I think that IBM wants to go back the old
business model where the hardware is the
main product rather than the software. This
could do nothing but help them sell more servers.
Amen.
This writer obviously wanted to generate controversy rather than point out that, in a short matter of time, the Linux desktop has gotten increasingly more mature. It seems like weekly KDE and GNOME are improving and getting more user-friendly.
Eazel is a very bad example, as it is slow, underdeveloped, and the developers spent a whole lot of their initial 10 mill on marketing rather than making it a stable desktop. Corel - well - it is Corel after all. Corel had obvious problems with the community as a whole - they just didn't get it.
I like the kernel that Linus started, but I take anything that he has to say with a grain of salt. Remember, he works for a company that openly patents software.
Don't get me wrong - what he said was true - but it would have more meaning for me if someone like RMS had said it.
The problem that I see with companies like Eazel and Ximian is they have been provided as the model that Free Software "works". I like Ximian and the concept of Eazel (even if it is really damn bloated) but I really think that products like these would have eventually made it to the market without the millions of dollars that investors have dumped in.
The real way that Free Software works is through the power of the community to build onto the project, not through glitzy marketing campaigns. I wonder when people will realize that the commodity in free software is not the software, but the community.
No. All of this choice and fragmentation is a good thing as long as we have the source. Think about it - no matter how many window managers are out there, there is still the ability to bring them together, pulling the best from each.
In a proprietary world this is a bad thing and can kill a company that distributes operating systems, but in an open community there is always the ability to port an application over to your favorite desktop, or to pull over wm-specific features that you might like.
Who cares if game companies decide to port their propietary products over? Does a free OS get any better when it can run Diablo with Direct X?
Sure, it becomes more marketable in the short run, but free software is more powerful than the market. Our strength is in the community and our ability to create our own products and share them with one another. I would be more excited if we wrote our own Diablo.
It would have been cool, but this is definitely not the end of Linux game development. I am personally excited about the SDL development and the Direct X port - if these guys release the source code to this box then we are that much further ahead.
Now all Linux needs is a decent commercial application installer and we are set.
Looks like they laid off mostly marketing people, which they really do not need considering that they already have more than enough big companies in line to use the software.
Free software is not there to be innovative, just free. Those of you who are afraid that this idea may look a whole lot like another from a proprietary vendor do not get it. That is part of the point of free software - take something that you would otherwise have to pay for, write it yourself, and give it away for free.
Touching story. Reminds me a little of a cross between D.A.R.Y.L and The Wanting Seed by Anthony Burgess.
I was really very surprised how brief the story was - I was expecting more of a The Turing Option or I, Robot. I predict that this will be an enjoyable film, but that A.I. enthusiasts will be a bit dissapointed.
When Spielberg started out, he was really a horror/sci-fi director. He made that short film based on the Richard Matheson story, Jaws, Close Encounters, etc. No matter how successful Spielberg has become, I believe that his roots still lie in what major media would call B-movie schlock.
...of OSX? I doubt that Apple will feel any need to port the OSX GUI to Linux, but a few hackers and a few gallons of caffeine might be enough to bring over the new GUI from the darkside.
Slashdot Mirror
I think that IBM wants to go back the old business model where the hardware is the main product rather than the software. This could do nothing but help them sell more servers.
Amen.
This writer obviously wanted to generate controversy rather than point out that, in a short matter of time, the Linux desktop has gotten increasingly more mature. It seems like weekly KDE and GNOME are improving and getting more user-friendly.
Eazel is a very bad example, as it is slow, underdeveloped, and the developers spent a whole lot of their initial 10 mill on marketing rather than making it a stable desktop. Corel - well - it is Corel after all. Corel had obvious problems with the community as a whole - they just didn't get it.
Don't get me wrong - what he said was true - but it would have more meaning for me if someone like RMS had said it.
The real way that Free Software works is through the power of the community to build onto the project, not through glitzy marketing campaigns. I wonder when people will realize that the commodity in free software is not the software, but the community.
In a proprietary world this is a bad thing and can kill a company that distributes operating systems, but in an open community there is always the ability to port an application over to your favorite desktop, or to pull over wm-specific features that you might like.
Who cares if game companies decide to port their propietary products over? Does a free OS get any better when it can run Diablo with Direct X?
Sure, it becomes more marketable in the short run, but free software is more powerful than the market. Our strength is in the community and our ability to create our own products and share them with one another. I would be more excited if we wrote our own Diablo.
I would be highly suspect of any company that GPL's software (such as OpenOffice) that relies on proprietary software to run (Java).
Now all Linux needs is a decent commercial application installer and we are set.
Seems like yet another Flash/Java -like bloated technology. You can count me out.
Talking about downloading the ISO and mirroring it for free? My goodness, are some of you people just looking to pick a fight with the world?
These guys went out and got the approval of the FSF to do this, and are not asking for that much money.
Pick your fights somewhere else. There are much bigger threats to the Linux world than a small disto wanting to charge for downloads.
Plus, if you ever plan on developing one of those new and exciting technologies it is probably best to learn how to write optimized assembly.
You seem to have nailed it perfectly.
Looks like they laid off mostly marketing people, which they really do not need considering that they already have more than enough big companies in line to use the software.
Free software is not there to be innovative, just free. Those of you who are afraid that this idea may look a whole lot like another from a proprietary vendor do not get it. That is part of the point of free software - take something that you would otherwise have to pay for, write it yourself, and give it away for free.
What sort of research would it take that would produce these sorts of results? Is 'people are becoming stupid' an actual scientific term?
I was really very surprised how brief the story was - I was expecting more of a The Turing Option or I, Robot. I predict that this will be an enjoyable film, but that A.I. enthusiasts will be a bit dissapointed.
When Spielberg started out, he was really a horror/sci-fi director. He made that short film based on the Richard Matheson story, Jaws, Close Encounters, etc. No matter how successful Spielberg has become, I believe that his roots still lie in what major media would call B-movie schlock.
...of OSX? I doubt that Apple will feel any need to port the OSX GUI to Linux, but a few hackers and a few gallons of caffeine might be enough to bring over the new GUI from the darkside.