I too started with Linux at with RedHat 5.2. From there, I switched to Mandrake when RedHat was in 6.x, stayed with Mandrake into 8.x and now have been with Slackware since 8.x. I also tried SuSe and Debian a few years ago. At work I have production servers running Mandrake, but they are soon to be retired in favor of RedHat Enterprise.
My experience has been quite different from yours. With 5.2, yes, things didn't all work out of the box. It took me a few weeks before I dove into configuring X. I had to buy a "real" modem to replace my winmodem. I don't think I had sound right away. I dual-booted to Win 95 and later 98.
But with Linux, I taught myself Perl, MySQL, Apache and more, and got myself a job during the "bubble". At home, I used Linux to create web graphics, program, use the Internet, and try out other software. Some of that software was available on Windows, either natively or with Cygwin. But I was sick of Windows crashes and enthusiastic about Linux.
I remember even with 5.2, FVWM was very snappy if not much to look at. Maybe it was "difficult to manipulate" if you mean customizing it with mouse clicks, but it wasn't difficult to use. Click icon, program starts. Start an xterm, do even more. BTW, I was new at all this (doing more with a computer than just running applications). I wasn't turned off or intimidated, I was excited by diving in and exploring. Documentation was plentiful. I bought RedHat, so I had (and still have) the 5.2 book. There were already substantial Linux books on the market (that's what got me interested in the first place). And of course man pages, which shouldn't make anyone snicker. Yes, they are documentation.
I found nothing oblique or confusing about the file system, and RPM allowed me to view where the files of installed packages were located. If seeing '/usr/local/include' confuses you, sorry. I _did_, however, run into 'RPM Hell' with Mandrake, I believe in 8.x, which was one reason I abandoned RedHat-like distros.
Maybe I didn't fiddle around enough, but even with compiling my own kernels I never ran into your situation of a "seemingly simple change break[ing] numerous systems in unrelated modules and drivers."
Your conjecture on Linux and the IT crash is without merit. Maybe Linux provided a lower cost of entry for anyone with an idea to get into business when perhaps they shouldn't have, but the Web craze ("this will change the entire business model, the old rules don't apply anymore") and its subsequent adjustment wasn't due to the choice of technology. The first web start-up I worked for went through the initial IPO enthusiasm and then the subsequent several rounds of lay-offs (me included). The company survived, and they continue to use Linux for running their applications. We didn't spend time at work fixing Linux, or contribute to the "millions" of lost manhours that you claim Linux caused. Since those days, I've continued to find employment at places that either value Linux wholeheartedly, or where Linux is part of the picture. Oh, and where I work now, where we have Windows desktops, I can tell you that our Help Desk staff is kept very busy.
Ultimately, all your arguments for why Linux won't catch on for home use are the same arguments I heard years ago about why no one would choose Linux at work. Those arguments have been proven wrong. Linux made huge gains in the server room, and now is making inroads in corporate/government desktop. I won't claim Linux _is_ ready for the average home computer user right now, but it's very close.
At the end of the day, I'm glad I left Windows even though it was on my computer already. There is a very simple reason for this: it sucks. Analogy time: if I bought a house with a malfunctioning appliance that wasted resources and often broke or did unexpected things, I could either keep using it (hey, it came with the house, might as well), or I could get something better to replace it.
The USA didn't attack Saudi Arabia. It was the US (infidel) presence in (holy) Arabia that Bin Laden specifically mentioned in his pre-9/11 declaration of war against the USA.
Yes, I have looked, and was horrified. I had to create a web application that had the look and feel as one done in ASP.Net, so I was perusing its source for style information. What a rat's nest of code, like it was 1999. Font tags everywhere mixed with inline styles, nested nested tables, and 3 pages of JavaScript to do simple drop-down menus (granted, the JS could do more than what it was being used for in the application).
What's more funny than the fawning posts on that site by people who think MS invented RSS, is the picture accompanying PimpDaddy's post (2nd page). Looks like what he's pimping is similar to what MS pimps - bloated, ugly, wouldn't want to touch it!
All I know is that the Korean sites my wife likes to visit work poorly, with reduced features, on anything other than IE on Windows. Even IE on Mac blows with these sites. Pretty piss-poor, designing a fancy site that requires the user to not only use a particular browser, but a particular operating system. A lot of it is non-compliant JavaScript (watch those error message fly by in FF JavaScript console!), and I suppose ActiveX.
I've worked with Plone since almost their outset, and have gone from being an evangelist to a detractor. Nuxeo's CPS is a very good competitor, if you want to stay in Zope-world. Aquarium bears looking at, if you want to leave Zope behind.
Duh, say "Go Nats" with a lot of people, and what does it sound like? By the way, I'm a big fan, having lived in DC and NoVA for 3 decades. I never could stand the O's, even as a kid before moving to the area (go Reds! go A's!)
Please. I too felt a bit of disappointment at that very moment, when they condensed the absurdity of the bypass plans into "it was in a cellar." But I quickly got over it and went back to enjoying the movie.
A lot of the humor, the asides, the long-winded explanations, and the twists of language Adams employed in the books couldn't be reproduced verbatim in a movie.
Anyway, the ridiculousness of bureaucracy WAS stated with the Guide's entry on Vogons (wouldn't save his grandmother, signed in triplicate, etc). As other posters have pointed out, there was ample emphasis on Vogon bureaucracy throughout the movie. But one little ommission spoiled it for you. I suppose you left the theater murmuring "but what about the leopard?!"
As a long-time/. user, I'm happy to say that I've never seen Goatse guy or any part of him, and hope to keep it that way. I've gone looking for weird stuff, but what with all the dire warnings, I figure in this case I'm better off not knowing.
Funny, before reading this I was returning from lunch, remembering Refrigerator Johnny and my futile attempts to find anything online about it. So now I search again, and lo and behold, http://www.clowntimecomics.com/
Gentoo is not a valid comparison because it's not a consumer-based distro. There are point-and-click Linux installers that are less hassle than having to call a company for permission to do something with a product you own. I know I'd be annoyed as hell if, as previously suggested, I'm already pissed at the computer because of the need to reinstall the OS, and then I have to call someone and say "pretty please".
The comments for this article don't suggest that people dispute MS's right to do this, but rather most are amused or bemused at this business decision. Sure, I guess Whirlpool has the right to demand I call a support line if I need to replace the motor on my fridge, and prove that I'm the rightful owner - but they don't.
As to your last comment, I don't recall MacOS being free, or even some Linux distros. There's nothing but Windows unless it's free? Right.
Why then would you even go to Google? (yes, I know the reason behind the name - but how obvious is that meaning to most users who go "google" something?)
Slashdot Mirror
I too started with Linux at with RedHat 5.2. From there, I switched to Mandrake when RedHat was in 6.x, stayed with Mandrake into 8.x and now have been with Slackware since 8.x. I also tried SuSe and Debian a few years ago. At work I have production servers running Mandrake, but they are soon to be retired in favor of RedHat Enterprise.
My experience has been quite different from yours. With 5.2, yes, things didn't all work out of the box. It took me a few weeks before I dove into configuring X. I had to buy a "real" modem to replace my winmodem. I don't think I had sound right away. I dual-booted to Win 95 and later 98.
But with Linux, I taught myself Perl, MySQL, Apache and more, and got myself a job during the "bubble". At home, I used Linux to create web graphics, program, use the Internet, and try out other software. Some of that software was available on Windows, either natively or with Cygwin. But I was sick of Windows crashes and enthusiastic about Linux.
I remember even with 5.2, FVWM was very snappy if not much to look at. Maybe it was "difficult to manipulate" if you mean customizing it with mouse clicks, but it wasn't difficult to use. Click icon, program starts. Start an xterm, do even more. BTW, I was new at all this (doing more with a computer than just running applications). I wasn't turned off or intimidated, I was excited by diving in and exploring. Documentation was plentiful. I bought RedHat, so I had (and still have) the 5.2 book. There were already substantial Linux books on the market (that's what got me interested in the first place). And of course man pages, which shouldn't make anyone snicker. Yes, they are documentation.
I found nothing oblique or confusing about the file system, and RPM allowed me to view where the files of installed packages were located. If seeing '/usr/local/include' confuses you, sorry. I _did_, however, run into 'RPM Hell' with Mandrake, I believe in 8.x, which was one reason I abandoned RedHat-like distros.
Maybe I didn't fiddle around enough, but even with compiling my own kernels I never ran into your situation of a "seemingly simple change break[ing] numerous systems in unrelated modules and drivers."
Your conjecture on Linux and the IT crash is without merit. Maybe Linux provided a lower cost of entry for anyone with an idea to get into business when perhaps they shouldn't have, but the Web craze ("this will change the entire business model, the old rules don't apply anymore") and its subsequent adjustment wasn't due to the choice of technology. The first web start-up I worked for went through the initial IPO enthusiasm and then the subsequent several rounds of lay-offs (me included). The company survived, and they continue to use Linux for running their applications. We didn't spend time at work fixing Linux, or contribute to the "millions" of lost manhours that you claim Linux caused. Since those days, I've continued to find employment at places that either value Linux wholeheartedly, or where Linux is part of the picture. Oh, and where I work now, where we have Windows desktops, I can tell you that our Help Desk staff is kept very busy.
Ultimately, all your arguments for why Linux won't catch on for home use are the same arguments I heard years ago about why no one would choose Linux at work. Those arguments have been proven wrong. Linux made huge gains in the server room, and now is making inroads in corporate/government desktop. I won't claim Linux _is_ ready for the average home computer user right now, but it's very close.
At the end of the day, I'm glad I left Windows even though it was on my computer already. There is a very simple reason for this: it sucks. Analogy time: if I bought a house with a malfunctioning appliance that wasted resources and often broke or did unexpected things, I could either keep using it (hey, it came with the house, might as well), or I could get something better to replace it.
"Sure there are successes..., but for every success there are hundreds of completely useless failures out there."
Sounds just like the driven-by-profit business world.
The USA didn't attack Saudi Arabia. It was the US (infidel) presence in (holy) Arabia that Bin Laden specifically mentioned in his pre-9/11 declaration of war against the USA.
Yes, I have looked, and was horrified. I had to create a web application that had the look and feel as one done in ASP .Net, so I was perusing its source for style information. What a rat's nest of code, like it was 1999. Font tags everywhere mixed with inline styles, nested nested tables, and 3 pages of JavaScript to do simple drop-down menus (granted, the JS could do more than what it was being used for in the application).
What's more funny than the fawning posts on that site by people who think MS invented RSS, is the picture accompanying PimpDaddy's post (2nd page). Looks like what he's pimping is similar to what MS pimps - bloated, ugly, wouldn't want to touch it!
And yes, the video is extremely horrible.
All I know is that the Korean sites my wife likes to visit work poorly, with reduced features, on anything other than IE on Windows. Even IE on Mac blows with these sites. Pretty piss-poor, designing a fancy site that requires the user to not only use a particular browser, but a particular operating system. A lot of it is non-compliant JavaScript (watch those error message fly by in FF JavaScript console!), and I suppose ActiveX.
I've worked with Plone since almost their outset, and have gone from being an evangelist to a detractor. Nuxeo's CPS is a very good competitor, if you want to stay in Zope-world. Aquarium bears looking at, if you want to leave Zope behind.
Duh, say "Go Nats" with a lot of people, and what does it sound like? By the way, I'm a big fan, having lived in DC and NoVA for 3 decades. I never could stand the O's, even as a kid before moving to the area (go Reds! go A's!)
What do you think we yell at the games of the newest baseball team, the Washington Nationals?
Sorry, all my money is tied up in real estate, I can't afford the fee for the Economist's premium content to read the entire article.
Also see SourceId and Shibboleth.
oops nix that, I read your "1, 2" as bullet points, not quantities. Must wake up...
Did you even follow the MicroNet link? you need to drop your price about $500. Your point three should be: worth it.
And does it have an eight-foot arm, or does it throw the food towards the bed?
Please. I too felt a bit of disappointment at that very moment, when they condensed the absurdity of the bypass plans into "it was in a cellar." But I quickly got over it and went back to enjoying the movie.
A lot of the humor, the asides, the long-winded explanations, and the twists of language Adams employed in the books couldn't be reproduced verbatim in a movie.
Anyway, the ridiculousness of bureaucracy WAS stated with the Guide's entry on Vogons (wouldn't save his grandmother, signed in triplicate, etc). As other posters have pointed out, there was ample emphasis on Vogon bureaucracy throughout the movie. But one little ommission spoiled it for you. I suppose you left the theater murmuring "but what about the leopard?!"
Funny, when I was watching the movie, I thought the Vogon scenes were very Gilliam-esque that I later googled to see if he had anything to with it.
I very much hope they do a sequel(s) -- I enjoyed the movie but wanted to see so much more.
As a long-time /. user, I'm happy to say that I've never seen Goatse guy or any part of him, and hope to keep it that way. I've gone looking for weird stuff, but what with all the dire warnings, I figure in this case I'm better off not knowing.
Tub girl, alas, is a different story.
Its trademark 'sink plunger' attachment also reveals a terrifying new function
It has a hat-removal function?
Then I hope you are likewise wary (you mean skeptical?) of a large amount of work from many of the best minds in science.
Funny, before reading this I was returning from lunch, remembering Refrigerator Johnny and my futile attempts to find anything online about it. So now I search again, and lo and behold, http://www.clowntimecomics.com/
He's mixed up with that other reptile-themed programming language, Jabberwocky.
(Please, no Spanish Inquisitions over my seeming ignorance of the etymology of Python.)
Yeah, but this is a call centre call. So 12 am for you is only about tea-time in New Delhi.
(Or for our American readers - New Delhi, India.)
For the other American readers, tea time is the time of day you ask Butler to bring tea and crumpets, around 4 in the afternoon.
What, as opposed to when a woman has her period in New Delhi, Kentucky? Sheesh, we're not all that ignorant!
Gentoo is not a valid comparison because it's not a consumer-based distro. There are point-and-click Linux installers that are less hassle than having to call a company for permission to do something with a product you own. I know I'd be annoyed as hell if, as previously suggested, I'm already pissed at the computer because of the need to reinstall the OS, and then I have to call someone and say "pretty please".
The comments for this article don't suggest that people dispute MS's right to do this, but rather most are amused or bemused at this business decision. Sure, I guess Whirlpool has the right to demand I call a support line if I need to replace the motor on my fridge, and prove that I'm the rightful owner - but they don't.
As to your last comment, I don't recall MacOS being free, or even some Linux distros. There's nothing but Windows unless it's free? Right.
network.enableIDN User set boolean false
That's Firefox 1.0 on Windows, many days after I set it and after many restarts. But enough of that, on to the upgrade.
Why then would you even go to Google? (yes, I know the reason behind the name - but how obvious is that meaning to most users who go "google" something?)