Just because PDF can do those things its completely possible that the PDF format is not appropriate for the task at hand and maybe another file format should be explored.
Your completely right in what you've said but on the other hand, a lot of the stuff your capable of doing in a Linux shell simply isn't available for windows. If you get unlucky and can't get a video driver working for windows. There is no shell drop into so you can tweak and solve your problem.
That's why you do what I did with my Ubbuntu laptop. You make a gigantic firefox icon that can be see from space and rename it INTERNET. The only question I ever get is how do you make windows look like this.
While I agree with you that there is a lot of crappy developers out there. I don't think you can completely blame the schools. The schools teach you the theory but don't give you the real world practice needed to be a good programmer.
When I came out of school I understood the theory but was a pretty lousy developer. I worked in a small development team that rightfully treated me as a junior programmer. All of my code was reviewed by a senior developer for a period of time until I gained their trust and I could work independently.
Even to this day we still have open conversations about the code we are writing and discuss architecture and patterns that would best fit the problem.
I think that may be what is missing from some organizations. Every development crew needs to have senior folks to show the junior people the ropes and talk them through the pitfalls that all young programmers fall into.
I think you're missing the point. While I agree that everyone should use what we like. We should all be able to play together. The problem isn't with MS Word its with the ubiquity and propriety of the.doc,.docx, etc. formats.
This is where open standards come in.
The internet should be big enough proof that open standards yield amazing results.
Could you imagine a world where if you use Internet Explorer you can see some pages and if you used Safari you could only see others. It just doesn't make sense.
Let's force organizations to use open standards. Then they can compete on how they get the job done and not on how well they can hide YOUR data in THEIR proprietary format.
You're really in no different of a situation than the corporate folks whose data resides on networked drives. If you need files to work offline then you need a local copy of them. In the case of Google docs you will probably need open office to edit them in whatever format you exported them in, then just like the standard corporate model. You will need to update the server with your local copy.
Really it's the same problem with a different set of tools.
Your plan is easier said than done. I was recently trying to migrate a friend from hotmail to gmail using the steps you have above. In hotmail you can only forward mail to other microsoft services, hotmail, live etc. so we had to jump directly to the vacation responder.
It's a change of mindset but how often do you really drive > 150 miles in a day where a recharge wouldn't be practical? A few times a year? The cost savings of an electric vehicle would more than pay for a car rental when you need a long range vehicle.
This is a real common argument people make, however it's just not true anymore. There was a time when Java apsp were slow but improvements within the language and JVM have made its performance comparable to compiled C. As far as bloat goes, a poorly configured Java application or application container in the case of web apps will certainly make Java apps appear bloated but that's only because you allocate the JVM a certain amount of memory and Java will use every last byte you give it if it needs to. On the other side of that if you force a Java application to run very lean on memory the garbage collector will do a pretty impressive job keeping your application running efficiently. That's not to say that a C/C++ doesn't give the developer a better ability to optimize performance and footprint.
That being said, I don't think there is such a thing as the perfect language. They all need to be thought of as tools in a programmers tool box where you choose the right tool for the job.
I'm going to disagree with you here. Pulse Audio was a big improvement for me. Jack sensing started working on my laptop and overall consistency of performance across applications improved.
But I suppose inconsistency in user experience is going to happen until hardware manufacturers start opening up their code.
Why is it that every rationale to vote for McCain revolves around the "because I don't like the other guy argument". As an Obama supporter that isn't a compelling reason to vote for McCain.
But that is a pretty weak argument when he supports staying in a costly war. Lowering taxes and spending huge amounts of money on war will be terrible for the US economy.
Then again I spose a lot of people don't have the ability to do what I like to call take two facts and create a third fact.
Fact 1: War is costly
Fact 2: Taxes pay for war
Fact 3 (created from the first two facts): If we decrease taxes and still spend on a war we won't have money to pay for anything but the war without borrowing more money.
I have a real hard time understanding what policies McCain is offering that are appealing to the voting public. I would like to hear a McCain supporter explain his appeal just to understand the other side of this election.
I'm glad to see this type of product coming to consumers with a marketing force behind them (Acer, ASUS, Dell etc...)This product is perfect for my parents, grandmother and myself!
Before the M$ bash fest starts let's make this clear. These companies are not using Linux distros because they hate Microsoft or any of that other nonsense. It is purely a financial decision. They can make more money with Linux while at the same time offer the consumers a product that can be judged by its functionality and other merits. Not by a third party having their branding all over it.
If these companies could make more money using M$ operating systems, they would in a hearbeat.
Ok... now that we are clear, The Ubuntu fan boi in me wants say. Sweet it's finally the year of the Linux DeskTo... Lapto... NetBook?
Slashdot Mirror
Are you sure they run it because they like it or because it came pre-installed and then grew to like it?
Just because PDF can do those things its completely possible that the PDF format is not appropriate for the task at hand and maybe another file format should be explored.
I hope your referring to desktop machines because on the server its really hard to beat a *nix machine for "just working".
Your completely right in what you've said but on the other hand, a lot of the stuff your capable of doing in a Linux shell simply isn't available for windows. If you get unlucky and can't get a video driver working for windows. There is no shell drop into so you can tweak and solve your problem.
Maybe it's time to give Linux another try. I haven't had any issues lately with a multi-monitor setup on Ubunutu 8.10
That's why you do what I did with my Ubbuntu laptop. You make a gigantic firefox icon that can be see from space and rename it INTERNET. The only question I ever get is how do you make windows look like this.
It's not like it used to be.
While I agree with you that there is a lot of crappy developers out there. I don't think you can completely blame the schools. The schools teach you the theory but don't give you the real world practice needed to be a good programmer.
When I came out of school I understood the theory but was a pretty lousy developer. I worked in a small development team that rightfully treated me as a junior programmer. All of my code was reviewed by a senior developer for a period of time until I gained their trust and I could work independently.
Even to this day we still have open conversations about the code we are writing and discuss architecture and patterns that would best fit the problem.
I think that may be what is missing from some organizations. Every development crew needs to have senior folks to show the junior people the ropes and talk them through the pitfalls that all young programmers fall into.
I think you're missing the point. While I agree that everyone should use what we like. We should all be able to play together. The problem isn't with MS Word its with the ubiquity and propriety of the .doc, .docx, etc. formats.
This is where open standards come in.
The internet should be big enough proof that open standards yield amazing results.
Could you imagine a world where if you use Internet Explorer you can see some pages and if you used Safari you could only see others. It just doesn't make sense.
Let's force organizations to use open standards. Then they can compete on how they get the job done and not on how well they can hide YOUR data in THEIR proprietary format.
You're really in no different of a situation than the corporate folks whose data resides on networked drives. If you need files to work offline then you need a local copy of them. In the case of Google docs you will probably need open office to edit them in whatever format you exported them in, then just like the standard corporate model. You will need to update the server with your local copy.
Really it's the same problem with a different set of tools.
Your plan is easier said than done. I was recently trying to migrate a friend from hotmail to gmail using the steps you have above. In hotmail you can only forward mail to other microsoft services, hotmail, live etc. so we had to jump directly to the vacation responder.
I hope it has an LCD photo gallery!
I don't even know if that was sarcasm.
It's a change of mindset but how often do you really drive > 150 miles in a day where a recharge wouldn't be practical? A few times a year? The cost savings of an electric vehicle would more than pay for a car rental when you need a long range vehicle.
This is a real common argument people make, however it's just not true anymore. There was a time when Java apsp were slow but improvements within the language and JVM have made its performance comparable to compiled C. As far as bloat goes, a poorly configured Java application or application container in the case of web apps will certainly make Java apps appear bloated but that's only because you allocate the JVM a certain amount of memory and Java will use every last byte you give it if it needs to. On the other side of that if you force a Java application to run very lean on memory the garbage collector will do a pretty impressive job keeping your application running efficiently. That's not to say that a C/C++ doesn't give the developer a better ability to optimize performance and footprint.
That being said, I don't think there is such a thing as the perfect language. They all need to be thought of as tools in a programmers tool box where you choose the right tool for the job.
I'm going to disagree with you here. Pulse Audio was a big improvement for me. Jack sensing started working on my laptop and overall consistency of performance across applications improved.
But I suppose inconsistency in user experience is going to happen until hardware manufacturers start opening up their code.
That means cutting out my Sour Patch Kids.... Not worth it!
Oh sir but that is where you are wrong!
I think you have a valid point as sad as that is. On the other had I'd hope black voters who are voting solely based on race would balance it out.
It's 2008 can't we move passed these race issues? It seems so damned silly.
Well it took a long while but at least I finally got a well thought out, non-inflammatory response.
Thanks!
Why is it that every rationale to vote for McCain revolves around the "because I don't like the other guy argument". As an Obama supporter that isn't a compelling reason to vote for McCain.
But that is a pretty weak argument when he supports staying in a costly war. Lowering taxes and spending huge amounts of money on war will be terrible for the US economy.
Then again I spose a lot of people don't have the ability to do what I like to call take two facts and create a third fact.
Fact 1: War is costly
Fact 2: Taxes pay for war
Fact 3 (created from the first two facts): If we decrease taxes and still spend on a war we won't have money to pay for anything but the war without borrowing more money.
I have a real hard time understanding what policies McCain is offering that are appealing to the voting public. I would like to hear a McCain supporter explain his appeal just to understand the other side of this election.
Does anyone have any insight here?
I'm glad to see this type of product coming to consumers with a marketing force behind them (Acer, ASUS, Dell etc...)This product is perfect for my parents, grandmother and myself!
Before the M$ bash fest starts let's make this clear. These companies are not using Linux distros because they hate Microsoft or any of that other nonsense. It is purely a financial decision. They can make more money with Linux while at the same time offer the consumers a product that can be judged by its functionality and other merits. Not by a third party having their branding all over it.
If these companies could make more money using M$ operating systems, they would in a hearbeat.
Ok... now that we are clear, The Ubuntu fan boi in me wants say. Sweet it's finally the year of the Linux DeskTo... Lapto... NetBook?
Out of curiosity what is keeping you in the windows world anyways? Have you considered the non MS alternatives?