You do realise that the author of the article specifically mentions that he uses Kazaa himself. You are not going to tell me that it is for legit use. Or did you think he'd install potential spyware just to "test" what those vampires are doing? I really think this guy doesn't have that much of a concept how networks work. The only thing he does is ranting that *his* Kazaa connection is slow and that it is due to "the Vampires".
I use Gnucleus for the sole reason of listening to music I never would have heard in the first place. And when I like I buy. What I do is illegal, yes, but not bad for the economy.
I'll shut up now...
You're Joe Sixpack vision is a good argument. However it brings down computing to a "lowest-common denominator". Why do I tell you this, well...I actually remember the DOS days, the users of those times knew what the diffrence between files and applications (data/code), the users knew a minimum about their system (for example the graphics card). This has all been lost: I encounter daily people who don't know what a file or a directory is. I encounter daily people that can't even add a printer to their system. And no...taking the smallish booklet that came with the computer is not an option, neither looking in the online help files. Still they expect to use a computer without knowing any of the basics.
I don't have a problem with people that "don't breathe computers", using computers...but the situation is now as if you let kids drive around with sportscars without even knowing where the brake pedal is, and what those pedals are anyway. And I can tell you: most users are up to "the basics" (file system, and disctinction application/files) if it is explained to them. My brother is a working-class guy, not the brightest in the family, but *he* know...because I told him the basics. My mother wanted to learn using computers, well the first lesson I gave was without the computer on: just plainly explaining the concepts of filesystems. Yes, she got it. No she never asks a thing about where to store her files.
You see, it's just the concept of "dumbing down" that is wrong. If you want a dumbed down computer, buy a appliance for typing your letters (typewriter), or an appliance for surfing the web (WebTV). Having and using a computer comes with a certain degree of responsibility.
So explain me why I still love to play Civilisation I, X-Com 1 and X-Com 2, Maniac Mansion, Pirates, the whole Space Quest series and the whole Larry series (Okay, I just have up to 5 for SQ and up to 6).
Oh, and I still love to play Alley Cat once in a while. Great game... and that was only CGA.
You new kiddies don't know what was good gaming. Unfortunately the Adventure genre died years ago, the only thing we get nowadays is Simulations, First Person Shooters and Real Time Strategy games. As long as there is eye-candy. I feel old, and I'm only 25....:-(
Wow...that's impressive! I thought we only had pics of Venus from satellites. You would have been nice to give a link:-)
Google is your friend, so here is one:-)
I actually started smoking due to the fact that I was in an office with smokers only. They always went to the kitchen to get a puff, and I was left there. So I started going to take a smoke with them. Actually smoke-breaks are very enjoyable breaks:-)
Now back at the office (bodyshop for IT related stuff) I go out and smoke with the Managment types. You get pretty interesting viewpoints about the company and what goes on.
Actually....you have it the wrong way around. Windows (mostly the NT incarnations) are the de facto standard in companies. This is not because of the OS (tough I tend to like NT4), but because of the Office suite. I have a lot of banking experience and many, many transactions are still done with simple terminal screens to big irons protected from the outside world. Heck, I had to make front-ends for these things and the users wanted to have the same look and feel (don't ask!)
Now the point is here that history has made the x86 platform as home computer because back in the days when a an XT was 5000$, the only people who could afford it were the bussiness men who wanted to do a bit of Lotus 123 at home. Of course these bought IBM machines that came with MS-Dos (I'm not kidding you...my dad was one of those loonies..tough it was a PS/2 in later times) All other computer *enthousiasts* were on Commodore 64, Sinclairs, BBC's....heck I'm probably even mixing decades here.
Later on when computers got cheaper (think 486, but were still expensive enough), people started to buy those for home use. You know the primary excuse for a home PC (bought by adults) was back then to do a bit word processing and spreadsheeting. Guess, what that is the stuff they (eventually) did at work and so the choice was clear: buy a PC. Yes, and the computer enthousiasts still used their Amiga's.
Now one could say that times have changed: now people admit they buy the computer for entertainment (surfing/games). I'm not sure if people still select at home what they use at work or if the tides have turned and home usage infuences work usage now. Now imagine businesses would massively switch to Linux (because MS gets even worse with licencing than it now is, and decision makers have the *balls* to say no...which I personally highly doubt) Woudn't this refect automagically into a higher demand for Linux home machines? I think so! People buy what they are used to, not what is good... Joe users dreads to learn about PC's.
I agree that W2k is a fine OS (tough I still prefer NT4), but I woudn't put it on a server....not anymore, I got the feeling of *BSD and for me a good Unix server is a *BSD server. For home usage W2K it's okay: you turn on the puter a couple of hours a day and it's stable enough for that: uptimes simply are not important for home usage. Win 9x kernels however were never suitable for anything... I don't know XP enough (only used one PC with drivers problems at a friends place), but it seemed very very bloated to me. (even more than W2K!)
Personally I have changed, I was an MS-Dos man, hated Win 1.0 to Win 3.xx and loved OS/2 (which died an absurd death). I had to get over to Win 95 and hated NT4 until I learned the strengths of it. Lately I have learned Linux, but I saw the light withing OSX. For me OSX is the machine for home use, if you're not into gaming of course...the only reason I now have to use a Windows incarnation are games and fortunately I'm not a big gamer.
Really? Well, I just did a Google on weightjournal and guess who is first? You!:-)
Of course this is probably due to the domain name you own, if I do a search on "weight journal", you are indeed halfway the second page.
From my personal experience Google does it's job very well: if I type in my first name and last name, it gives my site first. The same counts of course for "jawtheshark"(but then I own the domain name) . There is a way to "cheat" by the way: just add your pet project to your sig on slashdot or put it in your info on slashdot. Whenever you post, you automatically add a link to you pet project that way. When the topic gets archived this is not lost, and google will index it. Before I started posting on slashdot my site was about halfway the search page, after posting on slashdot I went up to the top. I didn' buy the domain until much later, so I can't relate to that effect. Well, that my theory of course:-)
On the other hand: the topic your pet project is about, is quite a popular one: much competition if you see what I mean.
I wanted to do exactly the same but I my family was against it (Especially my sister who wanted male anime characters)... So I proposed characters from Kipling's Jungle book. So that is what it's now: domain "jungle", and the OpenBSD box that is NAT/Firewall is appropriately called "Mowgly"...which is a kind of "interface" between animal world and human world..
Oh, and I never ever want to hear again "something's wrong with baloo" again....aaargh!;-)
Writing down - for example - the lyrics of a song and publishing it is not legal. As a recent example: in the storyline of Sluggy Freelance the author used some of the lyrics of "Fire and Rain" by James Taylor within his comic. It played on the radio of one of the characters in the comic and the there was a (c) James Taylor down there somewhere.
The author from Sluggy Freelance got a Cease and Desist letter anyway and changed to comic: it now displays the text of the DJ announcing the song on the radio.
Interesting. I didn't know that this existed....How does it work in 4.xx? Now, on my home network (mostly W2K clients) I standardized on Netscape 4.76 and I do use profiles. They are stored (as normal directories) on a Samba server, and the browsers go and fetch them from there (mapped network drive). This is very cool, because if I go on any machine of my network my preferences and bookmarks are the same. Mozilla however stores this info in the user-profile on the the local machine (NT: %windir%\Profiles\%username% or W2K:C:\Documents and Settings\%username%). This woudn't be a problem if I implemented a windows roaming profile policy on the network...but really, isn't that overkill just to have your browser settings everywhere the same?
Oh, one little offtopic question: why does Internet Explorer use a collection of.lnk files to keep your favourites, instead of one clean bookmark.html file like Mozilla or Netscape? I never understood this concept.
I just read your parent post. Surak doesn't state much about AOL and eventual bussiness implementations. His theory is soley based upon the fact that "people want what they are used to" (currently, known as "Windows"). According to Surak, people use a certain OS and want that one at work too. (Paragraph number 4 in his post). If AOL uses Linux as connection platform, the people that are used to the "AOL Platform" will want a similar at work too and hence the conclusion that Linux might make it to the desktop in bussinesses that way.
The original post does not say that AOLinux would make it to the desktop in bussinesses directly, but putting it on the desktop somewhere would (home sector in this case) would push the other sectors (bussiness).
I actually think this logic is flawed, because I'm convinced that people choose their computer/OS on basis of what they know from work and not inversely. (My dad bought an IBM PS/2 back in the days running DOS...even tough much cheaper Amigas were more advanced)
I took the "ad" bit as an attempt to be funny and I disregarded the "bussiness" part on purpose. Besides, normally you state the most important point first, and the funny part last when you make an argument:-)
Now just another little anecdote on how "Joe User" thinks about OS/computers. I take my new iBook to work regularly and most people to it react very positively. Now, today I had a conversation with a less technically inclined coworker and he said he would be interested to buy one because they look neat but he won't that the Mac lacks "compatibility". He meant no office suites, no integration in current networks. That kind of stuff. I gave him a blank stare and told him that "Microsoft Office" exists for Mac and that it works well, email, internet (web, you know), are there and that it connects perfectly within my hybrid (W2K/Linux/OpenBSD) network at home. Heck I hack into the company network with it, but don't tell the sysadmin. Then he told me something about not being able to add TV cards to a Mac....ehm, isn't a Mac reputed for multimedia? (he was fantasizing about the cinema LCD screen coupled to a PC with a TV card or something like that) You see, people are not informed at all... So this guy would be the typical "at-work-I-have-windows-98-I-want-that-at-home-too ". (Yes, he is a managing type with a paycheck triple of mine, otherwhise one can't even think of those Cinema LCD screens;-) )
A tyrant is not necessary a fascist:-) Fidel Castro is definately a tyrant but not really a fascist.
I just care about my users *and* my systems: I want my systems stable and my users happy. I try to find the middleway. A real tyrant woudn't even consider installing a file sharing program on his systems. I just didn't find a good word, "tyrant" is not good...perhaps "protectionist" would be better. I never said that I was a good admin, I just try to do my best.
I knew that joke by the way... it was nice to read it again, thanx for the laugh:-)
Okay, you don't like ads...I don't like ads, but guess what: I learned something recently. Joe User does not care! See, I have this network at home which I administer like a tyrant: only programs that I approve will be installed. Nothing else is allowed unless I think it's usefull and I checked it's integrity (spyware and the like).
Now, why do I tell you this. Simple: my sister is a real music fan and wants to access file sharing software like Morpheus, Kaazaa and the like. So I did my homework and downloaded Gnucleus (which works insanely well). I told her: look, here is a client without ads that does everything you need. Spread the word to your friends about it. Her reply was simple: my friends do not care about the ads, they are not interested in alternatives. Same thing when she subscribed for an hotmail account: I told her, you'll be spammed to hell and I subscribed her to a better account. She did drop her hotmail account but under protest, because that was what she knew. Another instance is ICQ, 2000 and 2001 clients come with ads. I kept the 99b version until it stopped working correctly. I didn't want the 2000 and 2001 versions because of the ads...she again did not care. Most people don't care about ads, not about spyware....even if they underestimate spyware.
So *if* AOL would bring out AOLinux with a default windowmanager that looks like Windows 98/W2K/XP and that has an ad in the corner: I'm all for it because the normal user will take it, use it and accept the damned litte ad.
Well, I consider Palm systems mostly as toys. They are not bad for what they are designed for but surfing the web is not really what they were intended for.
I however have Psion Revo+ and I connect to the "real internet": no problem checking your mail, neither having to miss the web on the road. Built in email-client and Opera for EPOC systems. The screen is even large enough to comfortably read from it.
Of course it is rather expensive over cellphone, but hey, if you use it just occasionally (mainly for email) it doesn't even appear too hard on your bill. I woudn't trade my Psion for any PalmOS based machine:-)
anti-aliased fonts (finally in OS X, Windows had it for SEVEN FREAKING YEARS)
Sure...Windows had antialiased fonts in 95....provided you bought the Plus pack or downloaded a patch (still have it somewhere on an archive disk). The problem is just that it was a really really bad implementation.
You do not have to take my opinion on it because I have turned it on all the time. However I install PC's for friends and relatives and you won't believe how many people came back asking me why their fonts now looked "blurry", and if I -please, please- could revert it back to the non-blurry fonts. Besides, the Antialiasing was only on larger fonts (notably in titlebars or in Word). On smaller fonts it wasn't applied at all. I'm now typing this on my iBook and the small fonts have antialiasing and it does not look blurry at all.
The antialiasing on windows was clearly the way "how not to do it".
Further on your critisisms of the Mac OSX interface:
Alt-Tab: Never use that on a Mac, so I won't comment
per-window and per-app menu bars: What is wrong with that? You always find your possible choices on the same place. Not somewhere attached to some window that perhaps even is nearly off screen. I come from a WinTel world (I have a Mac since 4 months) and I don't have problems with the Mac system
text descriptions rather than icon-only: Where that? I wanna see! I agree it is bad to only use icons...but our friend windows has this nice toolbar thingy that only uses...icons! Here on my mac all applications currently open have icons with text beneath it.
grayed out: Did you use the flagship of the application Microsoft line recently? They do exactly the same! Open Excel, and close all documents (or add the/E parameter to your shortcut). Want to print, sorry: that is grayed out for no apparent reason. Okay, the reason is that there is no open document. But it is grayed out without indication why.
Just remember that GUI's shouldn't work all the same on every platform. Each choice has its advantages and disadvantages. On Linux I use WindowMaker, now how is that compared to Mac OS X and Windows 9x/ME/NT/W2K/XP? Completely different! Learn to appreciate the diversity of systems and you won't feel too disoriented on other systems.
But that is how I see it....
Re:Why does style have to be masculine?
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I personally know "real men" who drive the New Beatle. It's a cute little thing, and a lot of guys like stylish products. Personally I drive what people refer to as a Squashed New Beatle and I do own an iBook. I love both machines:-) I barely even touch my x86 workstation (tough it has an LCD panel, which I paid big bucks for 1.5years ago) Nobody ever called me a fag, because I like style over function.
Okay, I called you names because I considered your previous post flamebait. It clearly wasn't since you do seem to mean what you say.
I respect your opinion, but the point is that few people will buy a new PC just because their browsing experience is slow. You may think that 1000$ is cheap for an entry level PC, but I know many people who cannot afford this even over more than 6 months. Besides, where can I get a Celeron 500 for example to build a really cheap system? As you perhaps noticed I am a person who likes light systems, even when the PC has the performance. (I run WindowMaker, and a custom built kernel on that P-III machine) People woudn't complain that their systems were slow if they used well written software. Honestly, I can live without Flash, ActiveX and Java. Most people could, but they don't realise a well designed webpage is just as good (better) as a flash animated nothingness that only looks good and if you are unlucky you need to download a 5 meg plugin. Entry level PC's have by the way a big problem: they lack memory....I have seem PIV 1.4 GHz with 128Meg RAM running XP. Now, sorry, but I don't get that...It should at least have the double. Heck one year ago my standards were already at 256Meg RAM minimum for a machine. Entry level PC's are bought by newbies who don't know anything and they will be the first to complain about the slowness. (Yes, I have heard complaints of people running a 1.2GHz PIV...go figure!)
You're an idiot! Most people don't buy a new computer each 6 months. In financial circles it is called an "investment". Most geeks don't even buy a machine every two years because they know how to maintain it...
I have machines ranging from 200Mhz (Pentium Pro) to 800Mhz (Pentium III) which are used daily as desktop machines. It is out of the question that they will be replaced anytime soon because with enough memory they do exactly what they are expected to do(the Pro has 256Meg, and the P III has 768Meg). Their tasks range from a bit of gaming to normal surfing and emailing (Halflife runs well on a PPro 200 provided you have a good graphics card) If I can push out a little bit more performance by choosing the right tool for the Job (like Opera instead of Mozilla), I'll do it. So a fast browser is relevant to all but the richest computer users around. Besides, the rendering of pages pushes more on the memory than on the CPU. (According to my experience) On my old laptop (P120/32Meg RAM) running Linux (kernel 2.4.10) with WindowMaker, I run Opera and it is quite usable. The rendering speed is on par with Netscape 4,7x on a the PPro 200. No, Opera is a *great* browser... anyone who finds their current browser slow should try it instead of shelling out a lot of money for a new machine.
You shoudn't call it "Norton Midnight Commander". There is a "Norton Commander" (old DOS proggy) and there is " GNU Midnight Commander"" which you could call the Linux clone.
And why would you want a x86 port? It works fine on my G3 you know. It is quite weird that a lot of people on this forum say that the x86 platform deserves to die, but then they want their OSes to run on it. I don't care that Apple makes their money on the hardware....I actually think it's a very good way: pay good money for a good system and you get an excellent OS "free" with it. Sounds better to me than paying cheap for crappy hardware with an instable OS (x86 with Windows). People are cheap and that is why x86 is popular (okay, Apple is a bit on the pricy side but for quality you should compare them to IBM and they are quite pricy too) I have a lot of x86 machines, don't worry....I like them too, but I install them according to what they will be used for. Windows for my familiy to do surfing and play games, Linux for me and for my servers. (And OpenBSD as firewall...)
I bought an iBook two weeks ago and it is my first Mac. I was playing around with Linux for over a year and feel quite confident with it. (quite a lot, on my older hardware). You know compiling kernels, getting stuff to work and to interoperate with my Windows machines, setting up a nice desktop and using it as a desktop machine. Worked perfectly and I was hapyp. The Mac always looked a bit like toys for me, but they are most of the time pretty. (Yes, that is a selling point for me!) They also have a stimga of being computers for people that don't want to know about computers. However, prettyness and curiosity about OSX got me buying one. Now, I am not desoriented at all using OSX. It really rocks! Command line open and it's all there: it's often more useful than wading through config screens which you are unfamiliar with. I know, stating something like that is very un-Mac, but the point is: you come from a Linux world (or *BSD) and your Mac will feel at home. If you come from a Windows background, I'm pretty sure you will feel at home too (and enjoy a prettier desktop *grin*),
One people get a bit more open-minded on computers and operating systems, and are willing to give a Mac a a try....then I'm sure the Mac will have a very bright future.
(A bit offtopic: even from my hardcore PC users co-workers, I only had positive reactions on the design of the new iMac)
Completely agree, the term has become ambiguous. It is just context dependent if kilo- means 10^3 or 2^10. Besides, the terms kilobytes, megabytes and gigabytes are so grown into the vocabulary of people using computers that it isn't going to change anytime soon. Humans don't have too much difficulty in interpreting contexts, so the ambiguity is not a problem.
Look at cars: power of cars should be expressed in kW, but nobody does this. They say, "my car has 255HP" instead of "my car has 166kW". I tried to use "kW" for some time, but nobody understood what I was talking about. It happens all the time, in all segments of engineering and science. Physicists still do use Amgstrom (sp?) from time to time, even tough the term is obsoleted. And then I don't even start about the imperial system:-)
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I use Gnucleus for the sole reason of listening to music I never would have heard in the first place. And when I like I buy. What I do is illegal, yes, but not bad for the economy.
I'll shut up now...
This has all been lost: I encounter daily people who don't know what a file or a directory is. I encounter daily people that can't even add a printer to their system. And no...taking the smallish booklet that came with the computer is not an option, neither looking in the online help files. Still they expect to use a computer without knowing any of the basics.
I don't have a problem with people that "don't breathe computers", using computers...but the situation is now as if you let kids drive around with sportscars without even knowing where the brake pedal is, and what those pedals are anyway. And I can tell you: most users are up to "the basics" (file system, and disctinction application/files) if it is explained to them. My brother is a working-class guy, not the brightest in the family, but *he* know...because I told him the basics. My mother wanted to learn using computers, well the first lesson I gave was without the computer on: just plainly explaining the concepts of filesystems. Yes, she got it. No she never asks a thing about where to store her files.
You see, it's just the concept of "dumbing down" that is wrong. If you want a dumbed down computer, buy a appliance for typing your letters (typewriter), or an appliance for surfing the web (WebTV). Having and using a computer comes with a certain degree of responsibility.
I'll try it...thanx for the tip. I don't know that game (just by name).
Oh, and I still love to play Alley Cat once in a while. Great game... and that was only CGA.
You new kiddies don't know what was good gaming. Unfortunately the Adventure genre died years ago, the only thing we get nowadays is Simulations, First Person Shooters and Real Time Strategy games. As long as there is eye-candy. :-(
I feel old, and I'm only 25....
Wow...that's impressive! I thought we only had pics of Venus from satellites. You would have been nice to give a link :-) :-)
Google is your friend, so here is one
I actually started smoking due to the fact that I was in an office with smokers only. They always went to the kitchen to get a puff, and I was left there. So I started going to take a smoke with them. Actually smoke-breaks are very enjoyable breaks :-)
Now back at the office (bodyshop for IT related stuff) I go out and smoke with the Managment types. You get pretty interesting viewpoints about the company and what goes on.
Now the point is here that history has made the x86 platform as home computer because back in the days when a an XT was 5000$, the only people who could afford it were the bussiness men who wanted to do a bit of Lotus 123 at home. Of course these bought IBM machines that came with MS-Dos (I'm not kidding you...my dad was one of those loonies..tough it was a PS/2 in later times) All other computer *enthousiasts* were on Commodore 64, Sinclairs, BBC's....heck I'm probably even mixing decades here.
Later on when computers got cheaper (think 486, but were still expensive enough), people started to buy those for home use. You know the primary excuse for a home PC (bought by adults) was back then to do a bit word processing and spreadsheeting. Guess, what that is the stuff they (eventually) did at work and so the choice was clear: buy a PC. Yes, and the computer enthousiasts still used their Amiga's.
Now one could say that times have changed: now people admit they buy the computer for entertainment (surfing/games). I'm not sure if people still select at home what they use at work or if the tides have turned and home usage infuences work usage now. Now imagine businesses would massively switch to Linux (because MS gets even worse with licencing than it now is, and decision makers have the *balls* to say no...which I personally highly doubt) Woudn't this refect automagically into a higher demand for Linux home machines? I think so! People buy what they are used to, not what is good... Joe users dreads to learn about PC's.
I agree that W2k is a fine OS (tough I still prefer NT4), but I woudn't put it on a server....not anymore, I got the feeling of *BSD and for me a good Unix server is a *BSD server. For home usage W2K it's okay: you turn on the puter a couple of hours a day and it's stable enough for that: uptimes simply are not important for home usage. Win 9x kernels however were never suitable for anything... I don't know XP enough (only used one PC with drivers problems at a friends place), but it seemed very very bloated to me. (even more than W2K!)
Personally I have changed, I was an MS-Dos man, hated Win 1.0 to Win 3.xx and loved OS/2 (which died an absurd death). I had to get over to Win 95 and hated NT4 until I learned the strengths of it. Lately I have learned Linux, but I saw the light withing OSX. For me OSX is the machine for home use, if you're not into gaming of course...the only reason I now have to use a Windows incarnation are games and fortunately I'm not a big gamer.
Yeah, and you'll attract more visitors, too...
Of course this is probably due to the domain name you own, if I do a search on "weight journal", you are indeed halfway the second page.
From my personal experience Google does it's job very well: if I type in my first name and last name, it gives my site first. The same counts of course for "jawtheshark"(but then I own the domain name) . :-)
There is a way to "cheat" by the way: just add your pet project to your sig on slashdot or put it in your info on slashdot. Whenever you post, you automatically add a link to you pet project that way. When the topic gets archived this is not lost, and google will index it. Before I started posting on slashdot my site was about halfway the search page, after posting on slashdot I went up to the top. I didn' buy the domain until much later, so I can't relate to that effect. Well, that my theory of course
On the other hand: the topic your pet project is about, is quite a popular one: much competition if you see what I mean.
I love this name (and the reason)! It's so appropriate! Thanx for sharing.
So I proposed characters from Kipling's Jungle book. So that is what it's now: domain "jungle", and the OpenBSD box that is NAT/Firewall is appropriately called "Mowgly"...which is a kind of "interface" between animal world and human world..
Oh, and I never ever want to hear again "something's wrong with baloo" again....aaargh! ;-)
The author from Sluggy Freelance got a Cease and Desist letter anyway and changed to comic: it now displays the text of the DJ announcing the song on the radio.
So just writing down a song is illegal, yes....
Now, on my home network (mostly W2K clients) I standardized on Netscape 4.76 and I do use profiles. They are stored (as normal directories) on a Samba server, and the browsers go and fetch them from there (mapped network drive). This is very cool, because if I go on any machine of my network my preferences and bookmarks are the same.
Mozilla however stores this info in the user-profile on the the local machine (NT: %windir%\Profiles\%username% or W2K:C:\Documents and Settings\%username%). This woudn't be a problem if I implemented a windows roaming profile policy on the network...but really, isn't that overkill just to have your browser settings everywhere the same?
Oh, one little offtopic question: why does Internet Explorer use a collection of .lnk files to keep your favourites, instead of one clean bookmark.html file like Mozilla or Netscape? I never understood this concept.
The original post does not say that AOLinux would make it to the desktop in bussinesses directly, but putting it on the desktop somewhere would (home sector in this case) would push the other sectors (bussiness).
I actually think this logic is flawed, because I'm convinced that people choose their computer/OS on basis of what they know from work and not inversely. (My dad bought an IBM PS/2 back in the days running DOS...even tough much cheaper Amigas were more advanced)
I took the "ad" bit as an attempt to be funny and I disregarded the "bussiness" part on purpose. Besides, normally you state the most important point first, and the funny part last when you make an argument :-)
Now just another little anecdote on how "Joe User" thinks about OS/computers. I take my new iBook to work regularly and most people to it react very positively. Now, today I had a conversation with a less technically inclined coworker and he said he would be interested to buy one because they look neat but he won't that the Mac lacks "compatibility". He meant no office suites, no integration in current networks. That kind of stuff. I gave him a blank stare and told him that "Microsoft Office" exists for Mac and that it works well, email, internet (web, you know), are there and that it connects perfectly within my hybrid (W2K/Linux/OpenBSD) network at home. Heck I hack into the company network with it, but don't tell the sysadmin. Then he told me something about not being able to add TV cards to a Mac....ehm, isn't a Mac reputed for multimedia? (he was fantasizing about the cinema LCD screen coupled to a PC with a TV card or something like that)o ". (Yes, he is a managing type with a paycheck triple of mine, otherwhise one can't even think of those Cinema LCD screens ;-) )
You see, people are not informed at all... So this guy would be the typical "at-work-I-have-windows-98-I-want-that-at-home-to
I just care about my users *and* my systems: I want my systems stable and my users happy. I try to find the middleway. A real tyrant woudn't even consider installing a file sharing program on his systems. I just didn't find a good word, "tyrant" is not good...perhaps "protectionist" would be better. I never said that I was a good admin, I just try to do my best.
I knew that joke by the way... it was nice to read it again, thanx for the laugh :-)
Doens't change my mind on the AOLinux topic...
See, I have this network at home which I administer like a tyrant: only programs that I approve will be installed. Nothing else is allowed unless I think it's usefull and I checked it's integrity (spyware and the like).
Now, why do I tell you this. Simple: my sister is a real music fan and wants to access file sharing software like Morpheus, Kaazaa and the like. So I did my homework and downloaded Gnucleus (which works insanely well). I told her: look, here is a client without ads that does everything you need. Spread the word to your friends about it. Her reply was simple: my friends do not care about the ads, they are not interested in alternatives. Same thing when she subscribed for an hotmail account: I told her, you'll be spammed to hell and I subscribed her to a better account. She did drop her hotmail account but under protest, because that was what she knew. Another instance is ICQ, 2000 and 2001 clients come with ads. I kept the 99b version until it stopped working correctly. I didn't want the 2000 and 2001 versions because of the ads...she again did not care.
Most people don't care about ads, not about spyware....even if they underestimate spyware.
So *if* AOL would bring out AOLinux with a default windowmanager that looks like Windows 98/W2K/XP and that has an ad in the corner: I'm all for it because the normal user will take it, use it and accept the damned litte ad.
I however have Psion Revo+ and I connect to the "real internet": no problem checking your mail, neither having to miss the web on the road. Built in email-client and Opera for EPOC systems. The screen is even large enough to comfortably read from it. :-)
Of course it is rather expensive over cellphone, but hey, if you use it just occasionally (mainly for email) it doesn't even appear too hard on your bill. I woudn't trade my Psion for any PalmOS based machine
Too bad Psion stopped making hardware :-(
Sure...Windows had antialiased fonts in 95....provided you bought the Plus pack or downloaded a patch (still have it somewhere on an archive disk). The problem is just that it was a really really bad implementation.
You do not have to take my opinion on it because I have turned it on all the time.
However I install PC's for friends and relatives and you won't believe how many people came back asking me why their fonts now looked "blurry", and if I -please, please- could revert it back to the non-blurry fonts.
Besides, the Antialiasing was only on larger fonts (notably in titlebars or in Word). On smaller fonts it wasn't applied at all. I'm now typing this on my iBook and the small fonts have antialiasing and it does not look blurry at all.
The antialiasing on windows was clearly the way "how not to do it".
Further on your critisisms of the Mac OSX interface:
- Alt-Tab: Never use that on a Mac, so I won't comment
- per-window and per-app menu bars: What is wrong with that? You always find your possible choices on the same place. Not somewhere attached to some window that perhaps even is nearly off screen. I come from a WinTel world (I have a Mac since 4 months) and I don't have problems with the Mac system
- text descriptions rather than icon-only: Where that? I wanna see! I agree it is bad to only use icons...but our friend windows has this nice toolbar thingy that only uses...icons! Here on my mac all applications currently open have icons with text beneath it.
- grayed out: Did you use the flagship of the application Microsoft line recently? They do exactly the same! Open Excel, and close all documents (or add the
/E parameter to your shortcut). Want to print, sorry: that is grayed out for no apparent reason. Okay, the reason is that there is no open document. But it is grayed out without indication why.
Just remember that GUI's shouldn't work all the same on every platform. Each choice has its advantages and disadvantages. On Linux I use WindowMaker, now how is that compared to Mac OS X and Windows 9x/ME/NT/W2K/XP? Completely different! Learn to appreciate the diversity of systems and you won't feel too disoriented on other systems.But that is how I see it....
I personally know "real men" who drive the New Beatle. It's a cute little thing, and a lot of guys like stylish products. :-) I barely even touch my x86 workstation (tough it has an LCD panel, which I paid big bucks for 1.5years ago) Nobody ever called me a fag, because I like style over function.
Personally I drive what people refer to as a Squashed New Beatle and I do own an iBook. I love both machines
I respect your opinion, but the point is that few people will buy a new PC just because their browsing experience is slow. You may think that 1000$ is cheap for an entry level PC, but I know many people who cannot afford this even over more than 6 months. Besides, where can I get a Celeron 500 for example to build a really cheap system?
As you perhaps noticed I am a person who likes light systems, even when the PC has the performance. (I run WindowMaker, and a custom built kernel on that P-III machine)
People woudn't complain that their systems were slow if they used well written software. Honestly, I can live without Flash, ActiveX and Java. Most people could, but they don't realise a well designed webpage is just as good (better) as a flash animated nothingness that only looks good and if you are unlucky you need to download a 5 meg plugin.
Entry level PC's have by the way a big problem: they lack memory....I have seem PIV 1.4 GHz with 128Meg RAM running XP. Now, sorry, but I don't get that...It should at least have the double. Heck one year ago my standards were already at 256Meg RAM minimum for a machine. Entry level PC's are bought by newbies who don't know anything and they will be the first to complain about the slowness. (Yes, I have heard complaints of people running a 1.2GHz PIV...go figure!)
You're an idiot! Most people don't buy a new computer each 6 months. In financial circles it is called an "investment". Most geeks don't even buy a machine every two years because they know how to maintain it...
I have machines ranging from 200Mhz (Pentium Pro) to 800Mhz (Pentium III) which are used daily as desktop machines. It is out of the question that they will be replaced anytime soon because with enough memory they do exactly what they are expected to do(the Pro has 256Meg, and the P III has 768Meg). Their tasks range from a bit of gaming to normal surfing and emailing (Halflife runs well on a PPro 200 provided you have a good graphics card) If I can push out a little bit more performance by choosing the right tool for the Job (like Opera instead of Mozilla), I'll do it.
So a fast browser is relevant to all but the richest computer users around. Besides, the rendering of pages pushes more on the memory than on the CPU. (According to my experience)
On my old laptop (P120/32Meg RAM) running Linux (kernel 2.4.10) with WindowMaker, I run Opera and it is quite usable. The rendering speed is on par with Netscape 4,7x on a the PPro 200.
No, Opera is a *great* browser... anyone who finds their current browser slow should try it instead of shelling out a lot of money for a new machine.
Norton has nothing to do with Midnight Commander.
And why would you want a x86 port? It works fine on my G3 you know. It is quite weird that a lot of people on this forum say that the x86 platform deserves to die, but then they want their OSes to run on it.
I don't care that Apple makes their money on the hardware....I actually think it's a very good way: pay good money for a good system and you get an excellent OS "free" with it. Sounds better to me than paying cheap for crappy hardware with an instable OS (x86 with Windows). People are cheap and that is why x86 is popular (okay, Apple is a bit on the pricy side but for quality you should compare them to IBM and they are quite pricy too)
I have a lot of x86 machines, don't worry....I like them too, but I install them according to what they will be used for. Windows for my familiy to do surfing and play games, Linux for me and for my servers. (And OpenBSD as firewall...)
The Mac always looked a bit like toys for me, but they are most of the time pretty. (Yes, that is a selling point for me!) They also have a stimga of being computers for people that don't want to know about computers. However, prettyness and curiosity about OSX got me buying one. Now, I am not desoriented at all using OSX. It really rocks! Command line open and it's all there: it's often more useful than wading through config screens which you are unfamiliar with. I know, stating something like that is very un-Mac, but the point is: you come from a Linux world (or *BSD) and your Mac will feel at home. If you come from a Windows background, I'm pretty sure you will feel at home too (and enjoy a prettier desktop *grin*),
One people get a bit more open-minded on computers and operating systems, and are willing to give a Mac a a try....then I'm sure the Mac will have a very bright future.
(A bit offtopic: even from my hardcore PC users co-workers, I only had positive reactions on the design of the new iMac)
Look at cars: power of cars should be expressed in kW, but nobody does this. They say, "my car has 255HP" instead of "my car has 166kW". I tried to use "kW" for some time, but nobody understood what I was talking about. :-)
It happens all the time, in all segments of engineering and science. Physicists still do use Amgstrom (sp?) from time to time, even tough the term is obsoleted. And then I don't even start about the imperial system