Ok, we go back to the days when the government says "you can't export anything greater than 40-bit encryption". Why is it we can now export 128-bit encrytion? Because every other country (well, at least most) in Europe and Asia was selling it.
US Companies were at a competitive disadvantage because they couldn't, legally, sell high encryption products overseas. Now replace "40-bit encryption" with "the US Government can't break or use a back-door to access" and you basically have the same thing.
Not only that, do you really think those back doors are going to stay secure. Heck no!! Once someone figures them out every bank transaction and email going across the internet is open season to hackers. I figure it would take about 24 hours for some hacker to figure out the back door and post an exploit.
It's kind of like the old saying "Encryption doesn't kill people, people kill people". Don't kill the method, it's sound and does what is supposed to do. Go get the bad guys. Besides, do you really think the bad guys really care about the law? In the case of NY, they didn't even care about themselves.
There are actual good uses for encryption. We use it to secure our financial transactions, to keep people from spying on our businesses, and between each other to keep private conversations private. Placing a backdoor in an encryption scheme makes it vulnerable.
Let's not let the terrorists win. Leave encryption alone and go get the real cause: terrorists.
Well, there are several issues with Linux that make it a hard sell:
1. Not enough users (hopefully Microsoft will help change that with it's new registration system for Windows XP and Office XP)
2. Linux is still not as easy to use. It took me several long nights to get my X-Windows set up to run OpenGL, Mesa, SDL, and all the other stuff that's needed to run my DVD Player, Quake 3, FlightGear, and other programs that require 3D hardware acceleration. It's getting better. I upgraded to XFree86 4.1.0, which solved a great deal of my problems. I consider my self an expert and I like to tinker with this stuff. Most people want something that works out of the box.
This is definately changing. Linux is becoming easier to install and use. It's just not quite there yet.
3. I didn't even know there was a Linux version of Quake2 and Quake3 that you could buy until after I bought the Windows version. If I had known they were out there, I might have passed over the Windows version and looked for the Linux version.
I see more games coming out (I bought 3 in the last week, specifically for Linux). I think as Linux becomes more accepted, more people will buy games for Linux. Perhaps they need some incentive (like a less expensive version for Linux?) I know, I know, why should you give Linux users a break. Well, most people see Linux as the less expensive alternative. You want more Linux sales, show people you support it by charging less (or by charging more for the Windows version). As you've stated, you haven't made a lot of money off of the Linux versions, so what do you have to lose?
Usually, you have to buy the Windows version and download the Quake engine from Id for Linux, which is what I've been doing. So, move one of those tick marks from the Windows sales column to the Linux column, if you don't mind.
That's my 2 cents. I've been using Linux for about three years, and I love it. It's to the point where I'm probably going to wipe Windows off my system. I haven't booted Windows in, probably, three months (at least at home, at work I'm forced to use Microsoft).
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Ok, we go back to the days when the government says "you can't export anything greater than 40-bit encryption". Why is it we can now export 128-bit encrytion? Because every other country (well, at least most) in Europe and Asia was selling it.
US Companies were at a competitive disadvantage because they couldn't, legally, sell high encryption products overseas. Now replace "40-bit encryption" with "the US Government can't break or use a back-door to access" and you basically have the same thing.
Not only that, do you really think those back doors are going to stay secure. Heck no!! Once someone figures them out every bank transaction and email going across the internet is open season to hackers. I figure it would take about 24 hours for some hacker to figure out the back door and post an exploit.
It's kind of like the old saying "Encryption doesn't kill people, people kill people". Don't kill the method, it's sound and does what is supposed to do. Go get the bad guys. Besides, do you really think the bad guys really care about the law? In the case of NY, they didn't even care about themselves.
There are actual good uses for encryption. We use it to secure our financial transactions, to keep people from spying on our businesses, and between each other to keep private conversations private. Placing a backdoor in an encryption scheme makes it vulnerable.
Let's not let the terrorists win. Leave encryption alone and go get the real cause: terrorists.
Well, there are several issues with Linux that make it a hard sell:
1. Not enough users (hopefully Microsoft will help change that with it's new registration system for Windows XP and Office XP)
2. Linux is still not as easy to use. It took me several long nights to get my X-Windows set up to run OpenGL, Mesa, SDL, and all the other stuff that's needed to run my DVD Player, Quake 3, FlightGear, and other programs that require 3D hardware acceleration. It's getting better. I upgraded to XFree86 4.1.0, which solved a great deal of my problems. I consider my self an expert and I like to tinker with this stuff. Most people want something that works out of the box.
This is definately changing. Linux is becoming easier to install and use. It's just not quite there yet.
3. I didn't even know there was a Linux version of Quake2 and Quake3 that you could buy until after I bought the Windows version. If I had known they were out there, I might have passed over the Windows version and looked for the Linux version.
I see more games coming out (I bought 3 in the last week, specifically for Linux). I think as Linux becomes more accepted, more people will buy games for Linux. Perhaps they need some incentive (like a less expensive version for Linux?) I know, I know, why should you give Linux users a break. Well, most people see Linux as the less expensive alternative. You want more Linux sales, show people you support it by charging less (or by charging more for the Windows version). As you've stated, you haven't made a lot of money off of the Linux versions, so what do you have to lose?
Usually, you have to buy the Windows version and download the Quake engine from Id for Linux, which is what I've been doing. So, move one of those tick marks from the Windows sales column to the Linux column, if you don't mind.
That's my 2 cents. I've been using Linux for about three years, and I love it. It's to the point where I'm probably going to wipe Windows off my system. I haven't booted Windows in, probably, three months (at least at home, at work I'm forced to use Microsoft).