While I admit the GP is a troll you are just as offbase. Your anecdotal evidance does not disprove that Windows is still dominant. Does it suck? Heck yeah, but schools only have so much time and sadly windows skills are crucial many industries. I hope that changes, but until then your 10 person shop does little to change the trend.
So what are Windows skills? As opposed to basic computer use skills.
> In fact, outside Apple, most digital music players will not play AAC
Please tell me more of this alternate universe you come from.
It's the one where AAC is a minority format that only a few digital music players use. Sorry.. I'm RDS negative, So I don't imagine the world follows Apple's every move.
While every pmp, most PDAs, most devices capable of playing downloaded music files such as DVD players, play MP3.
But please.. Prove me wrong. I'm sure you can find more non apple digital music playing devices that play AAC than I can find that don't. There must be a huge number of AAC playing DVD players, Hifi CD players, and the like that have full AAC format support. I'm sure all the other stores are just using MP3 and FLAC to spite Apple because they are so jealous..
Least DRM free means I can finally use Itunes for my ipod. I use rockbox so I can play flac. (apple lossless you say? why I am. a. too lazy and b. perfer flac for long term storage)
Or any other music download store. I know that 7digital here in the UK are selling FLAC as an option.
It's good that Apple are finally joining the rest of the world and selling DRM free tracks. Perhaps eventually they will allow those who want it, to connect any player and become a general music download store.
If you have DRM-free standard AAC, then why would you want to transcode to MP3? Is there some cranky old media player that can't handle AAC?
Yes. Most of the non Apple players, DVDs, car stereos, PDAs, computers etc.. In fact, outside Apple, most digital music players will not play AAC. All will play MP3 however. So which is the better long time storage medium for purchased music to be played on devices other than iProducts? There are possibly more players that support OGG than AAC.
Nope.. I meant it how I said it. Although I agree with you that some companies have got far too used to the idea that their product is theirs even after they sell it.
What you're basically saying is that just one raid justifies MS annoying all of us legitimate users and treating us like criminals.
Nothing justifies it, but sticking with a company that treats you like a thief is pretty much acceptance of the charge.
You are guilty until proven possibly innocent this time... And Microsoft reserves the right to alter how you are allowed to use their product at any time. An extra check here, a stricter enforcement of the reactivation policy there, and you will move to the next version, or buy a new copy for as long as it is available. Don't like it, you are free to go elsewhere.
The WGA software was enough to give me the final push to move to Linux, and I had a fully legit copy of XP. For many, this isn't a big enough problem, and for others, it is something they don't even know about. Basically, Microsoft can do what they like, and until it is tested in court, you are stuck with whatever conditions Microsoft choose to apply.
And then immediately lawsuits are pressed against Canonical, Debian, Novell, and anyone else who allows patented material to be added to their distributions.
Which would be immediately laughed out of court. They would only have a case if the distro was offering the software themselves. Anybody can set up a repository anywhere in the world. Just like anybody can offer a Windows based DVD ripper. So why have the MPAA not sued Microsoft? The same reason. They can only control what they offer themselves. If Microsoft included a DVD ripper in Windows 7, then the MPAA might have a case.
My parents have never driven a car, and i plan on buying them one for christmas.
As well as never driving, they tell me they have no intention of learning but they fully intend to take it for a spin on christmas morning to go an see my brother who lives 50 miles away.
Can someone recommend me a good car to buy them? preferably one which will work for it's entire lifetime with no maintenance or refuelling, and is instantly drivable by someone who does not know how to drive?
You weren't at PDC then. One of the keynote demos of W7 showed off the fact that it is blisteringly fast on a 1ghz, 1gb RAM netbook; UAC is fixed/gone, and hardware compatibility is top priority early-game, instead of after the fact.
Can the router stats. People don't give a shit what runs routers, and in the majority of cases it'd be IOS anyway. Stick with what people actually care about.
Ahh.. you mean porn and warez.. Not really suitable for a mainstream ad.
Your response is the point exactly. The concept of Multiple input Devices is something that has the potential to really change and improve the way people use computers in a completely revolutionary way.
OK.. I'll bite. What is the revolutionary way to interact with my computer that having a second cursor would allow. And please.. don't just say multitouch. flesh out the idea. And different is not enough. better must also be included, or the idea is just an alternative.
But people without much imagination can't think any immediate way to use it that makes sense with the way they currently use the computer, and they're unwilling to change the way they use the computer, so the innovation never takes off.
And people who consider themselves to have imagination often over complicate things because while the root idea is cool, the actual advantage is minimal at best. The mark of a good design is that someone said "enough" at the right time.
Strangely enough though.. I agree to an extent. I have a Palm PDA. The handwriting recognition is a great implementation of the concept. On screen keyboards are crap in comparison. and I think chorded keyboards are a great idea that was never given a chance. I have nothing against using a new interface concept, or putting in the effort to learn how to use it, but there has to be an actual advantage to it.
If there is a use for multiple pointers, then Linux is the place to develop the idea. It can be implemented easily enough, and as mice are cheap,. no need for complex hardware solutions to get it adopted and perfected. I'm not holding my breath though. It's a solution in search of a problem. Like engineering self peeling potatoes.
The 2009 keynote has happened. As expected, no revolutionary products revealed. Nothing of note. Just a refresh of the Mac Mini. Just as the mac faithful are just about to pour out of Macworld, downtrodden, a voice rings out of the microphone.
"Just one more thing."
Steve Jobs, healthy and fit and in his trademark turtleneck, stands with his hands clasped together at the podium. He smiles as the audience members fall silent, taking their seats. "We aren't quite done yet... Say 'hello' to the..."
New CEO of APPLE... (thunderous yet slightly confused applause dies down)
Jobs in a slightly coy flirtatious voice...."Come on out Steve"..
I'm not so sure. The manufacturers and Microsoft have their teeth at each other's throats. Apart from price changes, they have very little practical leverage. And Microsoft being watched so closely by various monopoly abuse agencies doesn't help their position any.
For just about every part of a computer, manufacturers have a choice of suppliers. If Nvidia start getting above themselves, they go to ATI. Intel start getting stroppy, AMD can take up the slack. Microsoft get too demanding? they can use what exactly..(referring to mass market sales, not specialist markets)
I'm surprised the big names are not more enthusiastic about helping out a second choice for the purely selfish reasons of keeping what is essentially another vendor in line. Perhaps they are more involved behind the scenes than we think.
Look around at prices online. If that's really the case then why is it I can get a Win XP Acer Aspire One 8.9-Inch Netbook (e.g. @ Amazon.com) with 1 GB RAM, 120 GB Hard Drive, and 3 Cell Battery for $350, but the Linpus Linux Lite one only has 512 MB RAM, 8 GB Solid State Drive instead of a HD, and a standard battery, and that's about $300.
The hardware differences alone should be more than a $50 drop in price. It's like you're getting a discount for adding Win XP to the device.
If you start with the $350 XP model and deduct the cost of the hardware differences, and deduct the cost of XP, the Linux one by comparison should probably be more like $200.
Well.. for a start, you are buying in America, so the models offered may be different. And you are compairing two different modles, so the pricing will also not be as simple as guessing a price for the storage.
The Asus Eee 901 had varying prices all over the world. Just about every permutation of hardware and price was available. It depends on the importer. And perhaps you are in a less Linux friendly market. The UK pricing for the 901 was identical for both Windows and Linux, but the Linux one had a bigger SSD.
If you go to the Amazon.co.uk website and look at the Acer Aspire One, model A150, the Linpus Linux version is £215.30, and the Windows version is £283.37. So the Linux one is £68.07 cheaper for identical hardware (about the full retail price of an OEM copy of XP home). Pricing varies according to market assumptions made by the manufacturer and the importer.
As to the difference in price with the two models you are looking at, Perhaps the SSD is more expensive than a 2.5 inch hard drive, so the retail price would also be different. Dissimilar models make it much harder to assess.
The big problem here is whether you'll be allowed to buy a mini notebook with 1GB and a 120-160 MB hard disk without Windows. Microsoft certainly does not want notebook vendors selling them that way, and has effective strategies to induce them not to do so.
Yep.. Microsoft have really forced these companies to toe the line. No way would any company dare to sell a Linux based netbook with 120gig of hard drive and 1 gig of ram.. Like the one that Amazon have in stock right now..
I expect they start with legal bribes, price structures effecting both the vendors larger systems and the smaller ones, and if that doesn't work the patent portfolio comes out and they discuss whether you'd like to cross-license on their terms or be sued.
They will?? Oh crap. Better hope that they don't notice Dell, Asus, Acer, IBM, HP, Lenovo and others then.
All of which means you won't see many of the Linux machines at retail. So, the customer has to self-install, which is beyond most of them.
And if they do, then Microsoft will send in the heavy mob with pickaxe handles to smash all the stock or something similarly dramatic.. Come on.. Microsoft can't put much pressure on the companies that sell most of it's products any more than Wally World can hire people to break competitor's windows.
The days of Microsoft coming in and telling a big OEM what to do are long gone. Microsoft are on the defensive if anything. They made a new OS that is too big and too slow to work on these netbooks, which were a surprise success. They had to back down and keep selling XP when they didn't want to, and they have pushed back the cut-off date at least once. Are these the acts of an all powerful company that has the whole computer industry by the balls? Don't think so.
You can call apps "Linux software" as long as you want, if people run them on Mac OS X (or Windows) instead of Linux, they aren't running Linux, period.
So what do I call an app running on Linux? A carrot?
Those companies render the output on Linux. The creation takes place on a Mac.
Not strictly true. Mac hardware perhaps. If you just do a name check for the apps used, you will go away with the wrong impression.
Many CGI companies used Unix based systems extensively from the start. The old SGI workstations were usually running Unux, and then Linux was brought in to run on cheaper commodity hardware, and reduce the rewrites needed to do the changeover.
Basic good business case scenario. Linux was a smaller move and a cheaper option than the expensive workstation grade systems they were using. Which is why Nvidia has been supporting Linux for so long.
Cinepaint was a fork of an early Gimp version that was heavily customised for the movie industry. ILM even created EXR, which was open sourced so other apps could use it. It is commonly used for retouching jobs instead of Photoshop. Practically a custom app for hteis very job.
Massive, the crowd control software used in movies such as Lord of the Rings and others for animating large numbers of figures also works on Linux, and according to one article I read, works better on Linux than on Windows.
Ever wonder why Maya is available on Linux? could it be that the top CGI studios who have been using Unix for years, and are Maya's main user base, and have been changing to Linux wanted it. And if you read up a bit, there are plenty of articles about Linux being used in the production side. Sometimes even on Apple hardware running Linux.
http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/9951
An interview with the makers of the Spiderwick chronicles. Not a great movie, but some very nice effects. Linux software for content creation running in Apple hardware.
http://digitalcontentproducer.com/dcc/revfeat/video_linux_hollywood/
Basically a rundown of Linux in the high end CGI field. Particularly interesting, and shows how wrong you are. There is way more than you think happening with Linux in the CGI world.
Off the shelf apps are not enough by a long shot for the movie industry. They have the money and the technical resources to make custom apps that are strictly in house, and will likely never be released to the wider world. For them, Linux works, and works well. And allows them to use the millions of lines of old code from the Unix days that they still need.
So basically.. the movie industry uses whatever works, and some of the really big studios have the resources to overcome any limitations of existing software where required.
It is a pity they don't release more of their code, but such is life. They don't have to. And much of it would no doubt be useless without the other tools they use for various things. Although the thought of ILM contributing code to Blender and Gimp is quite a nice one.
There's an unfortunately named application, it's called clit. It should do the job nicely. However, having programs like clit and gimp on my computer... hmm.
Even more unfortunate for us Linux users.. You need Wine to make use of clit.
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While I admit the GP is a troll you are just as offbase. Your anecdotal evidance does not disprove that Windows is still dominant. Does it suck? Heck yeah, but schools only have so much time and sadly windows skills are crucial many industries. I hope that changes, but until then your 10 person shop does little to change the trend.
So what are Windows skills? As opposed to basic computer use skills.
Except in the non-first world countries, where they aren't.
Except in non American countries, where they aren't.
Macs are the main competition to Windows, not Linux.
For home users, perhaps, in graphic design firms, Windows might even be the competition for Apple. But for general business users, not so much.
But to prove your point, can you find me a report of Microsoft swooping in with the sales ninjas to fight for a customer that is switching to Mac?
> In fact, outside Apple, most digital music players will not play AAC
Please tell me more of this alternate universe you come from.
It's the one where AAC is a minority format that only a few digital music players use. Sorry.. I'm RDS negative, So I don't imagine the world follows Apple's every move.
While every pmp, most PDAs, most devices capable of playing downloaded music files such as DVD players, play MP3.
But please.. Prove me wrong. I'm sure you can find more non apple digital music playing devices that play AAC than I can find that don't. There must be a huge number of AAC playing DVD players, Hifi CD players, and the like that have full AAC format support. I'm sure all the other stores are just using MP3 and FLAC to spite Apple because they are so jealous..
Least DRM free means I can finally use Itunes for my ipod. I use rockbox so I can play flac. (apple lossless you say? why I am. a. too lazy and b. perfer flac for long term storage)
Or any other music download store. I know that 7digital here in the UK are selling FLAC as an option.
It's good that Apple are finally joining the rest of the world and selling DRM free tracks. Perhaps eventually they will allow those who want it, to connect any player and become a general music download store.
If you have DRM-free standard AAC, then why would you want to transcode to MP3? Is there some cranky old media player that can't handle AAC?
Yes. Most of the non Apple players, DVDs, car stereos, PDAs, computers etc.. In fact, outside Apple, most digital music players will not play AAC. All will play MP3 however. So which is the better long time storage medium for purchased music to be played on devices other than iProducts? There are possibly more players that support OGG than AAC.
Nope.. I meant it how I said it. Although I agree with you that some companies have got far too used to the idea that their product is theirs even after they sell it.
What you're basically saying is that just one raid justifies MS annoying all of us legitimate users and treating us like criminals.
Nothing justifies it, but sticking with a company that treats you like a thief is pretty much acceptance of the charge. You are guilty until proven possibly innocent this time... And Microsoft reserves the right to alter how you are allowed to use their product at any time. An extra check here, a stricter enforcement of the reactivation policy there, and you will move to the next version, or buy a new copy for as long as it is available. Don't like it, you are free to go elsewhere. The WGA software was enough to give me the final push to move to Linux, and I had a fully legit copy of XP. For many, this isn't a big enough problem, and for others, it is something they don't even know about. Basically, Microsoft can do what they like, and until it is tested in court, you are stuck with whatever conditions Microsoft choose to apply.
Score + 5 Music lover
And then immediately lawsuits are pressed against Canonical, Debian, Novell, and anyone else who allows patented material to be added to their distributions.
Which would be immediately laughed out of court. They would only have a case if the distro was offering the software themselves. Anybody can set up a repository anywhere in the world. Just like anybody can offer a Windows based DVD ripper. So why have the MPAA not sued Microsoft? The same reason. They can only control what they offer themselves. If Microsoft included a DVD ripper in Windows 7, then the MPAA might have a case.
Free software still has to follow the law.
Absolutely... So what law are they breaking?
And so does my reconditioned Thinkpad T42. About 4-5 years old I think.
My parents have never driven a car, and i plan on buying them one for christmas. As well as never driving, they tell me they have no intention of learning but they fully intend to take it for a spin on christmas morning to go an see my brother who lives 50 miles away. Can someone recommend me a good car to buy them? preferably one which will work for it's entire lifetime with no maintenance or refuelling, and is instantly drivable by someone who does not know how to drive?
Yes.. A taxi.
the 1st and the most request i get from senior is: "i can't see can i get bigger words and icon?"
Something like the eeepc linux distro would be a good idea (with all that big big icon)
Easy solution. run the computer at a lower resolution. Works for all OSs and apps.
Second suggestion, use the zoom option in Compiz, or if you use Windows, use a third party add on that gives this feature.
The simplified desktop idea is ok until you start up an app, when you go right back to little writing and little icons.
You weren't at PDC then. One of the keynote demos of W7 showed off the fact that it is blisteringly fast on a 1ghz, 1gb RAM netbook; UAC is fixed/gone, and hardware compatibility is top priority early-game, instead of after the fact.
But have marketing got at it yet?
Can the router stats. People don't give a shit what runs routers, and in the majority of cases it'd be IOS anyway. Stick with what people actually care about.
Ahh.. you mean porn and warez.. Not really suitable for a mainstream ad.
Your response is the point exactly. The concept of Multiple input Devices is something that has the potential to really change and improve the way people use computers in a completely revolutionary way.
OK.. I'll bite. What is the revolutionary way to interact with my computer that having a second cursor would allow. And please.. don't just say multitouch. flesh out the idea. And different is not enough. better must also be included, or the idea is just an alternative.
But people without much imagination can't think any immediate way to use it that makes sense with the way they currently use the computer, and they're unwilling to change the way they use the computer, so the innovation never takes off.
And people who consider themselves to have imagination often over complicate things because while the root idea is cool, the actual advantage is minimal at best. The mark of a good design is that someone said "enough" at the right time.
Strangely enough though.. I agree to an extent. I have a Palm PDA. The handwriting recognition is a great implementation of the concept. On screen keyboards are crap in comparison. and I think chorded keyboards are a great idea that was never given a chance. I have nothing against using a new interface concept, or putting in the effort to learn how to use it, but there has to be an actual advantage to it.
If there is a use for multiple pointers, then Linux is the place to develop the idea. It can be implemented easily enough, and as mice are cheap,. no need for complex hardware solutions to get it adopted and perfected. I'm not holding my breath though. It's a solution in search of a problem. Like engineering self peeling potatoes.
Heard of MPX?
Yep. Incremental, not revolutionary. and who wants to move two mice around the screen?
I prefer the older standby - empowering 0wners since 2001
True.. shame that the users are only license holders.
The 2009 keynote has happened. As expected, no revolutionary products revealed. Nothing of note. Just a refresh of the Mac Mini. Just as the mac faithful are just about to pour out of Macworld, downtrodden, a voice rings out of the microphone.
"Just one more thing."
Steve Jobs, healthy and fit and in his trademark turtleneck, stands with his hands clasped together at the podium. He smiles as the audience members fall silent, taking their seats. "We aren't quite done yet... Say 'hello' to the..."
New CEO of APPLE... (thunderous yet slightly confused applause dies down)
Jobs in a slightly coy flirtatious voice...."Come on out Steve"..
I'm not so sure. The manufacturers and Microsoft have their teeth at each other's throats. Apart from price changes, they have very little practical leverage. And Microsoft being watched so closely by various monopoly abuse agencies doesn't help their position any.
For just about every part of a computer, manufacturers have a choice of suppliers. If Nvidia start getting above themselves, they go to ATI. Intel start getting stroppy, AMD can take up the slack. Microsoft get too demanding? they can use what exactly..(referring to mass market sales, not specialist markets)
I'm surprised the big names are not more enthusiastic about helping out a second choice for the purely selfish reasons of keeping what is essentially another vendor in line. Perhaps they are more involved behind the scenes than we think.
Look around at prices online. If that's really the case then why is it I can get a Win XP Acer Aspire One 8.9-Inch Netbook (e.g. @ Amazon.com) with 1 GB RAM, 120 GB Hard Drive, and 3 Cell Battery for $350, but the Linpus Linux Lite one only has 512 MB RAM, 8 GB Solid State Drive instead of a HD, and a standard battery, and that's about $300.
The hardware differences alone should be more than a $50 drop in price. It's like you're getting a discount for adding Win XP to the device.
If you start with the $350 XP model and deduct the cost of the hardware differences, and deduct the cost of XP, the Linux one by comparison should probably be more like $200.
Well.. for a start, you are buying in America, so the models offered may be different. And you are compairing two different modles, so the pricing will also not be as simple as guessing a price for the storage.
The Asus Eee 901 had varying prices all over the world. Just about every permutation of hardware and price was available. It depends on the importer. And perhaps you are in a less Linux friendly market. The UK pricing for the 901 was identical for both Windows and Linux, but the Linux one had a bigger SSD.
If you go to the Amazon.co.uk website and look at the Acer Aspire One, model A150, the Linpus Linux version is £215.30, and the Windows version is £283.37. So the Linux one is £68.07 cheaper for identical hardware (about the full retail price of an OEM copy of XP home). Pricing varies according to market assumptions made by the manufacturer and the importer.
As to the difference in price with the two models you are looking at, Perhaps the SSD is more expensive than a 2.5 inch hard drive, so the retail price would also be different. Dissimilar models make it much harder to assess.
The big problem here is whether you'll be allowed to buy a mini notebook with 1GB and a 120-160 MB hard disk without Windows. Microsoft certainly does not want notebook vendors selling them that way, and has effective strategies to induce them not to do so.
You mean like this one?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Acer-Aspire-One-Netbook-Sapphire/dp/B001BZ4QV2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1229224860&sr=8-1
Yep.. Microsoft have really forced these companies to toe the line. No way would any company dare to sell a Linux based netbook with 120gig of hard drive and 1 gig of ram.. Like the one that Amazon have in stock right now..
I expect they start with legal bribes, price structures effecting both the vendors larger systems and the smaller ones, and if that doesn't work the patent portfolio comes out and they discuss whether you'd like to cross-license on their terms or be sued.
They will?? Oh crap. Better hope that they don't notice Dell, Asus, Acer, IBM, HP, Lenovo and others then.
All of which means you won't see many of the Linux machines at retail. So, the customer has to self-install, which is beyond most of them.
And if they do, then Microsoft will send in the heavy mob with pickaxe handles to smash all the stock or something similarly dramatic.. Come on.. Microsoft can't put much pressure on the companies that sell most of it's products any more than Wally World can hire people to break competitor's windows.
The days of Microsoft coming in and telling a big OEM what to do are long gone. Microsoft are on the defensive if anything. They made a new OS that is too big and too slow to work on these netbooks, which were a surprise success. They had to back down and keep selling XP when they didn't want to, and they have pushed back the cut-off date at least once. Are these the acts of an all powerful company that has the whole computer industry by the balls? Don't think so.
You can call apps "Linux software" as long as you want, if people run them on Mac OS X (or Windows) instead of Linux, they aren't running Linux, period.
So what do I call an app running on Linux? A carrot?
Those companies render the output on Linux. The creation takes place on a Mac.
Not strictly true. Mac hardware perhaps. If you just do a name check for the apps used, you will go away with the wrong impression. Many CGI companies used Unix based systems extensively from the start. The old SGI workstations were usually running Unux, and then Linux was brought in to run on cheaper commodity hardware, and reduce the rewrites needed to do the changeover. Basic good business case scenario. Linux was a smaller move and a cheaper option than the expensive workstation grade systems they were using. Which is why Nvidia has been supporting Linux for so long. Cinepaint was a fork of an early Gimp version that was heavily customised for the movie industry. ILM even created EXR, which was open sourced so other apps could use it. It is commonly used for retouching jobs instead of Photoshop. Practically a custom app for hteis very job. Massive, the crowd control software used in movies such as Lord of the Rings and others for animating large numbers of figures also works on Linux, and according to one article I read, works better on Linux than on Windows. Ever wonder why Maya is available on Linux? could it be that the top CGI studios who have been using Unix for years, and are Maya's main user base, and have been changing to Linux wanted it. And if you read up a bit, there are plenty of articles about Linux being used in the production side. Sometimes even on Apple hardware running Linux. http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/9951 An interview with the makers of the Spiderwick chronicles. Not a great movie, but some very nice effects. Linux software for content creation running in Apple hardware. http://digitalcontentproducer.com/dcc/revfeat/video_linux_hollywood/ Basically a rundown of Linux in the high end CGI field. Particularly interesting, and shows how wrong you are. There is way more than you think happening with Linux in the CGI world. Off the shelf apps are not enough by a long shot for the movie industry. They have the money and the technical resources to make custom apps that are strictly in house, and will likely never be released to the wider world. For them, Linux works, and works well. And allows them to use the millions of lines of old code from the Unix days that they still need. So basically.. the movie industry uses whatever works, and some of the really big studios have the resources to overcome any limitations of existing software where required. It is a pity they don't release more of their code, but such is life. They don't have to. And much of it would no doubt be useless without the other tools they use for various things. Although the thought of ILM contributing code to Blender and Gimp is quite a nice one.
But then the joke wouldn't work.
There's an unfortunately named application, it's called clit. It should do the job nicely. However, having programs like clit and gimp on my computer... hmm.
Even more unfortunate for us Linux users.. You need Wine to make use of clit.