Anybody can tie a bunch of processors together and connect them to a thousand hard drives. Show me a screaming fast processor that breaks the 3 GHz ceiling (I hear AMD is working on 5GHz...) and I'll be impressed.
Very true. Linux is much better now than just a few years ago but Windows 7 is probably the best OS ever made. I'm thoroughly enjoying dual-booting both (Xubuntu 11.10 - I can't stand Unity).
And speaking of Unity... it appears Canonical and Microsoft BOTH are about to shoot themselves in the foot with UIs that most make most people cringe (Unity and the proposed Metro in Windows 8). Thank God that with Ubuntu, we can still choose xfce or KDE. With Windows, you're stuck with whatever MS gives you.
I'm dual-booting Xubuntu 11.10 & Windows 7 on a Lenovo T-60 and it works great. Absolutely no hardware issues. But as mentioned above, your support will be in the Ubuntu forums (which is very good by the way, especially since it's also free). Cost: $300 (with new battery) on eBay + $70 for 500 GB HD (stock model only 80 GB).
You have a good point. Background noise is one of the many reasons why I refuse to talk to a machine when calling a company.
Personally, I have no use for this. I've had Google Voice on my Android phone for quite some time but the only time I use it is for hands-free dialing and navigation.
I dunno. I tried out Debian and for the life of me, could not figure out how to get Firefox. (Iceweasal is NOT Firefox). You mention their "free policy". Does that mean I can't install software on my own machine that they don't consider "free"? That kinda flys in the face of the freedom to do whatever I want with my own computer and software.
Same here. I recently switched over to Xubuntu and couldn't be happier. I'm curious to see their download statistics. From what I've read on other Linux forums, quite a few are defecting from Gnome and the God-forsaken Unity.
Read the article. Seagate: 60% of their manufacturing. Toshiba: 50%. Over half of their business at the mercy of the weather in Thailand. Sounds like a pretty stupid decision to me.
I highly doubt this car will be made out of stainless steel. The article mentions SS models but it doesn't explicitly say this one will be. It will therefore be a cheap knock-off that nobody will want.
The taskbar works fine as a launcher if you store just a few programs there. We've had that functionality since Windows 98 with Quick Launch. But for the 50+ programs I have installed on the computer, the start menu is a MUST. I couldn't imagine trying to navigate Metro to find something, especially when the name of the program isn't on the tip of my tongue. Double that for when I'm looking for something in Accessories or Administrative Tools.
Microsoft (and Canonical) need to realize something and they need to learn it quick -> the PC is NOT A TABLET OR SMARTPHONE. Those cute ways of navigating your "apps" don't work for the serious computer user with a keyboard, mouse, and full-sized monitor. It's not like they're not getting enough hints (check out any Ubuntu forum and you'll see the majority of users prefer Gnome or KDE to Unity by about 4-to-1). At least with Ubuntu, the user still has a choice about which desktop environment to use. Microsoft doesn't appear to give a damn about giving users such a choice.
The masses are embracing Win 7 because it brought some really cool new features and it's rock-solid-stable. I don't recall reading any bad reviews of it. I don't remember ANYONE saying stuff like "WTF is this garbage? I'm sticking with XP!" People aren't afraid of change when they like the change. Win 8 on the other hand? Very few positive reviews (except from those who tested it on a tablet). It's a TABLET INTERFACE that Microsoft is shoving onto a PC. How the hell is that supposed to make it "better"? The folks at Canonical are guilty of pulling the same crap with Unity on Ubuntu. At least over there, I'm free to use whatever UI I want.
Not according to the current beta. I tested it too. Go to the desktop and try to open the start menu. You're back to metro. For those old enough to remember, the start menu was the star of the show when Windows 95 was released. And for good reason. It's useful, customizable, and it doesn't hog your entire screen like metro does. As the above poster pointed out, this is a GUI for a tablet, not a desktop (or laptop) PC.
...doesn't mean everyone will be using it. Windows 7 is only what, 2 or 3 years old? It's just starting to gain steam but most of the world still runs XP. Once the masses see that the start menu is gone and has been replaced by this huge, gawdy menu that takes up THE_ENTIRE_SCREEN, they won't be in any hurry to upgrade. 8 is going to go over like Win ME.
I tried to read the writeup on the website. It launched a pop-up ad (on work PC, must accept...) and then it froze my browser. WTF? I won't let that website near any of my personal PCs if it's going to be that abuisive.
So far, adult stem cell research has proven to be very fruitful. Embryonic stem cell research has yielded NOTHING. Absolutely zilch. But just like "man-made global warming", pseudo-science will always have a home as long as we continue to pay attention to those who mix politics with science.
Ugh. I hate this comment more than any other. As I told my brother (MS employee) my desktop computer is NOT a tablet. Please, for the love of God, stop treating it like one.
I've never been a fan of government regulation because they also tend to over-reach and worse, they strip people of liberty. However, every single business regulation can be traced back to someone, or group of someones, who obnoxiously pushed enough people to the edge. We had robber-baron railroad operators. That brought the common-carrier regulations. We had dangerous work conditions and awful long (non-voluntary) work hours. Along came labor regulations and OSHA. A lake burned in the midwest and that gave us the God-forsaken EPA.
These guys are no different. The patent trolls will continue to make public asses of themselves to the point where eventually, some politician will say "ENOUGH!" and give them the spanking they deserve. Sadly, I don't see how the private sector can do anything about it on it's own. It's not like we can just take our business elsewhere.
So while I sigh when I read about the new troll of the week on/., I also look forward to the day when they reap the real fruit of their "labor". Unfortunately, there will likely be unintended consequences that harm innocent people and businesses in the process, as regulation always does.
When I'm running an instance of VM, the other OS is still ultimately in charge. The VM I'm emulating cannot directly access the hardware without getting permission from the host OS. Proof: Windows XP will allow me to play Doom 95 with a joystick (Windows 7, for some reason, won't allow the game to have direct access to the joystick so it doesn't work). I installed VMWare and put an instance of Windows XP on it. Did I get my joystick back? No, because Windows 7 is still in charge.
Knowledge grows century after century and man gets more and more arrogant. He who discards religion in favor of science fails to see who invented science. The same person is also ignorant of history. Yes, many stories in the bible aren't meant to be taken literally. God spoke to prophets of old in a language they could understand. They weren't exactly ready for things like quantum physics.
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Xubuntu. XFCE is the most usable and customizable interface I've seen.
Anybody can tie a bunch of processors together and connect them to a thousand hard drives. Show me a screaming fast processor that breaks the 3 GHz ceiling (I hear AMD is working on 5GHz...) and I'll be impressed.
Very true. Linux is much better now than just a few years ago but Windows 7 is probably the best OS ever made. I'm thoroughly enjoying dual-booting both (Xubuntu 11.10 - I can't stand Unity).
And speaking of Unity... it appears Canonical and Microsoft BOTH are about to shoot themselves in the foot with UIs that most make most people cringe (Unity and the proposed Metro in Windows 8). Thank God that with Ubuntu, we can still choose xfce or KDE. With Windows, you're stuck with whatever MS gives you.
I'm dual-booting Xubuntu 11.10 & Windows 7 on a Lenovo T-60 and it works great. Absolutely no hardware issues. But as mentioned above, your support will be in the Ubuntu forums (which is very good by the way, especially since it's also free). Cost: $300 (with new battery) on eBay + $70 for 500 GB HD (stock model only 80 GB).
You have a good point. Background noise is one of the many reasons why I refuse to talk to a machine when calling a company.
Personally, I have no use for this. I've had Google Voice on my Android phone for quite some time but the only time I use it is for hands-free dialing and navigation.
Not exactly. Click the start menu and Metro is right there, in your face, taking over the entire screen.
I dunno. I tried out Debian and for the life of me, could not figure out how to get Firefox. (Iceweasal is NOT Firefox). You mention their "free policy". Does that mean I can't install software on my own machine that they don't consider "free"? That kinda flys in the face of the freedom to do whatever I want with my own computer and software.
More like the year of xfce.
Until you click the start button. Then you're stuck back in Metro madness. If this keeps up, Win 7 will be the last Windows I every buy.
Same here. I recently switched over to Xubuntu and couldn't be happier. I'm curious to see their download statistics. From what I've read on other Linux forums, quite a few are defecting from Gnome and the God-forsaken Unity.
Read the article. Seagate: 60% of their manufacturing. Toshiba: 50%. Over half of their business at the mercy of the weather in Thailand. Sounds like a pretty stupid decision to me.
Dumbass.
Dumbasses.
I highly doubt this car will be made out of stainless steel. The article mentions SS models but it doesn't explicitly say this one will be. It will therefore be a cheap knock-off that nobody will want.
The taskbar works fine as a launcher if you store just a few programs there. We've had that functionality since Windows 98 with Quick Launch. But for the 50+ programs I have installed on the computer, the start menu is a MUST. I couldn't imagine trying to navigate Metro to find something, especially when the name of the program isn't on the tip of my tongue. Double that for when I'm looking for something in Accessories or Administrative Tools.
Microsoft (and Canonical) need to realize something and they need to learn it quick -> the PC is NOT A TABLET OR SMARTPHONE. Those cute ways of navigating your "apps" don't work for the serious computer user with a keyboard, mouse, and full-sized monitor. It's not like they're not getting enough hints (check out any Ubuntu forum and you'll see the majority of users prefer Gnome or KDE to Unity by about 4-to-1). At least with Ubuntu, the user still has a choice about which desktop environment to use. Microsoft doesn't appear to give a damn about giving users such a choice.
"Better" in what way exactly?
The masses are embracing Win 7 because it brought some really cool new features and it's rock-solid-stable. I don't recall reading any bad reviews of it. I don't remember ANYONE saying stuff like "WTF is this garbage? I'm sticking with XP!" People aren't afraid of change when they like the change. Win 8 on the other hand? Very few positive reviews (except from those who tested it on a tablet). It's a TABLET INTERFACE that Microsoft is shoving onto a PC. How the hell is that supposed to make it "better"? The folks at Canonical are guilty of pulling the same crap with Unity on Ubuntu. At least over there, I'm free to use whatever UI I want.
Not according to the current beta. I tested it too. Go to the desktop and try to open the start menu. You're back to metro. For those old enough to remember, the start menu was the star of the show when Windows 95 was released. And for good reason. It's useful, customizable, and it doesn't hog your entire screen like metro does. As the above poster pointed out, this is a GUI for a tablet, not a desktop (or laptop) PC.
...doesn't mean everyone will be using it. Windows 7 is only what, 2 or 3 years old? It's just starting to gain steam but most of the world still runs XP. Once the masses see that the start menu is gone and has been replaced by this huge, gawdy menu that takes up THE_ENTIRE_SCREEN, they won't be in any hurry to upgrade. 8 is going to go over like Win ME.
I tried to read the writeup on the website. It launched a pop-up ad (on work PC, must accept...) and then it froze my browser. WTF? I won't let that website near any of my personal PCs if it's going to be that abuisive.
So far, adult stem cell research has proven to be very fruitful. Embryonic stem cell research has yielded NOTHING. Absolutely zilch. But just like "man-made global warming", pseudo-science will always have a home as long as we continue to pay attention to those who mix politics with science.
Ugh. I hate this comment more than any other. As I told my brother (MS employee) my desktop computer is NOT a tablet. Please, for the love of God, stop treating it like one.
....Just by being themselves.
I've never been a fan of government regulation because they also tend to over-reach and worse, they strip people of liberty. However, every single business regulation can be traced back to someone, or group of someones, who obnoxiously pushed enough people to the edge. We had robber-baron railroad operators. That brought the common-carrier regulations. We had dangerous work conditions and awful long (non-voluntary) work hours. Along came labor regulations and OSHA. A lake burned in the midwest and that gave us the God-forsaken EPA.
These guys are no different. The patent trolls will continue to make public asses of themselves to the point where eventually, some politician will say "ENOUGH!" and give them the spanking they deserve. Sadly, I don't see how the private sector can do anything about it on it's own. It's not like we can just take our business elsewhere.
So while I sigh when I read about the new troll of the week on /., I also look forward to the day when they reap the real fruit of their "labor". Unfortunately, there will likely be unintended consequences that harm innocent people and businesses in the process, as regulation always does.
When I'm running an instance of VM, the other OS is still ultimately in charge. The VM I'm emulating cannot directly access the hardware without getting permission from the host OS. Proof: Windows XP will allow me to play Doom 95 with a joystick (Windows 7, for some reason, won't allow the game to have direct access to the joystick so it doesn't work). I installed VMWare and put an instance of Windows XP on it. Did I get my joystick back? No, because Windows 7 is still in charge.
And 99.9% of the population uses .doc, .xls, .ppt (except for the rebels that put append an 'x' to the extensions).
*yawn*
Next?
Knowledge grows century after century and man gets more and more arrogant. He who discards religion in favor of science fails to see who invented science. The same person is also ignorant of history. Yes, many stories in the bible aren't meant to be taken literally. God spoke to prophets of old in a language they could understand. They weren't exactly ready for things like quantum physics.
To quote Apple's own website: Mac don't get WINDOWS viruses.
(They get Mac viruses). --- not on the website.
If the world were the other way around, where 90% + of the population used Macs and a small minority used Windows... need I say more?