Lindows seems to think that somehow the fact that the OS that they use is free automatically gives them the higher ground when going head to head with Microsoft on any given field. Saving yourself $40 (or whatever the bulk OEM cost for an XP license is) is hardly the proverbial silver bullet.
MS Media Center OS is not the same as XP. Similar base, but not the same. I couldn't even find prices for the OS, since you have to buy a box with it preinstalled. Bestbuy.com isnt taking orders anymore, gateway starts at $1700, compusa at 1400, bestbuy was 1700.....these are medium priced, not cheap.
As to the size of the market: I am betting it IS the next market. The current versions are just glorified computers, but the general idea of the product is what will replace your home stereo,dvd player, etc. A single box. Even my mom would like this, to surf on the tv (once tvs are all high definition) instead of the Dell I bought her.
Its still a young market, but it is the direction it is going. One box to act as internet router, surfer, music getter and player, dvd player, porno downloader, etc.....
All you need is a wireless keyboard and mouse, (and maybe wireless video for a seperate monitor to use in other rooms), and yea, I could see every home needing one of these instead of the current methods of a buttload of seperate parts. that may or maynot work well together. Then we could have it all in one convenient box that doesn't work very well:)
i've always thought this was a good comporomise between letting the dedicated and the geeky get what they are entitled to (the source to play with) while encouraging the moms and pops to chip into the corporate kitty. note that the price of openbsd producst is low
Also note that the number of systems running it are low, too, even tho it is an exceptional OS. I have no prob with them distributing it this way, but it IS part of the reason I don't use openBSD, even tho I KNOW its better for some tasks (pure web servers, for instance).
I cut my teeth on Redhat (4.2) because I could get it free, and then when I needed service, I didn't mind paying for it. Like all distros, it has weaknesses and strengths. Its not that RH is better, its that they made it easy for me to get used to it, and eventually, prefer it. Oh, and I have messed with mandrake, solaris, lindows (really), and slackware (ug).
While there is nothing WRONG with distributing an OS like this, it is not conducive to winning over the largest possible customer base, which is what Redhat is trying to do. Keep in mind, BSD is a very different animal anyway. BSD advocates tend to be more "purist" while Redhat tends to be more capital driven. Takes all kinds.
ah ok. You should not have problems changing the OS over. Remember, Lindows IS linux, with a cheezy desktop. I tried to find tech specs on the box to see, but no good. My best bet is that the box doesn't use anything remotely state of the art, and any recent distro would do fine, like the new Redhat or Mandrake distros.
Another option is to just keep Lindows, but choose another desktop. Since all the desktops run on X window system anyway, shouldn't be that big a deal. (outside the normal dependency nightmares) I assume you are buying to learn anyway, sounds like a good project, cheap:)
I have installed an older version of Lindows on another box, version 2.0 i think, its not bad. Kinda of 'linux for dummies'. Didn't make that big of an impression on me one way or another.
I DO recommend you put up some more RAM if you are going to try to do alot, or use Open Office. If you want to do anything approaching games, the video will be sorely lacking and the ad doesnt say it has an open agp slot. 128MB is adequate (remember, 8mb is shared for video), but you can get a 128mb pc133 stick for less than $20 at buy.com
If I am reading you right and you want to check out linux or just have a basic linux workstation, this box would be fine. I have run current distros on much less hardware (dual pentium 200s for instance) and been happy with the way X window ran. You may find that Lindows is pretty good for learning. (the ubernerds would disagree, but so what).
If you are REALLY new to linux, buying it and leaving it as is for a few months would be my recommendation, then move on to more demanding distros. As to using it as a webserver: this box is way more than enough to run Apache.
personally, i wouldnt mess with any of it. if you just want a box to run linux and play dvd's and such, just take any decent box, download an iso, and go. the walmart pc isnt duron, its VIA.
Not sure what you are trying to do, but buying this box (or even the walmart box) probably would do it, just not very well.
Oh, and someone HAS figured out how to run Linux on an UNMODDED XBOX! [xboxhacker.net] I submitted the story yesterday, but...
Just be patient. I am sure that if you will just wait 2 weeks, it will get posted 3 days in a row by different editors that will claim they have a scoop on it.
Whats the purpose of having Karma if you can't burn it once in a while;)
then wait the 5 minutes and you can read the article. The fact that the site is/.ed does not excuse not reading the article first, if the article was JUST PUBLISHED here. Jeez, wait a minute or two, then read the article.
Tried the box for days. Sucked bad at DVDs because this version uses software decoder. Couldn't read tags on MP3s or list the directories correctly. Lindows couldn't make up their mind if they supported software that was on their own site. Only available at one place. Guys at that place were nice and knowlegable. System was marginal at best. Wouldn't recommend it to a friend. Not a viable contender to Windows Media Center because it simply lacks power. Costs under $400 sans monitor, kb, mouse. Nice try, but don't buy. The End.
I was wondering what the possiblilites of changing the OS was?
Considering it was just a glorified cheap computer with a different bios (VIA 933, 128ram, 20gbhd, trident svga), i would imagine you could. You would be better off buying the Walmart PC, however, which is more expandable, and has similar specs (sans special boot bios) for about half the price, $200. It even comes with a crappy mouse and keyboard, which this system did not.
iDOTpc.com was well aware of the problem and told me it was because the system lacked a hardware DVD decoder. The new "M series" would be coming out soon that did include the decoder and took care of the poor playback.
And as usual, someone modded up the question, thus rewarding someone who was too fucking lazy to actually read the article.
I personally ponied up my 60 bucks, but then again I also go out and buy boxed copies.
I already pony up the 60 per year anyway, have for two years. Its a good service they provide, well worth the money.
As to them making money, once again what I see is giving a little more to those of us that give a little more to them. I didn't like the way they marketed it, but the fact is they give alot more bandwidth to people who have NEVER given them a dime than anyone else. The GPL requires you make the source available. They COULD put all their files on a 64k throttle except for subscribers, and meet the requirements of the GPL. But they don't.
I personally hope they do make some money, get back in the black, and gain some market share. Linux is never going to become mainstream without companies like Redhat who have somewhat viable business plans. I WANT them to be here 10 years from now, because I like their products.
Reminds of the gag: How do you make a profit by giving stuff away?
Where are these "lots of people" because I sure as heck can't find them.
They are here on slashdot. You should know that. The ones that think GPL is a eutopia where the lion lies with the sheep. Check the other reply to my comment. The commies:-)
There are a certain amount of socialists who post pretty regularly who put down capitalism and making money with GPL pretty regular here. Perhaps I just spend too much time reading/., but even tho its a tiny percentage, its fairly common.
Screw eutopia, Im just trying to keep the network up and the employees paid.
You obviously haven't had the utopian vision of a society that shares its code for the common good, unlike other evil entities that exploit, control and enslave its users with a monopoly that can, and apparantly does have the money to pay off the corrupt politicians.
Thats swell. But you still have to eat.
I think somewhere in there is some truth, but the GPL was started by people who were trying to STOP you from making money off it, but to entice you to add to the pool of useful code, at least thats the impossible dream I had when I read it.
I don't believe for a minute that the GPL was designed to STOP you from making money. Not for a second. It was designed to keep IMPROVEMENTS basically in the public domain. My company and your company may compete, but one wont have an advantage only because of software. Of course, this is not true either, since I can take ANY GPL software and make tons of changes, and NEVER release my source code. Legally. As long as I don't distribute the binaries, I don't have to release the the source. The main limiting factor of the GPL is to the DISTRIBUTORS. Not users. It keeps RedHat from changing Apache in a way that will only work with their brand of linux, without releasing the code. It helps prevent forks in the code.
But the GPL was not invented to STOP you from making money. I wonder how many people actually have READ the damn GPL instead of just talk shit about it?
When we speak of free software, we are referring to freedom, not price....
You may charge a fee for the physical act of transferring a copy, and you may at your option offer warranty protection in exchange for a fee.
GPL is free as in speech, NOT always free as in beer. I can make all the profit off of GPL I want, it was designed so I COULD, so everyone could. It insures I can't stop YOU from making money with it. I can't distribute it modified without sharing the modified source. This point seems to get missed all too often.
I've never heard of this DVD-rental Divx service... what's stopping you from ripping the DVD (with the Divx;) codec, no doubt) before It expires?
Not enough people bothered to buy the expensive Divix players, that only played Divix disks, to find out. It was available at Circuit City in the states only, as far as I knew. I don't know anyone that bought one. I know lots of people who laughed their asses off at the idea tho. They started giving away movies if you would buy them. They gave up. I believe they ended up giving people $150 toward a DVD player, since they quit supporting them. Very bad idea to begin with.
Rule one: when people don't bother to even STEAL what you are trying to sell, then you are wasting your time trying to sell it.
If I was trying to play games online I know which one I'd pick!:P
I had satalite for several years (was one of the first customers) until less than a year ago, they put cable out here in the sticks.
I could get a 400 ping, if all i did was PING, but for online gaming, my EFFECTIVE ping was really about 800+. This holds true for other tests I had done as well.
Oh, and Hughes service sucks. Absolutely sucks. I had been on hold with them for over an hour, many times. When my BRAND NEW system was installed, it took 3 months of replacement parts to get it to work (not true now tho) and when they had a network down, they would NEVER admit it, so you are trying to figure out if its on your end. After a while, you learn that if the hold is more than 20 minutes (the average on a good day) then lots of people are calling to complain, so its not on your end. Really, they absolutely suck at service. If they did not have a monopoly of sorts, they would be out of business. Not bashing, ask anyone who has been with them a long time.
As a note: they also THROTTLE you down to 56k speeds if they think you are using too much bandwidth, it is NOT unlimited. Read the fair use clause. And yes, thanks to a.b.w. I had been throttled a few times. If you download a few ISOs a month, then no, but anything else, yes. This is one reason I would never consider a TV/Internet package from Hughes here in the states. I switched to cable, and was never happier.
And I get 150 pings on a modem in town. 300 in the country.
Yes it is. The GPL can only succeed where there is the opportunity for companies to make profits. This is how they pay those "programmers" who develop the code, that "only" works on their hardware, even tho it is now GPL now, and anyone can use it.
I understand that lots of people have a knee jerk reaction to a company making money using GPL to make money, but uh, that is the idea: make money selling the hardware and servicing the software. If you can't use GPL to make money, no one will want to use it. Really.
Is it supposed to be "for Pete's sake" (i.e. for the sake of Pete who is stupid) or is "petesake" a real expression?
im pretty sure its "Pete's sake". There was a movie named that too. Barbara S. invests in pork bellies. Thats all I remember of it since I don't like her.
I belive that most of this is accapted as a good thing by the people =) And most of the ida with the games are about children and what you want to influens them. About "Nazi stuff" i hope you understand the guilt and the problem of this for the Germans. I think most of the laws in Germany mirrors the walues of the Germans.
While I understand that Germans have a strong distaste for Nazi-ism, for good reason. The question thus remains: Does an individual have the right to be a "Nazi"? In Germany, it appears no, since the Nazi party is outlawed. It is legal in America. So is being communist, socialist, facist, aethist, anarchist, muslim, quaker or pacifist. Since we are not over run with communists, socialists or quakers, I am guessing that the problem is the individual and his actions, rather than his affiliation.
Outlawing a group doesn't make its opinions go away. Never has.
Personally, if someone IS an Fundamental Islomist, Seperatist, etc. I want to KNOW it. So yea, keep it legal, keep it honest, so the nuts don't have to hide. They are easy to see.
Thus my preference for genuine freedom of speech. There is no perfect system, but the closer to total liberty the better.
You can't sell Nazi stuff in Germany. They restrict the sale of violent games, but more importantly, they restrict the advertisment or even DISPLAY of items, even to adults.
I can see why their government, and others, do not want the US in Iraq. How afraid are they OF freedom? WHERE is that line between freedom and tyranny? It seems that the German government would do better to worry less about this trivial crap. Any government that tries to limit what its citizens see, hear or play in order to "change" them should be treated as suspect.
Not a bash at all, I don't care WHICH govt. was doing this, it still shows contempt for its citizens. Its like "you are too stupid or too easy manipulated, so we wont let you see this". I don't think I would like being treated that way by my government.
UHF - Michael Richards, Victoria Jackson (from snl), Weird Al, plus Fran Drescher, Billy Barty, Emo Phillips, and more. Simplistic plot, but still a fun watch and family friendly. Tons of stars. One of Richards best performances (Pre-Kramer, Post-Fridays).
Fargo - Gotta love that chipper/shreadder scene.
Crimes of Passion - Kathleen Turner (China Blue) and Anthony "Norman Bates" Perkins star in a very screwed up movie about a whore. Almost porn with a Freudian twist.
Starship Troopers - Just kidding, it sucked. It made you hope the bugs would win.
This is based upon the Socialist concept of government: The Govt. owns everything, including your money, your property and ideas. If you are good, we will let you use them and profit from them.
The idea that I could not give the world something, donated to the public domain, without the government claiming ownership just shows you how fucked up socialism is. This is like the current problem in the US where congress acts like they are 'giving' us something when they offer tax cuts, instead of the reality, which is just TAKING less.
This is EXACTLY the dangerous crap I get tired of preaching about. Anytime the government acts in a way that puts it ABOVE the people, you are setting yourself up for tyranny. It shocks me that more people do not see this as a dangerous philosophy.
This is one reason I am so PRO 2nd amendment. A fully armed people has less to worry about when it comes to a dominating government. Unfortunately, Mexico has a history of corruption at the government level. Too bad, since it has more natural resources than the US, and COULD be one of the richest nations on earth. This idea is one example of why they are NOT, and not likely to be in the near future.
Have you seen any tests of the new 1.43ghz PowerMacs? Seems to me that's not too far remote from the fastest PCs.
Things are always changing. I hear rumors that a 2.3ghz PowerPC is coming out. I will certainly look forward to it. Might even have to buy a new desktop.
I havent seen any benches, but they are only a little faster than the current 1.25 out now. One of the other speed advantages is the higher availability of hardware for pc, such as raid. I can stripe 4x80GB drives, on a $75 card, using $300 or less in hard drives. Theoretically 533mbps, but YMMV. It would be just as EASY on windows/linux/osx but the question is availability of hardware. this would NOT be a good setup for a server, but would for a video production machine or any workstation working with files that are over 100mb, and especially files over 1 gig. Since the hard drive is the weakest link in any system that uses lots of large files, this is a big improvement for about the cost of a really good video card.
I am still looking at Macs as a potential replacement for our windows boxes, especially since im not thrilled with the linux desktop (kde/gnome) either. Now, if adobe would release photoshop for linux.......
But around the time the 500mhz processor came to be, a funny thing happened.
Obviously you know that is controversial statement. While I agree to a degree, the fact remains that everyone makes money when everyone buys the latest greatest. Many of us have shiney new 2.5ghz, and bitch about how slow they are. (really). Try working with 5x7"+ cmyk multi-layered images in Photoshop with a 500mhz vs. a 2500mhz, and you will see a huge difference. Conservatively speaking, it saves me at least 30 minutes a day (somedays much more). That adds up.
I don't argue Apple is great quality, absolutely true. But an old 2 x 4 is a better tool than a micrometer when what you need is brute force, no matter that it is rougher, uglier, and not as polished.
don't get it. Windows FORCES you into their single desktop, and you're okay with it, because you know it's going to suck.
RedHat strongly encourages you to use one desktop, and you just have to say No because there's an alternative? And then complain about it?
Remember: Windows is older than linux. Its not a matter of "choosing". We were running Windows BEFORE Linux was a viable alternative for us. We have not SWITCHED to Linux becuase although it is CLOSE, its not close enough. Since we already have an installed base of windows computers, its expensive to switch no matter what the OS price is, even free.
That is what a lot of Windows bashers don't get (not saying you are a basher). We already have an investment in our networks. I care about uptime, costs, ease of use, maintenance. NO ONE can tell me "linux would be better" because they don't know MY SITUATION. Anyone recommending ANY OS would be spewing FUD without studying the needs, applications, traffic and future expectations. Look, the 'brand' of OS is NOT what makes me money. I want what is easiest and most productive, period.
I love linux, I use it alot (ALL our servers except 1 file server are linux), but you guys gotta realize that for most of us, its not religion, it purely selfish capitalism that decides what I use. I don't appologize for that in any way. I will migrate fully to Linux when it makes financial sense. Right now, until they get the desktop better, it costs more to use linux than windows, FOR ME, because of training, migration, and various headaches that ANY OS migration causes.
Slashdot Mirror
Karma whoring mode ON:
Hell, I wish I had a mod point to give you, purely for truth in advertsing!
Lindows seems to think that somehow the fact that the OS that they use is free automatically gives them the higher ground when going head to head with Microsoft on any given field. Saving yourself $40 (or whatever the bulk OEM cost for an XP license is) is hardly the proverbial silver bullet.
:)
MS Media Center OS is not the same as XP. Similar base, but not the same. I couldn't even find prices for the OS, since you have to buy a box with it preinstalled. Bestbuy.com isnt taking orders anymore, gateway starts at $1700, compusa at 1400, bestbuy was 1700.....these are medium priced, not cheap.
As to the size of the market: I am betting it IS the next market. The current versions are just glorified computers, but the general idea of the product is what will replace your home stereo,dvd player, etc. A single box. Even my mom would like this, to surf on the tv (once tvs are all high definition) instead of the Dell I bought her.
Its still a young market, but it is the direction it is going. One box to act as internet router, surfer, music getter and player, dvd player, porno downloader, etc.....
All you need is a wireless keyboard and mouse, (and maybe wireless video for a seperate monitor to use in other rooms), and yea, I could see every home needing one of these instead of the current methods of a buttload of seperate parts. that may or maynot work well together. Then we could have it all in one convenient box that doesn't work very well
i've always thought this was a good comporomise between letting the dedicated and the geeky get what they are entitled to (the source to play with) while encouraging the moms and pops to chip into the corporate kitty. note that the price of openbsd producst is low
Also note that the number of systems running it are low, too, even tho it is an exceptional OS. I have no prob with them distributing it this way, but it IS part of the reason I don't use openBSD, even tho I KNOW its better for some tasks (pure web servers, for instance).
I cut my teeth on Redhat (4.2) because I could get it free, and then when I needed service, I didn't mind paying for it. Like all distros, it has weaknesses and strengths. Its not that RH is better, its that they made it easy for me to get used to it, and eventually, prefer it. Oh, and I have messed with mandrake, solaris, lindows (really), and slackware (ug).
While there is nothing WRONG with distributing an OS like this, it is not conducive to winning over the largest possible customer base, which is what Redhat is trying to do. Keep in mind, BSD is a very different animal anyway. BSD advocates tend to be more "purist" while Redhat tends to be more capital driven. Takes all kinds.
ah ok. You should not have problems changing the OS over. Remember, Lindows IS linux, with a cheezy desktop. I tried to find tech specs on the box to see, but no good. My best bet is that the box doesn't use anything remotely state of the art, and any recent distro would do fine, like the new Redhat or Mandrake distros.
:)
Another option is to just keep Lindows, but choose another desktop. Since all the desktops run on X window system anyway, shouldn't be that big a deal. (outside the normal dependency nightmares) I assume you are buying to learn anyway, sounds like a good project, cheap
I have installed an older version of Lindows on another box, version 2.0 i think, its not bad. Kinda of 'linux for dummies'. Didn't make that big of an impression on me one way or another.
I DO recommend you put up some more RAM if you are going to try to do alot, or use Open Office. If you want to do anything approaching games, the video will be sorely lacking and the ad doesnt say it has an open agp slot. 128MB is adequate (remember, 8mb is shared for video), but you can get a 128mb pc133 stick for less than $20 at buy.com
If I am reading you right and you want to check out linux or just have a basic linux workstation, this box would be fine. I have run current distros on much less hardware (dual pentium 200s for instance) and been happy with the way X window ran. You may find that Lindows is pretty good for learning. (the ubernerds would disagree, but so what).
If you are REALLY new to linux, buying it and leaving it as is for a few months would be my recommendation, then move on to more demanding distros. As to using it as a webserver: this box is way more than enough to run Apache.
personally, i wouldnt mess with any of it. if you just want a box to run linux and play dvd's and such, just take any decent box, download an iso, and go. the walmart pc isnt duron, its VIA.
Not sure what you are trying to do, but buying this box (or even the walmart box) probably would do it, just not very well.
Oh, and someone HAS figured out how to run Linux on an UNMODDED XBOX! [xboxhacker.net] I submitted the story yesterday, but...
;)
Just be patient. I am sure that if you will just wait 2 weeks, it will get posted 3 days in a row by different editors that will claim they have a scoop on it.
Whats the purpose of having Karma if you can't burn it once in a while
It was /.ed
/.ed does not excuse not reading the article first, if the article was JUST PUBLISHED here. Jeez, wait a minute or two, then read the article.
then wait the 5 minutes and you can read the article. The fact that the site is
Here is the Reader's Digest Condensed Version(R)
Tried the box for days. Sucked bad at DVDs because this version uses software decoder. Couldn't read tags on MP3s or list the directories correctly. Lindows couldn't make up their mind if they supported software that was on their own site. Only available at one place. Guys at that place were nice and knowlegable. System was marginal at best. Wouldn't recommend it to a friend. Not a viable contender to Windows Media Center because it simply lacks power. Costs under $400 sans monitor, kb, mouse. Nice try, but don't buy. The End.
I was wondering what the possiblilites of changing the OS was?
Considering it was just a glorified cheap computer with a different bios (VIA 933, 128ram, 20gbhd, trident svga), i would imagine you could. You would be better off buying the Walmart PC, however, which is more expandable, and has similar specs (sans special boot bios) for about half the price, $200. It even comes with a crappy mouse and keyboard, which this system did not.
RTFA
iDOTpc.com was well aware of the problem and told me it was because the system lacked a hardware DVD decoder. The new "M series" would be coming out soon that did include the decoder and took care of the poor playback.
And as usual, someone modded up the question, thus rewarding someone who was too fucking lazy to actually read the article.
I personally ponied up my 60 bucks, but then again I also go out and buy boxed copies.
I already pony up the 60 per year anyway, have for two years. Its a good service they provide, well worth the money.
As to them making money, once again what I see is giving a little more to those of us that give a little more to them. I didn't like the way they marketed it, but the fact is they give alot more bandwidth to people who have NEVER given them a dime than anyone else. The GPL requires you make the source available. They COULD put all their files on a 64k throttle except for subscribers, and meet the requirements of the GPL. But they don't.
I personally hope they do make some money, get back in the black, and gain some market share. Linux is never going to become mainstream without companies like Redhat who have somewhat viable business plans. I WANT them to be here 10 years from now, because I like their products.
Reminds of the gag: How do you make a profit by giving stuff away?
VOLUME!
Where are these "lots of people" because I sure as heck can't find them.
:-)
/., but even tho its a tiny percentage, its fairly common.
They are here on slashdot. You should know that. The ones that think GPL is a eutopia where the lion lies with the sheep. Check the other reply to my comment. The commies
There are a certain amount of socialists who post pretty regularly who put down capitalism and making money with GPL pretty regular here. Perhaps I just spend too much time reading
Screw eutopia, Im just trying to keep the network up and the employees paid.
You obviously haven't had the utopian vision of a society that shares its code for the common good, unlike other evil entities that exploit, control and enslave its users with a monopoly that can, and apparantly does have the money to pay off the corrupt politicians.
Thats swell. But you still have to eat.
I think somewhere in there is some truth, but the GPL was started by people who were trying to STOP you from making money off it, but to entice you to add to the pool of useful code, at least thats the impossible dream I had when I read it.
I don't believe for a minute that the GPL was designed to STOP you from making money. Not for a second. It was designed to keep IMPROVEMENTS basically in the public domain. My company and your company may compete, but one wont have an advantage only because of software. Of course, this is not true either, since I can take ANY GPL software and make tons of changes, and NEVER release my source code. Legally. As long as I don't distribute the binaries, I don't have to release the the source. The main limiting factor of the GPL is to the DISTRIBUTORS. Not users. It keeps RedHat from changing Apache in a way that will only work with their brand of linux, without releasing the code. It helps prevent forks in the code.
But the GPL was not invented to STOP you from making money. I wonder how many people actually have READ the damn GPL instead of just talk shit about it?
Quoting from the GPL...
When we speak of free software, we are referring to freedom, not price....
You may charge a fee for the physical act of transferring a copy, and you may at your option offer warranty protection in exchange for a fee.
GPL is free as in speech, NOT always free as in beer. I can make all the profit off of GPL I want, it was designed so I COULD, so everyone could. It insures I can't stop YOU from making money with it. I can't distribute it modified without sharing the modified source. This point seems to get missed all too often.
I've never heard of this DVD-rental Divx service... what's stopping you from ripping the DVD (with the Divx;) codec, no doubt) before It expires?
Not enough people bothered to buy the expensive Divix players, that only played Divix disks, to find out. It was available at Circuit City in the states only, as far as I knew. I don't know anyone that bought one. I know lots of people who laughed their asses off at the idea tho. They started giving away movies if you would buy them. They gave up. I believe they ended up giving people $150 toward a DVD player, since they quit supporting them. Very bad idea to begin with.
Rule one: when people don't bother to even STEAL what you are trying to sell, then you are wasting your time trying to sell it.
What? 400ms satellite vs 150ms 28K modem?
:P
If I was trying to play games online I know which one I'd pick!
I had satalite for several years (was one of the first customers) until less than a year ago, they put cable out here in the sticks.
I could get a 400 ping, if all i did was PING, but for online gaming, my EFFECTIVE ping was really about 800+. This holds true for other tests I had done as well.
Oh, and Hughes service sucks. Absolutely sucks. I had been on hold with them for over an hour, many times. When my BRAND NEW system was installed, it took 3 months of replacement parts to get it to work (not true now tho) and when they had a network down, they would NEVER admit it, so you are trying to figure out if its on your end. After a while, you learn that if the hold is more than 20 minutes (the average on a good day) then lots of people are calling to complain, so its not on your end. Really, they absolutely suck at service. If they did not have a monopoly of sorts, they would be out of business. Not bashing, ask anyone who has been with them a long time.
As a note: they also THROTTLE you down to 56k speeds if they think you are using too much bandwidth, it is NOT unlimited. Read the fair use clause. And yes, thanks to a.b.w. I had been throttled a few times. If you download a few ISOs a month, then no, but anything else, yes. This is one reason I would never consider a TV/Internet package from Hughes here in the states. I switched to cable, and was never happier.
And I get 150 pings on a modem in town. 300 in the country.
That's a great use of GPL.
Yes it is. The GPL can only succeed where there is the opportunity for companies to make profits. This is how they pay those "programmers" who develop the code, that "only" works on their hardware, even tho it is now GPL now, and anyone can use it.
I understand that lots of people have a knee jerk reaction to a company making money using GPL to make money, but uh, that is the idea: make money selling the hardware and servicing the software. If you can't use GPL to make money, no one will want to use it. Really.
Coming up next, How to eat all the fat and preservatives you want and still lose 40lbs a day.
I eat all the fat I want, and I am losing lots of weight.
Oh, and I disagree with your other premise as well. The purpose of the ban is to keep US from killing US. This is not a bad thing.
Is it supposed to be "for Pete's sake" (i.e. for the sake of Pete who is stupid) or is "petesake" a real expression?
im pretty sure its "Pete's sake". There was a movie named that too. Barbara S. invests in pork bellies. Thats all I remember of it since I don't like her.
I belive that most of this is accapted as a good thing by the people =)
And most of the ida with the games are about children and what you want to influens them.
About "Nazi stuff" i hope you understand the guilt and the problem of this for the Germans.
I think most of the laws in Germany mirrors the walues of the Germans.
While I understand that Germans have a strong distaste for Nazi-ism, for good reason. The question thus remains: Does an individual have the right to be a "Nazi"? In Germany, it appears no, since the Nazi party is outlawed. It is legal in America. So is being communist, socialist, facist, aethist, anarchist, muslim, quaker or pacifist. Since we are not over run with communists, socialists or quakers, I am guessing that the problem is the individual and his actions, rather than his affiliation.
Outlawing a group doesn't make its opinions go away. Never has.
Personally, if someone IS an Fundamental Islomist, Seperatist, etc. I want to KNOW it. So yea, keep it legal, keep it honest, so the nuts don't have to hide. They are easy to see.
Thus my preference for genuine freedom of speech. There is no perfect system, but the closer to total liberty the better.
You can't sell Nazi stuff in Germany. They restrict the sale of violent games, but more importantly, they restrict the advertisment or even DISPLAY of items, even to adults.
I can see why their government, and others, do not want the US in Iraq. How afraid are they OF freedom? WHERE is that line between freedom and tyranny? It seems that the German government would do better to worry less about this trivial crap. Any government that tries to limit what its citizens see, hear or play in order to "change" them should be treated as suspect.
Not a bash at all, I don't care WHICH govt. was doing this, it still shows contempt for its citizens. Its like "you are too stupid or too easy manipulated, so we wont let you see this". I don't think I would like being treated that way by my government.
UHF - Michael Richards, Victoria Jackson (from snl), Weird Al, plus Fran Drescher, Billy Barty, Emo Phillips, and more. Simplistic plot, but still a fun watch and family friendly. Tons of stars. One of Richards best performances (Pre-Kramer, Post-Fridays).
Fargo - Gotta love that chipper/shreadder scene.
Crimes of Passion - Kathleen Turner (China Blue) and Anthony "Norman Bates" Perkins star in a very screwed up movie about a whore. Almost porn with a Freudian twist.
Starship Troopers - Just kidding, it sucked. It made you hope the bugs would win.
This is based upon the Socialist concept of government: The Govt. owns everything, including your money, your property and ideas. If you are good, we will let you use them and profit from them.
The idea that I could not give the world something, donated to the public domain, without the government claiming ownership just shows you how fucked up socialism is. This is like the current problem in the US where congress acts like they are 'giving' us something when they offer tax cuts, instead of the reality, which is just TAKING less.
This is EXACTLY the dangerous crap I get tired of preaching about. Anytime the government acts in a way that puts it ABOVE the people, you are setting yourself up for tyranny. It shocks me that more people do not see this as a dangerous philosophy.
This is one reason I am so PRO 2nd amendment. A fully armed people has less to worry about when it comes to a dominating government. Unfortunately, Mexico has a history of corruption at the government level. Too bad, since it has more natural resources than the US, and COULD be one of the richest nations on earth. This idea is one example of why they are NOT, and not likely to be in the near future.
Have you seen any tests of the new 1.43ghz PowerMacs? Seems to me that's not too far remote from the fastest PCs.
Things are always changing. I hear rumors that a 2.3ghz PowerPC is coming out. I will certainly look forward to it. Might even have to buy a new desktop.
I havent seen any benches, but they are only a little faster than the current 1.25 out now. One of the other speed advantages is the higher availability of hardware for pc, such as raid. I can stripe 4x80GB drives, on a $75 card, using $300 or less in hard drives. Theoretically 533mbps, but YMMV. It would be just as EASY on windows/linux/osx but the question is availability of hardware. this would NOT be a good setup for a server, but would for a video production machine or any workstation working with files that are over 100mb, and especially files over 1 gig. Since the hard drive is the weakest link in any system that uses lots of large files, this is a big improvement for about the cost of a really good video card.
I am still looking at Macs as a potential replacement for our windows boxes, especially since im not thrilled with the linux desktop (kde/gnome) either. Now, if adobe would release photoshop for linux.......
But around the time the 500mhz processor came to be, a funny thing happened.
Obviously you know that is controversial statement. While I agree to a degree, the fact remains that everyone makes money when everyone buys the latest greatest. Many of us have shiney new 2.5ghz, and bitch about how slow they are. (really). Try working with 5x7"+ cmyk multi-layered images in Photoshop with a 500mhz vs. a 2500mhz, and you will see a huge difference. Conservatively speaking, it saves me at least 30 minutes a day (somedays much more). That adds up.
I don't argue Apple is great quality, absolutely true. But an old 2 x 4 is a better tool than a micrometer when what you need is brute force, no matter that it is rougher, uglier, and not as polished.
don't get it. Windows FORCES you into their single desktop, and you're okay with it, because you know it's going to suck.
RedHat strongly encourages you to use one desktop, and you just have to say No because there's an alternative? And then complain about it?
Remember: Windows is older than linux. Its not a matter of "choosing". We were running Windows BEFORE Linux was a viable alternative for us. We have not SWITCHED to Linux becuase although it is CLOSE, its not close enough. Since we already have an installed base of windows computers, its expensive to switch no matter what the OS price is, even free.
That is what a lot of Windows bashers don't get (not saying you are a basher). We already have an investment in our networks. I care about uptime, costs, ease of use, maintenance. NO ONE can tell me "linux would be better" because they don't know MY SITUATION. Anyone recommending ANY OS would be spewing FUD without studying the needs, applications, traffic and future expectations. Look, the 'brand' of OS is NOT what makes me money. I want what is easiest and most productive, period.
I love linux, I use it alot (ALL our servers except 1 file server are linux), but you guys gotta realize that for most of us, its not religion, it purely selfish capitalism that decides what I use. I don't appologize for that in any way. I will migrate fully to Linux when it makes financial sense. Right now, until they get the desktop better, it costs more to use linux than windows, FOR ME, because of training, migration, and various headaches that ANY OS migration causes.