This is the wrong way of thinking, IMO. Linux shouldn't have a steep learning curve (and many distributions are starting to effectively tackle this... Ubuntu, Fedora).
Why would I want to mount my CD? I expect to just put it in and it to be available. Same with my DVD. I expect to put the DVD in and click "Play DVD" or "Open [Totem] Movie Player".
Ok, I personally don't think that Linux installation is going to come anywhere close to be installable by the average computer user - it's *not going to happen*. But for the large majority of things people use it should "just work".
Take music for example. I want to play my mp3s.
Hurdle 1: I can't find them because they're on my WinXP/NTFS partition. (Solution: An init script (or preferably, an install module) to scan for non-ext3 partitions and automatically add them to fstab.)
Hurdle 2: I find my music player. Why won't it play my mp3's? Licence? What licence? I don't have to get a licence on my xyzfoobar player in Windows.
This is just one of *many* situations that need to be resolved before users start sticking to Linux.
Having said that, the last year or two have made leaps and bounds in terms of user-friendlyness, but there's still much room for improvement.
At present, Linux for the end user lacks the polish it needs to be usable by the majority of PC users. I use (and love) it, but I seem to be able to see from the viewpoint of the average user - something many geeks cannot do.
Clearly you don't have enough experience in User Support.
Of course, any adept Tech Support person will tell you that one of the first things any n00b user will do is find the "Large Text" and "Cool Comic Sans Mode" buttons.
Additionally, temporarily browser lockups when loading huge web pages. Its quite annoying when you have a couple of tabs open, because it effectively disables your browser until it has downloaded.
I agree, if we lose in the EU it doesn't mean we've lost completely, but it does mean we've lost completely in the EU.
I don't believe this. Someone Somewhere(tm) needs to set up an "Open Source Patents Organisation" where people can get their patent ideas and "donate" to this organisation, allowing them to be freely used. Surely this would be a nice spin, enforced by these laws and keeping everyone happy - to some extent at least.
Wait a minute... Can someone give me a reason why I could not be my own grandfather? On a biological level, it doesn't quite make sense, but on the atomic level, why isn't it possible?
Maybe everywhere in space-time there are these little "causality" loops that just "exist"? Just like the large big bang = big crunch "causality" loop/theory.
Hmm, or maybe I should stop taking narcotic, mind-altering drugs...
Exactly! I think that anyone stupid enough to go back in time to try to become their own grandfather just gets wiped out due to some kind of uber-darwinism. Thus, any stupid time travellers never existed in the first place hence making it impossible to create paradoxes like these:)
Well no, because in your past, this event would have already happened, and so this delay was the very delay that made you the result of that different sperm. Got it?
Slashdot Mirror
The Law.
Oh crap..
This is the wrong way of thinking, IMO. Linux shouldn't have a steep learning curve (and many distributions are starting to effectively tackle this... Ubuntu, Fedora).
Why would I want to mount my CD? I expect to just put it in and it to be available. Same with my DVD. I expect to put the DVD in and click "Play DVD" or "Open [Totem] Movie Player".
Ok, I personally don't think that Linux installation is going to come anywhere close to be installable by the average computer user - it's *not going to happen*. But for the large majority of things people use it should "just work".
Take music for example. I want to play my mp3s.
Hurdle 1: I can't find them because they're on my WinXP/NTFS partition.
(Solution: An init script (or preferably, an install module) to scan for non-ext3 partitions and automatically add them to fstab.)
Hurdle 2: I find my music player. Why won't it play my mp3's? Licence? What licence? I don't have to get a licence on my xyzfoobar player in Windows.
This is just one of *many* situations that need to be resolved before users start sticking to Linux.
Having said that, the last year or two have made leaps and bounds in terms of user-friendlyness, but there's still much room for improvement.
At present, Linux for the end user lacks the polish it needs to be usable by the majority of PC users. I use (and love) it, but I seem to be able to see from the viewpoint of the average user - something many geeks cannot do.
Bill Would Let Police Monitor Email
Who is Bill?
Clearly you don't have enough experience in User Support.
Of course, any adept Tech Support person will tell you that one of the first things any n00b user will do is find the "Large Text" and "Cool Comic Sans Mode" buttons.
Except getting your woman to get you a beer would return you a beer. Your woman getting you to build a deck would return a footstool.
Note that the room only holds 55 people, though!
Potentially giving us a new meaning for slashdotting!
Thank buggery for that. I was getting scared that IE7 was going to be the Next Best Thing(tm) on UNIX and Linux desktops across the globe...
Point 1: Your phone line is not 100% reliable.
Point 2: VoIP *is* a free "product". That is, there is no reason why it cannot be free - besides bridging the VoIP-Land line gap.
Considering that VoIP is a relatively new concept (in comparison to land lines), I find it hard to complain...
Additionally, temporarily browser lockups when loading huge web pages. Its quite annoying when you have a couple of tabs open, because it effectively disables your browser until it has downloaded.
Fundraise status
Start date:
14 hours 27 min ago
Received:
$6468 USD
Target:
$3000 USD
Last updated:
1 hours 24 min ago
Linux Servers Grew 36% in Canada in 2004
Woah! We're all gonna have to find bigger server rooms now!
I don't believe that Hackers do what we do to prove a point, or to get one up on someone else. We do it to satisfy curiosity.
Use someone else.
Well, prompts being non-modal would be a good start.
So, by the time it gets to pluto, it'll be gone past in a few milliseconds, at 100,000 miles per hour or something. Forgive me for asking, but...
How do they get the damn thing to stop?!
I agree, if we lose in the EU it doesn't mean we've lost completely, but it does mean we've lost completely in the EU.
I don't believe this. Someone Somewhere(tm) needs to set up an "Open Source Patents Organisation" where people can get their patent ideas and "donate" to this organisation, allowing them to be freely used. Surely this would be a nice spin, enforced by these laws and keeping everyone happy - to some extent at least.
Yeah, but this is absolutely, unequivocally irrelevant.
Wait a minute... Can someone give me a reason why I could not be my own grandfather? On a biological level, it doesn't quite make sense, but on the atomic level, why isn't it possible?
Maybe everywhere in space-time there are these little "causality" loops that just "exist"? Just like the large big bang = big crunch "causality" loop/theory.
Hmm, or maybe I should stop taking narcotic, mind-altering drugs...
Exactly! I think that anyone stupid enough to go back in time to try to become their own grandfather just gets wiped out due to some kind of uber-darwinism. Thus, any stupid time travellers never existed in the first place hence making it impossible to create paradoxes like these :)
See. Uber-darwinism, makes perfectly sense.
Well no, because in your past, this event would have already happened, and so this delay was the very delay that made you the result of that different sperm. Got it?
And this is an interesting post?
Regular, Medium, Super size?
In Soviet Russia, Soviet Russia moves to you!
Er...
Finally! I can come back to writing exploits for Windows, as they'll actually be useful!