Finally.. the analogy I have been searching for but could never really put into words for Linux. The vegetarian thing is absolutely it...
All the times I have tried Linux on my desktop, i've tried it for the right reasons - fed up of Windows doing this, want to try something different, want to expand my knowledge a bit, etc.. but it really does feel like you are depriving yourself of a lot of features just because you want to have the ability to flick the V sign at Microsoft..
For me the biggest bain will always be poor hardware support - I don't blame Linux devs.. it really isnt their fault that hardware manufacturers will not open their products enough for people to produce suitable drivers, nor will they make any good Linux drivers themselves.. but at the end of the day I don't want to spend hours reading HOWTO's and endless threads on Google groups JUST on trying to get my NForce2 soundcard to output audio through the optical port on my NF7-S - I *DID* get it to work in the end, but it drove me nuts getting there.
And of course the last time I tried a Linux desktop @ home it was Fedora Core 2 - complete with its hilarious GRUB bug or whatever it is.. I never noticed it had altered my BIOS to make my drive operate in CHS mode.. and it wasn't till after I had totally blasted my boot drive and Windows STILL wasn't booting that I realised what had happened. I can tell you its left a sour taste that will be hard to shake.
I am genuinely impressed at the 'water off a ducks back' attitude that guys like Linus have to this kind of BS - just let it roll off, and let the strength of the product sell itself, regardless of the nonsense going on around it.
But surely they should be entitled to sue for libel or slander or whatever it is.. everyone knows that Linus coded the original kernel way back in the day. Why can't these companies understand this?
Whilst we are on the subject of this, I just wanted to ask a quick question to anyone who has been following this case religiously..
Is it likely that once IBM have finished annhilating SCO, are they then going to start a fresh lawsuit against them for damages?
As Groklaw pointed out, SCO made some outrageous claims against IBM.. and although this seems to have had completely the oppostite effect to the IBM & the Linux movement as whole that SCO imagined, are IBM likely to still sue and just firmly bury SCO once and for all? Surely they'd have a good case?
Does SCO really feel it could make all those claims, realise it made an enormous mistake (like we all knew it did the day these lawsuits came to light) and then just back away without anyone noticing?
What.. so wearing a very ill fitting replica uniform, conventions, and "fan fiction" which screams sexual frustration didn't set the alarm bells ringing already?:)
I like Star Trek (looks up at Next Generation DVD box sets) but the nerdier side of it makes me shivver.
Apparently the acceleratory (is that a word?) force of this car is so immense, that at full bore you are pulling the same kinds of G-Forces as you do on the vertical drops of a roller coaster ride.
Does 186MPH in 14 seconds.. must be a terrifying experience for both the driver, and for his wallet when he comes to fill it up!;)
Here - not sure if its linked off the main article or not, but discusses a lot of the reasons why its a good and bad idea.
Glad to see that privacy concerns, and not having to prove that you are a citizen are on that list.
To be honest, i'd be for ID cards in a way - we do have a bit of a problem with illegal immigrants in this country lately, who are totally abusing the system - the current trend is buying cheap cars, and then they just drive around the city in them with no tax insurance or anything.
Having ID cards would mean these guys could be instantly checked out, as many don't speak English and the police forces don't have the resources to be able to question them in any of the many different languages they use.
Yes, Intel x86 can handle many of the tasks that only Unix machines used to be able to handle. I'd just tend to debate whether they're capable of doing these tasks as cost effectively, as reliably, and as efficiently.
Well judging by the amount of people dropping their old UNIX gear, and taking up rackfulls of AMD or Intel boxes (especially the new 64bit offerings), i'd say the answer to that is a big YES.
Companies like Sun and SGI did used to really have a corner on the market.. but now their gear is slower than the competition and insanely overpriced. Don't get me wrong, they are all still the geeks ultimate play thing (I especially like SGI gear, and used to own a few old boxes) but price to performance ratio is soooo in Intel & AMD's favour right now.
Reliability is superb, runs a LOT of operating systems, scales very well (imagine a beowulf cluster of these...), and doesn't cost a lot of money.
Quite often there are a lot of legitimate uses for technologies that are often regarded as being used for nefarious purposes.
But mod chips were really designed with one thing in mind - allowing you to circumvent the in-built protection of consoles, to play copied games.
This is a much bigger problem for the console gaming industry as the majority of their money is made on software (Xbox is a good example), as they sell the hardware at a loss to encourage sales and undercut the competition.
I dunno.. i'm usually a pretty big pessimist, but Google has become such a HUGELY well known company. Googleing for something is now a pretty standard phrase..
I think even Microsofts search page being set as the default on the newer versions of Windows (which obviously would have the anti-trust / monopoly alarm bells ringing) would still not stop people from using Google.
Hell - even both of my parents know about, and regularly use Google to find what they want at work. If they use it, then there is definately hope.
Its funny how companies work. I went to a little day long seminar thing hosted by companies included Novell & HP about Linux in Education.
They had a Novell rep who was so insistent about them NOT killing off Netware, he got quite offended whenever anyone made even the slightest quip about it.
This antitrust kind of nonsense is getting a little out of hand.. how is this any different to Apple shipping iTunes and Quicktime as the default music & video players on their operating system?
I use Media Player for playing video on my Windows PC (Winamp for music though!) - and whilst I understand this not to everyones taste, and that MS should offer alternatives - but I don't see how this is any different to Apple.
Slashdot Mirror
Finally.. the analogy I have been searching for but could never really put into words for Linux. The vegetarian thing is absolutely it...
All the times I have tried Linux on my desktop, i've tried it for the right reasons - fed up of Windows doing this, want to try something different, want to expand my knowledge a bit, etc.. but it really does feel like you are depriving yourself of a lot of features just because you want to have the ability to flick the V sign at Microsoft..
For me the biggest bain will always be poor hardware support - I don't blame Linux devs.. it really isnt their fault that hardware manufacturers will not open their products enough for people to produce suitable drivers, nor will they make any good Linux drivers themselves.. but at the end of the day I don't want to spend hours reading HOWTO's and endless threads on Google groups JUST on trying to get my NForce2 soundcard to output audio through the optical port on my NF7-S - I *DID* get it to work in the end, but it drove me nuts getting there.
And of course the last time I tried a Linux desktop @ home it was Fedora Core 2 - complete with its hilarious GRUB bug or whatever it is.. I never noticed it had altered my BIOS to make my drive operate in CHS mode.. and it wasn't till after I had totally blasted my boot drive and Windows STILL wasn't booting that I realised what had happened. I can tell you its left a sour taste that will be hard to shake.
Nice one - thanks for clearing that up for me :)
I am genuinely impressed at the 'water off a ducks back' attitude that guys like Linus have to this kind of BS - just let it roll off, and let the strength of the product sell itself, regardless of the nonsense going on around it.
But surely they should be entitled to sue for libel or slander or whatever it is.. everyone knows that Linus coded the original kernel way back in the day. Why can't these companies understand this?
Darl??
Whilst we are on the subject of this, I just wanted to ask a quick question to anyone who has been following this case religiously..
Is it likely that once IBM have finished annhilating SCO, are they then going to start a fresh lawsuit against them for damages?
As Groklaw pointed out, SCO made some outrageous claims against IBM.. and although this seems to have had completely the oppostite effect to the IBM & the Linux movement as whole that SCO imagined, are IBM likely to still sue and just firmly bury SCO once and for all? Surely they'd have a good case?
Does SCO really feel it could make all those claims, realise it made an enormous mistake (like we all knew it did the day these lawsuits came to light) and then just back away without anyone noticing?
Heres a few more good'uns...
u k :)
http://www.aria.co.uk
http://www.kustompcs.co.
Er.. so obviously you've never heard of a Tea Strainer before.. its just like a sieve but smaller :)
:)
Much how like Seinfeld said that drinking coffee results in having a lot of accessories to go with it, tea drinkers have similar accessories
What.. so wearing a very ill fitting replica uniform, conventions, and "fan fiction" which screams sexual frustration didn't set the alarm bells ringing already? :)
I like Star Trek (looks up at Next Generation DVD box sets) but the nerdier side of it makes me shivver.
Apparently the acceleratory (is that a word?) force of this car is so immense, that at full bore you are pulling the same kinds of G-Forces as you do on the vertical drops of a roller coaster ride.
;)
Does 186MPH in 14 seconds.. must be a terrifying experience for both the driver, and for his wallet when he comes to fill it up!
I figured as much.
:)
I'd of thought the 'UK' appended to my username might have helped you work out where I lived, but I guess not
Excuse me?
I think the British are the indiginous population of the UK.
Here - not sure if its linked off the main article or not, but discusses a lot of the reasons why its a good and bad idea.
Glad to see that privacy concerns, and not having to prove that you are a citizen are on that list.
To be honest, i'd be for ID cards in a way - we do have a bit of a problem with illegal immigrants in this country lately, who are totally abusing the system - the current trend is buying cheap cars, and then they just drive around the city in them with no tax insurance or anything.
Having ID cards would mean these guys could be instantly checked out, as many don't speak English and the police forces don't have the resources to be able to question them in any of the many different languages they use.
Yes, Intel x86 can handle many of the tasks that only Unix machines used to be able to handle. I'd just tend to debate whether they're capable of doing these tasks as cost effectively, as reliably, and as efficiently.
Well judging by the amount of people dropping their old UNIX gear, and taking up rackfulls of AMD or Intel boxes (especially the new 64bit offerings), i'd say the answer to that is a big YES.
Companies like Sun and SGI did used to really have a corner on the market.. but now their gear is slower than the competition and insanely overpriced. Don't get me wrong, they are all still the geeks ultimate play thing (I especially like SGI gear, and used to own a few old boxes) but price to performance ratio is soooo in Intel & AMD's favour right now.
Reliability is superb, runs a LOT of operating systems, scales very well (imagine a beowulf cluster of these...), and doesn't cost a lot of money.
Oh yeah.
:)
Sheesh.. no answer for that other than I am a complete idiot
Well if its about 13 months away, then your maths is WAY off.
:)
Try about 113,880 hours
Thats what I was going to say
Quite often there are a lot of legitimate uses for technologies that are often regarded as being used for nefarious purposes.
But mod chips were really designed with one thing in mind - allowing you to circumvent the in-built protection of consoles, to play copied games.
This is a much bigger problem for the console gaming industry as the majority of their money is made on software (Xbox is a good example), as they sell the hardware at a loss to encourage sales and undercut the competition.
Agreed - I couldn't help but read right through to the last page, as every page of pictures was more fascinating than the last.
Best site linked from Slashdot in a LONG time.
I dunno.. i'm usually a pretty big pessimist, but Google has become such a HUGELY well known company. Googleing for something is now a pretty standard phrase..
I think even Microsofts search page being set as the default on the newer versions of Windows (which obviously would have the anti-trust / monopoly alarm bells ringing) would still not stop people from using Google.
Hell - even both of my parents know about, and regularly use Google to find what they want at work. If they use it, then there is definately hope.
Its funny how companies work. I went to a little day long seminar thing hosted by companies included Novell & HP about Linux in Education.
They had a Novell rep who was so insistent about them NOT killing off Netware, he got quite offended whenever anyone made even the slightest quip about it.
Ho hum.
This antitrust kind of nonsense is getting a little out of hand.. how is this any different to Apple shipping iTunes and Quicktime as the default music & video players on their operating system?
I use Media Player for playing video on my Windows PC (Winamp for music though!) - and whilst I understand this not to everyones taste, and that MS should offer alternatives - but I don't see how this is any different to Apple.
What you think you're some kinda Jedi, waving your hand around like that? I'm a Toydarian. Mind tricks don'ta work on me - only money. :)
All your customer are belong to us ;)
"I believe you'd get your ass kicked sayin somethin like that man." :)
Well not only that, but they will be booting off a provided Linux CD, which will enable them to join the cluster.
:)
If you are so worried just remove the HDD from the machine you take, and you won't have any problems?
Both very good, and served in curry houses across the city I live in, in the UK.
:)
Both compliment Indian food very well