Bar code printers that cost about $250 retail being a show stopper? I would imagine you could just replace them with some model that does work. Sure, it would cost you, but I don't think anybody expected the migration would be completely free. It's all a matter of costs vs. benefits, and I wouldn't imagine some $250 machines being a deal breaker.
You are quite right, but my experience has been the exact opposite of yours. Free software *nix systems in general, but certain Linux distros in particular (Debian and Ubuntu being two) require very little maintenance once set up, and even the initial setup is often very cheap. By comparison, Windows (XP, Vista, and 7) takes a long time to install, doesn't usually work right out of the box, needs a lot of time for software installation, and tends to require a fair bit of maintenance after the initial setup. And then it boots slower, runs slower, and distracts users with all kinds of attention-grabbing annoyances.
Of all the people who ask me for help with their computers, it's always the Windows users who are having the weird problems that take hours to diagnose or solve. Linux users, I don't get to hear a lot of complaints from, other than "I can't run software X", which, usually, indeed they just can't. It's only the tech-savvy ones who choose to tinker with their computers and then get questions like "I got a new graphics card and I want to try the development version of the driver, how do I do that?" that seem to be spending a lot of time working for the system instead of having the system work for them.
I'm not saying my experience is typical, but I am not alone in this, either. No doubt getting Linux to work and learning to work with it cost time, but it isn't necessarily more than with Windows, and sometimes, it's actually the other way around.
It's a pity it didn't work out. I would like to hear more details about exactly what didn't work out (with actual figures, please), so that something may be done about it. The information I have so far doesn't really add up:
They say:
Back in 2007, the Foreign Office's IT department regarded the use of open source software on servers and desktop systems as a success story. IT costs per workspace were reported to be lower than in any other government department
open source has demonstrated its worth, particularly on servers
but then they go on to say
the cost of adapting and extending it, for example in writing printer and scanner drivers, and of training, have proved greater than anticipated
Ok, so some costs were higher than anticipated, but open source had still demonstrated its worth and overall IT costs were still lower, right?
Also, why would they be writing their own printer and scanner drivers? That could certainly be done if it were the most effective option, but it's also quite possible to buy printers and scanners that are supported out of the box.
So I'm looking forward to getting more answers, particularly as to why certain choices were made the way they were made, and how much money they each cost.
Awesome, I found the guy who ran over my dog and put a dent in my car! That'll be $5000 in damages, please.
Oh, wait, you're not guilty just because someone said you were? Maybe the defendant in the story isn't, either. Let's reserve judgment until we know what really happened.
Also, hats off to the Slashdot scoop and headline for all the confusion they've caused.
I guess if preventing data leaks is that important, it should be acceptable to just eat the cost of storage devices that fail under warranty. Then the procedure becomes really simple: physically destroy every storage device once no longer in use.
Exactly. The killer feature of Microsoft Outlook isn't email, but calendar functionality that works, is relatively easy to use, and interoperates with other Outlook users and a veritable horde of PDAs and cellphones. It seems this is only very slowly coming to the open source world, but I will be happy once it's there, because this functionality really does help me be more productive.
As I understand it, there hasn't been much of an effort to jailbreak the Xbox 360 console for homebrew because Microsoft offers a limited "XNA" sandbox in which to make, run, and even sell homebrew games
Similarly, efforts to jailbreak the PlayStation 3 only really seemed to get off the ground after Sony disabled the Other OS feature.
What amazes me is that I sometimes get the impression that consoles are somehow the preferred platform for gaming. I mean, the rate at which new consoles get brought to market is so slow, and the rate at which the PC world moves is so fast, that before you know it, Linux is a better gaming platform than the consoles, and mobile phones have better hardware. I understand the benefits of developing for a stable and homogeneous platform, but PCs are going to be running circles around consoles pretty soon.
As far as a stable platform goes - modern PCs can still run software written for the PCs of the 1980s, X is from 1984, and OpenGL from 1992. The BSD and win32 APIs have been available on PCs since 1993 or thereabouts, and DirectX since 1995. Take your pick; all of those predate the current generation of consoles.
That Toshiba AC-100 has been rooted and impressive hackers have loaded Ubuntu on it but it's buggy for now, sound doesn't work yet for example, and it's risky to install, some people have bricked their units doing it.
You would think that these hardware manufacturers have something to gain by selling as many units as they can, and that it helps there if they let people run whatever OS people happen to want to run. Apparently, that's not the way it works - not all hardware manufacturers give you a choice, and those who do usually give you a choice among two operating systems. Also, it seems they take a lot of hard work of getting the operating systems they do offer to run on the devices themselves, even though I am sure other people would be more than happy to do that work for them. What gives?
... even though they "only" sold 2 million laptops to children in some of the poorest places in the world, you can find plenty videos online http://olpc.tv/ , see how the kids and teachers are using those daily, it's a huge success. I mean comon, OLPC may have deeply changed the lives of 2 million families in more or less very poor third world countries.
To me, it's pure win. I mean, imagine working for a high-tech company and in so doing having improved the lives of 2 million families. Doesn't that sound GREAT?
I know I don't speak for everyone, but, personally, I don't care for any of the the OSes that don't allow native applications or that require me to learn new APIs for things I already know APIs for on other systems. There is no good reason we should have to learn a whole new set of APIs and/or have our applications run at less than the performance the device actually supports. Modern phones are easily able to run a complete Unix system, and I have long been saying that's what I want: I already know how to program for it, tons of programs have already been written for it, and the APIs are not going to go away for some time.
As it happens, Nokia makes a phone that gives me what I want: the N900. When I learned about it, I got one right away, and I have not regretted it. My only gripe with it is that they didn't put a shortcut to the phone functionality right on the main screen, but that was easily fixed by placing the appropriate icon there. Since then, it has been fantastic for phone calls, SMS, and as a pocket-sized computer.
Unfortunately for me, there seem to be few, if any, plans to continue to release phones with proper Linux environments, such as the N900. I have what I want, for now, but where will I go for my next phone?
I don't know about carburetors, specifically, but it's certainly true that car companies have been building cars that are less efficient (in terms of mpg) than they could have been, for a long time.
Just to be clear: I am not stipulating the existence of any conspiracies here, just observing a fact.
It never ceases to amaze me how humans arrogantly believe that only they themselves are conscious, capable of experiencing joy and pain, etc.
It's not just humans vs. animals (as if humans weren't animals, and as if all non-human animals were the same), but also humans vs. other humans (it's ok to be cruel to $allegedly_inferior_group, or even "It's ok for me to trample everyone, but don't anyone dare to slight me!").
Without getting into what exactly the definition of consciousness is, I think it is irrational to simply assume that your own group has it, and no other group does.
Slashdot Mirror
I don't think these "mid-range" sentences for high-gain crimes are really effective unless the criminals are forced to give the money back.
I agree. It is a Good Thing, then, that they actually did make him pay ... more than he took, even. FTFA:
In addition to the 82-month sentence, he must pay a $7.9 million fine, along with $2.2 million in back taxes to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.
Bar code printers that cost about $250 retail being a show stopper? I would imagine you could just replace them with some model that does work. Sure, it would cost you, but I don't think anybody expected the migration would be completely free. It's all a matter of costs vs. benefits, and I wouldn't imagine some $250 machines being a deal breaker.
You are quite right, but my experience has been the exact opposite of yours. Free software *nix systems in general, but certain Linux distros in particular (Debian and Ubuntu being two) require very little maintenance once set up, and even the initial setup is often very cheap. By comparison, Windows (XP, Vista, and 7) takes a long time to install, doesn't usually work right out of the box, needs a lot of time for software installation, and tends to require a fair bit of maintenance after the initial setup. And then it boots slower, runs slower, and distracts users with all kinds of attention-grabbing annoyances.
Of all the people who ask me for help with their computers, it's always the Windows users who are having the weird problems that take hours to diagnose or solve. Linux users, I don't get to hear a lot of complaints from, other than "I can't run software X", which, usually, indeed they just can't. It's only the tech-savvy ones who choose to tinker with their computers and then get questions like "I got a new graphics card and I want to try the development version of the driver, how do I do that?" that seem to be spending a lot of time working for the system instead of having the system work for them.
I'm not saying my experience is typical, but I am not alone in this, either. No doubt getting Linux to work and learning to work with it cost time, but it isn't necessarily more than with Windows, and sometimes, it's actually the other way around.
It's a pity it didn't work out. I would like to hear more details about exactly what didn't work out (with actual figures, please), so that something may be done about it. The information I have so far doesn't really add up:
They say:
Back in 2007, the Foreign Office's IT department regarded the use of open source software on servers and desktop systems as a success story. IT costs per workspace were reported to be lower than in any other government department
open source has demonstrated its worth, particularly on servers
but then they go on to say
the cost of adapting and extending it, for example in writing printer and scanner drivers, and of training, have proved greater than anticipated
Ok, so some costs were higher than anticipated, but open source had still demonstrated its worth and overall IT costs were still lower, right?
Also, why would they be writing their own printer and scanner drivers? That could certainly be done if it were the most effective option, but it's also quite possible to buy printers and scanners that are supported out of the box.
So I'm looking forward to getting more answers, particularly as to why certain choices were made the way they were made, and how much money they each cost.
Awesome, I found the guy who ran over my dog and put a dent in my car! That'll be $5000 in damages, please.
Oh, wait, you're not guilty just because someone said you were? Maybe the defendant in the story isn't, either. Let's reserve judgment until we know what really happened.
Also, hats off to the Slashdot scoop and headline for all the confusion they've caused.
Good points.
I guess if preventing data leaks is that important, it should be acceptable to just eat the cost of storage devices that fail under warranty. Then the procedure becomes really simple: physically destroy every storage device once no longer in use.
Exactly. The killer feature of Microsoft Outlook isn't email, but calendar functionality that works, is relatively easy to use, and interoperates with other Outlook users and a veritable horde of PDAs and cellphones. It seems this is only very slowly coming to the open source world, but I will be happy once it's there, because this functionality really does help me be more productive.
PS: this /. interface sucks now :wq
Actually, has someone already written a fast, lightweight interface to Slashdot, with vi key bindings?
As I understand it, there hasn't been much of an effort to jailbreak the Xbox 360 console for homebrew because Microsoft offers a limited "XNA" sandbox in which to make, run, and even sell homebrew games
Similarly, efforts to jailbreak the PlayStation 3 only really seemed to get off the ground after Sony disabled the Other OS feature.
What amazes me is that I sometimes get the impression that consoles are somehow the preferred platform for gaming. I mean, the rate at which new consoles get brought to market is so slow, and the rate at which the PC world moves is so fast, that before you know it, Linux is a better gaming platform than the consoles, and mobile phones have better hardware. I understand the benefits of developing for a stable and homogeneous platform, but PCs are going to be running circles around consoles pretty soon.
As far as a stable platform goes - modern PCs can still run software written for the PCs of the 1980s, X is from 1984, and OpenGL from 1992. The BSD and win32 APIs have been available on PCs since 1993 or thereabouts, and DirectX since 1995. Take your pick; all of those predate the current generation of consoles.
You would think that these hardware manufacturers have something to gain by selling as many units as they can, and that it helps there if they let people run whatever OS people happen to want to run. Apparently, that's not the way it works - not all hardware manufacturers give you a choice, and those who do usually give you a choice among two operating systems. Also, it seems they take a lot of hard work of getting the operating systems they do offer to run on the devices themselves, even though I am sure other people would be more than happy to do that work for them. What gives?
To me, it's pure win. I mean, imagine working for a high-tech company and in so doing having improved the lives of 2 million families. Doesn't that sound GREAT?
I know I don't speak for everyone, but, personally, I don't care for any of the the OSes that don't allow native applications or that require me to learn new APIs for things I already know APIs for on other systems. There is no good reason we should have to learn a whole new set of APIs and/or have our applications run at less than the performance the device actually supports. Modern phones are easily able to run a complete Unix system, and I have long been saying that's what I want: I already know how to program for it, tons of programs have already been written for it, and the APIs are not going to go away for some time.
As it happens, Nokia makes a phone that gives me what I want: the N900. When I learned about it, I got one right away, and I have not regretted it. My only gripe with it is that they didn't put a shortcut to the phone functionality right on the main screen, but that was easily fixed by placing the appropriate icon there. Since then, it has been fantastic for phone calls, SMS, and as a pocket-sized computer.
Unfortunately for me, there seem to be few, if any, plans to continue to release phones with proper Linux environments, such as the N900. I have what I want, for now, but where will I go for my next phone?
I don't know about carburetors, specifically, but it's certainly true that car companies have been building cars that are less efficient (in terms of mpg) than they could have been, for a long time.
Just to be clear: I am not stipulating the existence of any conspiracies here, just observing a fact.
It never ceases to amaze me how humans arrogantly believe that only they themselves are conscious, capable of experiencing joy and pain, etc.
It's not just humans vs. animals (as if humans weren't animals, and as if all non-human animals were the same), but also humans vs. other humans (it's ok to be cruel to $allegedly_inferior_group, or even "It's ok for me to trample everyone, but don't anyone dare to slight me!").
Without getting into what exactly the definition of consciousness is, I think it is irrational to simply assume that your own group has it, and no other group does.