"The IRS thinks it can collect an extra $2 billion in taxes from this requirement that auctioneers report sellers who complete 100 or transactions a year worth at least $5,000."
Which could then be wrapped up in bricks, loaded onto a crate, shipped off to the middle east... never to be seen again. Thanks government!
Its the American dream!...and if you don't have any proof... sue them anyway! It's a 50-50 chance you can convince the idiots in the judicial system to go your way right?
It was a friend of my cousin, and our discussion didn't get deep enough for me to ask what the user was doing... but she mentioned changing her desktop was a pain in the ass.
Those Mac ads are pretty lame, I think they do it for the fanboy's out there that can't get enough of the MS bashing... but then again, MS is an easy target.
Either way the UAC has proven to be less effective as it was originally intended right? I mean ultimately, the end user is going to be convinced that they need to download this malware or spyware and grant it permissions to run... Thats basically what happens now, except they don't have to approve it once they download it.
How about developing a programming tool that was similar to Visual Basic that would program POSIX style code that could be compiled and executed in any operating system? It seems sometimes the open-source community that looks down upon Microsoft in every aspect is constantly trying to copy the things they do? I think it GUI programming tool kit would be great.
I just had my younger cousin ask me last night my thoughts on Vista. After a 10 minute rant on lack of security, bugs, drivers, DRM & PMP, she stepped in and said. "A friend of mine has it, and hates it" "It asks her 'Are you sure you want to do this?' every time she does anything on the damn thing"
I hope the negative word of mouth spreads like wildfire on this one.
Microsoft, please take note of the SCO law suit attempts, then leave the open source community alone. IF you kill Linux you will screw over the consumer once and for all and I don't think that will help your public image much. How about you try creating products that people actually want to use (instead of forcing them to buy your products) and we'll continue to do our own thing.
I can't believe it took this long for Dell to ask their users what they actually want. I mean, this is the internet. ITs where you get instant results, thus why you can respond so quickly to your market. I'm glad to hear they are at least feeling the Linux pressures... Now what would be great is if they decided to give support to those desktops or laptops they sell with Linux on them.
Dell also has to face the distribution conundrum...
Thanks for all the advice guys. I greatly appreciate the input, I'm going to take a look at all the links you've all sent me when I get back home. Now I'm excited... everyones telling me that I don't need a creative brain. Thats fantastic. I played with Blender earlier and followed one of their tutorials on making a simple Heart, which was relatively easy to follow; so we'll see what happens.
Thanks a bunch guys, your posts are what separate Slash-Dotters from Digg-heads.
At least a creative one. I am always impressed when I see works of art, and 3d rendering is no different. I always download these apps, then I try to find online tutorials, forums and all that... but I can never produce anything worth mentioning. I guess I just lack the creative artistic abilities. Now when it comes to programming, I can just sit down, lay down some code, and soon enough its doing what I wanted it to do in the first place.
Thanks for the link, I'm going to download this, and give it a try as well.
I would love to be able to make some beautiful scenes as the ones that they display on the blender website.
I would say to think that humans are the only intelligent life form in the galaxy is one of the most ridiculous ideas ever. I mean, we barely know what lives in our oceans beyond a mile or two down, and I would consider most of those creatures to be "alien" life forms, many of which are cepholopods with extraordinary abilities for communication, reasoning, and some show some real intelligence.
To say that we are the 1 freak accident in the realm of infinite space, is simply outlandish.
I heard about the DJ Drama incident on XM radio, and I couldn't believe that they had called it "racketeering" "profiteering" etc... RIAA and MPAA disgust me in ways words couldn't describe. Leave people alone, let the market determine what gets bought and what does not and stay out of everyones business. Mixtapes get sold in new york as much as crack... except one of those two items kills people. How bought the RIAA use their time to bust crack dealers instead? I'm sure your public image will go up quite a bit.
I think what is happening is that developers all want to be the one to come up with THE best method and they want it to be in THEIR distribution of choice. This leads to many people working on the same task all around the world, and coming to several different conclusions. It goes entirely against the original ideas of Linux. Linux was the result of many people from all over the world coming together to work with Linus's kernel code in order to create a stable and open source operating system. What ensued was marvelous, until the programmers decided to create more and more specialized distributions.
Don't get me wrong, each distribution has its own pro's and con's but ultimately, for the sake of the operating system as a whole, you want to standardize the important components. The most important, in my opinion, is software distribution and software installation. If you're trying to convince a standard user to switch from Windows to Linux, and they go ahead and give it a try, I promise you that when they ask you "OK, so how do I install AIM? or how do I install this..." they will stop listening or paying attention when you've gone through the first couple steps.
Linux by nature requires the end user to have extensive knowledge of the inner workings of the distribution itself. The original idea behind Linspire (formerly Lindows -- thanks for the lawsuit MS:( ) was to make Linux look and feel as much like Windows as possible, so that the end user is practically unaware that they aren't in Windows. This is why they are the creators of CNR and the driving force behind standardizing the distribution method.
Naturally they are a company that is trying to profit from Linux, but then again, capitalism is what this country was based on, and if thats what it takes to get Linux to compete against Windows Vista, than thats fine by me.
I think the concept is a good one. Less username/password combinations to remember and the ease of not having to create/activate accounts on every new site you visit.
You mention tracking people. Well, I'm not sure if you noticed this or not, but most web-sites already track you and any web site that is using Google Analytics, is tracking you in even more detail. Thus, regardless of ID's, the more web sites you frequent with applications like google analytics and other surf data aggregators, the more detailed maps they can draw of you and your surfing patterns. IF you don't like it... you could always use Tor, or proxies, but ultimately, you'll be tracked whether you like it or not in one way or another.
I'm planning to make the move out there in about 4 months. I'm currently on the job hunt.
Are you looking for work out there as well?? If so, how is the hunt going?
I know when I visited Palo Alto I had a great time just walking around. It was a really nice area, and I could just hop back on the train to get back to San Francisco.
I would even love the complete opposite... How bout an uber-sized laptop that you can barely care, so unportable its inconvenient, but a huge High Def monitor that will blind anyone walking remotely close to it?? With the new Intel Terraflop chip in that sucker. Now that would be nice!:D
I agree... but like i said in the above comment replies, you can cater to shareholders while developing good products that benefit consumers. In fact, if they made better products that benefited the consumers they would sell more units, more licenses, etc and the shareholders will get to enjoy a rising stock price.
Google: (GOOG) current stock price: 465.93 Microsoft: (MSFT) 29.40
Not necessarily. Microsoft just simply isn't a company to find new and inventive ways to be a profitable company. They always simply try to copy someone else's idea and they usually fail. See Zune reviews on Slash.
I just graduated from college with a degree in business and in no way did they say "OK class. Today we're going to learn how to run a business on the edge of legality and try to convince consumers they need your products then once they are locked in, we screw them out of every penny they have"
Again, using Google as an example of a company that does good for both the consumers as well as their shareholders. Notice they even have a clause in their privacy statement which says "We shall do no evil" or something to that effect. And so far they haven't done any evil. They were even the only search engine to stand up to the government when they asked for search queries.
Also, look at Skype. Skype was created by the old founders of Kazaa which as you may remember was a P2P application which eventually got sued, luckily for the skype guys it was after they sold kazaa. They then used their cash out money to start skype... In their first year they made 60million dollars and were purchased by eBay for roughly 1 billion dollars.
These examples prove to me that you can cater both to the consumer and to the shareholders. Skype was free and still is free to this day and is profitable because they sell pc -> land line minutes at a discounted rate. Which, internet telphony is starting to lower your monthly phone bill as a result of the added competition.
First of all. Its spelled "Linux" not linix. You're on/. you should know this by now.
No kidding they're supposed to act in favor of shareholders, however it should also benefit the consumer, by having some friendlier business practices.... Google is rolling in the cash, and you don't see them trying to screw over their customers/consumers.
As for gaming... you can use wine (win32 emulator) to play just about any game you can in windows. Ie: Counterstrike (any steam application) World of Warcraft and plenty of other games. There are even open source FPS's like mods of wolfenstein which are entirely free. Take a look at http://www.linuxgames.com/ for more information.
I can agree with you on one part, which is until programmers start developing cross platform software for both businesses and consumers alike, Linux will only be adopted by geeks. Which, if you would have read the article in my signature, you would have realized that I also speak of the down sides of linux. And again, if you would have read the article in my signature I speak to the software developers and plead for them to develop POSIX compliant software. There is a reason why there are programming standards, and there is no need for software to ONLY work in Windows. Take a look at Skype for example. Windows/Linux/Mac/etc. These are companies that know what they are doing, and know they can be profitable by designing software for all platforms.
I couldn't agree more. The OpenSource community always comes up short when it comes to taking on the big corporate names. Ultimately the more choices the consumers have the lower the prices, the higher the standards, and thats what a mixed economy is all about.
Slashdot Mirror
This is one small step for Dell, and one giant leap for the open source movement.
$50 says Microsoft will try and sue dell when they "support" linux (tech support) without buying "vouchers" from the MS/Novell deal.
"The IRS thinks it can collect an extra $2 billion in taxes from this requirement that auctioneers report sellers who complete 100 or transactions a year worth at least $5,000."
Which could then be wrapped up in bricks, loaded onto a crate, shipped off to the middle east... never to be seen again. Thanks government!
Its the American dream! ...and if you don't have any proof... sue them anyway! It's a 50-50 chance you can convince the idiots in the judicial system to go your way right?
I couldn't agree more
I'm officially stumped. I mean, I'm happy that Microsoft had to empty half of its pockets for a day.... so thats good I guess.
I'll keep you posted if I happen to run into the user. I'll be able to ask some more specific questions. Ultimately, they called it a Mac rip-off. :/
It was a friend of my cousin, and our discussion didn't get deep enough for me to ask what the user was doing... but she mentioned changing her desktop was a pain in the ass.
Those Mac ads are pretty lame, I think they do it for the fanboy's out there that can't get enough of the MS bashing... but then again, MS is an easy target.
Either way the UAC has proven to be less effective as it was originally intended right? I mean ultimately, the end user is going to be convinced that they need to download this malware or spyware and grant it permissions to run... Thats basically what happens now, except they don't have to approve it once they download it.
How about developing a programming tool that was similar to Visual Basic that would program POSIX style code that could be compiled and executed in any operating system? It seems sometimes the open-source community that looks down upon Microsoft in every aspect is constantly trying to copy the things they do? I think it GUI programming tool kit would be great.
I just had my younger cousin ask me last night my thoughts on Vista. After a 10 minute rant on lack of security, bugs, drivers, DRM & PMP, she stepped in and said. "A friend of mine has it, and hates it" "It asks her 'Are you sure you want to do this?' every time she does anything on the damn thing"
I hope the negative word of mouth spreads like wildfire on this one.
Microsoft, please take note of the SCO law suit attempts, then leave the open source community alone. IF you kill Linux you will screw over the consumer once and for all and I don't think that will help your public image much. How about you try creating products that people actually want to use (instead of forcing them to buy your products) and we'll continue to do our own thing.
I can't believe it took this long for Dell to ask their users what they actually want. I mean, this is the internet. ITs where you get instant results, thus why you can respond so quickly to your market. I'm glad to hear they are at least feeling the Linux pressures... Now what would be great is if they decided to give support to those desktops or laptops they sell with Linux on them.
Dell also has to face the distribution conundrum...
Thanks for all the advice guys. I greatly appreciate the input, I'm going to take a look at all the links you've all sent me when I get back home. Now I'm excited... everyones telling me that I don't need a creative brain. Thats fantastic. I played with Blender earlier and followed one of their tutorials on making a simple Heart, which was relatively easy to follow; so we'll see what happens.
Thanks a bunch guys, your posts are what separate Slash-Dotters from Digg-heads.
Thanks again
At least a creative one. I am always impressed when I see works of art, and 3d rendering is no different. I always download these apps, then I try to find online tutorials, forums and all that... but I can never produce anything worth mentioning. I guess I just lack the creative artistic abilities. Now when it comes to programming, I can just sit down, lay down some code, and soon enough its doing what I wanted it to do in the first place.
Thanks for the link, I'm going to download this, and give it a try as well.
I would love to be able to make some beautiful scenes as the ones that they display on the blender website.
I would say to think that humans are the only intelligent life form in the galaxy is one of the most ridiculous ideas ever. I mean, we barely know what lives in our oceans beyond a mile or two down, and I would consider most of those creatures to be "alien" life forms, many of which are cepholopods with extraordinary abilities for communication, reasoning, and some show some real intelligence.
To say that we are the 1 freak accident in the realm of infinite space, is simply outlandish.
I heard about the DJ Drama incident on XM radio, and I couldn't believe that they had called it "racketeering" "profiteering" etc... RIAA and MPAA disgust me in ways words couldn't describe. Leave people alone, let the market determine what gets bought and what does not and stay out of everyones business. Mixtapes get sold in new york as much as crack... except one of those two items kills people. How bought the RIAA use their time to bust crack dealers instead? I'm sure your public image will go up quite a bit.
I think what is happening is that developers all want to be the one to come up with THE best method and they want it to be in THEIR distribution of choice. This leads to many people working on the same task all around the world, and coming to several different conclusions. It goes entirely against the original ideas of Linux. Linux was the result of many people from all over the world coming together to work with Linus's kernel code in order to create a stable and open source operating system. What ensued was marvelous, until the programmers decided to create more and more specialized distributions.
:( ) was to make Linux look and feel as much like Windows as possible, so that the end user is practically unaware that they aren't in Windows. This is why they are the creators of CNR and the driving force behind standardizing the distribution method.
Don't get me wrong, each distribution has its own pro's and con's but ultimately, for the sake of the operating system as a whole, you want to standardize the important components. The most important, in my opinion, is software distribution and software installation. If you're trying to convince a standard user to switch from Windows to Linux, and they go ahead and give it a try, I promise you that when they ask you "OK, so how do I install AIM? or how do I install this..." they will stop listening or paying attention when you've gone through the first couple steps.
Linux by nature requires the end user to have extensive knowledge of the inner workings of the distribution itself. The original idea behind Linspire (formerly Lindows -- thanks for the lawsuit MS
Naturally they are a company that is trying to profit from Linux, but then again, capitalism is what this country was based on, and if thats what it takes to get Linux to compete against Windows Vista, than thats fine by me.
I think the concept is a good one. Less username/password combinations to remember and the ease of not having to create/activate accounts on every new site you visit.
You mention tracking people. Well, I'm not sure if you noticed this or not, but most web-sites already track you and any web site that is using Google Analytics, is tracking you in even more detail. Thus, regardless of ID's, the more web sites you frequent with applications like google analytics and other surf data aggregators, the more detailed maps they can draw of you and your surfing patterns. IF you don't like it... you could always use Tor, or proxies, but ultimately, you'll be tracked whether you like it or not in one way or another.
Its ok for the MPAA to steal whatever they want, duh!
Its not ok for you to download crap that you wouldn't have paid to see in the first place.
...in the least.
I'm glad things are going well for you...
I'm planning to make the move out there in about 4 months. I'm currently on the job hunt.
Are you looking for work out there as well?? If so, how is the hunt going?
I know when I visited Palo Alto I had a great time just walking around. It was a really nice area, and I could just hop back on the train to get back to San Francisco.
good luck!
I would even love the complete opposite... How bout an uber-sized laptop that you can barely care, so unportable its inconvenient, but a huge High Def monitor that will blind anyone walking remotely close to it?? With the new Intel Terraflop chip in that sucker. Now that would be nice! :D
I agree... but like i said in the above comment replies, you can cater to shareholders while developing good products that benefit consumers. In fact, if they made better products that benefited the consumers they would sell more units, more licenses, etc and the shareholders will get to enjoy a rising stock price.
Google: (GOOG) current stock price: 465.93
Microsoft: (MSFT) 29.40
Not necessarily. Microsoft just simply isn't a company to find new and inventive ways to be a profitable company. They always simply try to copy someone else's idea and they usually fail. See Zune reviews on Slash.
I just graduated from college with a degree in business and in no way did they say "OK class. Today we're going to learn how to run a business on the edge of legality and try to convince consumers they need your products then once they are locked in, we screw them out of every penny they have"
Again, using Google as an example of a company that does good for both the consumers as well as their shareholders. Notice they even have a clause in their privacy statement which says "We shall do no evil" or something to that effect. And so far they haven't done any evil. They were even the only search engine to stand up to the government when they asked for search queries.
Also, look at Skype. Skype was created by the old founders of Kazaa which as you may remember was a P2P application which eventually got sued, luckily for the skype guys it was after they sold kazaa. They then used their cash out money to start skype... In their first year they made 60million dollars and were purchased by eBay for roughly 1 billion dollars.
These examples prove to me that you can cater both to the consumer and to the shareholders. Skype was free and still is free to this day and is profitable because they sell pc -> land line minutes at a discounted rate. Which, internet telphony is starting to lower your monthly phone bill as a result of the added competition.
First of all. Its spelled "Linux" not linix. You're on /. you should know this by now.
No kidding they're supposed to act in favor of shareholders, however it should also benefit the consumer, by having some friendlier business practices.... Google is rolling in the cash, and you don't see them trying to screw over their customers/consumers.
As for gaming... you can use wine (win32 emulator) to play just about any game you can in windows. Ie: Counterstrike (any steam application) World of Warcraft and plenty of other games. There are even open source FPS's like mods of wolfenstein which are entirely free. Take a look at http://www.linuxgames.com/ for more information.
I can agree with you on one part, which is until programmers start developing cross platform software for both businesses and consumers alike, Linux will only be adopted by geeks. Which, if you would have read the article in my signature, you would have realized that I also speak of the down sides of linux. And again, if you would have read the article in my signature I speak to the software developers and plead for them to develop POSIX compliant software. There is a reason why there are programming standards, and there is no need for software to ONLY work in Windows. Take a look at Skype for example. Windows/Linux/Mac/etc. These are companies that know what they are doing, and know they can be profitable by designing software for all platforms.
I couldn't agree more. The OpenSource community always comes up short when it comes to taking on the big corporate names. Ultimately the more choices the consumers have the lower the prices, the higher the standards, and thats what a mixed economy is all about.