The fastest growing segment of the computer industry, netbooks, are substantially run with Linux. These versions are easier to use, less suseptible to viruses, and generally do much better with the available resources than the windows versions of the same machines.
The year of the desktop is past. Linux is on the laptop today. Pick it up on a netbook. I think you'll be surprised at how wrong you are about its viability.
I think any kid would prefer local applications to cloud computing. If I was a kid, getting out of school and realising none of my icons work anymore would seem like a raw deal.
I think any kid would prefer not getting viruses. If I was a kid, clicking on a link a friend sent me through MSN and then having my computer crap out for the rest of the school year would suck.
I don't think electricity is a good idea for cars as they exist today.
Right now, cars are massive, they're heavy, they're expensive.
Why the hell would I want to pay for a car that only goes 75km for 5 years?! Why the hell would I want that car to take up a huge amount of space in my driveway?!
A more ideal electric vehicle would be inexpensive; less than $2000. A more ideal electric vehicle would be small; I should be able to fold it up and hang it on the wall in my garage when I'm not using it. A more ideal electric vehicle would be light; I should be able to fold it up and hang it on the wall in my garage when I'm not using it without a forklift.
Regular people would still likely own cars. They'd need one for trips, for towing the boat, for days when the electric just won't do the job, or it's too cold to use the electric (Batteries hate cold). An ideal electric vehicle would be more like a 4-wheel electric bicycle, with enough room for 2 people, a top speed of 50 km/h, room for a couple bags of groceries, an EXTREMELY light, watertight skin (It should be able to handle a foot of snow on the roof, but not someone standing on it), and a range that's short, but a hell of a lot longer than any of the "cars pretending to be environmentally friendly" we're seeing today. It'll take a change in our conception of a vehicle, but it'd be very useful.
If I were in the government, my goal would be to legalize a new class of vehicle for public roadways that would be designed specifically for 50km/h use and no more, with greatly reduced safety regulations, and for internal combusion engine vehicles, greatly reduced particulate emissions standards if the economy is beyond a certain level (for example, 80MPG city).
I'm going to second this. The biggest problem is that after fossil fuels, growing things isn't energy-free.
The only reason we can grow enough food to keep the world population from collapsing is nitrogen fertilizer. The main process used to create ammonia for nitrogen fertilizer uses natural gas and compresses it with atmospheric nitrogen and steam past a catalyst. No more natural gas, no more hydrogen, no more ammonia, no more fertilizer.
Creating enough hydrogen to bind with nitrogen to turn into ammonia to turn into enough fertilizer to feed the world will cost about a third of current world renewable and nuclear electricity capacity.
Creating hydrogen (which can be used as a fuel in vehicles) with electricity(which can be used as a fuel in vehicles) to grow crops to process using more electricity to create fuel for vehicles will be a stupid waste of energy after fossil fuels.
In my case, I learned how to program. Teaching a guy like me WP4 is a bit like going over basic circuit theory with Tesla(as I imagine it was for most everyone here)
It used to be I assumed by default that anyone I met under a certain age could use a computer. A couple of the girls I've dated have blown that hypothesis out of the water.
I have to guess it's "Either you learn how to do this or you're fired".
I know learning Wordperfect 4 for DOS back in middle school was of great service to me, since that standard endured, and the specific knowledge I learned remained relevant.
"The ambassador to India demanded to know why I asked the congress to raise the tarriff on cheesecloth. To this, I did respond 'post tits lol'. She was outraged, telling me I was skirting the line beyond which India would begin nuclear war with the United States. I am adamant that my choice was the right one; I responded to this threat of nuclear force with 'tits or GTFO'. So you might want to get some sunscreen."
I never cited any benefits. I just re-affirmed that if your CTO tells you to use product X, you're going to use product X, by using a real-life example.
I want to be contrarian because it was -30C this morning and I know full well I'd be forced to stay outside during recess if I was still in school, but I've got to agree with you.
I'm an advocate for children's rights, and I'm appalled at the way children aren't given the same rights and protections as adult workers are. The teachers are entitled to go inside when it's cold thanks to workplace health and safety legislation, yet the students are told they aren't allowed to go inside when they're cold by those same teachers.
If your company decides to ignore every way that they can save money because it's a small saving, then your company is going to move to China and you'll be unemployed.
Mills, factories, mines, they're shutting down left and right, around the country, around the continent, around the world. The reason is that they're not competitive with mining and manufacturing in countries like China. Either work smarter, save every penny you can, or you'll disappear.
If Linux and Free and Open Source Software can save you a few hundred dollars per workstation, then it's not good enough to say "Oh, that's not a large cost". The world isn't the same one we had in 1970. Adapt or die.
This is a critical thing that people don't realise.
Eecol Electric up here in Canada uses Linux and OpenOffice. You don't get to use Windows, because that's not what they run. At the end of the day, if you're not an idiot, that's never a problem because an office suite is an office suite is an office suite, an e-mail program is an e-mail program is an e-mail program, and if you've grown up with this attitude, you'll never have a problem. If you understand what you're doing, you never need to be trained for a particular piece of software. If you don't understand what you're doing, God help you even if you are trained for years and years.
I worked in a school board IT department for a year. Your wife is now one of my heroes. I spent an entire summer cleaning spyware out of school machines. These machines were often in rooms where the teachers had spent years begging for new hardware. The money for new hardware would have been wasted, since the spyware was the cause of the problems, not a lack of hardware resources.
Linux would've been immune to spyware. It would've been immune to the viruses we ended up chasing that the virus detection software didn't catch. It would've been immune to many of the problems we chased in our day-to-day lives.
Basically, properly configured linux boxes would've made the job in IT more about IT and less about fire-fighting.
"You catch more flies with honey than vinegar" works both ways.
Send a letter saying "I'm going to call the police! You're a criminal! Software isn't free!", and expect to get a diatribe of hate back.
I wish they'd've posted the e-mail address. I would've sent them a few dozen e-mails with the public domain games, utilities, and libraries I've written. "Hi, idiot! Guess what? This is free for anyone to download, use, change! Totally free! Want to sell copies? Go ahead! It's free! Want to know how I know? I WROTE IT."
I don't run an IT department, but I AM in charge of the household computer. I decided on Linux because I'm not interested in tinkering with spyware and virus infested computers for hours a day.
Seeing how perfectly it just sits there without problems, I'd run my business on Linux any day. It'd mean a much smaller IT department and greater availability.
Working in customer service, I always found that matching the tone of a customer was a great way to build rapport, allowing you to help the customer help themselves.
Being polite and friendly will get your face knocked in.
It'd be best if they forced everyone to know how to drive on icy or wet streets in a manual transmission vehicle with no traction control devices and standard brakes.
Similarly, if you teach someone how to use linux, Windows should be a cakewalk. That's how it worked for DOS, for the most part. People learned how to use the hard way to get places, so the easy way became easy.
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You're dead wrong.
The fastest growing segment of the computer industry, netbooks, are substantially run with Linux. These versions are easier to use, less suseptible to viruses, and generally do much better with the available resources than the windows versions of the same machines.
The year of the desktop is past. Linux is on the laptop today. Pick it up on a netbook. I think you'll be surprised at how wrong you are about its viability.
I think any kid would prefer local applications to cloud computing. If I was a kid, getting out of school and realising none of my icons work anymore would seem like a raw deal.
I think any kid would prefer not getting viruses. If I was a kid, clicking on a link a friend sent me through MSN and then having my computer crap out for the rest of the school year would suck.
Why is your nerd dick so hard for Windows?
I don't think electricity is a good idea for cars as they exist today.
Right now, cars are massive, they're heavy, they're expensive.
Why the hell would I want to pay for a car that only goes 75km for 5 years?! Why the hell would I want that car to take up a huge amount of space in my driveway?!
A more ideal electric vehicle would be inexpensive; less than $2000. A more ideal electric vehicle would be small; I should be able to fold it up and hang it on the wall in my garage when I'm not using it. A more ideal electric vehicle would be light; I should be able to fold it up and hang it on the wall in my garage when I'm not using it without a forklift.
Regular people would still likely own cars. They'd need one for trips, for towing the boat, for days when the electric just won't do the job, or it's too cold to use the electric (Batteries hate cold). An ideal electric vehicle would be more like a 4-wheel electric bicycle, with enough room for 2 people, a top speed of 50 km/h, room for a couple bags of groceries, an EXTREMELY light, watertight skin (It should be able to handle a foot of snow on the roof, but not someone standing on it), and a range that's short, but a hell of a lot longer than any of the "cars pretending to be environmentally friendly" we're seeing today. It'll take a change in our conception of a vehicle, but it'd be very useful.
If I were in the government, my goal would be to legalize a new class of vehicle for public roadways that would be designed specifically for 50km/h use and no more, with greatly reduced safety regulations, and for internal combusion engine vehicles, greatly reduced particulate emissions standards if the economy is beyond a certain level (for example, 80MPG city).
I'm going to second this. The biggest problem is that after fossil fuels, growing things isn't energy-free.
The only reason we can grow enough food to keep the world population from collapsing is nitrogen fertilizer. The main process used to create ammonia for nitrogen fertilizer uses natural gas and compresses it with atmospheric nitrogen and steam past a catalyst. No more natural gas, no more hydrogen, no more ammonia, no more fertilizer.
Creating enough hydrogen to bind with nitrogen to turn into ammonia to turn into enough fertilizer to feed the world will cost about a third of current world renewable and nuclear electricity capacity.
Creating hydrogen (which can be used as a fuel in vehicles) with electricity(which can be used as a fuel in vehicles) to grow crops to process using more electricity to create fuel for vehicles will be a stupid waste of energy after fossil fuels.
Americans make a lot less money than I expected.
In my case, I learned how to program. Teaching a guy like me WP4 is a bit like going over basic circuit theory with Tesla(as I imagine it was for most everyone here)
It used to be I assumed by default that anyone I met under a certain age could use a computer. A couple of the girls I've dated have blown that hypothesis out of the water.
I have to guess it's "Either you learn how to do this or you're fired".
I know learning Wordperfect 4 for DOS back in middle school was of great service to me, since that standard endured, and the specific knowledge I learned remained relevant.
Oh wait.
Schools are funded by the department of education as well as at the state level, if I'm not mistaken. That's how NCLB is enforced.
"The ambassador to India demanded to know why I asked the congress to raise the tarriff on cheesecloth. To this, I did respond 'post tits lol'. She was outraged, telling me I was skirting the line beyond which India would begin nuclear war with the United States. I am adamant that my choice was the right one; I responded to this threat of nuclear force with 'tits or GTFO'. So you might want to get some sunscreen."
I never cited any benefits. I just re-affirmed that if your CTO tells you to use product X, you're going to use product X, by using a real-life example.
I want to be contrarian because it was -30C this morning and I know full well I'd be forced to stay outside during recess if I was still in school, but I've got to agree with you.
I'm an advocate for children's rights, and I'm appalled at the way children aren't given the same rights and protections as adult workers are. The teachers are entitled to go inside when it's cold thanks to workplace health and safety legislation, yet the students are told they aren't allowed to go inside when they're cold by those same teachers.
If your company decides to ignore every way that they can save money because it's a small saving, then your company is going to move to China and you'll be unemployed.
Mills, factories, mines, they're shutting down left and right, around the country, around the continent, around the world. The reason is that they're not competitive with mining and manufacturing in countries like China. Either work smarter, save every penny you can, or you'll disappear.
If Linux and Free and Open Source Software can save you a few hundred dollars per workstation, then it's not good enough to say "Oh, that's not a large cost". The world isn't the same one we had in 1970. Adapt or die.
If you know what the hell you're doing, you're not calling tech support.
If you know what the hell about linux, you're not threatening to call the cops because something illegal must be going on.
Frankly, outside the computing world, Linux is essentially invisible.
Outside of the vehicle world, Ford is essentially invisible.
Sort of goes without saying, doesn't it?
This is a critical thing that people don't realise.
Eecol Electric up here in Canada uses Linux and OpenOffice. You don't get to use Windows, because that's not what they run. At the end of the day, if you're not an idiot, that's never a problem because an office suite is an office suite is an office suite, an e-mail program is an e-mail program is an e-mail program, and if you've grown up with this attitude, you'll never have a problem. If you understand what you're doing, you never need to be trained for a particular piece of software. If you don't understand what you're doing, God help you even if you are trained for years and years.
If you ignore then 1000 things that could save the company 1000 dollars each, you've just lost the company a million dollars.
True. If the punishment was documented, it could be both. :)
I worked in a school board IT department for a year. Your wife is now one of my heroes. I spent an entire summer cleaning spyware out of school machines. These machines were often in rooms where the teachers had spent years begging for new hardware. The money for new hardware would have been wasted, since the spyware was the cause of the problems, not a lack of hardware resources.
Linux would've been immune to spyware. It would've been immune to the viruses we ended up chasing that the virus detection software didn't catch. It would've been immune to many of the problems we chased in our day-to-day lives.
Basically, properly configured linux boxes would've made the job in IT more about IT and less about fire-fighting.
She reprimanded the child for allegedly illegal activities.
This is disseminating falsehoods with a reckless disregard for the truth, the definition of libel.
"You catch more flies with honey than vinegar" works both ways.
Send a letter saying "I'm going to call the police! You're a criminal! Software isn't free!", and expect to get a diatribe of hate back.
I wish they'd've posted the e-mail address. I would've sent them a few dozen e-mails with the public domain games, utilities, and libraries I've written. "Hi, idiot! Guess what? This is free for anyone to download, use, change! Totally free! Want to sell copies? Go ahead! It's free! Want to know how I know? I WROTE IT."
Money from Microsoft doesn't come through a series of tubes. It's more like a big truck.
I don't run an IT department, but I AM in charge of the household computer. I decided on Linux because I'm not interested in tinkering with spyware and virus infested computers for hours a day.
Seeing how perfectly it just sits there without problems, I'd run my business on Linux any day. It'd mean a much smaller IT department and greater availability.
I'm going to disagree here.
Working in customer service, I always found that matching the tone of a customer was a great way to build rapport, allowing you to help the customer help themselves.
Being polite and friendly will get your face knocked in.
It'd be best if they forced everyone to know how to drive on icy or wet streets in a manual transmission vehicle with no traction control devices and standard brakes.
Similarly, if you teach someone how to use linux, Windows should be a cakewalk. That's how it worked for DOS, for the most part. People learned how to use the hard way to get places, so the easy way became easy.