Communism and Fascism are both totalitarian and are fairly similar in effect. The main difference is that Communism has Labor organizations running the show & Fascism has Companies running the show.
Russian communism failed because the people felt no benefit "We pretend to work, the govenment pretends to pay us." I think the Jury is still out as to whether China's Communistic Fascism will work.
Linux already has a lot to offer, but to the newbie, it's hard to find out how to do things. Once one learns the Linux approach to doing tasks, they're not really hard, but had it not been for Newsgroups I would still be stuggling to do the very basic of tasks.
I see a couple ways to change the work force:
Companies should start offering classes on how to work with Linux. My wife, who is no computer slouch, went to a class at New Horizons Computer School to take an Introduction to Windows 98. Her company PAID for the class. Maybe Redhat, SUSE, or Mandrake or maybe a third party should develop a new user class that could guide a Newbie through the first few steps. This course could be offered as an incentive at CompUSA or Staples or where ever the new user buys his Linux Distro.
Linux needs more examples in it's help system. MAN pages are great reference once you already know how to do something but need a little reminder. The HOW_TO pages are a bit easier for newbies (Depending upon who wrote it), but they tend to lack lots of examples. An example which can easily be copied and solves a newbie's problem will keep him from re-installing Windoze.
You might have to revise that number based upon the huge number of people who exchange gifts on Epiphany (Three kings day) I know that People in Argentina, as well as many other countries, generally exchange gifts on January 6 rather than December 25. (That's what the 12 days of Christmas are all about.)
I can't claim this as an original, and I don't know who to credit, but I can't resist:
Seems that a scientist approached God and said, "Listen, we don't need you anymore. Science has figured out the mysteries of the Earth to the point that we can handle everything without you."
God replied, "If you think you don't need me, I have one request of you - I made you by breathing life into dust. You try it."
The scientist said, "No problem, we know that all proteins necessary to sustain life can be made out of dirt." And he stooped down to grab a handful of soil.
What about GNOME and KDE? These are great desktops, but unfortunately, the complexity of the Linux kernel seeps through and reduces their viability for the non-technical user.
My kids, 9 & 10, love to use KDE & GNOME. They don't seem to think it's difficult to use. Mind you I set it up and use it so I'm the one who had to deal with the HOW-TOs and man pages.
If you're the user and not the system administrator KDE & GNOME aren't that bad
So will there be a second enter in the Jargon Dictionary for the Slashdot Effect?
Slashdot Effect: 1. Massive rise in Website hits after being linked to WWW.Slashdot.org. 2. Poorly written Technical Article ripped to shreds and completly revised as knowledgeable Slashdot readers provide comments to corrects errors in orginal.
Many fellow geeks are probably as annoyed as I am when the airlines tell you to turn your laptop, cdplay, etc off during takeoff and landing...
When you consider how airplanes use radio waves to determine position, you may not mind shutting off your laptop.
The instrument landing system consists of two antennas in the middle of the runway to center the airplane over the runway(Localizer) and two antennas at the end of the runway to put the airplane in the right angle of descent (glideslope). These antennas put out analog signals at fixed signal strength and frequencies. The antennas on the airplane are generally located on the centerline of the airplane close to the landing gear (At least as far as I can remember) The Avionic systems onboard the airplane detect their location relative to the ground antennas by comparing signal strength. If the signal from the left side of the runway is much weaker than the signal from the antenna on the right side of the runway, the pilot knows he must move the airplane slightly to the right.
Now consider the Geek flying coach class with his plexyglass cased laptop. If the one of the antennas picks up a noisey Cyrix processor from his laptop, it might add noise in the same frequency range of one of the localizer antennas. The pilot thought he was centered on the runway, but the Instrument Landing Systems seem to indicate that he should make a slight turn to the left
Opps!! He landed on concourse instead of the runway!! CALL CNN.
But perhaps the simplest answer is to have the machines be programmable to use different frequencies which can be assigned and changed via software.....
Can you see the newly created class of hated hardware? Win Transmitters
My thoughts exactly (Truth be known: I use Mandrake from cheapbytes, but enough about me).
It sorta reminds me of Bugs Bunny trying to do his copy of somebody's interpretation of somebody's impersonation of Elvis. (I am dating my self to all you kids out there.) Whenever Bugs would try to get a song started after explaining his planned interpretation, something else would happen. Seems he would take just too much time explaining what he was doing so he didn't have time to sing
Concerning the Distr. in a Distr. in a Distr. of this product, I can only wonder how fast things would change. There are frequent changes to the Linux Kernel. Red Hat revs every few months. Mandrake lags Red Hat by a what?- a week? This Distr. would necessarily Lag Mandrake by probably another week?
How many revs to the Kernal would be made in the time it takes to rev this Distr. Not that it truly matters to the people who buy this Distr.
"They've never had an original idea. Copy, copy, copy, copy..."
Microsoft has always been a step behind in technical inovation. However, they have always been a step ahead in marketing to the masses. The average non-technical guy thinks of Bill Gates as a technical wizard, but people in the IS community would probably tend to think of him as a great business man instead
Generally most fo the features that make Winodows what it is were not orginated by Microsoft. They were innovations by others who failed to captialize upon it, or were bought out, or were squeezed out of the market by MS. DOS itself was bought by Gates, he didn't orignate it.
"They've never had an original idea. Copy, copy, copy, copy..."
Microsoft has always been a step behind in technical inovation. However, they have always been a step ahead in marketing to the masses. The average non-technical guy thinks of Bill Gates as a technical wizard, but people in the IS community would probably tend to think of him as a great business man instead.
Generally most of the features that make Winodows what it is were not orginated by Microsoft. They were innovations by others who failed to captialize upon it, or were bought out, or were squeezed out of the market by MS. DOS itself was bought by Gates, he didn't orignate it.
That aside, copying is not evil. Consider the following quote:
While I don't claim to be a great programmer, I try to imitate one. An important trait of the great ones is constructive laziness. They know that you get an A not for effort but for results, and that it's almost always easier to start from a good partial solution than from nothing at all.
The Cathedral and the Bazaar by Eric S. Raymond
Linux is an example of that concept. Take and Idea and improve it.
"If their shareholders force them down that road, they'll just be making a mistake. Red Hat will loose revenue, and another distribution who has remained true to the open source model, will emerge as the top distribution."
Whereas I agree with your thought, I wonder how long it would take for another distrubution to rise to dominate. Chances are it would take some time - several years would be my guess.
I see a movie parody: Imagine the role of Obi wan Kenobi to be played by IBM, Darth Vader to be played by Microsoft and Luke Skywalker to be played by Linux.
IBM brings Microsoft under its wings to join forces to battle the new threat to the empire: Apple and Commodore.
Microsoft is lured into the dark side of the source:
IBM loses the battle for the empire and Microsoft emerges as the new emperor. IBM leaves to the barren wasteland of OS/2.
A NEW HERO arrives on the scene to do battle for world dominion against the evil empire: Linux.
IBM sees the potential in this new hero and pulls out its trusty lightsaber/(cooperates with DOJ) and comes along side Linux to say: USE THE SOURCE.
The evil emperor is defeated and a new period of freedom and prosperity emerges from the command prompt.
Okay, it's a fantasy and has no bais in reality, but the Dark Side of Business is the temptation to establish a monoply.
I did not know he wrote "Boy Named Sue" or "On The Cover of the Rolling Stone." I happened to like both songs as well as Shel's books. I especially liked the book "The Giving Tree."
I have to agree with you. The average computer user isn't going to want Linux until there's a really cool solitare game out that he can play "Out of the Box."
Slashdot Mirror
Russian communism failed because the people felt no benefit "We pretend to work, the govenment pretends to pay us." I think the Jury is still out as to whether China's Communistic Fascism will work.
I see a couple ways to change the work force:
Companies should start offering classes on how to work with Linux. My wife, who is no computer slouch, went to a class at New Horizons Computer School to take an Introduction to Windows 98. Her company PAID for the class. Maybe Redhat, SUSE, or Mandrake or maybe a third party should develop a new user class that could guide a Newbie through the first few steps. This course could be offered as an incentive at CompUSA or Staples or where ever the new user buys his Linux Distro.
Linux needs more examples in it's help system. MAN pages are great reference once you already know how to do something but need a little reminder. The HOW_TO pages are a bit easier for newbies (Depending upon who wrote it), but they tend to lack lots of examples. An example which can easily be copied and solves a newbie's problem will keep him from re-installing Windoze.
You might have to revise that number based upon the huge number of people who exchange gifts on Epiphany (Three kings day) I know that People in Argentina, as well as many other countries, generally exchange gifts on January 6 rather than December 25. (That's what the 12 days of Christmas are all about.)
Seems that a scientist approached God and said, "Listen, we don't need you anymore. Science has figured out the mysteries of the Earth to the point that we can handle everything without you."
God replied, "If you think you don't need me, I have one request of you - I made you by breathing life into dust. You try it."
The scientist said, "No problem, we know that all proteins necessary to sustain life can be made out of dirt." And he stooped down to grab a handful of soil.
But God answered, "Get your own dirt!"
If You could get your hands on one, these might fit your bill Rugged Laptops from Itronix
Someday, god willing, I WILL get moderator points, and so help me, I will moderate posts like these as high as I can!
I imagine it will take a miracle for an Anonmyous Coward to get enough moderator points to do that.Penicillain -->The Internet perhaps? I think so, since rapid dissemination of the truth neutralizes FUD.
Radar
The Atom Bomb
ICBMsThe world is already a lot different than when I was out of College in the mid 80's Imagine the innovations this war will bring.
My kids, 9 & 10, love to use KDE & GNOME. They don't seem to think it's difficult to use. Mind you I set it up and use it so I'm the one who had to deal with the HOW-TOs and man pages.
If you're the user and not the system administrator KDE & GNOME aren't that bad
So will there be a second enter in the Jargon Dictionary for the Slashdot Effect?
Slashdot Effect: 1. Massive rise in Website hits after being linked to WWW.Slashdot.org. 2. Poorly written Technical Article ripped to shreds and completly revised as knowledgeable Slashdot readers provide comments to corrects errors in orginal.
Many fellow geeks are probably as annoyed as I am when the airlines tell you to turn your laptop, cdplay, etc off during takeoff and landing...
When you consider how airplanes use radio waves to determine position, you may not mind shutting off your laptop.
The instrument landing system consists of two antennas in the middle of the runway to center the airplane over the runway(Localizer) and two antennas at the end of the runway to put the airplane in the right angle of descent (glideslope). These antennas put out analog signals at fixed signal strength and frequencies. The antennas on the airplane are generally located on the centerline of the airplane close to the landing gear (At least as far as I can remember) The Avionic systems onboard the airplane detect their location relative to the ground antennas by comparing signal strength. If the signal from the left side of the runway is much weaker than the signal from the antenna on the right side of the runway, the pilot knows he must move the airplane slightly to the right.
Now consider the Geek flying coach class with his plexyglass cased laptop. If the one of the antennas picks up a noisey Cyrix processor from his laptop, it might add noise in the same frequency range of one of the localizer antennas. The pilot thought he was centered on the runway, but the Instrument Landing Systems seem to indicate that he should make a slight turn to the left
Opps!! He landed on concourse instead of the runway!! CALL CNN.
But perhaps the simplest answer is to have the machines be programmable to use different frequencies which can be assigned and changed via software. ....
Can you see the newly created class of hated hardware? Win Transmitters
Kenya stop it. There's Norway I'm going to read any more of these.
My thoughts exactly (Truth be known: I use Mandrake from cheapbytes, but enough about me).
It sorta reminds me of Bugs Bunny trying to do his copy of somebody's interpretation of somebody's impersonation of Elvis. (I am dating my self to all you kids out there.) Whenever Bugs would try to get a song started after explaining his planned interpretation, something else would happen. Seems he would take just too much time explaining what he was doing so he didn't have time to sing
Concerning the Distr. in a Distr. in a Distr. of this product, I can only wonder how fast things would change. There are frequent changes to the Linux Kernel. Red Hat revs every few months. Mandrake lags Red Hat by a what?- a week? This Distr. would necessarily Lag Mandrake by probably another week?
How many revs to the Kernal would be made in the time it takes to rev this Distr. Not that it truly matters to the people who buy this Distr.
Or maybe:
"They've never had an original idea. Copy, copy, copy, copy..."
Microsoft has always been a step behind in technical inovation. However, they have always been a step ahead in marketing to the masses. The average non-technical guy thinks of Bill Gates as a technical wizard, but people in the IS community would probably tend to think of him as a great business man instead
Generally most fo the features that make Winodows what it is were not orginated by Microsoft. They were innovations by others who failed to captialize upon it, or were bought out, or were squeezed out of the market by MS. DOS itself was bought by Gates, he didn't orignate it.
That aside, copying is not evil.
"They've never had an original idea. Copy, copy, copy, copy..."
Microsoft has always been a step behind in technical inovation. However, they have always been a step ahead in marketing to the masses. The average non-technical guy thinks of Bill Gates as a technical wizard, but people in the IS community would probably tend to think of him as a great business man instead.
Generally most of the features that make Winodows what it is were not orginated by Microsoft. They were innovations by others who failed to captialize upon it, or were bought out, or were squeezed out of the market by MS. DOS itself was bought by Gates, he didn't orignate it.
That aside, copying is not evil. Consider the following quote:
Linux is an example of that concept. Take and Idea and improve it.
"If their shareholders force them down that road, they'll just be making a mistake. Red Hat will loose revenue, and another distribution who has remained true to the open source model, will emerge as the top distribution."
Whereas I agree with your thought, I wonder how long it would take for another distrubution to rise to dominate. Chances are it would take some time - several years would be my guess.
The $64 question is howcome so many were willing ot shell out $128 to get this OS?
I see a movie parody: Imagine the role of Obi wan Kenobi to be played by IBM, Darth Vader to be played by Microsoft and Luke Skywalker to be played by Linux.
IBM brings Microsoft under its wings to join forces to battle the new threat to the empire: Apple and Commodore.
Microsoft is lured into the dark side of the source:
IBM loses the battle for the empire and Microsoft emerges as the new emperor. IBM leaves to the barren wasteland of OS/2.
A NEW HERO arrives on the scene to do battle for world dominion against the evil empire: Linux.
IBM sees the potential in this new hero and pulls out its trusty lightsaber/(cooperates with DOJ) and comes along side Linux to say: USE THE SOURCE.
The evil emperor is defeated and a new period of freedom and prosperity emerges from the command prompt.
Okay, it's a fantasy and has no bais in reality, but the Dark Side of Business is the temptation to establish a monoply.
I did not know he wrote "Boy Named Sue" or "On The Cover of the Rolling Stone." I happened to like both songs as well as Shel's books. I especially liked the book "The Giving Tree."
I have to agree with you. The average computer user isn't going to want Linux until there's a really cool solitare game out that he can play "Out of the Box."
Where else but Slashdot can you get this kind of comment. That's why I keep coming back