After reading many many Vista stories, last week I posted a comment on Slashdot, summing up what people's reactions to any "Vista Failure" story would be. And while I was right on my points, the comments to that story didn't have any of the Vista defenses that I was used to hearing. Although Slashdot is obviously a pro-Linux site, for the first few months of Vista's release, there were plenty of people who would say "It works fine for me" or "It will catch on when more drivers are released" or "It will work fine with Service Pack 1", or the like. But there doesn't seem to be many defenders left. Is the Verdict in that Vista did, indeed, tank?
I have to admit that when I first saw this, I read "X" as "X" as in the Window system, and forgot the last time there was a heated Slashdot debate about X as such. I think we are overdue.
seems to be a lot of mystery and intrigue around what is probably going to be minor cosmetic changes. Are we all so enamored of googles many accomplishments that a site redesign becomes major news? I don't think anyone was that concerned when yahoo and hotmail redid their sites...of course, they just made them more annoying. Having said that, it will probably be that this rumored site redesign is when Google starts rolling out their sinister "Phase II"
You know the worst thing about *****? They always want some credit for some s*** they're supposed to do... "I've never been in jail!" Whatcha want? A cookie?? You're not supposed to go to jail!"
When you are the world's leading software company, with billions of dollars to spend on R&D, no longer being a laughing stock isn't something you should be bragging about. Vista took five years, and who knows how much money and programmer errors to make. With that much resources, it should be as close to unbreakable as an Operating System could be.
Now, there is some reason to believe that the argument that Linux has less malware than Windows is just because it isn't popular enough to be targeted. But there is also, presumably, much less money for paid researchers to go through the Linux code and search for bugs. If the OSDL had a one billion dollar a year budget (which would be pocket change to Redmond), there is no doubt in my mind that Linux security could go from solid to virtually invincible.
Telepathy 2.0 isn't a pay service... Telepathy 2.0 is just going to generate huge buzz, but no business plan, until some bigger, older business buys them out.
You are right about many things, but I have to admit that your post reminds me yet again of the gap between myself and many computer users. Especially when you say "Just call Microsoft and for 200 dollars they will fix it", I know that for a business, 200 dollars is nothing, but I think for me, and many other people, that is a lot of money. Two hundred dollars is about how much I have spent on computers, totally, in the past two years. Which is another thing about GIMP and OpenOffice, they are free. And if you are just using them for their basic functionality, (which is what most people do), I don't know of any major flaws they have. A copy of MS Office goes for 500 dollars, which is about one month's rent for me. What functionality can I get out of Office that I can't get out of OpenOffice, that is worth one month's rent? Of course, (and I've said this many times) for most people, when I get into a discussion of Windows vs. Linux, or closed vs. free software, it is illegal use of Windows vs. legal use of Linux. If people had to pay the 1300 dollars for a commercial copy of Windows, Office and Photoshop, instead of getting the disks from their brother-in-law, how many of them would pay it? And, I believe I might have drifted away from your points a bit...but it is something to consider.
I don't see any reason why Google would want to make hardware. Because, really, right now, what innovations are needed in hardware? And how would google's philosophy and past experience relate to inventing or perfecting some hardware that would really reach out and grab people? Not that the x86 architecture is perfect, of course it has lots of flaws, but it seems to be pretty well thought out and tested, and conceptually sound. So what reason is there for going into the hardware market?
I mean, unless google can put a photonic computer that weighs 6 ounces and runs on solar energy on everyone's desktop...which knowing them, might actually be there master plan.
So you can alledge that a lawyer has kidnapped Elvis and locked him up in his basement along with a bunch of alien corpses stolen from Roswell and the bar association will open an investigation.
And just when I thought that every type of slashfic possible has been written on the internet, you come up with a new one!
I think that Linux has made a gigantic impact already on the home market, although most of it has been indirect.
I was working tech support in 1999, when Windows 98 was the most common variant of Windows. And it was buggy and instable, I dealt with thousands of calls about weird Windows issues. I was running Windows 98 myself, and I just took it for granted that I would have to reboot within 12 hours because the system was sluggish.
Some day in the future, we might actually have the documentation for this (internal memos and the like), but I suspect that when the first commercial Linux companies really started revving up, around 1999, they realized they had to improve stability and security, and then we got Windows 2000 and Windows XP...which, from what I understand, can actually be ran for weeks at a time, and have somewhat-acceptable security. So I think the fact that Linux is out there keeps Microsoft on their toes.
I think Ubuntu will have a big impact too, I think it already has. Even if it doesn't appeal to everyone, I think it does appeal to a certain subset of elite users, technical people and bright college students who are willing to try something new. And I think that is REALLY going to keep Microsoft on their toes.
I am glad that Microsoft is actually backing up the restrictions that they say they have on their software. I've noticed that many Linux vs. Windows debates are about legitimate use of Linux vs. illegitimate use of Windows. And when I try to point out to people that there are strict legal limits on what you can do with Windows, they look at me like I am making something up. "But, I can install Windows on this computer...I have a CD my brother-in-law gave me!" So, I am just as glad that Microsoft is doing something to demonstrate the nature of licensed software. If people want to use licensed, commercial software, I don't object to it (even though I use almost totally free software), but they should realize that means they have to pay for it.
One interesting thing about these studies is they always point out the difference between men and women. Perhaps because that is something that people can giving a knowing chuckle about over their morning tea, because everyone knows that women are naturally more sophisticated and men are naturally the hunters. Notice how none of these evolutionary geneticists are writing about how black people got a sense of rhythm because of some remnant of their stone age past, and that the Chinese aren't good at math because the proto-Chinese used math in their mammoth hunts, etc. That aside,
Anti-phishing tools shouldn't be used to determine which sites are good, they should be used to determine which sites are bad. These tools might have picked up thousands of shoddily done, fly by night phishing scams. It doesn't reflect badly on them if one well done, sophisticated cracked server can fool them. There is still going to be errors. These tools allow people to discount the most obvious hacks, and use their time on the 1% of most dangerous hacks.
Slashdot Mirror
Maybe it is finally time for a constitution? In writing, with guarantees of free speech?
Just a wild, crazy idea.
Didn't Palapatine throw a chair in one of the movies? At the end of Episode III, when he was fighting with Yoda?
After reading many many Vista stories, last week I posted a comment on Slashdot, summing up what people's reactions to any "Vista Failure" story would be. And while I was right on my points, the comments to that story didn't have any of the Vista defenses that I was used to hearing.
Although Slashdot is obviously a pro-Linux site, for the first few months of Vista's release, there were plenty of people who would say "It works fine for me" or "It will catch on when more drivers are released" or "It will work fine with Service Pack 1", or the like. But there doesn't seem to be many defenders left. Is the Verdict in that Vista did, indeed, tank?
Ah, I still remember the day I first clicked on that link that said "Tips for Winning at Spy Hunter" here...
I have to admit that when I first saw this, I read "X" as "X" as in the Window system, and forgot the last time there was a heated Slashdot debate about X as such.
I think we are overdue.
Serious reply:
I am not being mean, I am just (as they say in Canada) "funning the tubes"
Joking reply:
Yes, I am comming...getting my schmug ALL OVER.
Hmmm...I bet Vista and XP run about the same with a ruined keyboard.
Someone actually did use "80%" as a figure in a comment, although I imagine it was estimated, and not totally made up.
All of the parties will provide various slightly off-topic and apocryphal anecdotes and statistics to support their position.
seems to be a lot of mystery and intrigue around what is probably going to be minor cosmetic changes.
Are we all so enamored of googles many accomplishments that a site redesign becomes major news?
I don't think anyone was that concerned when yahoo and hotmail redid their sites...of course, they just made them more annoying.
Having said that, it will probably be that this rumored site redesign is when Google starts rolling out their sinister "Phase II"
You know the worst thing about *****? They always want some credit for some s*** they're supposed to do... "I've never been in jail!" Whatcha want? A cookie?? You're not supposed to go to jail!"
When you are the world's leading software company, with billions of dollars to spend on R&D, no longer being a laughing stock isn't something you should be bragging about. Vista took five years, and who knows how much money and programmer errors to make. With that much resources, it should be as close to unbreakable as an Operating System could be.
Now, there is some reason to believe that the argument that Linux has less malware than Windows is just because it isn't popular enough to be targeted. But there is also, presumably, much less money for paid researchers to go through the Linux code and search for bugs. If the OSDL had a one billion dollar a year budget (which would be pocket change to Redmond), there is no doubt in my mind that Linux security could go from solid to virtually invincible.
Telepathy 2.0 isn't a pay service...
Telepathy 2.0 is just going to generate huge buzz, but no business plan, until some bigger, older business buys them out.
Alarmism about the net will last until the next big communication technology comes out.
Then we get to hear about how telepathy is destroying our society.
You are right about many things, but
I have to admit that your post reminds me yet again of the gap between myself and many computer users.
Especially when you say "Just call Microsoft and for 200 dollars they will fix it", I know that for a business, 200 dollars is nothing, but I think for me, and many other people, that is a lot of money. Two hundred dollars is about how much I have spent on computers, totally, in the past two years.
Which is another thing about GIMP and OpenOffice, they are free. And if you are just using them for their basic functionality, (which is what most people do), I don't know of any major flaws they have. A copy of MS Office goes for 500 dollars, which is about one month's rent for me. What functionality can I get out of Office that I can't get out of OpenOffice, that is worth one month's rent?
Of course, (and I've said this many times) for most people, when I get into a discussion of Windows vs. Linux, or closed vs. free software, it is illegal use of Windows vs. legal use of Linux. If people had to pay the 1300 dollars for a commercial copy of Windows, Office and Photoshop, instead of getting the disks from their brother-in-law, how many of them would pay it?
And, I believe I might have drifted away from your points a bit...but it is something to consider.
BSD is DEAD!
I would think most people wouldn't try it.
But yes, there is someone brain dead enough to do it.
And, being that they seem to be oblivious to repercussions, its not totally unlikely that some of the SCO management would do it.
Maybe the guys that Darl gives his fruit cups and cigarettes to for protection?
I don't see any reason why Google would want to make hardware.
Because, really, right now, what innovations are needed in hardware? And how would google's philosophy and past experience relate to inventing or perfecting some hardware that would really reach out and grab people?
Not that the x86 architecture is perfect, of course it has lots of flaws, but it seems to be pretty well thought out and tested, and conceptually sound. So what reason is there for going into the hardware market?
I mean, unless google can put a photonic computer that weighs 6 ounces and runs on solar energy on everyone's desktop...which knowing them, might actually be there master plan.
So you can alledge that a lawyer has kidnapped Elvis and locked him up in his basement along with a bunch of alien corpses stolen from Roswell and the bar association will open an investigation.
And just when I thought that every type of slashfic possible has been written on the internet, you come up with a new one!
Where do you live?
I live in Portland, which is pretty famous for its influx of the young n' trendy, who are willing to try new things.
Oh, and also I work in Linux...that might have something to do with it.
I think that Linux has made a gigantic impact already on the home market, although most of it has been indirect.
I was working tech support in 1999, when Windows 98 was the most common variant of Windows. And it was buggy and instable, I dealt with thousands of calls about weird Windows issues. I was running Windows 98 myself, and I just took it for granted that I would have to reboot within 12 hours because the system was sluggish.
Some day in the future, we might actually have the documentation for this (internal memos and the like), but I suspect that when the first commercial Linux companies really started revving up, around 1999, they realized they had to improve stability and security, and then we got Windows 2000 and Windows XP...which, from what I understand, can actually be ran for weeks at a time, and have somewhat-acceptable security. So I think the fact that Linux is out there keeps Microsoft on their toes.
I think Ubuntu will have a big impact too, I think it already has. Even if it doesn't appeal to everyone, I think it does appeal to a certain subset of elite users, technical people and bright college students who are willing to try something new. And I think that is REALLY going to keep Microsoft on their toes.
I am glad that Microsoft is actually backing up the restrictions that they say they have on their software. I've noticed that many Linux vs. Windows debates are about legitimate use of Linux vs. illegitimate use of Windows.
And when I try to point out to people that there are strict legal limits on what you can do with Windows, they look at me like I am making something up. "But, I can install Windows on this computer...I have a CD my brother-in-law gave me!"
So, I am just as glad that Microsoft is doing something to demonstrate the nature of licensed software. If people want to use licensed, commercial software, I don't object to it (even though I use almost totally free software), but they should realize that means they have to pay for it.
Now I am imagining rosy-cheeked, blond-pigtailed Swiss misses drowning mammoths in floods of chocolate...
And just when we think every type of porn has been invented on the internet!
One interesting thing about these studies is they always point out the difference between men and women. Perhaps because that is something that people can giving a knowing chuckle about over their morning tea, because everyone knows that women are naturally more sophisticated and men are naturally the hunters.
Notice how none of these evolutionary geneticists are writing about how black people got a sense of rhythm because of some remnant of their stone age past, and that the Chinese aren't good at math because the proto-Chinese used math in their mammoth hunts, etc.
That aside,
A little over a year ago, I wrote my own critique, called Women, Men and the Bad Scientific Study of the Week
Anti-phishing tools shouldn't be used to determine which sites are good, they should be used to determine which sites are bad.
These tools might have picked up thousands of shoddily done, fly by night phishing scams. It doesn't reflect badly on them if one well done, sophisticated cracked server can fool them. There is still going to be errors. These tools allow people to discount the most obvious hacks, and use their time on the 1% of most dangerous hacks.
A beowulf cluster full of these!
(Okay, now back to responsible mature posting)