When has a Linux DE not been easy to customise? Especially when compared to OSX - mind you i bailed during the 10.4 days (god, getting the top panel to hide was ridiculously difficult!).
So, these comments have made depressing reading (okay so i only read about 300 hundred or so). Slashdot is a site that is supposed to be News for Nerds, and is famed for having a strong Linux-using (the nerd part) reader base, not to mention heritage. Yet, so many of the comments (and the highly rated ones, at that) have been by clearly very inexperienced, and ignorant PC/Mac users whining about how they couldn't do something they way the were used to, and who, rather than learning how to do it, gave up, and proceed to claim it can't be done in Linux, or is too difficult, or that the mean forum members were so wude to them (i experienced nothing but friendly help, and advice, provided FOR FREE, in the forums, concerning many different distros, when i was a noob). Perhaps if you tried to HELP YOURSELVES first and thus refined your knowledge of the problem, you would get more effective advice. Honestly, you should all go over and swell the ranks of Lifehacker. It's not that i am being elitist, you are just literally wasting everybody's time by spewing inaccuracies and inanities.
Not saying it's a positive, just that as a latent effect, i get to learn more. And, i never said Windows wasn't buggy, not to mention dull, dull, dull, expensive and restricting. Give me Linux or nothing, seriously, or BSD - okay: just don't give me Windows, ever! Oh and by the way, i have set up a few non-techie friends with Linux (Debian and openSUSE) and they have been sitting pretty for well over a year now - no support calls, whatsoever. Perhaps i should have mentioned - i use Arch, and tweak the hell out of stuff (for fun), so perhaps some of the bugs are teased out be unusual configurations and combinations, and bleeding edge package versions. Bugs abound, Linux or Windows.
I would say: "Funny 'cuz it's true". And i am an obsessive Linux user. It is time consuming (often because there is just so much you can do) and yes, it is buggy (well many DE and application features are). Personally i learn the most when things go tits-up.
If games can influence behaviour for the better, then can they not also for the negative? It is very unfashionable to claim that violent computer games impact behaviour. What i do know is, me and a friend stole a TV, in order to keep playing GTA Liberty City Stories., but, that's anecdotal, of course.
Come on: There are a plethora of cases where "anti Zionism" (why can't we just call it criticism of a state actor?) does not = antisemitism. Zionism and Judaism are not synonymous.
Really???? Try reading the paragraph referred to. If you can find nothing spurious there, you are a fucking idiot. Lets assume you did (read it), shall we?
It is not ironic that your Linux box rarely needs to be rebooted, as this feature is one of the most loudly declared selling points of Linux. More to the point, you have a Linux box, why are you even turning on a Windows machine? Masochism?
Yeh, right. Speed isn't everything. Chrome has not even a patch on FF when it comes to user control and customisability. And, some of us like control over our browsers. Just as private, hmmmm, seemingly no one is claiming it is "as private", just that it's lack of privacy is not to be, necessarily, equated with lack of security. How can it be just as private, when you can't block scripts or manage your cookies effectively. Personally i just don't like how locked down Chrom(e)/ium is: last i checked you couldn't easily (practically at all) make it so that links opened in foreground tabs. Thanks, but yeh, no.
Moved from an Openbox system, using GTK2 libraries, to a KDE 4 system, (basically i had to move on ((from GNOME2)), i tried GNOME3 and it was heinous), i could have just run without a DE, but i like a bit of nice UI rendering, and many applications require GUI toolkit anyway.
So, i have moved to KDE4 (and Arch, which is my new favourite distro) and i couldn't be happier, though admittedly i have disabled the panel and the desktop (they are a bit gauche, and i don't use a panel anyway, and there are plenty of ways to render a desktop and it's icons (if they are even desired).
But, the system tools and settings are great, so are the customisability options (KDE seem to be diverging from GNOME in this regard) and the window manager is awesome, so tweekable, like so much else in KDE4. In fact i liked th WM so much i decided to forgo Openbox in it's favour, after 2 years of OB love.
I could go on and on, but all i will say more is: i have a Pentium M and 2GB of RAM, with built in Intel GMA graphics, and KDE rippppps. This is a fairly old system. and i think we can all agree exceeded by most people's hardware, in the "Western" world. Windows 7 would probably be okay on the machine too, because Windows 7 is actually okay (took MS long enough), as far as system load is concerned, and for what it is.
My system now is generally faster than my GNOME2 one was, don't know if that is the difference between Arch and Debian though (bleeding edge vs. tried and tested).
Isn't there an inherent irony in this business model though (selling support in this context generally), in that, the better your distro the less likely people are to need support? I suppose support for third party software would still provide revenue, though.
He means a live-USB. In that you insert it, and one minute later you are in a fully featured desktop environment!
I have Puppy Linux on my 1GB USB. The OS itself is on it's own partition, of around 50MB (yes fifty megabytes; how big is Windows again? And it does also come with a whole stack of peripheral hardware driver rolled in too, of course, or?). The other partition on the USB is full of ROM files for various emulators (fun fun fun). I have my pick of browsers and desktop applications, myriad system tools, software synthes, etc, etc, etc. I can boot that sucker on nearly ANY PC in seconds, completely bypassing any Windows password prompts and have full access to the host systems HD.
Do that with Windows.
So, keep dreaming Windows can do even a tenth of what Linux can.
Linux helps makes the computer world go round, Microsoft throw endless wrenches in the works: patent cases, monopolistic practices, continual contravention of software standard, etc, etc, etc.
Because, its so hard to run lcpci, or dmesg, or hwinfo and find out all the details of your machine. Or if (as it seems) you are only receptive to GUI based applications, try Hardinfo, its in all the repos. Don't slander Linux generally, because you are too inept to learn a few commands, or even what the right programs are for the right jobs.
In the end, objectively, is one OS really any easier to trouble shoot than the other? Personally, i am used to working with Linux, and would prefer to troubleshoot that than the mrs's Windows box, any day. This is because i am more familiar with Linux and, all things being equal, will likely be able to solve the problem faster than on Windows. Not to mention that those online forums, which you seem to denigrate (over what, a premium phone call to MS?) are a near endless supply of free technical support.
Quite. Not to mention the futiity of attemps to hold "culture" in some presumed state of purity or timelessness. Do Canadians (or anyone else) think that we should hold cultural practices of the 1700s, 1800s, 1900s? If not then where is the cutoff point? This is literal conservatism: holding up an idealised, reified, notion of national identity (that probably never existed) and saying this is who We are and We must not change, as to do so would render us not Us anymore. Where would any group of people get if they proceeded (receded?) like this? Not out the caves of Africa, that is for sure.
Fuckin' pea brained, retrograde, conservitives, dont they have the power to extrapolate their own backwards looking notions?
Off-topic, but if you like apt-get, next time try aptitude (aptitude install my_app), it logs all dependencies and removes them, should you choose to remove the program they were installed for, keeping your system free of orphaned dependencies and saving HD space. Personally i just use Synaptic to browsing the repos, and always install with aptitude.
Slashdot Mirror
You don't have chimp ancestors, we share a common ancestor with chimps. Chimps are as equally evolved as us.
Eye witness testimony is not evidence!
Or, is that a whoosh on my part?
When has a Linux DE not been easy to customise? Especially when compared to OSX - mind you i bailed during the 10.4 days (god, getting the top panel to hide was ridiculously difficult!).
So, these comments have made depressing reading (okay so i only read about 300 hundred or so). Slashdot is a site that is supposed to be News for Nerds, and is famed for having a strong Linux-using (the nerd part) reader base, not to mention heritage. Yet, so many of the comments (and the highly rated ones, at that) have been by clearly very inexperienced, and ignorant PC/Mac users whining about how they couldn't do something they way the were used to, and who, rather than learning how to do it, gave up, and proceed to claim it can't be done in Linux, or is too difficult, or that the mean forum members were so wude to them (i experienced nothing but friendly help, and advice, provided FOR FREE, in the forums, concerning many different distros, when i was a noob). Perhaps if you tried to HELP YOURSELVES first and thus refined your knowledge of the problem, you would get more effective advice. Honestly, you should all go over and swell the ranks of Lifehacker. It's not that i am being elitist, you are just literally wasting everybody's time by spewing inaccuracies and inanities.
Really? Groups on Linux is baked in, and has been since forever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Not saying it's a positive, just that as a latent effect, i get to learn more. And, i never said Windows wasn't buggy, not to mention dull, dull, dull, expensive and restricting. Give me Linux or nothing, seriously, or BSD - okay: just don't give me Windows, ever! Oh and by the way, i have set up a few non-techie friends with Linux (Debian and openSUSE) and they have been sitting pretty for well over a year now - no support calls, whatsoever. Perhaps i should have mentioned - i use Arch, and tweak the hell out of stuff (for fun), so perhaps some of the bugs are teased out be unusual configurations and combinations, and bleeding edge package versions. Bugs abound, Linux or Windows.
I would say: "Funny 'cuz it's true". And i am an obsessive Linux user. It is time consuming (often because there is just so much you can do) and yes, it is buggy (well many DE and application features are). Personally i learn the most when things go tits-up.
What, am i supposed to run it in WINE?
If games can influence behaviour for the better, then can they not also for the negative? It is very unfashionable to claim that violent computer games impact behaviour. What i do know is, me and a friend stole a TV, in order to keep playing GTA Liberty City Stories., but, that's anecdotal, of course.
Critical infrastructure systems should not be online, anyways, right? Asking for trouble!
Come on: There are a plethora of cases where "anti Zionism" (why can't we just call it criticism of a state actor?) does not = antisemitism. Zionism and Judaism are not synonymous.
Really???? Try reading the paragraph referred to. If you can find nothing spurious there, you are a fucking idiot. Lets assume you did (read it), shall we?
Ha! You said it. Good (wo)man. The truth hurts, when it's not what you want to hear. lol.
Follow link and down-vote. You will want to, unless your a cunt.
It is not ironic that your Linux box rarely needs to be rebooted, as this feature is one of the most loudly declared selling points of Linux. More to the point, you have a Linux box, why are you even turning on a Windows machine? Masochism?
Yeh, right. Speed isn't everything. Chrome has not even a patch on FF when it comes to user control and customisability. And, some of us like control over our browsers. Just as private, hmmmm, seemingly no one is claiming it is "as private", just that it's lack of privacy is not to be, necessarily, equated with lack of security. How can it be just as private, when you can't block scripts or manage your cookies effectively. Personally i just don't like how locked down Chrom(e)/ium is: last i checked you couldn't easily (practically at all) make it so that links opened in foreground tabs. Thanks, but yeh, no.
Because Pacman is better than apt-get, anyways. And i never thought any package manager would be, either.
Is KDE 4 good? Hell yes!!!!!!
Moved from an Openbox system, using GTK2 libraries, to a KDE 4 system, (basically i had to move on ((from GNOME2)), i tried GNOME3 and it was heinous), i could have just run without a DE, but i like a bit of nice UI rendering, and many applications require GUI toolkit anyway.
So, i have moved to KDE4 (and Arch, which is my new favourite distro) and i couldn't be happier, though admittedly i have disabled the panel and the desktop (they are a bit gauche, and i don't use a panel anyway, and there are plenty of ways to render a desktop and it's icons (if they are even desired).
But, the system tools and settings are great, so are the customisability options (KDE seem to be diverging from GNOME in this regard) and the window manager is awesome, so tweekable, like so much else in KDE4. In fact i liked th WM so much i decided to forgo Openbox in it's favour, after 2 years of OB love.
I could go on and on, but all i will say more is: i have a Pentium M and 2GB of RAM, with built in Intel GMA graphics, and KDE rippppps. This is a fairly old system. and i think we can all agree exceeded by most people's hardware, in the "Western" world. Windows 7 would probably be okay on the machine too, because Windows 7 is actually okay (took MS long enough), as far as system load is concerned, and for what it is.
My system now is generally faster than my GNOME2 one was, don't know if that is the difference between Arch and Debian though (bleeding edge vs. tried and tested).
Bottom line = KDE4 is big, people!!!
Isn't there an inherent irony in this business model though (selling support in this context generally), in that, the better your distro the less likely people are to need support? I suppose support for third party software would still provide revenue, though.
Coming from a very happy Linux/BSD user.
He means a live-USB. In that you insert it, and one minute later you are in a fully featured desktop environment!
I have Puppy Linux on my 1GB USB. The OS itself is on it's own partition, of around 50MB (yes fifty megabytes; how big is Windows again? And it does also come with a whole stack of peripheral hardware driver rolled in too, of course, or?). The other partition on the USB is full of ROM files for various emulators (fun fun fun). I have my pick of browsers and desktop applications, myriad system tools, software synthes, etc, etc, etc. I can boot that sucker on nearly ANY PC in seconds, completely bypassing any Windows password prompts and have full access to the host systems HD.
Do that with Windows.
So, keep dreaming Windows can do even a tenth of what Linux can.
Linux helps makes the computer world go round, Microsoft throw endless wrenches in the works: patent cases, monopolistic practices, continual contravention of software standard, etc, etc, etc.
Because, its so hard to run lcpci, or dmesg, or hwinfo and find out all the details of your machine. Or if (as it seems) you are only receptive to GUI based applications, try Hardinfo, its in all the repos. Don't slander Linux generally, because you are too inept to learn a few commands, or even what the right programs are for the right jobs. In the end, objectively, is one OS really any easier to trouble shoot than the other? Personally, i am used to working with Linux, and would prefer to troubleshoot that than the mrs's Windows box, any day. This is because i am more familiar with Linux and, all things being equal, will likely be able to solve the problem faster than on Windows. Not to mention that those online forums, which you seem to denigrate (over what, a premium phone call to MS?) are a near endless supply of free technical support.
Quite. Not to mention the futiity of attemps to hold "culture" in some presumed state of purity or timelessness. Do Canadians (or anyone else) think that we should hold cultural practices of the 1700s, 1800s, 1900s? If not then where is the cutoff point? This is literal conservatism: holding up an idealised, reified, notion of national identity (that probably never existed) and saying this is who We are and We must not change, as to do so would render us not Us anymore. Where would any group of people get if they proceeded (receded?) like this? Not out the caves of Africa, that is for sure.
Fuckin' pea brained, retrograde, conservitives, dont they have the power to extrapolate their own backwards looking notions?
"awkward"
Off-topic, but if you like apt-get, next time try aptitude (aptitude install my_app), it logs all dependencies and removes them, should you choose to remove the program they were installed for, keeping your system free of orphaned dependencies and saving HD space. Personally i just use Synaptic to browsing the repos, and always install with aptitude.
"properly"
What a condescending prick.