I agree this is a major problem, but it's not an insurmountable problem. If you look at the excellent hooks Java has for accessibility, there is really no reason that Flash couldn't implement something similar. Of course, there are two obstacles - Macromedia adding this functionality, and website developers actually using them. The second has been an issue for quite a while of course.
To paraphrase open-source advocate Richard Stallman
I don't think RMS is going to like that one..:)
Seriously though, I think there's one major issue which the article writer has forgotten: fear.
Many (most) IT directors think that 'No-one ever got fired for choosing Microsoft'. If they go with Linux and it's a failure, it could well be their neck on the line; if they choose a Microsoft option and it's a failure, well everyone already knew Microsoft were crap, but what choice did we have?
The only way this can be combated is with slow erosion of the Microsoft market - it used to be that "no-one ever got fired for choosing IBM", so it's certainally possible to topple the Microsoft monopoly - it just isn't going to happen overnight.
As someone who has used Linux for some time, and also had the misfortune of using Windows (and doing those MCSE things for all my sins), I can honestly say that I don't think the configuration is the problem. The varying standards used by programs aren't a particular problem as long as there a decent comments in the file (and there usually) are.
The real issue is finding the configuration file; if you're using a distro you're not used to, then one often has to resort to using find. This is exactly what the Linux Standards Base was designed to avoid, and if all distros were to follow this model then I can't see that there is any real problem.
At the end of the day, we're not talking about things like setting background pictures in the window manager, we're talking about setting up mailservers, webservers and the like. If you're not cluefull enough to edit a text file then you're not cluefull enough to be put in charge of setting one of these servers up either.
An excellent article, Alan raises many points and deals with the whole issue of free software from a pragmatic way. If I were trying to convince the board we should switch our servers to Linux, this is an article I'd show them. Except..
I always hated the Sierra adventure games. Compared to what Lucasfilm games/Lucasarts were producing, they were pretty terrible.
Probably my favourite bit of Monkey Island was where you fell off the cliff and it brought up a 'Kings Quest' style game over sequence before revealing that it was, of course, just another gag.
If anything has demonstrated the American President has no interest in preserving the planet for future generations then it is this.
However, from the description of the technology it specifically metions that it is bio-degradable (or at least part of it it). The last thing we need are landfills full of unplayable DVDs; let us hope this is not the case.
If only I'd know how bad it was I wouldn't have had to play through Mario 64, Goldeneye, Banjo Kazooie, Donkey Kong 64, Blastcorps, F-Zero X, and of course Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Zelda Majora's Mask. What a jip.
The N64 may have had crappy 3rd party support, but there's no denying that it had more AAA titles than any other system of its time.
Little studio support
In fact, the only benefit is that it has support for HDTV, and that's really only of interest to NTSC users - here in Europe, where the higher res (than NTSC, not than HDTV) PAL is dominant and televisions tend to be smaller, HDTV is nowhere to be seen, and things are likely to stay that way for quite a while.
I forsee this being as popular as Philips CD-I at the best.
It may be a Ferrari, but it's the worst car they ever made, and it's been owned by some arrogant fuck who you know is going to have cared for the car very badly.
Justin Frankel and his nullsoft team created the popular mp3 player for windows, winamp. It was free. It was good. AOL bought them. Justin and the nullsoft team are rich. Winamp is still good and free. It's not called AOL Winamp, the presence of AOL is not there in any new version of winamp.
Winamp has never been free; you just don't have to pay for it.
RedHat, on the other hand, is free. Everything the RedHat people change, add, or create from scratch is licensed under the GPL. This means that companies such as Mandrakesoft can make other distributions based on RedHat's work.
I'm really not entirely convinced that AOL understand this, and I very very much doubt that Time Warner do.
The more I think abuot this, the more I'm glad I use Debian instead; where there is no company, there can be no buyout.
Except that the US PS2 can't play PAL DVDs; PAL is of a higher resolution than NTSC, and the US version of the console doesn't have a big enough screen buffer apparently. Rather pissed off my mate who imported..:)
It may be that communications are too important for externally-sold software, also. After all, Microsoft keeps all its programmers in one city. It doesn't even export jobs to Oregon.
You've obviously never looked at any of the credits screens hidden away in 'Easter Eggs' in M$ software. All Microsoft's OS since Win3.1 have had a good percantage of code written in Bombay and New Zeland. Whilst it's certinally true that everything is co-ordinated from one city, the donkey-work is done whereever the labour is cheapest.
Toms Hardware has just put their review of the 2.2ghz P4 up, and it seems it beats the Athlon XP '2000+'.
Personally I get the distinct impression Intel are just toying with AMD; they've already demonstrated the Northwood core at 3ghz, but if they were to release it right now they'd blow AMD away and loose their profit margins from 'early adopters'. It's in their interest to keep AMD going, in much the same way Microsoft kept Apple afloat. If there's a competitor then you can't be branded a monopoly.
At the moment though, I'll just have to get by with my 850mhz Celeron..
They're charging $99 for this. How ridiculous. OEM versions of Genunie Windows cost about the same
As someone who used to work for an OEM I can tell you that the actual cost of an OEM Windows license, CD and manual is more like a tenth of that.
I really can't see that many people that are going to be stupid enough to replace one closed-source product (Windows) with another closed source product (Lindows). If you want something better than Windows, but non-Free, use OS X. If you want something Free, use Linux or a BSD. I really can't see any market for Lindows at all.
Slashdot Mirror
15:00 EST == 20:00 GMT hth.. :)
Please get a clue before posting with such indignation
I agree this is a major problem, but it's not an insurmountable problem. If you look at the excellent hooks Java has for accessibility, there is really no reason that Flash couldn't implement something similar. Of course, there are two obstacles - Macromedia adding this functionality, and website developers actually using them. The second has been an issue for quite a while of course.
DVD is mpeg 2. I think you're referring to mpeg 1 (VCD).
I don't think RMS is going to like that one.. :)
Seriously though, I think there's one major issue which the article writer has forgotten: fear.
Many (most) IT directors think that 'No-one ever got fired for choosing Microsoft'. If they go with Linux and it's a failure, it could well be their neck on the line; if they choose a Microsoft option and it's a failure, well everyone already knew Microsoft were crap, but what choice did we have?
The only way this can be combated is with slow erosion of the Microsoft market - it used to be that "no-one ever got fired for choosing IBM", so it's certainally possible to topple the Microsoft monopoly - it just isn't going to happen overnight.
It's difficult to prove anything, but I strongly suspect that the downturn in record sales is strongly linked to the economic downturn.
The real issue is finding the configuration file; if you're using a distro you're not used to, then one often has to resort to using find. This is exactly what the Linux Standards Base was designed to avoid, and if all distros were to follow this model then I can't see that there is any real problem.
At the end of the day, we're not talking about things like setting background pictures in the window manager, we're talking about setting up mailservers, webservers and the like. If you're not cluefull enough to edit a text file then you're not cluefull enough to be put in charge of setting one of these servers up either.
Ahh, but maybe that's the point, so they lie awake at night worrying about the fact that they sleep too much, thus prolonging their life..
that picture at the top..
That explains all those sparkling reviews of Shrek; I actually went to see it and found nothing but crude fart jokes.
Probably my favourite bit of Monkey Island was where you fell off the cliff and it brought up a 'Kings Quest' style game over sequence before revealing that it was, of course, just another gag.
Kyoto Treaty
If anything has demonstrated the American President has no interest in preserving the planet for future generations then it is this.
However, from the description of the technology it specifically metions that it is bio-degradable (or at least part of it it). The last thing we need are landfills full of unplayable DVDs; let us hope this is not the case.
If only I'd know how bad it was I wouldn't have had to play through Mario 64, Goldeneye, Banjo Kazooie, Donkey Kong 64, Blastcorps, F-Zero X, and of course Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Zelda Majora's Mask. What a jip.
The N64 may have had crappy 3rd party support, but there's no denying that it had more AAA titles than any other system of its time.
Magnetic media
Little studio support In fact, the only benefit is that it has support for HDTV, and that's really only of interest to NTSC users - here in Europe, where the higher res (than NTSC, not than HDTV) PAL is dominant and televisions tend to be smaller, HDTV is nowhere to be seen, and things are likely to stay that way for quite a while.
I forsee this being as popular as Philips CD-I at the best.
Seems like a piss-poor deal to me..
I'm pretty sure the Samsung 909 player doesn't. There are definately others.
Winamp has never been free; you just don't have to pay for it.
RedHat, on the other hand, is free. Everything the RedHat people change, add, or create from scratch is licensed under the GPL. This means that companies such as Mandrakesoft can make other distributions based on RedHat's work.
I'm really not entirely convinced that AOL understand this, and I very very much doubt that Time Warner do.
The more I think abuot this, the more I'm glad I use Debian instead; where there is no company, there can be no buyout.
Yes, except a BBC DVD released in Europe isn't going to be a Japanese NTSC DVD now, is it..
Except that the US PS2 can't play PAL DVDs; PAL is of a higher resolution than NTSC, and the US version of the console doesn't have a big enough screen buffer apparently. Rather pissed off my mate who imported.. :)
Most of those sorts of places died out about the same time as Queen Victoria..
You've obviously never looked at any of the credits screens hidden away in 'Easter Eggs' in M$ software. All Microsoft's OS since Win3.1 have had a good percantage of code written in Bombay and New Zeland. Whilst it's certinally true that everything is co-ordinated from one city, the donkey-work is done whereever the labour is cheapest.
I know, I know, should have used the preview button..
What worries me most is what browser is everyone that has posted comments using if they haven't noticed this??
Personally I get the distinct impression Intel are just toying with AMD; they've already demonstrated the Northwood core at 3ghz, but if they were to release it right now they'd blow AMD away and loose their profit margins from 'early adopters'. It's in their interest to keep AMD going, in much the same way Microsoft kept Apple afloat. If there's a competitor then you can't be branded a monopoly.
At the moment though, I'll just have to get by with my 850mhz Celeron..
As someone who used to work for an OEM I can tell you that the actual cost of an OEM Windows license, CD and manual is more like a tenth of that.
I really can't see that many people that are going to be stupid enough to replace one closed-source product (Windows) with another closed source product (Lindows). If you want something better than Windows, but non-Free, use OS X. If you want something Free, use Linux or a BSD. I really can't see any market for Lindows at all.