Sorry, but Linux on the desktop's year is this year, it better be this year, or it's never going to happen. Look around, we have Mint, *buntu, PCLinuxOS, SAM and many, many more, desktop oriented distros, many of which are hitting the same usability targets that XP almost got, and Vista may get.
Linux is offering a perfectly good desktop environment, cancel or allow?
All this DRM discussion is just a smokescreen. There is going to be a killer app for (Gnu)Linux very soon that will play HD content, if you can be bothered to buy the damn things. DVD is fine where I sit, and those play perfectly well on my PCLinuxOS box TYVM.
KDE is doing an amazing job right now of providing a desktop that's just as easy to use as winblows, AND secure too! Add to this the improvements in kernel and driver support, and Linux's year on the desktop isn't next year, it's this!
I can install Linux on a new machine, have it up to date, and running with apps and 3d support before Vista has worked out what hardware it's limping on, and you can too. I'm no Linux expert, not a programmer, an average user with a brain can do it too. Linux isn't hard any more!
Unexplained affluence - does my secret group of chinese gold farmers count?
failing to report overseas travel - Mulgore ok by the FBI or not?
showing unusual interest in information outside the job scope - Sure I'm a paladin, I keep this tier 0 warlock gear for the looks, k?
keeping unusual work hours - Ummm... my connection at work is better than at home, and I gotta do this raid...
unreported contacts with foreign nationals - Does a YIM list that covers the planet make me a bad person?
unreported contact with foreign government, military, or intelligence officials - And how the heck do I know who they work for?
attempting to gain new accesses without the need to know - Curiosity is a crime now?
and unexplained absences are all considered potential espionage indicators.
So, now I'm a spy, ok, I'll be in all morning to accept my nice new Aston Martin DB9 vantage with the Q division gadgetry. You already have
my number and email address if you need to re-arrange:p
HR depts are world renowned for being supremely anal about qualifications. If they want an AIX admin, they will, in many cases, not look at someone with 10 years RHE or SLED admin experience, despite it being just another Unix subtype.
There was a case a few years ago, of an HR dept advertising for someone with "2 or more years experience in office 2000", funnily enough, this was placed in 2000... scary huh? Many companies don't put people with a clue about tech in HR. Asking for people with several years experience in software released 6 months ago is just the tip of the iceberg. Maybe we should have an ask/. on silly HR games?
As a former OEM System builder the following facts are readily apparant.
1: It was not the case in the past that OEM disks were restricted to a specific OEM brand. It is with XP/Vista.
2: Since generic OEM disks can be sold with a Mobo/CPU/HDD and a few other items.. pick one up when you do a rebuild.
3: Don't buy a store bought major brand machine unless you don't plan on major upgrades or fixing it yourself
4: A generic OEM disk is designed to be used on any platform and combination of hardware, unlike the branded ones the bigger companies provide, which are limited to the specific hardware it's bought with (definitely true with XP, more so Vista)
I once tried to reinstall my laptop 5,000 miles from home, and did it with a Toshiba branded disk, on another brand of lappy, it installed, but wouldn't take my licence code. US OEM disk take a UK code from another brand? HA! SOL!
MS helped me unlock it enough to get it back up and running.
XP let me do a full system rebuild, I went from single processor athlon to dual celerons (entirely different boards etc) with the usual precautions. (Which are: boot in safe mode, use hardware mangler to delete ALL hardware in sight, even stuff you're keeping, then reboot and let it re-detect)
There is one problem that may occur with Vista that didn't with XP. The first time registration process with M$ that Vista will force you to do, will likely register the OEM code and serial number of your mobo as part of your registration file, linking that OEM serial with that board. That's untested as yet, so YMMV. But the same upgrade method MAY work with Vista..
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Sorry, but Linux on the desktop's year is this year, it better be this year, or it's never going to happen. Look around, we have Mint, *buntu, PCLinuxOS, SAM and many, many more, desktop oriented distros, many of which are hitting the same usability targets that XP almost got, and Vista may get. Linux is offering a perfectly good desktop environment, cancel or allow? All this DRM discussion is just a smokescreen. There is going to be a killer app for (Gnu)Linux very soon that will play HD content, if you can be bothered to buy the damn things. DVD is fine where I sit, and those play perfectly well on my PCLinuxOS box TYVM. KDE is doing an amazing job right now of providing a desktop that's just as easy to use as winblows, AND secure too! Add to this the improvements in kernel and driver support, and Linux's year on the desktop isn't next year, it's this! I can install Linux on a new machine, have it up to date, and running with apps and 3d support before Vista has worked out what hardware it's limping on, and you can too. I'm no Linux expert, not a programmer, an average user with a brain can do it too. Linux isn't hard any more!
Unexplained affluence - does my secret group of chinese gold farmers count? failing to report overseas travel - Mulgore ok by the FBI or not? showing unusual interest in information outside the job scope - Sure I'm a paladin, I keep this tier 0 warlock gear for the looks, k? keeping unusual work hours - Ummm... my connection at work is better than at home, and I gotta do this raid... unreported contacts with foreign nationals - Does a YIM list that covers the planet make me a bad person? unreported contact with foreign government, military, or intelligence officials - And how the heck do I know who they work for? attempting to gain new accesses without the need to know - Curiosity is a crime now? and unexplained absences are all considered potential espionage indicators. So, now I'm a spy, ok, I'll be in all morning to accept my nice new Aston Martin DB9 vantage with the Q division gadgetry. You already have my number and email address if you need to re-arrange :p
How could they forget Alan Turing? The inventor of the Turing test for AI, and father of the modern computer?
HR depts are world renowned for being supremely anal about qualifications. If they want an AIX admin, they will, in many cases, not look at someone with 10 years RHE or SLED admin experience, despite it being just another Unix subtype. There was a case a few years ago, of an HR dept advertising for someone with "2 or more years experience in office 2000", funnily enough, this was placed in 2000... scary huh? Many companies don't put people with a clue about tech in HR. Asking for people with several years experience in software released 6 months ago is just the tip of the iceberg. Maybe we should have an ask /. on silly HR games?
As a former OEM System builder the following facts are readily apparant. 1: It was not the case in the past that OEM disks were restricted to a specific OEM brand. It is with XP/Vista. 2: Since generic OEM disks can be sold with a Mobo/CPU/HDD and a few other items.. pick one up when you do a rebuild. 3: Don't buy a store bought major brand machine unless you don't plan on major upgrades or fixing it yourself 4: A generic OEM disk is designed to be used on any platform and combination of hardware, unlike the branded ones the bigger companies provide, which are limited to the specific hardware it's bought with (definitely true with XP, more so Vista) I once tried to reinstall my laptop 5,000 miles from home, and did it with a Toshiba branded disk, on another brand of lappy, it installed, but wouldn't take my licence code. US OEM disk take a UK code from another brand? HA! SOL! MS helped me unlock it enough to get it back up and running. XP let me do a full system rebuild, I went from single processor athlon to dual celerons (entirely different boards etc) with the usual precautions. (Which are: boot in safe mode, use hardware mangler to delete ALL hardware in sight, even stuff you're keeping, then reboot and let it re-detect) There is one problem that may occur with Vista that didn't with XP. The first time registration process with M$ that Vista will force you to do, will likely register the OEM code and serial number of your mobo as part of your registration file, linking that OEM serial with that board. That's untested as yet, so YMMV. But the same upgrade method MAY work with Vista..