[Linux] will probably just absorb new architectural ideas, amoeba-like, as they evolve.
Wow, sounds like a great thing, sign me up! Of course, when it's Microsoft absorbing ideas from elsewhere, they're the evil Borg.
I always did find it amusing to hear Slashdot readers complaining about Microsoft taking ideas from other places when there hasn't been a whit of innovation in the entire history of Linux.
I'm done. Those who have a hard time with truth and honesty, feel free to mark me down now.
That we still do our own thing, unapologetically, because we *want* to, the rest of the world be damned. While all of Western Europe is scrambling to throw away their national identities to join the EC, while they're giving up their own currencies for the Euro, while the UK is ceding their sovereignty to the EC and letting the EC tell them who to put into their armed forces, and while Europe has looked to the US to fight its wars for it from the beginning of this century to the end, I've gotta say that I'm proud to be an American.
The fact is that the US is the only Superpower in the world (well, at least until China gets its act together), so we're *not* going to be forego the comfort of *our* people just to please everyone else. Europeans might be eager to be part of one homogeneous mass of people, but that's totally anathema to the United States -- simply put, the day that this country decides that it wants to be assimilated into a "New World Order" like the Europeans is the day that this country becomes a loser.
Sure, people might complain that we don't play nicely with others, but they're just going to have to deal with it, because the US is impossible to ignore. It's not because we're trying to antagonize other countries, but simply because we believe in putting our own people first (No matter how much dickheads like Bill Clinton might make it seem otherwise). Then again, I don't see those other countries complaining too much when they're asking for our financial aid or wanting our military to fix the problems in their own backyards.
There's a reason why people risk their lives everyday trying to get to the United States, and it damn sure isn't because they're looking for a country that's just like all the rest.
It's the USA's planet, everyone else is just a guest, and it's worth losing a space probe every now and then just to remind people of that fact. Now cue National f***ing Anthem already!:)
Why is it good for NT? Because it allows for the migration of people used to using Sendmail on Linux. When there's yet another security breach on the system, they'll start looking more seriously at moving to NT, since the services they're running would be the same. NT5 would be a justifiable expense, while Linux would continue to prove the adage "You get what you pay for."
Hey, if the box is still up, post how to hack it. Just make sure you post it before you try it yourself, so I can get that thousand bucks! Oh yeah, and if that machine hasn't been hacked by tomorrow, everyone here will know that you were full of shite -- so get ta crackin'! (Again, after posting the crack here first;-)
Not a slam on you, but the problem aren't the contests themselves, or the articles about them. The problem, as you seem to recognize at the beginning (but forgot by the end of your post), are the Linux zealots making the inane posts.
Your solution seems to be saying, "Hey, don't post stories like this because the Linux community has the inability to discuss them without making complete asses of themselves." I know that's not what you meant, but that's really what it boils down to. It also amounts to putting blinders on to squelch any Linux news that isn't positive, just to not awaken the hordes of clueless Linux zealots that will come out en masse with ridiculous replies.
The correct request is, "Would the clueless zealots please bugger off? You're not helping a damn thing." Also helpful would be to score their posts down here, as well as quit scoring down posts just because they made a point not in Linux's favor, even when they weren't trolls or flamebait.
Again, most of what you said was good, but you're just putting the blame in the wrong place.
They should have left the Linux box alone and concentrate on NT.
LOL. Come on everybody, join me in sticking my fingers in my ears so that we never have to test Linux for flaws or ever hear any bad news about it and we can go to sleep at night with the fantasy that Linux is perfect while we dream of dancing and prancing together down Magical Gumdrop Lane. Your post is classic, man!!
Sure, the Linux kids love to talk about how secure Linux is and NT isn't. But when it comes down to winning $1000, this guy knew which computer he'd have a better chance of breaking into.
Personally, I hope this is the last post we see on this contest -- I'll be disappointed if neither of these boxes are broken into in the future. Of course, if they do decide to announce it here when the NT box gets cracked, it'll be amusing to see all the whoopin' and hollerin' from the people who are today telling us that this contest means nothing.
On a side note, I do like having those two boxes around, because they're handy for testing stuff out on without worrying about legalities or damaging my own equipment.
The only problem is that this only shows the resiliance to script-kiddies. Most of the serious intruders (you know, the ones who do this kind of thing for PROFIT) would never be so stupid as to take part in such a contest.
So basically, you're saying the Linux box is capable of being cracked by someone with pretty much no skills whatsoever.
Well, now that must certainly be a comforting thought to the IT managers of the world. Gee, I'd hate to see what kind of disaster would result if a hacker who actually had an ounce of skill decided to go after a Linux box. Oh wait -- I have.
But the Sun Community Source License is not open source by any definition (unless it has changed recently), so such a release would hardly have been meaningful.
Well, I agree with you about the openness of the SCSL, but it couldn't have hurt them to throw the code out there for people to kick around and maybe do something interesting with it, especially since the non-openness that we're aware of would allow them to keep the fruits of any labor. It would be more understandable if they were going to continue developing it themselves -- but after promising to release the code under the SCSL, it just strikes me as a dickhead move to just chuck it in the dumpster and go buy another company.
Mind you Solaris rocks once you get bash/gcc/kde on it:_)
Heh, I'll agree with you there, at least on the first two, although gcc was an absolute necessity once I discovered, to my surprise, that my SPARC didn't even come with a compiler of its own!;-/
When even Linus's own immediate family (mom, dad, sister) other than his wife stick with their Windows and Macs instead of using Linux, good luck convincing the world that it's ready for prime time.
Why didn't you revert to a previous hardware profile? That's what they're there for. After reverting to your previous profile (which only requires a single tap on the down-arrow key to choose the previous profile during bootup), you wouldn't have to uninstall the drivers, because it would be like you never installed them in the first place. It's the same reason why you don't delete your old kernel immediately after building a new one. You make sure the new one behaves first, and if not, you just boot up the old one, and as far as Linux is concerned, that new one no longer exists.
If your sound card is crashing your OS, you need to get on Creative's ass to get you some drivers that work, or get a different sound card and make sure Creative knows that you are. FWIW, as far as Creative goes, I've never had any problems with my SB32 under NT4 or Win2K.
(That guy who posted about Netscape/Linux/NT/sound card should have been scored "Misinformative.")
Way back in December, Sun said that they'd release the source sometime this year under the Sun Community Source License. Well, instead of giving the Open Source community a chance to improve the product and make it work well, they never released the source and are now dumping the whole thing to gobble up yet another company. Seems like if they just would've taken a chance on Open Source, they could've possibly saved themselves a lot of money. Message to Open Source community: Sun obviously doesn't trust you -- think long and hard before you trust them.
As an aside: Java really is a pretty nice language. I can't imagine any other company being such a screw-up when it comes to Java -- they fscking invented it, for chrissakes!
See this NASA link for more information about vector processing, and how it relates to Crays. Here are a few paragraphs from it:
Cray Supercomputers perform arithmetic and boolean operations in segmented functional units that divide the operation into a set of substeps or segments, with each segment being performed in one CPU cycle. In a nonvector (scalar) operation, only one segment is performed at any given time because only one set of values is available to the functional unit. The time needed to complete a scalar operation is equal to the number of segments in the functional unit times the CPU clock period of the computer.
The CRAY C90's functional units in the CPUs are dual units. That is, they are capable of producing two results per CPU cycle during vector operations.
Vector processing produces high computational speeds by applying pipeline techniques to arithmetic operations. In vector operations, the ability to access sets of data items allows the system to place new values into the functional unit as soon as the previous values have cleared the first segment. This allows every segment in the functional unit to operate simultaneously. The system thus produces two results every clock period (4.2 nanoseconds) once the first set of values in the vectors has moved through all segments in the functional units. The use of vector functional units also reduces the number of instructions that the system must interpret because multiple sets of values are processed by a single instruction.
A vector can be defined as a set of floating-point data items that the computer accesses as a unit, with the same operations being performed for each value.
For someone who's looking for crap like that, how many people are going to sit down at their browser and think of "bushblowsmonkeys.com," as opposed to "bushsucks.com"? Likewise, your average Aryan Nation type will try "niggers.com" right off the bat, but how many are going to try the permutations that you came up with? The answer is zero. It's the reason squatters would love to own a name like "movies.com" but wouldn't give a rat's ass about "aint-it-cool-news.com."
Someone could possibly make a nice business by becoming known as "The" Linux installation and support company. Instead of a Dell wasting all the money to do install RedHat in-house, just outsource it and the support to a company which specializes in tailoring any distribution and configuration for the particular computer sold. They could undercut the licensing fees of the RedHats and Calderas of the world by, say 50 percent, and still make a profit because they wouldn't have the Research & Development costs that those companies have. I know LinuxCare's there for the support, but I don't know whether or not they do the whole enchilada that I'm talking about.
Hey, at least LinuxOne is at least using Linux, so I gotta give 'em props for that. Andover.net, on the other hand, despite labeling themselves as the "leading Linux/Open Source destination on the Internet," is for some reason using Solaris for their web server. What, there isn't an Open Source alternative? What kind of example and advocacy is that?
Cheers, ZicoKnows@hotmail.com
P.S. I just find the above odd, I'm not trying to put any damper on Rob's potential earnings from his Andover.net shares -- I hope he rides it for all it's worth. It's The American Dream, baby!
Of course he isn't, and I would bet that Mr. Torvalds himself would be the first one to admit that. This and things like it are what make Mr. Katz's articles such a disappointing read. Is there any doubt that he just threw Linus's name in there, not because it actually belonged there, but for some cheap emotional appeal to the Slashdot crowd? It's plain dishonest writing.
The irony of the "naive" and "comatose" remarks that he made is simply priceless. Just curious, but is Mr. Finger-On-The-Pulse-Of-The-Geek-Community still using Linux, or did he switch back to his old platform?
Stories like these (and, less frequently, those debunking them) have been going around for years. I'm extremely skeptical, especially with this latest article. Okay, so banks are giving payouts of millions of dollars to hackers, but the author can't get one single law enforcement officer or spokesperson to give a comment on the record? Gimme a freakin' break. Police departments would be more than happy to speak out about this, using it as an excuse to increase their funding. It's just as likely that banks are putting forth this excuse to cover up losses due to embezzlement and other crimes by their own bad-apple employees.
Whether any of it is true or not, I wouldn't rely on this article as a source if you paid me. Makes me wonder who's really being "taken for a ride," as the article puts it.
If you're in the middle of a pro-linux group of people and you proudly proclaim how much of a Windoze fan you are, maybe you deserved a good flaming.
I wouldn't go to a meeting of the National Organization for Women while wearing a tee shirt that says "Show me your tits, you bitch!"
Uh, no. That's terrible logic on your part. It would be like a man going to a NOW meeting and saying that men are good, too, and then getting slammed for it. Of course, knowing NOW, that's probably a likely reaction, but that doesn't mean it's right. Unfortunately, Slashdot is very much like NOW in this respect.
As a timely example, I'm very curious why this post of mine from yesterday got scored down as "Flamebait." It seems that some people around here are more interested in sticking their fingers in their ears than in discussing current computing events. I wasn't claiming that NT is descended from the gods and that Linux sucks, but pointing out why a certain Microsoft purchase could turn out to be a good decision. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?
I would think that since everyone's seen the humorous IBM commercial, that they would make sure that they have the capacity to deal with a glut of launch-day visitors. Oh well.
Google user, though I prefer Northern Light and Altavista, ZicoKnows@hotmail.com
Not to make light of this situation (you can read my other posting in this topic for my views on it), but the alt tag beneath the main headline picture on MSNBC reads:
"As death
tool climbs, resuers dig for survivors."
Death tools and redundant litigators? Why does this remind me of a George Lucas plotline?
Apache and GIMP are already available for NT -- the bigger deal is NT users being able to use all the Unix software that hasn't already been ported to NT.
The main downside here for the Unix camp in the Microsoft vs. Unix marketing war is that while NT users would be able to use their favorite Unix apps, the most popular NT apps still won't be available for Unix. Love your GNU tools but your clients all demand Word documents? Easy, use NT and you can easily use them both. Don't wanna give up Squid or Pine, but exasperated by Netscape's browsing experience when compared to IE, along with not having the latest Real Media players and Adobe Acrobat viewers? No problem, get NT and use 'em both. There are scores of examples here, if that's the direction in which Microsoft plans to take their purchase.
On a related note, what I find annoying are the people who are getting worked up over this, who just hate the thought of anything improving the NT user experience. These bigots have no business promoting free quality software for all. If this product works as well as some of the people in this thread attest, it is a Good Thing. Just like full WINE compatibility would be a Good Thing. Just like Solaris's and SCO's ability to run Linux binaries is a Good Thing (I haven't tried either of the latter two, so I don't know how well they work -- so if they don't, save the flames). Products like these result in more options for people -- the platform zealots reading this can go to Hell.
Cheers, ZicoKnows@hotmail.com
For the semantically inclined, in the above, everytime I referred to Unix, I was talking about all Unix-like OSes, Linux included.
You really think that just because you didn't see Apples in colleges that there weren't any? I don't remember seeing any when I was in school either, but it doesn't change the fact that they were used heavily in certain departments and were THE recommended computer for incoming freshmen in some big institutions.
The reason why I rolled my eyes at his bemoaning the possible loss of the great Unix mentoring system is because he acts like this is something unique to Unix. Mentoring and networking are found through all branches of study; Unix isn't some special case here, and his nostalgia was less than persuasive.
I certainly didn't miss the "Unix tradition vs. Linux" contradiction that I mentioned earlier but didn't have the time to get into. It's what made me think that the author's decision to throw the word "Linux" into his article a handful of times basically amounted to bandwagon-hopping. First, it must be pointed out that I'm not talking about all Linux users here, just your typical Slashdot-posting Linux zealots.
Where I see old-time Unix users working together as the article states, I see the typical Linux user slamming any OS that isn't Linux. SGI? "RedHat should buy 'em before they die." SCO? "Can't wait 'til they go out of business." No NT on Alpha? "Yay!" No Tru64 on Merced? "Yay!" Sun, Apple, Microsoft? 'Nuff said. Rather than promoting people of different OSes working together, as this article suggests, the behavior of the typical Linux user is as divisive as anything out there today, with the opinion that anyone using a different OS must either be forced to by their boss, or an idiot. There's a reason why Linux users have the poor reputation that they do, and one need only read Slashdot to see the reason why. Linux is a nice OS, and it would be taken a lot more seriously by people whose opinions actually matter if its users actually did behave the way that Mr. Pfaffenberger's article described.
Slashdot Mirror
Wow, sounds like a great thing, sign me up! Of course, when it's Microsoft absorbing ideas from elsewhere, they're the evil Borg.
I always did find it amusing to hear Slashdot readers complaining about Microsoft taking ideas from other places when there hasn't been a whit of innovation in the entire history of Linux.
I'm done. Those who have a hard time with truth and honesty, feel free to mark me down now.
Cheers,
ZicoKnows@hotmail.com
That we still do our own thing, unapologetically, because we *want* to, the rest of the world be damned. While all of Western Europe is scrambling to throw away their national identities to join the EC, while they're giving up their own currencies for the Euro, while the UK is ceding their sovereignty to the EC and letting the EC tell them who to put into their armed forces, and while Europe has looked to the US to fight its wars for it from the beginning of this century to the end, I've gotta say that I'm proud to be an American.
The fact is that the US is the only Superpower in the world (well, at least until China gets its act together), so we're *not* going to be forego the comfort of *our* people just to please everyone else. Europeans might be eager to be part of one homogeneous mass of people, but that's totally anathema to the United States -- simply put, the day that this country decides that it wants to be assimilated into a "New World Order" like the Europeans is the day that this country becomes a loser.
Sure, people might complain that we don't play nicely with others, but they're just going to have to deal with it, because the US is impossible to ignore. It's not because we're trying to antagonize other countries, but simply because we believe in putting our own people first (No matter how much dickheads like Bill Clinton might make it seem otherwise). Then again, I don't see those other countries complaining too much when they're asking for our financial aid or wanting our military to fix the problems in their own backyards.
There's a reason why people risk their lives everyday trying to get to the United States, and it damn sure isn't because they're looking for a country that's just like all the rest.
It's the USA's planet, everyone else is just a guest, and it's worth losing a space probe every now and then just to remind people of that fact. Now cue National f***ing Anthem already! :)
Cheers,
ZicoKnows@hotmail.com
What part of
do you not understand?Cheers,
ZicoKnows@hotmail.com
Why is it good for NT? Because it allows for the migration of people used to using Sendmail on Linux. When there's yet another security breach on the system, they'll start looking more seriously at moving to NT, since the services they're running would be the same. NT5 would be a justifiable expense, while Linux would continue to prove the adage "You get what you pay for."
:-)
Cheers,
ZicoKnows@hotmail.com
Hey, if the box is still up, post how to hack it. Just make sure you post it before you try it yourself, so I can get that thousand bucks! Oh yeah, and if that machine hasn't been hacked by tomorrow, everyone here will know that you were full of shite -- so get ta crackin'! (Again, after posting the crack here first ;-)
Cheers,
ZicoKnows@hotmail.com
Not a slam on you, but the problem aren't the contests themselves, or the articles about them. The problem, as you seem to recognize at the beginning (but forgot by the end of your post), are the Linux zealots making the inane posts.
Your solution seems to be saying, "Hey, don't post stories like this because the Linux community has the inability to discuss them without making complete asses of themselves." I know that's not what you meant, but that's really what it boils down to. It also amounts to putting blinders on to squelch any Linux news that isn't positive, just to not awaken the hordes of clueless Linux zealots that will come out en masse with ridiculous replies.
The correct request is, "Would the clueless zealots please bugger off? You're not helping a damn thing." Also helpful would be to score their posts down here, as well as quit scoring down posts just because they made a point not in Linux's favor, even when they weren't trolls or flamebait.
Again, most of what you said was good, but you're just putting the blame in the wrong place.
Cheers,
ZicoKnows@hotmail.com
LOL. Come on everybody, join me in sticking my fingers in my ears so that we never have to test Linux for flaws or ever hear any bad news about it and we can go to sleep at night with the fantasy that Linux is perfect while we dream of dancing and prancing together down Magical Gumdrop Lane. Your post is classic, man!!
Sure, the Linux kids love to talk about how secure Linux is and NT isn't. But when it comes down to winning $1000, this guy knew which computer he'd have a better chance of breaking into.
Personally, I hope this is the last post we see on this contest -- I'll be disappointed if neither of these boxes are broken into in the future. Of course, if they do decide to announce it here when the NT box gets cracked, it'll be amusing to see all the whoopin' and hollerin' from the people who are today telling us that this contest means nothing.
On a side note, I do like having those two boxes around, because they're handy for testing stuff out on without worrying about legalities or damaging my own equipment.
Cheers,
ZicoKnows@hotmail.com
So basically, you're saying the Linux box is capable of being cracked by someone with pretty much no skills whatsoever.
Well, now that must certainly be a comforting thought to the IT managers of the world. Gee, I'd hate to see what kind of disaster would result if a hacker who actually had an ounce of skill decided to go after a Linux box. Oh wait -- I have .
:-) :-)
Cheers,
ZicoKnows@hotmail.com
Well, I agree with you about the openness of the SCSL, but it couldn't have hurt them to throw the code out there for people to kick around and maybe do something interesting with it, especially since the non-openness that we're aware of would allow them to keep the fruits of any labor. It would be more understandable if they were going to continue developing it themselves -- but after promising to release the code under the SCSL, it just strikes me as a dickhead move to just chuck it in the dumpster and go buy another company.
Heh, I'll agree with you there, at least on the first two, although gcc was an absolute necessity once I discovered, to my surprise, that my SPARC didn't even come with a compiler of its own! ;-/
Cheers,
ZicoKnows@hotmail.com
When even Linus's own immediate family (mom, dad, sister) other than his wife stick with their Windows and Macs instead of using Linux, good luck convincing the world that it's ready for prime time.
Cheers,
ZicoKnows@hotmail.com
Why didn't you revert to a previous hardware profile? That's what they're there for. After reverting to your previous profile (which only requires a single tap on the down-arrow key to choose the previous profile during bootup), you wouldn't have to uninstall the drivers, because it would be like you never installed them in the first place. It's the same reason why you don't delete your old kernel immediately after building a new one. You make sure the new one behaves first, and if not, you just boot up the old one, and as far as Linux is concerned, that new one no longer exists.
If your sound card is crashing your OS, you need to get on Creative's ass to get you some drivers that work, or get a different sound card and make sure Creative knows that you are. FWIW, as far as Creative goes, I've never had any problems with my SB32 under NT4 or Win2K.
(That guy who posted about Netscape/Linux/NT/sound card should have been scored "Misinformative.")
Cheers,
ZicoKnows@hotmail.com
Way back in December, Sun said that they'd release the source sometime this year under the Sun Community Source License. Well, instead of giving the Open Source community a chance to improve the product and make it work well, they never released the source and are now dumping the whole thing to gobble up yet another company. Seems like if they just would've taken a chance on Open Source, they could've possibly saved themselves a lot of money. Message to Open Source community: Sun obviously doesn't trust you -- think long and hard before you trust them.
As an aside: Java really is a pretty nice language. I can't imagine any other company being such a screw-up when it comes to Java -- they fscking invented it, for chrissakes!
Cheers,
ZicoKnows@hotmail.com
Cheers,
ZicoKnows@hotmail.com
For someone who's looking for crap like that, how many people are going to sit down at their browser and think of "bushblowsmonkeys.com," as opposed to "bushsucks.com"? Likewise, your average Aryan Nation type will try "niggers.com" right off the bat, but how many are going to try the permutations that you came up with? The answer is zero. It's the reason squatters would love to own a name like "movies.com" but wouldn't give a rat's ass about "aint-it-cool-news.com."
Cheers,
ZicoKnows@hotmail.com
Someone could possibly make a nice business by becoming known as "The" Linux installation and support company. Instead of a Dell wasting all the money to do install RedHat in-house, just outsource it and the support to a company which specializes in tailoring any distribution and configuration for the particular computer sold. They could undercut the licensing fees of the RedHats and Calderas of the world by, say 50 percent, and still make a profit because they wouldn't have the Research & Development costs that those companies have. I know LinuxCare's there for the support, but I don't know whether or not they do the whole enchilada that I'm talking about.
Cheers,
ZicoKnows@hotmail.com
LinuxOne's or Andover.net's? ;-)
Hey, at least LinuxOne is at least using Linux, so I gotta give 'em props for that. Andover.net, on the other hand, despite labeling themselves as the "leading Linux/Open Source destination on the Internet," is for some reason using Solaris for their web server. What, there isn't an Open Source alternative? What kind of example and advocacy is that?
Cheers,
ZicoKnows@hotmail.com
P.S. I just find the above odd, I'm not trying to put any damper on Rob's potential earnings from his Andover.net shares -- I hope he rides it for all it's worth. It's The American Dream, baby!
Of course he isn't, and I would bet that Mr. Torvalds himself would be the first one to admit that. This and things like it are what make Mr. Katz's articles such a disappointing read. Is there any doubt that he just threw Linus's name in there, not because it actually belonged there, but for some cheap emotional appeal to the Slashdot crowd? It's plain dishonest writing.
The irony of the "naive" and "comatose" remarks that he made is simply priceless. Just curious, but is Mr. Finger-On-The-Pulse-Of-The-Geek-Community still using Linux, or did he switch back to his old platform?
Cheers,
ZicoKnows@hotmail.com
Stories like these (and, less frequently, those debunking them) have been going around for years. I'm extremely skeptical, especially with this latest article. Okay, so banks are giving payouts of millions of dollars to hackers, but the author can't get one single law enforcement officer or spokesperson to give a comment on the record? Gimme a freakin' break. Police departments would be more than happy to speak out about this, using it as an excuse to increase their funding. It's just as likely that banks are putting forth this excuse to cover up losses due to embezzlement and other crimes by their own bad-apple employees.
Whether any of it is true or not, I wouldn't rely on this article as a source if you paid me. Makes me wonder who's really being "taken for a ride," as the article puts it.
Cheers,
ZicoKnows@hotmail.com
Uh, no. That's terrible logic on your part. It would be like a man going to a NOW meeting and saying that men are good, too, and then getting slammed for it. Of course, knowing NOW, that's probably a likely reaction, but that doesn't mean it's right. Unfortunately, Slashdot is very much like NOW in this respect.
As a timely example, I'm very curious why this post of mine from yesterday got scored down as "Flamebait." It seems that some people around here are more interested in sticking their fingers in their ears than in discussing current computing events. I wasn't claiming that NT is descended from the gods and that Linux sucks, but pointing out why a certain Microsoft purchase could turn out to be a good decision. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?
Cheers,
ZicoKnows@hotmail.com
I would think that since everyone's seen the humorous IBM commercial, that they would make sure that they have the capacity to deal with a glut of launch-day visitors. Oh well.
Google user, though I prefer Northern Light and Altavista,
ZicoKnows@hotmail.com
Not to make light of this situation (you can read my other posting in this topic for my views on it), but the alt tag beneath the main headline picture on MSNBC reads:
Death tools and redundant litigators? Why does this remind me of a George Lucas plotline?
Cheers,
ZicoKnows@hotmail.com
Apache and GIMP are already available for NT -- the bigger deal is NT users being able to use all the Unix software that hasn't already been ported to NT.
The main downside here for the Unix camp in the Microsoft vs. Unix marketing war is that while NT users would be able to use their favorite Unix apps, the most popular NT apps still won't be available for Unix. Love your GNU tools but your clients all demand Word documents? Easy, use NT and you can easily use them both. Don't wanna give up Squid or Pine, but exasperated by Netscape's browsing experience when compared to IE, along with not having the latest Real Media players and Adobe Acrobat viewers? No problem, get NT and use 'em both. There are scores of examples here, if that's the direction in which Microsoft plans to take their purchase.
On a related note, what I find annoying are the people who are getting worked up over this, who just hate the thought of anything improving the NT user experience. These bigots have no business promoting free quality software for all. If this product works as well as some of the people in this thread attest, it is a Good Thing. Just like full WINE compatibility would be a Good Thing. Just like Solaris's and SCO's ability to run Linux binaries is a Good Thing (I haven't tried either of the latter two, so I don't know how well they work -- so if they don't, save the flames). Products like these result in more options for people -- the platform zealots reading this can go to Hell.
Cheers,
ZicoKnows@hotmail.com
For the semantically inclined, in the above, everytime I referred to Unix, I was talking about all Unix-like OSes, Linux included.
You're a wonderful advocate for Open Source computing. "I don't want people to be able to run apps on platforms I don't like." Freedom, indeed.
Cheers,
ZicoKnows@hotmail.com
But since I'm a tease, I'll only give you the first step.
Cheers,
ZicoKnows@hotmail.com
You really think that just because you didn't see Apples in colleges that there weren't any? I don't remember seeing any when I was in school either, but it doesn't change the fact that they were used heavily in certain departments and were THE recommended computer for incoming freshmen in some big institutions.
The reason why I rolled my eyes at his bemoaning the possible loss of the great Unix mentoring system is because he acts like this is something unique to Unix. Mentoring and networking are found through all branches of study; Unix isn't some special case here, and his nostalgia was less than persuasive.
I certainly didn't miss the "Unix tradition vs. Linux" contradiction that I mentioned earlier but didn't have the time to get into. It's what made me think that the author's decision to throw the word "Linux" into his article a handful of times basically amounted to bandwagon-hopping. First, it must be pointed out that I'm not talking about all Linux users here, just your typical Slashdot-posting Linux zealots.
Where I see old-time Unix users working together as the article states, I see the typical Linux user slamming any OS that isn't Linux. SGI? "RedHat should buy 'em before they die." SCO? "Can't wait 'til they go out of business." No NT on Alpha? "Yay!" No Tru64 on Merced? "Yay!" Sun, Apple, Microsoft? 'Nuff said. Rather than promoting people of different OSes working together, as this article suggests, the behavior of the typical Linux user is as divisive as anything out there today, with the opinion that anyone using a different OS must either be forced to by their boss, or an idiot. There's a reason why Linux users have the poor reputation that they do, and one need only read Slashdot to see the reason why. Linux is a nice OS, and it would be taken a lot more seriously by people whose opinions actually matter if its users actually did behave the way that Mr. Pfaffenberger's article described.
Cheers,
ZicoKnows@hotmail.com