IMO, the drift towards politics was fine. K5 never was, nor should try to be a slashdot clone. The problem with K5 is that the trolls took over. The intellgent debate grew less and less, and by now the average discussion is on the level of "yo mamma". Slashdot isn't much better, but the "yo mamma" stuff is hidden here and some of the higher rated stuff isn't half bad.
I used to buy VHS tapes all the time. I seldom buy DVDs. Why should I? DVDs will be dead soon, so why should I get a bunch of dead DVDs to place next to my dead VHSs?
Like the OP, I want portability. Since I don't have it, my money is non-portable; it stays in my wallet and not in the RIAA's.
Yes, it is. I think Google is one of the better companies, but it's still a company. "Do no evil" is a great marketing slogan, but you can't really trust ANY company, not even Google.
We are finally at a point in history where the government, the toughest gang in town, *actually responds to the common person*. There are people in government who actually care about being fair and doing what's right, instead of just exercising power
*spews Coke on monitor*
I suppose there might be a few people in government who want to do what's right, but they're far outnumber by the power-grabbers. And, unless we get a lot more "common people" off their butts, the government responds more to the corporate lobbiests than to the common person.
Or Khartoum, where people walk the city streets with Hyenas and Baboons on chains for personal protection
If only hyenas and babboons could protect against Elephants and Donkeys.
When you start reducing legitimate democratic government, you have either corporations exploiting working people like in the US at the turn of the 20th century
Don't you mean the turn of the 21st century? And the government (both parties) is in their pockets.
Okay, my definition is "available" means you can walk into a Comp USA and find it. Pre-loaded XP? Well, duh! Pre-loaded Macs? You might have to walk past all the Doze boxen, but they're there. Linux? No pre-loaded boxen, but there are SuSe & Linspire DVDs there. But installing it is YMMV, and most people would be scared to even try. With the other 2 options, they don't have to.
The real test should be with what's available to Joe Sixpack. Pre-installed XP is available, pre-installed Linux isn't. And the installation is the biggest hurdle Linux has to overcome.
I agree that for many people, pre-installed Linux is easy enough. Point-and-click is the same in any GUI and Joe Sixpack or Sally Secretary need training in any software, including Windows. But, at least for now, the home user has to GET Linux on his machine, and that can be a daunting task.
There are two big differences. The million and one packages available in Linux are free (beer). You have to pay for each and every one for Windows. Also, it would be convienient to be able to install/upgrade Windows software with a simple "apt-get".
are you comparing pre-installed XP versus DIY Linux?
Unfortunately, that's a fair comparison. I can walk into a Comp USA and walk out with a pre-installed XP box. Where's the Linux boxen in those stores? You have to install Linux, and it's not always as easy as it should be. If you're lucky, you can just pop in the DVD, answer a few easy questions, and have a working system, but it doesn't always work that smoothly.
In most of your examples, the odds of getting caught are high enough to keep them reasonably honest. That's not neccesarily true of the antivirus companies. And it's a known fact that Microsoft has long looked the other way while pirates were increasing Windows market share.
TV is still an important medium by which ideas and knowledge can be disseminated.
*spews Coke on monitor*
I like TV for entertainment, but it's not much good for disseminating knowledge. If I want knowledge, I'll go online. TV normally disseminates propoganda, either from our govenment, or more often, the commercial sponsors.
Damned if you do, damned if you don't. MS probably thinks they're better off waiting and having the crackers bork your box than it would be by releasing a bad patch and borking your box directly.
Contact your credit union and tell them their website is borken. If they don't fix it, you'll have to take your money somewhere that has a working website.
Slashdot Mirror
IMO, the drift towards politics was fine. K5 never was, nor should try to be a slashdot clone. The problem with K5 is that the trolls took over. The intellgent debate grew less and less, and by now the average discussion is on the level of "yo mamma". Slashdot isn't much better, but the "yo mamma" stuff is hidden here and some of the higher rated stuff isn't half bad.
Providing a web browser and media player is fine. But I should be able to get rid of them to get something better.
Which category does China fall into? Or Soviet Russia? Or Nazi Germany?
I used to buy VHS tapes all the time. I seldom buy DVDs. Why should I? DVDs will be dead soon, so why should I get a bunch of dead DVDs to place next to my dead VHSs?
Like the OP, I want portability. Since I don't have it, my money is non-portable; it stays in my wallet and not in the RIAA's.
Yes, it is. I think Google is one of the better companies, but it's still a company. "Do no evil" is a great marketing slogan, but you can't really trust ANY company, not even Google.
*spews Coke on monitor*
I suppose there might be a few people in government who want to do what's right, but they're far outnumber by the power-grabbers. And, unless we get a lot more "common people" off their butts, the government responds more to the corporate lobbiests than to the common person.
If only hyenas and babboons could protect against Elephants and Donkeys.
Don't you mean the turn of the 21st century? And the government (both parties) is in their pockets.
Add Quicken to the list. Gnucash isn't quite good enough. For that matter, neither is the Mac version of Quicken.
Okay, my definition is "available" means you can walk into a Comp USA and find it. Pre-loaded XP? Well, duh! Pre-loaded Macs? You might have to walk past all the Doze boxen, but they're there. Linux? No pre-loaded boxen, but there are SuSe & Linspire DVDs there. But installing it is YMMV, and most people would be scared to even try. With the other 2 options, they don't have to.
Sony should be forced to label their CDs with a skull and crossbones, and a warning that Sony CDs may bork your PC.
The real test should be with what's available to Joe Sixpack. Pre-installed XP is available, pre-installed Linux isn't. And the installation is the biggest hurdle Linux has to overcome.
I agree that for many people, pre-installed Linux is easy enough. Point-and-click is the same in any GUI and Joe Sixpack or Sally Secretary need training in any software, including Windows. But, at least for now, the home user has to GET Linux on his machine, and that can be a daunting task.
Especially in 9 years!
There are two big differences. The million and one packages available in Linux are free (beer). You have to pay for each and every one for Windows. Also, it would be convienient to be able to install/upgrade Windows software with a simple "apt-get".
Unfortunately, that's a fair comparison. I can walk into a Comp USA and walk out with a pre-installed XP box. Where's the Linux boxen in those stores? You have to install Linux, and it's not always as easy as it should be. If you're lucky, you can just pop in the DVD, answer a few easy questions, and have a working system, but it doesn't always work that smoothly.
I use Tivo for recording TV shows, and I buy new DVDs to play on my computer. But I also have 1,001 perfectly good VHS tapes.
for Esperanto!
In most of your examples, the odds of getting caught are high enough to keep them reasonably honest. That's not neccesarily true of the antivirus companies. And it's a known fact that Microsoft has long looked the other way while pirates were increasing Windows market share.
Norton borked my machine. To un-bork it, I uninstalled Norton and installed avast! I was surprised at how much faster my machine ran afterward.
I've survived in Minnesota. How bad could Pluto be?
*spews Coke on monitor*
I like TV for entertainment, but it's not much good for disseminating knowledge. If I want knowledge, I'll go online. TV normally disseminates propoganda, either from our govenment, or more often, the commercial sponsors.
I am NOT a "mass"!
Yeah, the above poster must have been thinking about Microsoft's security.
Damned if you do, damned if you don't. MS probably thinks they're better off waiting and having the crackers bork your box than it would be by releasing a bad patch and borking your box directly.
Actually, they do. But it's not too hard to come up with 12 * 0 bucks.
Maybe they think borked systems would hurt them worse.
Contact your credit union and tell them their website is borken. If they don't fix it, you'll have to take your money somewhere that has a working website.