No, I would say it is things like what Microsoft is doing that is keeping us from getting out of this economic mess and they are partially to blame from getting us in it.
That's patently absurd. Microsoft is arguably the most successful company in the history of business, they donate a tremendous amount of money, and they pay their employees well. If anything, the US would be better off if we had more Microsoft's.
While one can argue about the impact on music, books, reading, spread of knowledge, has always been a singularly important practice, this whole scandal has been about greed, and nothing more, people want their money. Its a shame that as a society we cave to monetary demands and forget the importance that information should be free.
Really? Information should be free? According to who? Sounds like greed on your part as well, assuming that your information should be free. You don't want money... you just don't want to pay your money for something. That's greed, too.
There's no OSS package that's even close to the functionality of Exchange. That, if nothing else, will ultimately be your show stopper, I'd bet. EVERYBODY uses Exchange/Outlook.
He's wrong. There's no way that software developers are going to develop software for a fragmented platform. It's a nightmare to develop and support. It won't happen. And until big manufacturers start making stuff for the *nix platform, Linux will never be a viable option for many, many people (like me!)
That's cutting your nose off to spite your face. Free Software is only useful on Linux, then? That seems absurd. There's no reason that free software can't exist within the framework of a proprietary platform. As always, if you don't like it, you don't have to use it. Your attempt to somehow paint this as a bad thing doesn't really hold water.
That's the price of freedom. EVERYBODY gets to speak, and there's no such thing as absolute safety. Besides, the genie's out of the bottle. Interpersonal communication will never be the same again. Attempts to try to control the Net fail time and time again. Only time can tell what will happen...
Well, I didn't think that phones churned that quickly, either. I buy a new phone when my old one dies. That's about 5 years or so. I didn't realize THAT many people fetish-ize their phones. Seems bizarre to me.
Yup, I have. I'm the business owner and IT guy (because there's no $$ for IT). I can set up the Windows stuff and keep it running very easily. There's really not much to do. Trying to set up *nix stuff is much, much more complicated, and more complicated than I need it to be. I don't need fancy super-security or anything like that. A simple server running a few Windows client-server apps, some clients that talk to it, and regular desktop stuff. My primary business software costs me $2K/machine when I upgrade (every few years), but that's still a lot cheaper than bringing in IT guys to set up all of the *nix machines, and to maintain them (fix any emergencies that I couldn't figure out very quickly). A day of downtime, and some employees paychecks might not clear.
Virtually anybody can set up and use Windows stuff. I'd have to pay somebody to set up all of the *nix stuff. That's very expensive. It's cheaper to pay a few grand for software and install it myself than it is to pay much more to have somebody install, configure, and maintain "free" software. It's like razors and ink jet printers: the razor or the printer is free; but you pay through the nose maintaining/refilling those things.
Companies like yours are few and far between. Additionally, the cost of one really inexpensive IT guy is still an additional cost, because several employees at the company already have enough knowledge to be able to mess with Windows servers/desktops on their own. That's a lot of additional expense.
The whole MS "image" thing is really only a thing with geeks. Most regular people couldn't care less.
But, it's like that with every industry. I've never seen a Slashdot article about Intuit's shitty, shitty business and programming practices, but rest assured that among small business owners, Intuit is the devil. IT geeks don't know or care because it's not their area of expertise.
The real weak target markets are small and medium businesses and governments, where open source adoption requires a zealot like champion.
It also requires a LOT of money. My small business can't afford to go open source. It's *very* expensive because of the staffing requirements. That's the only reason why my business isn't 100% open source: it's EXPENSIVE!
I think that it's a red herring to say that people don't switch to Linux because they aren't willing. The nasty truth of the matter is that OSX works. Even Ubuntu, the slickest of all distributions, is still held together with twine and gum. Linux is a beast when compared to Windows and OSX. I have about 12 Windows boxes in my business, and I'd love to switch to *nix just to save money, but the fact of the matter is that none of the *nixes are up to snuff for a multitude of reasons. If OSX wasn't expensive and didn't have hardware lock-in, I'd definitely consider a switch to OSX. Switching to *nix would be an even more expensive nightmare.
This just highlights one of the negative aspects of using free services out there on the net...
If you're paying for a service, it's not going to get summarily canceled without adequate notice, a refund, etc. But of course, as with most things, you get what you pay for.
You work somewhere pretty crappy if you're serious about not being allowed to watch the inauguration. I own a business, and I'll have it running on all computers for my employees to see.
Gaskin's question: Can a little extra RAM make that much difference in Internet download speeds or does Ubuntu handles networking that much faster than Windows XP?"
I don't know! But if the author wanted to know, all he had to do was to spend another $5-$10 to drop 256MB of RAM in the XP machine, making this test provide some actual information. As is, this test (and accompanying article) is completely useless.
Bzzt. It doesn't work because software is a competitive advantage to companies. It's that simple. I won't give away the custom app that I wrote for my business because it gives me an advantage. No amount of theoretical developers altering the code would make it worth it.
Slashdot Mirror
I want all the benefits of paper books but without wasting all the space on books.
Let me help... libraries... buy/sell used books... a bookcase... or, a $400 gizmo that will be useless one way or another inside of a year.
No, I would say it is things like what Microsoft is doing that is keeping us from getting out of this economic mess and they are partially to blame from getting us in it.
That's patently absurd. Microsoft is arguably the most successful company in the history of business, they donate a tremendous amount of money, and they pay their employees well. If anything, the US would be better off if we had more Microsoft's.
While one can argue about the impact on music, books, reading, spread of knowledge, has always been a singularly important practice, this whole scandal has been about greed, and nothing more, people want their money. Its a shame that as a society we cave to monetary demands and forget the importance that information should be free.
Really? Information should be free? According to who? Sounds like greed on your part as well, assuming that your information should be free. You don't want money... you just don't want to pay your money for something. That's greed, too.
Ahh, the German Bundeswehr. Of course! I was wondering what those guys were up to.
Who or what is the German Bundeswehr and why should I care?
Timmy, great article, by the way. 99% of your readers have no idea what it's about.
There's no OSS package that's even close to the functionality of Exchange. That, if nothing else, will ultimately be your show stopper, I'd bet. EVERYBODY uses Exchange/Outlook.
He's wrong. There's no way that software developers are going to develop software for a fragmented platform. It's a nightmare to develop and support. It won't happen. And until big manufacturers start making stuff for the *nix platform, Linux will never be a viable option for many, many people (like me!)
Good troll! Your supposed Windows vs. Linux experience has nothing to do with the topic at hand.
Neat! 16 apps! One I've heard of, and there are tons of replacements for it on every platform (utorrent). Looks like a fun project, though!
Great. So, what's your point? You are awesome, and everybody else isn't? *yawn* Call it whatever you want.
Have there been public service announcements on TV to tell people? I'm guessing that there probably have been for a while...?
That's cutting your nose off to spite your face. Free Software is only useful on Linux, then? That seems absurd. There's no reason that free software can't exist within the framework of a proprietary platform. As always, if you don't like it, you don't have to use it. Your attempt to somehow paint this as a bad thing doesn't really hold water.
Nice, but it still doesn't compare to an Exchange Server, which are impressively cheap through hosting companies.
That's the price of freedom. EVERYBODY gets to speak, and there's no such thing as absolute safety. Besides, the genie's out of the bottle. Interpersonal communication will never be the same again. Attempts to try to control the Net fail time and time again. Only time can tell what will happen...
Well, I didn't think that phones churned that quickly, either. I buy a new phone when my old one dies. That's about 5 years or so. I didn't realize THAT many people fetish-ize their phones. Seems bizarre to me.
Yup, I have. I'm the business owner and IT guy (because there's no $$ for IT). I can set up the Windows stuff and keep it running very easily. There's really not much to do. Trying to set up *nix stuff is much, much more complicated, and more complicated than I need it to be. I don't need fancy super-security or anything like that. A simple server running a few Windows client-server apps, some clients that talk to it, and regular desktop stuff. My primary business software costs me $2K/machine when I upgrade (every few years), but that's still a lot cheaper than bringing in IT guys to set up all of the *nix machines, and to maintain them (fix any emergencies that I couldn't figure out very quickly). A day of downtime, and some employees paychecks might not clear.
Virtually anybody can set up and use Windows stuff. I'd have to pay somebody to set up all of the *nix stuff. That's very expensive. It's cheaper to pay a few grand for software and install it myself than it is to pay much more to have somebody install, configure, and maintain "free" software. It's like razors and ink jet printers: the razor or the printer is free; but you pay through the nose maintaining/refilling those things.
Companies like yours are few and far between. Additionally, the cost of one really inexpensive IT guy is still an additional cost, because several employees at the company already have enough knowledge to be able to mess with Windows servers/desktops on their own. That's a lot of additional expense.
The whole MS "image" thing is really only a thing with geeks. Most regular people couldn't care less.
But, it's like that with every industry. I've never seen a Slashdot article about Intuit's shitty, shitty business and programming practices, but rest assured that among small business owners, Intuit is the devil. IT geeks don't know or care because it's not their area of expertise.
The real weak target markets are small and medium businesses and governments, where open source adoption requires a zealot like champion.
It also requires a LOT of money. My small business can't afford to go open source. It's *very* expensive because of the staffing requirements. That's the only reason why my business isn't 100% open source: it's EXPENSIVE!
$30 million? That's it? That's nothing. That's a regular grocery store. I'll check back when this number is about 100 times bigger...
I think that it's a red herring to say that people don't switch to Linux because they aren't willing. The nasty truth of the matter is that OSX works. Even Ubuntu, the slickest of all distributions, is still held together with twine and gum. Linux is a beast when compared to Windows and OSX. I have about 12 Windows boxes in my business, and I'd love to switch to *nix just to save money, but the fact of the matter is that none of the *nixes are up to snuff for a multitude of reasons. If OSX wasn't expensive and didn't have hardware lock-in, I'd definitely consider a switch to OSX. Switching to *nix would be an even more expensive nightmare.
This just highlights one of the negative aspects of using free services out there on the net...
If you're paying for a service, it's not going to get summarily canceled without adequate notice, a refund, etc. But of course, as with most things, you get what you pay for.
Do they let you stream audio/video at work?
You work somewhere pretty crappy if you're serious about not being allowed to watch the inauguration. I own a business, and I'll have it running on all computers for my employees to see.
Gaskin's question: Can a little extra RAM make that much difference in Internet download speeds or does Ubuntu handles networking that much faster than Windows XP?"
I don't know! But if the author wanted to know, all he had to do was to spend another $5-$10 to drop 256MB of RAM in the XP machine, making this test provide some actual information. As is, this test (and accompanying article) is completely useless.
Bzzt. It doesn't work because software is a competitive advantage to companies. It's that simple. I won't give away the custom app that I wrote for my business because it gives me an advantage. No amount of theoretical developers altering the code would make it worth it.