...than the election in Florida. I must say though, that I really disagree with mpeg incoding and decoding as a proper benchmark. I think photoshop filters, povray rendering times, and 3d studio benches woiuld be much more usefull. Even a q3 benchmark would be better.
I think the P4 will end up in the same boat as the original PPro. Itsa nice core, but will take some time to get the kinks out. I don't agree with the constant statement that people will recompile aps to optimize for the P4. Even if new version of DirectX supports it, games and other aps will still need to be recompiled. It faces the challenge of a lack of market share for the next year, and until people have the chip, we won't see optimizations for it.
I saw the title and got my hopes up, but why not? Of all the interesting people slashdot has interviewed, why not do an interview with Mr. Wall? Or has it already been done? I don't remember one.
You'd think he'd be willing with slashdot what it is: the only question is whether or not he would have the time. Think about the questions you could ask. Did the creation of perl involve alcohol? What does he think of obfuscated perl contests and slashcode?
Actually they have been taxing audio CDr's in the US for a while. The US law makes a difference between consumer Audio and consumer Data CD's though. And in Canada(one of the reasons this type of thing angers me), they tax data CD-R's too.
Check out on the CD-Recording FAQ, its under section 7-13.
http://www.fadden.com/cdrfaq/faq07.html
I don't think, that they charge a tax on the CD Recorders yet tho.
I hate to tell you this, but dissassemblers have been around for years. Debuggers also. Tools to take assembly and transfer it strate into C. It's not hard to do.
I'll tell you what makes me annoyed. The fact that everytime I buy a blank CD, and use it to do my debian cd, I'm giving money to a political organization. (If you live in the US, you already pay the MPAA for every blank cd you buy.) Everytime one of my musician friends burns a CD of their work, they're required to give back money to the MPAA. Everytime I use a digital camera with a built in CD burner. Everytime I backup the contents of my hard drive.
CDs are used for a hellova lot more than copying audio. In fact, audio copying is probably one of the LOWEST used functions of blank CDrs.
The #1 thing they are used for is software piracy.
And yes, I do work as a programmer. So the use of blank cd's does affect me. And yes, I make money for the code I write. But, I realize, as do most programmers, that piracy is something that must be lived with, and that it is not a reason to damage the innocent consumer who has a meaningful use, and payed for my software.
This is probably one of the most insightfull things I've heard all day. The irony of the situation is that Intel is one of the most powerful open source supporters around. Go ahead, do a search on their site for Linux, you'll see what I mean.
They have, and continue to provide, the most excellent documentation imaginable for their new product lines, including specifications for some of how their chips work internally, but especially for embedded systems designers.
Look at their 87c51 documentation, and see if you can't get a feel for how good they are at it. Look how they've been helping to get linux running on the IA-64 arch. The fact is that Intel is a corporation, and that corporations play hard ball business. They'll use the legal system, contracts, and whatever it takes to sell more product. Its just the nature of corporations. Now, that said, I'm still a die hard AMD user currently, and am not likely to change. (At least in the desktop area.) And if AMD were in Intel's shoes right now, they would be playing all the same tricks.
No, it isn't. The Intel P4 is currently out. It's been at my local Fry's for several days now. When a proc. hits retail shelves, the design is meant for the general public.
I went on the gopher servers not too long ago, curious to see if anything was less. I found a couple servers at colleges, with a few papers. I couldn't find anything later than '97.
I used to like gopher, but haven't heard anything on it for a while. It is all but dead now. (I feel like Obi-Wan talking about the Republic...) Gopher was cool, and hey, maybe when the world wide web turns into nothing but one gigantic pool of commercialism, it'll turn into a haven for Nerds, along with slashdot.
At least, it was interesting about reading about early linux installs, BSD, and old DOS programs.
Of me and my linux using friends from school 4 of us use Gnome and only 1 uses KDE.
That's one of the largest problems when attempting to do statistics, insuring that your sample is unbiased. If a asked 40 Mazda owners, if they thought that Mazda cars where nice, my data would be a bit flawed in favor of Mazda.
On a similar note, it is very difficult to tell the installed base of KDE vs. that of GNOME. There are multiple methods you could use to say which is ahead in terms of Marketshare. The most popular methods are more than likely looking at the number of downloads, or the number of distributions installed with KDE as a default desktop. These methods are both flawed though, because users can change their desktops at will, or perhaps download, try out, and then uninstall the desktop, after deciding they don't like it. So, I would argue the numbers can be used to make either side to look good, and that they, in reality mean nothing.
KDE is good for some. GNOME is good for some. WindowMaker is good for me.:) Let's just code, and leave as much of the politics as possible behind.
Many, many, things use micro-kernels. Or something close to it. WinNT for example. Or some of the BSD's. Or QNX. Or BeOs(not so sure about that one.) Or MkLinux. Microkernels are not dead. They can be much more stable than monolithic kernels. They just aren't that apparent. And in terms of stability, a microkernel could potentially allow you to update most of the kernel without a reboot. And, I don't think that the fact that Hurd was a microkernel played any impact to it's death or unpopularity. Linux did.
This is probably why RMS is so obsessed with calling it GNU/Linux. The original GNU Hurd vision that he had never came to fruition because of the simple development of the linux kernel. Being first to market, determined what would happen. If the Hurd kernel was ready before the Linux kernel, things would have happened much differently.
But as it is now, GNU/Linux, or for people like me who think the easily marketed term is better, Linux, is the most popular. Hurd had a chance, but it was wasted by being beaten by something of comparable quality. (I won't say equal, better, or worse, in order to avoid the massive flame war that would erupt.)
Maybe one day, after the Hurd is more integrated into an end user ready product it will gain some more popularity, but I doubt any more than some of the lesser known BSD's.
Would you care to provide some evidence to back this up? Industry Analysists quotes, press release from AMD, etc...
You shouldn't just make such inflamatory comments without backing them up. This would get you in deep sh** in court, or in the press. AMD has a good portfolio right now, and their stock is going up, which is more than one can say about Intel, who has just been forced to do a recall on their P4 chips just recently.
Heres what I'm hoping for, and I think they
might be doing. They aren't necessarilly realising kylix, but instead the libraries to it. They then dual license the libraries under GPL and their
proprietary license. This gives non kylix
developers the opportunity to use their libraries
to create GPLd apps. Just like QT is right now.
They then release the compiler for free just
like they did in windows, and then are charging
for the use of the RAD enviroment, and the
license to use their libraries for propreitary
software.
Even if you invested most of your unreasonably
large salary into stocks/bonds/etc... you still
would probably not have enough to retire nicely.
And what good does retirement do at 38? Working in a high stress job for 12 years has probably cut your lifespan in half, and you'll end up dead at 40.
People need to learn this: a high pay job is not worth your health. Ask anyone that has had a heart attack at 45. I would rather earn 45,000 and have peace of mind and free time, than 75,000 and be jumping off the ceiling with a sky high blood pressure.
Yes, It has already been done, many time in
fact. There are actually several byte-code
engines that sierra put out. And there are
emulators for them in linux that will let
you run some sierra games natively. AGI
was the original standard they used, it
was used in Space Quest 1, and a lot of there
old CGA games: leisure suite larry, etc...
Later they created SCI, which was used for
a while until sierra dropped their classic
adventure games. (I'm still mad about
that.:<)
Anyway, other games also use scripting engines,
it is a very common practice. Only consoles
until lately didn't really have the hardware
to do such things. (You're dealling with limited
memory.) So now there is more of an influx of
games using them.
I wouldn't be suprised for one of the Internet
languages, Java, Internet C++, C#, etc... to
eventually be fast enough to run a game for
real. I think you could argue that it would in
fact could work now if they extended one or
more a bit.
ATI has contracted people at PI to do a DRI X driver for this card. If you are interested, you
should subscribe to the DRI-announce list, (I'm
not sure of a link, or if it is a real list,
check it out at dri.sourceforge.net). They
have a couple of mailing lists. Last I heard,
the drivers were in active development, so
there could possible be an ALPHA release soon.
In terms of video capture, the ATI
Radeon uses a very similar setup as the Rage 128
All-in-wonder. Im not sure, but I do believe
it is if not the same chip, a very close one
to the Rage 128 All-in-Wonder, which is currently supported by gatos, so it is possible that the Radeon All-in-Wonder, will be supported by gatos
almost out of box.
So, there is no support right now, even
though almost all features on the card
seem to have possible/plausible support,
except perhaps MPEG decoding. (But
its not even on sale yet, so its kindof neat
talking about it almost like their was...) In
fact, the Radeon 64/32mb ddr cards are both
sold out on shopati, and I haven't found ANY in stores
yet. So, you'll have to wait till early-mid
september to get one most likely.
For more information, check on the ATI
lists, and gatos/dri lists and homepages.
I don't know how true all of this is. 99.999% of kids that I know, only think they know a lot about computers. With easy to use software, anyone can make themselves into a psuedo-guru. "Hacking" can be done with point and click scripts.
I have seen this repeat itself over and over. Children seeking highly technical jobs, from adults with real degrees in CS/MATH. Truth be told, I am one of those kids. But the majority don't really know what their getting themselves into.
Parents et al could catch on if they really wanted to, and here is the reason why children seem to be better at computers. Mom, Dad, and Grandma, all either don't have time, are too scared to use them, or just don't want to. May of these parents may work in a field where computers have not yet made a deep splash.
The common sentiment around me, at least in the real world, is that any 12 year old can outdo any adult on a computer. While some children may have some real technical know-how, I don't count people who have spent a couple hours with the owners manual of their computer as computer experts.
For many people free access is not an option. In my area it really sucks. You're lucky if you get 14.4 modem speeds. And before you talk about cable and DSL, they won't be available in some areas around here for another 3-4 years. This is by a major city, I hear rural areas can be worse. I know a lot of people who move off campus, and this is mostly them I was thinking of. The point here is that, most people, esp. students, will pay for internet access anyway, so why not get some money for a computer while you're at it. Free access is so much more bull, you put up with flakey banner ads and are forced to use windows for access. There are some things you can't do on the school's computers. Custom software, linux installs, generally all that "geeky stuff" is denied. Sometimes colleges won't even let you connect to their network if you aren't running windows. (You might do some of that hacker stuff.)
I was really playing devils advocate anyway, but the point I was attempting to make, is that in some conditions, these deals can actually be good. At least better than 20% compound interest on a credit card, for those people that want/need a computer for work/school and are also looking at net access.
Many people I suspect see this as a type of credit. Here is where a "Free" PC could be valuable:
You're just entering college, and don't have that much money. (What student doesn't?) You have a regular job, but either can't or don't want to put the computer on a credit card. You figure that you'll pretty much need 56K internet access for a couple years any way, and know that you can't afford the $30-$50 a month for a high speed account, and most companies allow upgrades on contracts anyway, if you decide to go that route. So, you get a cheap PC, and get a new internet account setup. I know a lot of students that this worked out really well for.
OEMs can work out deals with Microsoft to give discounts on Windows computers sold with MSN internet. (Some might even do something slessy, like sell you MSN with a computer, take the rebate check, and not tell the costumer about it at all. This does happen, I have seen it for myself. ) Just because an OEM is offering a discount doesn't mean that its a piece of crap your getting, companies like Compaq, HP, give these rebates also.
Let's do some more math for our college student:
Computer purchased on credit at 20% interest, with decent 56k internet access: ($400 * 1.2) + ($20 * 36) = 1200
Computer purchased with rebate and internet access: ($0) + ($20 * 36) = 720
I have seen several people get burned with this type of deal, but if one plays there cards right it can work out well. I don't normally recommend it to friends, but their is use in some people getting free PC's.
Bochs might work, but VMWare very definately would not. VMWare basically runs X86 code natively inside a sandbox, so Windows 98/2000/Linux/etc.. doesn't know that it isn't running on a real machine.Bochs *interprets* x86 code. Which means it will run under any OS. VirtualPC does something similar, but I think it also translates the code into the G3/G4 instruction set. Since Mac OS X doesn't run on x86 hardware, VMWare will not work on *any* Mac.
Which, means running Win98 under a Mac would be/is *DOG* slow. (VirtualPC does pretty well, but its nothing like having a real PC.)
So Why does Microsoft port? There are several reasons. Microsoft would like an Office monopoly to go along with its desktop OS monopoly, People aren't likely to buy VirtualPC just to run Win98/Office if there are other alternative out there(Adobe solutions, etc...), and when/if the company breaks in two the other will need revenue, and it helps provide a defense against the DOJ.
This question really doesn't have a very correct answer, because 95/98 are very mixed when it comes to the bit size, etc... Which means you can't really 'clarify' things all that well.
DOS 6.0 actually could run in partially protected mode 32bit code using DPMI and EMM386.EXE. The code ran in virtual 86 mode(similar to how DOSEMU works BTW), and the kernel, if you could call pre Win95/98 system files that, also ran in real mode.
DOS 7.0 and above provide system calls to ease the entrance into 32 bit protected mode, and then the graphical user interface kernel takes over. After entering this Mode DOS 7 STILL provides a couple of system services. (Take a look at some of Microsoft's books on System Device Drivers programming if you don't believe me, or Caldera's online files involving their recent case.)
In Win95/98 you get a strange mix of protected mode and virtual 86 mode drivers, which don't always like to play nice, especially dealling with older or flakey hardware that doesn't like newer drivers. (I remember having to use DOS mode drivers for my 2x cdrom, when Win95 just came out.)
It was actually possible to run 32 bit programs in Win 3.1, using Win32s, (if anyone ever remembers doing such a thing, I used to use PovRAY like that).
Win 95/98 don't provide the same level of protection that Linux provides while running in protected mode. So even though the processor is in protected mode, you are running programs with VERY high levels of hardware access, compared to their linux conterparts.) Which is probably what the original poster was talking about. An OpenGL app in linux has to go through something like:
Linux Kernel < XFree86 < OpenGL < Program
NT4 and W2K have a completely different infratructure than Win 95/98, which is the reason why NT4 had little to no DirectX support. Microsoft couldn't make drivers designed to live so close to the hardware, without severely sacrificing in other areas.) OpenGL and NT4 work very nicely together as I recall, and OpenGL cards will thrive in NT4. (Half-Life is a good example.)
So, it would be much fairer to compare W2k or NT4 to Linux than Win95/98 to Linux.
Under Windows you're drivers can talk near directly to the hardware, and their are less layers of protection slowing things down. Under Linux, their are more layers of protection between the hardware and the drivers, not to mention things have to talk more directly to a windowing system like X.
This means that in general linux games, etc.. will be more stable than their Windows equivalents, and if they crash, again in general, your system should be able to survive. (Even if you have to telnet in and reboot.)
Here's where DRI and XFree 4.0 come in. With DRI a driver can talk much more directly to the hardware, and generally speed things up, and provide more features.
So in Windows you get a slight speed increase in drivers at the sacrifice of stability. Of course, anything dealing with hardware/drivers can cause complete system lockups, its just less likely in Windows than in Linux.
A better comparison would be either Linux to NT 4.0, or Linux with XFree 4.0 to Windows 2000.
As it stands, you can get a nice idea of the slowdown by the GeForce drivers, which are ownly slightly faster in Windows than in linux. Of other note, is that the drivers in Linux are not optimized for games, as the article brought out several times. It would be VERY interesting to see some Linux vs. NT/2000 benchmarks in workstation operations(cad/design/etc...)
Actually, as it stands right now, no one really controls the entire linux OS. If Linus were to go, I suppose Alan would take over the kernel development, but a LOT more people are involved in Linux(or GNU/Linux), that make it a good operating system, Linus, the Free Software Foundation, the Gnome project people, the KDE project people, the maintainers of apache, and the all of the other package maintainers out there.
So who leads Linux? I think from a marketing aspect, which is the reference you seem to be giving, it would be the companies controlling the distributions. RedHat, Corel, and Caldera are probably in the front there right now.
Given the current status of Linux as a whole, not just the kernel part, I don't think that loosing any key player would stop its momentum, even though it might sting a little.
Actually, I think this has been one of Linux's best points. Software projects that aren't as good as others seem to have a way of dieing out, and the great software projects change hands when the original author is tired. (Look at Moria as an example of that.):)
Re:Artists need to protect their livelihoods
on
An MP3 Update
·
· Score: 1
I cannot believe that you are serious in this proposal. Ban people under 21 or 18, etc from the internet?
That would be undermining everything that the internet has come to represent: freedom of speech, and choice. The internet is currently one of the ONLY public forums in which ANYONE can publish their thoughts and beliefs.
I would like to state that I am under 18, and not only find your comment insulting, but also severly deprived of intelligence. If you enjoy using free software, such as linux, you are more than a little likely to be using software written by someone under 18. I have contributed to several free software projects, by providing bug reports, and the odd bit of code. By destroying my access to the internet, you would also destroy any feedback I could give to projects such as Mozilla.
What makes you think that just because people are under 21 they are more likely to download illegal mp3s? I have NEVER downloaded an illegal mp3. Indeed, most of the people I know trafficing mp3s are 21-25 year-old college students.
Should we ban chemistry chemistry so students can't learn how to mix explosives with common chemicals? Physics because students could possibly design and build a potato gun? Are you naive enough to believe that just because someone is young, they can't learn "dangerous information" on their own?
Why require people to take exams to get on the internet? What type of exam would you give? A standard IQ exam? A test in English language? Math? Science? Decorum? If you are not sure enough in your own beliefs to tolerate those with others, YOU should be the one reexamining yourself.
When it comes to mp3s, I know of several groups supporting napster. Offspring comes to mind, who recently in an interview gave their opinion that they, "Like to have more fans", and that mp3s are in a strange way helping.
After the i-opener was cracked, the company very quickly said that you must also by their net access with the box. No doubt these people are also taking a hit on people buying these boxes as only linux toys. So why can't a company price on of these things a little higher, make a profit, and then release it as a small workstation type thing. (Similar to e-machines, only cheaper and workable.)
Slashdot Mirror
I think the P4 will end up in the same boat as the original PPro. Itsa nice core, but will take some time to get the kinks out. I don't agree with the constant statement that people will recompile aps to optimize for the P4. Even if new version of DirectX supports it, games and other aps will still need to be recompiled. It faces the challenge of a lack of market share for the next year, and until people have the chip, we won't see optimizations for it.
I saw the title and got my hopes up, but why not? Of all the interesting people slashdot has interviewed, why not do an interview with Mr. Wall? Or has it already been done? I don't remember one. You'd think he'd be willing with slashdot what it is: the only question is whether or not he would have the time. Think about the questions you could ask. Did the creation of perl involve alcohol? What does he think of obfuscated perl contests and slashcode?
Check out on the CD-Recording FAQ, its under section 7-13.
http://www.fadden.com/cdrfaq/faq07.html
I don't think, that they charge a tax on the CD Recorders yet tho.
I'll tell you what makes me annoyed. The fact that everytime I buy a blank CD, and use it to do my debian cd, I'm giving money to a political organization. (If you live in the US, you already pay the MPAA for every blank cd you buy.) Everytime one of my musician friends burns a CD of their work, they're required to give back money to the MPAA. Everytime I use a digital camera with a built in CD burner. Everytime I backup the contents of my hard drive.
CDs are used for a hellova lot more than copying audio. In fact, audio copying is probably one of the LOWEST used functions of blank CDrs. The #1 thing they are used for is software piracy.
And yes, I do work as a programmer. So the use of blank cd's does affect me. And yes, I make money for the code I write. But, I realize, as do most programmers, that piracy is something that must be lived with, and that it is not a reason to damage the innocent consumer who has a meaningful use, and payed for my software.
They have, and continue to provide, the most excellent documentation imaginable for their new product lines, including specifications for some of how their chips work internally, but especially for embedded systems designers.
Look at their 87c51 documentation, and see if you can't get a feel for how good they are at it. Look how they've been helping to get linux running on the IA-64 arch. The fact is that Intel is a corporation, and that corporations play hard ball business. They'll use the legal system, contracts, and whatever it takes to sell more product. Its just the nature of corporations. Now, that said, I'm still a die hard AMD user currently, and am not likely to change. (At least in the desktop area.) And if AMD were in Intel's shoes right now, they would be playing all the same tricks.
No, it isn't. The Intel P4 is currently out. It's been at my local Fry's for several days now. When a proc. hits retail shelves, the design is meant for the general public.
I used to like gopher, but haven't heard anything on it for a while. It is all but dead now. (I feel like Obi-Wan talking about the Republic...) Gopher was cool, and hey, maybe when the world wide web turns into nothing but one gigantic pool of commercialism, it'll turn into a haven for Nerds, along with slashdot.
At least, it was interesting about reading about early linux installs, BSD, and old DOS programs.
That's one of the largest problems when attempting to do statistics, insuring that your sample is unbiased. If a asked 40 Mazda owners, if they thought that Mazda cars where nice, my data would be a bit flawed in favor of Mazda.
On a similar note, it is very difficult to tell the installed base of KDE vs. that of GNOME. There are multiple methods you could use to say which is ahead in terms of Marketshare. The most popular methods are more than likely looking at the number of downloads, or the number of distributions installed with KDE as a default desktop. These methods are both flawed though, because users can change their desktops at will, or perhaps download, try out, and then uninstall the desktop, after deciding they don't like it. So, I would argue the numbers can be used to make either side to look good, and that they, in reality mean nothing.
KDE is good for some. GNOME is good for some. WindowMaker is good for me. :) Let's just code, and leave as much of the politics as possible behind.
This is probably why RMS is so obsessed with calling it GNU/Linux. The original GNU Hurd vision that he had never came to fruition because of the simple development of the linux kernel. Being first to market, determined what would happen. If the Hurd kernel was ready before the Linux kernel, things would have happened much differently.
But as it is now, GNU/Linux, or for people like me who think the easily marketed term is better, Linux, is the most popular. Hurd had a chance, but it was wasted by being beaten by something of comparable quality. (I won't say equal, better, or worse, in order to avoid the massive flame war that would erupt.)
Maybe one day, after the Hurd is more integrated into an end user ready product it will gain some more popularity, but I doubt any more than some of the lesser known BSD's.
You shouldn't just make such inflamatory comments without backing them up. This would get you in deep sh** in court, or in the press. AMD has a good portfolio right now, and their stock is going up, which is more than one can say about Intel, who has just been forced to do a recall on their P4 chips just recently.
They then release the compiler for free just like they did in windows, and then are charging for the use of the RAD enviroment, and the license to use their libraries for propreitary software.
And what good does retirement do at 38? Working in a high stress job for 12 years has probably cut your lifespan in half, and you'll end up dead at 40.
People need to learn this: a high pay job is not worth your health. Ask anyone that has had a heart attack at 45. I would rather earn 45,000 and have peace of mind and free time, than 75,000 and be jumping off the ceiling with a sky high blood pressure.
Later they created SCI, which was used for a while until sierra dropped their classic adventure games. (I'm still mad about that. :<)
Anyway, other games also use scripting engines, it is a very common practice. Only consoles until lately didn't really have the hardware to do such things. (You're dealling with limited memory.) So now there is more of an influx of games using them.
I wouldn't be suprised for one of the Internet languages, Java, Internet C++, C#, etc... to eventually be fast enough to run a game for real. I think you could argue that it would in fact could work now if they extended one or more a bit.
In terms of video capture, the ATI Radeon uses a very similar setup as the Rage 128 All-in-wonder. Im not sure, but I do believe it is if not the same chip, a very close one to the Rage 128 All-in-Wonder, which is currently supported by gatos, so it is possible that the Radeon All-in-Wonder, will be supported by gatos almost out of box.
So, there is no support right now, even though almost all features on the card seem to have possible/plausible support, except perhaps MPEG decoding. (But its not even on sale yet, so its kindof neat talking about it almost like their was...) In fact, the Radeon 64/32mb ddr cards are both sold out on shopati, and I haven't found ANY in stores yet. So, you'll have to wait till early-mid september to get one most likely.
For more information, check on the ATI lists, and gatos/dri lists and homepages.
I have seen this repeat itself over and over. Children seeking highly technical jobs, from adults with real degrees in CS/MATH. Truth be told, I am one of those kids. But the majority don't really know what their getting themselves into.
Parents et al could catch on if they really wanted to, and here is the reason why children seem to be better at computers. Mom, Dad, and Grandma, all either don't have time, are too scared to use them, or just don't want to. May of these parents may work in a field where computers have not yet made a deep splash.
The common sentiment around me, at least in the real world, is that any 12 year old can outdo any adult on a computer. While some children may have some real technical know-how, I don't count people who have spent a couple hours with the owners manual of their computer as computer experts.
For many people free access is not an option. In my area it really sucks. You're lucky if you get 14.4 modem speeds. And before you talk about cable and DSL, they won't be available in some areas around here for another 3-4 years. This is by a major city, I hear rural areas can be worse. I know a lot of people who move off campus, and this is mostly them I was thinking of. The point here is that, most people, esp. students, will pay for internet access anyway, so why not get some money for a computer while you're at it. Free access is so much more bull, you put up with flakey banner ads and are forced to use windows for access. There are some things you can't do on the school's computers. Custom software, linux installs, generally all that "geeky stuff" is denied. Sometimes colleges won't even let you connect to their network if you aren't running windows. (You might do some of that hacker stuff.)
I was really playing devils advocate anyway, but the point I was attempting to make, is that in some conditions, these deals can actually be good. At least better than 20% compound interest on a credit card, for those people that want/need a computer for work/school and are also looking at net access.
You're just entering college, and don't have that much money. (What student doesn't?) You have a regular job, but either can't or don't want to put the computer on a credit card. You figure that you'll pretty much need 56K internet access for a couple years any way, and know that you can't afford the $30-$50 a month for a high speed account, and most companies allow upgrades on contracts anyway, if you decide to go that route. So, you get a cheap PC, and get a new internet account setup. I know a lot of students that this worked out really well for.
OEMs can work out deals with Microsoft to give discounts on Windows computers sold with MSN internet. (Some might even do something slessy, like sell you MSN with a computer, take the rebate check, and not tell the costumer about it at all. This does happen, I have seen it for myself. ) Just because an OEM is offering a discount doesn't mean that its a piece of crap your getting, companies like Compaq, HP, give these rebates also.
Let's do some more math for our college student:
Computer purchased on credit at 20% interest, with decent 56k internet access: ($400 * 1.2) + ($20 * 36) = 1200
Computer purchased with rebate and internet access: ($0) + ($20 * 36) = 720
I have seen several people get burned with this type of deal, but if one plays there cards right it can work out well. I don't normally recommend it to friends, but their is use in some people getting free PC's.
Yes, but according to Microsoft, buying "NakedPCs" leads to all kinds of evils, and companies should *never* sell a computer to you without an OS.
Which, means running Win98 under a Mac would be/is *DOG* slow. (VirtualPC does pretty well, but its nothing like having a real PC.)
So Why does Microsoft port? There are several reasons. Microsoft would like an Office monopoly to go along with its desktop OS monopoly, People aren't likely to buy VirtualPC just to run Win98/Office if there are other alternative out there(Adobe solutions, etc...), and when/if the company breaks in two the other will need revenue, and it helps provide a defense against the DOJ.
If you want to see his comments on this, you can check it out on his website here.
DOS 6.0 actually could run in partially protected mode 32bit code using DPMI and EMM386.EXE. The code ran in virtual 86 mode(similar to how DOSEMU works BTW), and the kernel, if you could call pre Win95/98 system files that, also ran in real mode.
DOS 7.0 and above provide system calls to ease the entrance into 32 bit protected mode, and then the graphical user interface kernel takes over. After entering this Mode DOS 7 STILL provides a couple of system services. (Take a look at some of Microsoft's books on System Device Drivers programming if you don't believe me, or Caldera's online files involving their recent case.)
In Win95/98 you get a strange mix of protected mode and virtual 86 mode drivers, which don't always like to play nice, especially dealling with older or flakey hardware that doesn't like newer drivers. (I remember having to use DOS mode drivers for my 2x cdrom, when Win95 just came out.)
It was actually possible to run 32 bit programs in Win 3.1, using Win32s, (if anyone ever remembers doing such a thing, I used to use PovRAY like that).
Win 95/98 don't provide the same level of protection that Linux provides while running in protected mode. So even though the processor is in protected mode, you are running programs with VERY high levels of hardware access, compared to their linux conterparts.) Which is probably what the original poster was talking about. An OpenGL app in linux has to go through something like:
Linux Kernel < XFree86 < OpenGL < Program
NT4 and W2K have a completely different infratructure than Win 95/98, which is the reason why NT4 had little to no DirectX support. Microsoft couldn't make drivers designed to live so close to the hardware, without severely sacrificing in other areas.) OpenGL and NT4 work very nicely together as I recall, and OpenGL cards will thrive in NT4. (Half-Life is a good example.)
So, it would be much fairer to compare W2k or NT4 to Linux than Win95/98 to Linux.
Under Windows you're drivers can talk near directly to the hardware, and their are less layers of protection slowing things down. Under Linux, their are more layers of protection between the hardware and the drivers, not to mention things have to talk more directly to a windowing system like X.
This means that in general linux games, etc.. will be more stable than their Windows equivalents, and if they crash, again in general, your system should be able to survive. (Even if you have to telnet in and reboot.)
Here's where DRI and XFree 4.0 come in. With DRI a driver can talk much more directly to the hardware, and generally speed things up, and provide more features.
So in Windows you get a slight speed increase in drivers at the sacrifice of stability. Of course, anything dealing with hardware/drivers can cause complete system lockups, its just less likely in Windows than in Linux.
A better comparison would be either Linux to NT 4.0, or Linux with XFree 4.0 to Windows 2000.
As it stands, you can get a nice idea of the slowdown by the GeForce drivers, which are ownly slightly faster in Windows than in linux. Of other note, is that the drivers in Linux are not optimized for games, as the article brought out several times. It would be VERY interesting to see some Linux vs. NT/2000 benchmarks in workstation operations(cad/design/etc...)
So who leads Linux? I think from a marketing aspect, which is the reference you seem to be giving, it would be the companies controlling the distributions. RedHat, Corel, and Caldera are probably in the front there right now.
Given the current status of Linux as a whole, not just the kernel part, I don't think that loosing any key player would stop its momentum, even though it might sting a little.
Actually, I think this has been one of Linux's best points. Software projects that aren't as good as others seem to have a way of dieing out, and the great software projects change hands when the original author is tired. (Look at Moria as an example of that.) :)
That would be undermining everything that the internet has come to represent: freedom of speech, and choice. The internet is currently one of the ONLY public forums in which ANYONE can publish their thoughts and beliefs.
I would like to state that I am under 18, and not only find your comment insulting, but also severly deprived of intelligence. If you enjoy using free software, such as linux, you are more than a little likely to be using software written by someone under 18. I have contributed to several free software projects, by providing bug reports, and the odd bit of code. By destroying my access to the internet, you would also destroy any feedback I could give to projects such as Mozilla.
What makes you think that just because people are under 21 they are more likely to download illegal mp3s? I have NEVER downloaded an illegal mp3. Indeed, most of the people I know trafficing mp3s are 21-25 year-old college students.
Should we ban chemistry chemistry so students can't learn how to mix explosives with common chemicals? Physics because students could possibly design and build a potato gun? Are you naive enough to believe that just because someone is young, they can't learn "dangerous information" on their own?
Why require people to take exams to get on the internet? What type of exam would you give? A standard IQ exam? A test in English language? Math? Science? Decorum? If you are not sure enough in your own beliefs to tolerate those with others, YOU should be the one reexamining yourself.
When it comes to mp3s, I know of several groups supporting napster. Offspring comes to mind, who recently in an interview gave their opinion that they, "Like to have more fans", and that mp3s are in a strange way helping.
After the i-opener was cracked, the company very quickly said that you must also by their net access with the box. No doubt these people are also taking a hit on people buying these boxes as only linux toys. So why can't a company price on of these things a little higher, make a profit, and then release it as a small workstation type thing. (Similar to e-machines, only cheaper and workable.)
A guess that would kill the hack-value though.