I'm a Linux fan. Though I use OS X for most of my day-to-day computing, I've used Linux in the workplace and at home since the Caldera days.
That being said, I think there are still numerous blocks to Linux adoption:
People don't care. Slashdotters do, but most people don't. They expect viruses. They expect trojans. If they even know Linux exists, they think it's for computer experts or business. They don't know that Windows marks up the price of their computer. Software ideology isn't on their radar.
Installation. Real people are terrified by the idea of installing an OS, and won't even consider this until shitware cripples their Windows box so badly it doesn't work anymore. At that point, they'll probably insert their OEM system disk, because that's what Dell or HP or eMachines tells them to do.
Software. You can't buy a Linux version of Quickbooks at Wal-Mart. Yeah, I know: there are free alternatives. See the part "people don't care" above.
Drivers. "What do you mean my [insert offbrand peripheral here] won't work on Linux? It works on Windows, and I ain't buying a new [insert offbrand peripheral again here]."
Learning curve. We care about computers, so investing time in something like learning package management or the comparative benefits of Gnome versus KDE is worthwhile. People are fabulously busy these days. i personally think this is a major social ill, but there you have it. Who has time to learn Linux? Most folks barely understand their cellphones.
Apple rules the second tier -- at least in most consumers' busy minds. They may not own a Mac, but they sure as hell know Apple is there. I'm just guessing, but I bet Macs are the first place people turn should they become disgusted with their virus-laden PC.
Again, I think Linux is terrific, and would be using it fulltime if I didn't find Macs so damn pleasant.
Most of the blocks described above pertain to consumer desktop adoption. My opinion is that the best place for Linux evangelism is the workplace. Get someone using Linux at work, and the home will follow.
Linux still must make its case to the consumer. The best drawing card these days is security. It used to be stability, but that's no longer the case. While I feel strongly that computing should be free and open, cost and community-supported software aren't the silver bullet in regards to mass Linux adoption.
I think we should be supporting developers who work hard to make Linux simple, secure, and usable in a business environment. I was looking at the Vista press release today. We can all snicker about Vista's late release date, its bloat, the fact that its major features have been available in OS X since Tiger (or earlier), etc. It will still be irresistible to corporations. Not only because of their legacy commitments -- it's draconian features like hardware DRM for documents that warm a manager's heart. I got fired a couple weeks back. They asked me for my data before long before they reached for my door key. Companies are serious about safeguarding their secrets. Linux will have to pace this if it wants to rule the world.
I dunno. They used traditional materials, but the lost-foam concept by which they constructed the "sacrificial" ceramic is pretty novel in its own right.
You got screwed on the parachute thing, though. Here in Florida, you'd be due a long and painful recount.
I agree that Camino is excellent. I've been using it for ages, even though Safari is my primary browser. I think Camino would be my default if it did inline spellchecking.
I'd be interested to know if this Safari vulnerability also impacts other Webkit browsers, such as Shiira, Omniweb, and iCab.
At this point, anyone who has "open safe files" enabled is just asking for trouble.
> I would not be surprised if internet radio over Wi-Max ends up seriously hurting XM and Sirius.
You make some good points. I don't see why XM and Sirius can't be profitable, though. I wouldn't want to have to replace their sat fleet, but the footprint of both services has some advantages over WiMax. Cellular telephone service is still localized (though obviously well-deployed). It took us 10 years to get to this point. And a lot of money.
WiMax or whatever braodband wireless becomes will level the field with terrestrial broadcasters, however. Commercial sticks cost big bucks to maintain, and most radio companies are *heavily* leveraged. WiMax will substantially reduce the cost of entry for new media broacasters.
Not that it's a free ride. There's bandwidth -- which may become more expensive, not less, thanks to greedy ISPs and their lobbyists. There are at least four music licenses to be paid. And then there's the cost of producing content itself. Sophisticated listeners have high expectations.
It will be tough on the first generation of internet broadcasters. Hang in there, guys and gals. Be smart and thrifty.
> Will digital music distribution fall solely to giants like XM and iTunes?
Uh -- no. But internet radio is in its infancy. It will take off with the deployment of wireless broadband and a new class of devices capable of pulling streams without being connected to a computer.
The first show will drop when Apple makes available a wireless version of the iPod. I bet this will happen before Christmas.
After that, it's just a function of wireless rollout. According to Bridge Research, a research company that does most of its work for commercial radio, There will be something on the order of 130 million wireless broadband users in 2010. Wired users will make up another 150 million or so. This should be enough critical mass to make internet radio commercially viable.
Of course, all advertising-supported media is changing. The day of mass-media supremacy is coming to an end, and wirelessly delivered entertainment should further democratize content delivery.
In the meantime, internet broadcasters will have to find clever business models to stay afloat. Applying old-school models to new media won't be effective.
By the way, Bridge projects XM and Sirius to be at a combined market of less than 50 million subscribers in 2010. Sat broadcasting could become quite profitable at that level, but hardly dominant in terms of ears. Look for major satelite entertainment brands to migrate to internet radio as it grows.
As a longtime Palm customer, I'd submit this company is already quite dead. The OS is stable, but dated. The hardware has significantly declined in quality. I'm on my third Tungsten C -- all have been defective in some way. And Palm's customer service is all pathetic and offshore.
Bring on Steve Jobs. I'll but the first Apple-branded Palm smartphone off the line. It'll be prettier and work better.
**rant mode ON***
It's a bright day to be a defense contractor, with a permanent war in progress and as much cash on tap as the imagination might conjure.
Step right up, boys. Bring us your most horrific, terrifying visions of future war. No idea is too outlandish. A willing government awaits, checkbook in hand.
The Navy commissioned the USS Forrest Sherman, an Arleigh Burke class destroyer, here in Pensacola, calling it the latest anti-terrorism tool. Hurrah for the war on terror! Who could be against that? No word on how the Forrest Sherman's advanced antisubmarine capabilities might bring a car bomber to justice.
Hey, at least the Navy is using Linux on Power architecture. They can't be all bad.
***rant mode OFF***
> Cooking time: This very much depends on the power output of your mobile phone. For instance, a pair of mobiles each with 2 Watts of transmitter output will take three minutes to boil a large free range egg.
I'm thinking a cellphone with a two-watt output would sap a standard cell battery dry in just about that... three minutes.
I thought most cell devices were on the order of 1/3 watt rf output.
As I believe at least one poster has pointed out, thumbnail image tabs have been around in Omniweb on the Mac platform for a while.
Thumbnail tabs aren't for everyone or every application. But they're more than a visual gimmick if you use them properly. A picture is worth a thousand words -- and you can only get about two words on a tab without clicking it. I find a row of iconified web pages easier to sort, particularly before you get really zeroed in on something. If you're a visual person, this might be the case with you, too. All you need is screen real estate and RAM.
Anyway, thumbnail tabs are more than gimmickry if you use them properly, and if you process information visually. I tend to use Omniweb for heavy lifting, and Shiira or Safari for everything else.
I'd be interested to hear from/.ers just what everyone thinks would actually amount to a "great year" for Linux on the desktop.
I'm a bit of a Mac fanboy, but from my perspective, Linux had a pretty damn fine year in 2005. Ubuntu is a story all by itself, and there are plenty of other distros that had a good ride last year (Mandrake and Mepis come immediately to mind). KDE got visionary and Gnome got even leaner. SUSE opened up.
There were some big deployments, and it's now obvious that developing nations love Linux for its affordability and independence from big American corporations.
If the Itunes Music Store is defaulted to ON, this is kind of sneaky since most people do not realize how to turn it off or if Apple saves their personal data or not.
Not only can the ministore be turned off from the menu and with the keysroke you suggest, there's an obvious button which closes the ministore pane. It's identical in appearance to the long-established close button for the album art pane. I didn't like the ministore's clutter and closed it immedaitely upon launching iTunes. It stays closed upon relaunch.
Really, I don't think this is much of an issue, and the Knowledge Base article sets things to rest for me.
... I'm in trouble now. My listening habits are going to be sniffed (if I fail to close the Ministore window, which took about 5 seconds to figure out). Someone, somewhere is going to notice I listen to 50 Cent and Enya in the same sitting. Soon, I'll be deluged with spam advertising medications for bipolar syndrome, G-Unit hoodies, and Irish castle tours. Oh, the horror...
Yes, it's different from a late-night phone call. And my guess is that it will be held unconstitutional -- an unwarranted intrusion on free speech. This also goes to show how utterly power-hungry our "conservative" Republican administration has become. All hail our federal masters.
Oooohhh... sure hope THAT wasn't abusive. I think I hear sirens...
Slashdot Mirror
I'm a Linux fan. Though I use OS X for most of my day-to-day computing, I've used Linux in the workplace and at home since the Caldera days.
That being said, I think there are still numerous blocks to Linux adoption:
Again, I think Linux is terrific, and would be using it fulltime if I didn't find Macs so damn pleasant.
Most of the blocks described above pertain to consumer desktop adoption. My opinion is that the best place for Linux evangelism is the workplace. Get someone using Linux at work, and the home will follow.
Linux still must make its case to the consumer. The best drawing card these days is security. It used to be stability, but that's no longer the case. While I feel strongly that computing should be free and open, cost and community-supported software aren't the silver bullet in regards to mass Linux adoption.
I think we should be supporting developers who work hard to make Linux simple, secure, and usable in a business environment. I was looking at the Vista press release today. We can all snicker about Vista's late release date, its bloat, the fact that its major features have been available in OS X since Tiger (or earlier), etc. It will still be irresistible to corporations. Not only because of their legacy commitments -- it's draconian features like hardware DRM for documents that warm a manager's heart. I got fired a couple weeks back. They asked me for my data before long before they reached for my door key. Companies are serious about safeguarding their secrets. Linux will have to pace this if it wants to rule the world.
Which would please me.
You got screwed on the parachute thing, though. Here in Florida, you'd be due a long and painful recount.
This rumor is so nebulous and unfounded that it's not even making the rounds at the most wild-wyed Mac fanboy rumor sites.
Don't tell Microsoft, or pretty soon we'll all be crashing the spin cycle.
Apple says Alex Ostrovsky from West Bloomfield, Mich., was the lucky audiophile who downloaded "Speed of Sound" by Brit pop band Coldplay ...
There are audiophiles using iTunes? When did this happen?Shiira sure is good. Hope more people discover it.
I'd be interested to know if this Safari vulnerability also impacts other Webkit browsers, such as Shiira, Omniweb, and iCab.
At this point, anyone who has "open safe files" enabled is just asking for trouble.
What? FOX News went off the air?
Well, that's a safe presumption, don't you think?
1. It should be no problem building a working prototype of this thing -- once they find a supply of dilithium crystals.
2. Cap'n, she canna work in her current condition. Impulse is the best I can give ya!
3. ?time warp engines these mean you do What
Take it away ...
Yahoo is also offering Chinese dinners as a prize. Dunno why.
You make some good points. I don't see why XM and Sirius can't be profitable, though. I wouldn't want to have to replace their sat fleet, but the footprint of both services has some advantages over WiMax. Cellular telephone service is still localized (though obviously well-deployed). It took us 10 years to get to this point. And a lot of money.
WiMax or whatever braodband wireless becomes will level the field with terrestrial broadcasters, however. Commercial sticks cost big bucks to maintain, and most radio companies are *heavily* leveraged. WiMax will substantially reduce the cost of entry for new media broacasters.
Not that it's a free ride. There's bandwidth -- which may become more expensive, not less, thanks to greedy ISPs and their lobbyists. There are at least four music licenses to be paid. And then there's the cost of producing content itself. Sophisticated listeners have high expectations.
It will be tough on the first generation of internet broadcasters. Hang in there, guys and gals. Be smart and thrifty.
Uh -- no. But internet radio is in its infancy. It will take off with the deployment of wireless broadband and a new class of devices capable of pulling streams without being connected to a computer.
The first show will drop when Apple makes available a wireless version of the iPod. I bet this will happen before Christmas.
After that, it's just a function of wireless rollout. According to Bridge Research, a research company that does most of its work for commercial radio, There will be something on the order of 130 million wireless broadband users in 2010. Wired users will make up another 150 million or so. This should be enough critical mass to make internet radio commercially viable.
Of course, all advertising-supported media is changing. The day of mass-media supremacy is coming to an end, and wirelessly delivered entertainment should further democratize content delivery.
In the meantime, internet broadcasters will have to find clever business models to stay afloat. Applying old-school models to new media won't be effective.
By the way, Bridge projects XM and Sirius to be at a combined market of less than 50 million subscribers in 2010. Sat broadcasting could become quite profitable at that level, but hardly dominant in terms of ears. Look for major satelite entertainment brands to migrate to internet radio as it grows.
Bring on Steve Jobs. I'll but the first Apple-branded Palm smartphone off the line. It'll be prettier and work better.
Step right up, boys. Bring us your most horrific, terrifying visions of future war. No idea is too outlandish. A willing government awaits, checkbook in hand.
A folding-wing drone? Cool! We'll slash $150 million from Public Broadcasting. Machine guns that fire a million rounds a minute? We'll take away $30 million from diabetes research.
The Navy commissioned the USS Forrest Sherman, an Arleigh Burke class destroyer, here in Pensacola, calling it the latest anti-terrorism tool. Hurrah for the war on terror! Who could be against that? No word on how the Forrest Sherman's advanced antisubmarine capabilities might bring a car bomber to justice.
Hey, at least the Navy is using Linux on Power architecture. They can't be all bad. ***rant mode OFF***
... which introduces the new acronym "RTFAMC" (MC being "more critically").
I'm thinking a cellphone with a two-watt output would sap a standard cell battery dry in just about that ... three minutes.
I thought most cell devices were on the order of 1/3 watt rf output.
As I believe at least one poster has pointed out, thumbnail image tabs have been around in Omniweb on the Mac platform for a while.
Thumbnail tabs aren't for everyone or every application. But they're more than a visual gimmick if you use them properly. A picture is worth a thousand words -- and you can only get about two words on a tab without clicking it. I find a row of iconified web pages easier to sort, particularly before you get really zeroed in on something. If you're a visual person, this might be the case with you, too. All you need is screen real estate and RAM.
Anyway, thumbnail tabs are more than gimmickry if you use them properly, and if you process information visually. I tend to use Omniweb for heavy lifting, and Shiira or Safari for everything else.
... Goopster, to go with the vaporic Goobuntu. Goo and Goop as far as the eye can see.
I'd be interested to hear from /.ers just what everyone thinks would actually amount to a "great year" for Linux on the desktop.
I'm a bit of a Mac fanboy, but from my perspective, Linux had a pretty damn fine year in 2005. Ubuntu is a story all by itself, and there are plenty of other distros that had a good ride last year (Mandrake and Mepis come immediately to mind). KDE got visionary and Gnome got even leaner. SUSE opened up.
There were some big deployments, and it's now obvious that developing nations love Linux for its affordability and independence from big American corporations.
Any other criteria?If the Itunes Music Store is defaulted to ON, this is kind of sneaky since most people do not realize how to turn it off or if Apple saves their personal data or not.
Not only can the ministore be turned off from the menu and with the keysroke you suggest, there's an obvious button which closes the ministore pane. It's identical in appearance to the long-established close button for the album art pane. I didn't like the ministore's clutter and closed it immedaitely upon launching iTunes. It stays closed upon relaunch.
Really, I don't think this is much of an issue, and the Knowledge Base article sets things to rest for me.
... I'm in trouble now. My listening habits are going to be sniffed (if I fail to close the Ministore window, which took about 5 seconds to figure out). Someone, somewhere is going to notice I listen to 50 Cent and Enya in the same sitting. Soon, I'll be deluged with spam advertising medications for bipolar syndrome, G-Unit hoodies, and Irish castle tours. Oh, the horror ...
Thanks, but we'll keep calling them Macs for so long as they run Macintosh OS.
Oooohhh ... sure hope THAT wasn't abusive. I think I hear sirens ...
Oooh! I don't believe she'd take much of that, Cap'n.