The scoop on Paris is that the local cableco monopolist is your best source for high speed. I pay about $44/month (about euros40). The company is called Noos -- www.noos.fr
Crazy thing is that the transatlantic connection is fast enough for my Vonage voice-over-IP phone to work perfectly -- that is, the phone dials over IP back to the New Jersey servers, where it gives me a local US phone line. I'd look into that if you want to save on calling chums back in the states.
There are common themes in people's responses: 1 work installation 2 applications, and particularly games 3 comfort/familiarity 4 objective ease of use 5 feature parity (OS stability, HW support, etc) 6 developer community 7 expense
It's worth thinking about the last great operating system upheaval -- Windows defeat of the Mac OS. Back then, Mac lovers claimed the last 3-5 (comfort, ease, features) where all on the side of Jobs & co. In fact, reasons like those were why they were so damned arrogant, short-sighted, and ultimately the losers of that war. So while people say "I'll never leave Windows" for reasons 3-5, history shows that they are surmountable. Windows only recently became easier to use, more stable, etc than Mac. For a long time, it was the opposite and Windows was STILL more popular. So, *nix world, even if you admit to the critics that Windows is more stable, etc., Windows 3.1 is proof that this is not the critical assett.
Reason 7, the cost issue, was always a Windows advantage against Mac (and still is). It is just cheaper to get a Windows System than an Apple Mac System. *nix Systems already have Bill beat on this.
Reason 6, developer community, is one that was always a Windows advantage over Mac. What people are saying about "it's easier to develop for Win/.NET" is therefore meaningful. And this is where apps come from anyway. The promising start is that Open Source and the world of Linux-types is big and growing. Mac never had such a big, tech/development-savvy army on its side.
Reason 1 (work) and 2 (apps) are the tough ones to crack. Building better development tools helps the dev community as well as the actual app availability.
But what gets the big enterprises to switch? Enterprises themselves don't choose an app because of reason 1 (enterprises don't go home and play games on their linux box) -- the enterprise has got to be focused on a mix of the other reasons. Cost has got to be a big one - and that's an advantage for *nix. The other real one has got to be applications -- if your key business productivity app is only available on Windows, well...
So it's all about developers. Make developers enjoy writing to *nix, get apps, convert the enterprises over,... kill Windows.
When you read about why Mac ultimately lost...it's not features, or ease of use, etc. It's that Bill & Co. marketed to developers, won enterprises, and never looked back.
So are the Linux communities focused on making the best development tools out there? Or are they focused on porting over lame browser plugins?
Herb Terrace's research with "Nim Chimpsky" in the 1970s blew away the "animals can sign" theories. Some people cling to this, but in general nobody claims that chimps can talk (with their hands).
I second that. It's one of those cliche jokes of academic life these days, repeated in all departments. These tenured clowns just live longer these days I guess.
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The scoop on Paris is that the local cableco monopolist is your best source for high speed. I pay about $44/month (about euros40). The company is called Noos -- www.noos.fr Crazy thing is that the transatlantic connection is fast enough for my Vonage voice-over-IP phone to work perfectly -- that is, the phone dials over IP back to the New Jersey servers, where it gives me a local US phone line. I'd look into that if you want to save on calling chums back in the states.
There are common themes in people's responses:
... kill Windows.
1 work installation
2 applications, and particularly games
3 comfort/familiarity
4 objective ease of use
5 feature parity (OS stability, HW support, etc)
6 developer community
7 expense
It's worth thinking about the last great operating system upheaval -- Windows defeat of the Mac OS. Back then, Mac lovers claimed the last 3-5 (comfort, ease, features) where all on the side of Jobs & co. In fact, reasons like those were why they were so damned arrogant, short-sighted, and ultimately the losers of that war. So while people say "I'll never leave Windows" for reasons 3-5, history shows that they are surmountable. Windows only recently became easier to use, more stable, etc than Mac. For a long time, it was the opposite and Windows was STILL more popular. So, *nix world, even if you admit to the critics that Windows is more stable, etc., Windows 3.1 is proof that this is not the critical assett.
Reason 7, the cost issue, was always a Windows advantage against Mac (and still is). It is just cheaper to get a Windows System than an Apple Mac System. *nix Systems already have Bill beat on this.
Reason 6, developer community, is one that was always a Windows advantage over Mac. What people are saying about "it's easier to develop for Win/.NET" is therefore meaningful. And this is where apps come from anyway. The promising start is that Open Source and the world of Linux-types is big and growing. Mac never had such a big, tech/development-savvy army on its side.
Reason 1 (work) and 2 (apps) are the tough ones to crack. Building better development tools helps the dev community as well as the actual app availability.
But what gets the big enterprises to switch? Enterprises themselves don't choose an app because of reason 1 (enterprises don't go home and play games on their linux box) -- the enterprise has got to be focused on a mix of the other reasons. Cost has got to be a big one - and that's an advantage for *nix. The other real one has got to be applications -- if your key business productivity app is only available on Windows, well...
So it's all about developers. Make developers enjoy writing to *nix, get apps, convert the enterprises over,
When you read about why Mac ultimately lost...it's not features, or ease of use, etc. It's that Bill & Co. marketed to developers, won enterprises, and never looked back.
So are the Linux communities focused on making the best development tools out there? Or are they focused on porting over lame browser plugins?
Herb Terrace's research with "Nim Chimpsky" in the 1970s blew away the "animals can sign" theories. Some people cling to this, but in general nobody claims that chimps can talk (with their hands).
I second that. It's one of those cliche jokes of academic life these days, repeated in all departments. These tenured clowns just live longer these days I guess.