I can't force you to see why MS using slander to reduce competition is morally wrong, but let me paint a scary picture to help you see why Linux (and other MS competitors) dissipating would be horrible...
Imagine: Windows 7 is the only OS left, Mac was bought and discontinued, BSD and Linux were declared a danger to children and banned/blocked, with all sites promoting it getting cease and desist letters.
Ok, now that we have our ultimate doomsday scenario, let's see how things could go wrong:
MS Creates an application repository (YEAH!) and disables all non-respository installs for safety sake (BOO!), allowing them to control which programs are allowed onto their system, killing all non-approved free applications (Firefox, Opera, etc).
MS gives each computer one password, and you must use it for loging into your system. Changing/altering the password deletes the OS, and you get sued for attempting to circumvent DRM protection.
MS creates a new IE, one that doesn't have a URL bar, and that has a search engine with only approved sites (For the children!)
MS allows only one player (Theirs, natch), and it filters out any potential pirated music/audio based on a filter list. (More money from the RIAA! Woot!)
MS creates a "Simple Copy" program, that only copies approved extensions from external media, and MS disables your ability to change extensions all together.
MS gets rid of the current file system, forces all users to save everything to the desktop (For convience sake, since you don't need to install any programs any more).
MS checks itself daily to see if you have broken any written (Or unwritten) rules, and can disable any OS, program, or attached device based on a filter. (Oh, you can't use that old version of word, you must use the new one, click here to buy!)
Since all competition has been destroyed, MS decides to remove all older machines from stores, only keeping the most recent version. If you have support issues and you head to the store you bought it from, MS can massively increase the price for that store unless they force you to buy a new machine or go home (Or stop selling PC's there all together).
^_^ There, a bunch of foil-hatted conspiracies that can scare the crap out of you, should we have no competition. And they are all silly, arn't they?
I mean, its not like MS would sabotage other program's file types, force their own standards with money and threats through a standards committee, give advanced help to their own programs to make them seem smaller and faster by using undocumented tricks in the OS, attempt to kill opponents by offering older versions for basically free, coercing nations into MS only contracts for years at a time, force a program building computers for poor children to increase the cost to make the machines strong enough to run an 8 year old OS, threaten distributors with increased cost if any competition occurs, and then pay massive amounts of money attacking competitors without fixing their own flaws.... right?
To extrapolate your last sentence, when I used Gmail offline in Ubuntu 9.04 it created a desktop link that looked like a generic bin file (no logo), and when I clicked it, it informs you that "this is an untrusted launcher", and you can approve it or not.
^_^ After approval, it looks like it is supposed to (icon, etc).
Well, they shouldn't, and you are right. There are faster, smaller, more reliable browsers available for free. If they choose to use that browser, then they need to accept the flaws that come with it (Lots of security issues, slower, no plugins, renders differently from version to version, etc).
If a person's company needs IE6 to run inshop programs, they better pray for MS to support IE6 until they can upgrade the proprietary stuff for IE7/IE8... or at least that there won't be a major issue until it is someone else's problem (Next Virus/Trojan/Etc)
I have also become concerned that we are encouraging people to use crappy software longer, since the worst case scenarios are avoided when we help (Data is backed up, software is tweaked, 3rd party patches are used, major annoyances are moderated, etc). You ever wonder that if someone was allowed to lose everything, they may actually listen when you warn them?
Considering that some people freak out over $50 a year, it is not obvious to everyone that 5x that is reasonable. In other words, how "expensive" it is depends on the income and cost of living of each person, and as such very difficult to judge here.
To you, it may be negligible, to others it may be excessive.
"Nearly every single Intel CPU made in the last several years includes their VT technology built in. All new i7 chips include it. I have no idea why someone would think the embedded VM is restricted to "power users". By the time Win7 is released, almost every computer running it will have the capability to run XP Mode."
True. Not that it matters, as the reason most businesses have not upgraded is because of *OLD MACHINES*. Many of which won't even have a P4 processor, so your point is kind of moot.
"I have to call BS on this. The biggest drawback to moving to Vista/7 for a large company will be training users and verifying that productivity/office/custom applications work correctly."
Or it could be that the computers would suddenly need video cards, double or tripple the Ram and hard drive space, and significantly better processors.
"Yeah, there are a lot of people skipping Vista but that's mostly due to how quickly Win7 is being released. If it was going to be another 5-6 years then you would see a lot more Vista adoption."
Not in the places I have been. Massive cost, almost no new features that we need. Everything we want is given by XP, with significant hardware savings. Vista was cost for cost's sake. Now, if you were going to be buying all new systems anyway, that is a different story.
"Honestly, this is really great news. People/companies that need it will love it and those that don't or are scared will have the option to disable it. Even better, if the emulation is 32-bit, then it gives you the ability to run older 16-bit programs which are completely incompatible with 64-bit versions of Windows (which lack the 16-bit subsystem). It means I can keep playing TriPeaks!"
No argument there. If we ever bought 7, being able to run XP would be a good thing, since we require it to function (Old legacy custom software). Of course, buisnesses could care less about Games, so they better offer something worth re-buying half/all the machines.
"But "good enough" computing won't suffice for gamers."
Allow me to respectfully disagree.
Most gamers today game on Consoles (The Wii, 360, PS3, PS2, and others). Most games come out for consoles now, and I don't see that trend lessening... and this idea is so scary that MS has built an organization to try and keep PC Gaming alive.
The same advancement in hardware will come to Consoles as it did to computers. The PS3 and 360 are monsters right now, but in a couple of years we could see multi core consoles with gigs of ram as the norm, especially as hardware costs are dropping like a stone.
While there will always be a group of gamers who constantly upgrade their system, we are rapidly getting to the point where video cards do more processing then the processor, and the CPU is less of a bottle neck. I can stick a high end Video card on my old P4 or P3 processor, and still run amazing graphics... and that is more than enough for the majority of games currently out there (And probably the next few as well).
As it stands, I could spend thousands on my computer replacing it every time a new game comes out that is head and sholders above others as far as hardware is concerned, or pay hundreds on new consoles. My computer (Once called top of the line) can't run ANY of my games with the same quality as my PS3, and my PS3 was much much cheaper, and will last longer, and will play all future PS3 games (Period).
So yeah, I think that as we reach the point where computers come with TB of Hard-drive space and hundreds of GB of ram, many average users will have moved to the more powerful (current) gaming console, that lets anyone play the same game with great graphics even if they can't afford the most expensive new PC.
Heh, yeah, and they also said that there would be more than 10 computers! Can you believe that bull? One guy even said that a massive company would crop up that would give huge storage (like 8x my 1024MB hard drive!) in email, a document editor, and more for free! One that could search a magical place that connected the whole world and was filled with more data than there are people!
and to my knowledge the PS3 lacks the 360's streaming movie service.
We have www.youtube/tv from the browser, and youtube recently added movies and tv shows, although I am not sure they are allowing them to be shown on the PS3. If they do, we will have high-def video streaming of movies and tv shows in a format built for TV, as well as Hulu and so forth.
Also, don't underestimate how nice it is to be able to set up the PS3 in any room in the house, or to quickly set it up online at a friends house... I love the WiFi, and I am glad they added it. Less-trippy.
Call me crazy, but I think the *last* thing we need is another MS wannabe.
As it stands, I can get all my contacts easily in/out of Gmail, forward my email to other providers, save Google Docs in multiple open and closed formats that work in non-google software, and many other things that MS would have denied in an effort to kill off competitors.
"Most companies these days have a 3.0 minimum before they'll even look at your Resume/CV."
I personally hate this by the way. People who mostly took the advanced and hard classes available, get punished for our GPA, while others who do the bare requirements and then take "Art Appreciation" and "Dance interpritation" and the like get huge GPA boosts...
Seriously, I had several classmates who had C's in all their math and science classes, but take lots of the easy classes to get a 3.2 GPA.
It wouldn't bother me so much if the interviewer would *Look* at what classes we took so that they can say "You took 50% non-major, non-minor related classes to boost your GPA, and did terrible in your actual Major". Most of the time, they just reject based on the GPA and thats it.
"I couldn't access the OK button since it was offscreen"
Hold down alt, click any window, and you can drag it. I wish they had that in XP....
"they said "We only support Windows and Mac," and then hung-up on me."
Try going to Ubuntu forums for help instead of the ISP or the OEM, since everyone who already had your problems hangs out in the forums and might have the answer.
"everything extremely slow (50k versus ~500k)"
For faster internet speed, get firefox 3, get the addons "Adblock" and "Flash block". This will block all ads in page (Reducing page size), block flashes from loading till you ask it too (Reducing page size). You can also disable image loading for a real speed boost from the options.
"I'm going to use the WinXP Restore CD to wipe Linux off my laptop"
If you want to manipulate partitions easily, use the live disk of GParted, which lets you resize and move partitions without losing data (for free), delete partitions, change boot flags etc from a desktop.
Part two: My Rebuttal.
I feel that we have different Definition of "user-friendly". You seem to define it as "How similar to what I know". To an untrained, non-raised-on-MS person, Ubuntu is much much easier.
For example: "How do I install a program?"
In windows, you search web pages, download things, hope they are compatible with your hardware, scan it to see if it is a virus, and then bite the bullet and install it, crossing your fingers that it wont F* you over.
In Ubuntu, you go to "Add / Remove Programs" under "Programs", and you can view programs by category, search, etc... to install you check it, to uninstall you uncheck it. Ubuntu takes care of the rest, including resolving dependencies and versions, and all that.
Plus, they don't have to worry about viruses, they don't have to defrag ("What is defrag?!?"), and almost everything is automated... Thumbdrives/hard drives show up on the desktop, if you try to play a song of a strange type it searches/installs the needed codec, if you plugin a camera it imports the images, if you plugin a printer it auto-installs it.
Linux can be *far* easier after someone else goes through the installation part.
Without advertising you often have to either charge for access to your website, or rake in donations.
You can have ads without being annoying. If you have text ads (even picture ads), that is fine by me.
On the other hand, if you have talking/singing ads, moving/bouncing ads, full page/popup/popunder ads, 99% of your page ads, cookie attack ads, etc, I will block you forever.
The difference is that one scenario is exposing corruption at the highest levels of government, and the other is helping us decide whether to go see a Hugh Jackman movie.
Yet most people care about a Hugh Jackman movie and couldn't give a crap about corruption... *sigh*
"Also, said brain-dead network executives can't try to kill shows by shuffling them around anymore."
Of course, now they can try to kill shows:
By increasing the number of commercial breaks per episodes
By disabling the "One long commercial at the beginning" option
By increasing the length of commercials per episode
By uploading the same older episodes multiple times, to flood the RSS feed with old material
And I am sure dozens of other methods as well. They can also bury the view page, make sure it never shows up on the "Recent" list, never show ads for it on the main page (Click here to view!).
Never underestimate the brain-dead network executive's ability to be brain-dead.
Slashdot Mirror
I can't force you to see why MS using slander to reduce competition is morally wrong, but let me paint a scary picture to help you see why Linux (and other MS competitors) dissipating would be horrible...
Imagine: Windows 7 is the only OS left, Mac was bought and discontinued, BSD and Linux were declared a danger to children and banned/blocked, with all sites promoting it getting cease and desist letters.
Ok, now that we have our ultimate doomsday scenario, let's see how things could go wrong:
MS Creates an application repository (YEAH!) and disables all non-respository installs for safety sake (BOO!), allowing them to control which programs are allowed onto their system, killing all non-approved free applications (Firefox, Opera, etc).
MS gives each computer one password, and you must use it for loging into your system. Changing/altering the password deletes the OS, and you get sued for attempting to circumvent DRM protection.
MS creates a new IE, one that doesn't have a URL bar, and that has a search engine with only approved sites (For the children!)
MS allows only one player (Theirs, natch), and it filters out any potential pirated music/audio based on a filter list. (More money from the RIAA! Woot!)
MS creates a "Simple Copy" program, that only copies approved extensions from external media, and MS disables your ability to change extensions all together.
MS gets rid of the current file system, forces all users to save everything to the desktop (For convience sake, since you don't need to install any programs any more).
MS checks itself daily to see if you have broken any written (Or unwritten) rules, and can disable any OS, program, or attached device based on a filter. (Oh, you can't use that old version of word, you must use the new one, click here to buy!)
Since all competition has been destroyed, MS decides to remove all older machines from stores, only keeping the most recent version. If you have support issues and you head to the store you bought it from, MS can massively increase the price for that store unless they force you to buy a new machine or go home (Or stop selling PC's there all together).
^_^ There, a bunch of foil-hatted conspiracies that can scare the crap out of you, should we have no competition. And they are all silly, arn't they?
I mean, its not like MS would sabotage other program's file types, force their own standards with money and threats through a standards committee, give advanced help to their own programs to make them seem smaller and faster by using undocumented tricks in the OS, attempt to kill opponents by offering older versions for basically free, coercing nations into MS only contracts for years at a time, force a program building computers for poor children to increase the cost to make the machines strong enough to run an 8 year old OS, threaten distributors with increased cost if any competition occurs, and then pay massive amounts of money attacking competitors without fixing their own flaws.... right?
If they are using linux, the worst they can do is hose their local settings and local files, not the files/settings of the whole network.
Just don't give them admin rights, and you are good.
To extrapolate your last sentence, when I used Gmail offline in Ubuntu 9.04 it created a desktop link that looked like a generic bin file (no logo), and when I clicked it, it informs you that "this is an untrusted launcher", and you can approve it or not.
^_^ After approval, it looks like it is supposed to (icon, etc).
I like the new system much better.
Silly goose, XP can be hacked down to one CD, but that is not the size given to Computer owners.
XP MCE needed two DVD's for the reinstall disc, thanks to all the Crap manufacturers stick on there now.
So you are saying that the country where everyone hides their money is very wealthy?!? Who knew!
"NO ONE should use Internet Explorer."
Well, they shouldn't, and you are right. There are faster, smaller, more reliable browsers available for free. If they choose to use that browser, then they need to accept the flaws that come with it (Lots of security issues, slower, no plugins, renders differently from version to version, etc).
If a person's company needs IE6 to run inshop programs, they better pray for MS to support IE6 until they can upgrade the proprietary stuff for IE7/IE8... or at least that there won't be a major issue until it is someone else's problem (Next Virus/Trojan/Etc)
I have also become concerned that we are encouraging people to use crappy software longer, since the worst case scenarios are avoided when we help (Data is backed up, software is tweaked, 3rd party patches are used, major annoyances are moderated, etc). You ever wonder that if someone was allowed to lose everything, they may actually listen when you warn them?
$250/year is hardly expensive
Objection! Subjective!
Considering that some people freak out over $50 a year, it is not obvious to everyone that 5x that is reasonable. In other words, how "expensive" it is depends on the income and cost of living of each person, and as such very difficult to judge here.
To you, it may be negligible, to others it may be excessive.
"Nearly every single Intel CPU made in the last several years includes their VT technology built in. All new i7 chips include it. I have no idea why someone would think the embedded VM is restricted to "power users". By the time Win7 is released, almost every computer running it will have the capability to run XP Mode."
True. Not that it matters, as the reason most businesses have not upgraded is because of *OLD MACHINES*. Many of which won't even have a P4 processor, so your point is kind of moot.
"I have to call BS on this. The biggest drawback to moving to Vista/7 for a large company will be training users and verifying that productivity/office/custom applications work correctly."
Or it could be that the computers would suddenly need video cards, double or tripple the Ram and hard drive space, and significantly better processors.
"Yeah, there are a lot of people skipping Vista but that's mostly due to how quickly Win7 is being released. If it was going to be another 5-6 years then you would see a lot more Vista adoption."
Not in the places I have been. Massive cost, almost no new features that we need. Everything we want is given by XP, with significant hardware savings. Vista was cost for cost's sake. Now, if you were going to be buying all new systems anyway, that is a different story.
"Honestly, this is really great news. People/companies that need it will love it and those that don't or are scared will have the option to disable it. Even better, if the emulation is 32-bit, then it gives you the ability to run older 16-bit programs which are completely incompatible with 64-bit versions of Windows (which lack the 16-bit subsystem). It means I can keep playing TriPeaks!"
No argument there. If we ever bought 7, being able to run XP would be a good thing, since we require it to function (Old legacy custom software). Of course, buisnesses could care less about Games, so they better offer something worth re-buying half/all the machines.
Apparently, Wine Does run crysis: http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=version&iId=10107
Just not perfectly.
"But "good enough" computing won't suffice for gamers."
Allow me to respectfully disagree.
Most gamers today game on Consoles (The Wii, 360, PS3, PS2, and others). Most games come out for consoles now, and I don't see that trend lessening... and this idea is so scary that MS has built an organization to try and keep PC Gaming alive.
The same advancement in hardware will come to Consoles as it did to computers. The PS3 and 360 are monsters right now, but in a couple of years we could see multi core consoles with gigs of ram as the norm, especially as hardware costs are dropping like a stone.
While there will always be a group of gamers who constantly upgrade their system, we are rapidly getting to the point where video cards do more processing then the processor, and the CPU is less of a bottle neck. I can stick a high end Video card on my old P4 or P3 processor, and still run amazing graphics... and that is more than enough for the majority of games currently out there (And probably the next few as well).
As it stands, I could spend thousands on my computer replacing it every time a new game comes out that is head and sholders above others as far as hardware is concerned, or pay hundreds on new consoles. My computer (Once called top of the line) can't run ANY of my games with the same quality as my PS3, and my PS3 was much much cheaper, and will last longer, and will play all future PS3 games (Period).
So yeah, I think that as we reach the point where computers come with TB of Hard-drive space and hundreds of GB of ram, many average users will have moved to the more powerful (current) gaming console, that lets anyone play the same game with great graphics even if they can't afford the most expensive new PC.
Heh, yeah, and they also said that there would be more than 10 computers! Can you believe that bull? One guy even said that a massive company would crop up that would give huge storage (like 8x my 1024MB hard drive!) in email, a document editor, and more for free! One that could search a magical place that connected the whole world and was filled with more data than there are people!
God, it is so unrealistic.
and to my knowledge the PS3 lacks the 360's streaming movie service.
We have www.youtube/tv from the browser, and youtube recently added movies and tv shows, although I am not sure they are allowing them to be shown on the PS3. If they do, we will have high-def video streaming of movies and tv shows in a format built for TV, as well as Hulu and so forth.
Also, don't underestimate how nice it is to be able to set up the PS3 in any room in the house, or to quickly set it up online at a friends house... I love the WiFi, and I am glad they added it. Less-trippy.
Now skeeter, he ain't hurtin nobody...
Cause the people who we have there now are just the symbols of Justice.
Call me crazy, but I think the *last* thing we need is another MS wannabe.
As it stands, I can get all my contacts easily in/out of Gmail, forward my email to other providers, save Google Docs in multiple open and closed formats that work in non-google software, and many other things that MS would have denied in an effort to kill off competitors.
"Most companies these days have a 3.0 minimum before they'll even look at your Resume/CV."
I personally hate this by the way. People who mostly took the advanced and hard classes available, get punished for our GPA, while others who do the bare requirements and then take "Art Appreciation" and "Dance interpritation" and the like get huge GPA boosts...
Seriously, I had several classmates who had C's in all their math and science classes, but take lots of the easy classes to get a 3.2 GPA.
It wouldn't bother me so much if the interviewer would *Look* at what classes we took so that they can say "You took 50% non-major, non-minor related classes to boost your GPA, and did terrible in your actual Major". Most of the time, they just reject based on the GPA and thats it.
Just be glad they didn't call it the "MyPhone"
Part one: Assistance.
"I couldn't access the OK button since it was offscreen"
Hold down alt, click any window, and you can drag it. I wish they had that in XP....
"they said "We only support Windows and Mac," and then hung-up on me."
Try going to Ubuntu forums for help instead of the ISP or the OEM, since everyone who already had your problems hangs out in the forums and might have the answer.
"everything extremely slow (50k versus ~500k)"
For faster internet speed, get firefox 3, get the addons "Adblock" and "Flash block". This will block all ads in page (Reducing page size), block flashes from loading till you ask it too (Reducing page size). You can also disable image loading for a real speed boost from the options.
"I'm going to use the WinXP Restore CD to wipe Linux off my laptop"
If you want to manipulate partitions easily, use the live disk of GParted, which lets you resize and move partitions without losing data (for free), delete partitions, change boot flags etc from a desktop.
Part two: My Rebuttal.
I feel that we have different Definition of "user-friendly". You seem to define it as "How similar to what I know". To an untrained, non-raised-on-MS person, Ubuntu is much much easier.
For example: "How do I install a program?"
In windows, you search web pages, download things, hope they are compatible with your hardware, scan it to see if it is a virus, and then bite the bullet and install it, crossing your fingers that it wont F* you over.
In Ubuntu, you go to "Add / Remove Programs" under "Programs", and you can view programs by category, search, etc... to install you check it, to uninstall you uncheck it. Ubuntu takes care of the rest, including resolving dependencies and versions, and all that.
Plus, they don't have to worry about viruses, they don't have to defrag ("What is defrag?!?"), and almost everything is automated... Thumbdrives/hard drives show up on the desktop, if you try to play a song of a strange type it searches/installs the needed codec, if you plugin a camera it imports the images, if you plugin a printer it auto-installs it.
Linux can be *far* easier after someone else goes through the installation part.
Without advertising you often have to either charge for access to your website, or rake in donations.
You can have ads without being annoying. If you have text ads (even picture ads), that is fine by me.
On the other hand, if you have talking/singing ads, moving/bouncing ads, full page/popup/popunder ads, 99% of your page ads, cookie attack ads, etc, I will block you forever.
The difference is that one scenario is exposing corruption at the highest levels of government, and the other is helping us decide whether to go see a Hugh Jackman movie.
Yet most people care about a Hugh Jackman movie and couldn't give a crap about corruption... *sigh*
"Regardless, making it public knowledge that you pirate/support piracy is probably a stupid idea if you ever plan on having a job."
Using Facebook is probably a stupid idea if you ever plan on having a Job.
Anything you post online *will* come back to haunt you.
"Also, said brain-dead network executives can't try to kill shows by shuffling them around anymore."
Of course, now they can try to kill shows:
By increasing the number of commercial breaks per episodes
By disabling the "One long commercial at the beginning" option
By increasing the length of commercials per episode
By uploading the same older episodes multiple times, to flood the RSS feed with old material
And I am sure dozens of other methods as well. They can also bury the view page, make sure it never shows up on the "Recent" list, never show ads for it on the main page (Click here to view!).
Never underestimate the brain-dead network executive's ability to be brain-dead.
Why would you want a sexbot that gets a head-ache every night?
I would assume because that is his fetish?
We created the ultimate good: Pie.
As long as They don't screw with my traffic, I can accept this.
As long as you can accept this, they will screw with your traffic.