Four more clicks matters to average users, and that's who Linux is trying to win over (because, as the propoganda goes, it's already CLEARLY superior in the data center, right?!?).
It's not a matter of how often I need to change my resolution (and you seem to imply it should be a rare thing, which is a bogus assumption... ever get a newer, bigger monitor? Ever get a newer video card that now allows you to do a slightly higher resolution while keeping your refresh rate the same?). The problem is that IT'S NINE CLICKS AWAY. You seem to think that's not a problem. Mom and Pop will absolutely disagree with you.
For YOU and for ME, the experts of the world, it's not a terribly big deal (except that as an expert for many years I DON'T WANT TO HAVE TO DO FOUR MORE CLICKS, even though it's not a big deal for me to do so).
Libranet... Mandrake... Redhat... Gentoo... BSD... all the others... Don't you think the first problem with Linux for the average users that your trying to lure away from Windows is simply the question they will have to ask up-front: "Which distro?". They can't just go buy Linux, they have to buy a specific distro. And each distro is different, some are easier for them as you point out with Libranet, others are not. They make the wrong choice and they hate Linux for life.
I've said it over and over... it's posts like yours that just proves my point, which is that the Linux community has entirely the wrong mindset when it comes to the desktop to EVER be a serious threat to Windows there. Keep plugging away in the data center, your making headway there, but you people, as a whole I'm saying, just don't get what it takes to get that 90% of the desktop market away from Microsoft, and love 'em or hate 'em, Microsoft does get it.
It's not security. It's not even stability, although that matters. Hell, it's not even freedom and it's not even choices, IT'S SIMPLICITY AND EASE OF USE. Linux as a generality is just SO far beyond in that area, catching up is a virtual impossibility at this point.
I clicked your link, I read what it said. What the FUCK is it talking about?!?
Get this through your thick, stupid skulls: if it takes an average person more than 30 seconds to figure something out, YOU LOST THE GAME!
Why do I have to ADD something so God Damned trivial to my OS? Why isn't it right there at my fingertips? Why do I have to do a Google seach for something so trivial?
You just don't get it. You illustrate my point far better than I ever could... Windows is in no way shape or form threatened by Windows on the desktop, and at this rate, IT NEVER WILL BE.
I'm sitting in front of a Mandrake 9.2 desktop running KDE. I am not a Linux expert, nor and I a complete Linux newbie, and I am BY FAR *NOT* a computer novice. Here's my question...
How do I switch my screen resolution? No, serioously.
When I installed this distro, it picked up my video card nicely, set my setting as I asked it to, that part went well.
But I've now spent the better part of 10 minutes trying various things, including:
* Right-click on the desktop, select Configure Desktop. Nope, not there.
* Desktop Setting Wizard? Nope, not there.
* LinuxConf on the K menu? Well, doesn't say Video Settings or anything familiar, but maybe it's under Miscellaneous... Nope. Peripherals? Nope.
* Configuration Menu... Hardware (probably, but I might be wrong)... HardDrake (only because that sounds familiar from the install process)... Nope... Oh wait, what's this Run Config Tool button that appeared out of the blue?? Hey, there we go!
Ok, is my point sufficiently clear? Sure, you can dismiss the first thing I tried as something a Windows user might try. Ok, fair enough, learning curve issue. Why didn't Desktop Settings Wizard do what I wanted? Oh yes, because a desktop isn't really the same thing as a the Windows desktop. Ok, maybe another learning curve thing, but now your pushing it. LinuxConf? Obviously some sort of configuration tool, and featured so prominently on the K menu, that made sense.
No, I had to be fortunate enough to remember what it said during the install, and if I hadn't would I have tried HardDrake as fast as I had? Almost certainly not because HardDrak doesn't even remotely sound like something that might configure my video card (and saying the HARD portion of the word should indicate something to do with hardware is an EXTREME stretch, albeit a correct one in this case).
And how many clicks did it take in all? Let's see...
1. K menu 2. Configuration 3. Hardware 4. HardDrak 5. Click on video card (oh yeah, forgot to mention that before... I didn't even get the Run Config Tool until I selected the video card... Why wasn't it there greyed out and then activated when I selected the video card??) 6. Click Run Config tool 7. Click Resolution button 8. Make my change and click Ok 9. Then click Yes on the verification prompt that appears
For God's sake, I count around 9 clicks until my resolution was changed. ARGH!
How many in Windows XP you ask?
1. Right-click desktop 2. Properties 3. Settings tab 4. make changes, click OK 5. Click OK again to verification prompt
5 clicks, 4 if you don't particularly care about the second OK.
Is my point sinking in yet? EVEN IF I WAS A LINUX GURU, WHY WOULD THIS BE ACCEPTABLE?!?
I will grant you it's better than the last time I tried Linux when I in fact HAD to modify some config files to change resolution. Yes, progress is being made. But as indicated by this minor experience, WAY TO DAMNED SLOW TO BE ANY KIND OF THREAT TO WINDOWS.
My mother, who has come quite a long way in her computer usage, would NEVER deal with this. Heck, I have a hard enough time convinving her that changing her refresh rate from 50 is a good thing and that it's not complicated to do in XP. She manages. She would NEVER deal with Linux, be it KDE, Gnome or whatever else, and she sure as hell wouldn't go anywhere near a command line. She is not atypical, in fact she's gone beyond basic computer user at this point... She's on the thing close to as many hours a day as I am, surfs the web, eMails, chats, does some basic photo editing, some word processing, some spreadsheets, some desktop publishing, scanning, etc. She's actually in a position that SHE'S the guru to many of her friends!
My point is, she's not going anywhere NEAR Linux in ANY form that it currently exists in. You can tell me how great this distro or that distro is, you can tell me how far Linux has come, but your missing the point:
"Major anti-piracy ad campaigns and policing action by NASCOMM (BSA equivalent in India)..."
Woa, back the "piracy is the divine province of God" train up a minute...
Do you mean to imply that a large portion of the Indian population was so utterly offended by an ad compaign telling you that piracy is illegal and bad caused you to drop Microsoft?!?
So then another way of saying the exact same thing would be...
A large portion of the Indian population believe piracy is OK and having software is their right and therefore how dare Microsoft telling you that, screw them, we'll go get a free alternative.
Geez. If you like Linux because of what it offers, cool, no problem. If your major motivation was that you were illegally obtaining someone's product and then you got called on it and that offended you, I have a sneaking suspicion that the better and larger portion of the Linux community would prefer you NOT jump on board the Linux train. At least, I HOPE they would feel that way.
And as the original poster stated, you people STILL don't get it...
I shouldn't have to post on a forum for a bunch of geeks to solve my problem. The error message should give me enough information to solve the problem on my own, as previous responder correctly points out.
Yes, there SHOULD be an Advanced button, or something akin to that, so that I CAN post on a forum for the geeks to solve the really sticky problems, much like Windows does.
This is NOT a ringing endorsement of Windows error message by the way because they are usually severly lacking in any useful information too. My point however is that the Linux community as a whole generally does not get this concept, but Microsoft is at least attentive to it, even if they fail in the implementation. Linux is simply NEVER going to be any kind of significant threat to Windows until these types of things get through everyone's head.
...are those really nice checkbox images. I'm going to steal them.
Uhh... wait... that statement kinda infers about 90% of my answers to the survey now, doesn't it?!?
Then again, looking at them again, I'm kinda confused by the pock marks that you seem to have to "pop" to put your checkbox there. A couple of times I wasn't sure which option I was actually voting for.
That's a survey form from a Florida-based company, isn't it?!?
I don't think your examples really have anything to do with "trusted" or "secure", but your point is 100% valid.
I couldn't agree more that retail software that I pay for has become such a pain in the ass to use with the constant registration reminders that I have to go out of my way to turn off (and some that were very difficult to get rid of regardless) and all the extra icons and bookmarks they create without asking me, and all the little tray icons that run in the background to make my computing experience "better, safer and faster" but instead make my system less stable and slower until I again go out of my way to disable them.
And I'm lucky in that I am capable of disabling this stuff, I really feel sorry for the less capable out there that don't even have that option!
It's an exceptionally disturbing trend. I certainly expect viruses to act this way (even though the last time I did something stupid enough to get infected was probably 10 years ago). I can accept shareware and freeware working this way, to an extent, because they aren't getting paid, for the most part.
But if I plop down my hard-earned money for a product and it pulls this garbage, I tend to either (a) bitch and moan ceaselessly in the case of a product I really need or want or (b) find an alternative as quick as possible. I admit it's option (a) more times than not, otherwise I wouldn't be buying the software in the first place, but that doesn't change the fact that it sucks, to say the least.
It's to the point where I've actually called my wife into the computer room just to show her a piece of software that actually asked me if I wanted all the extra crap and didn't make any assumptions and didn't insinuate itself all throughout my desktop! That shouldn't be a newsworthy event, all software should work that way!
That's a fair point, but here's something to consider...
Let's say that it's proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that Microsoft is doing EXACTLY what appears they are: using SCO as a puppet to attack IBM and others for the sole purpose of discrediting Linux enough to keep businesses from using it.
AS LONG AS they aren't doing anything blatantly illegal (and, standard dislaimer: IANAL... I don't see how investing in another company, whatever your motivation, could be considered illegal), then let's look at it from the perspective of a large company trying to decide between a jump to Linux or staying with MS...
"Gee, I'm the CIO of Mega-Corp XYZ... I can either keep giving my money to MS, or I can save a TON going with Linux. But, if I go with Linux, I know that Microsoft is going to keep pumping money into SCO so that they can hassle me in the courts ad infinitum, whether it's founded in reality or not (well, at least until a high enough court decides to put an end to SCO's games)... I think I'll stick with MS because while it might not be the best technological choice, or the best choice from a TCO point of view, at least I won't get bothered with legal problems, even if they are easily defeated. Oohh, I HATE Microsoft for putting me in this position, but what's the alternative?".
My point here is that while I agree Microsoft would take a PR beating and Linux would shine, I'm not sure it would matter because in the end if Microsoft can keep their little attack dog named SCO going after people, is Linux worth that hassle of constantly defending yourself in court against spurious claims? I'm not sure it would be to a great many companies, so MS still wins, even if people hate them a million times more!
Is this surprising to anyone, that Microsoft might be playing dirty pool?
We all realize this is a company that is not above using underhanded tactics to deal with the competition. And anyone with Microsoft stock loves them for it frankly!
This is neither surprising nor is it especially evil in the end, unless you consider the corporate world evil in general anyway, which might be a very fair statement!, but I digress...
Microsoft has a very tough battle to compete with Linux on merit (some would say it's an impossible battle for them, but that's another argument). They're never going to stop the Slashdot community from using Linux, but where they might have something to say is in keeping corporations way from it, and frankly this is where they stand to lose the most anyway.
So, how do you fight what has been correctly stated many times is a community and a philosophy rather than a concrete corporate competitor? You can't. But what you CAN do is try and keep any of the big players in the business world from hitching their wagon to Linux and upping the ante because, let's face it, many corporations will not use Linux if it doesn't come from someone like IBM. The fact that it's free and great for the bottom line won't make them go download the ISOs and install it everywhere because they NEED to have someone like HP to back them up.
So, Microsoft finds a puppet in SCO who can go attack IBM, HP, whoever else they view as the threats in this game, and maybe in the process get big businesses to back off the Linux train because they are worried about the whole SCO mess, whether for good reason or not.
It's a game of perception, nothing more. They aren't going to keep me from using Linux to power my home server, but big deal, I'm not their major source of income. The big businesses are. If propping up SCO helps them keep some of those companies away from Linux, Microsoft wins. And they maintain plausible deniability the whole time by claiming they are paying "licensing fees" to SCO for certain "Unix services licenses". This memo can be interpreted other ways, it's not as clear-cut as it's being made out to be (note that I am NOT diagreeing with the interpretation, just pointing out it's not so clear-cut as to be beyond reporach)
So, people are trying to make a big thing of this memo when it's just par for the course, nothing surprising at all. It doesn't even point to some massive, evil conspiracy really. It points to a company known for low tactics staying with the status quo to fight a formidable enemy to their profit margins. Businesses are SUPPOSED to make money, Microsoft is exceptionally good at it PRECISELY because they take every threat seriously and attack it with Machiavellian fervor.
Hate them for being so good at it if you want, but don't be surprised when the Zebra doesn't change it's stripes.
I agree with your assessment, and I've been trying for a while to get the "just do it in Office" mentality out of here. Unfortunately, I work for a very large financial organization that is VERY set in it's ways, and change doesn't come easily when dealing with people's money.
To this company's credit though, they've been doing this FOR YEARS and being successful with it. We're more or less at the top of the food chain in our industry, so incentive to mearly improve for the sake of improvement isn't really there.
There are some interesting posts here, I certainly will spend some time looking into what OpenOffice can offer. I don't really expect to change the corporate world here, but for my own interest I'll check it out more.
I'm asking this as a legitimate question, not trying to troll...
Does OpenOffice, or any other office suite for that matter, have something as powerful and easy to use as VB For Applications?
Because I can tell you that's the primary thing that would keep my company (and the vast majority of the companies we deal with) from moving away from Office. I'd also be willing to bet we're not unusual in that regard.
Not so much because we already have tons of complex macros written that we wouldn't want to convert, but simply because it IS so powerful and relatively simple. We do some truly sick shit with VBA.
Note also that I'm NOT talking about simple macros to recalculate cell values and such. I'm talking about the ability to pop open a form on top of a spreadsheet with a bunch of buttons on it, each that execute hundreds or even thousands lines of complex code, some of which upload and download files via FTP, some of which make use of other Office apps via automation to do various things, and then export out the resultant data as a Viso document with an Excel spreadsheet embedded and links to a presentation that was generated and uploaded to a web site at the same time. Yes, we have some that do most of that, and some that do more. Let's not get into the debate about whether that was the right way to do things, because it's a much larger discussion, and the bottom line is that if the people in charge say do it using those tools, you either do so or look for another job, so it is what it is, and that's that.
If another office suite could match that capability, I doubt we'd have much incentive to stay with Office, but it truly would have to match or exceed that capability, and to the best of my knowledge, no other suite can do that.
"...many Linux users will be deciding where to spend their money."
What money?!?
They're all a bunch of 16-year olds with long hair, Mountain Dew can marks embedded in their chin, living at home with mommy and daddy, no job, never had a date, eyes more bloodshot from lack of sleep than Robert Downey Jr. after a weekend binge, who enjoy puzzles based on multi-dimensional quantum chromodynamics, giving away all their hard work FOR FREE!
So, I ask...
WHAT F'ING MONEY?!?
(Oh Karma, I barely knew ye! But there you go, walking out on me...)
There are many, many things MS does that deserve our scrutiny, scorn and seeking of alternatives. Even I as someone that generally speaking doesn't have a huge problem with MS certainly has issues with them.
But this is just nuts. Let me think this through...
Now we WANT MS to track people, to investigate them and to make sure they aren't doing anything wrong with their products? And who should determine what is the right thing and what is the wrong thing? MS?
And if they add DRM to all their products, is it OK that you can't activate a product unless you certify that you won't kill anyone, spy on them or otherwise abuse their civil liberties?
Man, talk about a no-win scenario for a big corporation. We hate'em if they intrude on us too much, we hate them if they don't intrude ENOUGH apparantly.
Sorry, MS didn't do a damned thing wrong here, and saying otherwise in this one instance is just plain nuts.
I know he's 17. I know he has his who life in front of him. I know he can't afford the costs of doing battle with Microsoft (few can, individuals and corporations alike). I know I'm not in his shoes and I might see thing differently if I was. I know all of this, and much more that points to this being the right decision for him, indeed, being the ONLY decision he really could have made.
But I just can't shake the feeling that this amounts to selling out and nothing more.
I mean, let me ask this question... is there any one out there that thinks this truly is legitimate copyright infringement? The only point in favor of that I can think of is that he said he wanted people to think he was associated in some way with Microsoft (I forget his exact words, but that's the gist of it). But that one point aside, is similar pronunciation copyright infringement?
Look, IANAL, naturally, and maybe there's precedent that says it in fact is. If so, end of story I suppose, and I'm wrong. But if there's not, if certainly seems like a worth-wild battle to fight in my opinion. I mean, you've got to draw a line against the darkness somewhere, to paraphrase a beloved captain, and although this isn't the world against terrorism or anything, it's still something worse fighting for I think.
If for no other reason than to not like Microsoft bully everyone they want without any thought of being wrong, that's enough of a reason!
I know, I know... 17... whole life in front of him... etc.. etc.. etc...
Still, I can't shake the feeling that the word sellout applies all too well.
This is only one variation of the scam! This morning I got an eMail saying essentially the same thing as this one, but is was talking about my Visa account. It said it was from Visa (not the actual company that holds my Visa accounts, big difference). Needless to say I didn't click a thing, but I did take a peak at the guts of the message, and I believe this is a variation of the same thing.
I haven't seen this reported anywhere else, I frankly didn't think anything of the eMail because after all, with all the spam I get and either don't open or glance at and send to the deleted folder immediately, what's one more? But when I saw this posting, I took a look at it again, and I think it's worth everyone being aware that there seems to be variations on a theme here.
IF you are the type of mind that might have been fooled by one, beware the other, and any other variations that might come along too!
The future of windows! This is so cool! I knew this whole Linux thing was just a fad and that Bill Gates would lead Microsoft and bring Windows into the new millennium with a gusto! I just knew that...
Oh...
Wait...
Wrong type of windows.
My bad.
(That officially ends my horribly bad attempt at humor for the day)
Yes, the 4G is smaller, but it's not like the 15G is large by anyone standards.
This is, say it with me folks, A TERRIBLE PRODUCT. If anyone buys one, I consider them a flat-out moron.
Has this been the $100 a 2G that was rumored I would be singing a completely different tune. That would have been fantastic. This is a joke though. The price is far too high for what you get and is made far worse when you consider what you can get for just $50 more.
Sorry Steve, this was a bad call and I'd be willing to bet your sales will prove me right. You'll get the silicon valley nuts who just think it's "cool" how small it is, but that's about. Real people like me who don't have a ton of disposable income won't even look twice at one.
That's what I did. Sure, I still get almost a weekly call from someone in the family wanting to "pick my brain", but that's not really an issue when I can simply half-ass it: answer their questions while fragging away in Halo, or if I'm actually doing work, answer their questions while coding. It's not like their problems generally require more than about 5% of my concentration to solve anyway.
But, 300 miles or so very greatly reduces the amount of time you'll spend working on other people's problems, I guarantee it!
Dirty Work is a modern classic in my opinion. My closest friends and I think it is a work of pure genius.
Then again, we think Event Horizon is one of the best scary movies ever made, and we know how the rest of the world feels about that movie, so I'm not sure our opinion should be taken as worth anything at all.:)
Slashdot Mirror
Four more clicks matters to average users, and that's who Linux is trying to win over (because, as the propoganda goes, it's already CLEARLY superior in the data center, right?!?).
It's not a matter of how often I need to change my resolution (and you seem to imply it should be a rare thing, which is a bogus assumption... ever get a newer, bigger monitor? Ever get a newer video card that now allows you to do a slightly higher resolution while keeping your refresh rate the same?). The problem is that IT'S NINE CLICKS AWAY. You seem to think that's not a problem. Mom and Pop will absolutely disagree with you.
For YOU and for ME, the experts of the world, it's not a terribly big deal (except that as an expert for many years I DON'T WANT TO HAVE TO DO FOUR MORE CLICKS, even though it's not a big deal for me to do so).
Libranet... Mandrake... Redhat... Gentoo... BSD... all the others... Don't you think the first problem with Linux for the average users that your trying to lure away from Windows is simply the question they will have to ask up-front: "Which distro?". They can't just go buy Linux, they have to buy a specific distro. And each distro is different, some are easier for them as you point out with Libranet, others are not. They make the wrong choice and they hate Linux for life.
I've said it over and over... it's posts like yours that just proves my point, which is that the Linux community has entirely the wrong mindset when it comes to the desktop to EVER be a serious threat to Windows there. Keep plugging away in the data center, your making headway there, but you people, as a whole I'm saying, just don't get what it takes to get that 90% of the desktop market away from Microsoft, and love 'em or hate 'em, Microsoft does get it.
It's not security. It's not even stability, although that matters. Hell, it's not even freedom and it's not even choices, IT'S SIMPLICITY AND EASE OF USE. Linux as a generality is just SO far beyond in that area, catching up is a virtual impossibility at this point.
Man, you Linux nutcases just don't get it.
I clicked your link, I read what it said. What the FUCK is it talking about?!?
Get this through your thick, stupid skulls: if it takes an average person more than 30 seconds to figure something out, YOU LOST THE GAME!
Why do I have to ADD something so God Damned trivial to my OS? Why isn't it right there at my fingertips? Why do I have to do a Google seach for something so trivial?
You just don't get it. You illustrate my point far better than I ever could... Windows is in no way shape or form threatened by Windows on the desktop, and at this rate, IT NEVER WILL BE.
I'm sitting in front of a Mandrake 9.2 desktop running KDE. I am not a Linux expert, nor and I a complete Linux newbie, and I am BY FAR *NOT* a computer novice. Here's my question...
How do I switch my screen resolution? No, serioously.
When I installed this distro, it picked up my video card nicely, set my setting as I asked it to, that part went well.
But I've now spent the better part of 10 minutes trying various things, including:
* Right-click on the desktop, select Configure Desktop. Nope, not there.
* Desktop Setting Wizard? Nope, not there.
* LinuxConf on the K menu? Well, doesn't say Video Settings or anything familiar, but maybe it's under Miscellaneous... Nope. Peripherals? Nope.
* Configuration Menu... Hardware (probably, but I might be wrong)... HardDrake (only because that sounds familiar from the install process)... Nope... Oh wait, what's this Run Config Tool button that appeared out of the blue?? Hey, there we go!
Ok, is my point sufficiently clear? Sure, you can dismiss the first thing I tried as something a Windows user might try. Ok, fair enough, learning curve issue. Why didn't Desktop Settings Wizard do what I wanted? Oh yes, because a desktop isn't really the same thing as a the Windows desktop. Ok, maybe another learning curve thing, but now your pushing it. LinuxConf? Obviously some sort of configuration tool, and featured so prominently on the K menu, that made sense.
No, I had to be fortunate enough to remember what it said during the install, and if I hadn't would I have tried HardDrake as fast as I had? Almost certainly not because HardDrak doesn't even remotely sound like something that might configure my video card (and saying the HARD portion of the word should indicate something to do with hardware is an EXTREME stretch, albeit a correct one in this case).
And how many clicks did it take in all? Let's see...
1. K menu
2. Configuration
3. Hardware
4. HardDrak
5. Click on video card (oh yeah, forgot to mention that before... I didn't even get the Run Config Tool until I selected the video card... Why wasn't it there greyed out and then activated when I selected the video card??)
6. Click Run Config tool
7. Click Resolution button
8. Make my change and click Ok
9. Then click Yes on the verification prompt that appears
For God's sake, I count around 9 clicks until my resolution was changed. ARGH!
How many in Windows XP you ask?
1. Right-click desktop
2. Properties
3. Settings tab
4. make changes, click OK
5. Click OK again to verification prompt
5 clicks, 4 if you don't particularly care about the second OK.
Is my point sinking in yet? EVEN IF I WAS A LINUX GURU, WHY WOULD THIS BE ACCEPTABLE?!?
I will grant you it's better than the last time I tried Linux when I in fact HAD to modify some config files to change resolution. Yes, progress is being made. But as indicated by this minor experience, WAY TO DAMNED SLOW TO BE ANY KIND OF THREAT TO WINDOWS.
My mother, who has come quite a long way in her computer usage, would NEVER deal with this. Heck, I have a hard enough time convinving her that changing her refresh rate from 50 is a good thing and that it's not complicated to do in XP. She manages. She would NEVER deal with Linux, be it KDE, Gnome or whatever else, and she sure as hell wouldn't go anywhere near a command line. She is not atypical, in fact she's gone beyond basic computer user at this point... She's on the thing close to as many hours a day as I am, surfs the web, eMails, chats, does some basic photo editing, some word processing, some spreadsheets, some desktop publishing, scanning, etc. She's actually in a position that SHE'S the guru to many of her friends!
My point is, she's not going anywhere NEAR Linux in ANY form that it currently exists in. You can tell me how great this distro or that distro is, you can tell me how far Linux has come, but your missing the point:
"Major anti-piracy ad campaigns and policing action by NASCOMM (BSA equivalent in India) ..."
Woa, back the "piracy is the divine province of God" train up a minute...
Do you mean to imply that a large portion of the Indian population was so utterly offended by an ad compaign telling you that piracy is illegal and bad caused you to drop Microsoft?!?
So then another way of saying the exact same thing would be...
A large portion of the Indian population believe piracy is OK and having software is their right and therefore how dare Microsoft telling you that, screw them, we'll go get a free alternative.
Geez. If you like Linux because of what it offers, cool, no problem. If your major motivation was that you were illegally obtaining someone's product and then you got called on it and that offended you, I have a sneaking suspicion that the better and larger portion of the Linux community would prefer you NOT jump on board the Linux train. At least, I HOPE they would feel that way.
And as the original poster stated, you people STILL don't get it...
I shouldn't have to post on a forum for a bunch of geeks to solve my problem. The error message should give me enough information to solve the problem on my own, as previous responder correctly points out.
Yes, there SHOULD be an Advanced button, or something akin to that, so that I CAN post on a forum for the geeks to solve the really sticky problems, much like Windows does.
This is NOT a ringing endorsement of Windows error message by the way because they are usually severly lacking in any useful information too. My point however is that the Linux community as a whole generally does not get this concept, but Microsoft is at least attentive to it, even if they fail in the implementation. Linux is simply NEVER going to be any kind of significant threat to Windows until these types of things get through everyone's head.
...are those really nice checkbox images. I'm going to steal them.
Uhh... wait... that statement kinda infers about 90% of my answers to the survey now, doesn't it?!?
Then again, looking at them again, I'm kinda confused by the pock marks that you seem to have to "pop" to put your checkbox there. A couple of times I wasn't sure which option I was actually voting for.
That's a survey form from a Florida-based company, isn't it?!?
I don't think your examples really have anything to do with "trusted" or "secure", but your point is 100% valid.
I couldn't agree more that retail software that I pay for has become such a pain in the ass to use with the constant registration reminders that I have to go out of my way to turn off (and some that were very difficult to get rid of regardless) and all the extra icons and bookmarks they create without asking me, and all the little tray icons that run in the background to make my computing experience "better, safer and faster" but instead make my system less stable and slower until I again go out of my way to disable them.
And I'm lucky in that I am capable of disabling this stuff, I really feel sorry for the less capable out there that don't even have that option!
It's an exceptionally disturbing trend. I certainly expect viruses to act this way (even though the last time I did something stupid enough to get infected was probably 10 years ago). I can accept shareware and freeware working this way, to an extent, because they aren't getting paid, for the most part.
But if I plop down my hard-earned money for a product and it pulls this garbage, I tend to either (a) bitch and moan ceaselessly in the case of a product I really need or want or (b) find an alternative as quick as possible. I admit it's option (a) more times than not, otherwise I wouldn't be buying the software in the first place, but that doesn't change the fact that it sucks, to say the least.
It's to the point where I've actually called my wife into the computer room just to show her a piece of software that actually asked me if I wanted all the extra crap and didn't make any assumptions and didn't insinuate itself all throughout my desktop! That shouldn't be a newsworthy event, all software should work that way!
Is this Slashdot or www.iamaconspiracynut.com?
That's a fair point, but here's something to consider...
Let's say that it's proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that Microsoft is doing EXACTLY what appears they are: using SCO as a puppet to attack IBM and others for the sole purpose of discrediting Linux enough to keep businesses from using it.
AS LONG AS they aren't doing anything blatantly illegal (and, standard dislaimer: IANAL... I don't see how investing in another company, whatever your motivation, could be considered illegal), then let's look at it from the perspective of a large company trying to decide between a jump to Linux or staying with MS...
"Gee, I'm the CIO of Mega-Corp XYZ... I can either keep giving my money to MS, or I can save a TON going with Linux. But, if I go with Linux, I know that Microsoft is going to keep pumping money into SCO so that they can hassle me in the courts ad infinitum, whether it's founded in reality or not (well, at least until a high enough court decides to put an end to SCO's games)... I think I'll stick with MS because while it might not be the best technological choice, or the best choice from a TCO point of view, at least I won't get bothered with legal problems, even if they are easily defeated. Oohh, I HATE Microsoft for putting me in this position, but what's the alternative?".
My point here is that while I agree Microsoft would take a PR beating and Linux would shine, I'm not sure it would matter because in the end if Microsoft can keep their little attack dog named SCO going after people, is Linux worth that hassle of constantly defending yourself in court against spurious claims? I'm not sure it would be to a great many companies, so MS still wins, even if people hate them a million times more!
Is this surprising to anyone, that Microsoft might be playing dirty pool?
We all realize this is a company that is not above using underhanded tactics to deal with the competition. And anyone with Microsoft stock loves them for it frankly!
This is neither surprising nor is it especially evil in the end, unless you consider the corporate world evil in general anyway, which might be a very fair statement!, but I digress...
Microsoft has a very tough battle to compete with Linux on merit (some would say it's an impossible battle for them, but that's another argument). They're never going to stop the Slashdot community from using Linux, but where they might have something to say is in keeping corporations way from it, and frankly this is where they stand to lose the most anyway.
So, how do you fight what has been correctly stated many times is a community and a philosophy rather than a concrete corporate competitor? You can't. But what you CAN do is try and keep any of the big players in the business world from hitching their wagon to Linux and upping the ante because, let's face it, many corporations will not use Linux if it doesn't come from someone like IBM. The fact that it's free and great for the bottom line won't make them go download the ISOs and install it everywhere because they NEED to have someone like HP to back them up.
So, Microsoft finds a puppet in SCO who can go attack IBM, HP, whoever else they view as the threats in this game, and maybe in the process get big businesses to back off the Linux train because they are worried about the whole SCO mess, whether for good reason or not.
It's a game of perception, nothing more. They aren't going to keep me from using Linux to power my home server, but big deal, I'm not their major source of income. The big businesses are. If propping up SCO helps them keep some of those companies away from Linux, Microsoft wins. And they maintain plausible deniability the whole time by claiming they are paying "licensing fees" to SCO for certain "Unix services licenses". This memo can be interpreted other ways, it's not as clear-cut as it's being made out to be (note that I am NOT diagreeing with the interpretation, just pointing out it's not so clear-cut as to be beyond reporach)
So, people are trying to make a big thing of this memo when it's just par for the course, nothing surprising at all. It doesn't even point to some massive, evil conspiracy really. It points to a company known for low tactics staying with the status quo to fight a formidable enemy to their profit margins. Businesses are SUPPOSED to make money, Microsoft is exceptionally good at it PRECISELY because they take every threat seriously and attack it with Machiavellian fervor.
Hate them for being so good at it if you want, but don't be surprised when the Zebra doesn't change it's stripes.
I agree with your assessment, and I've been trying for a while to get the "just do it in Office" mentality out of here. Unfortunately, I work for a very large financial organization that is VERY set in it's ways, and change doesn't come easily when dealing with people's money.
To this company's credit though, they've been doing this FOR YEARS and being successful with it. We're more or less at the top of the food chain in our industry, so incentive to mearly improve for the sake of improvement isn't really there.
There are some interesting posts here, I certainly will spend some time looking into what OpenOffice can offer. I don't really expect to change the corporate world here, but for my own interest I'll check it out more.
I'm asking this as a legitimate question, not trying to troll...
Does OpenOffice, or any other office suite for that matter, have something as powerful and easy to use as VB For Applications?
Because I can tell you that's the primary thing that would keep my company (and the vast majority of the companies we deal with) from moving away from Office. I'd also be willing to bet we're not unusual in that regard.
Not so much because we already have tons of complex macros written that we wouldn't want to convert, but simply because it IS so powerful and relatively simple. We do some truly sick shit with VBA.
Note also that I'm NOT talking about simple macros to recalculate cell values and such. I'm talking about the ability to pop open a form on top of a spreadsheet with a bunch of buttons on it, each that execute hundreds or even thousands lines of complex code, some of which upload and download files via FTP, some of which make use of other Office apps via automation to do various things, and then export out the resultant data as a Viso document with an Excel spreadsheet embedded and links to a presentation that was generated and uploaded to a web site at the same time. Yes, we have some that do most of that, and some that do more. Let's not get into the debate about whether that was the right way to do things, because it's a much larger discussion, and the bottom line is that if the people in charge say do it using those tools, you either do so or look for another job, so it is what it is, and that's that.
If another office suite could match that capability, I doubt we'd have much incentive to stay with Office, but it truly would have to match or exceed that capability, and to the best of my knowledge, no other suite can do that.
Am I mistaken?
Thank you! Someone with a damned sense of humor around here!!
(Pretty good replies too by the way!)
No caffeine in Mountain Dew in Canada you say?!?
I KNEW I hated America Jr. for a good reason!!
Ogre!! With no name!
Modded as FLAIMBAIT already?!?
I guess I should add to my statement... "UNABLE TO TAKE AN F'ING JOKE!!"
Does no one understand sarcasm and humor these days?? Even if the humor isn't very good, it's usually still identifiable to most of us.
GET WITH THE PROGRAM!
"...many Linux users will be deciding where to spend their money."
What money?!?
They're all a bunch of 16-year olds with long hair, Mountain Dew can marks embedded in their chin, living at home with mommy and daddy, no job, never had a date, eyes more bloodshot from lack of sleep than Robert Downey Jr. after a weekend binge, who enjoy puzzles based on multi-dimensional quantum chromodynamics, giving away all their hard work FOR FREE!
So, I ask...
WHAT F'ING MONEY?!?
(Oh Karma, I barely knew ye! But there you go, walking out on me...)
There are many, many things MS does that deserve our scrutiny, scorn and seeking of alternatives. Even I as someone that generally speaking doesn't have a huge problem with MS certainly has issues with them.
But this is just nuts. Let me think this through...
Now we WANT MS to track people, to investigate them and to make sure they aren't doing anything wrong with their products? And who should determine what is the right thing and what is the wrong thing? MS?
And if they add DRM to all their products, is it OK that you can't activate a product unless you certify that you won't kill anyone, spy on them or otherwise abuse their civil liberties?
Man, talk about a no-win scenario for a big corporation. We hate'em if they intrude on us too much, we hate them if they don't intrude ENOUGH apparantly.
Sorry, MS didn't do a damned thing wrong here, and saying otherwise in this one instance is just plain nuts.
I know he's 17. I know he has his who life in front of him. I know he can't afford the costs of doing battle with Microsoft (few can, individuals and corporations alike). I know I'm not in his shoes and I might see thing differently if I was. I know all of this, and much more that points to this being the right decision for him, indeed, being the ONLY decision he really could have made.
But I just can't shake the feeling that this amounts to selling out and nothing more.
I mean, let me ask this question... is there any one out there that thinks this truly is legitimate copyright infringement? The only point in favor of that I can think of is that he said he wanted people to think he was associated in some way with Microsoft (I forget his exact words, but that's the gist of it). But that one point aside, is similar pronunciation copyright infringement?
Look, IANAL, naturally, and maybe there's precedent that says it in fact is. If so, end of story I suppose, and I'm wrong. But if there's not, if certainly seems like a worth-wild battle to fight in my opinion. I mean, you've got to draw a line against the darkness somewhere, to paraphrase a beloved captain, and although this isn't the world against terrorism or anything, it's still something worse fighting for I think.
If for no other reason than to not like Microsoft bully everyone they want without any thought of being wrong, that's enough of a reason!
I know, I know... 17... whole life in front of him... etc.. etc.. etc...
Still, I can't shake the feeling that the word sellout applies all too well.
This is only one variation of the scam! This morning I got an eMail saying essentially the same thing as this one, but is was talking about my Visa account. It said it was from Visa (not the actual company that holds my Visa accounts, big difference). Needless to say I didn't click a thing, but I did take a peak at the guts of the message, and I believe this is a variation of the same thing.
I haven't seen this reported anywhere else, I frankly didn't think anything of the eMail because after all, with all the spam I get and either don't open or glance at and send to the deleted folder immediately, what's one more? But when I saw this posting, I took a look at it again, and I think it's worth everyone being aware that there seems to be variations on a theme here.
IF you are the type of mind that might have been fooled by one, beware the other, and any other variations that might come along too!
The future of windows! This is so cool! I knew this whole Linux thing was just a fad and that Bill Gates would lead Microsoft and bring Windows into the new millennium with a gusto! I just knew that...
Oh...
Wait...
Wrong type of windows.
My bad.
(That officially ends my horribly bad attempt at humor for the day)
Lemme get this straight...
$249 for 4G.
$299 for 15G.
Yes, the 4G is smaller, but it's not like the 15G is large by anyone standards.
This is, say it with me folks, A TERRIBLE PRODUCT. If anyone buys one, I consider them a flat-out moron.
Has this been the $100 a 2G that was rumored I would be singing a completely different tune. That would have been fantastic. This is a joke though. The price is far too high for what you get and is made far worse when you consider what you can get for just $50 more.
Sorry Steve, this was a bad call and I'd be willing to bet your sales will prove me right. You'll get the silicon valley nuts who just think it's "cool" how small it is, but that's about. Real people like me who don't have a ton of disposable income won't even look twice at one.
I am completely unimpressed.
...Move at least two states away.
That's what I did. Sure, I still get almost a weekly call from someone in the family wanting to "pick my brain", but that's not really an issue when I can simply half-ass it: answer their questions while fragging away in Halo, or if I'm actually doing work, answer their questions while coding. It's not like their problems generally require more than about 5% of my concentration to solve anyway.
But, 300 miles or so very greatly reduces the amount of time you'll spend working on other people's problems, I guarantee it!
Dirty Work is a modern classic in my opinion. My closest friends and I think it is a work of pure genius.
:)
Then again, we think Event Horizon is one of the best scary movies ever made, and we know how the rest of the world feels about that movie, so I'm not sure our opinion should be taken as worth anything at all.
Smoking may be a little tougher. I suggest replacing cigarettes with a crack pipe. That should take care of your nicotene addiction.
(Oh, did I forget to wrap that statement in sarcasm tags?)