How about this: I *don't* work for microsoft. I have a copy of Vista's Ultimate Edition ISO and a timer-stop crack. I have a PC that will run it quite happily (2gig, p4-d 3.0, nvidia 7600, ~ 0.7tb of disk with about 300gb free).
I haven't installed it, and don't plan on it any time soon, because there is no incentive for me to do so.
The thing is though, is that if you screw up with your home gas devices, you're likely to only kill yourself, your family, or at most, your block of flats.
If you screw up in a nuclear reactor, you've got the potential to kill or at least severely screw up hundreds or thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people.
Hence, we're a lot more willing to trust that the people operating gas devices are competent, or wear the risk that they aren't.
Note: i actually support nuclear power... playing devils advocate here..
Yes, linux has a long way to go. No, it won't be on every desktop this year. But this is a turning point - microsoft has realised there is no way to kill off open-source, so now they want to "co-operate" all of a sudden.
Thank you, microsoft for validating my decision not to purchase Windows Vista, and migrate my remaining Windows apps to Linux ASAP:)
Price - this will inevitably come down as manufacturing process improves - the pS2 is 6-7 years old this year, the ps3 is no doubt intended to live about as long as that - it's early days yet, and i severely doubt that sony is going to go broke in the mean-time
Online services - the framework is there, this can be added as it develops
As far as I can see, the *other* main reason the ps3 is facing lukewarm reception is because sony has totally dominated the last 2 generations with the ps1 and ps2, and it's "cool" to be different and back the underdog.
I know i'll be buying one once the price is appropriate.
Whilst I agree in theory, Sony Computer Entertainment != Sony BMG, Sony music, etc... different divisions. It's like protesting at the US navy because the US air force bombed your house...
So, Commodore/Amiga, BBC, Atari, Sinclair/spectrum, Amstrad, etc were all monopolistic bastards too?
For the noobs. Back in the day, we didn't just have "PCs", the home computing market was alive and well, and there were many choices of machine. Apps/games were ported on a regular basis. This was back in the days before C/C++ was used for game development, this stuff was written in assembly. And ported. Within months.
Where am I going with this? Here: Basically, there is no reason that the market can not support a more diverse hardware market. Java/.net and emulation has made this even more feasible than ever before. Running software developed on one platform on another platform these days is fairly trivial. Writing portable software in the first place makes it even more trivial. Especially when you're talking about platforms which use much the same hardware.
We shouldn't be wondering "where are the OS/X competitors", but "where are the other computing platforms?" More alternative platforms will increase competition and new ideas in the operating sytem market.
If apple can put a decent dent in Microsoft's market share, then other alternative platforms (such as linux) will follow...
Whilst I agree that the innards are fairly standard, the packaging is not. Now this may sound superficial, but it is important. I'd love something the size of a mac mini or iMac on my desk. As far as hardware upgrades go, the PC has little advantage any more.
By the time it's really cost effective to upgrade video these days, you need to upgrade CPU as well. And with the vast number of socket changes recently, to do that requires a new mainboard.
Sure, my PC has a heap of PCI slots, but they're largely unused these days. Almost everything I want is either onboard, or available in either firewire or USB. Sure, i've currently got an Audigy2 in my PC, but it's not a deal breaker.
So, we're basically down to memory/hd upgrades being the only real requirement. So all you really need are memory slots (check) and hd expansion ability (firewire, or if you're really keen, an internal drive upgrade).
Cheers for that. And for the haters below, I was just genuinely curious as to why it hadn't been considered - suspected this may be the case, but again... never seen any mention of it.
... is that there's a few billion of us all using artificial heating, such as fires we light, gas, etc.
Forgetting greenhouse gases, changes in the sun, etc for a moment, isn't is conceivable that the fact we're burning so much stuff, and putting out so much heat is a factor in global warming?
In addition, most of our energy generation and populsion devices are fairly inefficient. A significant portion of the energy consumed is wasted as heat, which is then dissipated into the environment in one way or another.
Maybe all heat generating devices have minimal impact on global temperature, I don't know. I'm not a climate expert. But I've just never seen any mention of it at all....
People can't do that here unless they use their own cash. And in that case, it's still not going on the domain.
All PC/technology purchases need to come by the IT dept - finance has been instructed not to approve anything unless this is the case.
If someone is dumb enough to attempt to flaunt the rules, buy a vista machine with their credit card, and then ask us to add it to our network and try get reimbursed, then sucks to be them - it isn't going to happen.
1. because we don't support it, and 2. because licenses, compatibility, etc with software deployed via script/group policy/SMS, etc has not been taken into account unless the PC is purchased via us. They're free to run whatever they like at home, but on our network, they play by our rules.
You forgot that all new PC deployments come via the IT dept. New vista machines get re-build with XP before the end user receives it. Vista PCs do not get added to AD domain.
I can think of one very big reason to upgrade to IE7 (unless Opera/Firefox is an option) and that's better web standards support. The web development community is going to drop support for IE6 very quickly (I give it approx. 6 months) because the standards support is so bad.
Whilst that's all well and good - the majority of these are office machines, where really the only website the user should be visiting is the corporate intranet. Which is no doubt written for IE6.
Given this situation, as the article states - no compelling reason to upgrade. Given that the IE7 interface is completely different, plenty of compelling reasons NOT to upgrade.
Semi-on-topic-bitch - microsoft finally fixed printing web pages to (possibly an A4 specific bug, i'm not in the US) in IE7. Since IE v2 or earlier, trying to print a website has resulted in chopping off the right 15% of it. Fixing that major showstopper only took what... 11-12 years?
If it wasn't for them, we wouldn't have the booming businesses bringing millions of dollars into the hands of simple and plain people like you and me all around the world
*cough*
Yeah right. The only thing we wouldn't have, is point and drool system administrators - and I'm pretty sure that's a *good* thing.
As you say, i think there's an important distinction between 2 different types of meetings. Scheduled, official boardroom meetings in the workplace (shoot me please) and pub-lunch/spontaneous type meetings where no one is scared to just shoot the shit.
I know that personally, I can't stand the former, and from prior experience, i just KNOW that if i suggest anything new or groundbreaking, it's going to result in *another fucking meeting* being scheduled, and the idea going to committee, etc, etc and then maybe, just maybe 6 months later the idea will re-surface and be put on another meeting, etc.
The pub-lunch/spontaneous type, with say 2-3 close team members is far more productive. Have a casual, no-bullshit chat about things, and decide then and there whether or not something is worth pursuing...
Then there's the compiling. Want to install anything? Use ports, download the source, and wait for it to compile. Any dependent packages? Download and compile them as well.
pkg_add -r is your friend. It retrieves pre-built packages, and their dependancies automatically, much like apt-get. You have the OPTION to build from source, but it's not required.
As to the apache install problems you've seen - we'll, i've deployed FreeBSD servers running/apache/squid/postfix, etc in the field that have not been maintained until they break since I left my previous job some 3 years ago (they generally call me if it breaks, still:D). Sounds like your copy of apache the admin compiled is borked.
I've been called once when the postfix server ran out of space:D
I will admit that I have not tried messing with Java on FreeBSD yet.
Yes, it does take a little bit of a mindset adjustment if you're coming from Linux, but its one of those things that the more time you spend with it, the more it makes sense, etc...
As to the dev packages, that's not what ubuntu is aimed at. You're free to apt-get them, but personally I'd much rather have a usable system in 1 cd, and install dev packages as required.
Myself, i've gone back to FreeBSD. It's hassle-free enough to deal with these days, runs better under load (personal experience), has documentation that works, and no ESR/RMS bullshit...
Just need to get a team together to replace gcc/gdb...:D
As tom said, PAE. It's been around since the pentium pro.
Just think back to the days of 64k memory segments (DOS real mode), apply the same idea to 4gb pages, and you've got the general idea. Terminology and implementation is different, but the basic idea is the same...:D
Hmmm my experience was different. I haven't run full retail yet, but was running rc2 on 512mb and it was a pig if you actually ran any apps - without aero. By the time it booted and had trend officescan loaded, it was up around 385mb in use. I tried my typical office workload of outlook, a few browsers and maybe a copy of word open and it chunked.
I would suggest 1-2gb being the "sweet spot" for typical office use - going from 512mb to 1gb will give you a about 5x as much RAM available for actually running apps.
Slashdot Mirror
If this is really true, then why the hell do you need 1-2gb of ram for acceptable performance?
Sure, it will boot with 512mb, but it's like watching paint dry trying to actually do anything with it.
I haven't installed it, and don't plan on it any time soon, because there is no incentive for me to do so.
If you screw up in a nuclear reactor, you've got the potential to kill or at least severely screw up hundreds or thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people.
Hence, we're a lot more willing to trust that the people operating gas devices are competent, or wear the risk that they aren't.
Note: i actually support nuclear power... playing devils advocate here..
Yes, linux has a long way to go. No, it won't be on every desktop this year. But this is a turning point - microsoft has realised there is no way to kill off open-source, so now they want to "co-operate" all of a sudden.
Thank you, microsoft for validating my decision not to purchase Windows Vista, and migrate my remaining Windows apps to Linux ASAP :)
As far as I can see, the *other* main reason the ps3 is facing lukewarm reception is because sony has totally dominated the last 2 generations with the ps1 and ps2, and it's "cool" to be different and back the underdog.
I know i'll be buying one once the price is appropriate.
... will this work through my tinfoil hat?
Erm, the issue is that it microsoft is sending information after being explicitly told "no". This is newsworthy. Don't like the story? Fuck off...
Whilst I agree in theory, Sony Computer Entertainment != Sony BMG, Sony music, etc... different divisions. It's like protesting at the US navy because the US air force bombed your house...
For the noobs. Back in the day, we didn't just have "PCs", the home computing market was alive and well, and there were many choices of machine. Apps/games were ported on a regular basis. This was back in the days before C/C++ was used for game development, this stuff was written in assembly. And ported. Within months.
Where am I going with this? Here: Basically, there is no reason that the market can not support a more diverse hardware market. Java/.net and emulation has made this even more feasible than ever before. Running software developed on one platform on another platform these days is fairly trivial. Writing portable software in the first place makes it even more trivial. Especially when you're talking about platforms which use much the same hardware.
We shouldn't be wondering "where are the OS/X competitors", but "where are the other computing platforms?" More alternative platforms will increase competition and new ideas in the operating sytem market.
If apple can put a decent dent in Microsoft's market share, then other alternative platforms (such as linux) will follow...
By the time it's really cost effective to upgrade video these days, you need to upgrade CPU as well. And with the vast number of socket changes recently, to do that requires a new mainboard.
Sure, my PC has a heap of PCI slots, but they're largely unused these days. Almost everything I want is either onboard, or available in either firewire or USB. Sure, i've currently got an Audigy2 in my PC, but it's not a deal breaker.
So, we're basically down to memory/hd upgrades being the only real requirement. So all you really need are memory slots (check) and hd expansion ability (firewire, or if you're really keen, an internal drive upgrade).
Cheers for that. And for the haters below, I was just genuinely curious as to why it hadn't been considered - suspected this may be the case, but again... never seen any mention of it.
Forgetting greenhouse gases, changes in the sun, etc for a moment, isn't is conceivable that the fact we're burning so much stuff, and putting out so much heat is a factor in global warming?
In addition, most of our energy generation and populsion devices are fairly inefficient. A significant portion of the energy consumed is wasted as heat, which is then dissipated into the environment in one way or another.
Maybe all heat generating devices have minimal impact on global temperature, I don't know. I'm not a climate expert. But I've just never seen any mention of it at all....
All PC/technology purchases need to come by the IT dept - finance has been instructed not to approve anything unless this is the case.
If someone is dumb enough to attempt to flaunt the rules, buy a vista machine with their credit card, and then ask us to add it to our network and try get reimbursed, then sucks to be them - it isn't going to happen.
1. because we don't support it, and 2. because licenses, compatibility, etc with software deployed via script/group policy/SMS, etc has not been taken into account unless the PC is purchased via us. They're free to run whatever they like at home, but on our network, they play by our rules.
Or at least, that's the way it works here...
Whilst that's all well and good - the majority of these are office machines, where really the only website the user should be visiting is the corporate intranet. Which is no doubt written for IE6.
Given this situation, as the article states - no compelling reason to upgrade. Given that the IE7 interface is completely different, plenty of compelling reasons NOT to upgrade.
Semi-on-topic-bitch - microsoft finally fixed printing web pages to (possibly an A4 specific bug, i'm not in the US) in IE7. Since IE v2 or earlier, trying to print a website has resulted in chopping off the right 15% of it. Fixing that major showstopper only took what... 11-12 years?
*cough*
Yeah right. The only thing we wouldn't have, is point and drool system administrators - and I'm pretty sure that's a *good* thing.
I thought the dude meant that *OS/X* will not run on 95% of computers manufactured today.
I know that personally, I can't stand the former, and from prior experience, i just KNOW that if i suggest anything new or groundbreaking, it's going to result in *another fucking meeting* being scheduled, and the idea going to committee, etc, etc and then maybe, just maybe 6 months later the idea will re-surface and be put on another meeting, etc.
The pub-lunch/spontaneous type, with say 2-3 close team members is far more productive. Have a casual, no-bullshit chat about things, and decide then and there whether or not something is worth pursuing...
Who says it's referring to that? Defectivebydesign can mean that, or it can mean that the products they make are actually defective, by design :)
pkg_add -r is your friend. It retrieves pre-built packages, and their dependancies automatically, much like apt-get. You have the OPTION to build from source, but it's not required.
As to the apache install problems you've seen - we'll, i've deployed FreeBSD servers running/apache/squid/postfix, etc in the field that have not been maintained until they break since I left my previous job some 3 years ago (they generally call me if it breaks, still :D). Sounds like your copy of apache the admin compiled is borked.
I've been called once when the postfix server ran out of space :D
I will admit that I have not tried messing with Java on FreeBSD yet.
Yes, it does take a little bit of a mindset adjustment if you're coming from Linux, but its one of those things that the more time you spend with it, the more it makes sense, etc...
Replaced "sued" with "threatened to sue" and you're talking about every linux user on the planet.
As to the dev packages, that's not what ubuntu is aimed at. You're free to apt-get them, but personally I'd much rather have a usable system in 1 cd, and install dev packages as required.
Myself, i've gone back to FreeBSD. It's hassle-free enough to deal with these days, runs better under load (personal experience), has documentation that works, and no ESR/RMS bullshit...
Just need to get a team together to replace gcc/gdb... :D
Try FreeBSD. It's like slackware with documentation that works :)
Just think back to the days of 64k memory segments (DOS real mode), apply the same idea to 4gb pages, and you've got the general idea. Terminology and implementation is different, but the basic idea is the same... :D
I would suggest 1-2gb being the "sweet spot" for typical office use - going from 512mb to 1gb will give you a about 5x as much RAM available for actually running apps.