Can anyone give a good reason for needing files larger than 2gb?
I can think of some:
A/V streaming/timeshifting
Backups of large filesystems (since there exist 320 GB harddisks now, I don't think I should create 160.tgz files just to back it up, do I?)
Large databases. E.g. the slashdot posts table will be easily >2 GB, or so I'd guess. Should the DB cut it in two (or more) files, just...because the OS doesn't understand files >2 GB? I don't think so...
And that's just without thinking twice...there are probably many more reasons why people would want files >2 GB.
Sorry to say it, but I would not have business relations with you if you can't write in english.
Good for you, but you are assuming that this guy lives in an English-speaking country and would therefore even want to do business with you. The world is bigger than just the USA, you know...
However, if your assumption turns out to be true, I agree:)
First off, do they allow this sort of distribution? If so, what sort of a license does one buy?
Of course, the cynic in me would enquire as to how long people think it will be before they explicitly forbid this sort of thing.
look here to get at least some answers to questions like this.
Let me quote some of it:
Q: Can Microsoft prevent CodeWeaver's customers from running Microsoft applications on Linux?
A: No. Microsoft's end-user licenses do not preclude operating their applications under other operating systems. Were Microsoft to attempt to prohibit such usage, by requiring that Microsoft products be run only on the Windows OS, they would be in violation of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. The Sherman Act precludes making the usage of a non-monopoly product dependent on the purchase of a monopoly product. Microsoft has been convicted of monopolist practices under the Sherman Act regarding their operating systems. As a result, they cannot legally make Microsoft Office dependent on having a Windows OS license.
Q: Can Microsoft sue CodeWeaver's customers for using Wine?
A: Not if you license Wine from CodeWeavers. One of the protections you receive as a customer of CodeWeavers is that you are licensing Wine from us. We warrant that the product you are buying from us is legal. If it isn't, the term of your license agreement with us says that we are responsible for its legality, not you.
So, they have found a very nice way to circumvent this problem - if Microsoft might find a way to make this illegal afterall (companies could be scared this might happen), they specifically tell you in their agreement that THEY will take the blame, not you.
Ofcourse, this means Crossover would go out of business, but that would happen anyway if MS finds a way to outlaw their software. At least it takes away the reason 'I can't buy this because I fear it might give me legal trouble'.
Re:Yeah well...in this case, I think it's reasonab
on
Phoenix To Change Name
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· Score: 2
What, like Windows?
Yes, much like Windows.
Last time I checked, Microsoft doesn't have a copyright/Trademark on the word Windows....
I mean, when I type 'XFree86 -version' I still see 'XFree86 Version 4.2.0 / X Window System' so it must still be legal, right?:P
Yeah well...in this case, I think it's reasonable
on
Phoenix To Change Name
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· Score: 2
I mean...both have to do with computers, Phoenix (the BIOS manufacturer) has been around for a long time, and I can see that they don't really like their name being used for something entirely different - which might confused people who don't know much about computers - like 'hey my computer also says Phoenix when it boots up, so it must be this same company'.
I mean: the KIllustrator vs. Adobe Illustrator thing some time ago was a bit weird, because Illustrator can be seen as a more general word that can't be trademarked.
However, in this case we are talking about the exact same name being used for different products - and it's not like 'Phoenix' is a generally used, meaningfull word that shouldn't be trademarked, in my opinion.
Why go through all that BS to pay the same amount for a CD that you can go to your local RecordStore and pick up.
Why go through all that BS by going all the way to your local RecordStore where you'll pay a stupendously large amount of money for something as simple&cheap as a CD when it's so much easier to just download it from the Net for free?
OK I know....you're screwing the artists too...they should have public bank account numbers so people could donate some money to them...Their share is at most $2 per CD anyway (the standard CD price in Europe being more like $22)
Wouldn't ripping the tracks from the CD into Ogg Vorbis defeat the track watermarking
So, let me get this straight...you are proposing to convert WMA->WAV->OGG to get rid of a watermark that supposedly *cough* doesn't have any influence on the music itself....and think you'll get a result that even resembles digital quality audio?
Not likely....
Btw. the first problem is that you got to have IE ofcourse...I have finally (after several years) deleted Windows entirely (after not using the partition for months and finally needing the space:), so I can't use IE, not to mention WMA files.
I am a student at this university, and one of the people who had no internet connection for 2 days because of this.
The thing is, you don't realise how much you use the Internet everyday until something like this happens.
It's not that you can't read Slashdot and some other sites - I can do without that for a week or two (honestly, I swear!!:-)
The thing is, there are exams this week and next week, and you run into problems like this:
- There is a system where you can see at what location your exams are - *on the internet*. - Part of the things you have to learn for exams are on the internet (central server containing a lot of this stuff, which has been burnt away as well). - You don't have a clue whether your exams will even take place, maybe the original assignments are burned so they have to make a new exam (might well have been in some cases, and turns out to be the case for one of my exams). - You can't mail people to make an appointment or ask about what is going to happen next, you actually have to go there or someway find out their telephone number (if you don't have it - I nearly always use ICQ or mail). I usually look up telephone numbers using...you guessed it...the internet.
I can go on some more, but I think you can fill in the rest for yourself: you *really* become very dependent on something as "simple" as a permanent internet connection.
Most of the time, I boycot the large CD-stores, such as the Free Record Shop, because their prices are ridiculous (say, $20-$22 for a stupid CD? Come on!)
When I buy a CD, I explicitly ask if it will play on my computer because I don't even *have* a regular CD player (because I don't need it, and I'm a student so don't want to spend money on things I don't even need..). Usually I directly rip 'em to ogg, nowadays.
If they tell me it will play but it doesn't I return it and ask my money back (btw. the smaller music stores usually don't lie about this anyway, so it's not a problem). Before I buy an album I usually have listened to it on MP3 anyway, so though luck for the artists I wanted to sponsor...
If they tell me it won't play, I don't buy it, but download it instead - you get what you deserve, after all, Record Labels!
Re:Maybe some numbers will convince people?
on
Phoenix 0.4 Released
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· Score: 1
Odd, with quicklaunch in windows, both COME up in less than a second on an athlon 650 w/320mb ram
Nothing odd about that, as the Linux version does not have the quicklaunch option.
Maybe some numbers will convince people?
on
Phoenix 0.4 Released
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· Score: 5, Interesting
A small comparison on my computer, which is an AMD Duron 750 with plenty (768 MB) of SDRAM-133. I'm running Gentoo 1.4 (GCC 3.2), so the Mozilla build is optimized. I'm running Phoenix 0.4 and Mozilla 1.1.
Startup, when both programs have been started before (e.g. large parts are probably cached in memory). Used my digital clock for this so, it's not that accurate, but a good indication:
Mozilla: 5-6 seconds Phoenix: 1-2 seconds
Memory usage after startup, using google.com as homepage (measured using top):
Mozilla: Physical memory in use=24 MB (of which 15 MB is shared) Phoenix: Physical memory in use=19MB (of which 12.5 MB is shared)
After browsing some sites which I will mention here so people can reproduce this if they want:
nu.nl, slashdot.org, tweakers.net (which is heavy on javascript), kde.org, tomshardware.com, cnn.com
FYI I don't have Java or Flash plugins installed, so Flash banners do not have influence on the Mozilla memory footprint.
memory usage is:
Mozilla: RSS=33 MB Phoenix: RSS=25 MB
Not to mention that Phoenix feels a lot faster and more responsive.
So yeah, even an optimized Mozilla can't beat Phoenix by far. Go try it sometime if your biggest gripe about Mozilla is that it's a) slow and b) uses too much memory.
People using Gentoo should check this link, it works great on my computer after I created a link to the 'missing' libc6-library.
As for memory footprint and speed: Yes, Phoenix *definitely* is a lot better, even compared to optimized builds (i.e. homecompiled with optimalisations, as Gentoo does)
Re:Enhanced KDE 2.2? I have that!
on
Xandros 1.0
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· Score: 2, Informative
It's not only the nicer-looking themes that make KDE 3.1 worth it...the KDE Usability theme has changed the Control Center quite a lot - OK I guess the Xandros people will have done this as well, it would make sense anyway.
On top of that KDE 3.1 is quite a bit faster (esp. compiled with GCC 3.2, which won't work with 2.2 I guess, but am not sure about that).
I agree that KOFfice is indeed kinda irrelevant, as is noatun (XMMS is much better) and most other kdemultimedia apps.
For companies it might actually make sense, if it runs MS Office really good and opens and writes MS Word docs without a hitch...you wouldn't care about the greatest themes and whatnot, in that case (as a company).
So yeah, you actually have a point, but as for me personally, I'm not going to switch back my desktop OS from KDE 3.x to 2.something. So it'll have to be big companies that buy their OS - which I seriously doubt is gonna happen (a very clear explanation why not is on top of this thread if you sort on highest score).
Enhanced KDE 2.2? I have that!
on
Xandros 1.0
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· Score: 2
It's called KDE 3.1 beta 2 (OK, KDE 3.0.4 for the people that like stable software more than testing new stuff).
They gotta have done a whole lot of revamping KDE 2.2 to make it worth switching to it instead of KDE 3.1 (which will be out shortly).
Not that 2.2 is bad mind you...but the UI has made a lot of progress since 2.x....
This is always a problem with Open Source software and for-pay software: Open Source is developped too fast to compete with; the for-pay software is often too much behind to really take on..
Some people might also read this as 'Open source software never has stable (enough) API's because it's developped and changed all the time', which is also partly true, and is a problem in some cases.
"Having it detect my hardware and build a static kernel with no modules would be pretty damn cool."
No, it really would not.
Yes, actually it would. Note that he isn't saying it should be the only way available, ofcourse you may need to crosscompile or not compile drivers for a soundcard in your server that you are not using anyway - but, if there would be an option like 'make detect-hardware' which would do the same as make menuconfig, but only select the hardware you have and some common stuff that most people use anyway, I think that would be great for 'newbies'.
Maybe you could even edit that configuration using 'make menuconfig' - at the very least it would have saved me the occasional hassle of grabbing a rescue CD because I stupidly forgot to turn on support for IDE harddisks, or somesuch equally stupid mistake:)
You can't name 37 OS'es? You should take a look here - sorry about the offensive domain name, but they really do have a very long list of OS'es, both old and new!
How long will it last...I bet they will be gone in half a year or so (but I said this before - maybe they have too much money to burn before they die?)
WOW, so they offer SMB access now!! Oh wait, that is a screenshot of KDE 3.something - any recent Linux installation has that out of the box - I just checked and even mine has it (it works out of the box if you have samba+kde-base installed!)
They managed to compile wine as well!! Great! I mean, maybe my mother couldn't do that, but I bet Mandrake/Redhat/SuSE all have some easy 'install Wine' button somewhere around in their package tool.
Then I'm not even beginning to talk about their continuing blatant and I mean like *B-L-A-T-A-N-T* GPL violations.
As someone else remarked already: this company is a lawsuit (or rather: a lot of lawsuits) waiting to happen. If they don't die all by themselves first, that is - so far it looks like noone takes them seriously enough to even sue them.
But whatever we have now (can't remember, i barely look) to XFS? What *compelling* absolutely-must-have reason do I have to go change from whatever my installer suggests putting on for me?
None.
But there are a few reasons if you really care about your system or run a server:
1. Faster, especially when handling large dirs 2. More reliable then ext2, arguably also better then ext3 (never really compared them myself)
The workaround is to disable the onunload handler. This is the kind of workaround that breaks legitimate applications.
Are you going to tell me there actually are legitimate uses for unonload!?
I use the internet since 1996 and have yet to come across the first site that uses this 'feature' *cough* in a usefull, non-irritating manner (i.e. something else then opening a bazillion new popups as soon as you close the previous one)
I can not imagine why onunload exists in the first place - 2nd, I can not imagine why people would ever leave it on if they can turn it off.
But maybe that's just because my imagination is so limited:)
"Advanced search: Which package provides that library my program needs?" Do you truly think that Joe User needs or should be forced to know or search about this? If your answer is "yes", then, Mr SuSE, you got no clue about desktop system design.
Well...the thing is, SuSE is really aimed at companies (they want support contracts!) with professional sysadmins. It is used on the server a lot, and if it is rolled out on the desktop it will probably be done by a companies admin.
So, if something breaks, our happy sysadmin could look up missing dependencies of a certain package - rather usefull I'd say.
And no, Joe Avg User probably doesn't want this, that's why it says 'ADVANCED search', i.e. Joe Avg Stupid User shouldn't go there in the first place, but just select 'Automagically use my harddisk as you see fit', then 'Default Desktop Install', and that's just about how much he should see of the install process.
But for sure, I would *love* this advanced search thing (fortunately, Gentoo Portage has it built-in:)
How about getting OpenOffice to run without segfaulting?
Am using Openoffice.org 1.0 exclusively on Windows and Linux since 2 months. Am not getting any segfaults. Maybe you overclocked your PC or got some bad memory banks?
The install process is too complicated (and doesn't work)
Yes, it's really hard indeed (N-O-T). './setup -net' as root, click 'next' a few times, then run $INSTALLDIR/setup as the user that wants to use Openoffice, and then you can start it using the KDE menu (or probably the Gnome menu, I suppose it supports that as well). Wow...exactly as the documentation describes you should do. Real hard, ain't it?
And "yeah but it worked for me" is no different than the standard Microsoft tech support answer "it's running on our systems here"
Except in this case you are the only one around here that claims to have severe problems all the time, while with Microsoft they are generally the only ones claiming NOT to have problems with their own products.
Any program that segfaults is broken.
I agree in general, but I know from personal experience that broken or overclocked hardware can cause this as well. I don't think Openoffice.org belongs in the category that 'falls apart at the slightest nudge', as you so eloquently put it.
Well, they are bankrupt, so they would only pay their SLA obligation from what's left after the bankrupt process..
Yup...but you should read carefully (or maybe I didn't explain well enough). It's like this:
KPNQWest has gone bankrupt. They can't pay their employees. Still, some are working (for over a week now) for free, just because they feel they can't 'pull the plug' on their network.
KPN has *not* gone bankrupt. It's KPN that has contracts with Very Big Customers and guaranteed them that their (KPNQWest provided) connections would always work (they can make promises like this because they own 40% of KPNQWest stock).
So, it's very much in KPN's interest that the network stays running. That is also why they are paying millions a day (by my understanding) to keep things running.
Because as soon as they don't, they will
Loose some VERY big customers
Get some REAL nasty lawsuits claiming the damage for breaking their contractual obligations. Those will be multi-million dollar law-suits, which KPN is very likely to loose.
And because KPN, as any large telecom provider (at least in Europe at the moment), is - to say the least - not exactly doing great by itself either, they will probably watch out REAL good not to let something like this happen!
Maybe I missed something...but last time I checked Lindows was still in beta stage, and with good reason too!
From my experience, they might be combining MS-like stability and security (running everything as root etc.) with Linux-like usability*, resulting in a horribly unusable OS - for which Linux will most probably get the blame by mainstream reporters. Ah well, we'll see.
Walmarts idea is probably something like this: they can save money on the computers this way, and they probably don't really care about what their customers use it for (do they have a reason to? Do they have to offer support etc.?), so that would explain things....
* usability for Joe Avg. User, e.g. consistent GUI's and stuff, you know what I mean...combining Wine and KDE and X will not get you a very consistent UI experience probably....
Mind you, KPN (which owns 40% of KPNQWest shares) has several Really Big Contracts with rather big companies, such as Schiphol Airport (which also has a very big hosting colo), guaranteeing that the network will ALWAYS run, or they'll have to pay the damages of breaking their contract.
So, as long as 'cost to keep the network running' < 'cost to piss off biggest customers REAL good', the network will keep running.
You can check this article (in Dutch), which says at least the Belgian network will keep running. Short translation of the article: employees where working for free to keep the network up and running, now they have a temporary contract for a few weeks, guaranteeing them they'll get paid if they keep the network running.
Slashdot Mirror
Crap, where are my modpoints when I need them.
Mod this one up, he has a good point, and even if you may not agree with his point, it's well-written and deserves to be read IMO.
I can think of some:
And that's just without thinking twice...there are probably many more reasons why people would want files >2 GB.
Sorry to say it, but I would not have business relations with you if you can't write in english.
:)
Good for you, but you are assuming that this guy lives in an English-speaking country and would therefore even want to do business with you. The world is bigger than just the USA, you know...
However, if your assumption turns out to be true, I agree
First off, do they allow this sort of distribution? If so, what sort of a license does one buy?
Of course, the cynic in me would enquire as to how long people think it will be before they explicitly forbid this sort of thing.
look here to get at least some answers to questions like this.
Let me quote some of it:
Q: Can Microsoft prevent CodeWeaver's customers from running Microsoft applications on Linux?
A: No. Microsoft's end-user licenses do not preclude operating their applications under other operating systems. Were Microsoft to attempt to prohibit such usage, by requiring that Microsoft products be run only on the Windows OS, they would be in violation of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. The Sherman Act precludes making the usage of a non-monopoly product dependent on the purchase of a monopoly product. Microsoft has been convicted of monopolist practices under the Sherman Act regarding their operating systems. As a result, they cannot legally make Microsoft Office dependent on having a Windows OS license.
Q: Can Microsoft sue CodeWeaver's customers for using Wine?
A: Not if you license Wine from CodeWeavers. One of the protections you receive as a customer of CodeWeavers is that you are licensing Wine from us. We warrant that the product you are buying from us is legal. If it isn't, the term of your license agreement with us says that we are responsible for its legality, not you.
So, they have found a very nice way to circumvent this problem - if Microsoft might find a way to make this illegal afterall (companies could be scared this might happen), they specifically tell you in their agreement that THEY will take the blame, not you.
Ofcourse, this means Crossover would go out of business, but that would happen anyway if MS finds a way to outlaw their software. At least it takes away the reason 'I can't buy this because I fear it might give me legal trouble'.
What, like Windows?
:P
Yes, much like Windows.
Last time I checked, Microsoft doesn't have a copyright/Trademark on the word Windows....
I mean, when I type 'XFree86 -version' I still see 'XFree86 Version 4.2.0 / X Window System' so it must still be legal, right?
I mean...both have to do with computers, Phoenix (the BIOS manufacturer) has been around for a long time, and I can see that they don't really like their name being used for something entirely different - which might confused people who don't know much about computers - like 'hey my computer also says Phoenix when it boots up, so it must be this same company'.
I mean: the KIllustrator vs. Adobe Illustrator thing some time ago was a bit weird, because Illustrator can be seen as a more general word that can't be trademarked.
However, in this case we are talking about the exact same name being used for different products - and it's not like 'Phoenix' is a generally used, meaningfull word that shouldn't be trademarked, in my opinion.
Why go through all that BS to pay the same amount for a CD that you can go to your local RecordStore and pick up.
Why go through all that BS by going all the way to your local RecordStore where you'll pay a stupendously large amount of money for something as simple&cheap as a CD when it's so much easier to just download it from the Net for free?
OK I know....you're screwing the artists too...they should have public bank account numbers so people could donate some money to them...Their share is at most $2 per CD anyway (the standard CD price in Europe being more like $22)
So, let me get this straight...you are proposing to convert WMA->WAV->OGG to get rid of a watermark that supposedly *cough* doesn't have any influence on the music itself....and think you'll get a result that even resembles digital quality audio?
Not likely....
Btw. the first problem is that you got to have IE ofcourse...I have finally (after several years) deleted Windows entirely (after not using the partition for months and finally needing the space :), so I can't use IE, not to mention WMA files.
I am a student at this university, and one of the people who had no internet connection for 2 days because of this.
:-)
The thing is, you don't realise how much you use the Internet everyday until something like this happens.
It's not that you can't read Slashdot and some other sites - I can do without that for a week or two (honestly, I swear!!
The thing is, there are exams this week and next week, and you run into problems like this:
- There is a system where you can see at what location your exams are - *on the internet*.
- Part of the things you have to learn for exams are on the internet (central server containing a lot of this stuff, which has been burnt away as well).
- You don't have a clue whether your exams will even take place, maybe the original assignments are burned so they have to make a new exam (might well have been in some cases, and turns out to be the case for one of my exams).
- You can't mail people to make an appointment or ask about what is going to happen next, you actually have to go there or someway find out their telephone number (if you don't have it - I nearly always use ICQ or mail). I usually look up telephone numbers using...you guessed it...the internet.
I can go on some more, but I think you can fill in the rest for yourself: you *really* become very dependent on something as "simple" as a permanent internet connection.
Most of the time, I boycot the large CD-stores, such as the Free Record Shop, because their prices are ridiculous (say, $20-$22 for a stupid CD? Come on!)
When I buy a CD, I explicitly ask if it will play on my computer because I don't even *have* a regular CD player (because I don't need it, and I'm a student so don't want to spend money on things I don't even need..). Usually I directly rip 'em to ogg, nowadays.
If they tell me it will play but it doesn't I return it and ask my money back (btw. the smaller music stores usually don't lie about this anyway, so it's not a problem). Before I buy an album I usually have listened to it on MP3 anyway, so though luck for the artists I wanted to sponsor...
If they tell me it won't play, I don't buy it, but download it instead - you get what you deserve, after all, Record Labels!
Odd, with quicklaunch in windows, both COME up in less than a second on an athlon 650 w/320mb ram
Nothing odd about that, as the Linux version does not have the quicklaunch option.
A small comparison on my computer, which is an AMD Duron 750 with plenty (768 MB) of SDRAM-133. I'm running Gentoo 1.4 (GCC 3.2), so the Mozilla build is optimized. I'm running Phoenix 0.4 and Mozilla 1.1.
Startup, when both programs have been started before (e.g. large parts are probably cached in memory). Used my digital clock for this so, it's not that accurate, but a good indication:
Mozilla: 5-6 seconds
Phoenix: 1-2 seconds
Memory usage after startup, using google.com as homepage (measured using top):
Mozilla: Physical memory in use=24 MB (of which 15 MB is shared)
Phoenix: Physical memory in use=19MB (of which 12.5 MB is shared)
After browsing some sites which I will mention here so people can reproduce this if they want:
nu.nl, slashdot.org, tweakers.net (which is heavy on javascript), kde.org, tomshardware.com, cnn.com
FYI I don't have Java or Flash plugins installed, so Flash banners do not have influence on the Mozilla memory footprint.
memory usage is:
Mozilla: RSS=33 MB
Phoenix: RSS=25 MB
Not to mention that Phoenix feels a lot faster and more responsive.
So yeah, even an optimized Mozilla can't beat Phoenix by far. Go try it sometime if your biggest gripe about Mozilla is that it's a) slow and b) uses too much memory.
People using Gentoo should check this link, it works great on my computer after I created a link to the 'missing' libc6-library.
As for memory footprint and speed: Yes, Phoenix *definitely* is a lot better, even compared to optimized builds (i.e. homecompiled with optimalisations, as Gentoo does)
It's not only the nicer-looking themes that make KDE 3.1 worth it...the KDE Usability theme has changed the Control Center quite a lot - OK I guess the Xandros people will have done this as well, it would make sense anyway.
On top of that KDE 3.1 is quite a bit faster (esp. compiled with GCC 3.2, which won't work with 2.2 I guess, but am not sure about that).
I agree that KOFfice is indeed kinda irrelevant, as is noatun (XMMS is much better) and most other kdemultimedia apps.
For companies it might actually make sense, if it runs MS Office really good and opens and writes MS Word docs without a hitch...you wouldn't care about the greatest themes and whatnot, in that case (as a company).
So yeah, you actually have a point, but as for me personally, I'm not going to switch back my desktop OS from KDE 3.x to 2.something. So it'll have to be big companies that buy their OS - which I seriously doubt is gonna happen (a very clear explanation why not is on top of this thread if you sort on highest score).
It's called KDE 3.1 beta 2 (OK, KDE 3.0.4 for the people that like stable software more than testing new stuff).
They gotta have done a whole lot of revamping KDE 2.2 to make it worth switching to it instead of KDE 3.1 (which will be out shortly).
Not that 2.2 is bad mind you...but the UI has made a lot of progress since 2.x....
This is always a problem with Open Source software and for-pay software: Open Source is developped too fast to compete with; the for-pay software is often too much behind to really take on..
Some people might also read this as 'Open source software never has stable (enough) API's because it's developped and changed all the time', which is also partly true, and is a problem in some cases.
"Having it detect my hardware and build a static kernel with no modules would be pretty damn cool."
:)
No, it really would not.
Yes, actually it would. Note that he isn't saying it should be the only way available, ofcourse you may need to crosscompile or not compile drivers for a soundcard in your server that you are not using anyway - but, if there would be an option like 'make detect-hardware' which would do the same as make menuconfig, but only select the hardware you have and some common stuff that most people use anyway, I think that would be great for 'newbies'.
Maybe you could even edit that configuration using 'make menuconfig' - at the very least it would have saved me the occasional hassle of grabbing a rescue CD because I stupidly forgot to turn on support for IDE harddisks, or somesuch equally stupid mistake
You can't name 37 OS'es? You should take a look here - sorry about the offensive domain name, but they really do have a very long list of OS'es, both old and new!
How long will it last...I bet they will be gone in half a year or so (but I said this before - maybe they have too much money to burn before they die?)
WOW, so they offer SMB access now!! Oh wait, that is a screenshot of KDE 3.something - any recent Linux installation has that out of the box - I just checked and even mine has it (it works out of the box if you have samba+kde-base installed!)
They managed to compile wine as well!! Great! I mean, maybe my mother couldn't do that, but I bet Mandrake/Redhat/SuSE all have some easy 'install Wine' button somewhere around in their package tool.
Then I'm not even beginning to talk about their continuing blatant and I mean like *B-L-A-T-A-N-T* GPL violations.
As someone else remarked already: this company is a lawsuit (or rather: a lot of lawsuits) waiting to happen. If they don't die all by themselves first, that is - so far it looks like noone takes them seriously enough to even sue them.
But whatever we have now (can't remember, i barely look) to XFS? What *compelling* absolutely-must-have reason do I have to go change from whatever my installer suggests putting on for me?
None.
But there are a few reasons if you really care about your system or run a server:
1. Faster, especially when handling large dirs
2. More reliable then ext2, arguably also better then ext3 (never really compared them myself)
The workaround is to disable the onunload handler. This is the kind of workaround that breaks legitimate applications.
:)
Are you going to tell me there actually are legitimate uses for unonload!?
I use the internet since 1996 and have yet to come across the first site that uses this 'feature' *cough* in a usefull, non-irritating manner (i.e. something else then opening a bazillion new popups as soon as you close the previous one)
I can not imagine why onunload exists in the first place - 2nd, I can not imagine why people would ever leave it on if they can turn it off.
But maybe that's just because my imagination is so limited
Things like these (among others):
:)
"Advanced search: Which package provides that library my program needs?" Do you truly think that Joe User needs or should be forced to know or search about this? If your answer is "yes", then, Mr SuSE, you got no clue about desktop system design.
Well...the thing is, SuSE is really aimed at companies (they want support contracts!) with professional sysadmins. It is used on the server a lot, and if it is rolled out on the desktop it will probably be done by a companies admin.
So, if something breaks, our happy sysadmin could look up missing dependencies of a certain package - rather usefull I'd say.
And no, Joe Avg User probably doesn't want this, that's why it says 'ADVANCED search', i.e. Joe Avg Stupid User shouldn't go there in the first place, but just select 'Automagically use my harddisk as you see fit', then 'Default Desktop Install', and that's just about how much he should see of the install process.
But for sure, I would *love* this advanced search thing (fortunately, Gentoo Portage has it built-in
How about getting OpenOffice to run without segfaulting?
:)
Am using Openoffice.org 1.0 exclusively on Windows and Linux since 2 months. Am not getting any segfaults. Maybe you overclocked your PC or got some bad memory banks?
The install process is too complicated (and doesn't work)
Yes, it's really hard indeed (N-O-T). './setup -net' as root, click 'next' a few times, then run $INSTALLDIR/setup as the user that wants to use Openoffice, and then you can start it using the KDE menu (or probably the Gnome menu, I suppose it supports that as well). Wow...exactly as the documentation describes you should do. Real hard, ain't it?
And "yeah but it worked for me" is no different than the standard Microsoft tech support answer "it's running on our systems here"
Except in this case you are the only one around here that claims to have severe problems all the time, while with Microsoft they are generally the only ones claiming NOT to have problems with their own products.
Any program that segfaults is broken.
I agree in general, but I know from personal experience that broken or overclocked hardware can cause this as well. I don't think Openoffice.org belongs in the category that 'falls apart at the slightest nudge', as you so eloquently put it.
Just my 2 cents, ofcourse
Yup...but you should read carefully (or maybe I didn't explain well enough). It's like this:
So, it's very much in KPN's interest that the network stays running. That is also why they are paying millions a day (by my understanding) to keep things running.
Because as soon as they don't, they will
And because KPN, as any large telecom provider (at least in Europe at the moment), is - to say the least - not exactly doing great by itself either, they will probably watch out REAL good not to let something like this happen!
Maybe I missed something...but last time I checked Lindows was still in beta stage, and with good reason too!
From my experience, they might be combining MS-like stability and security (running everything as root etc.) with Linux-like usability*, resulting in a horribly unusable OS - for which Linux will most probably get the blame by mainstream reporters. Ah well, we'll see.
Walmarts idea is probably something like this: they can save money on the computers this way, and they probably don't really care about what their customers use it for (do they have a reason to? Do they have to offer support etc.?), so that would explain things....
* usability for Joe Avg. User, e.g. consistent GUI's and stuff, you know what I mean...combining Wine and KDE and X will not get you a very consistent UI experience probably....
...until clients find alternative solutions.
Mind you, KPN (which owns 40% of KPNQWest shares) has several Really Big Contracts with rather big companies, such as Schiphol Airport (which also has a very big hosting colo), guaranteeing that the network will ALWAYS run, or they'll have to pay the damages of breaking their contract.
So, as long as 'cost to keep the network running' < 'cost to piss off biggest customers REAL good', the network will keep running.
You can check this article (in Dutch), which says at least the Belgian network will keep running. Short translation of the article: employees where working for free to keep the network up and running, now they have a temporary contract for a few weeks, guaranteeing them they'll get paid if they keep the network running.