True that we have IBM and Sun; I'm not ignoring them at all, I use both their products. In fact I greatly enjoy seeing them "do Linux".
Whoops, I just caught you comment about FUD; OK, there's lots of that. Most of my post is about how to deal with FUD at a consumer level, where people don't even *know* that there is anything else. And then they find out and think its brand new, or "non-standard" (another rant...) or something equally absurd. So please take the rest of this with a grain of salt, it's not an attack. It's more like frustration.
Maybe I wasn't clear enough in my original post howver. I was just saying that it would be nice to see a "pure linux" play aimed at the mainstream user. Not business, nor business desktop. Just plain users who go buy things at Circuit City, CompUSA, etc. That was why I used Apple as an example. Clearly Apple aimed their iMac ads in this direction.
More recently, I've watched IBM's Linux ads during the football season. They're probably doing well, but how is Joe home user going to relate the big biz feeling to what he's doing? I'm certainly not dissing IBM on this, they're doing what they do best. Mainly, great big stuff IMHO. I just perceive a shortfall elsewhere in the overall Linux PR.
To respond to the other AC who says that "Ads aren't PR": I would say True, I do it word-of-mouth. But eventually you'll have to fight fire with fire and if that requires TV ads then so be it.
And that's just it right there. MS is smart enough to know how far PR goes despite damn near owning the desktop market. The "pure linux" players haven't even tried (RH, SuSE, etc.). I know their budgets aren't as huge as MS or IBM but I'm surprised they haven't caught onto this. It would make my week to see an RH or SuSE ad on TV, like some of the Apple ads. I'd even be wiling to bet that the ROI is worth it, if they do it in tech-heavy cities such as Boston, Atlanta, NYC, LA, Chicago, etc.
Sadly enough, I just went to cnn.com and they describe the worm as "sneaky". Which speaks *volumes* about users. Further down their page, they have another article which claims "Neanderthals unlikely an ancestor."
"Regarding the settlement: it mentions the MCSE, the XBox and so forth, but I'm guessing there's money in there somewhere, too. This was a very bad PR situation for Microsoft. Since Mike had the PR on his side, yet is giving up the domain, I'm guessing he got more than just some courses, plane tickets and a game console in return."
OTOH this could turn into a PR win for both, especially if Mike really uses that MCSE stuff.
...I still get my daily dose on 56k. The only time I really need more is if I need to move iso's or something. So, is there truly a need, as opposed to "just nice to have"? Considering the cost differences/TOS, etc.
True; I'm on the *cough* "older" side of Gen X. My HS didn't have computers until a few years after I graduated, and I remember well having to take Engineering Drawing (drafting) on both paper and AutoCAD in college. The thing I think is *really* weird is that I have no problem with thinking in scientific prefixes/suffixes from both systems. Even in the same sentence. For example in Analog Electronics it was common to mix Imperial fractions with -base10 and metric in the same sentence, and everybody understood anyway. Go figure... *shrugs*
Oddly enough, I don't have any intuition about metric units, even though I'm only a few blocks from the Canadian border. That said, the US Gov't has traded in "hard" metric for some time now; the "average Joe" on the street (such as myself) still uses Imperial for day-to-day life.
So actually, the US *has* caught up with the rest of the world; you won't trade or get any Gov't contracts in Imperial units. Oddly, I never found the Imperial system all that hard to remember or manipulate; probably because I grew up with it.
My conclusion? Its probably more of a social/cultural issue than anything. It won't surprise me if my kids have no clue that the Imperial system ever existed. It might make talking about the weather interesting, though.
Actually, I think this is *exactly* what they're doing. Kinda "reading between the lines" what the Intel guy said. Either that, or they'll do a "white room" re-implementation.
Intel's not stupid; they want to offer their product as far and wide as possible. Given that Linux *may* become the Next Big Thing (TM) they want to be ready for it *without* losing their secrets. Can't blame them for that, they're playing it smart.
It almost got me because I've been out of work (no deposits) and owe the bank for my life insurance + student loans. Then I read the header and noticed a Yahoo account. I got suspicious, then I got pissed when I saw the spamcop tag. Mainly because I got all worried. Now I'm *still* pissed because even tho I use Linux/Moz, this shit was made possible by an IE bug and wasn't it MSFT who swore under oath that opening their code would pose a national security risk? Anyway it was a very convincing spam, but I know the bank would have snail-mailed shit like that.
Ummm, true. Personally I prefer Enlightenment, if it wasn't such a PITA to get it in Fedora OK. FWIW I still have all of the GTK themes and E themes archived from RH7 days, just in case I figure it all out. Hints?
Hi Bero, been awhile since I saw your name mentioned -- IIRC it was back when Mandrake got started. Interesting points, I've been wondering if it was possible to do it all in a single distro. It may be possible IMHO but it hasn't been done yet.
For years now I've thought that there needs to be a single software DB that *all* of the package managers and installers can use, even for source tarballs. FWIW I'm using Fedora and yum, but I'd like to be able to use the main Debian repositories also. Time to look at Ark, I guess.
For once I might actually approve of something AOL does. OK I didn't RTFA but it sure looks a lot like whitelist filtering. Here's hoping that others pick up on this idea if it works out! (my dialup had 530 spams in the last month... thank you, Bayes!)
that this whole discussion will compare apples and oranges to death? I could make a fruit salad out of these. Seriously though, there's *so* many other factors involved:
How much cache is ideal for hello.c? How many branches does it need? Is the prediction worth a shit? Does hello.c run faster at 2 GHz?
THINK before you post please so my hair doesn't hurt so much... thx.
Interesting idea. FWIW the fact is that filing and maintaining a patent can be amazingly expensive. This is probably what puts off most of the "small players" in the first place. As an example, a buddy at work wanted to patent a production process (and sell the patent to the company), but lost interest as soon as he saw the $385 USD price just for the initial application as an individual. The USPTO makes all the forms and schedules available here.
No mod points, but I'd give you another "insightful" if I could. Reading this discussion, the question screams in my mind: "WTF does value vs. price (and all that analysis) have to do with Microsoft's behavior and its ramifications?"
Sorry, just had to let that out. I just think the financials are going to become irrelevant, and the consequences of behavior will overshadow the scene. Tho FWIW I think their finances could very well tank if they start having massive retirements, etc.
Slashdot Mirror
Pun intended. See topic.
Heard from family that Adelphia is starting to do the same thing. FWIW.
Whoops, I just caught you comment about FUD; OK, there's lots of that. Most of my post is about how to deal with FUD at a consumer level, where people don't even *know* that there is anything else. And then they find out and think its brand new, or "non-standard" (another rant...) or something equally absurd. So please take the rest of this with a grain of salt, it's not an attack. It's more like frustration.
Maybe I wasn't clear enough in my original post howver. I was just saying that it would be nice to see a "pure linux" play aimed at the mainstream user. Not business, nor business desktop. Just plain users who go buy things at Circuit City, CompUSA, etc. That was why I used Apple as an example. Clearly Apple aimed their iMac ads in this direction.
More recently, I've watched IBM's Linux ads during the football season. They're probably doing well, but how is Joe home user going to relate the big biz feeling to what he's doing? I'm certainly not dissing IBM on this, they're doing what they do best. Mainly, great big stuff IMHO. I just perceive a shortfall elsewhere in the overall Linux PR.
To respond to the other AC who says that "Ads aren't PR": I would say
True, I do it word-of-mouth. But eventually you'll have to fight fire with fire and if that requires TV ads then so be it.
And that's just it right there. MS is smart enough to know how far PR goes despite damn near owning the desktop market. The "pure linux" players haven't even tried (RH, SuSE, etc.). I know their budgets aren't as huge as MS or IBM but I'm surprised they haven't caught onto this. It would make my week to see an RH or SuSE ad on TV, like some of the Apple ads. I'd even be wiling to bet that the ROI is worth it, if they do it in tech-heavy cities such as Boston, Atlanta, NYC, LA, Chicago, etc.
How unfortunate that the ethical bankruptcy is tied so closely to the fiscal one. Where was it written that this *had* to be so painful?
What if I bar-code my cock? Will the MS tools be able to parse it?
I didn't bother to read more...
Somebody over on groklaw opened it in vi and noticed gcc headers, it seems. Fairly new version, too.
You just made my friend list. I'm a (US) steelworker and fabricator. Double-duty sometimes as plant mechanic. Not to mention Linux-using slashdotter.
OTOH this could turn into a PR win for both, especially if Mike really uses that MCSE stuff.
...I still get my daily dose on 56k. The only time I really need more is if I need to move iso's or something. So, is there truly a need, as opposed to "just nice to have"? Considering the cost differences/TOS, etc.
how do you think Iraq will merge very old and very new cultures in a beneficial way?
True; I'm on the *cough* "older" side of Gen X. My HS didn't have computers until a few years after I graduated, and I remember well having to take Engineering Drawing (drafting) on both paper and AutoCAD in college. The thing I think is *really* weird is that I have no problem with thinking in scientific prefixes/suffixes from both systems. Even in the same sentence. For example in Analog Electronics it was common to mix Imperial fractions with -base10 and metric in the same sentence, and everybody understood anyway. Go figure... *shrugs*
So actually, the US *has* caught up with the rest of the world; you won't trade or get any Gov't contracts in Imperial units. Oddly, I never found the Imperial system all that hard to remember or manipulate; probably because I grew up with it.
My conclusion? Its probably more of a social/cultural issue than anything. It won't surprise me if my kids have no clue that the Imperial system ever existed. It might make talking about the weather interesting, though.
cynical>
Money, perhaps?
/cynical>
Intel's not stupid; they want to offer their product as far and wide as possible. Given that Linux *may* become the Next Big Thing (TM) they want to be ready for it *without* losing their secrets. Can't blame them for that, they're playing it smart.
It almost got me because I've been out of work (no deposits) and owe the bank for my life insurance + student loans. Then I read the header and noticed a Yahoo account. I got suspicious, then I got pissed when I saw the spamcop tag. Mainly because I got all worried. Now I'm *still* pissed because even tho I use Linux/Moz, this shit was made possible by an IE bug and wasn't it MSFT who swore under oath that opening their code would pose a national security risk? Anyway it was a very convincing spam, but I know the bank would have snail-mailed shit like that.
Ummm, true. Personally I prefer Enlightenment, if it wasn't such a PITA to get it in Fedora OK. FWIW I still have all of the GTK themes and E themes archived from RH7 days, just in case I figure it all out. Hints?
For years now I've thought that there needs to be a single software DB that *all* of the package managers and installers can use, even for source tarballs. FWIW I'm using Fedora and yum, but I'd like to be able to use the main Debian repositories also. Time to look at Ark, I guess.
Thanks for your efforts!
For once I might actually approve of something AOL does. OK I didn't RTFA but it sure looks a lot like whitelist filtering. Here's hoping that others pick up on this idea if it works out! (my dialup had 530 spams in the last month... thank you, Bayes!)
BTW, -fbranch-probabilities looks interesting (gcc 3.2)
OK, I'll do that. The compiler does make a difference. I'm just thinking that we don't take the whole picture into account enough here on slashdot.
Seriously though, there's *so* many other factors involved:
How much cache is ideal for hello.c?
How many branches does it need? Is the prediction worth a shit?
Does hello.c run faster at 2 GHz?
THINK before you post please so my hair doesn't hurt so much... thx.
Interesting idea. FWIW the fact is that filing and maintaining a patent can be amazingly expensive. This is probably what puts off most of the "small players" in the first place. As an example, a buddy at work wanted to patent a production process (and sell the patent to the company), but lost interest as soon as he saw the $385 USD price just for the initial application as an individual. The USPTO makes all the forms and schedules available here.
Sorry, just had to let that out. I just think the financials are going to become irrelevant, and the consequences of behavior will overshadow the scene. Tho FWIW I think their finances could very well tank if they start having massive retirements, etc.