Trying to build an open source PACS system at a hospital I consult with. The need is basically for lots and lots of storage, without needing to access a DVD or tape. A typical MRI / CT scan can generate 1 GB of data; so with dozens of scans a day; and the need to store and access patient data pertaining to say, 10 years; these drives will be really useful.
A simple SATA RAID controller interfaced with 4 such drives can give me 12TB of cheap, fast, storage. At 1TB per year, should be good enough for my needs. H/w vendors currently recommend expensive SAN boxes; which I don't like... no useful value for the application at hand.
So to finish, you are probably right in that OpenOffice has a long way to go in matching every type of functionality as MS Office
The problem I think, is that Open Office approaches things from the wrong end. Linux enjoys more success and prominence because it approached things from the server end, not the desktop end. MS OFfice is a bloated client application that uses bloated undocumented protocols to talk to bloated, buggy, undocumented server apps. Which server apps? Active (Craptive) Directory, Exchange Server, Sharepoint, SBS, Dynamics CRM etc.
This probably explains why Lotus Notes has more success than Open Office, Sendmail / Qmail / Postfix / Sunbird / OpenGroupware and Thunderbird; despite Notes being crappier, bulkier and bloatier than the MS equivalents.
Zimbra was the best complete competitor to Office-Exchange; which probably explains why MS got its cronies Yahoo to buy Zimbra at an atrocious price point. Open Office is useless without a server replacement for Exchange and Sharepoint.
I think you got it wrong there... it's like boycotting Bullshit to slightly better smelling manure. People need time to get used to the multiple new flavours, of.. you know, like.. It's not fair for Microsoft to break the stenchometer and get away with it.
I don't think it is a big mistake at all. It would've been a big mistake if Microsoft gave away a free upgrade to XP for buyers of Vista. I think we will see a pricing announcement for this XP upgrade shortly.
Yes, the United States consumes more per capita. But we also produce more per capita also. Simple Economics 101.
What does the US produce which requires 10 times more energy than consumed in China, per person? Most computers and electronic goods are actually manufactured in China; even those consumed in the US. Most of America's wealth is actually services, not manufacturing.... and it's been like this for decades now.
Nothing warrants such disproportionate energy consumption in the US, IMO.
Or, are you afraid of the changes that wealth will bring?
Indeed, I am very afraid. If I get accustomed to travelling by car the 10 km distance from home to wokr, it is bound to get me lazy. Who knows... with a sedentary IT employment, I might get DVT and diabetes at a younger agr than usual.
There are lots of healthy ways to spend money without burning it up on cars. Like investing in a farm house for instance, and providing dignified livelihood for a dozen poor countrymen. Which is what I have undertaken to do, over the last 2 months.
Yes, there is a middle class (in India), but there is a huge impoverished class that constitutes the majority of Indians. Don't forget them! Maybe they are not in your caste, so let me remind you of what wealth is and isn't.
Some facts for you to chew: 1. The middle class population in India is larger than the entire population of the US.
2. There is a system of reservation in higher education; which ensures that people belonging to lower castes get adequate opportunity. This system has been in place for over 40 years now, and there is visible improvement in prosperity among all levels. While there is still lots of poverty, it is not so alarming as the parent poster suggested.
3. I am from a family of seven. 30 years ago, it was about 20 rupees to a dollar, and our monthly income was about $75. This was sufficient for food, clothing, decent accomodation and English-medium convent education for all of us. All of us had an enjoyable childhood, and except for me, the rest are all employed in banks.
4. Personally, I have enough money to buy 3 cars without borrowing a penny, but I choose to use overcrowded public transport as a matter of principle. The same applies to my brother and sisters as well; none of us own cars. It has not diminished our enjoyment of life's joys, however.
Guess what, those people in India and China are FUCKING POOR AND HAVE NOTHING. What you are advocating is that the people of the USA go back to living in the same kind of crappy lives that people live in the third world.
Are you aware that you are replying to someone from India? WE don't HAVE NOTHING. I'm in the IT industry for over 18 years now (Unix SVR3 days, DOS 2.0 days), and posting on/. for over 6 years now. I've worked with high-end graphics stations from Silicon Grpahics and HP over 10 years back.
Believe me, life is not crappy here... certainly not so bad as you make it out to be.
"2) The US has actually done much better in reducing green house gas emissions compared to most Kyoto signatories. Name me one country that will actually meet its obligations."
Some clips: 2003 2000 1990 Asia (excluding Middle East) 991.2 911.3 753.7 North America 7,844.1 8,113.1 7,544.8 China CHN 1,138.3 946.4 791.7 India IND 512.4 501.4 425.7 United States USA 7,794.8 8,109.0 7,543.4
India and China are home to over 35% of the World's population; but it appears they do not have much of a scope to reduce consumption. The US consumes more than 15 times the energy per person consumed in India; and there is a huge scope for reduction. Inaction by the US govt. is dangerous for the entire planet, including India and China.
And on a more personal note: 4) President Bush's home in Texas is actually a surprising green residence while Gore's pool house consumes more power than the average person's home.
It doesn't matter if Mr. Bush lives in a thatched shed and uses biogas to light up his dwelling. He is responsible for the energy consumption of the entire USA, not just his hut.
If there's one person who made the entire world aware of the dangers posed to the environment; with his stubborn attitude - it's got to be Mr. Bush himself. By not ratifying the Kyoto protocol, by stonewalling global efforts to reduce emissions etc.... the list is long of Mr. Bush's singular contributions to environmental awareness.
This isnt Microsofts money. This is the money Microsoft extorted from you....
Well said!! I wish more people realise this simple fact; and the amount of clout money can bring.
Still, it would appear that a hatred of Microsoft; and the idea of subvreting the business of an 800lb. gorilla appeals to some people. Personally I wish people use Linux because they LOVE its Unix-like architecture, and the the freedom offered by the GPL; not because they HATE Bill Gates, Ballmer or Microsoft. The latter is a transient emotion; and leaves one wistful after it passes.
If they(Canonical) knowing sell on something with known defects (that copy of MS Vista)...
I imagine the support call to go something like this:
Vista User: Hi! I got a problem with Vista. MS rep: Only one? VU: Yep.. I can't activate MS: Where did you get it? Or is it pirated? VU: I bought it from Ubuntu MS: Those guys haven't paid us protection money... like the good folks at Novell, Xandros.. VU: But it is still Microsoft Vista on the package... It's got this shticker as well... can I have a license key? MS: Okay here you go... 54524524087698032413243064087513243404353040453204753047340873453207. VU: I didn't ask for Ballmer's bank balance; just a license key! MS: That's what I gave you... VU: Okay... I typed it all in.. still won't go forward... MS: Okay do this. Put that number in Excel 2007 and divide it by 345.43521; enter the first 128 digits, and then...hello? you still there???? VU:.................. MS: Status: Waiting for customer. Next call please!
Mozilla software is tri-licensed under the GPL, the MPL and the LGPL. So, develeopers are free to use the GPL and create extensions licensed under the GPL as well.
Given the possible split from Mozilla, I'd like to see OpenOffice.org take an interest.
What? And make it bloated, semi-compatible to Outlook and totally useless?
TB is a hundred times better than Evolution for reading mail on a Linux box. Because its GPL, I'm sure interested folks will be able to fork it and release useful extensions.
The OIN apparently using the patent system to protect software freedom. There will be some overlap here, but using 2 different systems to protect the same thing isn't wasteful, it's security. Especially with such an unpredictable system. (Could anyone here have predicted the 1-click patent?)
BTW, Copyright, the basis for the GPL, is also Intellectual Property. If IP really didn't exist, neither would the GPL.
This is wrong at several levels. The FSF is very clear in its view that Copyright is NOT Intellectual Property. This is made explicitly clear by Stallman himself:
http://www.fsf.org/licensing/essays/not-ipr.xhtml/view?searchterm=intellectual%20property
It has become fashionable to describe copyright, patents, and trademarks as "intellectual property". This fashion did not arise by accident--the term systematically distorts and confuses these issues, and its use was and is promoted by those who gain from this confusion. Anyone wishing to think clearly about any of these laws would do well to reject the term. The OIN counts IBM, NEC, Novell, Philips, Red Hat and Sony among its members. Except for RedHat none of the other companies have really promoted Linux and the GPL as much as their dollars would allow. Some like Novell and Sony have often done the opposite.
Now that Linux is getting a lot of good press, and Vista has flopped, these outfits are trying to hitch on to the Linux bandwagon.
Linux grew to it's present strength because the GPL (then and now) took a very clear stand against software patents. The OIN on the other hand, muddies the waters and talks about this non-existent entity called Intellectual Property.
from their site:
In order to continue this rapid pace of innovation, a refined model of intellectual property management has been established. Open Invention NetworkSM is an intellectual property company that was formed to promote the Linux system by using patents to create a collaborative ecosystem. The more the Linux community stay away from OIN, the better. The word Open is abused day by day, it seems a complete rewrite of the dictionary is needed.
If IE7 doesn't have the WGA thing, then presumably it's going to be automatically installed with the rest of the updates whihc most users have set to automatic (since that's how the computer came configured).
Well spotted! After the sneaky update on XP and Vista, it looks like IE7 will be the next sneaky update on 'pirated' XP as well. I get a feeling most antivirus and spyware kits have got the hang of IE6 by now; but IE7 is very messy, confusing and downright irritating. I simply gave up after an hour.
I now use Opera, in rare cases when some sites do not work, I go with Firefox on my office PC that is forced to run XP. Even mails on the Exchange server look better on IE, but the lvel of support in Opera and FF is manageable, so I haven't clicked the Blue E in months.
It's finally clear where Microsoft's priorities lie. You can pirate until they have a dominant place in the market....
I agree with this market share thing, but I think it's about the operating system, not the browser that Microsoft is worried about... let me explain.
People who get fed up of Windows try Linux... but most office apps still need some Windows componenets. MS Office existing licenses account for lots of installations. So it's not that simple to move the entire OS - but the browser is easily the biggest used application on the desktop today, not MS OFfice (or Outlook). So people moving away from IE to Firefox or Opera (like I did 7 years ago) is a big minus for Microsoft; because these people will demand that in-house web apps run on Firefox as well.
Now, Opera on Linux is as good as (in many cases better) on Windows, and Firefox likewise... so once people get de-addicted from desktop apps, it's an easy jump to move to Linux on the desktop completely. THIS IS DANGEROUS for the monopoly. IE can be locked into the Windows subsystem, but not Firefox or Opera... so the monopoly crashes faster.
Server products like Exchange, SharePoint, DotProject etc. have been made to look and work better on IE compared to Firefox / Opera but that will not deter users who've got accustomed to ease of use, more security and simplicity. With IE7 on non-genuine XP as well, I think MS is trying to sneak in more vulnerabilities to maybe promote Vista / IE7 as ther preferred desktop kit. Very long way to go before that happens, IMO.
of a pirated Windows XP was that it never downloaded and force-installed the crappy IE7. After the sneaky updates, it seems it is the turn of IE7 now to get in on all XP systems. Whatever for?
If IE7 provides more security, then it should be available only for genuine editions. Why incentivise piracy? Now, the Firefox exploits that work only when IE7 is installed will start working on pirated editions of XP.... even though the user may be using FIrefox only. Way to go, I say!
I agree with most of your points, but I feel the very fact that the NYT goes to this level of detail is very heartening. Thanks to the pointless patents regime, and countless lawsuits and FUD campaigns, it is very difficult to release a distro that is 'legally okay' all round the world. But thankfully, Linux is now well past the critical mass stage, and sites like Digg, del.icio.us, flickr etc. keep propping up all the time. This community synergy will ensure that Linux stays relevant in the desktop, and will keep growing.
Over time, it must be very expensive to keep up these FUD campaigns. Like the Forbes guy and Didiots, eventually, these 'journalists' will have to 'fess up, and bite the Linux bullet.
Re:The fact that it's on mainstream press..
on
The Next Leap for Linux
·
· Score: 1, Interesting
... positive attention to Linux is demonstrative of Linux on the desktop becoming a success story of its own, but I don't really see what the GPL has to do with it. The license itself makes no difference...
Er.. how many BSD licensed distros have made it to mainstream press? The simple truth of the matter is that GPL has ensured that users get the most benefit from the Freedoms. Else, the corporate idea-thieves would've long ago taken over Linux, and made colourful, bloated clones.. back to Unix days. GPL is the best thing that ever happened to Linux.
The fact that it's on mainstream press..
on
The Next Leap for Linux
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
Itself means Linux has made a good 'Next Leap'. Seriously! Until a few months back, the only Linux news used to be about the SCO case, Microsoft - Novell patents FUD etc. The nature of the GPL has meant that the cat is now well out of the bag, and the mainstream press outlets are compelled to sing the Penguin March.
Poor network performance in Vista, the OOXML vote and now, the Excel 2007 calculation howler have made bad press for Microsoft. Not a day passes on Digg without Ubuntu articles getting over thousands of Diggs. So now, the NYT, Forbes, Gartner, Yankee and the rest must join the Linux bandwagon. Or be left behind.
Slashdot Mirror
Trying to build an open source PACS system at a hospital I consult with. The need is basically for lots and lots of storage, without needing to access a DVD or tape. A typical MRI / CT scan can generate 1 GB of data; so with dozens of scans a day; and the need to store and access patient data pertaining to say, 10 years; these drives will be really useful.
A simple SATA RAID controller interfaced with 4 such drives can give me 12TB of cheap, fast, storage. At 1TB per year, should be good enough for my needs. H/w vendors currently recommend expensive SAN boxes; which I don't like... no useful value for the application at hand.
So to finish, you are probably right in that OpenOffice has a long way to go in matching every type of functionality as MS Office
The problem I think, is that Open Office approaches things from the wrong end. Linux enjoys more success and prominence because it approached things from the server end, not the desktop end. MS OFfice is a bloated client application that uses bloated undocumented protocols to talk to bloated, buggy, undocumented server apps. Which server apps? Active (Craptive) Directory, Exchange Server, Sharepoint, SBS, Dynamics CRM etc.
This probably explains why Lotus Notes has more success than Open Office, Sendmail / Qmail / Postfix / Sunbird / OpenGroupware and Thunderbird; despite Notes being crappier, bulkier and bloatier than the MS equivalents.
Zimbra was the best complete competitor to Office-Exchange; which probably explains why MS got its cronies Yahoo to buy Zimbra at an atrocious price point. Open Office is useless without a server replacement for Exchange and Sharepoint.
"Boycott Microsoft for... er... Microsoft."
.. you know, like.. It's not fair for Microsoft to break the stenchometer and get away with it.
I think you got it wrong there... it's like boycotting Bullshit to slightly better smelling manure. People need time to get used to the multiple new flavours, of
I don't think it is a big mistake at all. It would've been a big mistake if Microsoft gave away a free upgrade to XP for buyers of Vista. I think we will see a pricing announcement for this XP upgrade shortly.
Yes, the United States consumes more per capita. But we also produce more per capita also. Simple Economics 101.
What does the US produce which requires 10 times more energy than consumed in China, per person? Most computers and electronic goods are actually manufactured in China; even those consumed in the US. Most of America's wealth is actually services, not manufacturing.... and it's been like this for decades now.
Nothing warrants such disproportionate energy consumption in the US, IMO.
Or, are you afraid of the changes that wealth will bring?
Indeed, I am very afraid. If I get accustomed to travelling by car the 10 km distance from home to wokr, it is bound to get me lazy. Who knows... with a sedentary IT employment, I might get DVT and diabetes at a younger agr than usual.
There are lots of healthy ways to spend money without burning it up on cars. Like investing in a farm house for instance, and providing dignified livelihood for a dozen poor countrymen. Which is what I have undertaken to do, over the last 2 months.
Yes, there is a middle class (in India), but there is a huge impoverished class that constitutes the majority of Indians. Don't forget them! Maybe they are not in your caste, so let me remind you of what wealth is and isn't.
Some facts for you to chew:
1. The middle class population in India is larger than the entire population of the US.
2. There is a system of reservation in higher education; which ensures that people belonging to lower castes get adequate opportunity. This system has been in place for over 40 years now, and there is visible improvement in prosperity among all levels. While there is still lots of poverty, it is not so alarming as the parent poster suggested.
3. I am from a family of seven. 30 years ago, it was about 20 rupees to a dollar, and our monthly income was about $75. This was sufficient for food, clothing, decent accomodation and English-medium convent education for all of us. All of us had an enjoyable childhood, and except for me, the rest are all employed in banks.
4. Personally, I have enough money to buy 3 cars without borrowing a penny, but I choose to use overcrowded public transport as a matter of principle. The same applies to my brother and sisters as well; none of us own cars. It has not diminished our enjoyment of life's joys, however.
Guess what, those people in India and China are FUCKING POOR AND HAVE NOTHING. What you are advocating is that the people of the USA go back to living in the same kind of crappy lives that people live in the third world.
/. for over 6 years now. I've worked with high-end graphics stations from Silicon Grpahics and HP over 10 years back.
Are you aware that you are replying to someone from India? WE don't HAVE NOTHING. I'm in the IT industry for over 18 years now (Unix SVR3 days, DOS 2.0 days), and posting on
Believe me, life is not crappy here... certainly not so bad as you make it out to be.
"2) The US has actually done much better in reducing green house gas emissions compared to most Kyoto signatories. Name me one country that will actually meet its obligations."
Theree are 2 ways of looking a this - the US is already the largest consumer of energy per person... way too high compared to most other nations.
http://earthtrends.wri.org/text/energy-resources/variable-351.html
Some clips: 2003 2000 1990
Asia (excluding Middle East) 991.2 911.3 753.7
North America 7,844.1 8,113.1 7,544.8
China CHN 1,138.3 946.4 791.7
India IND 512.4 501.4 425.7
United States USA 7,794.8 8,109.0 7,543.4
India and China are home to over 35% of the World's population; but it appears they do not have much of a scope to reduce consumption. The US consumes more than 15 times the energy per person consumed in India; and there is a huge scope for reduction. Inaction by the US govt. is dangerous for the entire planet, including India and China.
And on a more personal note:
4) President Bush's home in Texas is actually a surprising green residence while Gore's pool house consumes more power than the average person's home.
It doesn't matter if Mr. Bush lives in a thatched shed and uses biogas to light up his dwelling. He is responsible for the energy consumption of the entire USA, not just his hut.
If there's one person who made the entire world aware of the dangers posed to the environment; with his stubborn attitude - it's got to be Mr. Bush himself. By not ratifying the Kyoto protocol, by stonewalling global efforts to reduce emissions etc. ... the list is long of Mr. Bush's singular contributions to environmental awareness.
This isnt Microsofts money. This is the money Microsoft extorted from you ....
Well said!! I wish more people realise this simple fact; and the amount of clout money can bring.
Still, it would appear that a hatred of Microsoft; and the idea of subvreting the business of an 800lb. gorilla appeals to some people. Personally I wish people use Linux because they LOVE its Unix-like architecture, and the the freedom offered by the GPL; not because they HATE Bill Gates, Ballmer or Microsoft. The latter is a transient emotion; and leaves one wistful after it passes.
If they(Canonical) knowing sell on something with known defects (that copy of MS Vista)...
.hello? you still there???? ..................
I imagine the support call to go something like this:
Vista User: Hi! I got a problem with Vista.
MS rep: Only one?
VU: Yep.. I can't activate
MS: Where did you get it? Or is it pirated?
VU: I bought it from Ubuntu
MS: Those guys haven't paid us protection money... like the good folks at Novell, Xandros..
VU: But it is still Microsoft Vista on the package... It's got this shticker as well... can I have a license key?
MS: Okay here you go... 54524524087698032413243064087513243404353040453204753047340873453207.
VU: I didn't ask for Ballmer's bank balance; just a license key!
MS: That's what I gave you...
VU: Okay... I typed it all in.. still won't go forward...
MS: Okay do this. Put that number in Excel 2007 and divide it by 345.43521; enter the first 128 digits, and then..
VU:
MS: Status: Waiting for customer. Next call please!
Or will it be someone else pretending to be her, but pocketing the money nevertheless?
I forget the interesting euphemism they had for 'lying' on the phone... anyone remember?
Mozilla software is tri-licensed under the GPL, the MPL and the LGPL. So, develeopers are free to use the GPL and create extensions licensed under the GPL as well.
http://www.mozilla.org/projects/calendar/sunbird/
LOL! Not to mention Microsoft doesn't read those messages from "Click here to send Feedback to Microsoft".
Given the possible split from Mozilla, I'd like to see OpenOffice.org take an interest.
What? And make it bloated, semi-compatible to Outlook and totally useless?
TB is a hundred times better than Evolution for reading mail on a Linux box. Because its GPL, I'm sure interested folks will be able to fork it and release useful extensions.
I thought Vista was a huge butt by itself, with multiple orifices !
Vista doesn't have any 'feet' to even outpace XP... this news is surprising.
BTW, Copyright, the basis for the GPL, is also Intellectual Property. If IP really didn't exist, neither would the GPL.
This is wrong at several levels. The FSF is very clear in its view that Copyright is NOT Intellectual Property. This is made explicitly clear by Stallman himself:
http://www.fsf.org/licensing/essays/not-ipr.xhtml/view?searchterm=intellectual%20property It has become fashionable to describe copyright, patents, and trademarks as "intellectual property". This fashion did not arise by accident--the term systematically distorts and confuses these issues, and its use was and is promoted by those who gain from this confusion. Anyone wishing to think clearly about any of these laws would do well to reject the term. The OIN counts IBM, NEC, Novell, Philips, Red Hat and Sony among its members. Except for RedHat none of the other companies have really promoted Linux and the GPL as much as their dollars would allow. Some like Novell and Sony have often done the opposite.
Now that Linux is getting a lot of good press, and Vista has flopped, these outfits are trying to hitch on to the Linux bandwagon.
from their site: In order to continue this rapid pace of innovation, a refined model of intellectual property management has been established. Open Invention NetworkSM is an intellectual property company that was formed to promote the Linux system by using patents to create a collaborative ecosystem. The more the Linux community stay away from OIN, the better. The word Open is abused day by day, it seems a complete rewrite of the dictionary is needed.
If IE7 doesn't have the WGA thing, then presumably it's going to be automatically installed with the rest of the updates whihc most users have set to automatic (since that's how the computer came configured).
Well spotted! After the sneaky update on XP and Vista, it looks like IE7 will be the next sneaky update on 'pirated' XP as well. I get a feeling most antivirus and spyware kits have got the hang of IE6 by now; but IE7 is very messy, confusing and downright irritating. I simply gave up after an hour.
I now use Opera, in rare cases when some sites do not work, I go with Firefox on my office PC that is forced to run XP. Even mails on the Exchange server look better on IE, but the lvel of support in Opera and FF is manageable, so I haven't clicked the Blue E in months.
It's finally clear where Microsoft's priorities lie. You can pirate until they have a dominant place in the market....
I agree with this market share thing, but I think it's about the operating system, not the browser that Microsoft is worried about... let me explain.
People who get fed up of Windows try Linux... but most office apps still need some Windows componenets. MS Office existing licenses account for lots of installations. So it's not that simple to move the entire OS - but the browser is easily the biggest used application on the desktop today, not MS OFfice (or Outlook). So people moving away from IE to Firefox or Opera (like I did 7 years ago) is a big minus for Microsoft; because these people will demand that in-house web apps run on Firefox as well.
Now, Opera on Linux is as good as (in many cases better) on Windows, and Firefox likewise... so once people get de-addicted from desktop apps, it's an easy jump to move to Linux on the desktop completely. THIS IS DANGEROUS for the monopoly. IE can be locked into the Windows subsystem, but not Firefox or Opera... so the monopoly crashes faster.
Server products like Exchange, SharePoint, DotProject etc. have been made to look and work better on IE compared to Firefox / Opera but that will not deter users who've got accustomed to ease of use, more security and simplicity. With IE7 on non-genuine XP as well, I think MS is trying to sneak in more vulnerabilities to maybe promote Vista / IE7 as ther preferred desktop kit. Very long way to go before that happens, IMO.
of a pirated Windows XP was that it never downloaded and force-installed the crappy IE7. After the sneaky updates, it seems it is the turn of IE7 now to get in on all XP systems. Whatever for?
If IE7 provides more security, then it should be available only for genuine editions. Why incentivise piracy? Now, the Firefox exploits that work only when IE7 is installed will start working on pirated editions of XP.... even though the user may be using FIrefox only. Way to go, I say!
I agree with most of your points, but I feel the very fact that the NYT goes to this level of detail is very heartening. Thanks to the pointless patents regime, and countless lawsuits and FUD campaigns, it is very difficult to release a distro that is 'legally okay' all round the world. But thankfully, Linux is now well past the critical mass stage, and sites like Digg, del.icio.us, flickr etc. keep propping up all the time. This community synergy will ensure that Linux stays relevant in the desktop, and will keep growing.
Over time, it must be very expensive to keep up these FUD campaigns. Like the Forbes guy and Didiots, eventually, these 'journalists' will have to 'fess up, and bite the Linux bullet.
Er.. how many BSD licensed distros have made it to mainstream press? The simple truth of the matter is that GPL has ensured that users get the most benefit from the Freedoms. Else, the corporate idea-thieves would've long ago taken over Linux, and made colourful, bloated clones.. back to Unix days. GPL is the best thing that ever happened to Linux.
Itself means Linux has made a good 'Next Leap'. Seriously! Until a few months back, the only Linux news used to be about the SCO case, Microsoft - Novell patents FUD etc. The nature of the GPL has meant that the cat is now well out of the bag, and the mainstream press outlets are compelled to sing the Penguin March.
Poor network performance in Vista, the OOXML vote and now, the Excel 2007 calculation howler have made bad press for Microsoft. Not a day passes on Digg without Ubuntu articles getting over thousands of Diggs. So now, the NYT, Forbes, Gartner, Yankee and the rest must join the Linux bandwagon. Or be left behind.