I noticed the opposite, i`ve found a number of things that work correctly in firefox, opera, safari, konqueror, and ie5/mac.. but none of the windows versions display them correctly.. css features like fixed-position div tags, translucent png, etc
The windows version hasn't seen major updates for years... In many ways the mac version is more up to date than the windows version, at least it has vastly superior CSS support.
There was talk of google potentially buying AOL.. If this happened, they could migrate the existing AIM/ICQ networks over to a jabber based protocol, while maintaining the existing protocol for compatibility.. They could retain gtalk as it is too, and allow server to server jabber communication between both their servers and external jabber services.. AIM already has a large userbase, and with such ease of communication between services it may be large enough to convince yahoo/msn to co-operate too.
Exactly, we can`t diagnose the problem without more information.. What i would suggest however, is that one of the drivers is screwing the system over, hence why it works after a reinstall and doesn`t exhibit this problem on other hardware (therefore with different drivers)
But leaving a laptop battery in while running the machine on the mains quickly destroys the battery.. UPS batteries are designed to remain fully charged, unlike laptop batteries are designed to be discharged and recharged fairly often
Consider what percentage of these people have illegal copies of msoffice.. Consider that new people are being born every minute...
By using ODF, the barrier-to-entry is reduced to the price of hardware, the entire software stack can be obtained for free. Hardware being a tangible good will always have a production cost associated with it and there's nothing the state can do about that..
By using msoffice anyone who doesn`t already have a copy will need to buy one (in order to remain legal) and may end up spending more on that alone than the cost of hardware capable of running openoffice.
And then you have the poor backwards compatibility associated with msoffice, people will need at least the same version as the documents they're reading were created with, and may need exactly the same version because msoffice even has poor forwards compatibility.. So those people without the requisite version will also have to spend money to upgrade, and in doing so may also need to upgrade windows and their hardware.
Using msoffice will force any citizen who wants to read the documents to: a, have a modern enough computer to run the current version of windows or macosx ($200 new, cheaper used) b, have a current version of windows or macosx for it (or have it included in the price) ($100) c, have a current version of msoffice ($400)
Whereas, using ODF will force citizens to: a, have a reasonably modern computer (but not as modern as that required by msoffice) ($200 new, cheaper used and could use older/cheaper machines)
And citizens who already have the current version of msoffice and the hardware necessary to run it will need: a, a free download of openoffice.org ($0) or a copy on CD ($13.95 from amazon)
So why should those of us who don`t have msoffice be forced to spend a considerable amount of money and possibly switch platforms to save those that do have it a few minutes downloading openoffice.
Actually most people don`t choose to.. A lot of people use the formats because they're forced to in order to communicate with others who use the formats (who most likely use them for the same reason)
And Intel came up with several architectures to replace the buggy pile of cruft that is x86, the latest example being Itanium. All these architectures failed, as Itanium is failing, because people want to run the precompiled proprietary software they already have, and proprietary vendors won`t bother supporting a platform which doesn`t have a user base.. It's a catch 22, which basically means proprietary software will kill any new and innovative architecture and hold everyone back in a world of nasty kludges to existing architectures.
If consumers get used to allowing their banks to execute code on their systems, then they become even more vulnerable to phishing scams... Phishing sites will have their own "virus checking" tools, just like the real banks, except these tools will install malware instead of trying to remove it..
Also virus checkers will be useless against more targetted attacks which are being seen more often nowadays, small attacks against customers of a particular organisation which don`t become widespread enough to get noticed by antivirus vendors..
And finally those of us not using windows systems or not using ie may get turned away since we're not able to run the virus checker (and most likely wouldn`t need to in any case).. I don`t think firefox provides a way to execute code with access to your local filesystem (for obvious security reasons) in the same way that activex does.
Previously users would have gone to google to look for an instant messaging client, now they don`t bother because there's already one installed.. Same with a browser, users would typically have recieved a browser on CD when they signed up with an ISP, nowadays they don't bother because they already have one. The average user doesn't realise how inferior or insecure the default ones are, they simply don't want the hassle of finding a better replacement. Also, since you can't easily remove the default programs, they're still there to nag the user into using them constantly, and some will have an attitude against wasting space by installing an alternative and still having the default program installed. And finally, microsoft prevents OEM's from bundling competing apps, remember when you could buy a new computer with netscape preinstalled? microsoft put a stop to that. And before the coments start, bundling on linux is different, there are multiple distributions of linux with different bundled apps and coming from different vendors.. What microsoft is doing would be more like linus bundling apps with the kernel, linux distributors are closer in function to the OEM's building systems and preinstalling windows.
But no matter how much discount microsoft give, they`re still raking in huge profits from the sale.. Their initial development costs have long since been recovered and the cost of generating a "license code" is virtually nothing.
On any commercially supported platform the apps that come from the original vendor will be supported by that vendor, this goes for windows, redhat, solaris, suse etc..
The point is that with linux you can stick to the supported apps with the distribution and have a fully functional system, if there are security holes they will be patched by the vendor and you`l be able to obtain your patches from a centralised source for all of your applications, usually just running a single update tool.
Sure, you could go and get exotic apps from freshmeat and install them yourself, but most users would never need to do this, a modern linux distribution will cover a wide range of potential uses..
In contrast microsoft will only supply patches for the core windows os through their windows update system, they have a seperate office update system for their office apps, and furthur seperate update procedures for their other apps.
Aside from this, the primary point is that windows does not ship with a complete set of software for any other than the most basic of users..
A windows user will typically need to install additional apps which won`t be supported by windows update and will need updating seperately and in inconsistent ways, even if only using microsoft applications.
A linux user will typically be able to do all his work using the apps supplied by the distribution and will be able to update them all at once using a single tool.
Indeed, high end graphics systems from SGI have just been massively parallel for years... I have an old onyx where the video hardware consists of several boards containing dedicated graphics processors, about 30 in total.. all running in parallel.
The point is, that your far less likely to need to install such a third party app with a modern linux distribution than you are for windows... A modern linux distro is a far more complete package than windows and already includes everything most people/companies would need.
New features and bugfixes will get provided by the support companies in the process of supporting their clients.. Also hardware manufacturers will write/modify software to help sell their hardware.. People will always start developing new software, because they have a need for something.. If other people have the same need too then it will get taken up by more developers and/or support/hardware companies..
Even if some company comes out with something new and innovative, it won`t last for long before being cloned.. The cost of development and keeping ahead of the free alternative in terms of features, while keeping your price low so as not to drive customers away, will eventually suck all the profit out of it..
A situation where software is available to all, and improvements are directly tied to customer requirements will benefit everyone in the long run. And those of us who rarely/never require support will save a lot of money.
Well software can easily be given away for free, whereas support and distribution cannot.. Selling shrinkwrapped software is an obsolete model that won`t last much longer.. If those for-profit companies want to survive they need to provide support services and distribution (so you pay for the convenience of having something on cd). You can`t provide support services for free, so there will always be money to be made here.. But with the software being free and open source, there will be competition in the market.. As a provider of support services you will need to compete with everyone else, providing a better and/or cheaper service. This will MASSIVELY benefit end users in the long run.
But you effectively do have a preview, in the form of undo.. If you don`t like the result, hit undo and try something else.. Not quite so convenient as a preview in the dialog itself, but still the same result... On the other hand, it would be usefull to be able to preview any operation before committing it without leaving the dialog, and seeing an instant (or as fast as your machine can handle it) preview as soon as you modify a setting in the dialog, such as moving a slider.
Or even the proper pdf index feature, instead of having thumbnails of all the pages, pdf allows you to have an index which lists all topics/subtopics within the current document.
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I noticed the opposite, i`ve found a number of things that work correctly in firefox, opera, safari, konqueror, and ie5/mac.. but none of the windows versions display them correctly..
css features like fixed-position div tags, translucent png, etc
The windows version hasn't seen major updates for years... In many ways the mac version is more up to date than the windows version, at least it has vastly superior CSS support.
Because Google is an organisation comprising of multiple people, "they" as in the people making the decisions.
Yes, perhaps microsoft will drop their support for software patents if they start biting them in the ass too much.
There was talk of google potentially buying AOL.. If this happened, they could migrate the existing AIM/ICQ networks over to a jabber based protocol, while maintaining the existing protocol for compatibility..
They could retain gtalk as it is too, and allow server to server jabber communication between both their servers and external jabber services..
AIM already has a large userbase, and with such ease of communication between services it may be large enough to convince yahoo/msn to co-operate too.
I`ve had it happen with Dell, IBM, Compaq, HP.. Including some fairly modern machines..
Exactly, we can`t diagnose the problem without more information..
What i would suggest however, is that one of the drivers is screwing the system over, hence why it works after a reinstall and doesn`t exhibit this problem on other hardware (therefore with different drivers)
But leaving a laptop battery in while running the machine on the mains quickly destroys the battery.. UPS batteries are designed to remain fully charged, unlike laptop batteries are designed to be discharged and recharged fairly often
Better yet, devise your own format and create a program to read/write it..
Then charge an extortionate fee for it`s use.
Consider what percentage of these people have illegal copies of msoffice..
Consider that new people are being born every minute...
By using ODF, the barrier-to-entry is reduced to the price of hardware, the entire software stack can be obtained for free. Hardware being a tangible good will always have a production cost associated with it and there's nothing the state can do about that..
By using msoffice anyone who doesn`t already have a copy will need to buy one (in order to remain legal) and may end up spending more on that alone than the cost of hardware capable of running openoffice.
And then you have the poor backwards compatibility associated with msoffice, people will need at least the same version as the documents they're reading were created with, and may need exactly the same version because msoffice even has poor forwards compatibility..
So those people without the requisite version will also have to spend money to upgrade, and in doing so may also need to upgrade windows and their hardware.
Using msoffice will force any citizen who wants to read the documents to:
a, have a modern enough computer to run the current version of windows or macosx ($200 new, cheaper used)
b, have a current version of windows or macosx for it (or have it included in the price) ($100)
c, have a current version of msoffice ($400)
Whereas, using ODF will force citizens to:
a, have a reasonably modern computer (but not as modern as that required by msoffice) ($200 new, cheaper used and could use older/cheaper machines)
And citizens who already have the current version of msoffice and the hardware necessary to run it will need:
a, a free download of openoffice.org ($0) or a copy on CD ($13.95 from amazon)
So why should those of us who don`t have msoffice be forced to spend a considerable amount of money and possibly switch platforms to save those that do have it a few minutes downloading openoffice.
Actually most people don`t choose to.. A lot of people use the formats because they're forced to in order to communicate with others who use the formats (who most likely use them for the same reason)
And Intel came up with several architectures to replace the buggy pile of cruft that is x86, the latest example being Itanium.
All these architectures failed, as Itanium is failing, because people want to run the precompiled proprietary software they already have, and proprietary vendors won`t bother supporting a platform which doesn`t have a user base..
It's a catch 22, which basically means proprietary software will kill any new and innovative architecture and hold everyone back in a world of nasty kludges to existing architectures.
If consumers get used to allowing their banks to execute code on their systems, then they become even more vulnerable to phishing scams... Phishing sites will have their own "virus checking" tools, just like the real banks, except these tools will install malware instead of trying to remove it..
Also virus checkers will be useless against more targetted attacks which are being seen more often nowadays, small attacks against customers of a particular organisation which don`t become widespread enough to get noticed by antivirus vendors..
And finally those of us not using windows systems or not using ie may get turned away since we're not able to run the virus checker (and most likely wouldn`t need to in any case).. I don`t think firefox provides a way to execute code with access to your local filesystem (for obvious security reasons) in the same way that activex does.
Previously users would have gone to google to look for an instant messaging client, now they don`t bother because there's already one installed..
Same with a browser, users would typically have recieved a browser on CD when they signed up with an ISP, nowadays they don't bother because they already have one.
The average user doesn't realise how inferior or insecure the default ones are, they simply don't want the hassle of finding a better replacement.
Also, since you can't easily remove the default programs, they're still there to nag the user into using them constantly, and some will have an attitude against wasting space by installing an alternative and still having the default program installed.
And finally, microsoft prevents OEM's from bundling competing apps, remember when you could buy a new computer with netscape preinstalled? microsoft put a stop to that.
And before the coments start, bundling on linux is different, there are multiple distributions of linux with different bundled apps and coming from different vendors.. What microsoft is doing would be more like linus bundling apps with the kernel, linux distributors are closer in function to the OEM's building systems and preinstalling windows.
But no matter how much discount microsoft give, they`re still raking in huge profits from the sale.. Their initial development costs have long since been recovered and the cost of generating a "license code" is virtually nothing.
You mean like, running your browser under a different user to the rest of your apps?
I've been doing that on unix for years..
You completely miss the point..
On any commercially supported platform the apps that come from the original vendor will be supported by that vendor, this goes for windows, redhat, solaris, suse etc..
The point is that with linux you can stick to the supported apps with the distribution and have a fully functional system, if there are security holes they will be patched by the vendor and you`l be able to obtain your patches from a centralised source for all of your applications, usually just running a single update tool.
Sure, you could go and get exotic apps from freshmeat and install them yourself, but most users would never need to do this, a modern linux distribution will cover a wide range of potential uses..
In contrast microsoft will only supply patches for the core windows os through their windows update system, they have a seperate office update system for their office apps, and furthur seperate update procedures for their other apps.
Aside from this, the primary point is that windows does not ship with a complete set of software for any other than the most basic of users..
A windows user will typically need to install additional apps which won`t be supported by windows update and will need updating seperately and in inconsistent ways, even if only using microsoft applications.
A linux user will typically be able to do all his work using the apps supplied by the distribution and will be able to update them all at once using a single tool.
Indeed, high end graphics systems from SGI have just been massively parallel for years... I have an old onyx where the video hardware consists of several boards containing dedicated graphics processors, about 30 in total.. all running in parallel.
Ofcourse not..
The point is, that your far less likely to need to install such a third party app with a modern linux distribution than you are for windows... A modern linux distro is a far more complete package than windows and already includes everything most people/companies would need.
New features and bugfixes will get provided by the support companies in the process of supporting their clients..
Also hardware manufacturers will write/modify software to help sell their hardware..
People will always start developing new software, because they have a need for something.. If other people have the same need too then it will get taken up by more developers and/or support/hardware companies..
Even if some company comes out with something new and innovative, it won`t last for long before being cloned.. The cost of development and keeping ahead of the free alternative in terms of features, while keeping your price low so as not to drive customers away, will eventually suck all the profit out of it..
A situation where software is available to all, and improvements are directly tied to customer requirements will benefit everyone in the long run.
And those of us who rarely/never require support will save a lot of money.
Well software can easily be given away for free, whereas support and distribution cannot..
Selling shrinkwrapped software is an obsolete model that won`t last much longer.. If those for-profit companies want to survive they need to provide support services and distribution (so you pay for the convenience of having something on cd). You can`t provide support services for free, so there will always be money to be made here.. But with the software being free and open source, there will be competition in the market.. As a provider of support services you will need to compete with everyone else, providing a better and/or cheaper service. This will MASSIVELY benefit end users in the long run.
But you effectively do have a preview, in the form of undo.. If you don`t like the result, hit undo and try something else.. Not quite so convenient as a preview in the dialog itself, but still the same result...
On the other hand, it would be usefull to be able to preview any operation before committing it without leaving the dialog, and seeing an instant (or as fast as your machine can handle it) preview as soon as you modify a setting in the dialog, such as moving a slider.
Or even the proper pdf index feature, instead of having thumbnails of all the pages, pdf allows you to have an index which lists all topics/subtopics within the current document.
Boot it from CD, it will generate less heat that way too and without the disk, the whole machine should be more tollerant of being dropped etc.
True, we need to somehow infect the flash bios, or the windows installation media so that fresh installs will be pre-0wn3d!