I am in complete agreement. The OEMs used Linux because they were looking for something cheap: their margins on these products is close but not equal to zero. Even the default Xandros repo had far more selection than Asus allowed. If they had chosen Ubuntu as their distro, things would have been exactly the same.
What will make the next generation of computers work is a complete UI redesign -- like the iPad has. Working with a touchscreen is very different from working with a mouse and keyboard as is working with a smaller screen. Most of the UI changes can not be simply retrofitted, so Windows will not deliver for the new generation.
Andoid is a phone OS, it does not have the full-on computer-fu most consumers have come to expect. Apple gets it. Most OEMs do not. We need a Linux distro that does (Ubuntu is not looking in that direction: they're still looking for the year of the Linux desktop).
Blame Asus for using an obscure Linux distro, doing a half-baked job of optimising the key applications for a small screen and then Osbourning it by announcing a new model every five minutes, or blame MS for reviving XP and dumping it on the netbook market at silly prices...
For the consumer, all Linux distros are obscure. The problem was really that Microsoft rereleased XP for these devices, and suddenly everyone expected to be able to install pirated versions of software on them just like they do on all their other Microsoft-based computers (no, Photoshop will not be useable on a 7" screen even of you didn't pay for it or the copy on your home desktop).
The trick with the iPad is it doesn't look like Microsoft Windows. It doesn't act like Microsoft Windows. If it doesn't walk like a duck or quack like a duck, people will not expect to be able to steal Photoshop and run it like, uh, a duck.
You need a TV that complies with the DLNA DMR spec and your computer needs to be a DMP. That's what Windows Media Server is trying to be, and XBox sort of thinks it is. The cost of DLNA certification (to get that sticker on the box) is high enough to keep the free software people out of the business model but there is plenty of uncertified software out there.
My wife has plenty of spinning media. She has two wheels and needs a constant supply of media to spin into yarn. With the loom and plenty of knitting projects on the go, there is never a shortage of demand.
Machines today are fast. Much, much faster than what we need for programs to run. Hell, even games are today produced with sluggish frameworks that waste resources left and right, and they tend to be the programs that are most time-critical an "ordinary" user would get to see.
Machines today can complete infinite loops in less than half the time it took them when I first started programming.
USB is like ice hockey. It's fast, exciting, and sexy. All you need to do is keep your blades sharp, wear the proper protective gear, and hope your Zamboni or ice-making equipment does not break down during international competitions. You also need years of expensive training to play it well. Other than that it's great.
Serial ports are like soccer. All you need is a ball, you can play anywhere, and anyone can play.
Yep, won't be long before we'll be asking when the world will switch over from soccer to ice hockey. Or from serial to USB.
Capitalism is where assets (good and services) are traded in a marketplace (note for Capitalism, it does not need to be an open marketplace, capitalism survives and even thrives in many types of controlled markets E.G. Protectionism).
That's not entirely correct. Captialism is a system in which capital (the means of production) is owned by individuals. Individuals are free to acquire and amass as much captial as possible and to leverage that capital as they see fit, including for their own benefit or to the detriment of others.
Capitalism is orthogonal to a free market economy.
FLOSS is more compatible with a free market economy than closed-source software because it makes the means of production available to everyone and ensures the control of that capital is not concentrated in the hands of a few. It is less compatible with a capitalist economy because it disallows the creation of artificial scarcity as a means to manipulate the free market for personal gain. It is even less compatible with a socialist economy because there is no centralized control of the means of production for the good of all.
The USTR is more compatible with a fascist economy in which an oligarchy of capitalists collude with government to undermine and control the free market.
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I am in complete agreement. The OEMs used Linux because they were looking for something cheap: their margins on these products is close but not equal to zero. Even the default Xandros repo had far more selection than Asus allowed. If they had chosen Ubuntu as their distro, things would have been exactly the same.
What will make the next generation of computers work is a complete UI redesign -- like the iPad has. Working with a touchscreen is very different from working with a mouse and keyboard as is working with a smaller screen. Most of the UI changes can not be simply retrofitted, so Windows will not deliver for the new generation.
Andoid is a phone OS, it does not have the full-on computer-fu most consumers have come to expect. Apple gets it. Most OEMs do not. We need a Linux distro that does (Ubuntu is not looking in that direction: they're still looking for the year of the Linux desktop).
Full disclosure: I'm a Xandros employee.
Blame Asus for using an obscure Linux distro, doing a half-baked job of optimising the key applications for a small screen and then Osbourning it by announcing a new model every five minutes, or blame MS for reviving XP and dumping it on the netbook market at silly prices...
For the consumer, all Linux distros are obscure. The problem was really that Microsoft rereleased XP for these devices, and suddenly everyone expected to be able to install pirated versions of software on them just like they do on all their other Microsoft-based computers (no, Photoshop will not be useable on a 7" screen even of you didn't pay for it or the copy on your home desktop). The trick with the iPad is it doesn't look like Microsoft Windows. It doesn't act like Microsoft Windows. If it doesn't walk like a duck or quack like a duck, people will not expect to be able to steal Photoshop and run it like, uh, a duck.
You need a TV that complies with the DLNA DMR spec and your computer needs to be a DMP. That's what Windows Media Server is trying to be, and XBox sort of thinks it is. The cost of DLNA certification (to get that sticker on the box) is high enough to keep the free software people out of the business model but there is plenty of uncertified software out there.
My wife has plenty of spinning media. She has two wheels and needs a constant supply of media to spin into yarn. With the loom and plenty of knitting projects on the go, there is never a shortage of demand.
Machines today are fast. Much, much faster than what we need for programs to run. Hell, even games are today produced with sluggish frameworks that waste resources left and right, and they tend to be the programs that are most time-critical an "ordinary" user would get to see.
Machines today can complete infinite loops in less than half the time it took them when I first started programming.
So it goes.
Flat and skunky?
USB is like ice hockey. It's fast, exciting, and sexy. All you need to do is keep your blades sharp, wear the proper protective gear, and hope your Zamboni or ice-making equipment does not break down during international competitions. You also need years of expensive training to play it well. Other than that it's great.
Serial ports are like soccer. All you need is a ball, you can play anywhere, and anyone can play.
Yep, won't be long before we'll be asking when the world will switch over from soccer to ice hockey. Or from serial to USB.
Capitalism is where assets (good and services) are traded in a marketplace (note for Capitalism, it does not need to be an open marketplace, capitalism survives and even thrives in many types of controlled markets E.G. Protectionism).
That's not entirely correct. Captialism is a system in which capital (the means of production) is owned by individuals. Individuals are free to acquire and amass as much captial as possible and to leverage that capital as they see fit, including for their own benefit or to the detriment of others.
Capitalism is orthogonal to a free market economy.
FLOSS is more compatible with a free market economy than closed-source software because it makes the means of production available to everyone and ensures the control of that capital is not concentrated in the hands of a few. It is less compatible with a capitalist economy because it disallows the creation of artificial scarcity as a means to manipulate the free market for personal gain. It is even less compatible with a socialist economy because there is no centralized control of the means of production for the good of all.
The USTR is more compatible with a fascist economy in which an oligarchy of capitalists collude with government to undermine and control the free market.