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User: Computershack

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  1. Re:Here's why.. on Why Linux Doesn't Spread - the Curse of Being Free · · Score: 1

    I hate to state the obvious, but you apparently have never installed Windows XP recently.

    I don't even have to point out the 2+ hours of installing patches and rebooting. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

    Or the fact that you have to install EVERY. SINGLE. APPLICATION. YOURSELF. With many reboots again involved.

    No, Vista isn't much improvement in the reboot cycle although mercifully you don't have to install as many patches. Yet. Err, I had to download over 250MB of updates for Ubuntu and yes, it had a reboot as one was a kernel update. I have installed XP recently as I build systems and there was in total 2 more reboots over a fresh Ubuntu install. Doesn't take 2 hours to patch a Win box on a 8Mbit DSL connection. Apart from Firefox and Rhythmbox, everything I've used on Linux I've had to go and install anyway. HOWEVER UNLIKE LINUX, I'm not expected to go and edit a .conf file just to enable an option to something to work which is the whole purpose of the app that I've installed in the first place (HELLO SAMBA).
  2. Re:Here's why.. on Why Linux Doesn't Spread - the Curse of Being Free · · Score: 1
    Why do I need Roxio when Windows does burning out of the box?
    Why do I need to buy Windows Media Player when it comes bundled and I don't have to register it?
    Why do I need to register a DVD player? (see above)
    Why do I need to sign up for AOL when I already have an ISP?
    If I want an IM app, I have to register no matter who it is.

    Try posting something that doesn't look like you're grasping at straws.

  3. Re:The right computer will sell with Linux on Why Linux Doesn't Spread - the Curse of Being Free · · Score: 1

    And the first thing that happened to the Walmart boxes was that most of them ended up with Windows on. Likewise the Eee, Asus got so many requests for Windows drivers that they released some. I wonder how many Eee PCs are still running Linux.

  4. Here's why.. on Why Linux Doesn't Spread - the Curse of Being Free · · Score: 5, Informative
    I've just installed Ubuntu on my laptop. Installing it was the easy part. I then had to go off and search how to add MP3 support, multimedia streaming and DVD playback. 3/4 hour later of enable this repository, apt-get this and a fair bit of sudo this and that and it's all done. OK, got MP3 support in Rythmbox and VLC is doing a tremendous job of playing DVDs. Firefox seems to be OK although Realplayer streaming on the BBC News website only works in standalone player.
    Fonts look crap so lets see how to install some decent ones..a quick google and after reading several different ways to do it, I'm copying them over from my Windows installation - another 20 minutes. Now, lets set up a shared folder so I can access it from my Vista desktop. Right click on folder, select Share Folder. Goes off and gets another raft of files. Refresh Windows and my laptop shows..all good. Click on the icon for the laptop, user/pass prompt. Try several including guest and the logon for ubuntu and no go. Off we go to Google again and there's a Howto. Only problem is it misses out a few IMPORTANT steps (like saying I have to add a SMB user WTF???) In the end, a post directs me to a Youtube link which shows exactly how to do it. Try to let it share without user/pass and in the end I give up. There's another 45 minutes wasted.

    So it's taken me 2 hours just to install BASIC multimedia functionality, some decent fonts and figure out how to share files over a windows network. What makes it worse is there's not just one way to do something but several ranging from completely ridiculous strings of CLI commands to a simple solution but you can bet which one tops the search results. OK, I know how to do it for next time but do you honestly think Average Joe on their first venture into Linux is going to persist as much as I did? Not a chance. Windows "Just works" so that's what they'll go back to. It'll be "Yeah I tried it once but it was just too damned complicated to do anything so I gave up."

    And that's why Linux isn't cutting it on the desktop.

  5. Haiku-OS - showing Linux for what it really is. on Haiku OS Resurrects BeOS as Open Source · · Score: 1
    From their website FAQ:

    Linux-based distributions are a collection of numerous software that do not necessarily follow the same development guidelines and/or goals. This lack of overall vision often results in increased complexity, insufficient integration, and sometimes inefficient solutions, making the use of your computer more complicated than it should actually be.

  6. Here we go again... on SP1 Unsuccessful in Preventing Vista Hacks · · Score: 3, Insightful

    And it's because of people doing this that stuff gets tightened down and in the end, its not the thieving bastards who suffer but the rest of us who pay for what we use instead of stealing it.

  7. Re:HA HA on Linux Kernel 2.6 Local Root Exploit · · Score: -1, Flamebait

    No it doesn't. So why isn't the desktop market penetration in double figure percentages and why is Windows Server eating into Linux server market share?
  8. Either you have it or you don't. on Web Graphic Design for Small Businesses · · Score: 1
    Either you have an artistic bent or you don't. You can be taught the techniques but unless you have the creative streak needed, it's not going to get you anywhere.
    My missus designs signs and posters. I know far more about the gear and software she's using but give me a blank screen and I haven't a clue what to put on it.

    Pay someone who does this for a living. It'll save you a lot of grief.

  9. Re:If Vista SP1 is based on 2008 Server on Microsoft Upgrades Vista Kernel in SP1 · · Score: 1

    are the 2008 Server changes made to address the incompatibility issues Vista had with older software? If they are, then great.
    Why should older software be supported? Hell, even your beloved OSS doesn't think it's that much of an issue as PERL 3.0 has been advertised as having no backwards compatibility with 2.xx and in the words of the PERL developers "is going to break a lot of things."
  10. Re:That's just dumb on Microsoft Upgrades Vista Kernel in SP1 · · Score: 1

    The difference is that with ubuntu, you, and more importantly, developers, can know exactly what has changed in the new kernel and how that may, or may not, potentially impact performance of other applications. With MS updates you never know and they have a terrible history of breaking things with their updates and doing nothing about it. Developers are told what's changed. Joe public wouldn't know what to do with the info anyway so what's the point? Alsdoi its been argued that by advertising the changes, you allow the hackers to create malware to target vulnerabilities to attack those machines still waiting to be updated.
  11. Re:That's just dumb on Microsoft Upgrades Vista Kernel in SP1 · · Score: 1

    because with Linux you can see what changed so you know what you should test to make sure your software still work
    Just because you can see what's changed isn't going to be a whole lot of help unless you're a programmer so your comment is just plain rubbish. If it isn't, perhaps you can tell me what the changes in this changelog are likely to have on my system and applications? http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.6/snapshots/patch-2.6.24-git14.log/ and what tests should I be doing now I have this information?
  12. Re:Hard Evidence Of Vista Poor Sales and Performan on Vista SP1 Released to Manufacturing · · Score: 1

    -Vista takes fucking forever to shut down or restart. It's frustrating enough to make me hard reset the PC everytime. One time I corrupted my iTunes library doing this. I still hard reset everytime because corrupted files are less annoying that waiting 5 minutes to restart. FUCK.

    -Vista takes fucking forever to boot up. After booting it continues to prefetch apps from the hard disk for 10 minutes before I can use the PC. FUCK.

    Vista takes 5 seconds longer to boot up on my laptop than Ubuntu to get to the log in screen. Ubuntu takes a few seconds longer than Vista to get to the desktop. Overall, Ubuntu wins by a whopping 2-3 seconds. Whooptie friggin do. And what the fuck is shutting down? Is your crock of shit PC so ancient it doesn't support suspend?
  13. Re:vista gaming on Linux Has Better Windows Compatibility Than Vista · · Score: 1, Informative

    In my experience, gaming in Vista caused noticeable performance hits in every game I tried. I lost a 5-ish fps in oblivion, and up to 40 or more in source engine games. I haven't tried in awhile so I don't know if it's gotten any better but that was one of the main reasons for me switching back to XP. And in 2001, gamers were saying exactly the same about XP as they reverted back to Win98. In 2010, the same will be said about Windows 7 as people revert to Vista, seriously.
  14. Re:hardly a good test on Linux Has Better Windows Compatibility Than Vista · · Score: 1

    Actually the test was pretty good.
    The test was designed to test Vista`s compatibility, so the choice of games wasnt bad.
    It included an old DOS-title, several Indie games (not optimized for Vista, but made for XP) and pretty recent well known game (CIV 4).

    So bearing in mind Vista isn't designed to run 16 bit code AT ALL and the OP didn't install a Dos emulater as he did in Linux, can you tell me how that was a good and fair test because I doubt you'll find a professional tester who would. All it does is confirm that Microsoft was right when they said Vista won't run 16 bit code.

  15. Re:Everyone keeps saying... on Linux Has Better Windows Compatibility Than Vista · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Maybe you missed the ASUS Eee PC and the Everex gPC that Walmart has been selling?

    Maybe you missed the fact that Asus posted Windows XP drivers for their Eee PC on their website. Linux was a way of keeping the cost down. And that's the only reason.

  16. BULLSHIT on Linux Has Better Windows Compatibility Than Vista · · Score: 1
    Bullshit, quite simply. Now I've really tried this properly with Linux to the point of paying a 6 month subscription to Transgaming for Cedega. In the end I gave up. Here's why...

    You can play Battlefield 2 but not on a server that's Punkbuster enabled, which is most of them. At the time you could play Counterstrike Source, but the graphics were DirectX 7 meaning lovely things like solid water. I didn't buy a 7800GT to have 1990 graphics.

    So whilst you can play Windows games on Linux, many of the top titles have show stopping issues and non of them look like the Windows versions, usually dropping graphics detail to remain at a playable framerate. You can tell the games which will work better on Linux than Windows by the fact that there's been a Linux port of them such as Quake 3, UT.

  17. Looking in the wrong place... on DRM-Free Music Spells Trouble? · · Score: 2, Insightful

    They're looking in the wrong place. The lack of any decent new music to buy is why sales are tumbling. FFS, I heard some song my son said was a new release by some boy fag band and wasn't it good? He was well happy until I actually pointed out that The Who released Pinball Wizard two years before I was born and a lot of the music he's listening to is rehashed 80's stuff.

  18. Another reason... on Proposal for UK Prisoners to be Given RFID Implants · · Score: 3, Informative
    Just another reason to leave this country. Once upon a time I used to be proud to be British. Nowadays if I say that, I'll be flagged up as a racist, be DNA profiled and have my life gone through with a fine tooth comb.

    This country has surveillance and tracking that's gone beyond anything the Nazi SS and the KGB could ever dreamed of having. So much for living in a free democracy.

  19. Oh dear... on New Seagate Drives Have Real Difficulties With Linux · · Score: 0, Troll
    What is it with Linux and hard drive power management issues? Firstly we have the latest versions of Ubuntu killing laptop hard drives by excessively parking the heads and now we have Linux struggling to cope with a hard drive going into Sleep mode.
    I'm sorry but power management in Linux is seriously broken and until it gets fixed, I won't be using it as my laptop is my primary computer and the lack of proper working power management is a big issue as it severley hits the battery life.

    I'm now going to be no doubt flamed and told I'm stupid because there are "solutions", although these look strangely like workarounds, but all of these solutions involve disabling the power management. Wow, great. Thanks a lot. So if your "solution" involves disabling the power saving features, don't bother posting it because it's not a fix but a botch.

  20. And why Microsoft wins... on Firefox Security Head Says Microsoft Obscures OS Holes · · Score: 1

    "That's a lot of time for an attacker to identify the same issue and exploit it to hurt users."

    One thing that worries me about Firefox being open sourced is that hackers are basically "gifted" with the information about the security holes in previous versions meaning that anyone running the previous versions is more vulnerable until they update which may be never - especially as there's plenty of people still running Firefox 1.x. , not all Linux distros have an auto-update and earlier versions of FF didn't auto-update either. In this respect, for me, closed source is more secure. I'm not claiming that it means IE is more secure, merely that the hackers have to put a fair bit of effort in to find the holes instead of Firefox's "We've fixed the bug that's in version 2.xx - here it is."

  21. Is it 2003 again? on Star Trek Home Theater · · Score: 1
    And this is news? There was someone in the UK who converted his entire apartment to the bridge of the Enterprise.

    Slashdot...news from half a decade ago, today.

  22. Re:Innovation on Apple's "Time Machine" Now For Linux... Sort Of · · Score: 1

    sigh .. yep .. i wonder when linux will eventually catch up with Apple and use something like "spaces" .. i mean ... wow! Those apple guys really know their shit. Think about it! .. virtual desktops?? wowwww man!!! wooooowww!!! That's innovative!!!

    We *REALLY* need that for Linux! Indeed. Especially seeing as Virtual Desktops have been available for Windows XP for over 6 years and they work on Win98 and possibly 95...
  23. No, really? on $200 Linux PCs On Sale At Wal-Mart · · Score: 1, Troll

    By using the fast Enlightenment desktop manager (instead of heavier-duty alternatives like Gnome or KDE), the makers say it's more responsive than Vista is, even on more powerful computers."

    You don't say.... Doesn't take a genius to work out that if you use a desktop manager about as feature filled as Windows 3.1 was, you're going to end up with a fast desktop. However, I suspect someone booting it for the first time is going to look at the desktop and wonder if they've bought a "My First Computer".

  24. Oh dear.. on Google Begins "Gmail 2.0" Rollout · · Score: 1, Funny

    Still looks "bargain basement." They need to get a more professional look to it like the new "Live" Hotmail has because at the moment, it looks like something your mom would knock up as her first webpage.

  25. Re:What about XP sales? on Vista Sales Rate Fell Last Quarter · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Let's start with DRM. The DRM that prevents people from running network apps at even 10% of full speed if they do anything involving audio. Bullshit. That's nothing to do with DRM and everything to do with Application Priority.

    The DRM that causes most existing drivers to fail under Vista. The DRM that can potentially prevent open source programs (or any program, for that matter) from even running on Vista. More bullshit. The way Vista is written to not allow drivers to directly access the kernel anymore is the problem. And what open source programs can't work on Vista?

    The DRM that causes Vista to run a good 10%-20% slower than XP on the same hardware.
    Agasin, more bullshit. It runs slower because there's more overheads due to the additional services and Aero etc. Fuck all to do with DRM

    You might not notice it, but it's there.
    Only in your mind.

    Then there's the pointless eyecandy. You mean like the "wobbly" effect in Ubuntu 7.10 when you drag a window??
    At this point I'm just going to stop continuing to pull massive holes in your post because every single thing you've said is bollocks and I'll be here all day...