Of course if ASUS wants a custom build of windows they will obviously have to negotiate with MS just as they would have to negotiate with the vendor wanted a custom build of any propietry software. Its' not Asus who "wants a custom build of windows" on the eeePC - it's Microsoft. Purely for the fact that if the eeePC is not shipping with Windows, it's shipping with Linux. Think of it as a game of market place whack-a-mole.
Only because they were forced to by the EU. They rarely, if ever, do anything pro open source unless they're forced or they see a large benefit to their platforms (e.g. WiX - it's used to create installer packages for Windows.)
Large IT departments are on Software Assurance or a similar program- they pay whether or not they move to Windows Vista or remain on XP. Their remaining on XP rather than moving to Vista is no failure, so long as they're still purchasing licenses- and they are. Microsoft fail on that front because they're forced to extend the support lifetime of XP. They're going to have to maintain both XP and Vista, while I'd wager Microsoft's plan was to dump XP as soon as possible, and forge ahead with Vista. Microsoft being forced to maintain XP beyond it's intended lifetime due to lack of corporate networks deploying Vista... Do you think they see that as a win?
In the long term, you can only determine failure rates in the enterprise market by charting the growth or lack thereof in Software Assurance sales by cost, and yet those appear to be increasing as well. They still lose out on recouping their development cost for Vista through sales. How many years was that in the works again? Was that time and money well spent, or was it complete waste?
Moreover, it seems, in my opinion, to be somewhat fallacious when people bring out the old Windows-98-ME-XP saw, like you did. People stay with what works. There is no necessity to move to a new operating system for the hell of it, and neither consumers nor enterprise users do. and what, are you trying to reinforce the fact that people aren't upgrading to Vista here?
Given that Windows 2000 was not marketed toward the consumer and Windows ME was released in late 2000 compared to the late 2001 release date for Windows XP (only 13 months apart) It's not at all surprising that the vast majority of consumer PCs missed Windows ME entirely. Did Microsoft recoup the development cost of ME through sales? I don't know, but my guess would be no.
Arguably, if Windows 7 were released tomorrow with only fourteen months or so between it and Windows Vista, it would not be unsurprising that Vista PCs did not constitute a large portion of the market. and Microsoft would have spent more years developing it than it was relevant in the market.
As it is, Windows Vista constitutes approximately 9% of the PC installed base. (Source with all of the accompanying disclaimers about UA strings.) That doesn't change the general public perception that Vista is a steaming pile of excrement
Moreover, your final comparison is odd; you talk about enterprise IT departments being the hallmark of failure and then turn to the example of Windows 98-ME-XP- despite those being consumer operating systems. They all exist(ed) in enterprise IT as workstations. ME completely missed the boat there, which was just another aspect of its, and relatedly Vista's, epic failure
If you think Vista is a failure in any sense of the word, you really need to reexamine the realities of the situation. What about all the corporate users? A lot of large IT departments have no plans to ever upgrade to Vista, and are instead going to wait and see how Windows 7 turns out. It's 98 -> ME -> XP all over again (i.e. most users skipping the intermediate choice)
Yeah. So sorry, Slashdot, but all the rational companies aren't buying the "DUNT BE TEH EVEL!!11" schtick. We'll stick with a company with a proven track record of being committed to the needs of businesses, thank you very much. That's funny... Every technology conference I've been to in recent times has had speakers recommending businesses begin evaluating Google Docs as a replacement for Office - most say that it's more than sufficient for most purposes, and getting better everyday.
So sorry, AC, but all the rational IT practitioners are listening to industry chatter, and aren't buying the rantings of an unidentifiable slashdot user wearing a tinfoil hat
all I see are people bitching that "Vista uses up all of my RAM", yet they do not mention that it is doing so on purpose (whether it works optimally or not is again, another discussion) by preloading the RAM with what is most necessary for the most commonly run apps.
Linux does this too. Have you ever run 'free -m' at the command line after a linux system has been up for a few hours? Filled with buffers and cached data. I guess this boils down to your 'optimally or not' question, but I've yet to find a system running linux (specifically ubuntu) with less than 1GB of RAM that had to have default settings tuned down in order to improve performance to the point where it became usable... if anything there's been room to crank up the eye-candy. The opposite is true of Vista machines I've come accross (i.e. every vista system with 1GB or less needed to have default settings reigned in to achieve an acceptable level of responsivness).
I know, anecdotal evidence. The question still remains: what value does vista provide over a default installation of ubuntu that requires so much more RAM? Not a damn thing that I can see...
Do you want to challenge their dominance? Give a PS3 or a Wii as a gift... or even an Xbox 360
The PS3 and Wii make sense, but the Xbox360? It's also a directX based development platform... That's why most games released for the Xbox360 generally turn up on PC soon after (if not a simultaneous release).
I was mostly responding to the last sentence of your first paragraph, were you say you'd argue that kids in third world countries "need" to learn Windows. I disagree.
Agreed - but that's a different issue. My argument was not OS related; I was saying that the usefulness of the OLPC is not given by the capability to see the source code.
I agree with you that there are more pertinent skills they could learn that would help them more than computer know-how. That said, I believe the ability to view source is a stong point of the XO; It's a feature, that if not present removes opportunities from the owners... sure, maybe only a handfull will really benefit from having the source code available, but how many benefit if it's not available? Zero.
As you say, source availability is not the be all and end all of the OLPC project, but IMO if you remove it, you remove some of the potential benefits it was designed to provide. It's not extremely important, but it is a Good Thing.
Do they _really_ need to learn Windows, or just basic computing concepts? I'd wager that the later is far more useful than learning a specific OS.
When you say the source code is irrelevent in all those "urgent priorities", I say that windows is also - The only requirement is that it displays graphics and text on the screen, so there's absolutly no reason I can see why they couldn't learn all those things with a non-Windows OS.
I'd guess there's no actual law that prevents them from selling XP in Vista's place... rather they can't do it 'legally' because of contracts they signed with MS - MS has been bullying the OEM's for years now.
As I wrote that, I thought to myself "Well, that's what the fool deserves for signing a contract with MS". Then I remembered that he probably didn't have a choice, because if he wasn't able to sell windows at the same price at other OEM's, he'd probably lose 90% of his customers. MS knows this, and exploits the situation to screw over the OEM and the consumers who buy from him. It's not about pleasing the customer for them; It's about ensuring that people don't/can't buy an alternative OS. They're dead scared of competition. In this case, the competition is one of their own products, so they 're doing their best to remove it as a choice.
No, you really can't. Only console diehards make this assertion. If you or someone you know claims to have done this, I question their true level of pwnage.
The wiimote is closest to PC out of any of the consoles, when it comes to FPS control - and even it is, at most, only half as awesome as a kb/mouse combo.
But don't take my word for it, do some reading - PC vs Dreamcast: Quake 3. The one situation in my memory where console gamers went head to head with PC gamers in a non-handicapped FPS. Guess what happened? The console gamers whined like little bitches for lack of ever winning.
Another question to consider is this: which platform are the majority of top tier gaming tournaments played on? Ever wonder why?
Yes, but if you'd bothered to fully comprehend my comment you realized that I said IN COMBINATION WITH YOUR LICENSE KEY your IP can be used to trace you to the seat you're sitting in.
Duh, a NAT environment would show up as a single IP for many users - how ever each windows install has a unique identifier with can be used to track you:
- IP address logged: they know who your ISP is, and your ISP can inform them of your account details, including your physical location - XP license logged: they know which computer you were using at said location
Check out the VMWare browser applicance... basically a disposable OS with browser in a vmware image. If it gets broken, just create another copy - no need to worry about the base system getting hammered with crap.
So what? There's no information which could be used to identify you collected (apart from your IP address).
MS on the other hand checks your license key when ever you do an update (WGA - which when used in combination with your IP address can be used to trace you to the chair you're sitting in).
Can you not see the massive difference, or are you just a troll?
"they provided centralized servers for the games to be played on."
That's not true. Xbox live is simply a paid matching service - games are P2P, with the server being run from one of the players xbox itself - the kind Nintendo will be doing for free.
Why do you think PC gamers laugh so heartily at Live for PC? Does Microsoft truly expect them to start paying for something they've had since before the original xbox ever came out?
You are correct - I didn't think of it all by myself... I formed an opinion by digesting multiple sources of information. You on the other hand (as evidenced by the wording of your reply) are the master-mind behind all subjects relating to economic models. Everyone else, from Smith to Marx, learned from your incredibly informative AC posts, right here on slashdot no less!
it was probally your government run schools that taught you that type of thought, how unoriginal.
I have personal experience of both private and public schools in Australia. I went to both kinds... of course this is anecdotal evidence, but in general I found that I was able to do a great deal less work at private schools and achieve impressive grades than at the public schools. This is simply for the fact that the private schools provided only a fraction of the detail in any given subject area that the public schools did. I can certainly say for a fact, I learned much much more at public schools... on the other hand I would have received even better marks than at the public schools, yet gained less knowledge at the private schools.
Your examples are retarded.
You're entitled to your opinion... but I submit that you are retarded; not just your comments
Your comprehension of capitalism is skewed. Privitization allows people to keep costs low
'People' defined as those who have the money to further increase their wealth, by paying employees (also people) less than the worth of their actual daily output. America's ability to outsource allows corporations to keep costs low... not people.
I wonder, how many people are creating businesses in those great socialistic countries?
A lot. Businesses based around designing, implementing, and maintaining Linux network systems (and of course, the businesses that use said systems). All money saved not buying MS products is usually paid to the local consultant... which means both a stronger local economy AND a bigger tax cut for the government.
Oh - maybe I missed your point, is it, "I want everyone else to take care of me, I am entitled to free (fill in the blank)"
Yeah, you did miss the point. I have no problem paying a bit extra out of my wage in tax, if that means that those in my community who can't properly afford to "take care of" themselves (health,education,housing) aren't driven to criminal acts (potentially against me) in order to be able to do so. In other words, decrease the impact of abject poverty, and the subsequent social problems it causes... what bastardry!
Kiss my ass and stay away from the US. You also are not welcome.
How endearing! I love how you speak the mind of everyone in your country.
One other thing, don't ever come here. I know you want to, but you are now officialy not welcome.
Such a beautiful example of American hospitality... no wonder you guys are so universally loved./sarcasm
For the record, America still employs many socialist ideals... public schools; public housing; non-private police force; all these things bought to you by socialism. Would propose that these socialist services be abolished in favour of purely private counter-parts?
Yes, I to would love to live in a country with a privatized police force... I would sure feel a "held-to-mothers-bossom" sense of security knowing that it is run, not for the expressed purpose of protecting the populace/enforcement of law, but for the profit of shareholders. No way that could ever be a bad thing... capitalism is _never_ wrong
I remember reading sometime ago that PS3 games will be locked to the first console they are played on. The rational for this was that it would quash the re-sale market... has this been debunked yet?
insist on a form evolution that necessarily happened by a strictly random process
Wrong. Natural selection (a.k.a evolution) is not random. It's quite the opposite. Those animals who are best suited to their environment survive and prosper. If you want to tell me that "oh, genetic mutations are random!"
an ideology that only accepts things that are incompatible with the existence of God
Wrong again... at least by the definition of God I know. What you really mean is INCOMPATIBLE WITH THE BIBLE. The God I was taught about as a child was such a smarty pants know it all that, get this, he incorporated evolutionary traits in to his intelligent design of life. Incompatible my ass!
you're talking about the ideology that everyone who dissagrees with the dogma is necessarily too stupid to argue with
Hmmm, so what about the dogma you're bandying about in saying that evolution is incompatible with god? It would seem that you believe anyone who disagrees with _your_ dogma is an idiot and arguments need not be used.
Do us a favour: get back on your high horse, and ride off into the sunset, dumb-ass. People like you only serve to further polarize the situation.
Underestimating the PS 3 because it's expensive would be like underestimating a Ferrari against a Honda because the Ferrari is expensive.
What aspect of the Ferrari are we estimating?
Sure, if we compare top speed the Farrari wins hands down every time, but console wars are not about maximum top speed are they?
What you're really looking at is total sales of units. I would be willing to wager my entire years salary that Honda's sell in far far far greater numbers than Farrari's... simply because Farrari's are well out of the price range of non-rockstar people...
What image may I ask do you think Sony holds? If you say anything other than 'zitfaced teenagers', I fear you may may be suffering from 'cranial-anal inversion' syndrome.
Slashdot Mirror
Only because they were forced to by the EU. They rarely, if ever, do anything pro open source unless they're forced or they see a large benefit to their platforms (e.g. WiX - it's used to create installer packages for Windows.)
That, my friend, is a failure.
So sorry, AC, but all the rational IT practitioners are listening to industry chatter, and aren't buying the rantings of an unidentifiable slashdot user wearing a tinfoil hat
all I see are people bitching that "Vista uses up all of my RAM", yet they do not mention that it is doing so on purpose (whether it works optimally or not is again, another discussion) by preloading the RAM with what is most necessary for the most commonly run apps.
Linux does this too. Have you ever run 'free -m' at the command line after a linux system has been up for a few hours? Filled with buffers and cached data. I guess this boils down to your 'optimally or not' question, but I've yet to find a system running linux (specifically ubuntu) with less than 1GB of RAM that had to have default settings tuned down in order to improve performance to the point where it became usable... if anything there's been room to crank up the eye-candy. The opposite is true of Vista machines I've come accross (i.e. every vista system with 1GB or less needed to have default settings reigned in to achieve an acceptable level of responsivness).
I know, anecdotal evidence. The question still remains: what value does vista provide over a default installation of ubuntu that requires so much more RAM? Not a damn thing that I can see...
Do you want to challenge their dominance? Give a PS3 or a Wii as a gift... or even an Xbox 360
The PS3 and Wii make sense, but the Xbox360? It's also a directX based development platform... That's why most games released for the Xbox360 generally turn up on PC soon after (if not a simultaneous release).
I'm not sure what you mean...
I was mostly responding to the last sentence of your first paragraph, were you say you'd argue that kids in third world countries "need" to learn Windows. I disagree.
Agreed - but that's a different issue. My argument was not OS related; I was saying that the usefulness of the OLPC is not given by the capability to see the source code.
I agree with you that there are more pertinent skills they could learn that would help them more than computer know-how. That said, I believe the ability to view source is a stong point of the XO; It's a feature, that if not present removes opportunities from the owners... sure, maybe only a handfull will really benefit from having the source code available, but how many benefit if it's not available? Zero.
As you say, source availability is not the be all and end all of the OLPC project, but IMO if you remove it, you remove some of the potential benefits it was designed to provide. It's not extremely important, but it is a Good Thing.
I'd argue that they even need to learn Windows
Do they _really_ need to learn Windows, or just basic computing concepts? I'd wager that the later is far more useful than learning a specific OS.
When you say the source code is irrelevent in all those "urgent priorities", I say that windows is also - The only requirement is that it displays graphics and text on the screen, so there's absolutly no reason I can see why they couldn't learn all those things with a non-Windows OS.
"don't know better"?
Wrong. The fact they're opting for XP instead shows that they do.
I'd guess there's no actual law that prevents them from selling XP in Vista's place... rather they can't do it 'legally' because of contracts they signed with MS - MS has been bullying the OEM's for years now.
/rant
As I wrote that, I thought to myself "Well, that's what the fool deserves for signing a contract with MS". Then I remembered that he probably didn't have a choice, because if he wasn't able to sell windows at the same price at other OEM's, he'd probably lose 90% of his customers. MS knows this, and exploits the situation to screw over the OEM and the consumers who buy from him. It's not about pleasing the customer for them; It's about ensuring that people don't/can't buy an alternative OS. They're dead scared of competition. In this case, the competition is one of their own products, so they 're doing their best to remove it as a choice.
Choice + Free Market = Competition = Consumers drive the market
Competition + Microsoft = Ballmer throws a chair and threatens to kill people
Mr Ballmer, please put that chair down
*ducks*
No, you really can't. Only console diehards make this assertion. If you or someone you know claims to have done this, I question their true level of pwnage.
The wiimote is closest to PC out of any of the consoles, when it comes to FPS control - and even it is, at most, only half as awesome as a kb/mouse combo.
But don't take my word for it, do some reading - PC vs Dreamcast: Quake 3. The one situation in my memory where console gamers went head to head with PC gamers in a non-handicapped FPS. Guess what happened? The console gamers whined like little bitches for lack of ever winning.
Another question to consider is this: which platform are the majority of top tier gaming tournaments played on? Ever wonder why?
Yes, but if you'd bothered to fully comprehend my comment you realized that I said IN COMBINATION WITH YOUR LICENSE KEY your IP can be used to trace you to the seat you're sitting in.
Duh, a NAT environment would show up as a single IP for many users - how ever each windows install has a unique identifier with can be used to track you:
- IP address logged: they know who your ISP is, and your ISP can inform them of your account details, including your physical location
- XP license logged: they know which computer you were using at said location
Get it now?
Check out the VMWare browser applicance... basically a disposable OS with browser in a vmware image. If it gets broken, just create another copy - no need to worry about the base system getting hammered with crap.
VMWare Player is free - have at it!
So what? There's no information which could be used to identify you collected (apart from your IP address).
MS on the other hand checks your license key when ever you do an update (WGA - which when used in combination with your IP address can be used to trace you to the chair you're sitting in).
Can you not see the massive difference, or are you just a troll?
"they provided centralized servers for the games to be played on."
That's not true. Xbox live is simply a paid matching service - games are P2P, with the server being run from one of the players xbox itself - the kind Nintendo will be doing for free.
Why do you think PC gamers laugh so heartily at Live for PC? Does Microsoft truly expect them to start paying for something they've had since before the original xbox ever came out?
so its not clear whats the whole deal about new hardware is about
I'll give you a clue... 3 Letters; begins with 'D', ends in 'M'
Wow! What a beautiful argument.
I know... certainly inspired you, didn't it?
Did you think of that all by yourself? No
You are correct - I didn't think of it all by myself... I formed an opinion by digesting multiple sources of information. You on the other hand (as evidenced by the wording of your reply) are the master-mind behind all subjects relating to economic models. Everyone else, from Smith to Marx, learned from your incredibly informative AC posts, right here on slashdot no less!
it was probally your government run schools that taught you that type of thought, how unoriginal.
I have personal experience of both private and public schools in Australia. I went to both kinds... of course this is anecdotal evidence, but in general I found that I was able to do a great deal less work at private schools and achieve impressive grades than at the public schools. This is simply for the fact that the private schools provided only a fraction of the detail in any given subject area that the public schools did. I can certainly say for a fact, I learned much much more at public schools... on the other hand I would have received even better marks than at the public schools, yet gained less knowledge at the private schools.
Your examples are retarded.
You're entitled to your opinion... but I submit that you are retarded; not just your comments
Your comprehension of capitalism is skewed. Privitization allows people to keep costs low
'People' defined as those who have the money to further increase their wealth, by paying employees (also people) less than the worth of their actual daily output. America's ability to outsource allows corporations to keep costs low... not people.
I wonder, how many people are creating businesses in those great socialistic countries?
A lot. Businesses based around designing, implementing, and maintaining Linux network systems (and of course, the businesses that use said systems). All money saved not buying MS products is usually paid to the local consultant... which means both a stronger local economy AND a bigger tax cut for the government.
Oh - maybe I missed your point, is it, "I want everyone else to take care of me, I am entitled to free (fill in the blank)"
Yeah, you did miss the point. I have no problem paying a bit extra out of my wage in tax, if that means that those in my community who can't properly afford to "take care of" themselves (health,education,housing) aren't driven to criminal acts (potentially against me) in order to be able to do so. In other words, decrease the impact of abject poverty, and the subsequent social problems it causes... what bastardry!
Kiss my ass and stay away from the US. You also are not welcome.
How endearing! I love how you speak the mind of everyone in your country.
scrotum feeder
One other thing, don't ever come here. I know you want to, but you are now officialy not welcome.
/sarcasm
Such a beautiful example of American hospitality... no wonder you guys are so universally loved.
For the record, America still employs many socialist ideals... public schools; public housing; non-private police force; all these things bought to you by socialism. Would propose that these socialist services be abolished in favour of purely private counter-parts?
Yes, I to would love to live in a country with a privatized police force... I would sure feel a "held-to-mothers-bossom" sense of security knowing that it is run, not for the expressed purpose of protecting the populace/enforcement of law, but for the profit of shareholders. No way that could ever be a bad thing... capitalism is _never_ wrong
douche bag
I'm more concerned about the probability of a resonance cascade scenario...
By the way, have you seen my crowbar?
I remember reading sometime ago that PS3 games will be locked to the first console they are played on. The rational for this was that it would quash the re-sale market... has this been debunked yet?
Yes, logic AND science...
insist on a form evolution that necessarily happened by a strictly random process
Wrong. Natural selection (a.k.a evolution) is not random. It's quite the opposite. Those animals who are best suited to their environment survive and prosper. If you want to tell me that "oh, genetic mutations are random!"
an ideology that only accepts things that are incompatible with the existence of God
Wrong again... at least by the definition of God I know. What you really mean is INCOMPATIBLE WITH THE BIBLE. The God I was taught about as a child was such a smarty pants know it all that, get this, he incorporated evolutionary traits in to his intelligent design of life. Incompatible my ass!
you're talking about the ideology that everyone who dissagrees with the dogma is necessarily too stupid to argue with
Hmmm, so what about the dogma you're bandying about in saying that evolution is incompatible with god? It would seem that you believe anyone who disagrees with _your_ dogma is an idiot and arguments need not be used.
Do us a favour: get back on your high horse, and ride off into the sunset, dumb-ass. People like you only serve to further polarize the situation.
Underestimating the PS 3 because it's expensive would be like underestimating a Ferrari against a Honda because the Ferrari is expensive.
What aspect of the Ferrari are we estimating?
Sure, if we compare top speed the Farrari wins hands down every time, but console wars are not about maximum top speed are they?
What you're really looking at is total sales of units. I would be willing to wager my entire years salary that Honda's sell in far far far greater numbers than Farrari's... simply because Farrari's are well out of the price range of non-rockstar people...
What image may I ask do you think Sony holds? If you say anything other than 'zitfaced teenagers', I fear you may may be suffering from 'cranial-anal inversion' syndrome.