There a team working on a Pascal IDE for Linux -- check it out at The Megido Project.
At last, a stupid idea dies!
on
DIVX is dead
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· Score: 1
You know, I never really followed Divx farther than shaking my head at the idea, but I'm glad it's dead.
The whole idea of viewing a disc once and then throwing it away (that was the idea, right? if not, uh...) flies in the face of "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle"!
I don't understand it, myself, and the only explanation I've managed to find is "people are stupid".
Your comment seems like a cop-out to me.
If everybody who used Linux had a similar attitude to that which you expressed above, the OS and the community around it would never have gotten as far as it has.
Ideally, in the future, we won't need to be as proactive in pointing out the benefits of Linux -- they will be obvious.
We all know that Linux has a long way to go before it catches Windows in terms of useability for the average user like Mom or Grandma. Once it does however, and we can point out that people can use it free of charge, that it doesn't crash nearly as often, runs faster on older computers, etc., etc., I believe it's use among the general public will explode.
I guess it comes down to a personal point-of-view, but I think people know a good thing when they see it. If that theory holds true, then Linux will have "won" when people use it for that reason alone.
I don't agree with your opinion -- it sounds as though you are repeating a variation of the old litany "Linux is for hackers, nerds, and [smart people], it couldn't and shouldn't be used by anybody else."
A lot of smart people (like the people I work with at my day job, doing VB programming) use Windows, but that's not to say they're not "smart people". Many of these developer-type people (sadly exposed only to proprietary systems like Windows) have just not heard of Linux. I would bet that if they did, a sizeable percentage of them would like it. (Like I did when I discovered Linux last summer.)
Does anybody really think this re-org will satisfy the DOJ? I feel justified in saying, of course it won't, and it shouldn't.
More rhetorical questions: Does anybody think Microsoft is giving up the biggest ace card with the re-org, that is, the Microsoft monopoly? Once again, nope.
5 news divisions or one big Microsloth, either way, Gates and the boys are still going to have all the internal communication between OS and application development, as well as all their restrictive licensing clout.
We will probably see more overtures by Microsoft before the DOJ case comes back to court, all designed to allow Microsoft to say "Look! We don't need gov't intervention. We're a friendly, responsible corporation! Gosh darn it, you gotta love us!".
The fact is, as another reader pointed out, no company, especially Microsoft, is going to voluntarily give up their competitive advantages, whatever they may be. It's going to take legal intervention to put an end to the illegal monopolist practices of MS.
The re-org IS no news, and it's actually good as long as people realize it as the manipulative "vapourware" that it is.
Linux *IS* hard to install for the average user.
on
Slate Takes on Linux
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· Score: 1
OK, before you whip out the flamethrower, please read the rest of this comment!
The MS articles are FUD. Ugly FUD. Sick FUD. I could barely read them.
However, I can't help remembering my first experience installing Linux, about a year ago now. It was RedHat 5.0. I had just finished the 2nd year of my Computer Science degree at Guelph I ran into Linux via my programming classes and was interested enough (very interested) and wanted to try it for myself.
It took me a while to get it running. It was frustrating. The learning curve was steep. Dare I say, I limped back and huddled in Windows again until I built up enough courage to learn more Linux.
The point is, I was (and still am, of course) a smart person, and definitely more computer literate than the average user, but Linux was still somewhat hard to install and learn. I probably wouldn't have bothered if I wasn't intrinsically interested as a computer scientist/baby hacker.
Now go and think of the type of user that makes up the bulk of the Windows user base: it's obvious Linux needs to be as easy, if not easier, to set up than Windows if we want to take over the world.:-) Us hackers can hack it out in an "expert" mode to set up Linux, but distributions like the forthcoming Corel Linux, which aim to make Linux ultra-easy to use, are what the Linux community needs. (As long as Corel gives all of their enhancements back to the community via an OSS license, of course).
I'm sure Bill was standing behind the writer (if it was an individual) nodding in approval.
With the MS skullduggery that's been documented in the antitrust case, marking these as "spontaneous" articles by a couple of "individuals" is not even close to being paranoid.
Speaking from a useability point of view, an user-initiated IGNORE command to throw on annoying posters isn't a bad idea. ( Not sure how hard that is to code for/. )
However, a disadvantage of an IGNORE command is that if a user comes around, receives a bolt of inspiration and starts posting some interesting, useful comments, anybody who had IGNOREed that poster in the past wouldn't receive the benefit of the poster's new-found wisdom and insight.
The new/. system that essentially equals peer review alleviates the potential difficulty I outlined with the IGNORE command above -- if a user posts useless comments, nobody will see them... if they suddenly post great insights, their presence will be known.
IMHO, I'd say lets try the new/. moderation system for a while and see how it turns out... like any software, the bugs come out once the release goes public.:-)
I'm sure you caught the title and it's play on words: "A Different Kind of Enlightenment".
(Not flaming or otherwise trying to be a smartass.)
IMHO the title is referring to "A Different Kind of Englightenment" as a) the Digital Age we live in and b) a nod to the usual meaning of Enlightenment on/. (and perhaps some other meaning that I myself did not catch.)
Slashdot Mirror
There a team working on a Pascal IDE for Linux -- check it out at The Megido Project.
You know, I never really followed Divx farther than shaking my head at the idea, but I'm glad it's dead.
The whole idea of viewing a disc once and then throwing it away (that was the idea, right? if not, uh...) flies in the face of "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle"!
I don't understand it, myself, and the only explanation I've managed to find is "people are stupid".
Your comment seems like a cop-out to me.
If everybody who used Linux had a similar attitude to that which you expressed above, the OS and the community around it would never have gotten as far as it has.
Ideally, in the future, we won't need to be as proactive in pointing out the benefits of Linux -- they will be obvious.
We all know that Linux has a long way to go before it catches Windows in terms of useability for the average user like Mom or Grandma. Once it does however, and we can point out that people can use it free of charge, that it doesn't crash nearly as often, runs faster on older computers, etc., etc., I believe it's use among the general public will explode.
I guess it comes down to a personal point-of-view, but I think people know a good thing when they see it. If that theory holds true, then Linux will have "won" when people use it for that reason alone.
I don't agree with your opinion -- it sounds as though you are repeating a variation of the old litany "Linux is for hackers, nerds, and [smart people], it couldn't and shouldn't be used by anybody else."
A lot of smart people (like the people I work with at my day job, doing VB programming) use Windows, but that's not to say they're not "smart people". Many of these developer-type people (sadly exposed only to proprietary systems like Windows) have just not heard of Linux. I would bet that if they did, a sizeable percentage of them would like it. (Like I did when I discovered Linux last summer.)
As for consumer-space, stuff like the new Caldera distribution can only help.
It will only take time, dedication, and an open mind on our part to give Linux it's fair shot at the OS market, server or otherwise.
Let's not be "tech snobs".
I suppose it depends on your perspective.
Does anybody really think this re-org will satisfy the DOJ? I feel justified in saying, of course it won't, and it shouldn't.
More rhetorical questions: Does anybody think Microsoft is giving up the biggest ace card with the re-org, that is, the Microsoft monopoly? Once again, nope.
5 news divisions or one big Microsloth, either way, Gates and the boys are still going to have all the internal communication between OS and application development, as well as all their restrictive licensing clout.
We will probably see more overtures by Microsoft before the DOJ case comes back to court, all designed to allow Microsoft to say "Look! We don't need gov't intervention. We're a friendly, responsible corporation! Gosh darn it, you gotta love us!".
The fact is, as another reader pointed out, no company, especially Microsoft, is going to voluntarily give up their competitive advantages, whatever they may be. It's going to take legal intervention to put an end to the illegal monopolist practices of MS.
The re-org IS no news, and it's actually good as long as people realize it as the manipulative "vapourware" that it is.
OK, before you whip out the flamethrower, please read the rest of this comment!
:-) Us hackers can hack it out in an "expert" mode to set up Linux, but distributions like the forthcoming Corel Linux, which aim to make Linux ultra-easy to use, are what the Linux community needs. (As long as Corel gives all of their enhancements back to the community via an OSS license, of course).
:-)
The MS articles are FUD. Ugly FUD. Sick FUD. I could barely read them.
However, I can't help remembering my first experience installing Linux, about a year ago now.
It was RedHat 5.0. I had just finished the 2nd year of my Computer Science degree at Guelph
I ran into Linux via my programming classes and was interested enough (very interested) and wanted to try it for myself.
It took me a while to get it running. It was frustrating. The learning curve was steep. Dare I say, I limped back and huddled in Windows again until I built up enough courage to learn more Linux.
The point is, I was (and still am, of course) a smart person, and definitely more computer literate than the average user, but Linux was still somewhat hard to install and learn. I probably wouldn't have bothered if I wasn't intrinsically interested as a computer scientist/baby hacker.
Now go and think of the type of user that makes up the bulk of the Windows user base: it's obvious Linux needs to be as easy, if not easier, to set up than Windows if we want to take over the world.
All of this, IMHO, of course.
Cheers,
Agreed! It is FUD.
I'm sure Bill was standing behind the writer (if it was an individual) nodding in approval.
With the MS skullduggery that's been documented in the antitrust case, marking these as "spontaneous" articles by a couple of "individuals" is not even close to being paranoid.
Speaking from a useability point of view, an user-initiated IGNORE command to throw on annoying posters isn't a bad idea. ( Not sure how hard that is to code for /. )
/. system that essentially equals peer review alleviates the potential difficulty I outlined with the IGNORE command above -- if a user posts useless comments, nobody will see them... if they suddenly post great insights, their presence will be known.
/. moderation system for a while and see how it turns out... like any software, the bugs come out once the release goes public. :-)
However, a disadvantage of an IGNORE command is that if a user comes around, receives a bolt of inspiration and starts posting some interesting, useful comments, anybody who had IGNOREed that poster in the past wouldn't receive the benefit of the poster's new-found wisdom and insight.
The new
IMHO, I'd say lets try the new
Cheers,
I'm sure you caught the title and it's play on words: "A Different Kind of Enlightenment".
/. (and perhaps some other meaning that I myself did not catch.)
(Not flaming or otherwise trying to be a smartass.)
IMHO the title is referring to "A Different Kind of Englightenment" as a) the Digital Age we live in and b) a nod to the usual meaning of Enlightenment on
Cheers,