Two choices: keep up the arrogant elitist crap like "only idiots and losers refuse to..." and leave Linux on the outside looking in
or
take a lesson from MS and Apple, and build a flavour of Linux for "idiots and losers", the same 80 to 90 percent of computer owners
who just want a simple reliable appliance. That's your goal.
Needs: software: simple one-stop shopping, and a very easy reliable way to install and remove. Desktop icon option is a must.
Same for peripherals - one-stop driver shopping, one way to install and remove.
I strongly agree with the suggestion to add an easy roll back to a previous healthy OS.
One desktop. A newbie does not need 8 or 10 desktop options. Give them one, but, make it easy to change
desktops if/when they want.
Leave the fragmentation to the purists. Having dozens of flavors, each with their own militant cohort of enthusiasts is great,
but, it confuses the newcomer and turns people off.
The Linux community would be much better served if everyone committed to promoting a purpose designed
LinuxNewbie OS instead of their personal favorite.
Make it easier to move to a new version of Linux. Be great if software and data were saved to the new OS.
Funding: need to be able to pay people for critical OS work. Having volunteers brings enthusiasm, drive and vision,
but, people need to eat.
For over 20 years, I've read, and occasionally participated in, the Linux versus Microsoft debate, The issues have been analyzed, discussed, and argued and the core issues have not changed. Windows is still the 800 lb gorilla ruling the market, and, Linux is still the affordable, safer, slightly geeky alternative few are willing to try. News flash: the vast majority of general users don't care. They are familiar with Windows, it does what they want (more or less) and they are not interested in trying something new. However, several things are changing this dynamic: more and more people do most of their personal computing on smart phones. Software as on-line service is growing. Alternate OS's like Chrome and Android are taking more and more device market share from Microsoft (have you tried to buy a MS smartphone recently?)
When the programs, applications, games and data storage you work and play with are all on-line, and none care what OS you run, so why should the user?
At that point, the M$ premium becomes glaringly obvious, and a cheaper OS becomes a rational choice.
Just ignore the minor issues of the poor, who have little or no access to non-cash options, or any crank concerned about personal privacy or
the inconvenient fact cash is still legal tender. Our only priority should be making businesses happy.
Cash needs to remain an option because transactions cannot be tracked by government, business, or third parties.
Data from cash transactions cannot be used or sold to track you and your life. Cash works when the power is out, or the Internet connection is down - depending on where you live, or travel, can be an issue. Some small businesses and service providers are cash only.
As long as cash is legal tender, acceptance of cash is simply part of the cost for anyone operating a physical business, like rent, power, employee wages, inventory, etc.
FYI: I use debit, PayPal, credit cards, etc. when I shop online, and usually in the real world.
But, certain transactions are in cash. Tips are always left in cash - some merchants skim tip money from electronic
transactions. Some purchases are better done without an electronic record - gifts for my wife for example.
And, believe it or not, a few merchants still offer a cash discount.
I suspect the "rise" is due in large part to improved record keeping (real time reporting of materials used for example), data mining techniques and the algorithms that process the data, combine to give businesses a much clearer picture of where, when and what are disappearing from the workplace, and who may be taking it, at a significantly cheaper cost and much closer to real time.
From what I've read, employee theft has been a problem since the start of organized work. Certainly, it was rampant in every workplace when I got my first job in 1970. The bigger the company, the more it happens. Every company knew theft was a problem, and had a very rough idea of what employee theft was costing them. Dismissal for theft has always been occurred, but the process to identify, catch and convict the offenders required manpower and time, or a huge helping of luck. A smart cautious thief could operate for decades without raising a red flag, and even blatant thieves were often hard to pick out from the employee pool.
Two different issues. Yes, there are worse situations out there, but, does not make these concerns invalid, or trivial.
FYI: I worked for several years in several jobs that kept me laboring outside in all kinds of crappy weather. Both extreme cold and extreme heat wear you down physically, but I never felt my mental state was affected by either the work or the weather.
I also worked inside, retail and office, The weather was better, and the working conditions less strenuous, but, the force feeding of endless weeks of repetitive bad music can create mental numbness and disconnection, which in turn impacts drive, creativity, awareness and ability to relate to others.
And for those who are musically inclined, the banality of office, retail and mall muzak is especially hard to endure.
Retail background music is not entertainment: music selection and volume levels are carefully planned to be a bit distracting, with a tiny bit of irritation, because distracted shoppers spend more, and distracted customers complain less.
I still use cash for a lot of purchases, because of privacy concerns. Cash means little or no personal data is collected at the point of purchase. Reward programs, credit cards, debit cards, phone aps, etc. are convenient, but, the trade-off is loss of privacy. Not knowing who may have access to the data from a point-of-sale transaction is disconcerting. Is my purchase of an item legal in country A going to bite me in the ass if I travel to country B, where the same product is illegal?
That concern may be paranoia today, but, will likely be reality tomorrow.
Further, my personal financial data apparently has monetary value. Why don't I get something (a discount for example) for handing it over at the Point of Sale?
While the process is statistical analysis, the results are advertised as (or at least strongly implied to be) empirical science.
Assuming the differing results published in the article are acceptable statistical variations, what value is there in the process as advertised?
Hiding behind an expectation the general public should have a competent understanding of the science, and approach these tests as a meaningless fun lark
of questionable individual accuracy, is unsupportable, and deceptive.
Crap like this is just what we need in a world where way too many already doubt/deny/ignore science, and the scientific method.
Agreed, but, I accept I am doomed to be disappointed in the near future. The current economic reality for electronics is corporate greed. There is little or no profit in a device with a lifespan of greater than 2 years, is repairable, or easy to use. Non-standard sound output is just one more way to "separate" the product from the rest of the pack, and sell product specific peripherals, an area with relatively low costs and steep profits.
And another vote for the 4000. After carpal surgeries on both hands (about 20 years ago) I made the switch and never looked back. Occasionally I check around to see what else is available, but, so far, nothing other keyboard hits the sweet spot for me. The split design means a more natural wrist position, resulting in less stress on the joints, and the individual key spacing feels a bit wider than a regular keyboard. As you get older, comfort counts more, at the computer and away from it!
I agree with the other posters regarding privacy concerns, the inability of major corporations to keep their software secure and up to date, and their inability to protect customer information. But, and correct me if I'm wrong, isn't there an error factor with most versions of facial recognition software? Other news sources claim as high up to a 40 percent error rate.
- Companies reflect the vision, and biases, of the leadership..
- Spending corporate assets to promote the agenda of the leadership is done by every company, big or small.
- Agendas are always bias driven.
- For the media: the stronger the claim of presenting the "unvarnished truth", the greater and more rigid the bias behind the words.
- To dream of a nirvana where no bias exists is ludicrous, and a denial of the human condition.
In the dim past, when I in high school, our English 12 teacher brought in copies of several different newspapers. We were tasked with comparing articles written about the same major event of the day in each. It was an eureka moment for me: the realization that the reported news is fact coloured by personal or corporate bias. Hardest to detect: those biases that reinforce your own personal biases.
The issue is not what the average person thinks. The reality is the primary driver in business is profit, right now. Employees of all types, from janitors to production to executives, are seen as drags on the bottom line. Gravis zero got it right: employees are expensive, and cutting staff is great for the balance sheet.
IT is just one example of the short-sighted approach so popular in today's world: employees, resources, operations, customer service,quality control, safety, maintenance, etc. are all drags on the bottom line. The cheapest option that barely works is good enough as long share value in the next quarter are not negatively affected.
Wrong. Self aggrandizement is exaggerating (not increasing) one's own importance or power. Certainly fits the tone and content of your statements. You then chose to resort to ad hominem statements, the go-to position of the logically lazy, or desperate.
Please do us all a favor, and and kindly refrain from posting further, until you have something substantive to contribute to the discourse.
Simply deflection, and nothing but deflection. Explain how Australia, Canada and England, where kids play the same games, societies have the same issues, and the moral breakdown of civilization is the same. Their citizens (including children) watch the same television shows, read the same printed materials, view the same internet, listen to the same music, do the same drugs, etc. Yet, all three countries, combined, have had fewer school shootings in the last 20 years than the US averages in a month. Violent crimes committed by a gun, or by those carrying guns, are also much less in those three countries than in the USA.
Two notable differences: Health care (while far from perfect) is a universal right, and guns are much more strictly controlled in all three.
And, surprise, surprise, criminals are much less likely to have (and use) firearms.
Guns may not be the problem, but the American obsession with them is a symptom of whatever the problem is.
Good luck to the post-boomer generations, but, don't be surprised if not much changes as you take the reigns of power. Like every generation, we boomers were certain we had the vision, drive, energy and commitment to change the world, for the better. The results are in, and they are disappointing.
The world rewards lack of ethics. CEO's (and most higher-level managers) are seldom hired (or retained) for their high moral standards. Genius combined with sociopathic tendencies is a proven formula for personal, and corporate, success.
Most people will happily buy products or services from unethical corporations, founded and led by cads, liars, cheats and thieves, because cheap or desirable is trumps right.
All for solar, but,no fan of sloppy reasoning and lazy writing. As I'm sure many have pointed out, growth in coal-fired electrical production grew at the rate of electrical consumption, which was relatively moderate for most of their lifespans. The explosive growth in electrical usage is a relatively recent development. Comparing growth of solar production to the growth of coal production, without factoring growth of demand levels, looks pretty, but, is illogical.
Calling solar energy clean ignores the manufacturing and transportation of the new products, as well removal and recycling once end of active life is reached. I not aware of any solar energy product, past or current, which does not include a number of toxic chemicals and substances. Not as dirty as coal, or oil, but, far from clean. Who pays for the cost of removal and recycling, or disposal? Where will we recycle, another process which is not nice and clean?
Where do we store the materials we cannot recycle?
Historical reality: taxpayers in most oil producing areas are on the hook for clean-up costs of tens of thousands of abandoned wells. No one knows how much the final tally will be, but, everyone agrees it will be astronomical.
We should expect the same when solar manufacturing and generating facilities reach the end of their active lives.
Agreed, neither is in the Critical Thinking business While a core survival skill for societies, critical thinking has never been a wide-spread skill-set in the general population of societies. Most people are willing to rely on the leadership to perform the analysis, and critical thinking, their social group requires.
While Google and Facebook could be rating sources for reliability, and truth. Doing so might help a bit with some users, but, if people insist on being brain-dead, not a lot they can do.
Further, the fatal flaws in both business models argue against their doing any kind of vetting for truth or trustworthiness. Truth, rational discussion and critical thinking are key to our ongoing survival. However, they do not create anywhere near the same volume of traffic, followers, and rankings as vitriol, hatred and lies.
When selling ad space, and user information, is the core income source of your business, more users means more income. If push comes to shove, why would motivate Google or Facebook put the truth ahead of their business interests?
Can anyone speak as to what legal requirements to report (if any) comes into play when an authorized third-party discovers child pornography during the course of a permitted check of computer equipment? Are there jurisdictions where the the Geek-squad employee could be charged for failing to report?
Hey Microsoft, even if your testing results are true, they have the same real-world validity as Ford noting the Edsel carried more passengers than a Volkswagen Beetle. In 1959, Edsel was the worst vehicle choice possible, passenger capacity notwithstanding.
In 2017, for most of us, Edge remains the worst browser choice possible, battery usage notwithstanding.
I have no problem if most of us insists Linux is for power-users only. However, if that is the core belief of the Linux community, we cannot turn around and complain about lack of market penetration, available software, hardware support, manufacturer adoption, etc. Like it or not, power users are a tiny segment of the computing community, and that will never change.
There is a simple choice to be made: continue to insist every Linux user needs to the computational equivalent of a shade-tree mechanic who is also a trained millwright and blacksmith. Or, agree to support and promote the development and marketing of a flavor of Linux aimed at, and for, the mass-market computer user who just wants an appliance that works, and reap the benefits of greater market penetration.
Last year I finally installed Linux Mint. As a long time Windows user (since 3.0) I found Mint easy to install and comfortable to use. Remembering not to operate in Windows auto-pilot, and keeping track of the new (to me) ways Mint handles certain things, were the two biggest challenges.
Be aware software (even open-source) that is comfortable and familiar in Windows (or Apple) sometimes feels quirky in Linux. As well, finding alternatives to some Windows programs, like Microsoft Office, may be a challenge.
Worth noting: after doing some investigation, I decided finding and learning a viable (for me) Microsoft Office Professional replacement required more time and effort than I wanted to invest. I decided to go dual-boot - Windows 7 and Mint. Having the two operating systems, on the same computer, did create a few small problems. Most were easily fixed, but I had to to learn to live with the date/time stamp conflict.
Appears Mr. Speckman had a lawyer lined up before he talked to the press. The news article (an exclusive) reads more like well-coached groundwork for a product-liability lawsuit than the outburst of a grieving distraught parent after the senseless, needless (and self-inflicted) death of a child.
What could possibly go wrong posting jobs on a social-interaction site where most posts need to be fact-checked? Given the current state of Facebook, there may be 1 real job for every 10,000 help-wanted Facebook postings. By the way, that noise you hear are the like-farmers and scammers cheering.
Had to check my calendar - this has April 01 written all over it. The proposal offers dubious benefits, which are overwhelmed by serious practical obstacles.
Unless you decide to "opt out" of modern life, stop all social interactions, avoid coming into contact with anything using electricity or fossil fuels and go live in an isolated cave, cut off from all human contact, you will be tracked. Property taxes, rental payments, pay cheques, utility bills, grocery shopping, warranty, etc. (basically pretty much everything you buy or pay when living even a semi-normal life) leaves an electronic footprint.
Security by obscurity is not perfect, but, when the vast majority of society is on-line, not having a known internet presence to match to the other data already in the system means you stand out from the herd. In the age of data mining and crunching, anomalies are investigatory triggers.
Slashdot Mirror
Two choices: keep up the arrogant elitist crap like "only idiots and losers refuse to ..." and leave Linux on the outside looking in
or
take a lesson from MS and Apple, and build a flavour of Linux for "idiots and losers", the same 80 to 90 percent of computer owners
who just want a simple reliable appliance. That's your goal.
Needs: software: simple one-stop shopping, and a very easy reliable way to install and remove. Desktop icon option is a must.
Same for peripherals - one-stop driver shopping, one way to install and remove.
I strongly agree with the suggestion to add an easy roll back to a previous healthy OS.
One desktop. A newbie does not need 8 or 10 desktop options. Give them one, but, make it easy to change
desktops if/when they want.
Leave the fragmentation to the purists. Having dozens of flavors, each with their own militant cohort of enthusiasts is great,
but, it confuses the newcomer and turns people off.
The Linux community would be much better served if everyone committed to promoting a purpose designed
LinuxNewbie OS instead of their personal favorite.
Make it easier to move to a new version of Linux. Be great if software and data were saved to the new OS.
Funding: need to be able to pay people for critical OS work. Having volunteers brings enthusiasm, drive and vision,
but, people need to eat.
For over 20 years, I've read, and occasionally participated in, the Linux versus Microsoft debate, The issues have been analyzed, discussed, and argued and the core issues have not changed. Windows is still the 800 lb gorilla ruling the market, and, Linux is still the affordable, safer, slightly geeky alternative few are willing to try. News flash: the vast majority of general users don't care. They are familiar with Windows, it does what they want (more or less) and they are not interested in trying something new. However, several things are changing this dynamic: more and more people do most of their personal computing on smart phones. Software as on-line service is growing. Alternate OS's like Chrome and Android are taking more and more device market share from Microsoft (have you tried to buy a MS smartphone recently?) When the programs, applications, games and data storage you work and play with are all on-line, and none care what OS you run, so why should the user? At that point, the M$ premium becomes glaringly obvious, and a cheaper OS becomes a rational choice.
Just ignore the minor issues of the poor, who have little or no access to non-cash options, or any crank concerned about personal privacy or the inconvenient fact cash is still legal tender. Our only priority should be making businesses happy. Cash needs to remain an option because transactions cannot be tracked by government, business, or third parties. Data from cash transactions cannot be used or sold to track you and your life. Cash works when the power is out, or the Internet connection is down - depending on where you live, or travel, can be an issue. Some small businesses and service providers are cash only. As long as cash is legal tender, acceptance of cash is simply part of the cost for anyone operating a physical business, like rent, power, employee wages, inventory, etc. FYI: I use debit, PayPal, credit cards, etc. when I shop online, and usually in the real world. But, certain transactions are in cash. Tips are always left in cash - some merchants skim tip money from electronic transactions. Some purchases are better done without an electronic record - gifts for my wife for example. And, believe it or not, a few merchants still offer a cash discount.
I suspect the "rise" is due in large part to improved record keeping (real time reporting of materials used for example), data mining techniques and the algorithms that process the data, combine to give businesses a much clearer picture of where, when and what are disappearing from the workplace, and who may be taking it, at a significantly cheaper cost and much closer to real time. From what I've read, employee theft has been a problem since the start of organized work. Certainly, it was rampant in every workplace when I got my first job in 1970. The bigger the company, the more it happens. Every company knew theft was a problem, and had a very rough idea of what employee theft was costing them. Dismissal for theft has always been occurred, but the process to identify, catch and convict the offenders required manpower and time, or a huge helping of luck. A smart cautious thief could operate for decades without raising a red flag, and even blatant thieves were often hard to pick out from the employee pool.
Two different issues. Yes, there are worse situations out there, but, does not make these concerns invalid, or trivial. FYI: I worked for several years in several jobs that kept me laboring outside in all kinds of crappy weather. Both extreme cold and extreme heat wear you down physically, but I never felt my mental state was affected by either the work or the weather. I also worked inside, retail and office, The weather was better, and the working conditions less strenuous, but, the force feeding of endless weeks of repetitive bad music can create mental numbness and disconnection, which in turn impacts drive, creativity, awareness and ability to relate to others. And for those who are musically inclined, the banality of office, retail and mall muzak is especially hard to endure. Retail background music is not entertainment: music selection and volume levels are carefully planned to be a bit distracting, with a tiny bit of irritation, because distracted shoppers spend more, and distracted customers complain less.
I still use cash for a lot of purchases, because of privacy concerns. Cash means little or no personal data is collected at the point of purchase. Reward programs, credit cards, debit cards, phone aps, etc. are convenient, but, the trade-off is loss of privacy. Not knowing who may have access to the data from a point-of-sale transaction is disconcerting. Is my purchase of an item legal in country A going to bite me in the ass if I travel to country B, where the same product is illegal? That concern may be paranoia today, but, will likely be reality tomorrow. Further, my personal financial data apparently has monetary value. Why don't I get something (a discount for example) for handing it over at the Point of Sale?
While the process is statistical analysis, the results are advertised as (or at least strongly implied to be) empirical science. Assuming the differing results published in the article are acceptable statistical variations, what value is there in the process as advertised? Hiding behind an expectation the general public should have a competent understanding of the science, and approach these tests as a meaningless fun lark of questionable individual accuracy, is unsupportable, and deceptive. Crap like this is just what we need in a world where way too many already doubt/deny/ignore science, and the scientific method.
Agreed, but, I accept I am doomed to be disappointed in the near future. The current economic reality for electronics is corporate greed. There is little or no profit in a device with a lifespan of greater than 2 years, is repairable, or easy to use. Non-standard sound output is just one more way to "separate" the product from the rest of the pack, and sell product specific peripherals, an area with relatively low costs and steep profits.
And another vote for the 4000. After carpal surgeries on both hands (about 20 years ago) I made the switch and never looked back. Occasionally I check around to see what else is available, but, so far, nothing other keyboard hits the sweet spot for me. The split design means a more natural wrist position, resulting in less stress on the joints, and the individual key spacing feels a bit wider than a regular keyboard. As you get older, comfort counts more, at the computer and away from it!
I agree with the other posters regarding privacy concerns, the inability of major corporations to keep their software secure and up to date, and their inability to protect customer information. But, and correct me if I'm wrong, isn't there an error factor with most versions of facial recognition software? Other news sources claim as high up to a 40 percent error rate.
- Companies reflect the vision, and biases, of the leadership.. - Spending corporate assets to promote the agenda of the leadership is done by every company, big or small. - Agendas are always bias driven. - For the media: the stronger the claim of presenting the "unvarnished truth", the greater and more rigid the bias behind the words. - To dream of a nirvana where no bias exists is ludicrous, and a denial of the human condition. In the dim past, when I in high school, our English 12 teacher brought in copies of several different newspapers. We were tasked with comparing articles written about the same major event of the day in each. It was an eureka moment for me: the realization that the reported news is fact coloured by personal or corporate bias. Hardest to detect: those biases that reinforce your own personal biases.
The issue is not what the average person thinks. The reality is the primary driver in business is profit, right now. Employees of all types, from janitors to production to executives, are seen as drags on the bottom line. Gravis zero got it right: employees are expensive, and cutting staff is great for the balance sheet. IT is just one example of the short-sighted approach so popular in today's world: employees, resources, operations, customer service,quality control, safety, maintenance, etc. are all drags on the bottom line. The cheapest option that barely works is good enough as long share value in the next quarter are not negatively affected.
Wrong. Self aggrandizement is exaggerating (not increasing) one's own importance or power. Certainly fits the tone and content of your statements. You then chose to resort to ad hominem statements, the go-to position of the logically lazy, or desperate. Please do us all a favor, and and kindly refrain from posting further, until you have something substantive to contribute to the discourse.
Simply deflection, and nothing but deflection. Explain how Australia, Canada and England, where kids play the same games, societies have the same issues, and the moral breakdown of civilization is the same. Their citizens (including children) watch the same television shows, read the same printed materials, view the same internet, listen to the same music, do the same drugs, etc. Yet, all three countries, combined, have had fewer school shootings in the last 20 years than the US averages in a month. Violent crimes committed by a gun, or by those carrying guns, are also much less in those three countries than in the USA. Two notable differences: Health care (while far from perfect) is a universal right, and guns are much more strictly controlled in all three. And, surprise, surprise, criminals are much less likely to have (and use) firearms. Guns may not be the problem, but the American obsession with them is a symptom of whatever the problem is.
Good luck to the post-boomer generations, but, don't be surprised if not much changes as you take the reigns of power. Like every generation, we boomers were certain we had the vision, drive, energy and commitment to change the world, for the better. The results are in, and they are disappointing. The world rewards lack of ethics. CEO's (and most higher-level managers) are seldom hired (or retained) for their high moral standards. Genius combined with sociopathic tendencies is a proven formula for personal, and corporate, success. Most people will happily buy products or services from unethical corporations, founded and led by cads, liars, cheats and thieves, because cheap or desirable is trumps right.
All for solar, but,no fan of sloppy reasoning and lazy writing. As I'm sure many have pointed out, growth in coal-fired electrical production grew at the rate of electrical consumption, which was relatively moderate for most of their lifespans. The explosive growth in electrical usage is a relatively recent development. Comparing growth of solar production to the growth of coal production, without factoring growth of demand levels, looks pretty, but, is illogical. Calling solar energy clean ignores the manufacturing and transportation of the new products, as well removal and recycling once end of active life is reached. I not aware of any solar energy product, past or current, which does not include a number of toxic chemicals and substances. Not as dirty as coal, or oil, but, far from clean. Who pays for the cost of removal and recycling, or disposal? Where will we recycle, another process which is not nice and clean? Where do we store the materials we cannot recycle? Historical reality: taxpayers in most oil producing areas are on the hook for clean-up costs of tens of thousands of abandoned wells. No one knows how much the final tally will be, but, everyone agrees it will be astronomical. We should expect the same when solar manufacturing and generating facilities reach the end of their active lives.
Agreed, neither is in the Critical Thinking business While a core survival skill for societies, critical thinking has never been a wide-spread skill-set in the general population of societies. Most people are willing to rely on the leadership to perform the analysis, and critical thinking, their social group requires. While Google and Facebook could be rating sources for reliability, and truth. Doing so might help a bit with some users, but, if people insist on being brain-dead, not a lot they can do. Further, the fatal flaws in both business models argue against their doing any kind of vetting for truth or trustworthiness. Truth, rational discussion and critical thinking are key to our ongoing survival. However, they do not create anywhere near the same volume of traffic, followers, and rankings as vitriol, hatred and lies. When selling ad space, and user information, is the core income source of your business, more users means more income. If push comes to shove, why would motivate Google or Facebook put the truth ahead of their business interests?
Can anyone speak as to what legal requirements to report (if any) comes into play when an authorized third-party discovers child pornography during the course of a permitted check of computer equipment? Are there jurisdictions where the the Geek-squad employee could be charged for failing to report?
Hey Microsoft, even if your testing results are true, they have the same real-world validity as Ford noting the Edsel carried more passengers than a Volkswagen Beetle. In 1959, Edsel was the worst vehicle choice possible, passenger capacity notwithstanding. In 2017, for most of us, Edge remains the worst browser choice possible, battery usage notwithstanding.
I have no problem if most of us insists Linux is for power-users only. However, if that is the core belief of the Linux community, we cannot turn around and complain about lack of market penetration, available software, hardware support, manufacturer adoption, etc. Like it or not, power users are a tiny segment of the computing community, and that will never change. There is a simple choice to be made: continue to insist every Linux user needs to the computational equivalent of a shade-tree mechanic who is also a trained millwright and blacksmith. Or, agree to support and promote the development and marketing of a flavor of Linux aimed at, and for, the mass-market computer user who just wants an appliance that works, and reap the benefits of greater market penetration.
Last year I finally installed Linux Mint. As a long time Windows user (since 3.0) I found Mint easy to install and comfortable to use. Remembering not to operate in Windows auto-pilot, and keeping track of the new (to me) ways Mint handles certain things, were the two biggest challenges. Be aware software (even open-source) that is comfortable and familiar in Windows (or Apple) sometimes feels quirky in Linux. As well, finding alternatives to some Windows programs, like Microsoft Office, may be a challenge. Worth noting: after doing some investigation, I decided finding and learning a viable (for me) Microsoft Office Professional replacement required more time and effort than I wanted to invest. I decided to go dual-boot - Windows 7 and Mint. Having the two operating systems, on the same computer, did create a few small problems. Most were easily fixed, but I had to to learn to live with the date/time stamp conflict.
Appears Mr. Speckman had a lawyer lined up before he talked to the press. The news article (an exclusive) reads more like well-coached groundwork for a product-liability lawsuit than the outburst of a grieving distraught parent after the senseless, needless (and self-inflicted) death of a child.
What could possibly go wrong posting jobs on a social-interaction site where most posts need to be fact-checked? Given the current state of Facebook, there may be 1 real job for every 10,000 help-wanted Facebook postings. By the way, that noise you hear are the like-farmers and scammers cheering.
Had to check my calendar - this has April 01 written all over it. The proposal offers dubious benefits, which are overwhelmed by serious practical obstacles.
Unless you decide to "opt out" of modern life, stop all social interactions, avoid coming into contact with anything using electricity or fossil fuels and go live in an isolated cave, cut off from all human contact, you will be tracked. Property taxes, rental payments, pay cheques, utility bills, grocery shopping, warranty, etc. (basically pretty much everything you buy or pay when living even a semi-normal life) leaves an electronic footprint. Security by obscurity is not perfect, but, when the vast majority of society is on-line, not having a known internet presence to match to the other data already in the system means you stand out from the herd. In the age of data mining and crunching, anomalies are investigatory triggers.