Uhh... Have you actually put as much time into learning to using Linux as you've put into using Windows (or MacOS)? Or even a reasonable amount of time?
Unless the Linux interface dupicates another OS *exactly*, it'll never be possible for a user of another OS to just drop in and be an immediate expert. And that sort of complete duplication isn't a good idea anyway.
A modern desktop Linux distribution will be perfectly usable for anyone who's willing to learn *any* new desktop OS.
The reason why people in your category (Windows Power Users) have trouble switching to Linux is an unrealistic expectation that your "extensive computer skills" mean zero learning curve for a new system. It'll actually be harder to pick up for you than for a new user, and there's no real way to change that.
Again - Linux isn't significantly behind at anything important for a generic desktop user. Feel free to give me specific examples if you think I'm wrong. The fact that you can't find a defragmenting tool or a virus scanner is *ok*.
Pentium/Athlon 850mhz or so 256MB of RAM 20-30gb hard drive Geforce DDR graphics card
That's actually suprisingly close to running new video games.
If your assessment is accurate then you can easily keep your computer up to running reasonably current games, and *always* have better graphics than the current consoles, by spending $1000 for a new gaming computer every 4 years.
That's a bit more expensive than the consoles, but having decent screen resolution and one-computer-per-person internet play is easily worth the price.
...because clearly film is not an artistic medium any more....and because in the cases where there is "off screen" sex implied that moves the story forwards that clearly didn't require effort on the part of the artists to acomplish.
The problem you're talking about does exist to a small extent - I'll even admit that I've run into it (getting some of the old Loki games running on my up to date Linux desktop).
But...
This is more of a problem with abandonware than it is with Linux. And, from a business standpoint, what are you doing running abandonware?
Supported propritary software (i.e. Oracle) or open source software (i.e. MySQL) will have an up-to-date version. Unsupported open source software can be turned into supported software - a medium sized business can easily hire a developer if it's really nessisary. It's only in the specific case of unsuppored propriatary software (abandonware) that you hit this problem.
And it's not just Linux - try running WarCraft I or Star Wars: Dark Forces on Windows XP. They're not going to work.
In case you aren't, let me help you a bit: - Red Hat was founded in 1993, that's 12 years ago. - I've yet to hear anything to indicate that the current version of Red Hat Enterprise Server is anything but a stable and effective release. And if there was anything, I'd have heard it.
If you aren't joking, then there's only two companies that I can think of that are good enough for your requirements: IBM and HP. Anything else would probably involve using products from a company younger than you are.
Distributors tend to put things in the standard places anyway. It's the cases where there's some reason to not follow the standard where the standard won't be followed - and that should be OK.
For example, the LSB standard package format is RPM - but you won't see Debian switching to RPM any time soon, and for good technical reasons.
Unless you're conclusion is that "I won't run any software on any platform but Solaris or AIX", you seem to be claming that you won't use any software platform because operating systems vendors won't ensure that your software will run long term while never releasing required upgrades.
The problem is that there needs to be at least one block of data on each DVD for each device key that exists. If you want to have 1024 different device keys it will take 16 kbytes per DVD. If you want to have a million, it would take 16 megs, etc.
Did you actually buy enough RAM for the Mac Mini to run Java apps on it? Mac OS X is RAM hungry, Java is RAM hungry, and the Mac Mini only ships with 256 megs default.
ocaml? python? wxWindows? emacs? Gnome? The Unix/C thing?
I assure you, although the models for some of the FOSS stuff may be a little different from the IDE + Huge Vendor-developed Standard Library model of Sun's Java and Micrsoft's Visual Studio.NET stuff, it's no less powerful or useful.
Actually, some of these C entries are a bit more obfusciated than I'd expect Perl to get. Perl has no preprocessor, and a lot of the idioms that you use in perl are expected - no one will ever be confused by "&$x->{y}" for example.
I believe that supporting freedom of speech is a much more important issue than suppressing the evidence of child abuse.
The whole thing with freedom of speech is that people really can say whatever they want - and people saying stuff is a risk that *I'm* willing to take.
Making illegal the posession / transmission of child pornography is censoring free speech.
I have two arguments to support that statement coming from different angles:
1.) "[This picture] is child pornography but [this picture] is not." As long as the posession of child pornography is illegal, that's an example of illegal speech.
2.) The bit pattern "0" is legal, "1" is legal, "00" is legal, "01" is legal. What's the first illegal bit pattern? Wait, how can there be an illegal bit pattern without that being censorship?
Let me clarify: In no way do I support child abuse, but once pictures exist they're no longer child abuse - they're pictures.
1.) Assuming you have a normal broadband router, it allows you to forward port ranges.
2.) There are 65,535 available ports. You could assign a thousand of them (or 65,000 for that matter) as dedicated bittorrent seeding ports without compromising performance or security beyond opening a single port.
So... why are you worried about how many open ports you have again?
The constitution was signed a long time before the date you're looking for. I'd guess around 1920 was when the supreme court ruling occured that granted corporations full rights as citizens.
Slashdot Mirror
Uhh... Have you actually put as much time into learning to using Linux as you've put into using Windows (or MacOS)? Or even a reasonable amount of time?
Unless the Linux interface dupicates another OS *exactly*, it'll never be possible for a user of another OS to just drop in and be an immediate expert. And that sort of complete duplication isn't a good idea anyway.
A modern desktop Linux distribution will be perfectly usable for anyone who's willing to learn *any* new desktop OS.
The reason why people in your category (Windows Power Users) have trouble switching to Linux is an unrealistic expectation that your "extensive computer skills" mean zero learning curve for a new system. It'll actually be harder to pick up for you than for a new user, and there's no real way to change that.
Again - Linux isn't significantly behind at anything important for a generic desktop user. Feel free to give me specific examples if you think I'm wrong. The fact that you can't find a defragmenting tool or a virus scanner is *ok*.
You dump it on a baby seal.
I'm pretty sure the bill of rights guarantees the right to privacy. The 10th ammendment perhaps?
That's actually suprisingly close to running new video games.
If your assessment is accurate then you can easily keep your computer up to running reasonably current games, and *always* have better graphics than the current consoles, by spending $1000 for a new gaming computer every 4 years.
That's a bit more expensive than the consoles, but having decent screen resolution and one-computer-per-person internet play is easily worth the price.
You can get a reasonably top of the line gaming desktop for under $1000.
...because clearly film is not an artistic medium any more. ...and because in the cases where there is "off screen" sex implied that moves the story forwards that clearly didn't require effort on the part of the artists to acomplish.
The thing to remember is: Being an "OSS poster-child" is worth a bunch of money.
The problem you're talking about does exist to a small extent - I'll even admit that I've run into it (getting some of the old Loki games running on my up to date Linux desktop).
But...
This is more of a problem with abandonware than it is with Linux. And, from a business standpoint, what are you doing running abandonware?
Supported propritary software (i.e. Oracle) or open source software (i.e. MySQL) will have an up-to-date version. Unsupported open source software can be turned into supported software - a medium sized business can easily hire a developer if it's really nessisary. It's only in the specific case of unsuppored propriatary software (abandonware) that you hit this problem.
And it's not just Linux - try running WarCraft I or Star Wars: Dark Forces on Windows XP. They're not going to work.
I *really* hope you're joking.
In case you aren't, let me help you a bit:
- Red Hat was founded in 1993, that's 12 years ago.
- I've yet to hear anything to indicate that the current version of Red Hat Enterprise Server is anything but a stable and effective release. And if there was anything, I'd have heard it.
If you aren't joking, then there's only two companies that I can think of that are good enough for your requirements: IBM and HP. Anything else would probably involve using products from a company younger than you are.
Distributors tend to put things in the standard places anyway. It's the cases where there's some reason to not follow the standard where the standard won't be followed - and that should be OK.
For example, the LSB standard package format is RPM - but you won't see Debian switching to RPM any time soon, and for good technical reasons.
Huh?
Red Hat too new and unstable? How about Novel?
Unless you're conclusion is that "I won't run any software on any platform but Solaris or AIX", you seem to be claming that you won't use any software platform because operating systems vendors won't ensure that your software will run long term while never releasing required upgrades.
The problem is that there needs to be at least one block of data on each DVD for each device key that exists. If you want to have 1024 different device keys it will take 16 kbytes per DVD. If you want to have a million, it would take 16 megs, etc.
How about an example involving a band that made music after... say... the fall of the Roman Empire?
Can you give an example of such a band?
Did you actually buy enough RAM for the Mac Mini to run Java apps on it? Mac OS X is RAM hungry, Java is RAM hungry, and the Mac Mini only ships with 256 megs default.
ocaml? python? wxWindows? emacs? Gnome? The Unix/C thing?
.NET stuff, it's no less powerful or useful.
I assure you, although the models for some of the FOSS stuff may be a little different from the IDE + Huge Vendor-developed Standard Library model of Sun's Java and Micrsoft's Visual Studio
Actually, some of these C entries are a bit more obfusciated than I'd expect Perl to get. Perl has no preprocessor, and a lot of the idioms that you use in perl are expected - no one will ever be confused by "&$x->{y}" for example.
Yes. That would be because they are.
I believe that supporting freedom of speech is a much more important issue than suppressing the evidence of child abuse.
The whole thing with freedom of speech is that people really can say whatever they want - and people saying stuff is a risk that *I'm* willing to take.
Making illegal the posession / transmission of child pornography is censoring free speech.
I have two arguments to support that statement coming from different angles:
1.) "[This picture] is child pornography but [this picture] is not." As long as the posession of child pornography is illegal, that's an example of illegal speech.
2.) The bit pattern "0" is legal, "1" is legal, "00" is legal, "01" is legal. What's the first illegal bit pattern? Wait, how can there be an illegal bit pattern without that being censorship?
Let me clarify: In no way do I support child abuse, but once pictures exist they're no longer child abuse - they're pictures.
Which is more important? Censoring child pornography or enabling general freedom of speech?
.sig gives my opionion away.
In any case, my
Because obviously gigabit ethernet is useless too...
You, like many other people, seem to be confused about what a good computer should cost.
Let me clarify:
The minimum price for a decent 3d-capible desktop computer is about $800. For a laptop, it's twice that.
1.) Assuming you have a normal broadband router, it allows you to forward port ranges.
2.) There are 65,535 available ports. You could assign a thousand of them (or 65,000 for that matter) as dedicated bittorrent seeding ports without compromising performance or security beyond opening a single port.
So... why are you worried about how many open ports you have again?
The constitution was signed a long time before the date you're looking for. I'd guess around 1920 was when the supreme court ruling occured that granted corporations full rights as citizens.