficiency platform?
And for exactly those reasons those people wouldn't buy an ARM netbook.
That's ridiculous. You're basically saying people won't buy a smart phone before they can't run Windows games on it. Or they won't buy a TiVo because they can't run Windows games on it.
ARM netbooks are not going to be desktop replacements, or even desktop alternatives, they are what netbooks were originally designed to be, ultra-portable Internet appliances. That is why the cheap price and all-day battery life is important, because these are not going to be sitting at home on your desk day in and day out.
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True, a downloaded malicious program needs to be chmod +x, just like the installer for any other program that sits outside the package system. But what exactly were you talking about?
The comparison I was making was to downloaded .exe files in Windows, which by default are executable.
The only time you need to pay for a Windows OS upgrade is either A. for a new machine or B. for the equivalent to an upgrade from one Ubuntu LTS to the next LTS.
A regular release upgrade in Ubuntu is not equivalent to a ServicePack in Windows. Nor is an LTS release upgrade necessarily equivalent to a regular release upgrade in Windows. But either way, Ubuntu releases will continue to be free, where as you'll eventually run out of SP upgrades on your version of Windows.
Ksplice costs 48 USD per year [ksplice.com] unless you're on Ubuntu, and it isn't available for SuSE or Fedora at all.
KSplice Uptrack is a service that costs money. KSplice itself is open source, and available for free.
So in other words, you're saying preinstalled Windows is free only if your time is worth nothing. Where have I heard that one before?
No, he's saying that the total cost of Windows is greater than the purchase cost of Windows. He's also saying that the total cost of Windows is greater than the total cost of some alternative, one which doesn't have the same problems.
Viruses exist for all operating systems.
True.
ake GNU/Linux on x86 for example: a virus running as a limited user can infect all programs installed into a user's home directory.
Also true, with the caveat that on GNU/Linux, a downloaded virus doesn't automatically have the ability to be run.
If Linux had majority desktop market share, it would have the same virus problem as Windows.
This is a non-sequitur, none of your prior assertions implies this.
Windows has RTM through Service Pack 3; Ubuntu has Hardy Heron through Karmic Koala.
Number of upgrades is meaningless, cost of upgrades, in both time and money, is meaningful.
What operating system doesn't need to reboot for a kernel update?
I'm not sure about other *nixes, but rebooting for a kernel update isn't strictly necessary in Linux if you use KSplice.
If you're writing a virus, do you go after the platform where 95% of users have one or more anti-virus tools installed to thwart your attempts, or the platforms where less than 5% of the users have such?
Killing the ignition isn't usually recommended because then you lose power steering and power breaking, which makes controlling your care very difficult at high speeds.
If I had mod points, you would have them all
Automatic transmissions can be put into Neutral with a small move of the shifter, even while accelerating. This would have the same effect as pressing a clutch in a manual.
What are your plans for getting educational institutions like schools to switch to Ubuntu, the way Microsoft and Apple have historically captured mind share in the past? There is a lot of work being done by volunteers in Edubuntu to make it easy to deploy and manage a school-wide network of workstations, but so far very little support from Canonical in turning that product into an initiative.
lol, I was going to wait until he did his first re-install so that he'll appreciate the reason for doing it.
My 5 year old learned to install Ubuntu just a couple weeks ago. I don't think he understands what the password is for, or why the default option of using the entire hard drive was desired over of the other options, but everything else he could figure out on his own.
Your comment makes no sense at all, please try again sober.
I'd hazard to guess that most authors don't make a living writing books.
But no, I'm not an author, I'm a reader, a book buyer, the source of the money that authors will see some small portion of. As a consumer, I'd rather put up $5, $10, $15 to have my favorite authors write their next book, instead of paying a publisher $20 after it's done.
Forking is very different, because it's not just producing a copy, it's using someone's trademark.
Cory Doctorow, who this whole article is about, has been releasing his books as free electronic downloads, and he still makes a decent amount from physical sales. Jono Bacon, author of "The Art of Community", has been doing the same. There are many many more examples of authors doing this. Just because Steven King didn't get the results he was after, doesn't mean the concept is flawed.
I'm okay with that, an author shouldn't expect to make a living solely by writing books, until he has written something good enough to make people want to pay a living wage for more books. Plenty of new authors take time off from their day jobs to write, it's not a new concept.
Guess what, most artists of any kind don't get to take time off from their "real jobs" until they become well known.
If it makes you feel better, we can modify my list to include writing a short story, then raising funds to write a full-length novel based on that.
The point I was making is that instead of getting an advance from a publisher who wants a return on investment, authors would get an advance from their audience who want the finished work itself.
Yes, but if you drop a physical book into the bathtub, you don't lose your entire library, just one book. It'll probably cost between $5 and $20 to replace the physical book, compared to $200+ to replace a digital reader.
Who says authors have to make money by selling books? Here's how I see the future for authors:
1) Up and coming author puts his first books on the net for free, hoping to gain readership.
2) Author requests donations from those who like his book (yes, we're at "Profit!" at step 2, but it's small so stay with me here)
3) Author gains a good sized fan base and a reputation (think Dean Koontz)
4) Author announces a future book, and sells "access" to parts of the writing process to his fans ("Profit!" again)
5) Author now has a run-away hit series ala Harry Potter or Twilight (or, god forbid, another Dan Brown book)
6) Repeat step 4, only with more Profit!
7) Author sells movie and merchandising rights for big Profit! (this is where authors get rich nowadays anyway, not from book sales)
Etherpad doesn't have a client, it runs entirely in a browser windows. There is already discussion of getting an instance hosted by Ubuntu, but it will have to be checked out by their security team before it is made official. Also, Debian and Ubuntu are trying to phase out Sun Java in favor of OpenJDK, but OpenJDK wouldn't compile Etherpad when I tried it, I had to use Sun's JDK.
It's Scala and Javascript, not Java.
Technically Etherpad is Scala and Javascript, I don't think there is much Java to it.
Did you miss the part where they said that etherpad.com would be shut down in March, with public pads likely being shut down even earlier?
From what I read, the infected packages were on gnome-look.org, not a repository.
Ubuntu 9.10 makes it easier to add repositories, which contain signed packages, which you can trust as much as you trust the owner of the repository. This means that I can go to winehq.org and easily add their repository to my sources. It also means that if someone hacks into their repository server, and uploads a virus-laden package, it won't install on my system, because it wasn't signed by winehq.org.
Your point is that in order to get Windows to run on a low-cost, high-efficiency platform, manufacturers will simply switch to a high-cost, low-efficiency platform?
In which case they won't be ARM netbooks...
And for exactly those reasons those people wouldn't buy an ARM netbook.
That's ridiculous. You're basically saying people won't buy a smart phone before they can't run Windows games on it. Or they won't buy a TiVo because they can't run Windows games on it.
ARM netbooks are not going to be desktop replacements, or even desktop alternatives, they are what netbooks were originally designed to be, ultra-portable Internet appliances. That is why the cheap price and all-day battery life is important, because these are not going to be sitting at home on your desk day in and day out.