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User: miffo.swe

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  1. Depends on marketing strategy. on Novell as Open Source Hero? · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Novell has mostly been geek centric while Microsoft has gone straight for the boss (who often dont give a rats behind about what the techies say). I think Novell needs to change its strategy and start making its name with the bosses too. Why not measure ROI and TCO on Novell vs. Windows? A real comparison where things like viruses and the likes is taken into the calculation. Then an ad campaign touting how much it costs to stay on Microsoft compared to migrating. Nothing appeals to managers and bosses like money.

    Here in sweden most people dont even know what novell is even if most of them have been working on it, they just think its some extension to their workstation. Novell needs to get the word out to common people and not just us techies. We dont decide much nowadays (we bitch and moan but it isnt our call in the end).

  2. How many paid licenses? on Microsoft Expects 1 Billion Windows Users by 2010 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I seriously quiestion their reveny is going to be this high in the future even if they succeed in bringing home additional markets like China or India. Pirating is rampant and not many are aware of license costs. Recent discounts MS have been handing out seems to indicate that prople just dont want to pay that much money for MS Windows. Constant upgrading of the operating system isnt something the users want either. The day of printing money seems to be coming to an end.

    Suppose Microsoft somehow makes the ultimate DRM system effectivly killing all the pirating in the world? Would the users gladly pay or would they just switch to something free and gratis instead?

    Microsoft is in for a ride and i hope it makes them a teamplayer like IBM and others who once was big and without concious.

  3. Re:Let's face it! on Time to Try a Linux Desktop? · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Your kidding us here right? You demand that linux should be lightyears simpler that MS Windows (any version). Firstly the goals are not something the community can reach, especially hardware support since it demands manufacturers to give out drivers or detailed papers about the internals so that drivers can be made open source. Secondly MS Windows is nothing but simple. I work in a couple of schools as an admin and frankly MS Windows is a royal pain to use for most of the staff and the students. I cant imagine anyone of them installing MS Windows succesfully with all hardware running. Its a big overstatement to call MS Windows userfriendly cause it aint. People have used it and gotten accustomed to how it work and where stuff is but for a total newb there really isnt much difference in usability between MS Windows and Linux with KDE, XFCE or Gnome.

    Putting that much effort in outperforming MS Windows in every possible field isnt as good as it sounds. Id much rather see a big effort in security since thats where we will be forced to go tomorrow either way. Let MS play with their bells and whistles and walk our own way.

    I sure as hell didnt start using linux because i wanted another sort of MS Windows. To mimic Microsoft to much eradicates every possible reason for me to use Linux. If i want MS Windows i buy it.

    Sometimes it feals like some people just want a free MS Windows version, i just ignore those people.

  4. Carnivore anyone? on China Will Monitor, Censor SMS Messages · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Dont take your party hats out and celebrate just yet. The US has an even bigger system that spies on just any communication. Nothing stops Bush or anyone in charge from using it in political games since its all under a [Top Secret] stamp. The new antiterror laws that lets the govt detain someone indefinitly without telling anyone is also a great tool to stay in power.

    The US is just as bad as China but its more polished on the outside. The difference is that china is open about what they do.

  5. Re:Go IBM on Kill Bill, IBM vs Microsoft · · Score: 1

    IBM had every chance of suing Compaq into oblivion but instead of facing long litigation as Microsoft did they opted to let the matter slip. If IBM would have been half as bad as Microsoft we wouldnt have had the PC today.

  6. Re:Go IBM on Kill Bill, IBM vs Microsoft · · Score: 2, Insightful

    IBM had already outlined the arcitechture long before Bill Gates bought QDOS from Seattle Technologies. Bill Gates delivered a system so riddled with bugs that IBM had to kill more than 300 before they thougt it was usable.

    The reason IBM decided not to press charges against the clones was the fact that they wore under close scrutiny by the DOJ. Pretty much the same situation where MS decided to thumb their nose at them and integrate even more things into MS Windows.

    If anything IBM have been much less sneaky and havent sold silverpainted crapola. IBM seldom buys and buries companies either.

    There is a world of difference between IBM and Microsoft.

  7. Re:When? on Process Improvements in the Kernel Development · · Score: 1

    Linux development has always been transparent. A deep dig into lkml can reveal every bit and piece that got into the kernel. Since the source is free it is already very easy if some company suspects foul play to compare sources, find who submitted what and go forward. The difference now is that it is totally transparent without any digging into forums.

    The thing that bugs me is that Microsoft is running around claming linux is a heaven to pirates and bad people in general when its very hard to find a single MS Windows computer without any pirated software on it. Topping that they charge open source to steal things and plagiate and such. That just makes me so mad.

    The hidden APIs is not whole APIs but rather undocumented "features" in them that lets MS use hooks that no one else can use.

  8. Why? on In The Works: Windows For Supercomputers · · Score: 1

    MS Windows isnt suited for theese specialiced tasks at all. Morphing MS Windows to suit cluster calculations will make it a totally different product than MS Windows. What do you need to do big calculations? A spreadsheet, a develpers framework for GUI applications or a nice driver support? MS Windows doesnt fit in and i cant see how it brings anything that big clusters need except licensing costs.

    The only thing i can imagine is that MS is pissed about their inability to take on linux where linux shines while linux is inching into every area where windows shines. They still havent recouped much of the amount of servers on the internet they lost to apache. Their effort to sponsor big IIS webfarms havent made any dent into apaches marketshare. Even if they have given Windows and IIS away it was still cheaper with apache and some *nix version. I fail to see how windows should make things easier because you dont really want a monkey making the calculations to put into theese serverfarms. They are used by highly professionals that dont benefit much from ease of use.

  9. Re:Go IBM on Kill Bill, IBM vs Microsoft · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Ibm evil?

    They gave the PC OS market away to Bill Gates. They gave the PC to anyone who wanted to clone it. How much would a PC cost today if it wasnt for IBM deciding that releasing the PC instead of drag in court for years?

    I like IBM and i dont know why there are so many people whining about them. They have handled their position on the top eons better than MS have done.

  10. When? on Process Improvements in the Kernel Development · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Now that the Linux development is totally transparent when will we be able to audit Microsoft, SCO, and other propriarity code for stolen bits and pieces?

    We should shout out of the top of our lungs that the propriarity way foster code stealing because no one can audit it.

  11. Re:Details? on Process Improvements in the Kernel Development · · Score: 1

    Not many i would presume since its the contributors ass who gets fried and not Linus. To my knowledge most contributors is working with their companys blessing.

  12. Re:If you're being 'asked' on Large-Scale Paper-To-Digital Conversion? · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I agree totally. Some people tend to look at an admin as someone who does magic. They dont understand that some things either costs money or takes time. Perhaps it would be better to give the people writing theese things a laptop in the first place. It sounds like a great waste of time to duplicate the work when it should have been given to the admin in digital format in the first place.

  13. Re:patented invention != invention caused by paten on Xerox Patent Ruled Invalid, palmOne Exonerated · · Score: 1

    Drug companies was a bad example since they mostly spend their money on antibaldness and wood enhanching. Most serious developing occur on universitys and institutions. The drug companies dont spend much money on basic research, theres no profit there.

  14. Re:Invalid Invalid Invalid on Xerox Patent Ruled Invalid, palmOne Exonerated · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Many of the parents wore just not possible before someone came up with a easy way to produce and store electricity. Many of the "inventors" wasnt the ones coming up with the ideas, just the first to patent them. Take Marconi as a nice example of how "good" patents worked back then.

    Patents have always been a mess and i dont think any groundbreaking inventions can be said to stem from the patenting system. Military has been the biggest driving force behind new inventions.

    The older the better or just selective history?

  15. Re:No competition? on Bob Muglia on Longhorn Server, Linux and Blackcomb · · Score: 1

    What do you mean? If i put the same server together out of Microsoft products am i still competing with them? I use another system than Microsofts doing the same exact thing i would do if i bought the parts from them?

    Everything that enables a customer not to buy something from Microsoft is competition.

  16. No competition? on Bob Muglia on Longhorn Server, Linux and Blackcomb · · Score: 4, Insightful

    When i slap together a new LAMP server on linux it sure as heck is taking business away from Microsoft. A DNS, DHCP, Firewall, mailfilter/AV is today only a couple of cd's away for most admins with half a brain. And the best part? It doesnt cost a dime!

    Even if Microsft successfully attacks all the companies selling linux there will still be a significant marketshare who is using linux on servers. What Microsoft should do is start selling applications and services to linux, like a full blown emulator for win32 and Office for Linux.

    That way they wouldnt have to kill competition to earn money. Sometimes it feals like killing the competition is the goal and making money just a side effect.

  17. One way spam fighting. on FTC Porn Spam Regulation Now in Effect · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The best way possible to fight spam must be to fine the companies marketed by spam. Someone surely forks the dough to get spam invading everyones mailbox. I have a hard time imagine someone sending spam just for fun. By cutting off the money the incentive to spam is reduced and it should wither and become a much smaller problem.

    Filtering and making a new shiny mail system dont help. All it does is make the spammers invent new ways to send spam.

    What makes spam such a big industry must be the companies who pays for it, go get them!

  18. You yankees should worry. on Justice Department Censors ACLU Web Site · · Score: 4, Insightful

    To a bystander this looks like Kafka in action. He was criticizing the Soviet system and the apperant lack of rights of the small man within the gearwheels of power. The rights of the people is what stops the ones in power from abusing their position and is important in any political system. Communism could have worked if it had those checks and balances as well as american corporatism will fail without them. America without free speech is just a totalitarian regime with election teaters playing in the media every now and then.

    How do you choose between bad and worse? Do you people feel that its your own people who become presidents or are they choosen beforehand and you just choose between the few "approved" candidates?

    Once slipped the rights of the people is utterly hard to recover and sometimes as history has shown us impossible.

    Dont you wonder what the founding fathers would think if they saw america of today?

  19. Re:Odd... money to be made isnt being made? on Spyware Becoming Worst Tech Support Problem · · Score: 1

    Sophos had this feature before and i loved it tremendously. Strangely they have removed it, go figure? Maybe some spyware company threated to sue in the US and they backed off instead of go through stiff legal battles?

    How i love the US legal system, not!

  20. US in turning into USSR on FBI Investigates Open Records Request · · Score: 1

    Is it just me or is the US turning into a new USSR where everybody watches eachother and the state has unlimited powers? The neocons is roughly the equivalent of the USSR communist party. How ironic this is. While USSR is getting more and more open the US is getting more and more lika a kafka novel.

    Vote those rats away while its still time, remember that Hitler was elected too. Many people in the US seems to view Muslims in about the same manner that Hitler germany viewed Jews. I keep reading how the US should "nuke them". How is that any different from death camps? Sure faster but the same end result.

  21. euhh! on Microsoft Security Updates for Pirated Windows? · · Score: 1

    I feel utterly stupid. I never really got it as to why som many computers wore unpatched running XP. Since XP has an autoupdate i presumed that the users was updated. Now it becomes chrystal clear to me. The amount of pirated and unpatched machines must be staggering.

    I do think that witholding security updates is bad for MS reputation since they get the blame, not the pirates.

  22. Re:Not strange at all. on Microsoft Drops Next-Generation Security Project [updated] · · Score: 1

    "Hmmm...I guess Microsoft's 50 billion just fell from the sky."

    I wasnt talking about the price of Windows but rather the applocations and the content people use on MS Windows. If an averege user would pay for every bit and piece of software and content on windows he would en up paying a lot of money.

  23. Not strange at all. on Microsoft Drops Next-Generation Security Project [updated] · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Implementing palladium hard will do one thing over night. Many tech savvy Windows users would switch away in a heartbeart. Most if not all of my friends who uses Windows rarely pay for any application they use. They consider it their god given rights do download anything they please. Any hindrance to that would make them switch in notime since they are very reluctant to actually start forking the dough for the applications they use. Bring in all the movies and music they download and they would gladly suffer hell on a commandline to avoid having to pay for the things they use.

    Come to think about it, harder and more vigalant enforcement on comercial software is only going to drive these people to open source no matter how they do it. Enforce and people migrate, dont and people dont pay. They are in a tough spot, BSA and ppl.

  24. Amusing. on Projected 'Average' Longhorn System Is A Whopper · · Score: 1

    Isnt it pretty amusing that open source and ABM often get faster and faster while Microsoft tends to make things slower? BeOS could do pretty much anything longhorn will do if you remove the middleware and ran circles around anything. There has to be a connection between intel and MS cause MS cant stink that bad can they?

  25. Re:This is so frustrating on Sasser Worm Disruption Growing · · Score: 1

    From your reasoning every apache server out there would be a slave because what better zombie than a real server with a nice hookup? The real reason windows is so popular is that its so damn easy to write viruses for it. Dont blame the users who thought they bought an easy OS to take care of security for them. Microsoft is responsible for the security of windows and not anyone else just as much as the free software movement is responsible for its security.