Linux is still far from being mainstream capable. Installing that, for the common folk, is NOT easy.
To go at a slight tangent...
To be honest, I don't think that the difficulty of installing Linux is actually a real issue. The recent Linux installations I have made (most recently SUSE and Mandrake) have been almost as easy as the last Windows install that I did (Win98). But that's not the point I wanted to make.
My real point is that I believe that there are relatively few people out there who have actually installed any form of OS. The average desktop user will be either using the OS that was preloaded on their PC, or whatever their company's IT department gave them. Those of us willing to tinker are the minority.
What people are more likely to be installing are applications -- or, more to the point, games. Once they are easy to install, people might start to convert, and PC manufacturers might see a bit more demand.
Something I heard on the news on BBC Radio 4 made me chuckle. It was describing the potential threat and pointing out that Code Red was 'Not like a normal virus that needs you to open an email' or words to that effect. Hmm...
Of course I wish more of the media coverage would criticize Microsoft for making holey software that allows these worms to propagate so easily, but you can't always get what you want.
I'm not sure it's entirely MS's fault. Their software may be more holey than the alternatives, but not by the orders of magnitude that many would believe. It's just that the alternatives are often administered by more clued-up people who are more active in protecting their systems (yeah, sweeping generalisation, I know).
Besides, if there was another OS that was as high profile as Windows, I'm sure there'd be a lot more attacks against it, if only to get the media coverage and egoboo.
Its the same for copyrights, J.Hendrix is dead! Why are his cds so expensive?
At the risk of wandering a little from the topic, copyright lasts for (IIRC) 50 years from the death of the creator (although I have a funny feeling that it is longer now). There is a theory that this particular length of time was chosen largely due to the German government wanting Mein Kampf from coming out of copyright, and the US gov wanting to protect Micky Mouse. Not sure this theory stands up to real scrutiny though.
It does seem to be that way, but isn't there some sort of ruling about "prior art" or some such? In other words, if it can be shown that the patent is on something already in use, it can't be made to stick. (I'm not sure about the specifics though.)
I've always wondered about how this applies to people who patent the Light Blue Fruit Tree sap or somesuch, claiming that what they are actually patenting is the use as a medicine, while some Amazonian tribe has been using it in the same way for centuries. Grr...
This makes me think of Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, where VCRs are described as machines that watch TV for you, so you don't have to. Sounds like there is some truth in this.
Slashdot Mirror
...Or a Blue Screen Of Death.
To go at a slight tangent...
To be honest, I don't think that the difficulty of installing Linux is actually a real issue. The recent Linux installations I have made (most recently SUSE and Mandrake) have been almost as easy as the last Windows install that I did (Win98). But that's not the point I wanted to make.
My real point is that I believe that there are relatively few people out there who have actually installed any form of OS. The average desktop user will be either using the OS that was preloaded on their PC, or whatever their company's IT department gave them. Those of us willing to tinker are the minority.
What people are more likely to be installing are applications -- or, more to the point, games. Once they are easy to install, people might start to convert, and PC manufacturers might see a bit more demand.
Something I heard on the news on BBC Radio 4 made me chuckle. It was describing the potential threat and pointing out that Code Red was 'Not like a normal virus that needs you to open an email' or words to that effect. Hmm...
Of course I wish more of the media coverage would criticize Microsoft for making holey software that allows these worms to propagate so easily, but you can't always get what you want.
I'm not sure it's entirely MS's fault. Their software may be more holey than the alternatives, but not by the orders of magnitude that many would believe. It's just that the alternatives are often administered by more clued-up people who are more active in protecting their systems (yeah, sweeping generalisation, I know).
Besides, if there was another OS that was as high profile as Windows, I'm sure there'd be a lot more attacks against it, if only to get the media coverage and egoboo.
Its the same for copyrights, J.Hendrix is dead! Why are his cds so expensive?
At the risk of wandering a little from the topic, copyright lasts for (IIRC) 50 years from the death of the creator (although I have a funny feeling that it is longer now). There is a theory that this particular length of time was chosen largely due to the German government wanting Mein Kampf from coming out of copyright, and the US gov wanting to protect Micky Mouse. Not sure this theory stands up to real scrutiny though.It does seem to be that way, but isn't there some sort of ruling about "prior art" or some such? In other words, if it can be shown that the patent is on something already in use, it can't be made to stick. (I'm not sure about the specifics though.) I've always wondered about how this applies to people who patent the Light Blue Fruit Tree sap or somesuch, claiming that what they are actually patenting is the use as a medicine, while some Amazonian tribe has been using it in the same way for centuries. Grr...
Yes, but are they compatible with high speed fish?
I was planning on clustering my collection of ZX81's. Now that would be a supercomputer...
This makes me think of Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, where VCRs are described as machines that watch TV for you, so you don't have to. Sounds like there is some truth in this.