As a recent convert myself, the lack of a straightforward tutorial on the whole bloody system was the most frustrating thing. Luckily, I had bought a shrink-wrap version of Mandrake, and the manual that was included did help to a great extent. Things like WINE and just setting up a printer are rather glossed over, though. The store bought "idiots guides" are really no good, as they never address the differences in KDE, KDE2, GNOME..ect... You can make all the newbie references you want, but until someone puts out more comprehensive and easier to find, more understandable documentation, don't expect the rest of the world to jump on Linux.
Sadly, we are at the dawn of a new arms race. Rumor is that Sadam's PS2 hording is a tacticle response to France's recently anounced "Nintendo Beowoulf cluster", capable of surendering over 1,000,000 times a second, in full 16 bit color.
"How I hated Unix back in the '70s -- that devilish accumulator of data trash, obscurer of function, enemy of the user,"
Think he's a little angry? I agree that most software production sucks. always has, and the future isn't looking too bright either. I'ts all because it's writen by people, not machines. People make mistakes. I can't remember the last time I was able to install a program without having to screw around with it in some way. between crashing, unreliability and the anoying habbit of breaking other software on my systems, I usualy spend more time fixing problems with these packages than actualy using them.
It sucks ass. Here I sit, all day. Every page I go to I am constantly bombarded by popup and banner adds. It's getting increasingly hard to find any real content through the slogging mess of commercials on the web, and in real life. In Milwaukee, they are painting entire busses with advertisements. A browser that is littered with MORE advertisements is probly the last thing I want. I'll take IE.
"concerning the eventual fragmentation of linux into non-compatible vendor-specific linuces"
Oh, lets see here... DOS (6 versions) Windows3.1, Windows 95 (3 versions), Windows NT (two versions, I won't even go into the service packs.), Windows ME, Windows 2000, Whistler.......
It seems fragmentation hasn't hurt some OS's marketability. Shure some of these versions are compatable on the same machine, but there is usualy a fair amount of screwing around that has to go on.
The only way to get someone to chose your software over a free alternative is to offer something that is not available, yet needed, and somehow prevent someone else from doing the same thing for free. This may be the one pitfall to the entire open source movement and any companies looking to make a profit off of it. IE: anything you produce, someone else will release for free and put you out of buisness. can you say Netscape?
The corp I work for has been running Lotus Notes for 5 years now. We have just signed an enterprise agreement with MS that gives us site wide OS and mail licences, so, of course, they are looking into migrating everything to Exchange I feel your pain. In your case it seems far more practicle just to install outlook on the desktop, leave the backend in place for now. The easiest and most efective way to get this accross is to figure out how much in terms of man hours, upgrades and new hardware the transition will take, convert that to dollars, and see if they want to pay for it. I know around here, most of the stupider ideas have bee squashed using this method. If they still want to go ahead with it, add in a raise for yourself. good luck
Lack of Productivity Software. (Yes, I like Word and Outlook).
Lack of Fonts.
Lack of. Popular games.
Lack of Drive support.
And no easy way of doing things.
Try the new Linux Mandrake. First time I was able to imidiately use Linux out of the box and get something done. Office suite in KDE2 is MS compatable, networking is a no brainer and e-mail is just as good as always. Fonts?? big deal, they have plenty. Drive support? Like what???? they support everything I use and can think of.... Easy? KDE2 is very Windows like, so of course any idiot can use it.
I always thought it was a little strange that a graphics company tries to jump into the desktop OS market. It's way outside their core competency and not in line with their other product offerings, just to throw in a few corporate buzwords. Their marketing department certainly dosen't seem up to it. It's nice to see major old school (for the computer industry andyway..) companies supporting Linux, but it realy should be someone with a little OS experiance.
Re:Rich? Give me a friggin break
on
Hacking The City
·
· Score: 2
none of wich tells me why you can't get a decent job to support yourself. Grow up. EVERYONE has dealt with these issues and is better for learning how. Stop bitching and blaming government, schools, your parents and the phases of the moon, and figure out a way to achieve your goals instead of looking like an imature jerk in front of people that already have. complaining won't help, doing something will.
Re:Rich? Give me a friggin break
on
Hacking The City
·
· Score: 2
"I'm on the arse end side of the poverty line, yet I spend EVERY last cent I have on getting
ahead in this world, and I have been doing so since i was five years old
Have you concidered getting out of the house once in a while?? are you retaining anything you read?? do you know what a girl is?? If you are reading that much, you should have been able to pick up a much better job by now. Don't give us any crap about no oportunities, its probly lack of motivation and spending all your time reading books instead of looing for work. Take a break for a few days/week and get outside. Talk to some people in person. Schmooze. Get some sun. You'll be dead before your a sucess otherwise.
Re:Rich? Give me a friggin break
on
Hacking The City
·
· Score: 2
Hear hear, I'll agree with that. I was mostly responding to his violent rhetoric. I have managed to pick up most of my material at the half-price book re-sellers. Full MCSE set $45.. C++ Bible, $15.... It's all there if you look for it. $100 a month for a highschool kid?? a university I could see.........
Re:Rich? Give me a friggin break
on
Hacking The City
·
· Score: 2
Relax. Calm down. The world's not out to get you. And you might want to stop hating people with money before you turn into one of them, because otherwise you're going to air-condition your skull before you turn 30.
lovely turn of phrase. Com2kid is obviously VERY tense about something. I wonder how old he is, and what kind of education? The only time I see that kind of rhetoric is skinhead groups and elections.
Slashdot Mirror
"What about promiscuous mode devices within range of transmitters, or satellite communications?"
Sounds like my last experiance at a bar........
As a recent convert myself, the lack of a straightforward tutorial on the whole bloody system was the most frustrating thing. Luckily, I had bought a shrink-wrap version of Mandrake, and the manual that was included did help to a great extent. Things like WINE and just setting up a printer are rather glossed over, though. The store bought "idiots guides" are really no good, as they never address the differences in KDE, KDE2, GNOME..ect...
You can make all the newbie references you want, but until someone puts out more comprehensive and easier to find, more understandable documentation, don't expect the rest of the world to jump on Linux.
I would try blinking once in a while......
It's actually a right-wing advocacy site.
I actualy advocate both wings. Otherwise your just flying in a circle. OK, that was dumb.......
Sadly, we are at the dawn of a new arms race. Rumor is that Sadam's PS2 hording is a tacticle response to France's recently anounced "Nintendo Beowoulf cluster", capable of surendering over 1,000,000 times a second, in full 16 bit color.
The problem here is the fact that a weird OS like Linux is effectively bringing the Unix-world back like a plague that won't be exterminated.
*giggle* 'snort' heheI... BAAAAAAAAhahahahahahah 'snof' hehhe.. What, um.. makes you think it ever disapeared?
"How I hated Unix back in the '70s -- that devilish accumulator of data trash, obscurer of function, enemy of the user,"
Think he's a little angry? I agree that most software production sucks. always has, and the future isn't looking too bright either. I'ts all because it's writen by people, not machines. People make mistakes. I can't remember the last time I was able to install a program without having to screw around with it in some way. between crashing, unreliability and the anoying habbit of breaking other software on my systems, I usualy spend more time fixing problems with these packages than actualy using them.
hmmm.. free IE vs. have-to-pay-for-it Opera. tough choice, but I have better things to spend the thirty bucks on.
It sucks ass. Here I sit, all day. Every page I go to I am constantly bombarded by popup and banner adds. It's getting increasingly hard to find any real content through the slogging mess of commercials on the web, and in real life. In Milwaukee, they are painting entire busses with advertisements. A browser that is littered with MORE advertisements is probly the last thing I want. I'll take IE.
Everything you ever read in Dilbert is true, true, true.................
Dennis Ritchie, Unix guy, C author, and Plan 9[?] proponent.
Great, cheap sets, dentists for monsters, cardboard headstones and rubber octopuses (octopi?) That's all I need.........
"concerning the eventual fragmentation of linux into non-compatible vendor-specific linuces"
Oh, lets see here... DOS (6 versions) Windows3.1, Windows 95 (3 versions), Windows NT (two versions, I won't even go into the service packs.), Windows ME, Windows 2000, Whistler.......
It seems fragmentation hasn't hurt some OS's marketability. Shure some of these versions are compatable on the same machine, but there is usualy a fair amount of screwing around that has to go on.
Link has been /.ed, what the hell is a turing machine?
The only way to get someone to chose your software over a free alternative is to offer something that is not available, yet needed, and somehow prevent someone else from doing the same thing for free. This may be the one pitfall to the entire open source movement and any companies looking to make a profit off of it. IE: anything you produce, someone else will release for free and put you out of buisness. can you say Netscape?
Is there a freeware alternative? Gimp is great as a Photoshop replacement, but what about Framemaker?
True, but the health risks are what seem to get the most perss. It just seems like a scare tactic by the ani-genetics crowd.
this one with a head mounted display
Great, one more reason to run randomly around the house slamming into walls.
There has been a lot of uproar about Geneticaly modified foods, has anyone actualy seen any harm from this yet? Medicaly I mean?
The corp I work for has been running Lotus Notes for 5 years now. We have just signed an enterprise agreement with MS that gives us site wide OS and mail licences, so, of course, they are looking into migrating everything to Exchange I feel your pain. In your case it seems far more practicle just to install outlook on the desktop, leave the backend in place for now. The easiest and most efective way to get this accross is to figure out how much in terms of man hours, upgrades and new hardware the transition will take, convert that to dollars, and see if they want to pay for it. I know around here, most of the stupider ideas have bee squashed using this method. If they still want to go ahead with it, add in a raise for yourself. good luck
Lack of Productivity Software. (Yes, I like Word and Outlook).
Lack of Fonts.
Lack of. Popular games.
Lack of Drive support.
And no easy way of doing things.
Try the new Linux Mandrake. First time I was able to imidiately use Linux out of the box and get something done. Office suite in KDE2 is MS compatable, networking is a no brainer and e-mail is just as good as always. Fonts?? big deal, they have plenty. Drive support? Like what???? they support everything I use and can think of.... Easy? KDE2 is very Windows like, so of course any idiot can use it.
I always thought it was a little strange that a graphics company tries to jump into the desktop OS market. It's way outside their core competency and not in line with their other product offerings, just to throw in a few corporate buzwords. Their marketing department certainly dosen't seem up to it. It's nice to see major old school (for the computer industry andyway..) companies supporting Linux, but it realy should be someone with a little OS experiance.
none of wich tells me why you can't get a decent job to support yourself. Grow up. EVERYONE has dealt with these issues and is better for learning how. Stop bitching and blaming government, schools, your parents and the phases of the moon, and figure out a way to achieve your goals instead of looking like an imature jerk in front of people that already have. complaining won't help, doing something will.
"I'm on the arse end side of the poverty line, yet I spend EVERY last cent I have on getting ahead in this world, and I have been doing so since i was five years old
Have you concidered getting out of the house once in a while?? are you retaining anything you read?? do you know what a girl is?? If you are reading that much, you should have been able to pick up a much better job by now. Don't give us any crap about no oportunities, its probly lack of motivation and spending all your time reading books instead of looing for work. Take a break for a few days/week and get outside. Talk to some people in person. Schmooze. Get some sun. You'll be dead before your a sucess otherwise.
Hear hear, I'll agree with that. I was mostly responding to his violent rhetoric. I have managed to pick up most of my material at the half-price book re-sellers. Full MCSE set $45.. C++ Bible, $15.... It's all there if you look for it. $100 a month for a highschool kid?? a university I could see.........
Relax. Calm down. The world's not out to get you. And you might want to stop hating people with money before you turn into one of them, because otherwise you're going to air-condition your skull before you turn 30.
lovely turn of phrase. Com2kid is obviously VERY tense about something. I wonder how old he is, and what kind of education? The only time I see that kind of rhetoric is skinhead groups and elections.