Shuttleworth has not only disregarded the community's complaints about Unity, but now his blog is actively deleting and censoring any further criticism. Pleas for them to offer a desktop that actually looks and works like a desktop, if not as a replacement for Unity then at least an offering with an equal amount of support, are being treated with a "we know best, go away you silly peon" response. Sorry Mark, you are not Steve Jobs, you can't get away with that routine. Unity is a disaster, and when you have Linux luminaries like Linus Torvalds and Eric Raymond switching their desktops to Xfce, you know you're heading in the wrong direction.
I myself have also made the switch to Xfce, and after doing so, and even after having been a loyal Ubuntu user for five years, I'm wondering what's the point of staying with Ubuntu at all if not for what used to be a gorgeous desktop. I did a little research and found that aside from the formerly gorgeous desktop, all of the things that I loved about Ubuntu were actually things about Debian. Now that Unity has replaced the good desktop, the only advantage Ubuntu has over Debian is a better installer.
Yes, Unity will probably be more at home on a device that has no keyboard and mouse, such as smartphones and tablets. But competing with Android (not to mention Apple) is going to be a tough sell there. So why are they blowing it all by alienating their existing installed base?
Facebook brings out the worst in people. Somehow, people of all ages from all walks of life suddenly become spoiled, whiny, over-dramatic teenagers when on Facebook. It will fade on its own, just like AOL (which was also supposedly too big to decline) did. Google+ is still building momentum; don't expect it to become huge overnight. These things take years.
Every social network has a bit of a culture around it. I've found that on Google+ folks tend to act like civilized human beings, while on Facebook *everyone* acts like a spoiled, whiny, drama-queen teenager. Everyone. Something about Facebook just brings out the worst in people. I didn't like high school the first time around, why would I want to be immersed in that kind of drama again?
The real reason Google is developing the Dart language is to hedge their bets in case they lose the frivolous lawsuit filed by Oracle. Rather than pay royalties to Oracle they will make Dart the primary development language for Android. They will make Dart compile down to Dalvik bytecode (chances are, they've already done this) and they might even offer developers a tool to translate Java source to Dart source.
Remember, Dalvik bytecode is not Java bytecode. Android only uses the Java language, not its virtual machine, which is why Oracle mistakenly believes they can sue Google over its use. Changing the source language removes the perceived violation without breaking existing software.
Microsoft killed the Start menu because they want to force everyone to use Windows Phone, even if they aren't (initially) buying a Windows Phone. They failed for years to sell phones that look like a Windows desktop, so instead they're changing the Windows desktop to look like their phones, and hoping that iOS and Android end up looking "foreign" to phone users as a result.
People click on the Start menu when they want to find something to Start. Imagine that. The bottom line is that the Windows 95 UI (which is to say, Microsoft's ripoff of the RiscOS UI) was the pinnacle of personal computer desktop UI design. Everything that's happened since then has been change for change's sake and has only served to annoy users and get in their way.
The image shows a computer that allows you to switch UEFI secure boot off and on.
And that's great, as long as every computer offers this option. The danger is that in the not too distant future, OEM's may start building computers that don't have that option. It may be attractive for them to build computers that are "locked" in the same way that many phones are locked. It is up to us in the free world to continue to raise a big stink to make sure that doesn't happen, at least not without a fight.
You're correct about that, but the reason it's still done is because of this annoying little program called "Microsoft Windows" which a lot of people refuse to stop using even though it's been proven to be a horrendously bad design.
Ubuntu can be made usable again simply by typing "apt-get install xubuntu-desktop" and you won't end up with a decade-old clunker like Windows XP. You won't get the same offer from Windows 8.
Well, duh. Microsoft never intended to make x86 software run on ARM. Microsoft wants you to write "Metro style" apps which are written in.NET and will run on Windows 8 x86, Windows 8 ARM, and Windows Phone.
Having failed for years to sell anyone a phone that looks like the Windows desktop, Microsoft will now make the Windows desktop look like their phone. It's backwards but it's Microsoft.
I took a peek at the Windows 8 developer preview yesterday. Nothing about it makes sense when you try to look at it as a PC desktop. Everything about it makes sense when you assume that Priority One is to "kill Google" and "kill Android." Keep this in mind when looking at Windows 8.
Having spent considerable time developing calendar software I can tell you that time zone handling is the ugliest part of the picture. It certainly would be best if everything, everywhere, was on UTC.
For a while, we simply converted everything to UTC on the way in to the system, and all was good. We simply converted back to local time when interacting with the user. But then we had to add support for recurring events. This was a bitch and a half because of DST being observed in some parts of the world, and not being observed in other parts of the world. If you converted a recurring event to UTC, the recurrences would be an hour off the next time you entered or exited DST. Really a pain in the neck, and it required storing all recurring events in local time.
Sadly, most people don't write and maintain calendar software, and are quite attached to their local time. So much so, in fact, that they can't even comprehend doing it any other way.
You know what? Best Buy can *keep* the user profile, recovery disk, and antivirus. And they can discount the price of the machine because they used the copy of Windows that I would have returned for a refund.
HTC makes great Android phones -- I own one myself (the original T-Mobile G1) but they do happen to be one of the manufacturers that now pays a Microsoft Tax on every device sold. Dunno if that has any effect on your purchasing decisions but it's worth thinking about.
And the sad part is... the nanny state will use this an example of why we "need" extremely restrictive laws regulating how and when cell phones and other devices may be used while inside a car. A couple of morons with bad habits are going to ruin it for the vast majority who know better than to take their hands off the wheel.
The idea that we are entering the Post-PC Era does not mean that the PC is going away. It means that we are finally past the era when the only way to get anything done was to own and use a Wintel box. Today, most major applications and services have moved behind the glass and are accessible by *any* device. Just because one of those possible devices is a PC doesn't mean that we're still in the PC Era.
This has been discussed already. If you want it in a straight talk article rather than this dramatized fluff piece, I recommend an article that appeared in Datamation back in 2008 called "Hard Work is Dead. Call It 'Work Ethic 2.0'" in which Mike Elgan asserts that the ability to focus on a task and avoid distractions is now a more important skill than the ability to simply work hard. It's a good read.
They should make a new rule. If you don't immediately(reasonable amount of time, 1-2 months?) sue another company once you found out they've made a product based on your patent, you give up any rights to said patent.
You shouldn't be able to sit on it and wait for it to be more "lucrative" to sue.
That's essentially what the doctrine of Laches (a form of Estoppel is all about. The plaintiff knew about a potential patent violation but sat on it for some length of time until the defendant actually committed themselves to a position where a lawsuit would be more harmful.
This is going to be part of Google's case against Oracle after having uncovered Jonathan Schwartz's blog entry congratulating Google on using Java technology.
Funny how all of the slashdotters are talking about privacy issues instead of this service's potential to disrupt the paid CDN industry. I wonder what Akamai thinks about this development? Or the folks at Inktomi (now part of Yahoo, I believe) for that matter?
Microsoft won't shut off Mac and Linux on day 1, of course. They'll simply let those clients go unmaintained, and then one day there will be a message "Your version of the Microsoft(R) Skype(TM) Client is too old; please upgrade to the latest version to enjoy all of our Innovative(TM) new features!" but the new version will only be available for Windows.
Bye bye Skype; it's been fun, but you suck now. Google Chat will be my new videoconferencing program.
I would say the recent departures of senior executives — COO Robert Rivet last week, CEO Dirk Meyer back in January — is still unexplained and can lead to all kinds of speculation. There's not a lot of color on the rumor at this point. Is Dell considering making a more integrated kind of product line? Talk about a change in strategy.
Slashdot Mirror
Shuttleworth has not only disregarded the community's complaints about Unity, but now his blog is actively deleting and censoring any further criticism. Pleas for them to offer a desktop that actually looks and works like a desktop, if not as a replacement for Unity then at least an offering with an equal amount of support, are being treated with a "we know best, go away you silly peon" response. Sorry Mark, you are not Steve Jobs, you can't get away with that routine. Unity is a disaster, and when you have Linux luminaries like Linus Torvalds and Eric Raymond switching their desktops to Xfce, you know you're heading in the wrong direction.
I myself have also made the switch to Xfce, and after doing so, and even after having been a loyal Ubuntu user for five years, I'm wondering what's the point of staying with Ubuntu at all if not for what used to be a gorgeous desktop. I did a little research and found that aside from the formerly gorgeous desktop, all of the things that I loved about Ubuntu were actually things about Debian. Now that Unity has replaced the good desktop, the only advantage Ubuntu has over Debian is a better installer.
Yes, Unity will probably be more at home on a device that has no keyboard and mouse, such as smartphones and tablets. But competing with Android (not to mention Apple) is going to be a tough sell there. So why are they blowing it all by alienating their existing installed base?
The first person who utters the words "Minority Report" will be summarily stabbed in the face with a Buick. Please, people, get over yourselves.
Facebook brings out the worst in people. Somehow, people of all ages from all walks of life suddenly become spoiled, whiny, over-dramatic teenagers when on Facebook. It will fade on its own, just like AOL (which was also supposedly too big to decline) did. Google+ is still building momentum; don't expect it to become huge overnight. These things take years.
Every social network has a bit of a culture around it. I've found that on Google+ folks tend to act like civilized human beings, while on Facebook *everyone* acts like a spoiled, whiny, drama-queen teenager. Everyone. Something about Facebook just brings out the worst in people. I didn't like high school the first time around, why would I want to be immersed in that kind of drama again?
The real reason Google is developing the Dart language is to hedge their bets in case they lose the frivolous lawsuit filed by Oracle. Rather than pay royalties to Oracle they will make Dart the primary development language for Android. They will make Dart compile down to Dalvik bytecode (chances are, they've already done this) and they might even offer developers a tool to translate Java source to Dart source.
Remember, Dalvik bytecode is not Java bytecode. Android only uses the Java language, not its virtual machine, which is why Oracle mistakenly believes they can sue Google over its use. Changing the source language removes the perceived violation without breaking existing software.
Dear Bill Gates:
You've spent your entire lifetime copying Steve Jobs.
Please do exactly that today.
Sincerely,
The World
Microsoft killed the Start menu because they want to force everyone to use Windows Phone, even if they aren't (initially) buying a Windows Phone. They failed for years to sell phones that look like a Windows desktop, so instead they're changing the Windows desktop to look like their phones, and hoping that iOS and Android end up looking "foreign" to phone users as a result.
People click on the Start menu when they want to find something to Start. Imagine that. The bottom line is that the Windows 95 UI (which is to say, Microsoft's ripoff of the RiscOS UI) was the pinnacle of personal computer desktop UI design. Everything that's happened since then has been change for change's sake and has only served to annoy users and get in their way.
Smart for Nokia, perhaps. Everyone else just seems to be using Android. I wonder if Microsoft has Nokia's hands tied?
The image shows a computer that allows you to switch UEFI secure boot off and on.
And that's great, as long as every computer offers this option. The danger is that in the not too distant future, OEM's may start building computers that don't have that option. It may be attractive for them to build computers that are "locked" in the same way that many phones are locked. It is up to us in the free world to continue to raise a big stink to make sure that doesn't happen, at least not without a fight.
You're correct about that, but the reason it's still done is because of this annoying little program called "Microsoft Windows" which a lot of people refuse to stop using even though it's been proven to be a horrendously bad design.
Ubuntu can be made usable again simply by typing "apt-get install xubuntu-desktop" and you won't end up with a decade-old clunker like Windows XP. You won't get the same offer from Windows 8.
Well, duh. Microsoft never intended to make x86 software run on ARM. Microsoft wants you to write "Metro style" apps which are written in .NET and will run on Windows 8 x86, Windows 8 ARM, and Windows Phone.
Having failed for years to sell anyone a phone that looks like the Windows desktop, Microsoft will now make the Windows desktop look like their phone. It's backwards but it's Microsoft.
I took a peek at the Windows 8 developer preview yesterday. Nothing about it makes sense when you try to look at it as a PC desktop. Everything about it makes sense when you assume that Priority One is to "kill Google" and "kill Android." Keep this in mind when looking at Windows 8.
Having spent considerable time developing calendar software I can tell you that time zone handling is the ugliest part of the picture. It certainly would be best if everything, everywhere, was on UTC.
For a while, we simply converted everything to UTC on the way in to the system, and all was good. We simply converted back to local time when interacting with the user. But then we had to add support for recurring events. This was a bitch and a half because of DST being observed in some parts of the world, and not being observed in other parts of the world. If you converted a recurring event to UTC, the recurrences would be an hour off the next time you entered or exited DST. Really a pain in the neck, and it required storing all recurring events in local time.
Sadly, most people don't write and maintain calendar software, and are quite attached to their local time. So much so, in fact, that they can't even comprehend doing it any other way.
You know what? Best Buy can *keep* the user profile, recovery disk, and antivirus. And they can discount the price of the machine because they used the copy of Windows that I would have returned for a refund.
HTC makes great Android phones -- I own one myself (the original T-Mobile G1) but they do happen to be one of the manufacturers that now pays a Microsoft Tax on every device sold. Dunno if that has any effect on your purchasing decisions but it's worth thinking about.
And the sad part is ... the nanny state will use this an example of why we "need" extremely restrictive laws regulating how and when cell phones and other devices may be used while inside a car. A couple of morons with bad habits are going to ruin it for the vast majority who know better than to take their hands off the wheel.
The idea that we are entering the Post-PC Era does not mean that the PC is going away. It means that we are finally past the era when the only way to get anything done was to own and use a Wintel box. Today, most major applications and services have moved behind the glass and are accessible by *any* device. Just because one of those possible devices is a PC doesn't mean that we're still in the PC Era.
A new SMB 2.0 specification?
And how long will it take before Microsoft begins patent litigation against anyone who dares use Samba 3.6 in a commercial product?
This has been discussed already. If you want it in a straight talk article rather than this dramatized fluff piece, I recommend an article that appeared in Datamation back in 2008 called "Hard Work is Dead. Call It 'Work Ethic 2.0'" in which Mike Elgan asserts that the ability to focus on a task and avoid distractions is now a more important skill than the ability to simply work hard. It's a good read.
They should make a new rule. If you don't immediately(reasonable amount of time, 1-2 months?) sue another company once you found out they've made a product based on your patent, you give up any rights to said patent.
You shouldn't be able to sit on it and wait for it to be more "lucrative" to sue.
That's essentially what the doctrine of Laches (a form of Estoppel is all about. The plaintiff knew about a potential patent violation but sat on it for some length of time until the defendant actually committed themselves to a position where a lawsuit would be more harmful.
This is going to be part of Google's case against Oracle after having uncovered Jonathan Schwartz's blog entry congratulating Google on using Java technology.
It's a tough case to argue but it can be done.
The patents cover "fabrication and architecture of memory and microprocessing chips."
... say ... Oracle?
Hmm.
Google isn't in those businesses, but these patents sound like they are likely to be violated by
Mutual Assured Destruction would make that pesky lawsuit go away quickly.
Funny how all of the slashdotters are talking about privacy issues instead of this service's potential to disrupt the paid CDN industry. I wonder what Akamai thinks about this development? Or the folks at Inktomi (now part of Yahoo, I believe) for that matter?
Poor Pluto, it orbits around the Sun and has four Moons of its own, and yet they still insist it's not a planet.
Microsoft won't shut off Mac and Linux on day 1, of course. They'll simply let those clients go unmaintained, and then one day there will be a message "Your version of the Microsoft(R) Skype(TM) Client is too old; please upgrade to the latest version to enjoy all of our Innovative(TM) new features!" but the new version will only be available for Windows. Bye bye Skype; it's been fun, but you suck now. Google Chat will be my new videoconferencing program.
I would say the recent departures of senior executives — COO Robert Rivet last week, CEO Dirk Meyer back in January — is still unexplained and can lead to all kinds of speculation. There's not a lot of color on the rumor at this point. Is Dell considering making a more integrated kind of product line? Talk about a change in strategy.