Those few who retain some form of journalistic integrity are probably doing fine, especially if they have adapted their business models in a sensible way. To take an example, the only news subscription I have nowadays is to The Economist magazine. It's worth reading every week, almost from cover to cover, with proper coverage and generally thoughtful analysis (I don't always agree with their opinions, but enjoy reading them). Even the advertising tends to be good quality, from the likes of Boeing, DHL, HSBC, etc.
Importantly, their web site is free-access for a limited amount of their content, but a good deal of it requires a subscription. Happily, the dead-tree subscription includes an online access subscription. Mostly, I read the printed version, but occasionally use the web site.
Another difference compared to much of the news media is that the writers of artcles in The Economist are usually not identified. One reads the report for what it is, not for which self-styled superstar of journalism happened to pen it. Equally, the anonymity of the journalists prevents them from posturing in the report or attempting any self-aggrandizement in the style of would-be superstars of journalism.
Your immune system responds better if there are constant challenges to it, which is what a diversified ecosystem does.
Lots of sex.
Without condoms (and with swallowing). Regular exchange of bodily fluids also keeps your immune system ticking over. Regular sex might help morale as well.
It's not that there are very many serious bugs in a new release - it has been through a good deal of testing, after all. The concern is specifically bugs that will affect your systems (bugs that don't affect you are not your problem as a user). For any new release, there is an unquantified risk that bugs exist which might affect your systems. Let others be the willing guinea pigs, or canaries in the coal mine, or other sacrificial lamb metaphor.
This is why I always wait a week or two after an Ubuntu release, before deciding to upgrade my own PCs. Almost any serious bugs which only affect particular hardware/software combinations will have been found by then (and probably fixed).
A similar strategy should be used for Windows upgrades. Wait until the bugs found by early adopters are fixed. It should only take a week or two, right?
Actually you left out other wrinkles in the version trail. Windows 2.0 morphed into Windows 286 and Windows 386. Windows 386 was the precursor to Windows 3.0. Then after Windows 3.11 came Windows for Workgroups 3.11. Then there were the various SP updates to XP: SP2 was as big a change as the 3.0 to 3.1 switch.
If anyone still has a Windows 3.11 or Windows 3.1 system, they can use its calculator applet to compute the difference between those versions. Just use it to calculate 3.11 - 3.1 and be amazed by the answer.
A cylindrical structure is subject to unstable wake flows, where small asymmetries in the flows around the structure lead to alternating vortices behind it. This is commonly termed vortex shedding, and leads to substantial lateral loads which vary fairly quickly and may cause resonance problems in the structure http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vortex_shedding. That's why tall smokestacks nowadays usually have corkscrew fins - to deliberately introduce turbulence, so that the load is less variable and resonant load frequencies have negligible amplitudes.
One of them may be suitable, if you're just planning on having a Linux file server with some extras, and don't need to install your own *nix or arcane packages. We have a DS-209 with two 500GB disks in RAID1. On our 100Mbit LAN at home, it typically gets read/write speeds of 6-8MBps, which is about 40-50% of the theoretical bandwidth. It has an UPS interface for safe shutdown when our UPS is nearly drained.
You can install some add-on packages, and enable several services in addition to just file serving on most Synology NAS units, such as web server, photo server, download/torrent redirection, scheduled backup to external drive, and media server functions. You can also enable ssh (and telnet & ftp) and log in to do additional configuration, although the web-based administration interface is quite OK. Of course, it's advisable to limit outside access to services via your firewall. We also prevent the NAS from calling home...
Disclaimer: I have nothing to do with Synology, except as a mostly satisfied customer.
I've tinkered with Wine since about 1997, and the frustration involved in getting anything to actually work properly has never been justified by results.
My experience with WINE has been similar, until recently. We bought a couple of Wacom graphics tablets for home, and they work very nicely with Ubuntu. Just for fun, I tried to install the painting program that was bundled with them - Art Rage. It installed perfectly, and runs perfectly under WINE, after installing gdiplus http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=application&iId=1901. Art Rage is actually a nice program, which attempts to emulate the behavior of real paints, brushes, spatulas, etc. (its features can't be replicated in Photoshop or GIMP).
Linux, although far from perfect, has been mature enough for the desktop for years, while every time I use Windows I find myself grinding my teeth.
We've been Linux-only at home for about 4 years, so I usually only grind my teeth at work. The company is overly dependent on Microsoft stuff, the quirky as well as the worthy.
The first time Ubuntu displays a dialog box that can't entirely fit on the screen, a helpful message should pop up and explain: 1. How to view the entire contents of the window. 2. Where to read more about window management in Ubuntu. 3. How to turn off this particular helpful message (or all helpful messages). The operating system is certainly capable of detecting when it's put a window on the screen that is too big to fit and can't be resized, and it should instantly provide help with this.
That would be a nice usability enhancement - please propose it on launchpad. The pop-up need only mention the alt-F7 plus arrow keys method, since that would work even if the user had mouse problems as well (on the precautionary principle that "when it rains, it pours"). Of course, alt-F7 also works with the mouse.
Expecting a user to find the help system and drill down to section 2.3.2 is a bit much, especially when their desktop is now stuck on 400x300 (or whatever they've mistakenly selected).
Encountering a problem is exactly the time the help system should be used. But some users are likely to experience brain-freeze or panic when confronted with an apparent conundrum, like a button being off the screen. Their consequent actions may not be entirely logical, or extend to using the help system rationally.
However, even one who has only Windows experience should be aware of the Move item on the window menu. It allows either mouse or arrow keys to move the window - essentially the same as alt-F7, but without needing to know any key combinations. That menu item exists both on Windows and Ubuntu, and I think it works in much the same way the same on both.
I see a couple other ACs have posted this, I'll be the one to respond to you with the same since you're going off about how everyone should know about the oh-so-obvious alt-drag to solve this problem.
IT DOESN'T WORK.
Yes, it works - on the Ubuntu system I'm posting this from. It's clear enough why you posted this as an AC, since you're utterly and completely wrong.
YOU CAN'T (couldn't?) ALT-DRAG WINDOWS UP PAST THE TOP OF THE SCREEN IN UBUNTU so therefore you could never get the [Apply] button back on screen.
Yes, you can, and could on previous versions of Ubuntu also. But perhaps your loudmouthed ignorance dissuaded you from even trying...
It works fine, on the Ubuntu system in front of me. With alt-drag, only the bit of the window your mouse pointer is on must stay on the screen, and that can be anywhere in the window. Rinse and repeat to move an overly large window by more than one whole screen width or height.
Or until you can get some geek to reveal the secret ALT-CNTL-X-NUM-+ whatever key combo. Like this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-L-0s-7-Z0 - QUOTE: "Linux works for you, because with youses guys computers, YOU work for the computers, and, and, and....."
Alt-drag is a standard on Gnome for moving a window. You can drag it by any part of the window, just by holding the Alt key as you drag - this allows you to move the title bar fully off screen, or move off-screen buttons onto the screen. You don't have to drag it by the title bar as in Windows (although you can do it this way also). So what's this alt-cntl-x-num-whatever key combo you're talking about?
Seems to me if the average user gets stuck in 640x480, and can't out, it's the computer that has the control not the user. Not consumer-friendly.
Even noobs on Linux generally know about the alt-drag function, or at least they know how to navigate a help system and find out about it. Hint for Ubuntu: start the help browser, click on "New to Ubuntu", then "Introduction to the desktop"; the alt-drag feature is in the section on manipulating windows. Here's what it says about moving a window, after mentioning the titlebar-drag method:
You can also choose Move from the Window Menu, or press Alt+F7, and then either move the mouse or press the keyboard arrow keys to move the window.
You can also press-and-hold Alt and drag any part of the window.
Was that hard? I suppose it's inevitable that some who have been conditioned by too many years of MS Windows without running any other OS may not even conceive that there could be anything other than the "Windows way", and don't even bother looking in the help system. If that's what you mean by "average user", then they are doomed to use Windows forever, as they are unlikely to adapt to anything else...
So WINE can get a virus intended for Windows, if you jump through some hoops to help the virus along. Color me unworried.
What can a Windows-targeted virus in WINE do to a Linux system, other than hang around looking impotent? Most of the target DLLs and other windows hidey-holes don't exist in WINE. Even if it finds a place to lurk, it's unlikely that it could hit the Linux system files or boot loader, or perform keylogging outside WINE or snoop on private files. A very crude "wipe drive C:" type virus might molest your WINE environment (your data files are elsewhere, of course), but that's about all. Even if the virus were specifically tailored for WINE on Linux, a successful attack would rely on user stupidity even more blatant than Windows viruses must depend on.
TFA even commented on how easy it is to dispose of the malware, even after spending some effort helping it to limp onto your system.
But what if I want to have a laugh at the Lumberjack song and view it? A copyright holder could definately claim that the uploading of the Lumberjack song is infringement, and thus also the downloading.
The strategic situation for both navies was the same after the battle as before. Neither gained their hoped-for objective; both sides lost material and manpower, but not strategic position. The wikipedia article expounds on the topic, giving several viewpoints.
All-in-all, it was rather inconclusive, allowing both sides to claim victory without much bare-faced lying. More realistically, both sides actually lost, since they thumped each other bloody, and gained nothing.
Older? Hasn't Nokia been around since the late 1800s? Though I think they were making paper then......
I used to drive past that paper mill every day...
Actually, they originally made rubber things (tires and boots, that is). Those divisions were sold off in the 1980s, but still exist using the "Nokian" brand name. Both of our cars have Nokian studded winter tires, and we have Nokian rubber boots (Wellington boots, for the brits).
that's only impressive if you'd let us know how many people were on the boat.
Is using google really too difficult for you?
From the Washington Times:
"During the 1991 Persian Gulf war, the press branded the destroyer tender USS Acadia the "Love Boat" after 36 sailors -- 10 percent of the women aboard -- became pregnant while deployed in support of Operation Desert Storm."
From the New York Times:
"Lieut. Comdr. Jeff Smallwood, said there were no indications of improper fraternization between men and women on the ship. 'These women have a right to get pregnant,' Commander Smallwood said. 'The conclusion somebody is jumping to is that the Acadia is a love boat, and that's not the case.'" http://www.nytimes.com/1991/04/30/us/36-women-pregnant-aboard-a-navy-ship-that-served-in-gulf.html
That's an interesting statement, when taken in its context. He's essentially saying that (i) it's OK for the servicemen and servicewomen to service one another, and (ii) servicewomen have a right to get pregnant even on active missions. The first point is sensible enough, even if prudes ashore would disapprove. Since pregnancy is a ticket home away from danger, the second point might be a bit controversial.
1) Write new iphone app.
2) Price it quite high.
3) Australian Classification Board buys it to review.
4) Repeat as needed
5) Profit.
On the second and subsequent iterations, step 1 just requires renaming the app, not writing a whole new one. Change a few colors with #define statements, if you like, but anything more than that is overkill.
Well, seeing as Shakespeare insists on remaining dead (and has indeed done so for almost four hundred years), I would venture to suggest that it's unlikely you're ever going to get a 100% guaranteed dead-cert answer to the question from a primary source.
But what about others who were alive at that time? Surely they can't all be dead!
Or has there been some mass murder of people who lived 400 years ago?
You're right: the London Stock Exchange had a near-death experience using Windows for its trading platform. They had to temporarily shut down when it seized up. That's why they decided to change to a faster and cheaper Linux-based trading platform.
Now if nearly all of the programs being sold for the Microsoft platform worked equally well on a Linux platform then I believe that MS really could be shut out of the market with companies like IBM switching from Windows by default, to anything else.
Well, we can expect that some programs will be tweaked in ways that inhibit running them under WINE, because the vendor wants them to be Windows-only (probably a lot of MS applications, for instance). Many games are tied to Windows calls at a basic level, and would sacrifice performance in becoming more portable.
However, other programs run perfectly via WINE, such as the Art Rage painting program which was bundled with the Wacom tablets we use on a couple of Ubuntu PCs at home. The Wacom tablets have excellent support in Linux, but I don't know of any native Linux program like Art Rage (it is not a bitmap editor in the style of Gimp or Photoshop, but emulates working with paints, spatula, etc.), so I tried installing it, and got a pleasant surprise. Installation simple, works perfectly. I suspect this capability would be possible for many programs, and would not even involve much developer effort in most cases. But it might require a conscious decision by the designers or marketing folks.
Slashdot Mirror
They have run journalism into the ground...
Those few who retain some form of journalistic integrity are probably doing fine, especially if they have adapted their business models in a sensible way. To take an example, the only news subscription I have nowadays is to The Economist magazine. It's worth reading every week, almost from cover to cover, with proper coverage and generally thoughtful analysis (I don't always agree with their opinions, but enjoy reading them). Even the advertising tends to be good quality, from the likes of Boeing, DHL, HSBC, etc.
Importantly, their web site is free-access for a limited amount of their content, but a good deal of it requires a subscription. Happily, the dead-tree subscription includes an online access subscription. Mostly, I read the printed version, but occasionally use the web site.
Another difference compared to much of the news media is that the writers of artcles in The Economist are usually not identified. One reads the report for what it is, not for which self-styled superstar of journalism happened to pen it. Equally, the anonymity of the journalists prevents them from posturing in the report or attempting any self-aggrandizement in the style of would-be superstars of journalism.
Your immune system responds better if there are constant challenges to it, which is what a diversified ecosystem does.
Lots of sex.
Without condoms (and with swallowing). Regular exchange of bodily fluids also keeps your immune system ticking over. Regular sex might help morale as well.
Going out of support ... in 5 years ...
So if you start upgrading to Windows 7 now, it might just have finished in time. Unless it's still in that install-reboot cycle... http://slashdot.org/firehose.pl?op=view&id=6671599
It's not that there are very many serious bugs in a new release - it has been through a good deal of testing, after all. The concern is specifically bugs that will affect your systems (bugs that don't affect you are not your problem as a user). For any new release, there is an unquantified risk that bugs exist which might affect your systems. Let others be the willing guinea pigs, or canaries in the coal mine, or other sacrificial lamb metaphor.
This is why I always wait a week or two after an Ubuntu release, before deciding to upgrade my own PCs. Almost any serious bugs which only affect particular hardware/software combinations will have been found by then (and probably fixed).
A similar strategy should be used for Windows upgrades. Wait until the bugs found by early adopters are fixed. It should only take a week or two, right?
Actually you left out other wrinkles in the version trail. Windows 2.0 morphed into Windows 286 and Windows 386. Windows 386 was the precursor to Windows 3.0. Then after Windows 3.11 came Windows for Workgroups 3.11. Then there were the various SP updates to XP: SP2 was as big a change as the 3.0 to 3.1 switch.
If anyone still has a Windows 3.11 or Windows 3.1 system, they can use its calculator applet to compute the difference between those versions. Just use it to calculate 3.11 - 3.1 and be amazed by the answer.
But the final 9.10 is still not on their website.
It's on the Finland mirror...
http://www.nic.funet.fi/pub/mirrors/releases.ubuntu.com/karmic/
A cylindrical structure is subject to unstable wake flows, where small asymmetries in the flows around the structure lead to alternating vortices behind it. This is commonly termed vortex shedding, and leads to substantial lateral loads which vary fairly quickly and may cause resonance problems in the structure http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vortex_shedding. That's why tall smokestacks nowadays usually have corkscrew fins - to deliberately introduce turbulence, so that the load is less variable and resonant load frequencies have negligible amplitudes.
...a Beowulf cluster of stale memes.
Have you checked the Synology NAS boxes? http://www.synology.com/us/index.php
One of them may be suitable, if you're just planning on having a Linux file server with some extras, and don't need to install your own *nix or arcane packages. We have a DS-209 with two 500GB disks in RAID1. On our 100Mbit LAN at home, it typically gets read/write speeds of 6-8MBps, which is about 40-50% of the theoretical bandwidth. It has an UPS interface for safe shutdown when our UPS is nearly drained.
You can install some add-on packages, and enable several services in addition to just file serving on most Synology NAS units, such as web server, photo server, download/torrent redirection, scheduled backup to external drive, and media server functions. You can also enable ssh (and telnet & ftp) and log in to do additional configuration, although the web-based administration interface is quite OK. Of course, it's advisable to limit outside access to services via your firewall. We also prevent the NAS from calling home...
Disclaimer: I have nothing to do with Synology, except as a mostly satisfied customer.
I've tinkered with Wine since about 1997, and the frustration involved in getting anything to actually work properly has never been justified by results.
My experience with WINE has been similar, until recently. We bought a couple of Wacom graphics tablets for home, and they work very nicely with Ubuntu. Just for fun, I tried to install the painting program that was bundled with them - Art Rage. It installed perfectly, and runs perfectly under WINE, after installing gdiplus http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=application&iId=1901. Art Rage is actually a nice program, which attempts to emulate the behavior of real paints, brushes, spatulas, etc. (its features can't be replicated in Photoshop or GIMP).
Linux, although far from perfect, has been mature enough for the desktop for years, while every time I use Windows I find myself grinding my teeth.
We've been Linux-only at home for about 4 years, so I usually only grind my teeth at work. The company is overly dependent on Microsoft stuff, the quirky as well as the worthy.
The first time Ubuntu displays a dialog box that can't entirely fit on the screen, a helpful message should pop up and explain: 1. How to view the entire contents of the window. 2. Where to read more about window management in Ubuntu. 3. How to turn off this particular helpful message (or all helpful messages). The operating system is certainly capable of detecting when it's put a window on the screen that is too big to fit and can't be resized, and it should instantly provide help with this.
That would be a nice usability enhancement - please propose it on launchpad. The pop-up need only mention the alt-F7 plus arrow keys method, since that would work even if the user had mouse problems as well (on the precautionary principle that "when it rains, it pours"). Of course, alt-F7 also works with the mouse.
Expecting a user to find the help system and drill down to section 2.3.2 is a bit much, especially when their desktop is now stuck on 400x300 (or whatever they've mistakenly selected).
Encountering a problem is exactly the time the help system should be used. But some users are likely to experience brain-freeze or panic when confronted with an apparent conundrum, like a button being off the screen. Their consequent actions may not be entirely logical, or extend to using the help system rationally.
However, even one who has only Windows experience should be aware of the Move item on the window menu. It allows either mouse or arrow keys to move the window - essentially the same as alt-F7, but without needing to know any key combinations. That menu item exists both on Windows and Ubuntu, and I think it works in much the same way the same on both.
I see a couple other ACs have posted this, I'll be the one to respond to you with the same since you're going off about how everyone should know about the oh-so-obvious alt-drag to solve this problem.
IT DOESN'T WORK.
Yes, it works - on the Ubuntu system I'm posting this from. It's clear enough why you posted this as an AC, since you're utterly and completely wrong.
YOU CAN'T (couldn't?) ALT-DRAG WINDOWS UP PAST THE TOP OF THE SCREEN IN UBUNTU so therefore you could never get the [Apply] button back on screen.
Yes, you can, and could on previous versions of Ubuntu also. But perhaps your loudmouthed ignorance dissuaded you from even trying...
It works fine, on the Ubuntu system in front of me. With alt-drag, only the bit of the window your mouse pointer is on must stay on the screen, and that can be anywhere in the window. Rinse and repeat to move an overly large window by more than one whole screen width or height.
Or until you can get some geek to reveal the secret ALT-CNTL-X-NUM-+ whatever key combo. Like this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-L-0s-7-Z0 - QUOTE: "Linux works for you, because with youses guys computers, YOU work for the computers, and, and, and....."
Alt-drag is a standard on Gnome for moving a window. You can drag it by any part of the window, just by holding the Alt key as you drag - this allows you to move the title bar fully off screen, or move off-screen buttons onto the screen. You don't have to drag it by the title bar as in Windows (although you can do it this way also). So what's this alt-cntl-x-num-whatever key combo you're talking about?
Seems to me if the average user gets stuck in 640x480, and can't out, it's the computer that has the control not the user. Not consumer-friendly.
Even noobs on Linux generally know about the alt-drag function, or at least they know how to navigate a help system and find out about it. Hint for Ubuntu: start the help browser, click on "New to Ubuntu", then "Introduction to the desktop"; the alt-drag feature is in the section on manipulating windows. Here's what it says about moving a window, after mentioning the titlebar-drag method:
You can also choose Move from the Window Menu, or press Alt+F7, and then either move the mouse or press the keyboard arrow keys to move the window.
You can also press-and-hold Alt and drag any part of the window.
Was that hard? I suppose it's inevitable that some who have been conditioned by too many years of MS Windows without running any other OS may not even conceive that there could be anything other than the "Windows way", and don't even bother looking in the help system. If that's what you mean by "average user", then they are doomed to use Windows forever, as they are unlikely to adapt to anything else...
So WINE can get a virus intended for Windows, if you jump through some hoops to help the virus along. Color me unworried.
What can a Windows-targeted virus in WINE do to a Linux system, other than hang around looking impotent? Most of the target DLLs and other windows hidey-holes don't exist in WINE. Even if it finds a place to lurk, it's unlikely that it could hit the Linux system files or boot loader, or perform keylogging outside WINE or snoop on private files. A very crude "wipe drive C:" type virus might molest your WINE environment (your data files are elsewhere, of course), but that's about all. Even if the virus were specifically tailored for WINE on Linux, a successful attack would rely on user stupidity even more blatant than Windows viruses must depend on.
TFA even commented on how easy it is to dispose of the malware, even after spending some effort helping it to limp onto your system.
But what if I want to have a laugh at the Lumberjack song and view it? A copyright holder could definately claim that the uploading of the Lumberjack song is infringement, and thus also the downloading.
Your point is generally correct, but Monty Python is not a good example. That comedy group actually has its own YouTube channel, where they have uploaded clips http://www.youtube.com/user/MontyPython. The channel includes at least one performance of the Lumberjack song http://www.youtube.com/user/MontyPython#p/c/CDFEA6D52E5CC0EC, so they probably would not mind if you watch it...
I think we all know about the cake...
It's full of strippers?
The strategic situation for both navies was the same after the battle as before. Neither gained their hoped-for objective; both sides lost material and manpower, but not strategic position. The wikipedia article expounds on the topic, giving several viewpoints.
All-in-all, it was rather inconclusive, allowing both sides to claim victory without much bare-faced lying. More realistically, both sides actually lost, since they thumped each other bloody, and gained nothing.
Its amazing how many different versions of the same 'fact' there are
For instance, the largest naval engagement of the First World War was the battle of Jutland. Apparently, both sides won... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Jutland
Older? Hasn't Nokia been around since the late 1800s? Though I think they were making paper then......
I used to drive past that paper mill every day...
Actually, they originally made rubber things (tires and boots, that is). Those divisions were sold off in the 1980s, but still exist using the "Nokian" brand name. Both of our cars have Nokian studded winter tires, and we have Nokian rubber boots (Wellington boots, for the brits).
Yes, it is an outrage!
Why just a handful of dancers? They should have had enough for everyone.
that's only impressive if you'd let us know how many people were on the boat.
Is using google really too difficult for you?
From the Washington Times:
"During the 1991 Persian Gulf war, the press branded the destroyer tender USS Acadia the "Love Boat" after 36 sailors -- 10 percent of the women aboard -- became pregnant while deployed in support of Operation Desert Storm."
From the New York Times:
"Lieut. Comdr. Jeff Smallwood, said there were no indications of improper fraternization between men and women on the ship. 'These women have a right to get pregnant,' Commander Smallwood said. 'The conclusion somebody is jumping to is that the Acadia is a love boat, and that's not the case.'" http://www.nytimes.com/1991/04/30/us/36-women-pregnant-aboard-a-navy-ship-that-served-in-gulf.html
That's an interesting statement, when taken in its context. He's essentially saying that (i) it's OK for the servicemen and servicewomen to service one another, and (ii) servicewomen have a right to get pregnant even on active missions. The first point is sensible enough, even if prudes ashore would disapprove. Since pregnancy is a ticket home away from danger, the second point might be a bit controversial.
1) Write new iphone app.
2) Price it quite high.
3) Australian Classification Board buys it to review.
4) Repeat as needed
5) Profit.
On the second and subsequent iterations, step 1 just requires renaming the app, not writing a whole new one. Change a few colors with #define statements, if you like, but anything more than that is overkill.
Well, seeing as Shakespeare insists on remaining dead (and has indeed done so for almost four hundred years), I would venture to suggest that it's unlikely you're ever going to get a 100% guaranteed dead-cert answer to the question from a primary source.
But what about others who were alive at that time? Surely they can't all be dead!
Or has there been some mass murder of people who lived 400 years ago?
Using the wrong OS can get a company shut down
You're right: the London Stock Exchange had a near-death experience using Windows for its trading platform. They had to temporarily shut down when it seized up. That's why they decided to change to a faster and cheaper Linux-based trading platform.
Now if nearly all of the programs being sold for the Microsoft platform worked equally well on a Linux platform then I believe that MS really could be shut out of the market with companies like IBM switching from Windows by default, to anything else.
Well, we can expect that some programs will be tweaked in ways that inhibit running them under WINE, because the vendor wants them to be Windows-only (probably a lot of MS applications, for instance). Many games are tied to Windows calls at a basic level, and would sacrifice performance in becoming more portable.
However, other programs run perfectly via WINE, such as the Art Rage painting program which was bundled with the Wacom tablets we use on a couple of Ubuntu PCs at home. The Wacom tablets have excellent support in Linux, but I don't know of any native Linux program like Art Rage (it is not a bitmap editor in the style of Gimp or Photoshop, but emulates working with paints, spatula, etc.), so I tried installing it, and got a pleasant surprise. Installation simple, works perfectly. I suspect this capability would be possible for many programs, and would not even involve much developer effort in most cases. But it might require a conscious decision by the designers or marketing folks.