Yeah, for the basic stuff that some of my clients use office for (Spreadsheets, and simple Word processing) OpenOffice is great... but recently, even I ran into some trouble using it when someone asked me to print an envelope. It was overly complicated and in the end, it did not function the way it should have, though we still were able to print the envelope.
Also, a user complained about the lack of fonts in OpenOffice.
As for remapping of IE links to point to FireFox, I'm not the in-house I.T. guy, so I can't be an IT Nazi... plus, if I tell them how to prevent spyware and they continue to get it as a result of their unsafe surfing practices, then I'll just be called in to remove some more spyware, which I also taught them how to remove on their own. They simply do not wish to learn, and I think thats the bottom line.:(
I've been trying to accomplish the same feat with many of my customers. In an attempt to cut costs for many small businesses I've installed OpenOffice and Firefox. I even sit there and show them the benefits of both, yet some time goes by, and for whatever reason, the user ends up reverting back to Internet explorer for whatever reason. I sat down today and asked one of them why they hadn't been using Firefox. I was called in to remove some spyware as a result of their wandering the internet while using IE and was scratching my head at the simple fact that this wouldn't have happened had they used Firefox. They didn't have an answer for me, and I suppose the world may never know the thought processes of these people. Maybe they've been completely brainwashed by Microsoft. If there isn't some sort of familiar MS logo on the product they are using they immediately close it and quickly install some spyware to make themselves feel better.
Whatever it may be, it would be really nice if software companies started programming applications for all available platforms so users can get the same software no matter what OS they are running. Open source or not, this would be a great advancement in application development and hopefully more and more will follow the trend. I believe Ahead is making Nero work in linux soon, which will be really nice.
This is how and why the market operates in this way.
A small company builds a fantastic idea into a business. The business becomes profitable/popular. Bigger companies would love to have the abilities of these smaller companies, and thus they buy them up. Then the big company says "We'll leave you alone, you keep doing what you're doing... except you have to abide by these rules/regulations/contracts/etc" and naturally the original idea is lost in translation along the way and they are no longer the best at what they do. Next, another small startup company says "Hey... We can do this better than those people can" and the cycle starts all over again. Who benefits? The small business with the big idea that gets gobbled up by the big businesses. Its the dream of every entrepreneur these days to create something that a larger company will find enticing and get bought out by them. Look at YouTube, Flickr, Picasa, and any other company that has been gobbled up by the big boy's. Its a beautiful thing this free market of ours, but we must do something to ensure that it stays fully operational.
I don't think anyone is replacing their TV viewing time with short clips on YouTube or anywhere else online. The quality of the online video is terrible, and it definitely cannot compare to that of the actual show on a real television being broadcast without any latency (ideally). Thus, any short, poor quality clips being aired online should only help your television shows gain publicity and maybe even allow people who would never have considered watching your show, to actually start watching it.
If a user online sees a funny clip, or a clip that has been altered in some way of your original content, shouldn't that be a compliment to your show, or channel? I thought imitation was the greatest form of flattery?
I think its because people in government in Europe have a little more knowledge about the modern world. They understand foreign governments, they understand foreign religions, and they understand how businesses should function. This government doesn't know anything about computers, the internet(s), or about foreign religion. They simply guess at what is occurring in the market, pat Microsoft on the back at being such great capitalists, and continue to remove our civil liberties, all while bad mouthing other countries for their lack of civil liberties.
I thought they were ready to tackle Copyright reform. We read about the UK reforming Copyright laws, and I think its time companies with some smarts tackle the same issues stateside. It would be really nice if Google is able to help start a movement towards Copyright reform.
Though previously attempted by Linspire, wouldn't this be a great opportunity for a small manufacturer to start selling OS free systems or systems with Linux installs on them? As long as they are able to say "limited" to "no support" if thats what the market wants, than thats what the market should get. I also believe there is at least one Dell model that has a system without an operating system...:/
If I die tomorrow.. blame the government, but I gotta get this off my chest.
Bill Clinton gets a blowjob, and people immediately say the word impeach, and yet after all of these screw ups, lost lives, botched intelligence, lack of foreign policy, and any clue of how to run a country, or better yet, how to think of other people besides you and the people you are friends with, its ridiculous. (sorry about the run-on). Besides that, we literally "lost" billions of dollars that we shipped over there in hard currency by the airplane load and now the corporate headquarters of Satan Inc, is moving in with all of the other oil kingpins in Dubai? I'm absolutely disgusted at what is going on in this country and how nothing will ever be done to change any of this. The lives that were lost in the desert to make these monkeys rich is sickening, and then all the money that is being dumped in their to continue to fuel our own war is even more revolting. It makes me sick that this is occurring in 2007, and yet the politicians in this country have the audacity to tell other countries how they should be run. I'm disgusted... now can some intern please give Bush a blow job already so he can be impeached?
Ultimately, the infrastructure will make or break whatever OEM decides to finally sell computers with Linux on them from the factory. Software needs to be as easy to install in Windows... so users can download all the spyware they know and love with the simplicity of downloading some executable that will do the rest for them (please note sarcasm re: spyware). Other than that, they need to train call centers, or at least have some documentation for them to refer to other than "Unplug the modem... wait 10 seconds... now plug it back in"
Also, Linspire tried cutting deals with Tigerdirect (not that I would ever purchase a Systemax) but they were offering Linspire on them from the get go... don't think it worked out to well, but hopefully they learned something, and maybe they will try it again.
All this government has to do is use the word "terrorist" in a sentence and all of your civil liberties are thrown out a window. In fact, by me writing this, I'm sure it has been flagged on some ISP/Government computer somewhere and they will notice its just another user bad mouthing big brother. Its disturbing how we must all sit idly by and watch as all of our rights continue to be diminished... Hopefully something will change and soon.
While I agree that there should be a recovery partition with an easy to access method for recovering the system, it should also backup your personal documents to that partition so the user doesn't lose any data. Aside from that, no manufacturer in their right mind would ever think that a recovery partition would be the solution to their "tech support" and infrastructure problem. Ultimately, there will be users who will refuse to simply "recover" their system from a partition.
Regardless of which company comes to the market with the first OEM Linux desktop installation, its going to be whichever company can come up with the best infrastructure in the shortest amount of time. They can't sell computers they can't support, thus they will need to setup call-centers prepared to handle Linux problems. They'll need to create tons of help-files for the call-centers to use. They will also need to make sure that whichever distribution they end up using has an easy to use and easy to manage software package installer, otherwise new users will be so turned off by Linux that they will just switch back to Windows, bow their heads, and continue to march under the control of Microsoft.
The alternative would be if one of these companies said "Buy Linux at your own risk" "Support yourselves" or something similar, then marketed it to the geeks of the world saying something like "You asked for an alternative... we gave it to you"
Who knows... only time will tell us how this one plays out. My only hope is that people stop buying into the Marketing machine of Microsoft. Which is one reason I like the Mac (Friends) commercial... not because it makes entirely true claims, but because it gets people to think about things instead of just going with whatever MS tells them to do.... and "I'm having open-heart surgery today" cracks me up everytime.
I was about to say the exact same thing... luckily I knew it wouldn't be original, so I decided to just agree with you on this one... followed by lots and lots of laughter.
HAHAHhahahAHAHahaAHAHahhaHAHA!!!
"Microsoft, he said, asks the copyright's owner for permission first.." -- That cracks me up
Before OEMs can even think about pre-installing an OS they need to create an infrastructure that is going to work. The software needs to have a functional software installer/distribution method, and patches and updates need to work without too much user interaction.
Today for instance I was attempting to install my nVidia drivers onto my OpenSuSE 10.2 install, and it is giving me a very difficult time. Without the drivers, I can run the desktop at 1024x768 on my LCD. Once I install them, it doesn't recognize my monitor, and refuses to give me any other resolution but 800x600 at 50Hz.
Things like that simply HAVE to work from the get go. People are used to popping in a CD, or clicking a few buttons, and their products work. They will not take the time to jump onto IRC and talk to some really angry geeks who think they are gods of computers and try out any terminal commands.
I think Dell is on the right track at least because this puts some pressure on the other OEMs to tap into the market. Basically whichever OEM finishes the infrastructure first (my money is on Dell by way of India and China) gets the prize.
Slashdot Mirror
Yeah, for the basic stuff that some of my clients use office for (Spreadsheets, and simple Word processing) OpenOffice is great... but recently, even I ran into some trouble using it when someone asked me to print an envelope. It was overly complicated and in the end, it did not function the way it should have, though we still were able to print the envelope.
:(
Also, a user complained about the lack of fonts in OpenOffice.
As for remapping of IE links to point to FireFox, I'm not the in-house I.T. guy, so I can't be an IT Nazi... plus, if I tell them how to prevent spyware and they continue to get it as a result of their unsafe surfing practices, then I'll just be called in to remove some more spyware, which I also taught them how to remove on their own. They simply do not wish to learn, and I think thats the bottom line.
I've been trying to accomplish the same feat with many of my customers. In an attempt to cut costs for many small businesses I've installed OpenOffice and Firefox. I even sit there and show them the benefits of both, yet some time goes by, and for whatever reason, the user ends up reverting back to Internet explorer for whatever reason. I sat down today and asked one of them why they hadn't been using Firefox. I was called in to remove some spyware as a result of their wandering the internet while using IE and was scratching my head at the simple fact that this wouldn't have happened had they used Firefox. They didn't have an answer for me, and I suppose the world may never know the thought processes of these people. Maybe they've been completely brainwashed by Microsoft. If there isn't some sort of familiar MS logo on the product they are using they immediately close it and quickly install some spyware to make themselves feel better.
Whatever it may be, it would be really nice if software companies started programming applications for all available platforms so users can get the same software no matter what OS they are running. Open source or not, this would be a great advancement in application development and hopefully more and more will follow the trend. I believe Ahead is making Nero work in linux soon, which will be really nice.
This is how and why the market operates in this way.
A small company builds a fantastic idea into a business. The business becomes profitable/popular. Bigger companies would love to have the abilities of these smaller companies, and thus they buy them up. Then the big company says "We'll leave you alone, you keep doing what you're doing... except you have to abide by these rules/regulations/contracts/etc" and naturally the original idea is lost in translation along the way and they are no longer the best at what they do. Next, another small startup company says "Hey... We can do this better than those people can" and the cycle starts all over again. Who benefits? The small business with the big idea that gets gobbled up by the big businesses. Its the dream of every entrepreneur these days to create something that a larger company will find enticing and get bought out by them. Look at YouTube, Flickr, Picasa, and any other company that has been gobbled up by the big boy's. Its a beautiful thing this free market of ours, but we must do something to ensure that it stays fully operational.
Like hell they can't!
Our government can do absolutely whatever it likes right now, and it dares anyone to try and stop them.
Checks? Balances? No way, not today.
I don't think anyone is replacing their TV viewing time with short clips on YouTube or anywhere else online. The quality of the online video is terrible, and it definitely cannot compare to that of the actual show on a real television being broadcast without any latency (ideally). Thus, any short, poor quality clips being aired online should only help your television shows gain publicity and maybe even allow people who would never have considered watching your show, to actually start watching it.
If a user online sees a funny clip, or a clip that has been altered in some way of your original content, shouldn't that be a compliment to your show, or channel? I thought imitation was the greatest form of flattery?
I think its because people in government in Europe have a little more knowledge about the modern world. They understand foreign governments, they understand foreign religions, and they understand how businesses should function. This government doesn't know anything about computers, the internet(s), or about foreign religion. They simply guess at what is occurring in the market, pat Microsoft on the back at being such great capitalists, and continue to remove our civil liberties, all while bad mouthing other countries for their lack of civil liberties.
I thought they were ready to tackle Copyright reform. We read about the UK reforming Copyright laws, and I think its time companies with some smarts tackle the same issues stateside. It would be really nice if Google is able to help start a movement towards Copyright reform.
I would love to have a Mozilla based flavor of Linux as a desktop... and if anyone has the cash, and programmers to do it... Its Moz!
Anyone who sees this merger as irrelevant, pointless, or stupid might want to use those same words when describing their existence.
Though previously attempted by Linspire, wouldn't this be a great opportunity for a small manufacturer to start selling OS free systems or systems with Linux installs on them? As long as they are able to say "limited" to "no support" if thats what the market wants, than thats what the market should get. I also believe there is at least one Dell model that has a system without an operating system... :/
If I die tomorrow.. blame the government, but I gotta get this off my chest.
Bill Clinton gets a blowjob, and people immediately say the word impeach, and yet after all of these screw ups, lost lives, botched intelligence, lack of foreign policy, and any clue of how to run a country, or better yet, how to think of other people besides you and the people you are friends with, its ridiculous. (sorry about the run-on). Besides that, we literally "lost" billions of dollars that we shipped over there in hard currency by the airplane load and now the corporate headquarters of Satan Inc, is moving in with all of the other oil kingpins in Dubai? I'm absolutely disgusted at what is going on in this country and how nothing will ever be done to change any of this. The lives that were lost in the desert to make these monkeys rich is sickening, and then all the money that is being dumped in their to continue to fuel our own war is even more revolting. It makes me sick that this is occurring in 2007, and yet the politicians in this country have the audacity to tell other countries how they should be run. I'm disgusted... now can some intern please give Bush a blow job already so he can be impeached?
$50 says Microsoft sues them once this thing comes out of beta for the programs button reading "Start"
It should say "React"!
Ultimately, the infrastructure will make or break whatever OEM decides to finally sell computers with Linux on them from the factory. Software needs to be as easy to install in Windows... so users can download all the spyware they know and love with the simplicity of downloading some executable that will do the rest for them (please note sarcasm re: spyware). Other than that, they need to train call centers, or at least have some documentation for them to refer to other than "Unplug the modem... wait 10 seconds... now plug it back in"
Also, Linspire tried cutting deals with Tigerdirect (not that I would ever purchase a Systemax) but they were offering Linspire on them from the get go... don't think it worked out to well, but hopefully they learned something, and maybe they will try it again.
I couldn't agree more...
All this government has to do is use the word "terrorist" in a sentence and all of your civil liberties are thrown out a window. In fact, by me writing this, I'm sure it has been flagged on some ISP/Government computer somewhere and they will notice its just another user bad mouthing big brother. Its disturbing how we must all sit idly by and watch as all of our rights continue to be diminished... Hopefully something will change and soon.
Yeah I'm sure they'll give their blessing......... and the Pope's Muslim.
While I agree that there should be a recovery partition with an easy to access method for recovering the system, it should also backup your personal documents to that partition so the user doesn't lose any data. Aside from that, no manufacturer in their right mind would ever think that a recovery partition would be the solution to their "tech support" and infrastructure problem. Ultimately, there will be users who will refuse to simply "recover" their system from a partition.
But I agree, it should definitely be included.
Regardless of which company comes to the market with the first OEM Linux desktop installation, its going to be whichever company can come up with the best infrastructure in the shortest amount of time. They can't sell computers they can't support, thus they will need to setup call-centers prepared to handle Linux problems. They'll need to create tons of help-files for the call-centers to use. They will also need to make sure that whichever distribution they end up using has an easy to use and easy to manage software package installer, otherwise new users will be so turned off by Linux that they will just switch back to Windows, bow their heads, and continue to march under the control of Microsoft.
... and "I'm having open-heart surgery today" cracks me up everytime.
The alternative would be if one of these companies said "Buy Linux at your own risk" "Support yourselves" or something similar, then marketed it to the geeks of the world saying something like "You asked for an alternative... we gave it to you"
Who knows... only time will tell us how this one plays out. My only hope is that people stop buying into the Marketing machine of Microsoft. Which is one reason I like the Mac (Friends) commercial... not because it makes entirely true claims, but because it gets people to think about things instead of just going with whatever MS tells them to do.
I was about to say the exact same thing... luckily I knew it wouldn't be original, so I decided to just agree with you on this one... followed by lots and lots of laughter.
HAHAHhahahAHAHahaAHAHahhaHAHA!!!
"Microsoft, he said, asks the copyright's owner for permission first.." -- That cracks me up
and dotted... any mirrors yet?
He could have just as easily purchased a used Ti83 and it would have had more functionality than a CigarBox Laptop...... :/
OK. No one got my South Park reference. I apologize. I would remove the comment if I could :(
wasn't it:
"Phase 1: Steal under-pants"
"Phase 3: Profit"
"But wait, whats phase 2?"
"Phase 1: Steal underpants"
"Phase 3: Profit!"
Before OEMs can even think about pre-installing an OS they need to create an infrastructure that is going to work. The software needs to have a functional software installer/distribution method, and patches and updates need to work without too much user interaction.
Today for instance I was attempting to install my nVidia drivers onto my OpenSuSE 10.2 install, and it is giving me a very difficult time. Without the drivers, I can run the desktop at 1024x768 on my LCD. Once I install them, it doesn't recognize my monitor, and refuses to give me any other resolution but 800x600 at 50Hz.
Things like that simply HAVE to work from the get go. People are used to popping in a CD, or clicking a few buttons, and their products work. They will not take the time to jump onto IRC and talk to some really angry geeks who think they are gods of computers and try out any terminal commands.
I think Dell is on the right track at least because this puts some pressure on the other OEMs to tap into the market. Basically whichever OEM finishes the infrastructure first (my money is on Dell by way of India and China) gets the prize.
Incidentally I'm lactose intolerant.
I wonder how quickly this may become a real threat in the wild and how quickly the manufacturers can patch it...
Now taking bets to see how long it takes to crack the DRM. $3.99, I should be able to own downloaded material for that price!