The dutch law is very clear about this. Under dutch law it's completely legal to download stuff from the internet. This is mostly due to the fact people will download anyway. They put a special tax on empty cd's and dvd's to compensate the loss of income. (and yes, the compact cassette had a same tax)
Also, under the same dutch law, it's illegal to offer copyrighted materials for download...
I for one would be very interested to see what the judges think of this kind of setup. Would it stand up in dutch court or would the US law be enforced. (Ah well, as long as the US think they can evade international laws... who cares about the US laws.;) )
I completely agree, but the choice was between cameras being there which causes extra accidents (altho indirect, via morons who brake) and just registering more accidents.
a) cameras deliberately/ randomly cause accidents
b) more accidents are reported/ detected when there are cameras present.
Which do you think is the more probable?
When I look at the general behaviour overhere (The Netherlands) to cameras, a) without a doubt. (they just hit the brakes to prevent a ticket, without taking the rest of the traffic into account) It wouldn't supprise me one tiny bit when they would react the same to observation camera's, when they would pop-up as massively overhere as in the UK. (we're going there fast, The Netherlands already have the 3rd worst climate concerning privacy next to the UK (1) and Sweden (2)
They know it was broken, but they also know that Joe public has to use programs to crack CSS to be able to copy the content.
Joe public on the other hand is way to lazy to crack a DVD when they can have it for say $5* or even less. As the companies earn more when they just sell you the file and Joe public won't try to copy for this amount, it's a win-win situation... with the companies as real winner.
They know the public is lazy, they know selling illegal copies is worth-while at this moment... This is the best way for them to solve the problem. The company get some cash instead of none, they save a lot of money from the production and distribution for the DVD's they otherwise would have sold anyway (ie more profit), they limit the profits of people sellling illegal copies and the public gets the movies they want at a slightly higher price. (compared with cracking + copying or buying illegal copies)
Theyre patent is pretty complete, but only filed in 1990. Unfortunately, I think reclaiming breaking energy with an electric motor was thought of, and used much earlier then that.
That doesn't matter in the US patent system. The first one to patent something, has the rights.
The european system is a lot easier. When there is an article or a prototype officially made available before patenting, no patent is gruanted. (as you can't prove you were the person inventing the idea. This system is fair, as it doesn't punish the inventor, when he forgets to file a patent, he just doesn't get anything. (not even a bill from the person patenting it after his invention)
If I'd known these when I tried emacs... My first encounter resulted in opening an extra window and killing emacs...
As I see it there are now 3 mainstreams in behaviour of tools, the stream using vi-like commands, the stream using emacs-like controls and a stream using intuitive controls... I hope the latter will prevail and that I can adept to this way of thinking. (for now, i prefer the vi-like controls)
Ah well, the times are changing... Adept or forget
Why? That's easy. I loved to look at several sites, but now the adds on that site crash firefox on my linux workstation. When you have an add, have it usefull, don't pop-up, don't be annoying and especially, don't crash the browser...
Oh, I now also use the noscript plugin. Together with the adblock I finally can visit sites I couldn't before... It makes visiting the site possible. I personally think that the webmasters should check if adds disable the site, but when they don't, I'll block them and they'll mis revenue.
When the webmasters won't fix the problem, I'll make sure it's not my problem anymore. To bad for them that I will now do whatever I can to block those adds. When done correctly, I don't mind (even on TV the adds are better then the programs, but I almost never watch TV now), when things start to fail, I'll try to find a solution myself. It's found and it stays.
Very true. Until MSIE [linux.lu] properly supports CSS, it's just not ready for the enterprise.
It's widely known that IE messes CSS up big time, but what can you do, without scripting, to create a site that looks correct on IE and the rest of the browsers that understand CSS.
The only way I could think of till now is a index script that checks which browser is used and supply the matching css, but I wouldn't like to maintain 2 style sheets.
Oh, I guess that this is more an ask slashdot topic, so if it's better placed there, be free to move it.
I mean, they can't have both. Either they have un-levied media, and sue copyright infringers. Or the other way around. Having both is getting paid twice for the same supposed loss.
They can have both now. This way the 'normal' copier at home (renting/borrowing a dvd and copying it) pays for the copyright infringement. However, when someone copies DVDs and sells them, they will arrest and fine him. (&euro100 per movie wirc)
The general idea is to tax the smalltime infringers and prosecute the people making money with copying.
It's just the same with the softdrug users. It's illegal to prduce it, buy it as coffeeshop owner, but it's legal to sell it (including VAT) for the shop owner.
Hey, we're dutchies, if it can be taxed, it's legal, if not, it's illegal. (providing it isn't to bad for you)
Remember, we were the people that sold in a war with the spannish cannons to the spannish to buy better cannons ourselves.:-)
The state is looking for ways to get extra income, as the current expenses can't be covered with all the current taxes.
When you sell the stuff with drive bayus the disks will be taxed for the same amount per GB. As the 200 GB disks are now less then €100 this would add €656 to the drive...
You'd think they wouldn't be that stupid, but they already added €1,= tax to a €0.25 DVD+R disc... (resulting in massive imports of DVD+R spindles)
I for one would be happy to see the climate change from making bigger mistates than the americans to making their own mistakes and making up their own mind instead of following the rest of the world wherever the US leads them.
Ah well, if you don't like it here, leave. While looking at the way things are going around here (Yeah, dunglish) it even might come to that.
> "When this can't be achieved by creating superior goods, buy the competition, change laws so your idea of how it should be is legal,..." > --So, capitalism leads to corporations buying the laws and making the system no longer capitalistic in nature?
No... capitalistic systems tend to make the democratic system corrupt.
> You are melding capitalism and democracy into one big generalization. What I think would be great is if there was an establishment clause for businesses rather than just for religions.
Maybe it's just better to keep the business out of the political scene. It doesn't sound right to me when big corporations 'support' politicians and very shortly after election laws are passed to support the needs of the coporations, instead of supporting the masses.
Why should modchips be illegal? To illegelize the use of copied software (which already is illegal), or protect the companies who are stupid enough to sell the console for les sthen the production costs? If someone finds a perfectly legal function for the use of the console (PS2/Xbox/...) without having to buy the software, why shouldn't that person be able to add a modchip to it.
He's still not allowed to copy the software, as it's copyright infringement.
If this law is to prevent people to use the consoles for something usefull, with the producer losing some cash over it... simply make the console more expencive and make the games cheaper. Solve the problem, if there is any, instead of passing laws that don't make sense.
Before you know it you're not allowed to play games on your telephone, just because it's made to make phonecalls, or something stupid like that.
If I buy stuff, I want to be able to choose what to do with it, even if this means adding a chip to it to make it more usefull to me then it was. If I use that chip to do illegal stuff with it, make the usage illegal, not the chip.
Eighter that or make guns illegal too, as you can kill people with them, cars because you can speed,... Don't illegelize the product, illigelize the illegal actions.
> Corporate welfare is pretty ingrained in our heads as being ok at this point though.
Yeah, but this law is protecting the companies from their own stupidity. Not to solve problems of illegal copying games.
Sure they can, just as easy as pattenting stuff the whole world knows how to produce, let you conform to licenses before you're able to read them, invade countries because 'someones says they have weapons' and be very supprised that not everybody think you're right...
It's an imperfect world, with the US leading the way. (being lead by major corporations themselves)
The basic principle of capitalism is making sure you have more money then the others. When this can't be achieved by creating superior goods, buy the competition, change laws so your idea of how it should be is legal,...
I don't say that communism is perfect eather. The idea is great (just look at the Star Trek series, some believe that's a perfect future, even tho it's communistic of nature), but it has one flaw... humans
Oh wait, this is going political... forget it. I have enough cash, so yo capitalism. (with a bit less cash, yo socialism, with no cash, yo communism)
Ah well, that's the world, live in it or get out... Nah... the latter is to messy
It's not that the Linux products don't sell. People don't want to by a Linux product that does something for them. They want a product that solves their problem, they couldn't care less if it's linux based or not.
At my home I have 2 great examples of this, the dreambox sat receiver and a hitecker dvd player. The dreambox is generally known as a linux based sat receiver, but almost no users of the device know anything about linux. It just works (ok, apart from 1 feature that still doesn't) The same goes for the dvd player. Even I didn't know it was linux based, till I started playing something other then dvd's on it. Both are nice products wich solve a problem for people. Ok, it's linux based, but you won't know if you don't care to do anything besides simply use it.
To sell linux based solutions, first make the solution work. People don;t want the hassle to compile the programs, they just want to do their work.
Combine these with red-light checks and anybody who's using the device except emergency vehicles is throwing away his money (more then once due to all the tickets)
Emergency vehicles can get trough the heavy traffic and people abusing the device can compensate for the costs. >-)
And designing things to be thrown away is good practice?
You keep your used toilet paper?;-)
No, but do you read yours? Toilet paper is designed to be thrown away because it's main purpose is to clean you and then be thrown away.
A game is designed to be played and then be played again and when you run out of batteries, replace them. When they have a solution which enables things to be recycled in such a way that the remaining garbage is the same as for a battery (or pref. less) then you can start to design stuff to be thrown away after it's emptied.
I hope it's not going to be a habbit to throw things away just because it's easier for the lazy ones. (or cheaper to produce a new item to be thrown away...)
On the other hand, just bought a dispensible car. (it'll just end up on the scrapyard a few months later)
Being a generalist I found that I can work with any OS (I deny all knowlegde of M$ OS'es), solve any problem they trow at me and I'm able to advise and educate others.
When I'm stuck... wel, it's specialized knowledge that can be found on the web, with suppliers, coworkers, friends,...
It's always nice to know how brand X works, in detail, but what happens when management decides that brand Y is better. I'd prefer to be able to advice them to go for the correct brand for the job, instead of finding myself looking for another job just because they switched to brand Y.
Know what happens in the environment that you work in, never forget to fiddle around a bit while sorting things out, just to get the feeling of the systems you're working on.
Once you know how to drive and maintain a crappy old mini you shouldn't have a problem with that shiny ferrarri they want to buy. (and once you've convinced your boss that a BMW is better you can play with the ferrarri for yourself;-))
Yeah, I'm also a carnut...
Just to summarize, general, in depth knowledge of the design of a computer, an OS, an application is rare, very rare. I guess it's less then 5% of the IT business that know what's going on when they for example send an email. (and I mean know exactly what's going on, including the content of the IP packets) I'm at least not yet one of them, not on that level.
Or was this just because the Y2K and euro 'problem', which 'required' lots of MCSE drones.
I always wondered why the american patent system is so wierd. The european system is so very simple.
You invent, then you patent, then publish. When you first publish or try to patent something that already is commonly used, forget it. It's not your idea, you could have found it anywere, so no patent is granted. Easy, simple and stupid actions like this can be prevented.
BTW the legal system is pretty wierd to... is that why coffee cups state that coffee is hot... Overhere we complain when it's cold, coffee should be hot and a normal thinking person only drinks coffee when it's not to hot. WHen you burn yourself, you're to stupid to drink coffee. (but in america you're smart and start sueing the supplier)
IMHO these rules, in patenting and the law, really prevent the Joe Common to use it's brain... Wait a minit... america is producing the biggest army and will start to invade every country that still doesn't listen... that's it. Keep the people stupid so you can use them...
... and yes, most of th etimes I find de debian distro as being the best or at least just as good as others. As always there are more things to consider then just the quality of the distro.
We now had a couple of customers where we installed several different distros. Our favorite is debian, mainly because of it's apt tool. Nice and easy remote updates whitout the hassle to register for updates or even paying extra to update more then 1 system per account. (like redhat, major drawback IMHO)
However, debian isn't everything. At this moment I'm holding my breath and I hope my workstation doesn't need a reinstall. The potato cd's don't have the 2.4 kernel which I need for the hardware and I haven't taken the time to make my own install cd. (it's about time)
Due to this we have switched to RH at our regular work. (oh, and the fact that IBM support is required and the other 3 distros they support are completely unknown or unwanted here)
The install we did last weekend was RH 7.3. With it's drawbacks it was still the best distro for the environment. We even adviced to have them migrate the mail setup to an NT box, as they only have windows knowledge and we can't give support round the clock for updating the mailsetup. (they had a home-brew virtual pop system)
So when you decide on what distro to install, think of more then just what distro is best. To be honest, there is no perfect distro, only a good one for that specific job. (it's the same as with everything else in the world:-))
BTW if we have the choice and debian is as good as any for the job, we prefer debian. I love the remote update functionality, ever distro should have one. (for free)
Slashdot Mirror
The dutch law is very clear about this. Under dutch law it's completely legal to download stuff from the internet. This is mostly due to the fact people will download anyway. They put a special tax on empty cd's and dvd's to compensate the loss of income. (and yes, the compact cassette had a same tax)
;) )
Also, under the same dutch law, it's illegal to offer copyrighted materials for download...
I for one would be very interested to see what the judges think of this kind of setup. Would it stand up in dutch court or would the US law be enforced. (Ah well, as long as the US think they can evade international laws... who cares about the US laws.
I completely agree, but the choice was between cameras being there which causes extra accidents (altho indirect, via morons who brake) and just registering more accidents.
Which explains either
a) cameras deliberately/ randomly cause accidents
b) more accidents are reported/ detected when there are cameras present.
Which do you think is the more probable?
When I look at the general behaviour overhere (The Netherlands) to cameras, a) without a doubt. (they just hit the brakes to prevent a ticket, without taking the rest of the traffic into account) It wouldn't supprise me one tiny bit when they would react the same to observation camera's, when they would pop-up as massively overhere as in the UK. (we're going there fast, The Netherlands already have the 3rd worst climate concerning privacy next to the UK (1) and Sweden (2)
Does anyone actually use straight-up PDA's anymore?
Yeah, sure, mainly because combined PDA/phones are eighter
- to big to be used as a phone
- to small to be used as a pda
- both
I prefer to keep on using a seperate phone and PDA, altho I must admit the current palms eren't as nifty as the T3 I'm using now.They know it was broken, but they also know that Joe public has to use programs to crack CSS to be able to copy the content.
Joe public on the other hand is way to lazy to crack a DVD when they can have it for say $5* or even less. As the companies earn more when they just sell you the file and Joe public won't try to copy for this amount, it's a win-win situation... with the companies as real winner.
They know the public is lazy, they know selling illegal copies is worth-while at this moment... This is the best way for them to solve the problem. The company get some cash instead of none, they save a lot of money from the production and distribution for the DVD's they otherwise would have sold anyway (ie more profit), they limit the profits of people sellling illegal copies and the public gets the movies they want at a slightly higher price. (compared with cracking + copying or buying illegal copies)
*I don't have prices, it's just an example
Theyre patent is pretty complete, but only filed in 1990.
Unfortunately, I think reclaiming breaking energy with an electric motor was thought of, and used much earlier then that.
That doesn't matter in the US patent system. The first one to patent something, has the rights.
The european system is a lot easier. When there is an article or a prototype officially made available before patenting, no patent is gruanted. (as you can't prove you were the person inventing the idea.
This system is fair, as it doesn't punish the inventor, when he forgets to file a patent, he just doesn't get anything. (not even a bill from the person patenting it after his invention)
If I'd known these when I tried emacs... My first encounter resulted in opening an extra window and killing emacs...
As I see it there are now 3 mainstreams in behaviour of tools, the stream using vi-like commands, the stream using emacs-like controls and a stream using intuitive controls... I hope the latter will prevail and that I can adept to this way of thinking. (for now, i prefer the vi-like controls)
Ah well, the times are changing... Adept or forget
Why? That's easy. I loved to look at several sites, but now the adds on that site crash firefox on my linux workstation. When you have an add, have it usefull, don't pop-up, don't be annoying and especially, don't crash the browser...
Oh, I now also use the noscript plugin. Together with the adblock I finally can visit sites I couldn't before... It makes visiting the site possible. I personally think that the webmasters should check if adds disable the site, but when they don't, I'll block them and they'll mis revenue.
When the webmasters won't fix the problem, I'll make sure it's not my problem anymore. To bad for them that I will now do whatever I can to block those adds. When done correctly, I don't mind (even on TV the adds are better then the programs, but I almost never watch TV now), when things start to fail, I'll try to find a solution myself. It's found and it stays.
Yeh, we know... There is a lot fo talk about privacy with mainly 2 sides:
- Most think it's not bad, as it doesn't hurt you when you don't have something to hide.
- Some think that their private lives should be private.
When you combine these 2 sides you get the good guys and the bad guys... (as those opposed surely will have something to hide...)
*sigh* persons can be smart, but people are like cattle... Time to look for migration targets before we get tagged.
Now I know why most americans are so paranoid...
Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you...
The problem would sort itself out eventually...
...
;-))
Yeah, that'll go over well:
"T-shirt inspector!"
*slap*
"No, really! I am a t-shirt inspector!"
*zap* *sizzle*
I for one would be safe... nobody in their right mind would rip a T-shirt of my chest. (But I sure wouldn't mind if she was very pretty
Very true. Until MSIE [linux.lu] properly supports CSS, it's just not ready for the enterprise.
It's widely known that IE messes CSS up big time, but what can you do, without scripting, to create a site that looks correct on IE and the rest of the browsers that understand CSS.
The only way I could think of till now is a index script that checks which browser is used and supply the matching css, but I wouldn't like to maintain 2 style sheets.
Oh, I guess that this is more an ask slashdot topic, so if it's better placed there, be free to move it.
They can have both now. This way the 'normal' copier at home (renting/borrowing a dvd and copying it) pays for the copyright infringement. However, when someone copies DVDs and sells them, they will arrest and fine him. (&euro100 per movie wirc)
The general idea is to tax the smalltime infringers and prosecute the people making money with copying.
It's just the same with the softdrug users. It's illegal to prduce it, buy it as coffeeshop owner, but it's legal to sell it (including VAT) for the shop owner.
Hey, we're dutchies, if it can be taxed, it's legal, if not, it's illegal. (providing it isn't to bad for you) :-)
Remember, we were the people that sold in a war with the spannish cannons to the spannish to buy better cannons ourselves.
The state is looking for ways to get extra income, as the current expenses can't be covered with all the current taxes.
When you sell the stuff with drive bayus the disks will be taxed for the same amount per GB. As the 200 GB disks are now less then €100 this would add €656 to the drive...
You'd think they wouldn't be that stupid, but they already added €1,= tax to a €0.25 DVD+R disc... (resulting in massive imports of DVD+R spindles)
I for one would be happy to see the climate change from making bigger mistates than the americans to making their own mistakes and making up their own mind instead of following the rest of the world wherever the US leads them.
Ah well, if you don't like it here, leave. While looking at the way things are going around here (Yeah, dunglish) it even might come to that.
Just my €0.02 (with &euro2.00 tax)
> "When this can't be achieved by creating superior goods, buy the competition, change laws so your idea of how it should be is legal,..."
> --So, capitalism leads to corporations buying the laws and making the system no longer capitalistic in nature?
No... capitalistic systems tend to make the democratic system corrupt.
> You are melding capitalism and democracy into one big generalization. What I think would be great is if there was an establishment clause for businesses rather than just for religions.
Maybe it's just better to keep the business out of the political scene. It doesn't sound right to me when big corporations 'support' politicians and very shortly after election laws are passed to support the needs of the coporations, instead of supporting the masses.
Why should modchips be illegal? To illegelize the use of copied software (which already is illegal), or protect the companies who are stupid enough to sell the console for les sthen the production costs? If someone finds a perfectly legal function for the use of the console (PS2/Xbox/...) without having to buy the software, why shouldn't that person be able to add a modchip to it.
He's still not allowed to copy the software, as it's copyright infringement.
If this law is to prevent people to use the consoles for something usefull, with the producer losing some cash over it... simply make the console more expencive and make the games cheaper. Solve the problem, if there is any, instead of passing laws that don't make sense.
Before you know it you're not allowed to play games on your telephone, just because it's made to make phonecalls, or something stupid like that.
If I buy stuff, I want to be able to choose what to do with it, even if this means adding a chip to it to make it more usefull to me then it was. If I use that chip to do illegal stuff with it, make the usage illegal, not the chip.
Eighter that or make guns illegal too, as you can kill people with them, cars because you can speed,... Don't illegelize the product, illigelize the illegal actions.
> Corporate welfare is pretty ingrained in our heads as being ok at this point though.
Yeah, but this law is protecting the companies from their own stupidity. Not to solve problems of illegal copying games.
Sure they can, just as easy as pattenting stuff the whole world knows how to produce, let you conform to licenses before you're able to read them, invade countries because 'someones says they have weapons' and be very supprised that not everybody think you're right...
It's an imperfect world, with the US leading the way. (being lead by major corporations themselves)
The basic principle of capitalism is making sure you have more money then the others. When this can't be achieved by creating superior goods, buy the competition, change laws so your idea of how it should be is legal,...
I don't say that communism is perfect eather. The idea is great (just look at the Star Trek series, some believe that's a perfect future, even tho it's communistic of nature), but it has one flaw... humans
Oh wait, this is going political... forget it. I have enough cash, so yo capitalism. (with a bit less cash, yo socialism, with no cash, yo communism)
Ah well, that's the world, live in it or get out... Nah... the latter is to messy
It's not that the Linux products don't sell. People don't want to by a Linux product that does something for them. They want a product that solves their problem, they couldn't care less if it's linux based or not.
At my home I have 2 great examples of this, the dreambox sat receiver and a hitecker dvd player. The dreambox is generally known as a linux based sat receiver, but almost no users of the device know anything about linux. It just works (ok, apart from 1 feature that still doesn't) The same goes for the dvd player. Even I didn't know it was linux based, till I started playing something other then dvd's on it.
Both are nice products wich solve a problem for people. Ok, it's linux based, but you won't know if you don't care to do anything besides simply use it.
To sell linux based solutions, first make the solution work. People don;t want the hassle to compile the programs, they just want to do their work.
This depends on the amount.
;-))
With my first boss we removed all cabling as the tiles didn't fit anymore. Selling the old cables funded:
- the removal
- replacing all BNC with CAT5 (in 1997)
- a nice party for the company
So it was worth the effort it took. (especially because the effort was limited to 'hey you, remove that junk'
This would indeed be the solution.
Combine these with red-light checks and anybody who's using the device except emergency vehicles is throwing away his money (more then once due to all the tickets)
Emergency vehicles can get trough the heavy traffic and people abusing the device can compensate for the costs. >-)
No I'm not
BTW A house of cards can be a firm fundation to build on. (after it's collaps)
I'm opting for...
F) Eye in the sky
Should take it from the bookshelve and start reading. Only thing I remembered is that they took the other approach to announcing this situation...
And designing things to be thrown away is good practice?
;-)
You keep your used toilet paper?
No, but do you read yours?
Toilet paper is designed to be thrown away because it's main purpose is to clean you and then be thrown away.
A game is designed to be played and then be played again and when you run out of batteries, replace them. When they have a solution which enables things to be recycled in such a way that the remaining garbage is the same as for a battery (or pref. less) then you can start to design stuff to be thrown away after it's emptied.
I hope it's not going to be a habbit to throw things away just because it's easier for the lazy ones. (or cheaper to produce a new item to be thrown away...)
On the other hand, just bought a dispensible car. (it'll just end up on the scrapyard a few months later)
I can only agree with this.
;-))
Being a generalist I found that I can work with any OS (I deny all knowlegde of M$ OS'es), solve any problem they trow at me and I'm able to advise and educate others.
When I'm stuck... wel, it's specialized knowledge that can be found on the web, with suppliers, coworkers, friends,...
It's always nice to know how brand X works, in detail, but what happens when management decides that brand Y is better. I'd prefer to be able to advice them to go for the correct brand for the job, instead of finding myself looking for another job just because they switched to brand Y.
Know what happens in the environment that you work in, never forget to fiddle around a bit while sorting things out, just to get the feeling of the systems you're working on.
Once you know how to drive and maintain a crappy old mini you shouldn't have a problem with that shiny ferrarri they want to buy. (and once you've convinced your boss that a BMW is better you can play with the ferrarri for yourself
Yeah, I'm also a carnut...
Just to summarize, general, in depth knowledge of the design of a computer, an OS, an application is rare, very rare. I guess it's less then 5% of the IT business that know what's going on when they for example send an email. (and I mean know exactly what's going on, including the content of the IP packets) I'm at least not yet one of them, not on that level.
Or was this just because the Y2K and euro 'problem', which 'required' lots of MCSE drones.
... when do pigs fly ...
I always wondered why the american patent system is so wierd. The european system is so very simple.
;-)
You invent, then you patent, then publish. When you first publish or try to patent something that already is commonly used, forget it. It's not your idea, you could have found it anywere, so no patent is granted. Easy, simple and stupid actions like this can be prevented.
BTW the legal system is pretty wierd to... is that why coffee cups state that coffee is hot... Overhere we complain when it's cold, coffee should be hot and a normal thinking person only drinks coffee when it's not to hot. WHen you burn yourself, you're to stupid to drink coffee. (but in america you're smart and start sueing the supplier)
IMHO these rules, in patenting and the law, really prevent the Joe Common to use it's brain... Wait a minit... america is producing the biggest army and will start to invade every country that still doesn't listen... that's it. Keep the people stupid so you can use them...
Be afraid... for hot coffee.
... and yes, most of th etimes I find de debian distro as being the best or at least just as good as others. As always there are more things to consider then just the quality of the distro.
:-))
We now had a couple of customers where we installed several different distros. Our favorite is debian, mainly because of it's apt tool. Nice and easy remote updates whitout the hassle to register for updates or even paying extra to update more then 1 system per account. (like redhat, major drawback IMHO)
However, debian isn't everything. At this moment I'm holding my breath and I hope my workstation doesn't need a reinstall. The potato cd's don't have the 2.4 kernel which I need for the hardware and I haven't taken the time to make my own install cd. (it's about time)
Due to this we have switched to RH at our regular work. (oh, and the fact that IBM support is required and the other 3 distros they support are completely unknown or unwanted here)
The install we did last weekend was RH 7.3. With it's drawbacks it was still the best distro for the environment. We even adviced to have them migrate the mail setup to an NT box, as they only have windows knowledge and we can't give support round the clock for updating the mailsetup. (they had a home-brew virtual pop system)
So when you decide on what distro to install, think of more then just what distro is best. To be honest, there is no perfect distro, only a good one for that specific job. (it's the same as with everything else in the world
BTW if we have the choice and debian is as good as any for the job, we prefer debian. I love the remote update functionality, ever distro should have one. (for free)