It's the marketshare / mindshare that they're after.
Exactly. They 0wn the desktop market at about 90-95%. Of course, about 90-99% of games are for Windows, and a vast majority of those games are written in Microsoft's DirectX. Microsoft is using the developers' familiarity with their systems to get them to port their games to the XBox, handhelds, and smartphones where MSFT does not yet have a monopoly.
This will likely bring an influx of games for XBox and the handhelds from Windows game companies and individuals, which will help push the application market towards Microsoft dominance.
Users will select the Microsoft platforms since their favorite games (and an ever-increasing portion of games) can be ported to the platforms with relative ease, increasing Microsoft's purchased-systems marketshare.
Of course, with more and more systems purchased, more and more apps will be developed for the Microsoft platforms, and we have the same conditions we have on the Microsoft desktop: apps are written for Windows because people use Windows because the apps are for Windows.
If similar "cross-platform" systems are developed for other userspace applications, similar cycles will follow and the monopolization process will be greatly accelerated. (.NET is such a system)
End result if the above is correct: Microsoft PDA, smartphone, and game console/media center monopolies just like their desktop monopoly.
Stop developing the latest/greatest KDE, and start working on fixing these areas. Once fixed (and idiot proofed), you will have a distro that costs $50 instead of $39, but the added cost will be worth it.
Rest assured they're both being worked on concurrently. They actually play off each other. While it currently works (imho), it can be much better and is being developed to be much better.
How this is anti-competitive, I do not know. Users have choices still. How this is abuse, I do not see.
Let me outline the steps:
Obtain 95% of the desktop operating systems market.
Make a media player that's good enough that most people like it okay.
Now make this an "essential part" of your operating system, such that it cannot truly be removed, and all OEMs must not hide its existance.
Now, because it's part of the OS and Good Enough,
Users will begin to use it over other players because it's Good Enough and already there (versus downloading and especially buying another).
3rd party vendors (applicable software and hardware vendors) will begin to write their applications towards your media player components, because it's installed on 95% of the desktops out there.
Now, as more users use the player and more software and hardware requires it, more video streamers will support the format.
Resources at streaming and 3rd party sw/hw companies is finite. As popularity in Media Player grows and popularity of other players shrinks (again, because MP is Good Enough and you have to download and/or buy the others), the streamers and vendors will increase their use of MP and decrease their use of competing players.
As the MP formats' use begin to rise and more and more software requires MP, more and more people use it.
Lather, rinse, and repeat until competition is decimated.
I guess throwing money at a vendor and praying that someday it actually works is one way to buy hardware..... but it isn't the one I use. I'm a bit more of a hardass, I expect to be able to get it up and into production with a minimum of bother.
Indeed. It was more along the lines of finding the local minimum of evil.:) I could either choose Intel, which had made rumblings about a Linux native driver, or Broadcom, which TMK hadn't even released rumors. Those are the options Dell gave me, having tried and failed to get a laptop meeting my specs from at least 3-4 other vendors.
You see, we actually USE linux where I work, it isn't something I'm playing with at home.
Well, I actually USE linux too (sorry; your posting got my dander up). Not just at home, but everywhere, and I try to encourage its uptake and use wherever and whenever I can (actually, I have developed a reputation for being quite the Linux Zealot).
I have three licenses for Windows, one from before I used Linux ('98 or so), one from my old laptop, and one from my new laptop, since I couldn't get what I wanted from a Linux vendor (I tried QLI, and things were really really bad with them). I finally tried the mainstream vendors and fared little better. It truly sucks to try and be picky about what you're buying if you want linux too.
Of those three licenses, zero are installed. OTOH, I currently have 7 computers running. They all run Linux. At work, we have a Beowulf cluster of Linux boxen.
BTW, who do you recommend for purchasing Linux laptops? Whever I'm in the market for one again, I'm gonna make another go of it. It's so frustrating....
That said, I hope to have some stuff released soon which will aid linux on laptops greatly (IMHO; software only, I'm afraid; not much help on the vendor front). You may be interested in it--look for the Vilsack Governor and Absolute Power. (CPU governor and corresponding gnome applet). After that will be profiles, so that I can stop dinking with scripts and put a nice shiny gui interface on a solid backend system. I'll try to hook it into D-BUS, so that others can extend off of it.
So, conclusion: I'm trying to support Linux how I can with my dollars, with my community-building efforts, and with my computer skills. I use linux every day exclusively; I am not merely toying around with it, as you seemed to imply with your choice of capitalization.
I loves my Cisco AIR-352PCM. It's truly a beautiful card.
That said, the cisco builtin wasn't an option on my laptop (dell inspiron 8600). I went with the one that had the highest probability of giving me a GPLed driver.
Thank goodness Intel finally is getting around to releasing something; I was getting really, really hacked off.
ATI provides information to the X hackers for older cards. Interestingly enough, recent older cards (Radeon 7400? 7500? Somewhere in there) with Free drivers outperform more recent ATI cards with ATI binary drivers, IIRC.
OTOH, NVidia doesn't release any specs, and their cards perform danged fast under Linux.
Re:The only Real software I have use for...
on
Real's Reality
·
· Score: 1
After having seen how things are dealt with in here, I assume that it's because it's the European Union, not the United States of America. Were this the latter, it'd be Front Page News. EU is not evil by definition whereas the USA is, so there ya go. </mode>
OpenOffice isn't an 'open standard' any more than Microsoft's product.
False. The OOo formats are in progress as a standard for Office documents via the OASIS standards body. I, for one, hope that it goes through and that the other Office suites pick up the format as well, for excellent interop between the different Free suites.
But you're just as trapped into using OpenOffice to view and edit your work as you are trapped into using Office, if you save your work in the native format.
False. The format implementations (i.e. source code) are Open, so competing office suites (e.g. KOffice, Gnome Office, Siag, etc.) are free to either use the code, or have a special team work on creating documentation for a cleanroom re-implementation.
Contrast this with Microsoft Office, where the files must be painstakingly reverse-engineered, using a hex-editor and minute changes to the file.
As one who exclusively uses Linux, you may be able to watch these movies and clips, but I cannot (not always; mplayer has the ability to use win32 codecs, but it's not 100%).
The tech itself might well be good, but if it's not available to the general public, it's not so good (IMHO). If MSFT provides the codec royalty-free and in such a way that FOSS players can use it, I'm 100% for it (well, mostly; I think there may be other formats out there that are better, but which lack the exposure); I just fear that this will not be the case, and that we Linux (along with many other OSes) will be left in the cold solely because we don't use a majority platform.
Or worse, sued and/or jailed for no reason other than that we had to reverse-engineer the specs in order to play our legally purchased HD-DVDs on our platform.
No one is forced to used WMV 9, they can still use MPEG-2.
Concentrating only on users (i.e. neglecting HD-DVD player producers), if every man were an island unto himself, then yes.
Vendors, of course, will have to pay royalties to MSFT if they want to be able to claim to support the standard (which will be important).
Unfortunately, we're not islands. We don't produce all of the movies we watch ourselves, so we're not free to choose the format. If MSFT's format doesn't see widespread use, then it's not a big deal. If the format becomes the major format for future DVD movies, then there's no way of going around it short of not watching HD-DVD. And while one can vote with one's wallet, that only has a certain scope. I.e. if the general masses don't care enough, there's not much you can do about it, aside from throwing your gnat's weight into it.
Personally, given how the current Western corporations are all about screwing the end user (Palladium/NGSCB, DRM at every turn, LaGrande, DVD-CSS, and its followup), I see a huge market for Asia to snag. And I, for one, will cheer them on if they let me do what I want with the movies I purchase. I bought the music/movies; I'm not stealing them or helping others steal them; they have no right to abridge my use of it.
it refers to software for which the intellectual property rights (copyright and so forth) have been deliberately weakened
Incorrect.
While the purposes you outlined are correct, nothing was weakened. It's a use of the existing copyright system to ensure that the end-user is given the same freedoms (and restrictions) given the re-distributors. Those freedoms are the right to read the source, make modifications, and pass the code + modifications on to others.
Regarding patents: both OSS and FS allow patents to be filed. The difference is that FS requires the patent owner to license the patent for free and without much restriction (IIRC) to the end user, such that the end user's freedom to re-distribute and modify are not restrcited.
The software comes with source code. People and businesses are allowed to re-sell and re-distribute it.
The redistributors/resellers must ensure that the software's source code be free for the users to obtain (subject to recovering media and shipping costs) and read. This includes any modifications to the software.
The end usersmust be given the same freedoms and conditions by the distributor as the distributor was given by the original author (e.g. must be given the source code + modifications, must be allowed to re-distribute and modify)
Synopsis: All end users must be allowed to be resellers/redistributors and developers, including of redistributed or modified versions.
Open Source
The software comes with source code. People and businesses are allowed to re-sell and re-distribute it.
The redistributors/resellers may make the software's source code available, or they may keep it closed. The same with modifications.
The end usersmay be prohibited by the redistributor from taking the same freedoms given the redistributor by the original programmer (e.g. the end users might or might not get source, might or might not be allowed to modify or re-distribute)
Synopsis: End users may or may not be allowed to be resellers and/or redistributors and/or developers, including of redistributed or modified versions.
I forgot to add: I don't know enough about Mandrake, but I don't expect you have to pay for OS updates either. I know you don't have to pay for the OS, so I'd suspect they won't charge you for the updates, either.
As is expected, OS updates are free, at least for Red Hat and Solaris. You can pay more and be first in the queue, along with other perks (at least, with RHN).
RHN is free, even if you didn't pay for the OS. You can pay extra for extra RHN features (web-based admin, patch tracking, etc.) and to be guaranteed access to patches even if the free servers are too loaded.
Solaris has a URL you can download patches from. It's free too.
The stock linux kernels support it already. Not sure if the 64-bit distro versions have it turned on by default (don't have the hardware to use it on).
younger generations of Germans should not be held responsible for what their grandparents might have done...no more than younger citizens of the US should be held responsible for slavery, or that Jews should be held responsible for the death of christ.
Extremely true. One should remember the past in both cases, and strive to avoid repeating it. It also should be noted that nationalism is currently a rising problem in Germany, esp. in the East, so the parent is somewhat correct.
Slashdot Mirror
Exactly. They 0wn the desktop market at about 90-95%. Of course, about 90-99% of games are for Windows, and a vast majority of those games are written in Microsoft's DirectX. Microsoft is using the developers' familiarity with their systems to get them to port their games to the XBox, handhelds, and smartphones where MSFT does not yet have a monopoly.
This will likely bring an influx of games for XBox and the handhelds from Windows game companies and individuals, which will help push the application market towards Microsoft dominance.
Users will select the Microsoft platforms since their favorite games (and an ever-increasing portion of games) can be ported to the platforms with relative ease, increasing Microsoft's purchased-systems marketshare.
Of course, with more and more systems purchased, more and more apps will be developed for the Microsoft platforms, and we have the same conditions we have on the Microsoft desktop: apps are written for Windows because people use Windows because the apps are for Windows.
If similar "cross-platform" systems are developed for other userspace applications, similar cycles will follow and the monopolization process will be greatly accelerated. (.NET is such a system)
End result if the above is correct: Microsoft PDA, smartphone, and game console/media center monopolies just like their desktop monopoly.
Rest assured they're both being worked on concurrently. They actually play off each other. While it currently works (imho), it can be much better and is being developed to be much better.
Yes. I just installed Fedora Core 1 off of a DVD+RW. Just stuck it in and booted.
Indeed. It was more along the lines of finding the local minimum of evil.
Well, I actually USE linux too (sorry; your posting got my dander up). Not just at home, but everywhere, and I try to encourage its uptake and use wherever and whenever I can (actually, I have developed a reputation for being quite the Linux Zealot).
I have three licenses for Windows, one from before I used Linux ('98 or so), one from my old laptop, and one from my new laptop, since I couldn't get what I wanted from a Linux vendor (I tried QLI, and things were really really bad with them). I finally tried the mainstream vendors and fared little better. It truly sucks to try and be picky about what you're buying if you want linux too.
Of those three licenses, zero are installed. OTOH, I currently have 7 computers running. They all run Linux. At work, we have a Beowulf cluster of Linux boxen.
BTW, who do you recommend for purchasing Linux laptops? Whever I'm in the market for one again, I'm gonna make another go of it. It's so frustrating....
That said, I hope to have some stuff released soon which will aid linux on laptops greatly (IMHO; software only, I'm afraid; not much help on the vendor front). You may be interested in it--look for the Vilsack Governor and Absolute Power. (CPU governor and corresponding gnome applet). After that will be profiles, so that I can stop dinking with scripts and put a nice shiny gui interface on a solid backend system. I'll try to hook it into D-BUS, so that others can extend off of it.
So, conclusion:
I'm trying to support Linux how I can with my dollars, with my community-building efforts, and with my computer skills. I use linux every day exclusively; I am not merely toying around with it, as you seemed to imply with your choice of capitalization.
I loves my Cisco AIR-352PCM. It's truly a beautiful card.
That said, the cisco builtin wasn't an option on my laptop (dell inspiron 8600). I went with the one that had the highest probability of giving me a GPLed driver.
Thank goodness Intel finally is getting around to releasing something; I was getting really, really hacked off.
No, but thanks for trying.
ATI provides information to the X hackers for older cards. Interestingly enough, recent older cards (Radeon 7400? 7500? Somewhere in there) with Free drivers outperform more recent ATI cards with ATI binary drivers, IIRC.
OTOH, NVidia doesn't release any specs, and their cards perform danged fast under Linux.
Heh.
;)
That about sums up my experience with Windows.
XP Home almost booted up once....
I find gxine works really well. I even enjoy the stations it lists. :)
After having seen how things are dealt with in here, I assume that it's because it's the European Union, not the United States of America. Were this the latter, it'd be Front Page News. EU is not evil by definition whereas the USA is, so there ya go.
</mode>
You talking about the little-used, patent-encumbered XML-based file format with the potentially restrictive EULA?
I meant hardware, not movies. Though if I can understand it, like it, and it's affordable, why not? :)
False. The OOo formats are in progress as a standard for Office documents via the OASIS standards body. I, for one, hope that it goes through and that the other Office suites pick up the format as well, for excellent interop between the different Free suites.
False. The format implementations (i.e. source code) are Open, so competing office suites (e.g. KOffice, Gnome Office, Siag, etc.) are free to either use the code, or have a special team work on creating documentation for a cleanroom re-implementation.
Contrast this with Microsoft Office, where the files must be painstakingly reverse-engineered, using a hex-editor and minute changes to the file.
As one who exclusively uses Linux, you may be able to watch these movies and clips, but I cannot (not always; mplayer has the ability to use win32 codecs, but it's not 100%).
The tech itself might well be good, but if it's not available to the general public, it's not so good (IMHO). If MSFT provides the codec royalty-free and in such a way that FOSS players can use it, I'm 100% for it (well, mostly; I think there may be other formats out there that are better, but which lack the exposure); I just fear that this will not be the case, and that we Linux (along with many other OSes) will be left in the cold solely because we don't use a majority platform.
Or worse, sued and/or jailed for no reason other than that we had to reverse-engineer the specs in order to play our legally purchased HD-DVDs on our platform.
Concentrating only on users (i.e. neglecting HD-DVD player producers), if every man were an island unto himself, then yes.
Vendors, of course, will have to pay royalties to MSFT if they want to be able to claim to support the standard (which will be important).
Unfortunately, we're not islands. We don't produce all of the movies we watch ourselves, so we're not free to choose the format. If MSFT's format doesn't see widespread use, then it's not a big deal. If the format becomes the major format for future DVD movies, then there's no way of going around it short of not watching HD-DVD. And while one can vote with one's wallet, that only has a certain scope. I.e. if the general masses don't care enough, there's not much you can do about it, aside from throwing your gnat's weight into it.
Personally, given how the current Western corporations are all about screwing the end user (Palladium/NGSCB, DRM at every turn, LaGrande, DVD-CSS, and its followup), I see a huge market for Asia to snag. And I, for one, will cheer them on if they let me do what I want with the movies I purchase. I bought the music/movies; I'm not stealing them or helping others steal them; they have no right to abridge my use of it.
restricted
:)
Dag nabbit.
Incorrect.
While the purposes you outlined are correct, nothing was weakened. It's a use of the existing copyright system to ensure that the end-user is given the same freedoms (and restrictions) given the re-distributors. Those freedoms are the right to read the source, make modifications, and pass the code + modifications on to others.
Regarding patents: both OSS and FS allow patents to be filed. The difference is that FS requires the patent owner to license the patent for free and without much restriction (IIRC) to the end user, such that the end user's freedom to re-distribute and modify are not restrcited.
The software comes with source code. People and businesses are allowed to re-sell and re-distribute it.
The redistributors/resellers must ensure that the software's source code be free for the users to obtain (subject to recovering media and shipping costs) and read. This includes any modifications to the software.
The end users must be given the same freedoms and conditions by the distributor as the distributor was given by the original author (e.g. must be given the source code + modifications, must be allowed to re-distribute and modify)
Synopsis: All end users must be allowed to be resellers/redistributors and developers, including of redistributed or modified versions.
Open SourceThe software comes with source code. People and businesses are allowed to re-sell and re-distribute it.
The redistributors/resellers may make the software's source code available, or they may keep it closed. The same with modifications.
The end users may be prohibited by the redistributor from taking the same freedoms given the redistributor by the original programmer (e.g. the end users might or might not get source, might or might not be allowed to modify or re-distribute)
Synopsis: End users may or may not be allowed to be resellers and/or redistributors and/or developers, including of redistributed or modified versions.
Ah. RHEL. Is different than RH8 and RH9, which I was referring to.
I forgot to add: I don't know enough about Mandrake, but I don't expect you have to pay for OS updates either. I know you don't have to pay for the OS, so I'd suspect they won't charge you for the updates, either.
Close, but no cigar.
As is expected, OS updates are free, at least for Red Hat and Solaris. You can pay more and be first in the queue, along with other perks (at least, with RHN).
RHN is free, even if you didn't pay for the OS . You can pay extra for extra RHN features (web-based admin, patch tracking, etc.) and to be guaranteed access to patches even if the free servers are too loaded.
Solaris has a URL you can download patches from. It's free too.
The stock linux kernels support it already. Not sure if the 64-bit distro versions have it turned on by default (don't have the hardware to use it on).
IIRC, Gnumeric doesn't do PivotTables(Excel)/DataPilot(OOo/SO). And the pie charts don't have labels (yet; being actively worked on).
That said, it's great for 90% of what people want to do, and it gets the answers right.
FWIW, StarOffice/OpenOffice has StarBASIC, which is very similar to VBA.
Gnumeric is scriptable with Python.
Extremely true. One should remember the past in both cases, and strive to avoid repeating it. It also should be noted that nationalism is currently a rising problem in Germany, esp. in the East, so the parent is somewhat correct.