True... this is one area where Linux will have to improve greatly before we would ever consider it for our NOS. We are currently looking at upgrading from Novell 4.11 to either Netware 5.1 or Windows 2000. We need a good directory service, and fine-grained file permissions. -
The IHA Forums
You are right about the 64,000 figure, but wrong about the serious ones. Windows 2000 shipped with *NO* "Showstopper" bugs listed in the database.
After the shipment, the programmers went back and reviewed the 64,000 bugs and immediately eliminated 25,000 of them as previously fixed, which is where I think you get that figure from. The rest of the issues were either a) simple things, like the word "microsoft" not being capitalized.... a button in the wrong place.... etc. Nothing that would cause a crash or prevent you from using a feature, or b) issues with specific hardware.
Whether you like Microsoft or not, I haven't had any major crashes on Windows 2000 with this machine, other than a beta driver which happened twice. I've used it as my primary since December of 1999, since I was a beta tester.
Actually in September we may have Windows 2001, Pentum-4's at 2GHz, and a 64-bit x86 chip from AMD.... as well as a new revision of the Linux kernel, VisualStudio.NET final (or at least the last RC), and probably hundreds of new KDE themes:) -
The IHA Forums
eBay can't stop private individuals from completing private transactions, regardless of how they came into contact with each other. What if I meet some guy on eBay, we become friends, and two years later he sells me a car. Are they gonna want a cut then?
However, if a seller cancels an auction shortly before the close, then sells the item to whomever was the top bidder, thus bypassing eBay's fees, I think eBay has a right to go after him.
All system information is stored in one place. All users info goes into one certain place under that users's profile. Everything works in a set, systemmatic way. Yes, this limits Windows' "hackability" sometimes, but that's a tradeoff I'm willing to make for the standards and support I get.
Linux is a great "fooling around" tool for me, but the complexities aren't worth any gains I may receive over Windows 2000 at this time, in terms of using it as my primary OS. That could change in the future. -
The IHA Forums
If you believe that you can prove without a doubt that there is no God, I (and the rest of the world) are all ears my friend.
On topic: By simply requesting unfiltered access, they will turn it on and viola! no more filtering for you. I don't see OPT-IN filtering as any sort of problem.
Are you kidding us? There isn't a browser out there that fully supports the HTML standards. Netscape is far worse than IE is in this regard. Methinks you are grasping at straws here... -
The IHA Forums
Actually, I have the beta version of Windows.NET and VisualStudio.NET, as well as the.NET SDK v2 in my hands right now, so what were you saying...? -
The IHA Forums
I find it odd that in today's world, I still can't get a default distro of Linux or any free *nix with a journaling filesystem preinstalled as the default, and with a fs driver considered to be STABLE or RELEASE. Yet, Windows NT has had a full journaling filesystem since NT 3.x....
Since NTFS is journaling, supports reparse points, extended meta data, and more, I look forward to the day when the NTFS fs driver for Linux is stable enough to boot from, then I can have one *stable* filesystem across all my disks.
I might add that a boot-time chkdsk on a rather large partition (chkdsk on NT == fsck on Linux) takes less than 30 seconds, many times even less. Contrast that to your average ext2 or FAT32 system, which can take many minutes to check.
First of all, DCOM, in its latest implementations, works quite well.
As for desktop and GUI apps, that is at least 50% of the battle, if not more.
You speak of a jigsaw, and that is the problem! I don't need to have to worry about what libraries are installed on my client's PCs, or what window manager or version of X they are running.... I just wanna write to a standard interface and have it all work together with a good object model. Windows 2000 and COM+ give me that. Linux has plenty of room to grow, but first people need to start admitting what is good about the way Windows works, and start adopting the aspects that make programming easier. -
The IHA Forums
Wow, its just like... COM. Linux isn't a good programming platform for me right now because it doesn't have a standard object model. Microsoft took this to a new level with COM/COM+, and is set to do it again with.NET
I look forward to seeing a real standard on Linux, and then perhaps I can consider it for my projects.
I agree. I see much of this, due to the fact that I am an expert Visual Basic programmer, and I use Windows 2000 as my primary OS. I'm on the VS.NET beta team, and I like the direction things are going.
This type of "advocacy" extends to all areas of life these days. People assume that they have the only well-thought out opinions on life, the universe, et al. and don't take into account that others may have thought just as long and hard about things and come up with a different conclusion. Yes, it is possible for a clear-thinking individual to be pro-life. Yes, choosing Linux does indeed make sense in lots of situations. Yes, Visual Basic (and VB.NET) is a great language for certain tasks.
I think we should all respect each other and try to understand more about why another person has chosen the viewpoint that they have. It may serve to change our minds, or re-enforce our position, but either way we will be better people for it. -----
You see, if I want to draw a window, I simply call GDI with the location & size. I don't even have to specify color (system default color scheme would be used.)
All objects in Windows are in fact... windows
Command buttons, list boxes, and more. They are all just 'windows' drawn with different styles. OF course you can do a good Ol' OwnerDraw with the various graphics methods, but its a lot more work.
Contrast that to X, where if I want to draw a button I've got to draw a rectangle, fill it, and write my text. GDI takes the features of say, X and the widgets/drawing methods of a WM (like KDE) and melds them together.
If Microsoft went the Open-source route, they would release the Windows source-code, not adopt Linux. This way, they still maintain some bit of control over the way the license would work.
I would bet that if they did release the source, it would be to the desktop edition (ex: Windows 2000 Pro or Whistler Personal), and keep the Server OSes for sale.
Either way, I think the author is correct about one thing: Microsoft will always be the last one standing as long as Gates & co are there. Now when he and all the big original co are gone and the effects of corporate beuracracy (sp) really takes its toll, Microsoft will eventually falter and fail.
Until then, Gate's vision will will keep the company on top. Whether you like the man or not, he's a genius; at marketing, management, or innovation is a judgement I'll leave up to the reader:)
Explorer.exe isn't the window manager -- its the shell.
GDI32 is the window manager. On a Win9x system, it can be found mostly inside of GDI.EXE. The 32-bit GDI32.DLL just thunks most of its calls across to the 16-version, because its just faster drawing for most things.
On an NT system, The kernel provides only ~200 native APIs (called the Executive), upon which various subsystems run (Including POSIX and OS/2 ones, among Win32, Win16, and DOS.) One of the subsystems is Win32, which provides a version of GDI which is compatible with the Win9x implementation, but its fully re-entrant and 32-bit.
I think it would be more effective in terms of resource usage and functionality if someone were to whip up a X-window server that communicated with the kernel directly via the Executive. In that regard, it would be a completely separate system from Win32 and could provide its own services any way it pleases. As a matter of fact, if you set a callback in the keyboard kernel module, you could intercept your favorite Key Combo (let's say ALT+1, 2, etc...) and use that to switch control of the display output to a different subsystem. Of course, the video mini-driver interface should be fully re-entrant as well, so having multiple subsystems display their interface on the screen at the same time would be no problem.
There is a lot of unexplored functionality in Windows NT/2000.... people assume that because Microsoft doesn't do it, it can't be done, which is pretty self-limiting IMHO.
* its been a bit since I reviewed the docs, so if I made a mistake I apologize:)
In all fairness, you can download DirectX and WinCE development kits for C++ and Visual Basic. It just takes more work to get things figured out than if you bought all the docs and stuff directly from Sega
Just a few problems. I think the technology is great, but its not really anything new. All they have done is taken the data layer from a CD and put it into a thin, flexible disc. The hardest part is making it so that it won't break.
Once you have one of these floppy CDs, you've got to possess a reflecting disc to attatch it to, before placing it into your drive, otherwise there is nothing for the laser to reflect off of and the disc cannot be read.
That's the real key: if they can't get these reflective discs out there (at least one in every house), then the format won't sell.
DirectX - people devel for DX, thus games don't get developed for OGL, and we Linux users don't get a port, since one would take a total conversion of the engine.
Would you blame them? Linux has.. what, 5% of the desktop marketshare? Its a simple application of supply and demand.
Office - 'if you don't use the latest version, you can't read anybody's documents, and they can't read your's. This also crushes presentation software, site design software, and most other 'productivity' software, since if people have something that 'does the job,' they generally aren't willing to shell out money for another program that does something similar, even if it does it better. Not many people get office for much more than being able to read those horrid Word documents, but use all the other parts of it, because they would rather not pay more money. (Possibly why MS hiked the price of MS Office/again/?)
Not so... the formats of Office 2000 are backwards-compatible with Office 97. Nearly every Linux distro comes with Netscape by default... shouldn't I complain that such a practice is hurting Opera for Linux sales? You are the worst type of hypocrite-- your blind to your own hypocrasy.
Browser - this has already been overly stated.
Including IE in Windows is no different than preloading Redhat with Netscape. It is the EXACT same thing. If you can't see that, then you must be blind
SMB - constantly mutating the protocol.
Well, they own it so they can do whatever the heck they want to with it. I'm sure Microsoft programmers have nothing better to do than modify SMB in order to thwart the SAMBA programmers who will have to release a new version a few weeks later to catch up... oops except for the fact that all MS SMB clients are backwards compatible so you only have to upgrade to get new features.
Media - Windows Media Player. Crappy product at it's most recent release, and comes bundled and installed.
BFD. Windows has always come bundled with a built-in media player. Are you actually saying that RealPlayer or Quicktime are better products?
Utilities - a miriad of utilities that have increased in abundance since the Dark Beginning of Windows, which have over time decreased the demand for other company's products, such as defrag tools, editors, etc.
Like the 100s of packages that come in the average Linux distro? More of the same
Servers - all their lovely servers which constantly change protocols, requiring the latest OS or software package from MS in order for them to work properly together.
*ahem* All clients are backward compatible. I can setup a w2k machine and w98 clients can access it no problem.
Never mind that they're inferior server products and cost a lot more - businesses 'need' them because they offer new 'features' which other programs are cross dependant on. Upgrade the server, you have to upgrade the client.
Proof? And no, you do not have to upgrade the client. Spewing FUD no more becomes you than it does Microsoft.
Email - everyone using windows has either OE or Outlook that comes w/ Office. Lovely, formatted email that nobody else can read without having to search through the message for meaningful content. Nevermind the address books, etc, that go alongside the Exchange server.
Different from Notes? Nope. Get with the times. If your email program can't handle MIME or HTML, get a new email program or stop your b*tching. Nobody's going to hold your hand.
There you have it. [more FUD] They have a very strong presence in every major computer software market: productivity, games, media, internet, and email. Granted, these things are 'given away' mostly for free, such as Media Player, but my goodness... like you haven't already pawned your soul for the OS and it's license.
Or become a Linux-zealot FUD-spewing Nut, huh? Get real man.... free software isn't some magic spell, that when cast over your computer, will solve all your problems. You are only exchanging one set of problems for another.
CmdrTaco: May I take you order?
rabtech: Yes, I'll have linux commentary, news for nerds, but hold the political insults please.
I'd rather have a head of lettuce as president than a fork-tounged snake who will lie and cheat me for four years. -----
What the submitter, poster, and to some extent the article author don't tell us,
is that this is a security OPTION. Key emphasis here is that Whistler will support
MANY security levels, and this just happens to be the most secure, only allowing
code that you approve (or is digitally signed by Microsoft) to be run.
Administrators/users can turn this on or off, or select a whole host of security levels inbetween.
Slashdot, the free software movement, and hackers in general need to be wary
of resorting to the same kind of FUD that they accuse Microsoft
of engaging in.
Some of us are actually on the Beta team, so it might be wise to listen
to what we have to say, rather than alarmists such as Mr. Raikow.
I'm a beta tester, and I can tell you that VisualStudio.NET is going to bring some great things to application development. I would challenge all those who are gung-ho against.NET to actually signup for the beta and test it out for yourself before passing judgements.
It is expected that Microsoft will make BETA1 available to anyone who wants it (minus a small SH fee). You can check this page for more info on.NET: http://msdn.microsoft.com/net/
I just find it amusing that so many people (including the author of the article, with whom I am corresponding via email) jump to conclusions, without having read the documents or at least beta tested the software for more than 10 minutes.
My judgements on Linux are certainly based on more than a few hours/days/months of work, and I think anyone who wishes to be fair owes the same to ALL platforms and solutions.
Has anybody compared the memory footprints of the older Netscape (4.0 series) and the current Mozilla implementation?
Netscape (or "nutscrape" as it is commonly referred to in WWW circles) is one of the most bloated POS applications i've ever had the displeasure of using. Who decided that it could install AOL IM without my permission?
Besides the fact that placing the email client inside the same process as the browser is a moronic idea at best (Windows version).
Internet Explorer is currently being ported to various *nixes. If my sources are correct, you may in fact be able to find a version that runs on Linux as well. I hope so, because browsing the web with Netscape on any platform is a painful experience:)
Heaven forbid they actually keep track of the licenses they buy! I mean, why should anybody be able to question whether or not they have actually paid for their commercial software? Geez!
[sarcasm off]
At my company, all software purchases are strictly monitored, and we keep all the licenses in a locked vault. If Microsoft or anyone else ever comes knocking, we have no fears. We can produce the license for every single piece of software installed in our company. If they were too lazy to keep accurate records, that is their fault and no one else's. -----
Slashdot Mirror
True... this is one area where Linux will have to improve greatly before we would ever consider it for our NOS. We are currently looking at upgrading from Novell 4.11 to either Netware 5.1 or Windows 2000. We need a good directory service, and fine-grained file permissions.
-
The IHA Forums
You are right about the 64,000 figure, but wrong about the serious ones. Windows 2000 shipped with *NO* "Showstopper" bugs listed in the database.
After the shipment, the programmers went back and reviewed the 64,000 bugs and immediately eliminated 25,000 of them as previously fixed, which is where I think you get that figure from. The rest of the issues were either a) simple things, like the word "microsoft" not being capitalized.... a button in the wrong place.... etc. Nothing that would cause a crash or prevent you from using a feature, or b) issues with specific hardware.
Whether you like Microsoft or not, I haven't had any major crashes on Windows 2000 with this machine, other than a beta driver which happened twice. I've used it as my primary since December of 1999, since I was a beta tester.
-
The IHA Forums
Actually in September we may have Windows 2001, Pentum-4's at 2GHz, and a 64-bit x86 chip from AMD.... as well as a new revision of the Linux kernel, VisualStudio.NET final (or at least the last RC), and probably hundreds of new KDE themes :)
-
The IHA Forums
eBay can't stop private individuals from completing private transactions, regardless of how they came into contact with each other. What if I meet some guy on eBay, we become friends, and two years later he sells me a car. Are they gonna want a cut then?
However, if a seller cancels an auction shortly before the close, then sells the item to whomever was the top bidder, thus bypassing eBay's fees, I think eBay has a right to go after him.
-- russ
-
The IHA Forums
You just described Windows 2000/NT:
All system information is stored in one place. All users info goes into one certain place under that users's profile. Everything works in a set, systemmatic way. Yes, this limits Windows' "hackability" sometimes, but that's a tradeoff I'm willing to make for the standards and support I get.
Linux is a great "fooling around" tool for me, but the complexities aren't worth any gains I may receive over Windows 2000 at this time, in terms of using it as my primary OS. That could change in the future.
-
The IHA Forums
The fool says to himself "There is no God"
If you believe that you can prove without a doubt that there is no God, I (and the rest of the world) are all ears my friend.
On topic: By simply requesting unfiltered access, they will turn it on and viola! no more filtering for you. I don't see OPT-IN filtering as any sort of problem.
-- russ
-
The IHA Forums
Are you kidding us? There isn't a browser out there that fully supports the HTML standards. Netscape is far worse than IE is in this regard. Methinks you are grasping at straws here...
-
The IHA Forums
Actually, I have the beta version of Windows.NET and VisualStudio.NET, as well as the .NET SDK v2 in my hands right now, so what were you saying...?
-
The IHA Forums
I find it odd that in today's world, I still can't get a default distro of Linux or any free *nix with a journaling filesystem preinstalled as the default, and with a fs driver considered to be STABLE or RELEASE. Yet, Windows NT has had a full journaling filesystem since NT 3.x....
Since NTFS is journaling, supports reparse points, extended meta data, and more, I look forward to the day when the NTFS fs driver for Linux is stable enough to boot from, then I can have one *stable* filesystem across all my disks.
I might add that a boot-time chkdsk on a rather large partition (chkdsk on NT == fsck on Linux) takes less than 30 seconds, many times even less. Contrast that to your average ext2 or FAT32 system, which can take many minutes to check.
-- russ
-
The IHA Forums
First of all, DCOM, in its latest implementations, works quite well.
As for desktop and GUI apps, that is at least 50% of the battle, if not more.
You speak of a jigsaw, and that is the problem! I don't need to have to worry about what libraries are installed on my client's PCs, or what window manager or version of X they are running.... I just wanna write to a standard interface and have it all work together with a good object model. Windows 2000 and COM+ give me that. Linux has plenty of room to grow, but first people need to start admitting what is good about the way Windows works, and start adopting the aspects that make programming easier.
-
The IHA Forums
Wow, its just like... COM. Linux isn't a good programming platform for me right now because it doesn't have a standard object model. Microsoft took this to a new level with COM/COM+, and is set to do it again with .NET
I look forward to seeing a real standard on Linux, and then perhaps I can consider it for my projects.
-
The IHA Forums
I agree. I see much of this, due to the fact that I am an expert Visual Basic programmer, and I use Windows 2000 as my primary OS. I'm on the VS.NET beta team, and I like the direction things are going.
This type of "advocacy" extends to all areas of life these days. People assume that they have the only well-thought out opinions on life, the universe, et al. and don't take into account that others may have thought just as long and hard about things and come up with a different conclusion. Yes, it is possible for a clear-thinking individual to be pro-life. Yes, choosing Linux does indeed make sense in lots of situations. Yes, Visual Basic (and VB.NET) is a great language for certain tasks.
I think we should all respect each other and try to understand more about why another person has chosen the viewpoint that they have. It may serve to change our minds, or re-enforce our position, but either way we will be better people for it.
-----
No, GDI is the window manager.
You see, if I want to draw a window, I simply call GDI with the location & size. I don't even have to specify color (system default color scheme would be used.)
All objects in Windows are in fact... windows
Command buttons, list boxes, and more. They are all just 'windows' drawn with different styles. OF course you can do a good Ol' OwnerDraw with the various graphics methods, but its a lot more work.
Contrast that to X, where if I want to draw a button I've got to draw a rectangle, fill it, and write my text. GDI takes the features of say, X and the widgets/drawing methods of a WM (like KDE) and melds them together.
-----
If Microsoft went the Open-source route, they would release the Windows source-code, not adopt Linux. This way, they still maintain some bit of control over the way the license would work.
:)
I would bet that if they did release the source, it would be to the desktop edition (ex: Windows 2000 Pro or Whistler Personal), and keep the Server OSes for sale.
Either way, I think the author is correct about one thing: Microsoft will always be the last one standing as long as Gates & co are there. Now when he and all the big original co are gone and the effects of corporate beuracracy (sp) really takes its toll, Microsoft will eventually falter and fail.
Until then, Gate's vision will will keep the company on top. Whether you like the man or not, he's a genius; at marketing, management, or innovation is a judgement I'll leave up to the reader
-- russ
-- Senior Forum Admin, Ihateapple.com
-----
Explorer.exe isn't the window manager -- its the shell.
.... people assume that because Microsoft doesn't do it, it can't be done, which is pretty self-limiting IMHO.
:)
GDI32 is the window manager. On a Win9x system, it can be found mostly inside of GDI.EXE. The 32-bit GDI32.DLL just thunks most of its calls across to the 16-version, because its just faster drawing for most things.
On an NT system, The kernel provides only ~200 native APIs (called the Executive), upon which various subsystems run (Including POSIX and OS/2 ones, among Win32, Win16, and DOS.) One of the subsystems is Win32, which provides a version of GDI which is compatible with the Win9x implementation, but its fully re-entrant and 32-bit.
I think it would be more effective in terms of resource usage and functionality if someone were to whip up a X-window server that communicated with the kernel directly via the Executive. In that regard, it would be a completely separate system from Win32 and could provide its own services any way it pleases. As a matter of fact, if you set a callback in the keyboard kernel module, you could intercept your favorite Key Combo (let's say ALT+1, 2, etc...) and use that to switch control of the display output to a different subsystem. Of course, the video mini-driver interface should be fully re-entrant as well, so having multiple subsystems display their interface on the screen at the same time would be no problem.
There is a lot of unexplored functionality in Windows NT/2000
* its been a bit since I reviewed the docs, so if I made a mistake I apologize
-- russ -- Senior Forum Admin, Ihateapple.com
-----
In all fairness, you can download DirectX and WinCE development kits for C++ and Visual Basic. It just takes more work to get things figured out than if you bought all the docs and stuff directly from Sega
-----
Just a few problems. I think the technology is great, but its not really anything new. All they have done is taken the data layer from a CD and put it into a thin, flexible disc. The hardest part is making it so that it won't break.
Once you have one of these floppy CDs, you've got to possess a reflecting disc to attatch it to, before placing it into your drive, otherwise there is nothing for the laser to reflect off of and the disc cannot be read.
That's the real key: if they can't get these reflective discs out there (at least one in every house), then the format won't sell.
-----
Geez... OK I'll bite.
/again/?)
DirectX - people devel for DX, thus games don't get developed for OGL, and we Linux users don't get a port, since one would take a total conversion of the engine.
Would you blame them? Linux has.. what, 5% of the desktop marketshare? Its a simple application of supply and demand.
Office - 'if you don't use the latest version, you can't read anybody's documents, and they can't read your's. This also crushes presentation software, site design software, and most other 'productivity' software, since if people have something that 'does the job,' they generally aren't willing to shell out money for another program that does something similar, even if it does it better. Not many people get office for much more than being able to read those horrid Word documents, but use all the other parts of it, because they would rather not pay more money. (Possibly why MS hiked the price of MS Office
Not so... the formats of Office 2000 are backwards-compatible with Office 97. Nearly every Linux distro comes with Netscape by default... shouldn't I complain that such a practice is hurting Opera for Linux sales? You are the worst type of hypocrite-- your blind to your own hypocrasy.
Browser - this has already been overly stated.
Including IE in Windows is no different than preloading Redhat with Netscape. It is the EXACT same thing. If you can't see that, then you must be blind
SMB - constantly mutating the protocol.
Well, they own it so they can do whatever the heck they want to with it. I'm sure Microsoft programmers have nothing better to do than modify SMB in order to thwart the SAMBA programmers who will have to release a new version a few weeks later to catch up... oops except for the fact that all MS SMB clients are backwards compatible so you only have to upgrade to get new features.
Media - Windows Media Player. Crappy product at it's most recent release, and comes bundled and installed.
BFD. Windows has always come bundled with a built-in media player. Are you actually saying that RealPlayer or Quicktime are better products?
Utilities - a miriad of utilities that have increased in abundance since the Dark Beginning of Windows, which have over time decreased the demand for other company's products, such as defrag tools, editors, etc.
Like the 100s of packages that come in the average Linux distro? More of the same
Servers - all their lovely servers which constantly change protocols, requiring the latest OS or software package from MS in order for them to work properly together.
*ahem* All clients are backward compatible. I can setup a w2k machine and w98 clients can access it no problem.
Never mind that they're inferior server products and cost a lot more - businesses 'need' them because they offer new 'features' which other programs are cross dependant on. Upgrade the server, you have to upgrade the client.
Proof? And no, you do not have to upgrade the client. Spewing FUD no more becomes you than it does Microsoft.
Email - everyone using windows has either OE or Outlook that comes w/ Office. Lovely, formatted email that nobody else can read without having to search through the message for meaningful content. Nevermind the address books, etc, that go alongside the Exchange server.
Different from Notes? Nope. Get with the times. If your email program can't handle MIME or HTML, get a new email program or stop your b*tching. Nobody's going to hold your hand.
There you have it. [more FUD] They have a very strong presence in every major computer software market: productivity, games, media, internet, and email. Granted, these things are 'given away' mostly for free, such as Media Player, but my goodness... like you haven't already pawned your soul for the OS and it's license.
Or become a Linux-zealot FUD-spewing Nut, huh? Get real man.... free software isn't some magic spell, that when cast over your computer, will solve all your problems. You are only exchanging one set of problems for another.
-----
CmdrTaco: May I take you order? rabtech: Yes, I'll have linux commentary, news for nerds, but hold the political insults please. I'd rather have a head of lettuce as president than a fork-tounged snake who will lie and cheat me for four years.
-----
Registerfree.com doesn't censor domain names, and I've used them in the past. They offer cheap, no-frills registration. Go check them out.
-----
What the submitter, poster, and to some extent the article author don't tell us,
is that this is a security OPTION. Key emphasis here is that Whistler will support
MANY security levels, and this just happens to be the most secure, only allowing
code that you approve (or is digitally signed by Microsoft) to be run.
Administrators/users can turn this on or off, or select a whole host of security levels inbetween.
Slashdot, the free software movement, and hackers in general need to be wary
of resorting to the same kind of FUD that they accuse Microsoft
of engaging in.
Some of us are actually on the Beta team, so it might be wise to listen
to what we have to say, rather than alarmists such as Mr. Raikow.
-----
I'm a beta tester, and I can tell you that VisualStudio.NET is going to bring some great things to application development. I would challenge all those who are gung-ho against .NET to actually signup for the beta and test it out for yourself before passing judgements.
.NET:
It is expected that Microsoft will make BETA1 available to anyone who wants it (minus a small SH fee). You can check this page for more info on
http://msdn.microsoft.com/net/
I just find it amusing that so many people (including the author of the article, with whom I am corresponding via email) jump to conclusions, without having read the documents or at least beta tested the software for more than 10 minutes.
My judgements on Linux are certainly based on more than a few hours/days/months of work, and I think anyone who wishes to be fair owes the same to ALL platforms and solutions.
-----
Has anybody compared the memory footprints of the older Netscape (4.0 series) and the current Mozilla implementation?
:)
Netscape (or "nutscrape" as it is commonly referred to in WWW circles) is one of the most bloated POS applications i've ever had the displeasure of using. Who decided that it could install AOL IM without my permission? Besides the fact that placing the email client inside the same process as the browser is a moronic idea at best (Windows version).
Internet Explorer is currently being ported to various *nixes. If my sources are correct, you may in fact be able to find a version that runs on Linux as well. I hope so, because browsing the web with Netscape on any platform is a painful experience
-----
Heaven forbid they actually keep track of the licenses they buy! I mean, why should anybody be able to question whether or not they have actually paid for their commercial software? Geez!
[sarcasm off]
At my company, all software purchases are strictly monitored, and we keep all the licenses in a locked vault. If Microsoft or anyone else ever comes knocking, we have no fears. We can produce the license for every single piece of software installed in our company. If they were too lazy to keep accurate records, that is their fault and no one else's.
-----
Me: I'll have some more informative conent on the front page please.
/.: Would you like some anti-Microsoft BIAS with that?
Me: No thanks. Just the content please.
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