Finally, the government listened to people and stopped a plan that was both silly and dangerous. If only they'd get it straight on crypto, too... Unfortunately, decisions like this one are rare - and they'll probably try to pull it off again, but sneakier, once the uproar dies down and we're done patting ourselves on the back. What, me cynical? Personally, I think for every new law or regulation they pass, governments should be forced to repeal an old one.
Number two on the oxymoron list: "We're from the government, and we're here to help"
Just to follow up on my own point - I'm home right now, and I'm posting from a workstation I built from parts. It runs SuSE, StarOffice, and KDE. I really like it. When I posted my original message in this thread, I was at work. I use a Dell laptop, and it runs Windows. Now, I don't like Windows at all, but that's what my company uses. That's also what our home-grown financial systems and mainframe connectivity are built on. And we use Office there. Screw TCL and TeX, I just want users at work to have the most available, simple _desktop_ system to use. I'll use Linux on servers (and I'm preparing to do just that), because it's the best tool for that job. I'll keep using Windows/Office on most desktops for the same reason, but I'd probably run Office under Linux in at least a few instances in my shop. It's OK for _me_ to tinker with other tools - I run the PC department. Asking me to give some neat tools, or software that is any different from good old Office, to my users is suicide. Remember, I said "business case" earlier. I have 150 users who could wind up without jobs if I screw things up badly. Do you want to pay them if we fall apart because I forced free (though good) software on people who couldn't benefit from it?
I didn't think so. I will use Linux at home, and I will evangelize the hell out of it wherever appropriate. But I won't push it where it doesn't belong. And it doesn't belong on my company's average desktop, even with Office. Check back with me in a year, though.
...I like using Office (I use it on Windows at work and my Mac at home), and I'd buy it in a heartbeat for Linux if it was available and reasonably priced ($200 or so). In fact, it'd get copies of Linux into my company's desktops that I just can't make the business case for otherwise. For all Microsoft's many faults, I find Office to be a fairly pleasant suite to work with. Clipit does suck eggs, though.
Last year's ALS was great (though a bad case of the flu prevented me from truly grokking it in fullness), since it coincided with N+I. Unfortunately, N+I is in late September this year, according to their homepage, and I can't justify making two trips to Atlanta in a three-week period to my company (though I'd really like to...). I hope there aren't many more in my shoes. I do wish they'd planned for that this year - it would have been nice to get more non-Linux natives exposed. As it is, I'm sure it'll be a good event, but it's more fun to make new converts than to preach to the ones who already live under your tent.
It warms my heart to see top-quality children's technical literature reviewed in a place like/. Now we need a good review of adult literature like Waiting for Godot - the story of the Windows 2000 development project...
Slashdot Mirror
Finally, the government listened to people and stopped a plan that was both silly and dangerous. If only they'd get it straight on crypto, too... Unfortunately, decisions like this one are rare - and they'll probably try to pull it off again, but sneakier, once the uproar dies down and we're done patting ourselves on the back. What, me cynical? Personally, I think for every new law or regulation they pass, governments should be forced to repeal an old one.
Number two on the oxymoron list: "We're from the government, and we're here to help"
Just to follow up on my own point - I'm home right now, and I'm posting from a workstation I built from parts. It runs SuSE, StarOffice, and KDE. I really like it. When I posted my original message in this thread, I was at work. I use a Dell laptop, and it runs Windows. Now, I don't like Windows at all, but that's what my company uses. That's also what our home-grown financial systems and mainframe connectivity are built on. And we use Office there. Screw TCL and TeX, I just want users at work to have the most available, simple _desktop_ system to use. I'll use Linux on servers (and I'm preparing to do just that), because it's the best tool for that job. I'll keep using Windows/Office on most desktops for the same reason, but I'd probably run Office under Linux in at least a few instances in my shop. It's OK for _me_ to tinker with other tools - I run the PC department. Asking me to give some neat tools, or software that is any different from good old Office, to my users is suicide. Remember, I said "business case" earlier. I have 150 users who could wind up without jobs if I screw things up badly. Do you want to pay them if we fall apart because I forced free (though good) software on people who couldn't benefit from it?
I didn't think so. I will use Linux at home, and I will evangelize the hell out of it wherever appropriate. But I won't push it where it doesn't belong. And it doesn't belong on my company's average desktop, even with Office. Check back with me in a year, though.
...I like using Office (I use it on Windows at work and my Mac at home), and I'd buy it in a heartbeat for Linux if it was available and reasonably priced ($200 or so). In fact, it'd get copies of Linux into my company's desktops that I just can't make the business case for otherwise. For all Microsoft's many faults, I find Office to be a fairly pleasant suite to work with. Clipit does suck eggs, though.
Last year's ALS was great (though a bad case of the flu prevented me from truly grokking it in fullness), since it coincided with N+I. Unfortunately, N+I is in late September this year, according to their homepage, and I can't justify making two trips to Atlanta in a three-week period to my company (though I'd really like to...). I hope there aren't many more in my shoes. I do wish they'd planned for that this year - it would have been nice to get more non-Linux natives exposed. As it is, I'm sure it'll be a good event, but it's more fun to make new converts than to preach to the ones who already live under your tent.
So it's just N+I for me, unfortunately...
It warms my heart to see top-quality children's technical literature reviewed in a place like /. Now we need a good review of adult literature like Waiting for Godot - the story of the Windows 2000 development project...