I'm against GPLV3 as well (sure plug the Tivo hole, but leave my web services alone! A good hearted open source geek needs to make a living.)
Anyhow, at first I thought Microsoft move's a good thing. But then again, microsoft is evil, so if they oppose GVLV3, then *it* must be a good thing. But I'm against it. But I don't like Microsoft.... Ahhrhhrhrhrrhghh... *HEAD EXPLODES*...
It's a really big story, because of how unusual any exploit on OS/X is (even without knowing the details, it's a big story), not because it means OS/X is insecure....
Pride in, and a love for your work are unfortunately the exception rather than the rule these days. It is always inspiring to see an example in a field you're unfamiliar with (or one you are, for that matter:)
While I don't think it is as ugly as most people here are saying, I do agree with the concerns about marketing. Hell, two of their five screen shots were the "battery low warning" and "reset all configuration data" screen. Two things you generally don't want to have to deal with or think about. The message they're sending is those are two screens you'll see a lot with this device. That's pretty f'ing stupid promotion...
I see a few sarcastic and funny comments about/. geeks no longer knowing what handwriting is. But there is a phenomenon that I experienced, that I was always curious about.
I was an early Palm adopter, and learned Graffiti. I used it heavily for taking all my notes, appointements, and such. Found I didn't use paper much any more.
And when I did finally use paper on the odd occasion, I found my handwriting tended towards Graffiti-esque scribblings, than traditional handwriting... It wouldn't have been so bad if it wasn't such a moving target. With licensing issues, Graffiti changed, and Windows CE used a different variation, and so on. I feel like my writing has been pooched because of it.
Has anyone else experienced this? I do feel like the original Graffiti was an ingenious optimization of handwriting for the purposes of recognition. I almost wish it had become the "esperanto" of hand writing.
I'm curious as to whether or not others have experienced this...
What about them providing the data set to an open source third party to redistribute for non-commercial purposes? Then there would be no abuse per se of Zap2It's service/site, and the open source community could bear the cost of the bandwidth, interoperability, and dealing with baddies...
Maybe the terms on which they receive their data wouldn't allow it, but it might be worth exploring.
(Another option might be a community-based effort; I'd be willing to bang in one week's worth of listings for a given provider each year. If 52 people, per broadcaster, were wililng to do the same, we could have an open and free listing source...)
Unless there is some compelling pieces of Linux software or specific driver support that you need on your embedded system, and even though (as a few have indicated all ready), you *can* do it with Linux, why bother?
If you use BSD (the base, and not the GPL ports stuff) you're 100% completely free to do whatever you want with the code for kernel and operating system, to your heart's content, without ever worrying about a thing.
NetBSD is BSD licensed (of course), and runs on such an incredibly wide variety of processors, greatly increasing your choice of embedded platform. It is used a lot in embedded systems, and it would be my first choice. It's a small, fast, portable distribution. Try it out. If it does what you need, use it. That would be my recommendation.
As far as a development environment goes, I had it fired up awhile back, and installed all the optional (and GPL) port stuff, including KDE, Gnome, yadda, yadda, yadda. Everybody who saw the desktop assumed it was a Linux box. It's pretty hard to tell the difference in daily use when you install all the optional gunk. So if wanting to use Unix for it's desktop development environment is a factor, do try NetBSD (or another BSD) with all the add-ons.
Good Lord, a teddy bear head to comfort the wounded troops? I would think that having anything (including a machine) come and rescue from a combat zone would be 1000x the comfort as the fact it had a fluffy head. And I hope the troops are a little more hard-ass than that. In fact, I'd find that fluffy head a bit disturbing; what kind of freaking mutant Ewok is this? Making it *look* like a forklift would be more reassuring to me.
From the photo and the article someone linked to, it appears this is just another generation of Windows mobile smart phone. The photo shows the today screen which happens to have a today-applet that has big buttons that one can push with their fingers. Handy, yes, revolutionary, no. Head to head with iPhone? No.
I have what I'm told is also made by HTC, the UtStarCom 6700 (a.k.a. the Audiovox 6700, I think). $79 from Telus on a 3 year contract:P
It's a nice PDA, and a half decent phone as well. Gotta use the touch screen to dial the phone, which is slightly awkward; big buttons, which is nice, but no tactile feedback, which isn't perfect in all circumstances. Nice slide-out keyboard for quick messages (although I prefer tapping with FITALY). The apps that are designed well for the unit, work really well, like TomTom Navigator (big buttons, intuitive operation). The more traditional things, require delicate tapping. It's hard to believe WM6 overcomes most of these issues with accurate tapping, etc.. (TomTom pops up a full screen keyboard when it needs, text, does on the fly matching, etc., nice stuff.)
I'm impressed with the phone, bluetooth, wifi, nice PDA, probably one of the better phones/speakerphones I've used. Certainly not up for the droppings my old phones got, but I'll treat it like a PDA, and not a phone (and this one won't end up in the ocean, like my Razr:(
Anyhow, I saw HTC's next generation in between my 6700 and this announced model, and it's even nicer than mine; thinner, feels like magnetic jump when you slide open the keyboard, nice feel (but $200 + 3 year contract). I'm sure this even newer one is even nicer. HTC makes nice stuff. But it's no iPhone killer.
I almost worry about the lack of tactile buttons. Windows Mobile 5 is designed around certain buttons; a four way joystick, start/ok buttons, and left and right menu buttons (and talk/hangup buttons). They are quite handy for their purposes; you can do most anything you need to do on the phone, short of entering text, with just the buttons, which is handy in non-touchscreen moments. I worry that the new model might be a slight step back in that regard.
Anyhow, I'm sure it's a kick ass product, and probably a fraction of the price of the iPhone. But it's not the same thing. Windows Mobile, or people who augment it, are nowhere near on the verge of a UI revolution on the scale that Apple is capable of executing. -- Love many, trust a few, do harm to none.
One question I have though is that the product page doesn't list mapping software in the package. What software are you using it with? Google maps maybe?
No software comes with it. Google maps (free) for PDA works well with it if you have a mobile internet connection with your phone (or laptop with Google Earth Pro, not free). I prefer TomTom Navigator, a commercial third party product, since it has all of North America in amazing detail (even here in the boonies), including points of interest (the smallest pizza parlour in my tiny town is there). Be prepared to get 1G of storage just for the maps, though (I went 2G, to put some tunes on there, too).
From the photo and the article someone linked to, it appears this is just another generation of Windows mobile smart phone. The photo shows the today screen which happens to have a today-applet that has big buttons that one can push with their fingers. Handy, yes, revolutionary, no. Head to head with iPhone? No.
I have what I'm told is also made by HTC, the UtStarCom 6700 (a.k.a. the Audiovox 6700, I think). $79 from Telus on a 3 year contract:P
It's a nice PDA, and a half decent phone as well. Gotta use the touch screen to dial the phone, which is slightly awkward; big buttons, which is nice, but no tactile feedback, which isn't perfect in all circumstances. Nice slide-out keyboard for quick messages (although I prefer tapping with FITALY). The apps that are designed well for the unit, work really well, like TomTom Navigator (big buttons, intuitive operation). The more traditional things, require delicate tapping. It's hard to believe WM6 overcomes most of these issues with accurate tapping, etc.. (TomTom pops up a full screen keyboard when it needs, text, does on the fly matching, etc., nice stuff.)
I'm impressed with the phone, bluetooth, wifi, nice PDA, probably one of the better phones/speakerphones I've used. Certainly not up for the droppings my old phones got, but I'll treat it like a PDA, and not a phone (and this one won't end up in the ocean, like my Razr:(
Anyhow, I saw HTC's next generation in between my 6700 and this announced model, and it's even nicer than mine; thinner, feels like magnetic jump when you slide open the keyboard, nice feel (but $200 + 3 year contract). I'm sure this even newer one is even nicer. HTC makes nice stuff. But it's no iPhone killer.
I almost worry about the lack of tactile buttons. Windows Mobile 5 is designed around certain buttons; a four way joystick, start/ok buttons, and left and right menu buttons (and talk/hangup buttons). They are quite handy for their purposes; you can do most anything you need to do on the phone, short of entering text, with just the buttons, which is handy in non-touchscreen moments. I worry that the new model might be a slight step back in that regard.
Anyhow, I'm sure it's a kick ass product, and probably a fraction of the price of the iPhone. But it's not the same thing. Windows Mobile, or people who augment it, are nowhere near on the verge of a UI revolution on the scale that Apple is capable of executing.
GPS can be added in quite a nice way to Bluetooth devices. Devices such as the Holux GPSlim 240 (my preferred choice) are under $100, the size of a memory stick, and have one of the bets GPS chipsets on the market (works inside a glove compartment), and relays the GPS data to a Bluetooth device. Works perfectly with my UTStarCom 6700 Phone (Windows Mobile 5) and TomTom Navigator. One added benefit is that you can stick the bluetooth GPS device in a handy spot (on a dash, up on deck on a boat, etc.) to increase reception, while having your phone anywhere within reasonable bluetooth range.
You do realize that the shakycam basically ended two seasons ago, right?
Well, not being able to follow the series, because of the annoyance, ummmm, my answer is "no." I'm actually quite sad the series is going off the air now, if the later and future shows are in non-shakeycam. Dammit.
Specifically, I hope they milk the series, by releasing a special edition DVD set, remastered removing the shakey cam. I so desperately wanted to watch the new series, but just am unable to, due to the distraction of the overly artsy and pretentious and unnecessary shakeycam use. This is one technique I hope dies, and if there's one positive to be seen in the demise of this series, it's one less use of shakeycam.
It should be the drama and actions in the show that make me turn my head and make my eyes dart around, not the spasmodic camera operator. Sigh... (I'm ready to form an advocacy group for elimination of shakeycam, heavy plastic packaging, and christmas toys packaging involving plastic ties and milliones of twist ties.)
Isn't the purpose of a headline to give one a rough idea of that article without having to read it, to pique the interest. As Lisa Simpson would say, "I recognise those words, but that sentence makes no sense" (until you have read the article.)
That definite goes in the top 10 worst/. headlines.
Is how the video, on a private system, got distributed. I have no problem with it being uploaded to sharing sites, and being on the loose, free of copyright hassles, in itself. It's an interesting clip, and a good cautionary tale. But some bugger who works for, or has access to the government systems, took this from work and put it online.
Copyrights aside, surely *his* employment agreement forbade him for doing so; if not, it should have, and future employment agreements with such workers should; lesson learned. If it did include such a clause, he should be terminated or reprimanded accordingly.
Suing Youtube et al, has only *one* significant effect; creating a buzz so *everyone* (including me) is seeing a video, that would have never otherwise come to their attention.
Offtopic for sure, and condolences to those who (probably) died in the crash (despite the fact they were going too fast, and obviously not paying attention to signs (and often road bumps) warning of the toll booths and such).
But man, I seriously gotta admire how that toll booth was constructed. Even the upright walls of the booth didn't waver in the slightest.
At least there's some good engineering involved. (Or maybe it should have been made as a break-away thing to protect drivers in such an incident; I doubt it, though, as protecting the toll booth attendants from hazardous drivers seems to make more sense.) Or maybe, the car was just terribly flimsy, a smart car or something?
MMOG Industry Community Vet Speaks Out I didn't even know they existed. I guess someone has to take care of the animal development and maintenance in the games.
Not to sound like a Mac fanboy, but there's no denying that, so let's get that out of the way...
I can envision putting anyone who isn't quite technically oriented right onto Linux, despite the amazing progress the installation, desktop, hardware support has made through Ubuntu's efforts and such. However, after switching to OS X (legally, via a MacBook), I can imagine helping less technical people switch over to that. That's the first step in breaking the MS stronghold. Once someone has gotten over the MS dependence, having their eyes opened to Linux (wow, it's free and it runs on dirt cheap hardware!) is far more likely.
Even things like using Parallels to get at the odd Windows app is far easier than hoping a VMWare install might actually install or successfully build the right kernel modules for it to work. But once someone is enlightened as to the power of virtualization for breaking off suckling at the MS teat, the possibility of them exploring VMWare on Linux someday is *greatly* increased (or helping promote such a solution at their work, or with friends, or such.)
Apple has done such a great job at consumerizing a unix-like beast, and Linux is coming along, but not quite there. So I see OS X as a great stepping stone for moving people in the right direction.
(Don's flame retardant pants.) Okay, people flame away at the Mac fanboy:P
Slashdot Mirror
Link to a touching speech he gave, available on YouTube
I'm against GPLV3 as well (sure plug the Tivo hole, but leave my web services alone! A good hearted open source geek needs to make a living.)
Anyhow, at first I thought Microsoft move's a good thing. But then again, microsoft is evil, so if they oppose GVLV3, then *it* must be a good thing. But I'm against it. But I don't like Microsoft.... Ahhrhhrhrhrrhghh... *HEAD EXPLODES*...
It's a really big story, because of how unusual any exploit on OS/X is (even without knowing the details, it's a big story), not because it means OS/X is insecure....
Pride in, and a love for your work are unfortunately the exception rather than the rule these days. It is always inspiring to see an example in a field you're unfamiliar with (or one you are, for that matter :)
"Feels like I'm wearing nothing at all... Nothing at all... Nothing at all..."
Logic can serve as a good replacement for fear, due to human intelligence.
And many people have irrational fears which prevent them from performing to their full potential.
Combining some situational reduction of specific fears, along with proper human judgement, could be a very powerful thing.
While I don't think it is as ugly as most people here are saying, I do agree with the concerns about marketing. Hell, two of their five screen shots were the "battery low warning" and "reset all configuration data" screen. Two things you generally don't want to have to deal with or think about. The message they're sending is those are two screens you'll see a lot with this device. That's pretty f'ing stupid promotion...
I found Ruby to be one of the easiest environments to get up and running quickly already.
It's a one-liner apt-get, and then let "gem" to the rest for you (kind of like apt-get/cpan for Ruby packages).
Seems like a slight non-story to me.
-dale
I see a few sarcastic and funny comments about /. geeks no longer knowing what handwriting is. But there is a phenomenon that I experienced, that I was always curious about.
I was an early Palm adopter, and learned Graffiti. I used it heavily for taking all my notes, appointements, and such. Found I didn't use paper much any more.
And when I did finally use paper on the odd occasion, I found my handwriting tended towards Graffiti-esque scribblings, than traditional handwriting... It wouldn't have been so bad if it wasn't such a moving target. With licensing issues, Graffiti changed, and Windows CE used a different variation, and so on. I feel like my writing has been pooched because of it.
Has anyone else experienced this? I do feel like the original Graffiti was an ingenious optimization of handwriting for the purposes of recognition. I almost wish it had become the "esperanto" of hand writing.
I'm curious as to whether or not others have experienced this...
What about them providing the data set to an open source third party to redistribute for non-commercial purposes? Then there would be no abuse per se of Zap2It's service/site, and the open source community could bear the cost of the bandwidth, interoperability, and dealing with baddies...
Maybe the terms on which they receive their data wouldn't allow it, but it might be worth exploring.
(Another option might be a community-based effort; I'd be willing to bang in one week's worth of listings for a given provider each year. If 52 people, per broadcaster, were wililng to do the same, we could have an open and free listing source...)
Unless there is some compelling pieces of Linux software or specific driver support that you need on your embedded system, and even though (as a few have indicated all ready), you *can* do it with Linux, why bother?
If you use BSD (the base, and not the GPL ports stuff) you're 100% completely free to do whatever you want with the code for kernel and operating system, to your heart's content, without ever worrying about a thing.
NetBSD is BSD licensed (of course), and runs on such an incredibly wide variety of processors, greatly increasing your choice of embedded platform. It is used a lot in embedded systems, and it would be my first choice. It's a small, fast, portable distribution. Try it out. If it does what you need, use it. That would be my recommendation.
As far as a development environment goes, I had it fired up awhile back, and installed all the optional (and GPL) port stuff, including KDE, Gnome, yadda, yadda, yadda. Everybody who saw the desktop assumed it was a Linux box. It's pretty hard to tell the difference in daily use when you install all the optional gunk. So if wanting to use Unix for it's desktop development environment is a factor, do try NetBSD (or another BSD) with all the add-ons.
Good Lord, a teddy bear head to comfort the wounded troops? I would think that having anything (including a machine) come and rescue from a combat zone would be 1000x the comfort as the fact it had a fluffy head. And I hope the troops are a little more hard-ass than that. In fact, I'd find that fluffy head a bit disturbing; what kind of freaking mutant Ewok is this? Making it *look* like a forklift would be more reassuring to me.
From the photo and the article someone linked to, it appears this is just another generation of Windows mobile smart phone. The photo shows the today screen which happens to have a today-applet that has big buttons that one can push with their fingers. Handy, yes, revolutionary, no. Head to head with iPhone? No.
:P
:(
I have what I'm told is also made by HTC, the UtStarCom 6700 (a.k.a. the Audiovox 6700, I think). $79 from Telus on a 3 year contract
It's a nice PDA, and a half decent phone as well. Gotta use the touch screen to dial the phone, which is slightly awkward; big buttons, which is nice, but no tactile feedback, which isn't perfect in all circumstances. Nice slide-out keyboard for quick messages (although I prefer tapping with FITALY). The apps that are designed well for the unit, work really well, like TomTom Navigator (big buttons, intuitive operation). The more traditional things, require delicate tapping. It's hard to believe WM6 overcomes most of these issues with accurate tapping, etc.. (TomTom pops up a full screen keyboard when it needs, text, does on the fly matching, etc., nice stuff.)
I'm impressed with the phone, bluetooth, wifi, nice PDA, probably one of the better phones/speakerphones I've used. Certainly not up for the droppings my old phones got, but I'll treat it like a PDA, and not a phone (and this one won't end up in the ocean, like my Razr
Anyhow, I saw HTC's next generation in between my 6700 and this announced model, and it's even nicer than mine; thinner, feels like magnetic jump when you slide open the keyboard, nice feel (but $200 + 3 year contract). I'm sure this even newer one is even nicer. HTC makes nice stuff. But it's no iPhone killer.
I almost worry about the lack of tactile buttons. Windows Mobile 5 is designed around certain buttons; a four way joystick, start/ok buttons, and left and right menu buttons (and talk/hangup buttons). They are quite handy for their purposes; you can do most anything you need to do on the phone, short of entering text, with just the buttons, which is handy in non-touchscreen moments. I worry that the new model might be a slight step back in that regard.
Anyhow, I'm sure it's a kick ass product, and probably a fraction of the price of the iPhone. But it's not the same thing. Windows Mobile, or people who augment it, are nowhere near on the verge of a UI revolution on the scale that Apple is capable of executing.
--
Love many, trust a few, do harm to none.
One question I have though is that the product page doesn't list mapping software in the package. What software are you using it with? Google maps maybe?
No software comes with it. Google maps (free) for PDA works well with it if you have a mobile internet connection with your phone (or laptop with Google Earth Pro, not free). I prefer TomTom Navigator, a commercial third party product, since it has all of North America in amazing detail (even here in the boonies), including points of interest (the smallest pizza parlour in my tiny town is there). Be prepared to get 1G of storage just for the maps, though (I went 2G, to put some tunes on there, too).
From the photo and the article someone linked to, it appears this is just another generation of Windows mobile smart phone. The photo shows the today screen which happens to have a today-applet that has big buttons that one can push with their fingers. Handy, yes, revolutionary, no. Head to head with iPhone? No.
:P
:(
I have what I'm told is also made by HTC, the UtStarCom 6700 (a.k.a. the Audiovox 6700, I think). $79 from Telus on a 3 year contract
It's a nice PDA, and a half decent phone as well. Gotta use the touch screen to dial the phone, which is slightly awkward; big buttons, which is nice, but no tactile feedback, which isn't perfect in all circumstances. Nice slide-out keyboard for quick messages (although I prefer tapping with FITALY). The apps that are designed well for the unit, work really well, like TomTom Navigator (big buttons, intuitive operation). The more traditional things, require delicate tapping. It's hard to believe WM6 overcomes most of these issues with accurate tapping, etc.. (TomTom pops up a full screen keyboard when it needs, text, does on the fly matching, etc., nice stuff.)
I'm impressed with the phone, bluetooth, wifi, nice PDA, probably one of the better phones/speakerphones I've used. Certainly not up for the droppings my old phones got, but I'll treat it like a PDA, and not a phone (and this one won't end up in the ocean, like my Razr
Anyhow, I saw HTC's next generation in between my 6700 and this announced model, and it's even nicer than mine; thinner, feels like magnetic jump when you slide open the keyboard, nice feel (but $200 + 3 year contract). I'm sure this even newer one is even nicer. HTC makes nice stuff. But it's no iPhone killer.
I almost worry about the lack of tactile buttons. Windows Mobile 5 is designed around certain buttons; a four way joystick, start/ok buttons, and left and right menu buttons (and talk/hangup buttons). They are quite handy for their purposes; you can do most anything you need to do on the phone, short of entering text, with just the buttons, which is handy in non-touchscreen moments. I worry that the new model might be a slight step back in that regard.
Anyhow, I'm sure it's a kick ass product, and probably a fraction of the price of the iPhone. But it's not the same thing. Windows Mobile, or people who augment it, are nowhere near on the verge of a UI revolution on the scale that Apple is capable of executing.
GPS can be added in quite a nice way to Bluetooth devices. Devices such as the Holux GPSlim 240 (my preferred choice) are under $100, the size of a memory stick, and have one of the bets GPS chipsets on the market (works inside a glove compartment), and relays the GPS data to a Bluetooth device. Works perfectly with my UTStarCom 6700 Phone (Windows Mobile 5) and TomTom Navigator. One added benefit is that you can stick the bluetooth GPS device in a handy spot (on a dash, up on deck on a boat, etc.) to increase reception, while having your phone anywhere within reasonable bluetooth range.
You do realize that the shakycam basically ended two seasons ago, right?
Well, not being able to follow the series, because of the annoyance, ummmm, my answer is "no." I'm actually quite sad the series is going off the air now, if the later and future shows are in non-shakeycam. Dammit.
Specifically, I hope they milk the series, by releasing a special edition DVD set, remastered removing the shakey cam. I so desperately wanted to watch the new series, but just am unable to, due to the distraction of the overly artsy and pretentious and unnecessary shakeycam use. This is one technique I hope dies, and if there's one positive to be seen in the demise of this series, it's one less use of shakeycam.
It should be the drama and actions in the show that make me turn my head and make my eyes dart around, not the spasmodic camera operator. Sigh... (I'm ready to form an advocacy group for elimination of shakeycam, heavy plastic packaging, and christmas toys packaging involving plastic ties and milliones of twist ties.)
Isn't the purpose of a headline to give one a rough idea of that article without having to read it, to pique the interest. As Lisa Simpson would say, "I recognise those words, but that sentence makes no sense" (until you have read the article.)
/. headlines.
That definite goes in the top 10 worst
Is how the video, on a private system, got distributed. I have no problem with it being uploaded to sharing sites, and being on the loose, free of copyright hassles, in itself. It's an interesting clip, and a good cautionary tale. But some bugger who works for, or has access to the government systems, took this from work and put it online.
Copyrights aside, surely *his* employment agreement forbade him for doing so; if not, it should have, and future employment agreements with such workers should; lesson learned. If it did include such a clause, he should be terminated or reprimanded accordingly.
Suing Youtube et al, has only *one* significant effect; creating a buzz so *everyone* (including me) is seeing a video, that would have never otherwise come to their attention.
Offtopic for sure, and condolences to those who (probably) died in the crash (despite the fact they were going too fast, and obviously not paying attention to signs (and often road bumps) warning of the toll booths and such).
But man, I seriously gotta admire how that toll booth was constructed. Even the upright walls of the booth didn't waver in the slightest.
At least there's some good engineering involved. (Or maybe it should have been made as a break-away thing to protect drivers in such an incident; I doubt it, though, as protecting the toll booth attendants from hazardous drivers seems to make more sense.) Or maybe, the car was just terribly flimsy, a smart car or something?
25 years "Of" Tron? No, "since" Tron.
It's not like Tron has been in your face, except for the odd past-pop-cultural reference over the decades.
OB Simpsons Ref:
Homer: Uh... it's like... did anyone see the movie 'Tron'?
Hibbert: No.
Lisa: No.
Marge: No.
Wiggum: No.
Bart: No.
Patty: No.
Wiggum: No.
Ned: No.
Selma: No.
Frink: No.
Lovejoy: No.
Wiggum: Yes. I mean... um, I mean, no. No, heh.
If Linux were represented...
MMOG Industry Community Vet Speaks Out
I didn't even know they existed. I guess someone has to take care of the animal development and maintenance in the games.
Not to sound like a Mac fanboy, but there's no denying that, so let's get that out of the way...
:P
I can envision putting anyone who isn't quite technically oriented right onto Linux, despite the amazing progress the installation, desktop, hardware support has made through Ubuntu's efforts and such. However, after switching to OS X (legally, via a MacBook), I can imagine helping less technical people switch over to that. That's the first step in breaking the MS stronghold. Once someone has gotten over the MS dependence, having their eyes opened to Linux (wow, it's free and it runs on dirt cheap hardware!) is far more likely.
Even things like using Parallels to get at the odd Windows app is far easier than hoping a VMWare install might actually install or successfully build the right kernel modules for it to work. But once someone is enlightened as to the power of virtualization for breaking off suckling at the MS teat, the possibility of them exploring VMWare on Linux someday is *greatly* increased (or helping promote such a solution at their work, or with friends, or such.)
Apple has done such a great job at consumerizing a unix-like beast, and Linux is coming along, but not quite there. So I see OS X as a great stepping stone for moving people in the right direction.
(Don's flame retardant pants.) Okay, people flame away at the Mac fanboy