But with quake3 at least, you want to be running at least 125fps with vsync turned off so you can nail your strafe jumps. There are some jumps and other movement oriented things you simply can't do as well unless the game is running at 125fps or higher. I'll take some tearing for some frags.
I agree, but some things are interesting about this non-scientific poll....
The democratic party got a lot more weasel votes than the republican party.
The ACLU got voted on at all. They are traditionally loved by the democrats and THEY got more votes than the republican party.
The NYT, a fairly liberal rag, was the only newspaper in it's category.
Michael Moore, who is adored by democrats, got second place above a lot of other candidates.
In my not so scientific view of the numbers, it doesn't look to be heavily slanted either way. It just looks like a lot of republicans and democrats think Dubya is weasily.
Interesting idea. He should probably have gay anal sex with somebody like Rush or O'Reilly. That would be great for ratings. Something non-partisan. As for Bin Laden, I'm sure that with the billions of taxpayer dollars we give the Military Industrial Complex each year, we are only days from finding a man in a cave, and another one on the run in Iraq.
And I completely agree with you. The point that was attempted to be made was this:
35,000 Internet users isn't exactly public opinion. That's 4 orders of magnitude less than the population of the US.
Which I promptly laid waste to. That doesn't change the fact that I'm still actually shocked that Dubya won his category for this silly poll. I didn't actually think people would vote him "weasily" with so many other better choices in my opinion.
Well lets see, if 35,000 internet users isn't significant, then I guess the 921 likely voters with the Zogby International America Poll that gave him a 49 percent approval rating, or the 900 registered voters in the Fox poll that gave him a 52 percent approval rating, or the 1000 people in the ABC News and Washington Post polls that gave him a 53 percent approval rating matter even less? Funny you should pick the Fox numbers. That's very telling. Feel stupid yet?
I'd agree they want to make money. But they also worry about the "court cases of public opinion we can't fix(TM)". The company that "screwed the GPL" would lose a very public amount of respect in the court of public opinion. Sure, the Microsoft influenced magazines and uhhhh, freaking TV network could possibly put a different spin on it. But those in the tech sector would know. SCO knows this. Hell, they've already lost this case because of the court of public opinion. So many facts they'd rather not have public are. They never expected this type of organized, targeted, precise backlash. The worse part is the press is starting to care a lot less. The number of press releases that they can get facetime a week is diminishing. People have already started ignoring them. The end draws near. So back to my original point. I think a lot of it had to do with not wanting to be "that company". The one that absorbs the backlash for trying to kill the GPL. If you were smart, you'd get some shill to do it for you *cough* SCO *cough*. Some company that is already doomed *cough* SCO *cough*. I know one thing. After I had figured out it was going to fail this badly, I'd never try something this stupid again *cough* Microsoft *cough*.
Oh, come now. You've never even tried Thunderbird and you know it or you wouldn't be talking such nonsense. The fact that it's head and shoulders above every other email client I've ever used, hasn't crashed once, AND isn't finished yet only underscores it's superiority. And OE is incredibly insecure and still vulnerable to plenty of stupid stuff and simply doesn't hold a candle to Thunderbird. There is no need to disable potentially harmful attachments in Thunderbird because it wasn't coded like a sieve from the getgo like OE. As for 48 bit color being important for digital cameras, that makes perfect sense to me. I find myself messing with color balance and and the levels tool to get my photos looking just right with Gimp before I make absolutely perfect looking 8 by 10's with my 90 dollar C42UX Using decent photo paper taken with my 2 megapixel camera under my free operating system. That's probably why I didn't shell out a single dollar for software and have such awesome results. I guess it's like, spend a little more time learning how things work and you don't have to spend as much. Like how a professional car mechanic doesn't have to spend a fortune on labor to fix his car because he can do it. Or how really wealthy people get kickass tips on investments and make/save money. Knowing things is cool. However, for the typical home user, I'd definitely have to agree that doing digital photography is definitely something that Windows makes a hell of a lot easier. It's probably going to take the major Linux distributions a while to catch up to things like the hundred or so preforated photo paper formats/systems/etc and to get the printer drivers working perfectly also. I've playing with that MS Photo software that comes with the Avery photo systems and I was quite impressed. I got 3 perfect 4 by 6's. It took me days to be able to duplicate the quality under Linux. Linux isn't what I'd call (Buggy Basics). It's more like having a finer tuned control with less locked in standards. There is simply too much choice. People like yourself need to be told what to do, and have decisions made for you.:) For some people having to many options is scary like the bogeyman.:) There is definitely more work involved, but hey, it's free. If you are willing to put in a little extra time, you almost always end up with better results. My 8 by 10's would floor you.
If I'm a zealot, it's more like a zealot of opportunity. I do a lot of devils advocacy more than anything else. I tend to overreact for effect. I could almost sometimes be called *gasp!* a troll, but not quite. My other Slashdot ID is sawilson. I know you ended up on my friends list after one hell of a rant at one point, at least on that account. I got bored with the sawilson account, and decided to revive this one after taking a few years off from it.
I'm happy to be informed if I'm wrong but *NIX & *BSD desktop system leave a bit to be desired in my opinion.
Ok, I'll inform you. You have some interesting points, but you are off on some.
Are there X drivers that fully support it?
Yup.
Will the kernel installed with the latest Mandrake distro support my graphics hardware fully?
Yup.
What if I want to learn a foreign language by running language learning software on my new PC: is there software available that I can use on a *NIX/*BSD desktop?
No idea actually. Let me google....
Well, not any software particular to install. I did find a neat website that teaches you foreign languages with web-based system using a java based audio player that worked fine. Dick and Jane computer user aren't going to be trying to learn a foreign language with their computer though.
Will I be able to run that game on my *NIX/*BSD desktop when it comes out?
Probably not. But the average computer user isn't playing games on their computer. They are checking their mail and surfing the net. Printing crap out. etc. Like I said, it's not right for everyone. Just MOST people.
Will I be able to watch DivX movies or will I have to install additional software?
Other than the DivX codecs that you'd have to install anyway on ANY OS, not really. Mplayer plays DivX fine.
What about if decide to subscribe to a bradband internet service: will the ISP's technician set it up for me if I'm not running windows?
They really won't have too. Mandrake sets up broadband on install. Even the the worst installer in the world (FreeBSD) asks you simple questions like "Want DHCP to detect your network settings?" and stuff like "Need PPPoE?". Unless the provider doesn't use open standards, and I don't know of any that don't at this point, you'll have absolutely no problem using *NIX with any broadband. The only exception I know of is DirecWay Satellite Internet because it's some strange hybrid phoneline/satelitte deal that relies on proprietary windows software. At least stateside, more broadband providers are getting Linux savvy. My Mother-In-Law had a problem with Cox cable, and the technician guy actually new Mandrake pretty well and had no problem futzing with it.
I use mandrake 9.1 at home. I am somewhat experienced with PCs and I've used many a linux distro. I've even built my own with LFS
Then you already knew the answers to most of the stuff you asked, or simply didn't know how easy it was.
That said, I think, as a desktop PC OS for consumers, windows is a better product than a unix-like running KDE or GNOME.
And that is a great opinion. And one you could even attempt to support. All I'm saying is that KDE on Mandrake is perfectly fine for MOST people. It has been for a while. Factor in the benefit of never having to worry about Email viruses and IE exploits and I'd even say they equal out.
Things "just work" under windows. Got new hardware? No problem.
You should probably read my earlier XP post. It was a bitch getting XP working. Things don't always "just work". They probably SHOULD just work considering it's something you are spending money on though.
Got new hardware? No problem.
True, but God help you if you have hardware that is a few years old and the manufacture never made XP drivers. Then unlike Linux where you have the options of rolling your own driver, or mentioning it, or simply waiting and someone will make one, you are simply screwed. See, there are two sides to that coin.
Want to run some niche-interest software? No worries. You're most like to find the "best of breed" product is windows software.
And the the reverse is true. There are a lot of programs that simply do not have *NIX counterparts in Windows. And unlike Linux where I can at least attempt to get some strange windows program (recently th
That's a lot of opinion you have going there. I have some of my own. The old WordPerfect programs were a lot better laid out than anything Microsoft has done, but you are right. Office XP is a little better than OO. OO does everything I need though. I prefer XP definitely though. Me thinks you are being too critical. Mozilla Firebird is simply better than IE and Thunderbird is slightly better than Outlook Express not even taking security into consideration. Kmail is a sweet little email client also, but probably not as good as Outlook Express. Thunderbird is hands down my favorite right now. I have it set up to check mail for 6 email boxes and sort the mail. 2 SSL IMAP with mbox format, 1 SSL IMAP with maildir format, 1 regular pop3, 1 pop3 with SSL, and a local spool. It hasn't given me a single problem yet. Very very powerful configuration options, very simple to use. Big pretty buttons. I've never used MS Money, but I'm not a very huge Quicken fan either. As for 48bit color, I have no idea why you'd need that. Not to say there isn't a very valid reason, it's just not my thing.:) As long as I can do color gradients without a shitty stairstep effect, I'm happy. You can do that with 24 or 32 bit color. I'd have to agree that Photoshop is a lot better, but I'd also say that photoshop was perfectly fine for my limited needs at version 4.X. Gimp takes a little longer to get used to, but has an awesome online tutorial to get you aclimated and pretty much does anything I need to do. I'm not a serious graphics professional though as most of us aren't.:) I just make some stuff for web pages, maybe throw together an animated gift or some transparent thingy. It does all that just fine. You are seriously understating the advantage of free. Especially with the photoshop/gimp thing. Some warez kiddy can say something like "photoshop is free dude OMG!!! R0XX3RS!!!!!" but I'm not one of those. I'd actually pay for it. Since I can come up with professional looking results with Gimp, or povray, or blender, I'm probably going to use those since they are free.
If you think that's neat, explain to me why I haven't see any of the moderation done to any of my comments for the past 3 days.:) Every single one of my posts in my browser appears as a 2 for the past three days. I'm not sure where to begin to diagnose something like that. Browser cache?.:)
I should have said "well known to me". Me and Kenja have had disagreements in the past. Depending on the context, you'll see me frequently argue very hard for Windows, for Linux, For FreeBSD, etc. And sometimes I'm simply bored and doing mean spirited shit stirring but most of the time I'm a pretty straight arrow. The important thing is not taking any of this very seriously. I have a ton of respect for Kenja. It's more like jerking someone's chain. Kenja has a bunch of legitimate stuff that simply can't be done with anything but Microsoft tools. That doesn't change the fact that dick and jane computer user could get by just fine with KDE running on something.
Or, if Microsoft has simply decided to remove the driver, or they don't have a decent relationship with the hardware vendor anymore. When I installed XP not only did I have to spend 3 hours downloading all the security patches, virus definitions, spyware removers, and other general utilities to lock the box down and make it secure, I also had to get the drivers for my digital camera "powershot s110" scanner "epson perfection 1200U" UPS, etc. That took another few hours to download and install. Then I had massive issues because of bug with the Microsoft USB drivers. Then I had to reinstall all my USB stuff because it didn't recognise it anymore. That was loads of fun without a working mouse (logitech mx300). Then I had to get a specific mx300 driver because quake3 didn't like my mouse anymore. Then I had to get updated nvidia drivers because the ones that came with XP were seriously outdated and causing all sorts of problems. For some reason windows updated didn't find the latest WHL approved driver and I had to install it by hand. Then I ran windows update again and suddenly there were 12 more things there wern't there last time. The built in burning software in XP kept locking up my system so I installed Nero BUT my cdrom specific version didn't like it anymore so I had to go PURCHASE A FUCKING LICENSE to get nero working so I could use my burner. So in the end after 14 HOURS I had my XP system up, working and secure. It's not like any of the hardware I have is particularly ancient. Now, in comparison,
Had Mandrake installed in about 30 minutes.
I installed Xsane and edited one file and had my scanner working in 5 minutes under Linux.
I installed gphoto2 and gtkam and had my digital camera working in about 10 minutes under Linux.
I installed cups with gimp-print and had my printer working in under 5 minutes.
Video card and monitor setup was a point and click affair during install. It just worked. I did however spend about 30 minutes downloading the official NVidia drivers, then made two edits to my Xconfig to use them.
I ran the OS specific updates and had them installed in under 15 minutes from an ftp server.
The hardest part was getting my cdburner to work AGAIN. I had to add some hdX=scsi lines to a boot loader config, then install gtoaster. It took a while to figure that out.
So 14 hours for a configured, perfectly working secure XP install versus about 3 for a perfectly working and more secure Linux box. And I'm VERY good with Windows and *NIX.
I'm right there with you. I got my ass chewed out by a friend the other day because I hooked up a customer with Win2k3 Web Edition instead of Linux or BSD etc. "You are in bed with the enemy traitor!" and bullshit like that. It was impossible for me to explain to him that it was just a small office that wanted their own web presense and had a distinct need for some very specific microsoft technologies that their existing web-page was based on. They just wanted to move their page to their own network and stop getting soaked by the provider they were using. It took me all of 4 hours to set everything up and move their page. The hardest part was getting their asshole ISP to give up the domain name that wasn't theirs. Everything is working fine now since DNS has propogated. I even have them behind a firewall that is redirecting port 80 and 443 internally to the Win2k3 machine. Some people just have their biases. The concept of the "ONLY OS" is a common one in all sides of the debate.
But you can't simply stick and expansion card in a Wintel box and it just work either. You have to do the drivers install dance. What amazing expectations you have for Linux that nobody else supports either.
Big surprise.:) You are a very well known Microsoft Apologist despite your carefully crafted fantasies involving running *NIX and *BSD and whatnot. I'd have expected no less than a completely pointless and error filled reply from you no matter now absolutely perfect and valid my post was. Anybody here that has used Mandrake with KDE can tell you that it's more than enough for the average user. It's easier than Windows to install for one, and comes with everything the average user actually needs. My mother is happily using Kmail for mail, Konqueror for the web, and OO for typing stuff up. Her HP printer works fine. She can print her labels and auction stuff on eBay. That's all she really needs. Like I have to tell you any of this. You already know this and you have your fingers in your ears and you are going LA LA LA LA LA!:) It's really quite amusing. You really need to get over your obvious bias. It's very unattractive. I know of absolutely nobody that is so brain numbingly helpless that they can't get around in the most recent KDE versions. Your arguments about X not only make no sense whatsoever. People have already built a few systems based on Linux that work perfectly fine for the inexperiences computer user. Perhaps they don't meet your needs, but we covered that. Just because you aren't ready for Linux and Linux doesn't do all the things you need to do, doesn't mean that it isn't simply perfect for most people. And it is.:) Linux isn't afraid of you Kenja.
Microsoft has built a business based on vendor lockin. They have done this by "embracing and extending" open standards. They are even going to far as to try to do the same thing to motherboard bios. Expect a very long and nasty fight. If they were to start getting crap from German, the UK, and Brazil because MS Office doesn't support OpenOffice, their response would likely be something along the lines of "We'll offer you a great deal on MS Office" or "*the finger* we told you so". Microsoft is very very good at not being at fault for things.
Very very true. And you have a very valid point where things concern you. However, most users can do fine with Windows or KDE or Gnome. They have simple needs. The bottom line here is that most users now could easily use one of the more polished Linux distros in place of Windows.
Slashdot Mirror
True,
But with quake3 at least, you want to be running at least 125fps with vsync turned off so you can nail your strafe jumps. There are some jumps and other movement oriented things you simply can't do as well unless the game is running at 125fps or higher. I'll take some tearing for some frags.
I agree, but some things are interesting about this non-scientific poll....
The democratic party got a lot more weasel votes than the republican party.
The ACLU got voted on at all. They are traditionally loved by the democrats and THEY got more votes than the republican party.
The NYT, a fairly liberal rag, was the only newspaper in it's category.
Michael Moore, who is adored by democrats, got second place above a lot of other candidates.
In my not so scientific view of the numbers, it doesn't look to be heavily slanted either way. It just looks like a lot of republicans and democrats think Dubya is weasily.
Interesting idea. He should probably have gay anal sex with somebody like Rush or O'Reilly. That would be great for ratings. Something non-partisan. As for Bin Laden, I'm sure that with the billions of taxpayer dollars we give the Military Industrial Complex each year, we are only days from finding a man in a cave, and another one on the run in Iraq.
And I completely agree with you. That's not the point I was making.
And I completely agree with you. The point that was attempted to be made was this:
35,000 Internet users isn't exactly public opinion. That's 4 orders of magnitude less than the population of the US.
Which I promptly laid waste to. That doesn't change the fact that I'm still actually shocked that Dubya won his category for this silly poll. I didn't actually think people would vote him "weasily" with so many other better choices in my opinion.
35,000 Internet users isn't exactly public opinion. That's 4 orders of magnitude less than the population of the US.
:)
That was the point made. That was the point I shot down fairly easily. I said nothing about accuracy. Read much?
Well lets see, if 35,000 internet users isn't significant, then I guess the 921 likely voters with the Zogby International America Poll that gave him a 49 percent approval rating, or the 900 registered voters in the Fox poll that gave him a 52 percent approval rating, or the 1000 people in the ABC News and Washington Post polls that gave him a 53 percent approval rating matter even less? Funny you should pick the Fox numbers. That's very telling. Feel stupid yet?
But then I'm neither a republican or democrat. I find it interesting that Dubya won his category. I had no idea public opinion of him was so low.
You might also want to see if you can get your hands on the 64bit XP beta. I found some information here:
Microsoft Announces Beta Version of Windows XP 64-Bit Edition For 64-Bit Extended Systems
It looks like you can download the beta if you are an MSDN member only.
You can build a Gentoo system completely optimized for AMD64 with help from this page:
. html
http://dev.gentoo.org/~brad_mssw/amd64-tech-notes
T-Minus 10 second and counting til someone starts bashing Gentoo and recommending Debian.
This page was generated by a Squadron of Psycho Squirrels for Sevn
they just exist to make money
I'd agree they want to make money. But they also worry about the "court cases of public opinion we can't fix(TM)". The company that "screwed the GPL" would lose a very public amount of respect in the court of public opinion. Sure, the Microsoft influenced magazines and uhhhh, freaking TV network could possibly put a different spin on it. But those in the tech sector would know. SCO knows this. Hell, they've already lost this case because of the court of public opinion. So many facts they'd rather not have public are. They never expected this type of organized, targeted, precise backlash. The worse part is the press is starting to care a lot less. The number of press releases that they can get facetime a week is diminishing. People have already started ignoring them. The end draws near. So back to my original point. I think a lot of it had to do with not wanting to be "that company". The one that absorbs the backlash for trying to kill the GPL. If you were smart, you'd get some shill to do it for you *cough* SCO *cough*. Some company that is already doomed *cough* SCO *cough*. I know one thing. After I had figured out it was going to fail this badly, I'd never try something this stupid again *cough* Microsoft *cough*.
Oh, come now. You've never even tried Thunderbird and you know it or you wouldn't be talking such nonsense. The fact that it's head and shoulders above every other email client I've ever used, hasn't crashed once, AND isn't finished yet only underscores it's superiority. And OE is incredibly insecure and still vulnerable to plenty of stupid stuff and simply doesn't hold a candle to Thunderbird. There is no need to disable potentially harmful attachments in Thunderbird because it wasn't coded like a sieve from the getgo like OE. As for 48 bit color being important for digital cameras, that makes perfect sense to me. I find myself messing with color balance and and the levels tool to get my photos looking just right with Gimp before I make absolutely perfect looking 8 by 10's with my 90 dollar C42UX Using decent photo paper taken with my 2 megapixel camera under my free operating system. That's probably why I didn't shell out a single dollar for software and have such awesome results. I guess it's like, spend a little more time learning how things work and you don't have to spend as much. Like how a professional car mechanic doesn't have to spend a fortune on labor to fix his car because he can do it. Or how really wealthy people get kickass tips on investments and make/save money. Knowing things is cool. However, for the typical home user, I'd definitely have to agree that doing digital photography is definitely something that Windows makes a hell of a lot easier. It's probably going to take the major Linux distributions a while to catch up to things like the hundred or so preforated photo paper formats/systems/etc and to get the printer drivers working perfectly also. I've playing with that MS Photo software that comes with the Avery photo systems and I was quite impressed. I got 3 perfect 4 by 6's. It took me days to be able to duplicate the quality under Linux. Linux isn't what I'd call (Buggy Basics). It's more like having a finer tuned control with less locked in standards. There is simply too much choice. People like yourself need to be told what to do, and have decisions made for you. :) For some people having to many options is scary like the bogeyman. :) There is definitely more work involved, but hey, it's free. If you are willing to put in a little extra time, you almost always end up with better results. My 8 by 10's would floor you.
More than me apparently. :)
If I'm a zealot, it's more like a zealot of opportunity. I do a lot of devils advocacy more than anything else. I tend to overreact for effect. I could almost sometimes be called *gasp!* a troll, but not quite. My other Slashdot ID is sawilson. I know you ended up on my friends list after one hell of a rant at one point, at least on that account. I got bored with the sawilson account, and decided to revive this one after taking a few years off from it.
I'm happy to be informed if I'm wrong but *NIX & *BSD desktop system leave a bit to be desired in my opinion.
Ok, I'll inform you. You have some interesting points, but you are off on some.
Are there X drivers that fully support it?
Yup.
Will the kernel installed with the latest Mandrake distro support my graphics hardware fully?
Yup.
What if I want to learn a foreign language by running language learning software on my new PC: is there software available that I can use on a *NIX/*BSD desktop?
No idea actually. Let me google....
Well, not any software particular to install. I did find a neat website that teaches you foreign languages with web-based system using a java based audio player that worked fine. Dick and Jane computer user aren't going to be trying to learn a foreign language with their computer though.
Will I be able to run that game on my *NIX/*BSD desktop when it comes out?
Probably not. But the average computer user isn't playing games on their computer. They are checking their mail and surfing the net. Printing crap out. etc. Like I said, it's not right for everyone. Just MOST people.
Will I be able to watch DivX movies or will I have to install additional software?
Other than the DivX codecs that you'd have to install anyway on ANY OS, not really. Mplayer plays DivX fine.
What about if decide to subscribe to a bradband internet service: will the ISP's technician set it up for me if I'm not running windows?
They really won't have too. Mandrake sets up broadband on install. Even the the worst installer in the world (FreeBSD) asks you simple questions like "Want DHCP to detect your network settings?" and stuff like "Need PPPoE?". Unless the provider doesn't use open standards, and I don't know of any that don't at this point, you'll have absolutely no problem using *NIX with any broadband. The only exception I know of is DirecWay Satellite Internet because it's some strange hybrid phoneline/satelitte deal that relies on proprietary windows software. At least stateside, more broadband providers are getting Linux savvy. My Mother-In-Law had a problem with Cox cable, and the technician guy actually new Mandrake pretty well and had no problem futzing with it.
I use mandrake 9.1 at home. I am somewhat experienced with PCs and I've used many a linux distro. I've even built my own with LFS
Then you already knew the answers to most of the stuff you asked, or simply didn't know how easy it was.
That said, I think, as a desktop PC OS for consumers, windows is a better product than a unix-like running KDE or GNOME.
And that is a great opinion. And one you could even attempt to support. All I'm saying is that KDE on Mandrake is perfectly fine for MOST people. It has been for a while. Factor in the benefit of never having to worry about Email viruses and IE exploits and I'd even say they equal out.
Things "just work" under windows. Got new hardware? No problem.
You should probably read my earlier XP post. It was a bitch getting XP working. Things don't always "just work". They probably SHOULD just work considering it's something you are spending money on though.
Got new hardware? No problem.
True, but God help you if you have hardware that is a few years old and the manufacture never made XP drivers. Then unlike Linux where you have the options of rolling your own driver, or mentioning it, or simply waiting and someone will make one, you are simply screwed. See, there are two sides to that coin.
Want to run some niche-interest software? No worries. You're most like to find the "best of breed" product is windows software.
And the the reverse is true. There are a lot of programs that simply do not have *NIX counterparts in Windows. And unlike Linux where I can at least attempt to get some strange windows program (recently th
That's a lot of opinion you have going there. I have some of my own. The old WordPerfect programs were a lot better laid out than anything Microsoft has done, but you are right. Office XP is a little better than OO. OO does everything I need though. I prefer XP definitely though. Me thinks you are being too critical. Mozilla Firebird is simply better than IE and Thunderbird is slightly better than Outlook Express not even taking security into consideration. Kmail is a sweet little email client also, but probably not as good as Outlook Express. Thunderbird is hands down my favorite right now. I have it set up to check mail for 6 email boxes and sort the mail. 2 SSL IMAP with mbox format, 1 SSL IMAP with maildir format, 1 regular pop3, 1 pop3 with SSL, and a local spool. It hasn't given me a single problem yet. Very very powerful configuration options, very simple to use. Big pretty buttons. I've never used MS Money, but I'm not a very huge Quicken fan either. As for 48bit color, I have no idea why you'd need that. Not to say there isn't a very valid reason, it's just not my thing. :) As long as I can do color gradients without a shitty stairstep effect, I'm happy. You can do that with 24 or 32 bit color. I'd have to agree that Photoshop is a lot better, but I'd also say that photoshop was perfectly fine for my limited needs at version 4.X. Gimp takes a little longer to get used to, but has an awesome online tutorial to get you aclimated and pretty much does anything I need to do. I'm not a serious graphics professional though as most of us aren't. :) I just make some stuff for web pages, maybe throw together an animated gift or some transparent thingy. It does all that just fine. You are seriously understating the advantage of free. Especially with the photoshop/gimp thing. Some warez kiddy can say something like "photoshop is free dude OMG!!! R0XX3RS!!!!!" but I'm not one of those. I'd actually pay for it. Since I can come up with professional looking results with Gimp, or povray, or blender, I'm probably going to use those since they are free.
If you think that's neat, explain to me why I haven't see any of the moderation done to any of my comments for the past 3 days. :) Every single one of my posts in my browser appears as a 2 for the past three days. I'm not sure where to begin to diagnose something like that. Browser cache?. :)
True.
I should have said "well known to me". Me and Kenja have had disagreements in the past. Depending on the context, you'll see me frequently argue very hard for Windows, for Linux, For FreeBSD, etc. And sometimes I'm simply bored and doing mean spirited shit stirring but most of the time I'm a pretty straight arrow. The important thing is not taking any of this very seriously. I have a ton of respect for Kenja. It's more like jerking someone's chain. Kenja has a bunch of legitimate stuff that simply can't be done with anything but Microsoft tools. That doesn't change the fact that dick and jane computer user could get by just fine with KDE running on something.
Or, if Microsoft has simply decided to remove the driver, or they don't have a decent relationship with the hardware vendor anymore. When I installed XP not only did I have to spend 3 hours downloading all the security patches, virus definitions, spyware removers, and other general utilities to lock the box down and make it secure, I also had to get the drivers for my digital camera "powershot s110" scanner "epson perfection 1200U" UPS, etc. That took another few hours to download and install. Then I had massive issues because of bug with the Microsoft USB drivers. Then I had to reinstall all my USB stuff because it didn't recognise it anymore. That was loads of fun without a working mouse (logitech mx300). Then I had to get a specific mx300 driver because quake3 didn't like my mouse anymore. Then I had to get updated nvidia drivers because the ones that came with XP were seriously outdated and causing all sorts of problems. For some reason windows updated didn't find the latest WHL approved driver and I had to install it by hand. Then I ran windows update again and suddenly there were 12 more things there wern't there last time. The built in burning software in XP kept locking up my system so I installed Nero BUT my cdrom specific version didn't like it anymore so I had to go PURCHASE A FUCKING LICENSE to get nero working so I could use my burner. So in the end after 14 HOURS I had my XP system up, working and secure. It's not like any of the hardware I have is particularly ancient. Now, in comparison,
Had Mandrake installed in about 30 minutes.
I installed Xsane and edited one file and had my scanner working in 5 minutes under Linux.
I installed gphoto2 and gtkam and had my digital camera working in about 10 minutes under Linux.
I installed cups with gimp-print and had my printer working in under 5 minutes.
Video card and monitor setup was a point and click affair during install. It just worked. I did however spend about 30 minutes downloading the official NVidia drivers, then made two edits to my Xconfig to use them.
I ran the OS specific updates and had them installed in under 15 minutes from an ftp server.
The hardest part was getting my cdburner to work AGAIN. I had to add some hdX=scsi lines to a boot loader config, then install gtoaster. It took a while to figure that out.
So 14 hours for a configured, perfectly working secure XP install versus about 3 for a perfectly working and more secure Linux box. And I'm VERY good with Windows and *NIX.
I'm right there with you. I got my ass chewed out by a friend the other day because I hooked up a customer with Win2k3 Web Edition instead of Linux or BSD etc. "You are in bed with the enemy traitor!" and bullshit like that. It was impossible for me to explain to him that it was just a small office that wanted their own web presense and had a distinct need for some very specific microsoft technologies that their existing web-page was based on. They just wanted to move their page to their own network and stop getting soaked by the provider they were using. It took me all of 4 hours to set everything up and move their page. The hardest part was getting their asshole ISP to give up the domain name that wasn't theirs. Everything is working fine now since DNS has propogated. I even have them behind a firewall that is redirecting port 80 and 443 internally to the Win2k3 machine. Some people just have their biases. The concept of the "ONLY OS" is a common one in all sides of the debate.
But you can't simply stick and expansion card in a Wintel box and it just work either. You have to do the drivers install dance. What amazing expectations you have for Linux that nobody else supports either.
I disagree
:) You are a very well known Microsoft Apologist despite your carefully crafted fantasies involving running *NIX and *BSD and whatnot. I'd have expected no less than a completely pointless and error filled reply from you no matter now absolutely perfect and valid my post was. Anybody here that has used Mandrake with KDE can tell you that it's more than enough for the average user. It's easier than Windows to install for one, and comes with everything the average user actually needs. My mother is happily using Kmail for mail, Konqueror for the web, and OO for typing stuff up. Her HP printer works fine. She can print her labels and auction stuff on eBay. That's all she really needs. Like I have to tell you any of this. You already know this and you have your fingers in your ears and you are going LA LA LA LA LA! :) It's really quite amusing. You really need to get over your obvious bias. It's very unattractive. I know of absolutely nobody that is so brain numbingly helpless that they can't get around in the most recent KDE versions. Your arguments about X not only make no sense whatsoever. People have already built a few systems based on Linux that work perfectly fine for the inexperiences computer user. Perhaps they don't meet your needs, but we covered that. Just because you aren't ready for Linux and Linux doesn't do all the things you need to do, doesn't mean that it isn't simply perfect for most people. And it is. :) Linux isn't afraid of you Kenja.
Big surprise.
Short answer?
A long damn time.
Long answer?
Microsoft has built a business based on vendor lockin. They have done this by "embracing and extending" open standards. They are even going to far as to try to do the same thing to motherboard bios. Expect a very long and nasty fight. If they were to start getting crap from German, the UK, and Brazil because MS Office doesn't support OpenOffice, their response would likely be something along the lines of "We'll offer you a great deal on MS Office" or "*the finger* we told you so". Microsoft is very very good at not being at fault for things.
Very very true. And you have a very valid point where things concern you. However, most users can do fine with Windows or KDE or Gnome. They have simple needs. The bottom line here is that most users now could easily use one of the more polished Linux distros in place of Windows.