It really is so sad to see that so very many people just flat out 'don't get it' and most likely never will.
Microsoft cares about one thing, and ONLY one thing. Separating you from as much of your hard earned money as possible, as frequently as possible, with any excuse they can find to do that.
I run W98SE and Vector Linux in a dual-boot config. On a machine that, by most people's lights, ought to have been thrown out long ago. A P-300 with 128MB.
I will *never* run Windows XP. Never.
If anybody thinks that it is 'perfectly ok' to tell a legal and paying customer that 'so sorry dude, but your brand-new computer is turning into a doorstop if you don't call us in 30 days...' what rock have YOU been living under bro?
Hello? The typical 'retail' price of XP is usd$300. For that you get the 'right' to call Microsoft within 30-days or have your 'Operating System' (Linux is an Operating System - XP is a joke) just quit functioning.
Don't even start with the whole 'anti-piracy' bit either. It is simply not even relevant. There is always going to be at least some degree of piracy. Nothing to be done about that. But, Microsoft being the greedy pigs they are, have found a way to track people via the 'activation' and 'upgrade' bit that don't even give it a second thought.
Not the end users....well that is to be expected.
Not the Corporate CIO's... they just shrug their shoulders when the latest virus/worm/whatever takes down their systems world-wide...AGAIN...
Nobody cares...
Like sheep to the slaughter. Running a joke of an OS that isn't even an OS. Security holes you could drive a mack truck through and Microsoft just refuses to do anything about them.
I sit back and just laugh...
You guys take it far too seriously. Don't get XP. Don't get the security holes. Simple. There is no law that says you HAVE to have the absolute latest version from Microsoft. Even if that is what they tell you.
Better yet, ditch MS completely and go to a Mac running OS X or just a straight up Linux box. Go to Walmart.com and tell me what you see in the computer section...
laughing... yep... just ditch M$ completely and you don't have to worry about any silly worms.
How much more 'mainstream' does Linux have to get before people quit ragging on every little detail? Far as I am concerned if you can buy a 'pre-installed' system at Walmart.com that is about as 'mainstream' as you can get. Come on people.
Wake up and smell the java already.....speaking of which I need to brew up a pot...
There are already a couple of sites that provide a way for folks to determine if a piece of hardware is "Linux friendly" - if not "Linux certified". The problem is that probably not that many people even know about them. Those that do know about them probably don't use them as much as they should - meaning that they should be putting their reviews on the site to assist someone else down the road.
<http://www.lhd.datapower.com>
Pretty sure that's the url for the Linux hardware database. pretty good site but still in the "building" stage for sure.
So, one thing we can do is to support the programs and sites and so forth that are already there.
Another thing - and this is a biggie - if you do your research ahead of time (you did didn't you?) and you find a vendor that doesn't support Linux, or gives that support "lip service" at best, then you should let them know that you find that attitude unacceptable in a hardware (or software) vendor, tell them you'll not spend *dime one* of your money with such a short-sighted company, and then ensure you tell other's about it.
I was recently looking for a tape drive. I run Red Hat - exclusively. I went to the HP site as I'd seen a reference somewhere or other to them having "linux-certified" drives. They do all right. For their "high-end" and very expensive "server" models that are completely out of line for purchase in a home-office environment. I don't *have* the kind of budget that can justify spending $1000 (or more) on a tape drive.
I asked about their "support" for drives that aren't "Linux certifited" as they had a couple of models that I *know* for a fact will work with a bit of tweaking of ftape and configs and so forth, you lose the software compression of course but you can have a usable tape drive.
Their response? "We don't support it." When I inquired further I determined that went so far as to "not support" the drives - even a brand-new drive purchased from them - UNLESS you could "test the drive" under MS Windows!
I don't even have a copy of Windows in my HOUSE, let alone on my system, and I'll be damned if I'll put another $100 in the pockets of Gates and Co. to be able to get "support" for *hardware* from a major vendor like HP.
I won't buy ANY HP products until such time as I can determine that they've managed to find their way "back to daylight" and have pulled their corporate heads out of their asses.
I'm not holding my breath.
The techs I spoke to were very sympathethic, indeed some of them ran Linux on their personal systems, but they don't make the decisions.
Vote with your wallet. Better yet, pass the word along about your experiences, good and bad, and simply refuse to do business with a company that "doesn't get it" until they do.
They understand dollars and cents.
You (we) don't need a "central authority" for Linux Certification. What we need is for the people that run Linux to make their voices heard about such things as the HP experience I had. Send the head of the company email and tell him (or her) how you feel. And that you'll not spend any money whatsoever with them until they see fit to change their attitudes.
Now, maybe one person doesn't make all that much difference to a company like HP. Nor the loss of one sale of one tape drive. But I assure you that if the CEO starts to see email flowing into his box from thousands of people, in a wide variety of job descriptions and purchasing abilities, he'll wake up. The moment he realizes that his short-sigthedness has cost his company easily a few million in sales he'll start to pay attention.
That's how the world really works.
Please note that my decision to run a "pure" Linux system is a personal choice. If someone else either wants, or needs, to run MS Windows then so be it. It should be a choice that you made on your own, not had shoved down your throat.
Even then, if you have a copy of Windows installed and are running a dual-boot config, the same things apply. Don't buy from people that don't support Linux in a fashion that you think is right. If you have Windows, and don't see any particular problem with having to test a piece of hardware under Windows to get the "support" of a major vendor like HP then fine.
I was downtown for a few hours today. I was not able to go to work because they stopped the buses on 3rd so no way to get there.
Having discovered that (just shortly after noon) I went in search of a payphone to call my boss and let him know what was going on.
Anyone that lives in Seattle can tell you that finding a payphone in downtown can be a bit of a challenge at the best of times. Today it was worse than usual as many of the stores were closed already.
I finally found an open Red Robin and went inside to use the payphone. The guy just inside the door said "no - that's for paying guests only..." I asked to speak to the manager - she said the same thing - but she finally relented (with ill grace) and allowed me to use the phone to call my boss. When I'd finished she - again - made a point to tell me that the payphone was supposed to be "for paying guests only"
You want to know WHY you have people protesting in the streets about the WTO? THAT is why! That attitude that even something as simple as using a "public payphone" in a restaurant to call your boss because the "powers that be" have decided to shut down the buses that you rely on for transportation is something that must be "bought and paid for" by the purchase of a meal in the restaurant. Sick. Truly sick.
As for the "riot" I was downtown for several hours and saw nothing that could even be REMOTELY considered a "riot" by ANY stretch of the imagination. To call the reports of the "mainsteam media" grossly over-blown would be an understatement.
Yes. There was looting of a Starbucks. Last night they spray-painted a Micky D's - I'm not sure if the windows were broken on that or not but when I came by last night (about 9 p.m. on my way home from work) I didn't see any broken windows there. This afternoon the McD's had plywood on the windows. And a fresh paintjob to cover the graffitti. Who knows.
All in all I have to say that this is about as far from a "riot" as it's possible to get. The media is doing nothing more - and nothing less - then trying to sell air-time, newspapers, whatever because you sure can't tell ME that a "riot" took place.
L.A. after the Rodney King verdict with the city in flames now THAT was a "riot" and no mistake about it. This? Yeah, sure.
What nobody seems to want to think about is that the police - I saw this on TV earlier this evening after getting home - were using teargas on protestors that were NOT doing anything other than standing still. They weren't throwing anything. They weren't burning anything.
In fact, the only things that have been burned so far that I know of for sure are a couple of wooden saw-horse type traffic barriers and some of their own signs. Hardly the stuff of "riots" is it?
They were - however - in the "exclusion zone" that the police had decided on. It was after 7PM and so the protestors were "in violation" of a police-imposed "curfew" which is the excuse the police used to bring out the teargas and pepper spray.
Can anyone spell "martial law??" Since when does a 7PM "curfew" for "protesting" become an "acceptable" part of the social fabric of the United States? Damned if I didn't flat out just MISS that one!
Make no mistake here - they said - quite clearly - that if you "had legitimate business downtown" that the "curfew would not apply." It is "for protesters only." Of course, you know who gets to decide if you have "legitimate business" downtown don't you? The police of course. All they need now are the swastikas and stiff-arm salute.
There were a FEW - and I mean a VERY few - protesters that came to Seattle with the intent to do "damage" from the outset. That's to be expected at a gathering of this many people I would suppose.
To give you some perspective on what I mean I heard this afternoon from a lady with a sign that she'd seen - yesterday - about 30 people all dressed in black and with 2x4's with nails looking to break stuff up. 30 people.
How many *tens of thousands* of people came here to Seattle? The AFL-CIO march this afternoon probably had at least a couple hundred TIMES the number of "protesters" that had the 2x4's and looking to break stuff up. Who gets remembered? The 30 people.
The vast majority of the protesters however are here to express their opinions that the WTO sucks. They brought their signs. They brought their bullhorns. They didn't loot anything.
What are people going to remember? The looted Starbucks. The picture of the "bonfire" (made up of their own signs for the most part) in the middle of the street that is blazed across TV and newspapers to give the impression that there is a hell of a LOT of stuff like that going on.
Nothing could be further from the truth. There IS NO RIOT in Seattle! At least not tonight.
Tomorrow when the 2 companies of National Guard show up though that may be a whole different story. That, in and of itself, is an action that is completely UNCALLED for based on what I have seen with my own two eyes today.
Personally I think the WTO sucks. That is my right to have that opinion.
But what sucks even worse is the way that the police are going out of their way to ride roughshod over the rights of peaceful protesters - and having it be "egged on" by the "media" since they are presenting this whole situation as a "riot" and thereby giving the police - in the mind of the public that doesn't know any better - the "right" to use "whatever force is necessary" to "quell the riot" - the riot that doesn't even exist!
Don't be "sheep." Think for yourselves. I assume that shouldn't be too much of a chore for those that will read these words given where it's being posted.
I'll be back downtown tomorrow. I have to try and make it to work again. This time though I'm packing a lunch and taking some water.
If the buses aren't running again - highly likely given the state of completely idiotic "paranoia" running unchecked among the authorities - I'll be joining in to add my voice to the calls for justice - economic or otherwise - that brought the protestors to Seattle with their signs.
You might be sitting there thinking that this "doesn't concern me." I hate to break this to you but it surely does.
Why? Because if the police can ride roughshod over "rioters" in Seattle today you can know for a certainty that it's going to be even easier to do it the next time someplace else. With Seattle to point to as an example of how "badly" the "right to protest" can be "mis-used."
So, they will "eliminate" that "problem" (or "potential problem") by "eliminating" the "right to protest" and then you don't have to worry your little head about such weighty issues anymore.
So think about it. Do you DO something? Or go back to MTV?? It's up to you. At least for today it's still up to you.
What should you do? I'd not presume to tell you. If nothing else it would be nice if people could be told the TRUTH about what is going on instead of just believing the incredibly "slanted" coverage being presented by the "mainsteam media" about the situation here in Seattle.
There is NO RIOT in Seattle! Not yet. That doesn't mean that one can't start but it hasn't happened yet.
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Man oh man...
It really is so sad to see that so very many people just flat out 'don't get it' and most likely never will.
Microsoft cares about one thing, and ONLY one thing. Separating you from as much of your hard earned money as possible, as frequently as possible, with any excuse they can find to do that.
I run W98SE and Vector Linux in a dual-boot config. On a machine that, by most people's lights, ought to have been thrown out long ago. A P-300 with 128MB.
I will *never* run Windows XP. Never.
If anybody thinks that it is 'perfectly ok' to tell a legal and paying customer that 'so sorry dude, but your brand-new computer is turning into a doorstop if you don't call us in 30 days...' what rock have YOU been living under bro?
Hello? The typical 'retail' price of XP is usd$300. For that you get the 'right' to call Microsoft within 30-days or have your 'Operating System' (Linux is an Operating System - XP is a joke) just quit functioning.
Don't even start with the whole 'anti-piracy' bit either. It is simply not even relevant. There is always going to be at least some degree of piracy. Nothing to be done about that. But, Microsoft being the greedy pigs they are, have found a way to track people via the 'activation' and 'upgrade' bit that don't even give it a second thought.
Not the end users....well that is to be expected.
Not the Corporate CIO's... they just shrug their shoulders when the latest virus/worm/whatever takes down their systems world-wide...AGAIN...
Nobody cares...
Like sheep to the slaughter. Running a joke of an OS that isn't even an OS. Security holes you could drive a mack truck through and Microsoft just refuses to do anything about them.
I sit back and just laugh...
You guys take it far too seriously. Don't get XP. Don't get the security holes. Simple. There is no law that says you HAVE to have the absolute latest version from Microsoft. Even if that is what they tell you.
Better yet, ditch MS completely and go to a Mac running OS X or just a straight up Linux box. Go to Walmart.com and tell me what you see in the computer section...
laughing... yep... just ditch M$ completely and you don't have to worry about any silly worms.
How much more 'mainstream' does Linux have to get before people quit ragging on every little detail? Far as I am concerned if you can buy a 'pre-installed' system at Walmart.com that is about as 'mainstream' as you can get. Come on people.
Wake up and smell the java already.....speaking of which I need to brew up a pot...
laughing...
get a clue folks...
There are already a couple of sites that provide a way for folks to determine if a piece of hardware is "Linux friendly" - if not "Linux certified". The problem is that probably not that many people even know about them. Those that do know about them probably don't use them as much as they should - meaning that they should be putting their reviews on the site to assist someone else down the road.
<http://www.lhd.datapower.com>
Pretty sure that's the url for the Linux hardware database. pretty good site but still in the "building" stage for sure.
So, one thing we can do is to support the programs and sites and so forth that are already there.
Another thing - and this is a biggie - if you do your research ahead of time (you did didn't you?) and you find a vendor that doesn't support Linux, or gives that support "lip service" at best, then you should let them know that you find that attitude unacceptable in a hardware (or software) vendor, tell them you'll not spend *dime one* of your money with such a short-sighted company, and then ensure you tell other's about it.
I was recently looking for a tape drive. I run Red Hat - exclusively. I went to the HP site as I'd seen a reference somewhere or other to them having "linux-certified" drives. They do all right. For their "high-end" and very expensive "server" models that are completely out of line for purchase in a home-office environment. I don't *have* the kind of budget that can justify spending $1000 (or more) on a tape drive.
I asked about their "support" for drives that aren't "Linux certifited" as they had a couple of models that I *know* for a fact will work with a bit of tweaking of ftape and configs and so forth, you lose the software compression of course but you can have a usable tape drive.
Their response? "We don't support it." When I inquired further I determined that went so far as to "not support" the drives - even a brand-new drive purchased from them - UNLESS you could "test the drive" under MS Windows!
I don't even have a copy of Windows in my HOUSE, let alone on my system, and I'll be damned if I'll put another $100 in the pockets of Gates and Co. to be able to get "support" for *hardware* from a major vendor like HP.
I won't buy ANY HP products until such time as I can determine that they've managed to find their way "back to daylight" and have pulled their corporate heads out of their asses.
I'm not holding my breath.
The techs I spoke to were very sympathethic, indeed some of them ran Linux on their personal systems, but they don't make the decisions.
Vote with your wallet. Better yet, pass the word along about your experiences, good and bad, and simply refuse to do business with a company that "doesn't get it" until they do.
They understand dollars and cents.
You (we) don't need a "central authority" for Linux Certification. What we need is for the people that run Linux to make their voices heard about such things as the HP experience I had. Send the head of the company email and tell him (or her) how you feel. And that you'll not spend any money whatsoever with them until they see fit to change their attitudes.
Now, maybe one person doesn't make all that much difference to a company like HP. Nor the loss of one sale of one tape drive. But I assure you that if the CEO starts to see email flowing into his box from thousands of people, in a wide variety of job descriptions and purchasing abilities, he'll wake up. The moment he realizes that his short-sigthedness has cost his company easily a few million in sales he'll start to pay attention.
That's how the world really works.
Please note that my decision to run a "pure" Linux system is a personal choice. If someone else either wants, or needs, to run MS Windows then so be it. It should be a choice that you made on your own, not had shoved down your throat.
Even then, if you have a copy of Windows installed and are running a dual-boot config, the same things apply. Don't buy from people that don't support Linux in a fashion that you think is right. If you have Windows, and don't see any particular problem with having to test a piece of hardware under Windows to get the "support" of a major vendor like HP then fine.
Obviously, I do not share that view of the world.
I was downtown for a few hours today. I was not able to go to work because they stopped the buses on 3rd so no way to get there.
Having discovered that (just shortly after noon) I went in search of a payphone to call my boss and let him know what was going on.
Anyone that lives in Seattle can tell you that finding a payphone in downtown can be a bit of a challenge at the best of times. Today it was worse than usual as many of the stores were closed already.
I finally found an open Red Robin and went inside to use the payphone. The guy just inside the door said "no - that's for paying guests only..." I asked to speak to the manager - she said the same thing - but she finally relented (with ill grace) and allowed me to use the phone to call my boss. When I'd finished she - again - made a point to tell me that the payphone was supposed to be "for paying guests only"
You want to know WHY you have people protesting in the streets about the WTO? THAT is why! That attitude that even something as simple as using a "public payphone" in a restaurant to call your boss because the "powers that be" have decided to shut down the buses that you rely on for transportation is something that must be "bought and paid for" by the purchase of a meal in the restaurant. Sick. Truly sick.
As for the "riot" I was downtown for several hours and saw nothing that could even be REMOTELY considered a "riot" by ANY stretch of the imagination. To call the reports of the "mainsteam media" grossly over-blown would be an understatement.
Yes. There was looting of a Starbucks. Last night they spray-painted a Micky D's - I'm not sure if the windows were broken on that or not but when I came by last night (about 9 p.m. on my way home from work) I didn't see any broken windows there. This afternoon the McD's had plywood on the windows. And a fresh paintjob to cover the graffitti. Who knows.
All in all I have to say that this is about as far from a "riot" as it's possible to get. The media is doing nothing more - and nothing less - then trying to sell air-time, newspapers, whatever because you sure can't tell ME that a "riot" took place.
L.A. after the Rodney King verdict with the city in flames now THAT was a "riot" and no mistake about it. This? Yeah, sure.
What nobody seems to want to think about is that the police - I saw this on TV earlier this evening after getting home - were using teargas on protestors that were NOT doing anything other than standing still. They weren't throwing anything. They weren't burning anything.
In fact, the only things that have been burned so far that I know of for sure are a couple of wooden saw-horse type traffic barriers and some of their own signs. Hardly the stuff of "riots" is it?
They were - however - in the "exclusion zone" that the police had decided on. It was after 7PM and so the protestors were "in violation" of a police-imposed "curfew" which is the excuse the police used to bring out the teargas and pepper spray.
Can anyone spell "martial law??" Since when does a 7PM "curfew" for "protesting" become an "acceptable" part of the social fabric of the United States? Damned if I didn't flat out just MISS that one!
Make no mistake here - they said - quite clearly - that if you "had legitimate business downtown" that the "curfew would not apply." It is "for protesters only." Of course, you know who gets to decide if you have "legitimate business" downtown don't you? The police of course. All they need now are the swastikas and stiff-arm salute.
There were a FEW - and I mean a VERY few - protesters that came to Seattle with the intent to do "damage" from the outset. That's to be expected at a gathering of this many people I would suppose.
To give you some perspective on what I mean I heard this afternoon from a lady with a sign that she'd seen - yesterday - about 30 people all dressed in black and with 2x4's with nails looking to break stuff up. 30 people.
How many *tens of thousands* of people came here to Seattle? The AFL-CIO march this afternoon probably had at least a couple hundred TIMES the number of "protesters" that had the 2x4's and looking to break stuff up. Who gets remembered? The 30 people.
The vast majority of the protesters however are here to express their opinions that the WTO sucks. They brought their signs. They brought their bullhorns. They didn't loot anything.
What are people going to remember? The looted Starbucks. The picture of the "bonfire" (made up of their own signs for the most part) in the middle of the street that is blazed across TV and newspapers to give the impression that there is a hell of a LOT of stuff like that going on.
Nothing could be further from the truth. There IS NO RIOT in Seattle! At least not tonight.
Tomorrow when the 2 companies of National Guard show up though that may be a whole different story. That, in and of itself, is an action that is completely UNCALLED for based on what I have seen with my own two eyes today.
Personally I think the WTO sucks. That is my right to have that opinion.
But what sucks even worse is the way that the police are going out of their way to ride roughshod over the rights of peaceful protesters - and having it be "egged on" by the "media" since they are presenting this whole situation as a "riot" and thereby giving the police - in the mind of the public that doesn't know any better - the "right" to use "whatever force is necessary" to "quell the riot" - the riot that doesn't even exist!
Don't be "sheep." Think for yourselves. I assume that shouldn't be too much of a chore for those that will read these words given where it's being posted.
I'll be back downtown tomorrow. I have to try and make it to work again. This time though I'm packing a lunch and taking some water.
If the buses aren't running again - highly likely given the state of completely idiotic "paranoia" running unchecked among the authorities - I'll be joining in to add my voice to the calls for justice - economic or otherwise - that brought the protestors to Seattle with their signs.
You might be sitting there thinking that this "doesn't concern me." I hate to break this to you but it surely does.
Why? Because if the police can ride roughshod over "rioters" in Seattle today you can know for a certainty that it's going to be even easier to do it the next time someplace else. With Seattle to point to as an example of how "badly" the "right to protest" can be "mis-used."
So, they will "eliminate" that "problem" (or "potential problem") by "eliminating" the "right to protest" and then you don't have to worry your little head about such weighty issues anymore.
So think about it. Do you DO something? Or go back to MTV?? It's up to you. At least for today it's still up to you.
What should you do? I'd not presume to tell you. If nothing else it would be nice if people could be told the TRUTH about what is going on instead of just believing the incredibly "slanted" coverage being presented by the "mainsteam media" about the situation here in Seattle.
There is NO RIOT in Seattle! Not yet. That doesn't mean that one can't start but it hasn't happened yet.
so long as it's kick-ass take-no-prisoners no-bullshit no-excuses get-your-blood-pumping ROCK AND ROLL!!!