Technically you are correct. However some minor points:
1. Most regional or national ISPs (ie FlashNet, Concentric) have their own network that is separate from the Internet. It allows them to have multiple PoP sites and connect them all to central DNS, e-mail and WWW servers. Note that this network is usually connected directly to the Internet without firewalls, but it is still a separate network.
2. Virtually all of AOL's content since AOL 3.0 has been in HTML with some AOL-proprietary extensions. It is a very simple matter for AOL to move things to a Web page...
3. AOL is really no easier than a modern ISP to use. With Win95 and the dialup networking wizard, it is a fairly simple matter to setup an ISP, all that is required are the DNS numbers and mail and news server names. But once its setup, one merely starts their Web browser, dialing happens automatically and you are on the Internet. In fact, AOL is a little MORE difficult, because an extra step is required to get past AOL proprietary content before you can hit the Web...
This said, I'm no AOL fan. AOL is slow, unreliable and you get busy signals half the time trying to connect...all this and you pay a PREMIUM PRICE for this wonderful (sic) service.
Because its a LOT harder than it sounds. As you point out, you have to keep track of the kernel state.
Swapping it to a file is ONE way, but remember, when loading the kernel, THERE IS NO FILE HANDLING FUNCTIONS! Everything you might take for granted once the system is booted is simply not in place while the kernel is booting...
Besides, this is simply not that important of an ability. Most people do not switch kernels everytime a new one is released. I'm still using 2.2.2, and would still be using 2.2.0 except for a bug that caused support for my soundcard to be disabled.
Most people will upgrade their kernels MAYBE once a year, probably closer to every TWO years. Its simply not that big of deal to have to reboot once a year...:)
Microsoft will not be beaten by anyone one company. Anyone who has witnessed the slaughter of Apple Computer by Microsoft can attest to that. The/only/ reason Apple is doing better is because of the cooperation of Microsoft, which is trying to keep itself out of hot water.
There are a combination of factors that are consipiring to defeat Microsoft.
1) The DOJ Lawsuit. Certainly something bad will happen to MS because of this. If they haven't lost already, they are definitely losing.
2) The growing public discontent with Microsoft. This discontent extends well beyond the Open Source community. People are fed up with broken operating systems and 800-pound gorilla tactics.
3) The current growth of Linux and Open Source software in general. People are finally realizing that Open Source software/is/ superior in many ways to proprietary crap. Apache is the number one Web server on the Net. Virtually every piece of e-mail is touched at one time by sendmail. Netscape is still the number one browser, despite all the doom and gloom about IE being built into Windoze. Linux is well on its way to becoming a serious threat to the Microsoft juggernaut.
4) Serious and intense opposition from industry rivals such as Sun Microsystems, Oracle, and IBM.
These factors are combining together to bring down the Microsoft juggernaut. Neither Corel nor RedHat, nor Apple, nor even Oracle, Sun or IBm have the capital, inclination, or profit incentive to bring Microsoft down. Even if they tried, its likely that they could not. But all of the forces that are conspiring against Microsoft will eventually eliminate Windows as a "monopoly." Windows will still be immensely popular, but consumers will have real choice and many will choose Linux systems over Windows.
I wouldn't put too much stock in what Ballmer said
on
Open Source Windows
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· Score: 1
I wouldn't put too much stock in what Ballmer said. This is obviously a PR move and Microsoft may or may not actually do this.
Be careful of what Microsoft may/really/ mean by Open Source...I'll bet dollars to donuts that Microsoft's version of open source and the Open Source Community's version of open source are two different things.
Does anyone remember the early 90s when the *NIX guys were working on "open standards," and Microsoft starting spouting that Windows and OLE were "open standards" because anyone could write programs for them?
If Windows is an "open standard," then why are the Wine guys having such a hard time?
Do you know how SICK I am of arguing this point with Mac-weenies?;)
User interface consistency is a *myth*. If programs on *any* given OS were truly consistent, there would be no need for level 1 technical support.
The fact is that even on MacOS, there is the occasional program that doesn't really conform. For instance, there are some programs (typically *older* MacOS applets) that do not let you quit via Command-Q. This is a minor point, but it is *not* consistent. Also, some MacOS programs (like Microsoft Word) make use of multi-tabbed dialog boxes, while other programs, like QuarkXPress, are a mish-mash of disorganized dialog boxes. This is *far* from user interface consistency.
Also: Windows/386 is by no means a *shell*. Anyone who knows *anything* about the underlaying code in Windows since Windows/386 (I'm particularly thinking about VMM and VxD layers: if you don't know about these, get Andrew Schulman's *excellent* book Unauthorized Windows 95: it talks *exclusively* about these layers), you'll know that Windows is 32-bit multitasking operating system, even Windows/386.
Gnome and KDE are also not a "shell". They do not have the same relationship to Linux that Windows has to do DOS. Gnome and KDE more accurately map to the USER/USER32 modules of Windows, while X maps loosely to the GDI/GDI32 modules of Windows.
Journaling file system, huh? Well, no major commercial operating system for microcomputers currently has this function, so I don't see what they are talking about. They mention the need for logging, not a journaling file system. Currently, Linux has better logging capabilities than Windows NT.
They don't say Linux needs large scale multiprocessor support: they say Linux has no multiprocessor support. Out of the box, Linux suports 8 processors: this is *more* than adequate for the vast majority of situations, given Linux's clustering capabilities (ala Beowolf). It is certainly possible to hack the kernel code to support more. I should point out that Windows NT out of the box has this same limitation, only worse. In fact, NT out of the box only supports 4 processors. Only other Unixes support more processors out of the box than Linux.
Playing catch-up with commercial software is where open source software CAME FROM.
Open source software traces its roots to GNU, remember? GNU is a project to create an open-source version of Unix. GNU, and by extension OSes that use GNU tools like Linux, doesn't do anything revolutionary. It simply duplicates existing functionality.
Very few open source programs do anything totally original. KDE and Gnome and designed to provide functionality that exists in operating systems like Windows and OS/2 in the Unix environment. Emacs, although unique in the number of things that it can do, still is designed to duplicate functionality that exists in other programmable text editors (i.e., Brief or Epsilon). The GIMP duplicates functionality found in Photoshop and other popular image editing programs.
The only truly pioneering open source programs are probably Mosaic (which isn't truly open source, but its descendant, Mozilla, is), sendmail, Apache, fetchmail, TeX/LaTeX, and perl. There are probably more, but I can't think of them right now... Much of the other open source stuff is designed to duplicate exisiting functionality found in commercial software.
There is nothing bad about this at all. It just reflects open source software's roots. There will undoubtedly be more pioneering stuff. It just takes one programmer to get an itch...
right, but even if most of the users-space tools *were* from GNU, that *still* wouldn't make it GNU/Linux.
Look at Microsoft Windows: most of the applets that ship with Windows, for instance, are not written by Microsoft at all. The Defrag utility is written by Symantec. Wordpad, Solitaire, Calculator, and many other tools are actually written by ISVs and supplied to Microsoft under license. Even Internet Exploder is based on Mosaic, and as such isn't 100% Microsoft code by any measure.
The OS is truly the kernel...Windows' kernel is written by MS, and Linux's kernel is written by Linus and all the Linux contributors.
One of the last truly great TV programs is almost gone. Unfortunately, there's little or nothing in the way of quality TV anymore. Star Trek really lost a lot of quality following the death of TGBOTG. The X-Files will be done after next season. Chris Carter's other offering, Millennium, just isn't that good.
Tron War Games Sneakers Hackers (really a wannabe film, but Angelina Jolie is/HOT/) Revenge of the Nerds
many more not mentioned.... however, add to the list:
October Sky. An/excellent/ movie. If you have not seen it, go see it. It is the/true/ story of a NASA rocket scientist who grew up the son of a coal miner in rural West Virginia.
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Technically you are correct. However some minor points:
1. Most regional or national ISPs (ie FlashNet, Concentric) have their own network that is separate from the Internet. It allows them to have multiple PoP sites and connect them all to central DNS, e-mail and WWW servers. Note that this network is usually connected directly to the Internet without firewalls, but it is still a separate network.
2. Virtually all of AOL's content since AOL 3.0 has been in HTML with some AOL-proprietary extensions. It is a very simple matter for AOL to move things to a Web page...
3. AOL is really no easier than a modern ISP to use. With Win95 and the dialup networking wizard, it is a fairly simple matter to setup an ISP, all that is required are the DNS numbers and mail and news server names. But once its setup, one merely starts their Web browser, dialing happens automatically and you are on the Internet. In fact, AOL is a little MORE difficult, because an extra step is required to get past AOL proprietary content before you can hit the Web...
This said, I'm no AOL fan. AOL is slow, unreliable and you get busy signals half the time trying to connect...all this and you pay a PREMIUM PRICE for this wonderful (sic) service.
Because its a LOT harder than it sounds. As you point out, you have to keep track of the kernel state.
:)
Swapping it to a file is ONE way, but remember, when loading the kernel, THERE IS NO FILE HANDLING FUNCTIONS! Everything you might take for granted once the system is booted is simply not in place while the kernel is booting...
Besides, this is simply not that important of an ability. Most people do not switch kernels everytime a new one is released. I'm still using 2.2.2, and would still be using 2.2.0 except for a bug that caused support for my soundcard to be disabled.
Most people will upgrade their kernels MAYBE once a year, probably closer to every TWO years. Its simply not that big of deal to have to reboot once a year...
Microsoft will not be beaten by anyone one company. Anyone who has witnessed the slaughter of Apple Computer by Microsoft can attest to that. The /only/ reason Apple is doing better is because of the cooperation of Microsoft, which is trying to keep itself out of hot water.
/is/ superior in many ways to proprietary crap. Apache is the number one Web server on the Net. Virtually every piece of e-mail is touched at one time by sendmail. Netscape is still the number one browser, despite all the doom and gloom about IE being built into Windoze. Linux is well on its way to becoming a serious threat to the Microsoft juggernaut.
There are a combination of factors that are consipiring to defeat Microsoft.
1) The DOJ Lawsuit. Certainly something bad will happen to MS because of this. If they haven't lost already, they are definitely losing.
2) The growing public discontent with Microsoft. This discontent extends well beyond the Open Source community. People are fed up with broken operating systems and 800-pound gorilla tactics.
3) The current growth of Linux and Open Source software in general. People are finally realizing that Open Source software
4) Serious and intense opposition from industry rivals such as Sun Microsystems, Oracle, and IBM.
These factors are combining together to bring down the Microsoft juggernaut. Neither Corel nor RedHat, nor Apple, nor even Oracle, Sun or IBm have the capital, inclination, or profit incentive to bring Microsoft down. Even if they tried, its likely that they could not. But all of the forces that are conspiring against Microsoft will eventually eliminate Windows as a "monopoly." Windows will still be immensely popular, but consumers will have real choice and many will choose Linux systems over Windows.
I wouldn't put too much stock in what Ballmer said. This is obviously a PR move and Microsoft may or may not actually do this.
/really/ mean by Open Source...I'll bet dollars to donuts that Microsoft's version of open source and the Open Source Community's version of open source are two different things.
Be careful of what Microsoft may
Does anyone remember the early 90s when the *NIX guys were working on "open standards," and Microsoft starting spouting that Windows and OLE were "open standards" because anyone could write programs for them?
If Windows is an "open standard," then why are the Wine guys having such a hard time?
Do you know how SICK I am of arguing this point with Mac-weenies? ;)
User interface consistency is a *myth*. If programs on *any* given OS were truly consistent, there would be no need for level 1 technical support.
The fact is that even on MacOS, there is the occasional program that doesn't really conform. For instance, there are some programs (typically *older* MacOS applets) that do not let you quit via Command-Q. This is a minor point, but it is *not* consistent. Also, some MacOS programs (like Microsoft Word) make use of multi-tabbed dialog boxes, while other programs, like QuarkXPress, are a mish-mash of disorganized dialog boxes. This is *far* from user interface consistency.
Also: Windows/386 is by no means a *shell*. Anyone who knows *anything* about the underlaying code in Windows since Windows/386 (I'm particularly thinking about VMM and VxD layers: if you don't know about these, get Andrew Schulman's *excellent* book Unauthorized Windows 95: it talks *exclusively* about these layers), you'll know that Windows is 32-bit multitasking operating system, even Windows/386.
Gnome and KDE are also not a "shell". They do not have the same relationship to Linux that Windows has to do DOS. Gnome and KDE more accurately map to the USER/USER32 modules of Windows, while X maps loosely to the GDI/GDI32 modules of Windows.
Journaling file system, huh? Well, no major commercial operating system for microcomputers currently has this function, so I don't see what they are talking about. They mention the need for logging, not a journaling file system. Currently, Linux has better logging capabilities than Windows NT.
They don't say Linux needs large scale multiprocessor support: they say Linux has no multiprocessor support. Out of the box, Linux suports 8 processors: this is *more* than adequate for the vast majority of situations, given Linux's clustering capabilities (ala Beowolf). It is certainly possible to hack the kernel code to support more. I should point out that Windows NT out of the box has this same limitation, only worse. In fact, NT out of the box only supports 4 processors. Only other Unixes support more processors out of the box than Linux.
Playing catch-up with commercial software is where open source software CAME FROM.
Open source software traces its roots to GNU, remember? GNU is a project to create an open-source version of Unix. GNU, and by extension OSes that use GNU tools like Linux, doesn't do anything revolutionary. It simply duplicates existing functionality.
Very few open source programs do anything totally original. KDE and Gnome and designed to provide functionality that exists in operating systems like Windows and OS/2 in the Unix environment. Emacs, although unique in the number of things that it can do, still is designed to duplicate functionality that exists in other programmable text editors (i.e., Brief or Epsilon). The GIMP duplicates functionality found in Photoshop and other popular image editing programs.
The only truly pioneering open source programs are probably Mosaic (which isn't truly open source, but its descendant, Mozilla, is), sendmail, Apache, fetchmail, TeX/LaTeX, and perl. There are probably more, but I can't think of them right now... Much of the other open source stuff is designed to duplicate exisiting functionality found in commercial software.
There is nothing bad about this at all. It just reflects open source software's roots. There will undoubtedly be more pioneering stuff. It just takes one programmer to get an itch...
Yup. Ding-ding. The man gets a prize!
I don't know why anyone would be so surprised. This is basically the same pattern of behaviour MSFT has had for *years*.
Gates has always covered all his bases. Thats why he pushed for Word and Excel on the Macintosh.
Office for LInux would just be covering MS's bets...
right, but even if most of the users-space tools *were* from GNU, that *still* wouldn't make it GNU/Linux.
Look at Microsoft Windows: most of the applets that ship with Windows, for instance, are not written by Microsoft at all. The Defrag utility is written by Symantec. Wordpad, Solitaire, Calculator, and many other tools are actually written by ISVs and supplied to Microsoft under license. Even Internet Exploder is based on Mosaic, and as such isn't 100% Microsoft code by any measure.
The OS is truly the kernel...Windows' kernel is written by MS, and Linux's kernel is written by Linus and all the Linux contributors.
The saddest day since TGBOTG left us. :-(
:-)
One of the last truly great TV programs is almost gone. Unfortunately, there's little or nothing in the way of quality TV anymore. Star Trek really lost a lot of quality following the death of TGBOTG. The X-Files will be done after next season. Chris Carter's other offering, Millennium, just isn't that good.
Anyone wanna buy a used TV?
Tron /HOT/)
/excellent/ movie. If you have not seen it, go see it. It is the /true/ story of a NASA rocket scientist who grew up the son of a coal miner in rural West Virginia.
War Games
Sneakers
Hackers (really a wannabe film, but Angelina Jolie is
Revenge of the Nerds
many more not mentioned.... however, add to the list:
October Sky. An