Which brings us back to the original point, that there appears to be a marketing problem including a perception that Linux is something usable only by geeks. When tutorials assume you're a power user, then they're excluding the majority of computer users and perpetuating the "geeks only" stereotype.
Until that mindset is overcome, I don't really see the market share expanding dramatically.
On a related note, I recently installed Debian "etch" (netbooted from OS X) and am less than impressed with the poor organization of the default GUI menus. It almost made Windows look logical. I'm still stumbling around a bit finding things and modifying things. I sure couldn't imagine having to walk someone through it over the phone without a running system in front of me. (And could someone please change the login widget to make it obvious that both a username AND password are going to be called for? At a glance, I thought it was a screen lock and typed my password in "in the clear").
I'd say it's more interesting that anyone puts enough weight on the opinions of some magazine's subscribers to the point of thinking those opinions are even remotely meaningful.
I wouldn't expect an answer to that. As far as I can tell, it stems from this article by Lawrence Lessig and is apparently meaningless in the contexts in which it so frequently invoked.
The atmosphere-ocean system is a coupled one on climate timescales. Oceanographers are very much climate scientists.
Oceanography (from the greek words Okeanos [Greek transliteration] (someone should let CmdrTaco know about this thing called Unicode) meaning Ocean and grapho [Greek transliteration] meaning to write), also called oceanology or marine science, is the branch of Earth science that studies the ocean. It covers a wide range of topics, including marine organisms and ecosystem dynamics; ocean currents, waves, and geophysical fluid dynamics; plate tectonics and the geology of the sea floor; and fluxes of various chemical substances and physical properties within the ocean and across its boundaries. These diverse topics reflect multiple disciplines that oceanographers blend to further knowledge of the world ocean and understanding of processes within it: biology, chemistry, geology, meteorology, and physics.
I think the parent was probably referring to the odd use of "adversary" in regard to an inanimate object. As in "opponent" or "enemy". It frequently implies that the relationship is two-way. I have to think that Alzheimer's isn't fighting back against him. In fact, I'm betting it isn't even aware of his existence...
Apparently they meant to say "an ardent supporter of Alzheimer's research" or something along those lines.
Wow - *that's* a troll? Well, it's quite an impressive troll. It's so stunningly subtle that I actually thought you wanted a good text editor on the iPhone. gj!
You may be right. However, he did say that ethanol drives up food prices, and there were a fair number of people assigning responsibility to ethanol production for the commodities spike that occurred. Furthermore, food isn't the only item that can make ethanol, but it's certainly the easiest.
I'm of the opinion that algae sourced biodiesel is a more likely candidate for sustainable energy in the somewhat near future. However, the R&D is still very much in its early stages and reliant upon high oil prices and/or subsidies and grants to really move aggressively forward.
Anyway - good point - I may very well have misinterpreted his statement. Thanks.
While I don't agree with some of your reasons, I do appreciate that someone asked the question "were they ever"?
I'm not aware that biofuels had ever graduated from the direct subsidy phase. In fact, pretty much every issue that I receive of Biodiesel magazine and the ethanol & fuel reports talk about where the government money is now, where it's headed, and how to get it.
I suppose this will start a whole rant by someone(s) regarding the invisible subsidies for oil (including the intangible subsidies of environmental damage, etc.), but to imply that biofuels have been economically feasible in the US seems rather disingenuous.
(as an aside, the points I'm disagreeing on pertain mostly to food costs, as the general commodities market speculation was largely to blame for that. Quite possibly driven by biofuels speculation, but - like oil - mostly a market with no fundamentals supporting the prices)
I've had numerous cell phones over the past 15 years from a variety of manufacturers, as well as a few PDAs. The iPhone is the first of them that I really use regularly for a variety of tasks. The interface is relatively easy to use, the applications perform well, and updates and syncing are straightforward. This isn't about any individual component in the mix, it's the overall integration.
As to the innovation, Apple is the first company to tell the US wireless carriers that the cellphone vendor is defining platform. In the past, you never really knew what features you were going to get and what features would be removed so that the wireless carrier could charge you to use the feature. I can't imagine that Verizon would have agreed to network changes in order to support visual voicemail without having it disabled by default and then charging on a per message basis (or some other equally obnoxious plan). In fact, Verzion probably would have required that all of the interface buttons be reordered or some other silliness like they seem to do with so many of the Motorola phones they carry. Apple also worked to ensure that the data plan was unlimited so that you would be encouraged to use the device without fear of bandwidth charges.
Certainly there are improvements to be made - it's not as if it's perfect by any means - but at least I know that I can get upgrades as they come out, rather than getting a device that gets little or no improvement over the course of my 2 year contract. Or one that requires me to go track down a kiosk and hope for the best.
Ah, but you see, there will be simulated RFID tags on everything and a clerk at the exit that compares the contents of your shopping bag with your receipt. Additionally, there will be at least one overly zealous store employee to chase you down in the virtual parking lot before you get to your car simulation. He will have the ability to hold you down with enough force to suffocate you before the police arrive.
It's a certainty that 0 people today know what position MS will be in 7 years from now. Therefore, the statement can only be logically taken to mean that Apple will be in the same position in 7 years that MS is in today.
Well, my understanding of "completely open" would have been being able to get the source. It's odd that neither of us was able to find it right off of the bat. I did notice that it's coming up in Google now when it wasn't when I did my first search.
Slashdot Mirror
Which brings us back to the original point, that there appears to be a marketing problem including a perception that Linux is something usable only by geeks. When tutorials assume you're a power user, then they're excluding the majority of computer users and perpetuating the "geeks only" stereotype.
Until that mindset is overcome, I don't really see the market share expanding dramatically.
On a related note, I recently installed Debian "etch" (netbooted from OS X) and am less than impressed with the poor organization of the default GUI menus. It almost made Windows look logical. I'm still stumbling around a bit finding things and modifying things. I sure couldn't imagine having to walk someone through it over the phone without a running system in front of me. (And could someone please change the login widget to make it obvious that both a username AND password are going to be called for? At a glance, I thought it was a screen lock and typed my password in "in the clear").
I'd say it's more interesting that anyone puts enough weight on the opinions of some magazine's subscribers to the point of thinking those opinions are even remotely meaningful.
I wouldn't expect an answer to that. As far as I can tell, it stems from this article by Lawrence Lessig and is apparently meaningless in the contexts in which it so frequently invoked.
Apparently not. I easily recognized you as a troll even though I doubt you live under a bridge nor turn to stone in the sun.
[...] mostly oceanographers, [...]
The atmosphere-ocean system is a coupled one on climate timescales. Oceanographers are very much climate scientists.
Oceanography (from the greek words Okeanos [Greek transliteration] (someone should let CmdrTaco know about this thing called Unicode) meaning Ocean and grapho [Greek transliteration] meaning to write), also called oceanology or marine science, is the branch of Earth science that studies the ocean. It covers a wide range of topics, including marine organisms and ecosystem dynamics; ocean currents, waves, and geophysical fluid dynamics; plate tectonics and the geology of the sea floor; and fluxes of various chemical substances and physical properties within the ocean and across its boundaries. These diverse topics reflect multiple disciplines that oceanographers blend to further knowledge of the world ocean and understanding of processes within it: biology, chemistry, geology, meteorology, and physics.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oceanography
Criminy. Looks like pretty much everybody's a climate scientist then...
Unless we're not from here, man-made change is natural. Well, as natural as a termite mound or a beaver dam.
This is the most excited I've been since the Casio C-80 emulator was released for the Cray XT5!
I think the parent was probably referring to the odd use of "adversary" in regard to an inanimate object. As in "opponent" or "enemy". It frequently implies that the relationship is two-way. I have to think that Alzheimer's isn't fighting back against him. In fact, I'm betting it isn't even aware of his existence...
Apparently they meant to say "an ardent supporter of Alzheimer's research" or something along those lines.
And the erroneous "FW update" phrase... *having* the firmware update would have prevented the problem.
Wow - *that's* a troll? Well, it's quite an impressive troll. It's so stunningly subtle that I actually thought you wanted a good text editor on the iPhone. gj!
You may be right. However, he did say that ethanol drives up food prices, and there were a fair number of people assigning responsibility to ethanol production for the commodities spike that occurred. Furthermore, food isn't the only item that can make ethanol, but it's certainly the easiest.
I'm of the opinion that algae sourced biodiesel is a more likely candidate for sustainable energy in the somewhat near future. However, the R&D is still very much in its early stages and reliant upon high oil prices and/or subsidies and grants to really move aggressively forward.
Anyway - good point - I may very well have misinterpreted his statement. Thanks.
I guess that explains why the Dilbert syndrome is so prevalent. All of that emitted mercury in their cubicles causes them to slowly go mad.
While I don't agree with some of your reasons, I do appreciate that someone asked the question "were they ever"?
I'm not aware that biofuels had ever graduated from the direct subsidy phase. In fact, pretty much every issue that I receive of Biodiesel magazine and the ethanol & fuel reports talk about where the government money is now, where it's headed, and how to get it.
I suppose this will start a whole rant by someone(s) regarding the invisible subsidies for oil (including the intangible subsidies of environmental damage, etc.), but to imply that biofuels have been economically feasible in the US seems rather disingenuous.
(as an aside, the points I'm disagreeing on pertain mostly to food costs, as the general commodities market speculation was largely to blame for that. Quite possibly driven by biofuels speculation, but - like oil - mostly a market with no fundamentals supporting the prices)
Wish there was a +1 Brilliant...
Ah... the first signs of dementia. Get to a Dr. and quick!
... as long as it's not Windows.
Yeah. That would take something like BootCamp and you can darn well bet Apple would never let something like that run on their precious hardware.
I've had numerous cell phones over the past 15 years from a variety of manufacturers, as well as a few PDAs. The iPhone is the first of them that I really use regularly for a variety of tasks. The interface is relatively easy to use, the applications perform well, and updates and syncing are straightforward. This isn't about any individual component in the mix, it's the overall integration.
As to the innovation, Apple is the first company to tell the US wireless carriers that the cellphone vendor is defining platform. In the past, you never really knew what features you were going to get and what features would be removed so that the wireless carrier could charge you to use the feature. I can't imagine that Verizon would have agreed to network changes in order to support visual voicemail without having it disabled by default and then charging on a per message basis (or some other equally obnoxious plan). In fact, Verzion probably would have required that all of the interface buttons be reordered or some other silliness like they seem to do with so many of the Motorola phones they carry. Apple also worked to ensure that the data plan was unlimited so that you would be encouraged to use the device without fear of bandwidth charges.
Certainly there are improvements to be made - it's not as if it's perfect by any means - but at least I know that I can get upgrades as they come out, rather than getting a device that gets little or no improvement over the course of my 2 year contract. Or one that requires me to go track down a kiosk and hope for the best.
No, I don't watch that crap.
He's too busy reading this crap and then adding his own crap to the pile.
Ah, but you see, there will be simulated RFID tags on everything and a clerk at the exit that compares the contents of your shopping bag with your receipt. Additionally, there will be at least one overly zealous store employee to chase you down in the virtual parking lot before you get to your car simulation. He will have the ability to hold you down with enough force to suffocate you before the police arrive.
I'm going to retract my other comment. I see that you have to have 500 or more employees to get the alternate license.
BTW, if you mod me Underrated you are admitting that you have a very large penis.
It's not your only choice.
Apple has $24+ billion and no debt. What are you getting at?
It's a certainty that 0 people today know what position MS will be in 7 years from now. Therefore, the statement can only be logically taken to mean that Apple will be in the same position in 7 years that MS is in today.
Well, my understanding of "completely open" would have been being able to get the source. It's odd that neither of us was able to find it right off of the bat. I did notice that it's coming up in Google now when it wasn't when I did my first search.
Even more interesting, http://code.google.com/android/ doesn't have anything but the SDK.
Anyway - thanks for the link.
And then I magically turned the original post into your post. Sorry.