Well there is the iridium system that already offers world wide Cell and internet for a price. In theory you could put up a HUGE honking satellite with a HUGE dish and offer it from a geo sync satellite. Okay it isn't just theory the US does have sigint/comint birds that can pickup wifi and cell phones from space and I would bet they are already pointing at Iran. So picking up there signal isn't a big problem. How ever I am sure that if we transmitted with enough power that we would be breaking a lot of international agreements. The other thing is I just don't think the US can help a whole lot with this problem. I don't want to see a blood bath but in this case the US can do very little that would help except to keep showing it on our news and hope for the best. The countries that could help would be the other Islamic countries like Egypt,Pakistan, Jordan, and Kuwait.
I have been to upstate New York in winter. It wasn't as bad as I thought but it was cold but I was born in South Florida. The pictures I have seen of it in summer look very pretty. I think the problem with Update New York is that it isn't New York City and that a lot of companies that used to be very big employers in the area have gotten a lot smaller. Kodak and Xerox come to mind.
Hey I wouldn't mind going there in summer just to look around. Probably a great place for a motorcycle trip.
As opposed to the cities that smell completely like public restroom at a cheap bar? Actually New York was rather nice when I went there. The nothing going on part is true in some places but the problem with most cities is everything that is going on costs big bucks. Have you seen what theater tickets cost? A night at a club? Even a lot of museums are charging these days. It all depends on what you enjoy doing.
Calm down. I agree not only could you write any code you wanted for free but Commodore included the scematics of the C-64! At least they did with mine but I had an early one. Not only that people disassembled the kernel and wrote books that included the listing and nobody sent them a take down notice! That was simpler time full of Compute and Byte magazine and taking your best girl to see ET and WarGames.
Ahh now I under stand. English isn't your first language. That is why you don't understand the word EVERY. As in the statment that FOSS has failed to produce good solutions for EVERY need. EVERY means all inclusive.
What you don't get is just about everybody has the need for at least one Professional level program. It maybe something as common as QuickBooks which GNUCash isn't a replacement for. Or even TurboTax to do your taxes. As long as there is one program that you MUST have windows to run you must have Windows. And until there is an easy way for the developers of those programs to sell them on Linux then a very large or even the majority of people can not use Linux as their primary OS. Here is one last good example. My wife Has both Linux and Windows on her Desktop. She mainly uses Windows because she has Photoshop Elements. She likes GIMP much better than Elements but there are some actions that she has to use that only work in Elements. So it is easier for her to install GIMP under Windows and then switch back and forth between the two programs. Now if Elements was available for Linux she wouldn't have to do that as often. THAT is why most people can not go Windows only. Because they have one or two must have programs that only run under Windows and the FOSS community has yet to create programs that work as well or because of the popularity of the application there are tools that only work with that application. If you give developers an easy way to sell software for Linux than we increase our options. YOU DON"T HAVE TO BUY DIDDLY so it takes NOTHING AWAY FROM YOU. But it gives people more options. Your a great example of what is wrong with many Linux zealots. It is your way or the highway and you are sure you can not possibly be wrong. An App store is a great way to increase the number of developers for a platform. The Apple iPhone Apps store is a great example. That platform has gone from having almost no software to what? Tens or hundreds of thousands of applications in what two or three years?
But that is the point. The problem is almost everybody has ONE application that must use that only runs on Windows. Almost all the FOSS software will run on Windows so people stay on Windows. That One program may be something you need for work, a hobby, to do your Taxes, or in your case games. With out a healthy closed source community to fill those needs then Linux can not replace Windows for a very very very large number of people.
I am not a codec fanboy but I have to disagree. Theora isn't as good as H.264. It will have a very had time becoming a standard and that is with good reason. Now what I wonder is how does Dirac shape up? Way too many people only seem to care about Theora when there is another free video codec that may actually be better.
An application that isn't good enough isn't an alternative. GIMP is great for a lot of people. I think GIMP may someday actually be as good or maybe even better than Photoshop since it keeps improving all the time. But right now if you are a professional doing print work GIMP just isn't good enough. It isn't an alternative because it can not do what they need it to do. For 3D CAD there is no alternative that will work. So no there is no alternative in that category. Video editing is also on that currently lacks software that is good enough. I know people that produce Linux video podcasts that pull their hair out because they have to keep an Windows partion still because of a lack of good enough FOSS video software. You see I do support Linux and FOSS but I am practical. I would much rather see somebody running Linux, Firefox, GIMP, VLC, Evolution and QuickBook. Than that same person running Windows Vista, IE, Photoshop Elements, Window MediaPlayer, Outlook, and QuickBooks. Hey if you do don't want to use Facebook or Google that if your little problem. I have no problem with Facebook because I simply keep my private life seperate from my public one. I don't worry about big companies keeping my private life private because I do that myself. Oh and GPL programs are NOT in the Public Domain. Silly silly person.
Well I honestly don't think I have to use the CLI on Ubuntu all that often. I feel the problems on the Linux desktop tend to be a lot more political than technical. I have to do too many stupid things to get media to work. That is because of software patents. That is something that Linux developers can not fix. Another political problem has to do with device drivers and the lack of stable binary interface. That makes it impossible to put a Linux driver in the box with your product. Even if you make it a FOSS driver. Depending on your driver making it into the Kernel is just too iffy for a product that may have a short shelf life and takes too much control away from the person selling the product. I have heard the technical reasons that are given but I feel that they just are not valid. The performance hit would very small and the idea that it wouldn't let you fix bugs is just silly. If the interface is really flawed from the start then maybe but the idea is to make make it flawed from the start.
The real issue with the Linux desktop has nothing to do with Gnome or KDE. It has everything to do with applications. Linux is lacking some applications that people need and is lacking even more applications that people want. I know a lot of people will not agree but I feel that Linux needs a healthy commercial development community. It needs a way for people to sell software for Linux that is easy to install and use. I really think that an Application Store like iTunes, Android, Nokia, and RIM are deploying would do wonders for the Linux software base. Hey I have written GPL code and love doing it but people have to pay billls and the FOSS model just doesn't work for some categories of software like Video Games, Professional 3D CAD, and some other areas. An Application store could also sell FOSS applications as well. There is nothing that says a FOSS program must be free as in beer. I think Gnome is as usable as Windows XP/Vista. I really like using it myself. I have not gotten into KDE4 yet. It really seems like too much pain for the gain for me right now. The problem with Linux on the desktop is right now number one applications and number two IMHO still hardware support. I want to see the day when I can buy a Printer with a Tux on box and have it just work.
Yep I do agree that the president is as far as I can tell is doing the correct things. I have no idea what else is going on behind closed doors but we never really do until it is over. I am not an Obama supporter most of the time but I think the Republicans are wrong and are trying to gain political advantage at the expense of the greater good. Nothing new since the Democrats do the exact same thing when it suits them. But I do think the President is doing the correct thing about Iran. Now about North Korea I think that moving the Thaad System to Hawaii and even the Sea Based X-Band radar system where good moves. Making it a public spectacle I think is an needless escalation. I feel that didn't need to be in the papers. It gives the North Koreans just too much attention and that is what they want.
Yes you can sell GPL software. Well not sell it but charge to distribute it. Close enough since Microsoft doesn't sell Windows but a license to use it. http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/selling.html Right from GNU. And no alternatives don't exists for every proprietary package. GIMP is great it is a good alternative to Photoshop Elements. It doesn't have many features that proffesionals need so it isn't a replacement for Photoshop. GNU-Cash doesn't replace QuickBooks for sure but it isn't bad compared to Quicken. k3b and vlc are very good. I tend to use Gnome myself so I am not a big k3b user. You just keep going off on tangents and just don't get it that you where wrong when you said that my orginal statment was bullshit. It isn't up for debate since I have proven as sure as 1+1 is 2. And please before you go off saying what you can and can not do with the GPL at least read it. FOSS doesn't always mean Free as in Beer. Another example of a company that charges to distrubute GPL software is RedHat. You may not have heard about them. They are this little Linux company in North Carolina.
I think it really is for the best for the US president to keep saying nothing. That being said have got to see if I can set up a proxy to help. At this point I think the credit must go to the Iranian people the best thing we can do is simply helo give them a way to speak.
Wow the level of self delusion is really high. I don't use any digital video editors but I know a number of people that do. I do use CAD but I don't really play a lot of games but a lot of people do. It is you that is under the illusion that your needs fit everybody else not I. What you don't get is that you are the small minority. Just about everybody has one or two programs that they must use that right now only run under Windows or maybe Mac OS/X. It could be iTunes so they can update their iPod, or TurboTax to do their taxes. or QuickBooks to run their small business, or Cad program, or a game they really like, or the software that Plays Blu-Ray disks, or PhotoShop, or even Sony Vegas to edit their movies. While this thread is about mobile devices the question was what does Android have that Linux doesn't. The answer is a way to sell software. The ability to offer a viable market place for software developers will increase their interest in a system. Apple proved that with the iTunes Apps Store. If you increase the total number of programs available you will give the end user more choices. I also believe that is what Linux is lacking in general. If you want more people to use Linux then there really needs to be a way to sell software. Frankly if their was a real App Store you could even sell GPL software. Yes selling software is completely within the GPL. When you buy the software you could have the option of getting just the binary, binary+source, or just source. That would really help with producing a viable business model for FOSS. Of course I would say leave it open to FOSS and Closed source and let the market decide. But if you want to limit it to just the mobile segment which I think is dumb. We are not talking about a cell phone here but a small ARM based notebook. However if you insist I will simply show the evidence. Apple's iPhone went from a zero software base to a large and diverse software base in what? Two years or so? The majority of end users are happy. There is a large selction of both free and pay software and for the most part the developers seem pretty happy. Not everybody is but most seem to be happy with the outcome. Now Palm, Microsoft, Google, RIM, and Nokia all must think it is a good idea since they are all now doing the same thing.
If it is at Best Buy then it sure isn't highly specialized. Qcad is only for 2D and frankly it is pretty bad. Kino and pitivi are also just not good enough yet. At least they do seem to be improving. So if you don't use then it isn't important? Wow it must be nice the the universe is centered on you. So far your statements have done nothing but prove my argument. Let's go through it step by step so you can under stand. I made the statment that FOSS has failed to proved quality software for every need. You disagreed with that statment and said that it was bullshit. I gave examples of server types of software that FOSS has yet provide really good competitors. You then claimed that the types of software I used for examples where "highly specialized". Where I then I showed that they where for sale at one of the most common software stores on the planet. Where you simply dismiss that and state that you don't need that software so it doesn't matter. You then throw out some basic software that isn't really even close to good enough. Oh and then throw out that you don't care about games? Do you not see that nothing you said really carries any proof with it and your dismissals of my statment are well I don't use that software.
And it is a very clear response to your statment. "The post above is really stupid. How can you dare to write that "FOSS has yet to produce great software that fills every need"? This is just bullshit." Yes they are specialized applications. I wouldn't call them very specialized since you can buy Sony Vegas and Adobe Premier at just about every Best Buy and Office Max. I also wouldn't call 3D cad all that specialized since you can also buy TurboCAD just about everywhere and AutoCAD/Solidworks is taught at every community college. FSX and X-Plane? Go to Best Buy and they are on the self and there are magazines dedicated to them. Not exactly exotic stuff. Now you want to limit it to just software for mobile devices even though we where talking about netbooks? Okay how about turn by turn GPS navigation? Yes you wouldn't use a netbook to run SolidWorks but you sure could use to run the eparts viewer in the field. As they get faster and faster I could see people using them to run a video editor in a pinch for standard def video. And FSX? Games? Yea nobody would ever use a netbook to play a flight simulator. That is why there isn't one for the iPhone... Oh wait there are several versions of X-Plane for the iPhone....
I stand by my statment and I have backed it up several examples. FOSS has failed to provide high quality programs that fill every need. As long as that statment is true then Linux needs closed source software if it too be as useful as Windows. OS/X still lags in some areas as well like CAD when compared to Windows. Last time I looked ProE was available for Linux which is great. I just wish SolidWorks was as well. Also TurboCad 3d would be nice for a low end solution.
"you could run a stripped down version on a small device which removed the network transparency and other such featured." Then it really isn't X is it?
"Open source applications are also CPU agnostic, they can be and usually are compiled for all different kinds of CPU." Yea but 90%+ of Linux users don't compile software they install binaries and you really wouldn't want to compile apps on a smartbook.
"The app store is basically a copy of the repositories like apt which Linux has had for years, they could do with a better interface and some promotion so that users know they are actually there, but it's the same functionality." No it really isn't It doesn't handle selling software. Hence the name store. "The ability of authors to update their apps in an app store can easily be replicated to a distro repository, " But it isn't. "and third party repositories are easy to set up" Yea sure it is but I don't know that I want to write a program set up a repository and then give it away. That is a lot of work. I have written FOSS and contributed to FOSS but the rest of all that is a hassle. Also setting up a third party repository is easy for me as a user but it is not trivial for the classic "Aunt Tillie" user. "Repositories can also handle closed source apps, tho obviously this is discouraged"
So repositories are just like an app store except. There user interface isn't that good. They doesn't handle actually selling software. They are not set up for the developers to control the release cycle of their own software. Well not yet. And they could have commercial software but they discourage that. So yea the repositories are just like an App Store. Android's run anywhere nature is nice but not a must have feature. Android's lighter, simpler, and hopefully higher preforming video system is also nice but again X might work. The App store is the real advantage. That is what Linux really needs. Now yes any App store really needs to include some of the great features of the current repositories. It must include the update and resolving dependencies features that we have now with the ability to sell software, post reviews, and allow the authors to update their software.
Oh you can but it is really hard to market software for Linux. You will see very few inexpensive end user style software for Linux. Now heavy duty server style software is available. The thing here is that It is really hard to market closed source packages and it is hard to find them. An app store would make that easier. I never said that you couldn't run closed source. I just said that there isn't a healthy closed source Linux application community.
Really? Okay then show me the proffional level FOSS CAD system that supports importing Solidworks, IGES, and will create STL? Show me a FOSS Digital Video Editing system as good as Sony Vegas? Show me a FLOSS Flight Simulator that is as good as FSX or X-Plane. Woopie you find that Debian does everything you need. Guess what sparky there are people that find Win 98 does everything they need as well.
Actually it could be worse. How many people will buy a printer that "works with windows" only to have it fail on a WINCE netbook? Hey Windows is Windows.
Android has some real advantages over just Linux in this space. From a technical point of view it doesn't use X. X is a bit big and trades performance for other virtues that are not an advantage on a smallish embedded device. Also Android applications are CPU agnostic. They will run on any CPU you port Android too. The big advantage of Android is that it has an App store. No Yum, apt-get, and Synaptic are NOT a replacement for an App store.
You can not sell your software through Synaptic, you can not see reviews or ratings. CNR is at best a poor version of an App store.
An App store give more control to the author of the application than repositories do. With repositories you have to wait for the Distro to decide to include your app, update your app, and they me even patch your app. You could take the time and setup your own repository but what a PAIN that is and do you want the author to worry about packaging and running a repository or writing code? Also you can not sell your code through a repository. Yes there is a lot of great FOSS but FOSS has yet to produce great software that fills every need. With the iPhone app store there is a large selection of software a lot of it free and even more really cheap. Yes there is a lot of junk but take a look at any repository and look at how many really bad FOSS programs there are. Or go to Sourceforge and Freshmeat and see how many barely working projects you find. Android offers a viable market place where FOSS and closed source both thrive.
"So... *if* it can be used... in a mythical device that has yet to be invented (no one is doing He3 fusion), *then* space travel will be economically feasible." No mining will be. Many activities are all ready economically feasible. Remote sensing, communications and so on. But yes there are a lot of ifs when it comes to He3 that is why I put them in.
Helium 3. If it actually works well as a fuel for fusion then it would be valuable and light enough to be worth mining on the moon. Un less the Polywell Fusor works then we will just use Boron.
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Well there is the iridium system that already offers world wide Cell and internet for a price. ,Pakistan, Jordan, and Kuwait.
In theory you could put up a HUGE honking satellite with a HUGE dish and offer it from a geo sync satellite.
Okay it isn't just theory the US does have sigint/comint birds that can pickup wifi and cell phones from space and I would bet they are already pointing at Iran. So picking up there signal isn't a big problem.
How ever I am sure that if we transmitted with enough power that we would be breaking a lot of international agreements.
The other thing is I just don't think the US can help a whole lot with this problem. I don't want to see a blood bath but in this case the US can do very little that would help except to keep showing it on our news and hope for the best.
The countries that could help would be the other Islamic countries like Egypt
I have been to upstate New York in winter. It wasn't as bad as I thought but it was cold but I was born in South Florida. The pictures I have seen of it in summer look very pretty. I think the problem with Update New York is that it isn't New York City and that a lot of companies that used to be very big employers in the area have gotten a lot smaller.
Kodak and Xerox come to mind.
Hey I wouldn't mind going there in summer just to look around. Probably a great place for a motorcycle trip.
As opposed to the cities that smell completely like public restroom at a cheap bar? Actually New York was rather nice when I went there. The nothing going on part is true in some places but the problem with most cities is everything that is going on costs big bucks. Have you seen what theater tickets cost? A night at a club? Even a lot of museums are charging these days.
It all depends on what you enjoy doing.
Could imagine any company doing that how?
Of course I think Apple did the same back then as well.
Woz was the true Steve.
Calm down.
I agree not only could you write any code you wanted for free but Commodore included the scematics of the C-64! At least they did with mine but I had an early one.
Not only that people disassembled the kernel and wrote books that included the listing and nobody sent them a take down notice!
That was simpler time full of Compute and Byte magazine and taking your best girl to see ET and WarGames.
Ahh now I under stand.
English isn't your first language.
That is why you don't understand the word EVERY.
As in the statment that FOSS has failed to produce good solutions for EVERY need.
EVERY means all inclusive.
What you don't get is just about everybody has the need for at least one Professional level program. It maybe something as common as QuickBooks which GNUCash isn't a replacement for.
Or even TurboTax to do your taxes.
As long as there is one program that you MUST have windows to run you must have Windows.
And until there is an easy way for the developers of those programs to sell them on Linux then a very large or even the majority of people can not use Linux as their primary OS.
Here is one last good example.
My wife Has both Linux and Windows on her Desktop. She mainly uses Windows because she has Photoshop Elements.
She likes GIMP much better than Elements but there are some actions that she has to use that only work in Elements.
So it is easier for her to install GIMP under Windows and then switch back and forth between the two programs.
Now if Elements was available for Linux she wouldn't have to do that as often.
THAT is why most people can not go Windows only. Because they have one or two must have programs that only run under Windows and the FOSS community has yet to create programs that work as well or because of the popularity of the application there are tools that only work with that application.
If you give developers an easy way to sell software for Linux than we increase our options.
YOU DON"T HAVE TO BUY DIDDLY so it takes NOTHING AWAY FROM YOU. But it gives people more options.
Your a great example of what is wrong with many Linux zealots. It is your way or the highway and you are sure you can not possibly be wrong.
An App store is a great way to increase the number of developers for a platform. The Apple iPhone Apps store is a great example. That platform has gone from having almost no software to what? Tens or hundreds of thousands of applications in what two or three years?
But that is the point.
The problem is almost everybody has ONE application that must use that only runs on Windows.
Almost all the FOSS software will run on Windows so people stay on Windows.
That One program may be something you need for work, a hobby, to do your Taxes, or in your case games.
With out a healthy closed source community to fill those needs then Linux can not replace Windows for a very very very large number of people.
I am not a codec fanboy but I have to disagree.
Theora isn't as good as H.264. It will have a very had time becoming a standard and that is with good reason.
Now what I wonder is how does Dirac shape up? Way too many people only seem to care about Theora when there is another free video codec that may actually be better.
An application that isn't good enough isn't an alternative.
GIMP is great for a lot of people. I think GIMP may someday actually be as good or maybe even better than Photoshop since it keeps improving all the time. But right now if you are a professional doing print work GIMP just isn't good enough. It isn't an alternative because it can not do what they need it to do.
For 3D CAD there is no alternative that will work. So no there is no alternative in that category. Video editing is also on that currently lacks software that is good enough. I know people that produce Linux video podcasts that pull their hair out because they have to keep an Windows partion still because of a lack of good enough FOSS video software.
You see I do support Linux and FOSS but I am practical. I would much rather see somebody running Linux, Firefox, GIMP, VLC, Evolution and QuickBook.
Than that same person running Windows Vista, IE, Photoshop Elements, Window MediaPlayer, Outlook, and QuickBooks.
Hey if you do don't want to use Facebook or Google that if your little problem. I have no problem with Facebook because I simply keep my private life seperate from my public one. I don't worry about big companies keeping my private life private because I do that myself.
Oh and GPL programs are NOT in the Public Domain.
Silly silly person.
Well I honestly don't think I have to use the CLI on Ubuntu all that often.
I feel the problems on the Linux desktop tend to be a lot more political than technical.
I have to do too many stupid things to get media to work. That is because of software patents. That is something that Linux developers can not fix.
Another political problem has to do with device drivers and the lack of stable binary interface. That makes it impossible to put a Linux driver in the box with your product. Even if you make it a FOSS driver. Depending on your driver making it into the Kernel is just too iffy for a product that may have a short shelf life and takes too much control away from the person selling the product. I have heard the technical reasons that are given but I feel that they just are not valid. The performance hit would very small and the idea that it wouldn't let you fix bugs is just silly. If the interface is really flawed from the start then maybe but the idea is to make make it flawed from the start.
The real issue with the Linux desktop has nothing to do with Gnome or KDE. It has everything to do with applications. Linux is lacking some applications that people need and is lacking even more applications that people want. I know a lot of people will not agree but I feel that Linux needs a healthy commercial development community.
It needs a way for people to sell software for Linux that is easy to install and use. I really think that an Application Store like iTunes, Android, Nokia, and RIM are deploying would do wonders for the Linux software base.
Hey I have written GPL code and love doing it but people have to pay billls and the FOSS model just doesn't work for some categories of software like Video Games, Professional 3D CAD, and some other areas. An Application store could also sell FOSS applications as well. There is nothing that says a FOSS program must be free as in beer.
I think Gnome is as usable as Windows XP/Vista. I really like using it myself. I have not gotten into KDE4 yet. It really seems like too much pain for the gain for me right now. The problem with Linux on the desktop is right now number one applications and number two IMHO still hardware support.
I want to see the day when I can buy a Printer with a Tux on box and have it just work.
Yep I do agree that the president is as far as I can tell is doing the correct things.
I have no idea what else is going on behind closed doors but we never really do until it is over.
I am not an Obama supporter most of the time but I think the Republicans are wrong and are trying to gain political advantage at the expense of the greater good.
Nothing new since the Democrats do the exact same thing when it suits them.
But I do think the President is doing the correct thing about Iran.
Now about North Korea I think that moving the Thaad System to Hawaii and even the Sea Based X-Band radar system where good moves.
Making it a public spectacle I think is an needless escalation. I feel that didn't need to be in the papers. It gives the North Koreans just too much attention and that is what they want.
Yes you can sell GPL software. Well not sell it but charge to distribute it. Close enough since Microsoft doesn't sell Windows but a license to use it.
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/selling.html
Right from GNU.
And no alternatives don't exists for every proprietary package. GIMP is great it is a good alternative to Photoshop Elements. It doesn't have many features that proffesionals need so it isn't a replacement for Photoshop. GNU-Cash doesn't replace QuickBooks for sure but it isn't bad compared to Quicken. k3b and vlc are very good. I tend to use Gnome myself so I am not a big k3b user.
You just keep going off on tangents and just don't get it that you where wrong when you said that my orginal statment was bullshit. It isn't up for debate since I have proven as sure as 1+1 is 2. And please before you go off saying what you can and can not do with the GPL at least read it. FOSS doesn't always mean Free as in Beer. Another example of a company that charges to distrubute GPL software is RedHat. You may not have heard about them. They are this little Linux company in North Carolina.
I think it really is for the best for the US president to keep saying nothing.
That being said have got to see if I can set up a proxy to help. At this point I think the credit must go to the Iranian people the best thing we can do is simply helo give them a way to speak.
Wow the level of self delusion is really high. I don't use any digital video editors but I know a number of people that do. I do use CAD but I don't really play a lot of games but a lot of people do. It is you that is under the illusion that your needs fit everybody else not I. What you don't get is that you are the small minority. Just about everybody has one or two programs that they must use that right now only run under Windows or maybe Mac OS/X.
It could be iTunes so they can update their iPod, or TurboTax to do their taxes. or QuickBooks to run their small business, or Cad program, or a game they really like, or the software that Plays Blu-Ray disks, or PhotoShop, or even Sony Vegas to edit their movies.
While this thread is about mobile devices the question was what does Android have that Linux doesn't. The answer is a way to sell software. The ability to offer a viable market place for software developers will increase their interest in a system. Apple proved that with the iTunes Apps Store.
If you increase the total number of programs available you will give the end user more choices. I also believe that is what Linux is lacking in general.
If you want more people to use Linux then there really needs to be a way to sell software. Frankly if their was a real App Store you could even sell GPL software. Yes selling software is completely within the GPL. When you buy the software you could have the option of getting just the binary, binary+source, or just source.
That would really help with producing a viable business model for FOSS. Of course I would say leave it open to FOSS and Closed source and let the market decide.
But if you want to limit it to just the mobile segment which I think is dumb. We are not talking about a cell phone here but a small ARM based notebook. However if you insist I will simply show the evidence. Apple's iPhone went from a zero software base to a large and diverse software base in what? Two years or so? The majority of end users are happy. There is a large selction of both free and pay software and for the most part the developers seem pretty happy. Not everybody is but most seem to be happy with the outcome. Now Palm, Microsoft, Google, RIM, and Nokia all must think it is a good idea since they are all now doing the same thing.
If it is at Best Buy then it sure isn't highly specialized.
Qcad is only for 2D and frankly it is pretty bad.
Kino and pitivi are also just not good enough yet. At least they do seem to be improving.
So if you don't use then it isn't important?
Wow it must be nice the the universe is centered on you. So far your statements have done nothing but prove my argument.
Let's go through it step by step so you can under stand.
I made the statment that FOSS has failed to proved quality software for every need.
You disagreed with that statment and said that it was bullshit.
I gave examples of server types of software that FOSS has yet provide really good competitors.
You then claimed that the types of software I used for examples where "highly specialized".
Where I then I showed that they where for sale at one of the most common software stores on the planet.
Where you simply dismiss that and state that you don't need that software so it doesn't matter.
You then throw out some basic software that isn't really even close to good enough. Oh and then throw out that you don't care about games?
Do you not see that nothing you said really carries any proof with it and your dismissals of my statment are well I don't use that software.
And it is a very clear response to your statment.
"The post above is really stupid. How can you dare to write that "FOSS has yet to produce great software that fills every need"? This is just bullshit."
Yes they are specialized applications. I wouldn't call them very specialized since you can buy Sony Vegas and Adobe Premier at just about every Best Buy and Office Max. I also wouldn't call 3D cad all that specialized since you can also buy TurboCAD just about everywhere and AutoCAD/Solidworks is taught at every community college.
FSX and X-Plane? Go to Best Buy and they are on the self and there are magazines dedicated to them. Not exactly exotic stuff.
Now you want to limit it to just software for mobile devices even though we where talking about netbooks?
Okay how about turn by turn GPS navigation?
Yes you wouldn't use a netbook to run SolidWorks but you sure could use to run the eparts viewer in the field. As they get faster and faster I could see people using them to run a video editor in a pinch for standard def video.
And FSX? Games? Yea nobody would ever use a netbook to play a flight simulator. That is why there isn't one for the iPhone... Oh wait there are several versions of X-Plane for the iPhone....
I stand by my statment and I have backed it up several examples. FOSS has failed to provide high quality programs that fill every need. As long as that statment is true then Linux needs closed source software if it too be as useful as Windows. OS/X still lags in some areas as well like CAD when compared to Windows. Last time I looked ProE was available for Linux which is great. I just wish SolidWorks was as well. Also TurboCad 3d would be nice for a low end solution.
"you could run a stripped down version on a small device which removed the network transparency and other such featured."
Then it really isn't X is it?
"Open source applications are also CPU agnostic, they can be and usually are compiled for all different kinds of CPU."
Yea but 90%+ of Linux users don't compile software they install binaries and you really wouldn't want to compile apps on a smartbook.
"The app store is basically a copy of the repositories like apt which Linux has had for years, they could do with a better interface and some promotion so that users know they are actually there, but it's the same functionality."
No it really isn't It doesn't handle selling software. Hence the name store.
"The ability of authors to update their apps in an app store can easily be replicated to a distro repository, "
But it isn't.
"and third party repositories are easy to set up"
Yea sure it is but I don't know that I want to write a program set up a repository and then give it away. That is a lot of work. I have written FOSS and contributed to FOSS but the rest of all that is a hassle.
Also setting up a third party repository is easy for me as a user but it is not trivial for the classic "Aunt Tillie" user.
"Repositories can also handle closed source apps, tho obviously this is discouraged"
So repositories are just like an app store except.
There user interface isn't that good.
They doesn't handle actually selling software.
They are not set up for the developers to control the release cycle of their own software. Well not yet.
And they could have commercial software but they discourage that.
So yea the repositories are just like an App Store.
Android's run anywhere nature is nice but not a must have feature.
Android's lighter, simpler, and hopefully higher preforming video system is also nice but again X might work.
The App store is the real advantage. That is what Linux really needs.
Now yes any App store really needs to include some of the great features of the current repositories. It must include the update and resolving dependencies features that we have now with the ability to sell software, post reviews, and allow the authors to update their software.
Oh you can but it is really hard to market software for Linux.
You will see very few inexpensive end user style software for Linux. Now heavy duty server style software is available.
The thing here is that It is really hard to market closed source packages and it is hard to find them.
An app store would make that easier. I never said that you couldn't run closed source. I just said that there isn't a healthy closed source Linux application community.
Really?
Okay then show me the proffional level FOSS CAD system that supports importing Solidworks, IGES, and will create STL?
Show me a FOSS Digital Video Editing system as good as Sony Vegas?
Show me a FLOSS Flight Simulator that is as good as FSX or X-Plane.
Woopie you find that Debian does everything you need. Guess what sparky there are people that find Win 98 does everything they need as well.
Actually it could be worse.
How many people will buy a printer that "works with windows" only to have it fail on a WINCE netbook?
Hey Windows is Windows.
Android has some real advantages over just Linux in this space.
From a technical point of view it doesn't use X. X is a bit big and trades performance for other virtues that are not an advantage on a smallish embedded device.
Also Android applications are CPU agnostic. They will run on any CPU you port Android too.
The big advantage of Android is that it has an App store.
No Yum, apt-get, and Synaptic are NOT a replacement for an App store.
You can not sell your software through Synaptic, you can not see reviews or ratings. CNR is at best a poor version of an App store.
An App store give more control to the author of the application than repositories do. With repositories you have to wait for the Distro to decide to include your app, update your app, and they me even patch your app. You could take the time and setup your own repository but what a PAIN that is and do you want the author to worry about packaging and running a repository or writing code?
Also you can not sell your code through a repository.
Yes there is a lot of great FOSS but FOSS has yet to produce great software that fills every need.
With the iPhone app store there is a large selection of software a lot of it free and even more really cheap. Yes there is a lot of junk but take a look at any repository and look at how many really bad FOSS programs there are.
Or go to Sourceforge and Freshmeat and see how many barely working projects you find.
Android offers a viable market place where FOSS and closed source both thrive.
"So our two working examples of fusion generation require fission."
Um no. The sun doesn't use fission. So not at ll.
"I would think that the future of fusion generation would be a component of fission generation."
How? What? Huh?
"You can have fission on its own, you can have fission and fusion together, but you can't have fusion on its own in any way that's economical."
Nope not really and wow... I mean really wow.....
The Navy is still funding it. Last I heard they are under a publishing embargo again.
Maybe it is working really well but we will see I hope.
"So... *if* it can be used... in a mythical device that has yet to be invented (no one is doing He3 fusion), *then* space travel will be economically feasible."
No mining will be. Many activities are all ready economically feasible. Remote sensing, communications and so on.
But yes there are a lot of ifs when it comes to He3 that is why I put them in.
Helium 3.
If it actually works well as a fuel for fusion then it would be valuable and light enough to be worth mining on the moon.
Un less the Polywell Fusor works then we will just use Boron.