I think all four of your points as to why the PC is a diminishing gaming platform are pretty accurate. However, the PC still has two key advantages that no console manufacturer has really cracked: a keyboard and a mouse. Until there's a console that ships with said, there will continue to be a market for games on the PC, especially strategy and role-playing games. I couldn't play Civ IV on a PS2 controller.
Dead-ass wrong. Wrong wrong wrong. I sell Linux desktops to non-techies (yeah, it's my job! cool, huh?), and one of my biggest selling points is how much you can dick around with your desktop. I don't consider desktop tweaking to be "under the hood," nor does anyone else I've ever met in my life. I get a lot of "You mean I can move the panel to the side? OMYGOD, that's awesome!!" in my work.
People like you are the reason that the public hates the Computing Establishment. Because you treat them like retards. They are not. They are ignorant, but that isn't their fault. The blame for that lays squarely at the feet of people like you.
Well, maybe not, although you'd have to show me some pretty compelling evidence. However, the GP stated that (paraphrased) "poor security can be fixed by upgrading to *nix." And that is correct.
People look into upgrading their Windows system to a more secure Windows. Not totally changing platform.
Well, I'm sorry to hear that. These people are going to keep getting spoon-fed horseshit for the rest of their lives.
Amen. I'm a freelancer, I do all my own promotional shit (fliers, pamphlets, stickers and shit, you know the drill), and Gimp is worse than useless for anything text-heavy. I find myself often doing my text work in KolourPaint and importing the resulting png into Gimp or Krita (which is just as bad for text).
But I think the interface is also a huge problem. Personally, I detest it. Even to my Gnome-using clients, I reccommend Krita. Not as widely used, nor do you get the wealth of plug-ins for it, but at least the fucker makes sense, and the feature set is just as rich.
It depends on what matters to you. Freedom matters to some of us. In fact, it's what got this whole thing off the ground to begin with it. Damned if we're going to start watering it down now. Because say what you want, but freedom's getting the job done. Not some watered-down "model that lets them use both closed and open source systems together so that they can continue to make a profit on their specialized proprietary systems while cutting cost by using open source systems." Nosir. Freedom. Freedom gets it done. We don't need to pander anymore, we can stand on the strength of our systems. And eventually the money comes too. IBM, Novell, Red Hat, these guys make pretty good money from what I hear. Why? Because freedom gets it done. Sorry if that scares you.
"There's a lot of keep quiet, but not enough freedom talk." -RMS
Sorry, this came from a parody motivational poster that hangs above my desk, which you obviously could not see. Now I can't find the link to it either.
Seriously, though (and I'm probably gonna start a flamewar with this) this is what keeps me going back to KDE. The native Gnome applications (Pidgin topping the list) feel like toys to me.
Neither. I'm just saying that for every usability flaw in desktop Linux, you could point to a parallel flaw in Windows (or OS X, for that matter). I think it's a trade-off no matter what you choose. You have to decide what "usability" means to you. In the example I gave (mp3 vs. ogg) I would say Windows fails harder. I only have to enable mp3 support in Ubuntu once. If you want ogg support in Windows, you typically have to download a separate codec for every audio program you use. Also on that topic, Linux distributions have good reasons not to enable mp3 support out of the box. Microsoft has no goddamn reason at all to not support ogg. Not even money; it's not like they own the mp3 patents.
And as to which one our hypothetical user clicked on, well, it depends. If he ripped his CD in Ubuntu, definitely ogg. If he's donwloading music, probably (but not always) mp3. See what I mean about trade-offs?
There's an installed base of software that has to be overcome. But more importantly, there's an installed base of data that's ad hoc and poorly organized. The latter is the bigger barrier to overcome, I think.
I wish I had mod points, this deserves better than 2. I had never really thought about it like that.
You double-click the icon, you get music or you don't; If you didn't, it failed. You can research why it failed, it might even be easy to research, but it already failed.
Then Microsoft fails.
If I try to play an mp3 in Ubuntu and it doesn't have the codec, I get a window that says "click me to install mp3 support." If I try to play an ogg file in Windows and it doesn't have the codec, I get a window that says "unknown file type, fuck you hippy."
Or there's Kopete, which is more usable than either and has webcam support and has file transfer support and will pretty much set your accounts up for you if you feed it your username and account type and if you're not happy with the stock arrangement is still very configurable. Research, motherfucker! Can you do it?
Exactly. I don't want to have to go into System > Administration > Synaptic, click "Search," enter my criteria, scroll down a list, right-click and choose "Install," then click "Apply," when I could just type "aptitude install new-shit".
Oh, I'm sorry, that's not the kind of user friendliness you were talking about?
I don't usually do off-topic replies on/. but I had a very similar issue with an HP laptop for a client a few weeks back. If it's anything like the issue I had, here's how I dealt with it.
1. Boot the live CD into safe graphics mode. 2. Once you're in go to System > Admin > Screens and Graphics. Select "Generic Monitor 1024x768." I know that's wrong, but it's just for the sake of convenience, we'll deal with it later. 3. Run the installer and reboot. I assume you need no help with this. 4. Once you're booted into your system, the restricted drivers manager will pop up in the taskbar. Enable the nvidia driver. 5. Now the real fun starts. Press ctrl-alt-f1 to get to a prompt. Log in, and run "sudo/etc/init.d/gdm stop". This shuts down your X server so we can reconfigure it. 6. Run "sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg".
Select no to auto detect our setup.
If the nvidia driver isn't already selected, select it with the arrow keys, hit tab and then enter to continue.
Continue with default options until you are asked if it should use a kernel frame buffer. Select no and continue.
Go ahead and click yes to have it detect the keyboard.
For the mouse use the PS/2 and to emulate the 3 button mouse.
Click yes to writing default files section to configuration file.
Click no for attempting monitor detection.
Go ahead and give your monitor a name.
Now we're at the important part. Scroll down the left side with the arrow keys until you see "1280x800". Hit the space bar to check that box, a little asterisk will appear. Now uncheck all the other boxes, hit tab and enter to continue.
Select medium for setting the monitor up, we're not entirely dumb. Scroll down to "1280x960 @ 60 Hz", hit tab and enter. This might not be nut on, but it'll work. If you're absolutely certain of your screen's max resolution and refresh rate and it's in the list, go ahead and try it. Worst that'll happen is it won't work and you'll have to do this over.
Select yes for writing monitor ranges.
For desired color I chose 24. If you feel like you're getting slow performance you can come back and choose 16 later. 7. You should be in good shape. Run "sudo/etc/init.d/gdm start" and you should come back to the login screen.
I should add that I did not come up with this, I found it here. I hope it helps.
Strongly disagree. My business is selling people Linux desktops and laptops, installing and configuring Linux on computers for people who are sick of Windows crapping out on them, and generally converting people to Linux. Yes, for money, this does pay my rent (most of the time).
The #1 selling point for me, by far and away, has been Windows Vista. Nobody wants that crap. It's not that people can't learn it, as you said, the leap to a new start menu isn't exactly life-changing. It's this overwhelming sense that "if I'm going to have to learn something new anyway, it may as well be something that doesn't suck." And this is from a very non-techie crowd, I deal mostly with (a) lower-income people and (b) hippies. The techie crowd doesn't need my services. Granted, my clientele doesn't hate Vista with the all-consuming passion that we here on/. do, but yes, there are a lot of people out there who are willing to learn something new and put in the work to not get forced onto Vista. God bless 'em, every one.
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Thou shalt NOT take my name in vain. Thank you.
best-
pete
Nitpick: There was a PS1 release of Civ 2. I can confirm that it was indeed a disappointment.
I think all four of your points as to why the PC is a diminishing gaming platform are pretty accurate. However, the PC still has two key advantages that no console manufacturer has really cracked: a keyboard and a mouse. Until there's a console that ships with said, there will continue to be a market for games on the PC, especially strategy and role-playing games. I couldn't play Civ IV on a PS2 controller.
nobody has to buy Windows
WTF? Where do you shop?
Dead-ass wrong. Wrong wrong wrong. I sell Linux desktops to non-techies (yeah, it's my job! cool, huh?), and one of my biggest selling points is how much you can dick around with your desktop. I don't consider desktop tweaking to be "under the hood," nor does anyone else I've ever met in my life. I get a lot of "You mean I can move the panel to the side? OMYGOD, that's awesome!!" in my work.
People like you are the reason that the public hates the Computing Establishment. Because you treat them like retards. They are not. They are ignorant, but that isn't their fault. The blame for that lays squarely at the feet of people like you.
Oops. I replied, but didn't include the quote I was referencing. Sorry 'bout that.
Grocery store tomato is analogous to OSS software. Restaurant is analogous to proprietary software.
Elaborate. I don't see it.
Defend this.
I thought so too. Apparently black people and women disagree.
Daniels' Law #607: No one's more racist than a black man, and no one's more sexist than a white woman.
This reminds me of a fantastic book called The Light of Other Days by Stephen Baxer and Arthur C. Clarke. Check it out.
Your insight and laser-like focus are an inspiration to all of us. Where do you get this gold?
Where was this eager public? Did I miss the great line of people outside my local Best Buy on Vista release day?
But not everything is fixable with *nix or OSX.
Well, maybe not, although you'd have to show me some pretty compelling evidence. However, the GP stated that (paraphrased) "poor security can be fixed by upgrading to *nix." And that is correct.
People look into upgrading their Windows system to a more secure Windows. Not totally changing platform.
Well, I'm sorry to hear that. These people are going to keep getting spoon-fed horseshit for the rest of their lives.
So please stop suggesting other OS.
No. Please stop using Windows.
Do you run a company?
Yes.
Would you ever scrap thousands of hours for which you paid people to work on your product?
Yes. If it sucks. Don't sell shit that sucks. Dude, this isn't rocket science.
better text support
Amen. I'm a freelancer, I do all my own promotional shit (fliers, pamphlets, stickers and shit, you know the drill), and Gimp is worse than useless for anything text-heavy. I find myself often doing my text work in KolourPaint and importing the resulting png into Gimp or Krita (which is just as bad for text).
But I think the interface is also a huge problem. Personally, I detest it. Even to my Gnome-using clients, I reccommend Krita. Not as widely used, nor do you get the wealth of plug-ins for it, but at least the fucker makes sense, and the feature set is just as rich.
It depends on what matters to you. Freedom matters to some of us. In fact, it's what got this whole thing off the ground to begin with it. Damned if we're going to start watering it down now. Because say what you want, but freedom's getting the job done. Not some watered-down "model that lets them use both closed and open source systems together so that they can continue to make a profit on their specialized proprietary systems while cutting cost by using open source systems." Nosir. Freedom. Freedom gets it done. We don't need to pander anymore, we can stand on the strength of our systems. And eventually the money comes too. IBM, Novell, Red Hat, these guys make pretty good money from what I hear. Why? Because freedom gets it done. Sorry if that scares you.
"There's a lot of keep quiet, but not enough freedom talk." -RMS
Research, motherfucker! Can you do it?
Sorry, this came from a parody motivational poster that hangs above my desk, which you obviously could not see. Now I can't find the link to it either.
Seriously, though (and I'm probably gonna start a flamewar with this) this is what keeps me going back to KDE. The native Gnome applications (Pidgin topping the list) feel like toys to me.
Neither. I'm just saying that for every usability flaw in desktop Linux, you could point to a parallel flaw in Windows (or OS X, for that matter). I think it's a trade-off no matter what you choose. You have to decide what "usability" means to you. In the example I gave (mp3 vs. ogg) I would say Windows fails harder. I only have to enable mp3 support in Ubuntu once. If you want ogg support in Windows, you typically have to download a separate codec for every audio program you use. Also on that topic, Linux distributions have good reasons not to enable mp3 support out of the box. Microsoft has no goddamn reason at all to not support ogg. Not even money; it's not like they own the mp3 patents.
And as to which one our hypothetical user clicked on, well, it depends. If he ripped his CD in Ubuntu, definitely ogg. If he's donwloading music, probably (but not always) mp3. See what I mean about trade-offs?
There's an installed base of software that has to be overcome. But more importantly, there's an installed base of data that's ad hoc and poorly organized. The latter is the bigger barrier to overcome, I think.
I wish I had mod points, this deserves better than 2. I had never really thought about it like that.
You double-click the icon, you get music or you don't; If you didn't, it failed. You can research why it failed, it might even be easy to research, but it already failed.
Then Microsoft fails.
If I try to play an mp3 in Ubuntu and it doesn't have the codec, I get a window that says "click me to install mp3 support." If I try to play an ogg file in Windows and it doesn't have the codec, I get a window that says "unknown file type, fuck you hippy."
Fuck him.
Or there's Kopete, which is more usable than either and has webcam support and has file transfer support and will pretty much set your accounts up for you if you feed it your username and account type and if you're not happy with the stock arrangement is still very configurable. Research, motherfucker! Can you do it?
Exactly. I don't want to have to go into System > Administration > Synaptic, click "Search," enter my criteria, scroll down a list, right-click and choose "Install," then click "Apply," when I could just type "aptitude install new-shit".
Oh, I'm sorry, that's not the kind of user friendliness you were talking about?
1. Boot the live CD into safe graphics mode.
2. Once you're in go to System > Admin > Screens and Graphics. Select "Generic Monitor 1024x768." I know that's wrong, but it's just for the sake of convenience, we'll deal with it later.
3. Run the installer and reboot. I assume you need no help with this.
4. Once you're booted into your system, the restricted drivers manager will pop up in the taskbar. Enable the nvidia driver.
5. Now the real fun starts. Press ctrl-alt-f1 to get to a prompt. Log in, and run "sudo
6. Run "sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg".
Select no to auto detect our setup.
If the nvidia driver isn't already selected, select it with the arrow keys, hit tab and then enter to continue.
Continue with default options until you are asked if it should use a kernel frame buffer. Select no and continue.
Go ahead and click yes to have it detect the keyboard.
For the mouse use the PS/2 and to emulate the 3 button mouse.
Click yes to writing default files section to configuration file.
Click no for attempting monitor detection.
Go ahead and give your monitor a name.
Now we're at the important part. Scroll down the left side with the arrow keys until you see "1280x800". Hit the space bar to check that box, a little asterisk will appear. Now uncheck all the other boxes, hit tab and enter to continue.
Select medium for setting the monitor up, we're not entirely dumb. Scroll down to "1280x960 @ 60 Hz", hit tab and enter. This might not be nut on, but it'll work. If you're absolutely certain of your screen's max resolution and refresh rate and it's in the list, go ahead and try it. Worst that'll happen is it won't work and you'll have to do this over.
Select yes for writing monitor ranges.
For desired color I chose 24. If you feel like you're getting slow performance you can come back and choose 16 later. /etc/init.d/gdm start" and you should come back to the login screen.
7. You should be in good shape. Run "sudo
I should add that I did not come up with this, I found it here. I hope it helps.
You have a hard time arguing the point that "you can have something better and not spend $1200?" I find it fairly easy to make that case.
Strongly disagree. My business is selling people Linux desktops and laptops, installing and configuring Linux on computers for people who are sick of Windows crapping out on them, and generally converting people to Linux. Yes, for money, this does pay my rent (most of the time).
/. do, but yes, there are a lot of people out there who are willing to learn something new and put in the work to not get forced onto Vista. God bless 'em, every one.
The #1 selling point for me, by far and away, has been Windows Vista. Nobody wants that crap. It's not that people can't learn it, as you said, the leap to a new start menu isn't exactly life-changing. It's this overwhelming sense that "if I'm going to have to learn something new anyway, it may as well be something that doesn't suck." And this is from a very non-techie crowd, I deal mostly with (a) lower-income people and (b) hippies. The techie crowd doesn't need my services. Granted, my clientele doesn't hate Vista with the all-consuming passion that we here on