Retards. Their comparing apples to oranges and crying like a baby about it. DRM'ed digital downloads that art tied to your computer, at least for now, can not be taken as a serious competitor to the bagged and boxed market. This sounds more like a case of the stupid, oversized bully over reacting to something his pea-brain can't fully take in. Who should be concerned is the video rental martket. They are the one's that are being circumvented.
If I want to OWN something. As in be able to watch it. Lend it to a friend. Take it with me when I move. Etc. I go online to Amazon or drive down to Wallmart. If I want to WATCH something, like Battlestar Galactica before its available or without having to trundle accross the street (sure, when I'm sick I can be lazy) I iTunes something. Do I consider those Battlestar episodes something *I* really own? No, Apple *owns* them. They are just letting them reside on my computer.
So Wallmart can get all pissed off if it wants, but for now, they are seriously barking up the wrong tree. Apple is selling Music. Music I can burn to CD. Music I then don't/won't buy from Wallmart, Amazon or any other retailer. But they are lending me their videos.
I bought it too. Worked on a mod team. It was a single player game they slapped an example of a MP mod onto, a bad example, but I suspect from a mod team POV that they thought opening their code the way they did would lead to a whole slew of great MP mods.
Thing is, it didn't happen. I've only participated in a few mods but coding a mod in C++ seems like it was a major contributing factor. While other mods I've played around with newblets could mess with the scripting, learn some of its idiosyncrasies and start building an increasingly interesting mod. With HL2 that just didn't seem to happen.
Not that there aren't *any* good mods for it, but certainly nothing I'd call great. I don't think making possibly one of the worst MP mods available helped. Not using steam to distribute mods (at least in the beginning) probably really didn't help either. People didn't even know mods existed unless they were A) junkies who read all the sites B) mod fans who knew where to look or of course C) modders.
I worked with and on the HL2CTF mod team. I've got nothing but good things to say about the people and the experience. But it was shit. It was an uphill battle that was demoralizing. I was working on more of the config hacking. Menus, recourse calls, symbols/fonts. When I didn't work on that I was working on a variant that pulled the CSS fork into CTF territory. I had to write a bunch of new gun code, bullet type, weight, velocity, etc. Its a lot of work and for things that could have mostly been done just as easily in existing configuration files.
But after watching the CTF mod struggle for so long and not being able to drum up any real support for my own variant (you see, you need a full team, including skinners and modelers as well as coders and resource hackers to do a proper HL2 mod) I simple deleted my VS folder and uninstalled HL2.
I'm sure Valve thought they were doing all the right things. But they killed any serious mod community by not actively supporting them early (no visibly = no players), making a TERRIBLE MP mod as their 'example' (which most HL2 MP players stuck with, I imagine any serious MP gamer would have seen it and moved onto another game leaving us with a much less sophisticated group...in general) and making such a complicated SDK (granted, being able to access the real code has some real advantages, but combined with the lackluster MP game and the lack of support and you just don't have the motivation or support you need).
Of course I know this original article was about CSS so I'm ranting (in response to, but not against the above poster) so I'll leave off.
FWIW I think my CTF mod of CSS would have probably been greeted with pretty mixed feelings. CSS players, purists would have really not liked it. I have no doubt. But it would have been something nice for CTF players who don't like the cartoonish game play HL2 MP offered. I'm a bit of a realism fan and hell, as much work as the mod was I *had* to be doing something I thought I'd enjoy too.:)
Make up your mind. The article seems a little confused about the subject matter. Domain parking is slimy, but assuming you're not paying kids from India to click your ads its perfectly legit. Granted, you'll here all sorts of whining CTR boards when google improves their system (again) to weed out content-free sites that have in the past made some people a good deal of money.
Click fraud is click fraud. When someone or something fraudulently clicks on advertisements to inflate the website publishers CTR and ideally stuff his pockets full of cash. This is somewhat more then slimy or immoral and is something to be legitimately upset about because it hurts advertisers *and* legitimate website publishers (who are competing in a diluted marketplace because of these automated 'clickbots').
PPC is down no matter how you look at it. Marketers, typically, jumped the gun on this new fangled advertising and spent boatloads of money 'targeting' their clientele without even having to research. Surprise. Not everyone is trustworthy. Right now google uses a blacklisting system. It is a thorny issue. If I wanted to blacklist my competitor whats to stop ME from hiring a security specialist in Croatia or Texas to start an artificial click campaign on their behalf?
Fortunately for if I considered my ad revenue...well, revenue, I'd go broke. I bleed money. But then its a good cause and my day job puts food on the table. Just keep those clickbots away from me. I can still use that nickle on the dollar!:)
I don't actually think Windows is good. Its simply good enough. Like Linux is good enough. But Linux is good enough for a few different things. What I take issue with (and this probably isn't you directly, I was responding to the original 'article') is the common fantasy that Linux is good enough in the same areas Windows is, so good in fact that it will work as a drop in replacement for these poor souls using Windows 98.
Like I said, I love Linux. My livelihood depends on it. But that doesn't make Linux an end-user distro, its still niche. And it should be while we continue to work out some of the large issue people tend to turn a blind eye at.
If I didn't still use Linux every day. I'm not an idiot.
Whether its on the server or the workstation its still got the same issues. Frankly I'm getting tired of outlining them so I'll leave the fencing to someone or something else.
You like Linux. Thats great. Hell, you might even be part of what helps to make it better. Has it been getting better? Sure. Of course. What gets me is these little stories that pop up and the wide-eyed users that rally around them.
I think its interesting that your sensibilities have devolved. Considering Linux came into being in part, because one size (Microsoft at the time, I'm obviously not speaking about Linus' original creation of the kernel) does not fit all. Variety is, even today, a good thing. Letting your biases cloud your judgment really accomplishes very little. So you don't like the Mach5 core (giving no reasons). *shrug* Why should you have to. What is important is that some people do. Some people are very productive on their OS of choice. I don't see anything to fault in that.
Not support it? Okay. I can't say you'll be the richer for it but homogeny suits some people. Don't get me wrong, as I stated I'm now mainly an XP Pro user. But honestly, this kind of thuggish trumpeting seems silly no matter what the campain. We get so attached to one way of seeing things sometimes we endup stunting the very thing we are trying to support.
Without honest dialog Linux will fail. Fortunately while there are plenty of rabid 'believers' there are also some more even-haned supporters. Like Linus. And he has a little sway.:)
I could bean 3 programmers right now from where I sit. You're only outlining my point.
Regedit is useful.
Does the average user need to or know how to use it? If the rest of the UE was incomplete enough that you HAD to use regedit on a day to day basis you might have had me scratching my head, but as it is I think your grasping.
There's nothing wrong with layers. Nothing. But when you're layers don't work seemlessly you create something different: unnecessary complexity.
Which of course was my point.
You'll argue your point about layers till one or the other of use turn blue. But that doesn't change a thing. Linux is complex. Cobbling together legacy code to create the basis of a modern UE is, well, like DOS all over again. HIMEM anyone?
Anyway, I'd love to continue to argue with you, but I've probably got some drivers to recompile. Hell, maybe even some work to do.;)
I think its as simple (and complicated) as that. We are still trying to straddle both sides of the fence. It doesn't work, not really anyway. People love to point out Mach and Fink but they miss the forest for the trees.
Apple built a consumer OS first. The underlying layer is gravy. Thats reasonable.
Linux users (I'm of course generlizing, we are a pretty diverse group) approach the whole thing backwards. Its like Microsoft slapping Windows 3.1 onto DOS. Only they made that mistake years ago (and paid for it).
Just had to tip hat. Thanks for not flaming me for speaking my piece (granted) and of course I obviously agree. I'm an early adopter. My 'crush' is over and now I like to evaluate things (Linux) with both eyes wide open. I think its the right way to do things. Obviously some people disagree. I probably would have 4 or 5 years ago.
You've A) got some computer back ground B) have a serious love for computers. Thats fine. Great in fact. But 8 years is long enough not only to have seen your type, but to have been one. Linux has many strong points, but the UI is still not one of them.
Last time I check Ubuntu didn't seem that different from... say Mandriva, Lycoris (*cough*), Suse, Linspire. And I won't expect it to until I hear die-hard Linux users crying out. To really pull Linux out of the rut its in you need to step on toes. And we generally don't like to rock the boat. Go figure. Linus is probably the most outspoken. He created a kernel and chose to release it under the GPL. But he's not out to change the world. Rock the capitalist pigs. He's just a guy with some passion and interest.
Anyway, stages of Linux fandom can be summed up simply: 1) WOW 2) OH! AHH! 3) Opps! 4) Damn it 5) Well? 6) F@ck 7) Ahhh.
I'm at Ahhh, I don't know what 8 is but Ahhh is simply seeing it as it is. Linux != Jesus/Mohammed/Budda/etc. Its code. Its fun and its not perfect. I think the best thing 'the community' can do is take it off the pedestal we've seemed to put it on and take a long hard look. You know, like we do in other aspects of our day to day lives. Then we can talk without getting so defensive. I'm not trying to hurt anyone or anything. Just passed that initial blush a while ago. I'd like to talk more about what makes Linux good and what doesn't then pretend its ready for the masses. How they hell else are we supposed to get it there?
And they always think they know better. Its funny, but its also mostly a fact. Layers are fine, once you've got the top layer sorted out. They should be transparent to the end user. I applaud Apple for leaving them in while creating a seamless UE. If a single Linux distro I wouldn't quibble. But vi is not just a layer, excluding nico its an important component of any Linux system. Because that UI will fail. And when it does you get to learn things like dmesg. Vi/nano/pico. Things you shouldn't have to learn. So layers are bad. Their like a lame excuse. Something to fall back on when you're caught with your pants down.
So sure. Posix is cool. All those little tools are useful, but to who? The average user? Do you think they might confuse some people?
Right here is where you're supposed to stop me. Tell me something like "if they don't want to see them then they should get a Mac". Fine. But while you're platitudes about layers sound nice if their not more or less seamless you have something entirely different. Cruft is one of them. Complex abstraction.
You see, Linux has a lot of good things to offer. But one size does not fit all.
Exactly. And here I salute you. This is where Linux has the best chance of taking hold in the consumer market. But then you're obviously articulate and likely well educated. You'll use what suits you best, as you have. Unfortunately a lot of people who truly could benifit from Linux due to economics don't have the familiarity let along technical background managing a "user" distribution requires.
Its a nightmare really. I've experimented both on my mother (not technically inept, but not sold on the 'ease of use') and my wife, who even with full-time, live-in support eventually grew weary of the... quirks.
Sure XP isn't perfect. Neither is the MacOS. And we both know 98 isn't. But their good enough. Good enough you can get your work done. Good enough developers support them. Good enough you don't have to dig under the hood, much (most Americans I know throw the computer out when it comes to that point. Imagine how many computers they'd have to throw out if they were forced to run Linux?).
Anyway, I'm rambling here. I like your candor and I appreciate your situation. You use the right tool for the right job. Maybe, by the time your hardware doesn't support that Windows 98 disk someone will have grown the balls the piss of the 'Linux community" (Linus somehow isn't one of these zealots and would likely embrace some change, albeit my understanding is he is staunchly against creating a stable driver API, which in turn leads to... you guessed it, driver problems) and create a distro 100% made for the end user. Let Red Hat and Suse cover the server markets. Debian and Gentoo the hardcore users. Their doing great.
Its not like dumbing down Linux will somehow make all that juicy GPL code magically go away. It'll just give the users something they can...well, use. Without having to have a bachelor's degree in computer science. And why call it dumbing down anyway. Its 2006. I think it fair to expect some usability issues to be transparent. In fact I think a lot of them should be.
Enjoy your notebook. If it makes you feel any better I can't afford one. Too many trips to the mall I guess.
I love Linux. I'm also a systems admin so its easy for me to love. It does what I need it to quickly, quietly and without much trouble.
On the flip side I've used it on my home computer for about 8 years. We've certainly had our ups and downs. I dual-boot now. I spend most of my time using XP Pro. Why would I do this after 8 years of pure Linux bliss? Because it does what I need it to. Its that simple.
Anybody want to watch for an exciting influx of newbies, the best kind; newbies who are switching simply because they are too cheap to update. Not boatloads of tinkerers, programmers, OSS zealots. Nah. Just some people that have been using an out-dated, unstable OS for no good reason.
Granted, people who can't *afford* it should ignore my platitudes, unless you live in North America or some other well off nation and have confused not being able to feed your family with compulsive mall shopping and junk food binges (you don't have my sympathy).
Anyway, Linux sucks for the average users for the same reasons its sucked. They've made a great server. Slapped on a (few) DE(s) and called it a Windows killer. I don't see it.
Maybe baby steps. KDE 4 should be fun. Maybe one of the user distros will get the *wild* idea to tie it to the system. Drop legecy support. Call me crazy, but I just don't see Windows 98 users getting cosy with VI, modprobe, hell, package management. Its like we all talk Klingon and don't understand when everyone else isn't doing it.
There are certain things end-users need and expect. Linux distros don't offer them. Hence, no Linux eat Windows.
/rant
Seriously. Right tool. Right job. Never make it more complicated then that. Biases are *SO* 99. BSD, Solaris, AIX, Mac, FreeDOS, Minix, PlayStation I don't care. Whatever you need. Where BeOS when you need it. Lets all switch to Amiga and tell everyone who doesn't their lusers.
And on pirate bay you'll get mp3's with a usable sample and bitrate. 96/22050 is really only useful for previewing music... like MySpace does. Anyway, it appears the hack is fixed. Now if they could just get their application to scale we'd have something to talk about.
Honestly, I thought about it and decided to abbreviate despite the similarities, simply because the post was about one company. Seems you managed and we've had a conversation despite this decision which leads me to the only logical conclusion: I was right (its always the same conclusion, I might have to re-evaluate my sample data, but I won't be telling my customers).
I think its a poorly designed service (part of why its so popular actually, lots of bugs (css expliots, less sanitising) that let users take more control, for better and worse.
The catch with those great digital download sites for the small artists is you need a LABEL. They don't deal with artists directly. Which was great news for me, I was preparing to launch a 'virtual' label for artists who needed help with that part. But thats on hold now with MySpace's plan. I'll see how it works out.
Anyway, I agree about the great DRM free sites and believe me, I use everyone of them (you left off indie911, check my resources page for some more, foreign, etc). Magnatune I have mixed feeling about because while its a noble effort I don't think it gets enough exposure to actually help. While sites like the previously mentioned 911 (I promise, I have no affiliation) offer roughly %70 per track, which to me would sound a little more tempting (that and they are actively trying to gain more attention, we'll see how far they get).
Anyway, the downloads aren't quite the windfall to a lot of the artists who post their work there. Even if their reasoning isn't perfect (its their music, so its their call) a lot of artists really don't want their music freely available and for a variety of reasons. It'll probably get fixed quickly then they can play cat-n-mouse, who knows.:)
I actually work with a lot of MySpace artists with my site (I have a MS account, but I mean popexperiment). Ya, ripping off 96Kbps @ 22050Khz will really help you satisfy that need. Nothing like kicking back and taking in the hiss.
The only thing I really don't like about this is a lot of musicians and labels have come to depend on MS (say what you like, I work in a web-services company, I know Coldfusion and MySpaces scales poorly) and they might start pulling content. MS is actually the best resource out there right now for finding new work (since mp3.com really, which is shit now). Thats a simple fact. And artists can be very, very sketchy about 'lossing control' of their content. Another fact I have to contend with regularly (I run an internet radio channel/show on the previously mentioned site).
Lets hope they plug the hole quickly before knees start to jerk.
More interesting is the pending MySpace downloads. Assuming they don't build it out themselves (which the article seems to suggest isn't the case) this could be great for a lot of independant/international artists and even better for the listeners. Because MS encoded files are great for a quick taste but garbage to really listen to.
Anyway, as usual, we'll see how the chips fall. The net is pretty orgainic.
Because you keep hitting it. A few of the best experiences I've had working IT were system failures. Its funny/sad, but those can clearly convey messages you've been trying to get across for ages in seconds. Because of course your right. A functioning network is almost invisible outside the IT department, which makes it hard for a manager to see the technical reasons some things should be prioritized (granted, I've met a lot of IT people who don't know how to clearly convey the whats and whys in the first place which is a whole other issue).
I got it in an earlier post, but I appreciate your response. From a business point of view it sounds a little strange. Do we want those features? But then it sounds like Apple is happy not particularly targeting business so the milestones and the added features are probably pretty nice, particularly if they aren't part of a businesses budgetary concerns (designers, end users, fans and artists aside).
I image it works well for their target market. Just like keeping Windows more or less stable for predictable lengths of time works for the 'average' or business user, where enhancements aren't a primary consern.
And I wish someone would mod you up. I've still (as a purchaser) got to consider XP Pro has been out since 2001, with only unpaid upgrades (not that I don't see the advantage of the incremental feature enhancements, Internet Explorer being a fine example of a primary services thats seen no real improvement over the last 5 years, while Safari continues to develop (with of course the help of the KDE team)).
Anyway, I just wanted to chime in and thank you for taking the time to provide a serious response to an honest question.
Lots of companies deal with mixed environments. I've managed a few myself.
But the truth is most simply don't want to and why should they? Where's the return?
Like 95->98->2000->XP->Vista.... All free?
This is of course in response to my honest question regarding cost with Apples upgrades. But no-one seems interested in addressing that and point to the same thing instead. How long between each Apple upgrade? XP and XP Pro has been out since 2001 and continue to be supported with no clear EOL currently in sight (although Vista appears to be RC1).
That said I'm not trying to say Windows is better because of this, rather, as I said I'm new to Apple and I'm curious how the treadmill works. From the outside it seems a little funky, at the very least like a viable revenue stream if they ever *did* decide to go commodity. But all I get are these apples/oranges comparisons, unless of course I'm misunderstanding and Apple only releases *paid* upgrades every 3 to 4 years. But it doens't look that way, which is why I asked the question in the first place.
Just being able to use the term ROI says a lot about your background.
This is business and terms like ROI, TCO and depreciation drive it. Managers make decisions, budgets and profit margins count. Its fine to be geeky and say you'd like to see something ideally, but industry is about compromise. Working IT is certainly about compromise.
I think a lot of the Slashdotters that take such hard lines are either clueless, young, inexperienced, idealistic, truly devout or all the above.
Behind every IT department there's an MBA and frankly I believe there should be. You may not always agree with everything they do but if you're half lucky they are able to take in the big picture and make decisions that keep you in paychecks and maybe even cover the costs of some of that 'extra' hardware you really need.
Before turning to IT I had the good fortune of working administration. Meaning budgeting, board meetings, human resources, the nitty-gritty. It definitely helps to have a broader point of view. We technical people tend to get too focused on our own areas of expertise. We see things one way and believe that this is the right way. And it looks that way. Until you move your view a little bit and see that your company is hemorrhaging money. Or that a large purchase will take you from black to red.
We don't have to explain to a board of directors why the company isn't able to meet its goals. But someone does.
The power of the mighty dollar.
Sorry for the rant, but its get so tiresome hearing all the idealism sans pragmatism and its nice to hear a little sanity in amongst the chatter.;)
Slashdot Mirror
Retards. Their comparing apples to oranges and crying like a baby about it. DRM'ed digital downloads that art tied to your computer, at least for now, can not be taken as a serious competitor to the bagged and boxed market. This sounds more like a case of the stupid, oversized bully over reacting to something his pea-brain can't fully take in. Who should be concerned is the video rental martket. They are the one's that are being circumvented.
If I want to OWN something. As in be able to watch it. Lend it to a friend. Take it with me when I move. Etc. I go online to Amazon or drive down to Wallmart. If I want to WATCH something, like Battlestar Galactica before its available or without having to trundle accross the street (sure, when I'm sick I can be lazy) I iTunes something. Do I consider those Battlestar episodes something *I* really own? No, Apple *owns* them. They are just letting them reside on my computer.
So Wallmart can get all pissed off if it wants, but for now, they are seriously barking up the wrong tree. Apple is selling Music. Music I can burn to CD. Music I then don't/won't buy from Wallmart, Amazon or any other retailer. But they are lending me their videos.
I bought it too. Worked on a mod team. It was a single player game they slapped an example of a MP mod onto, a bad example, but I suspect from a mod team POV that they thought opening their code the way they did would lead to a whole slew of great MP mods.
Thing is, it didn't happen. I've only participated in a few mods but coding a mod in C++ seems like it was a major contributing factor. While other mods I've played around with newblets could mess with the scripting, learn some of its idiosyncrasies and start building an increasingly interesting mod. With HL2 that just didn't seem to happen.
Not that there aren't *any* good mods for it, but certainly nothing I'd call great. I don't think making possibly one of the worst MP mods available helped. Not using steam to distribute mods (at least in the beginning) probably really didn't help either. People didn't even know mods existed unless they were A) junkies who read all the sites B) mod fans who knew where to look or of course C) modders.
I worked with and on the HL2CTF mod team. I've got nothing but good things to say about the people and the experience. But it was shit. It was an uphill battle that was demoralizing. I was working on more of the config hacking. Menus, recourse calls, symbols/fonts. When I didn't work on that I was working on a variant that pulled the CSS fork into CTF territory. I had to write a bunch of new gun code, bullet type, weight, velocity, etc. Its a lot of work and for things that could have mostly been done just as easily in existing configuration files.
But after watching the CTF mod struggle for so long and not being able to drum up any real support for my own variant (you see, you need a full team, including skinners and modelers as well as coders and resource hackers to do a proper HL2 mod) I simple deleted my VS folder and uninstalled HL2.
I'm sure Valve thought they were doing all the right things. But they killed any serious mod community by not actively supporting them early (no visibly = no players), making a TERRIBLE MP mod as their 'example' (which most HL2 MP players stuck with, I imagine any serious MP gamer would have seen it and moved onto another game leaving us with a much less sophisticated group...in general) and making such a complicated SDK (granted, being able to access the real code has some real advantages, but combined with the lackluster MP game and the lack of support and you just don't have the motivation or support you need).
Of course I know this original article was about CSS so I'm ranting (in response to, but not against the above poster) so I'll leave off.
FWIW I think my CTF mod of CSS would have probably been greeted with pretty mixed feelings. CSS players, purists would have really not liked it. I have no doubt. But it would have been something nice for CTF players who don't like the cartoonish game play HL2 MP offered. I'm a bit of a realism fan and hell, as much work as the mod was I *had* to be doing something I thought I'd enjoy too.:)
Make up your mind. The article seems a little confused about the subject matter. Domain parking is slimy, but assuming you're not paying kids from India to click your ads its perfectly legit. Granted, you'll here all sorts of whining CTR boards when google improves their system (again) to weed out content-free sites that have in the past made some people a good deal of money.
:)
Click fraud is click fraud. When someone or something fraudulently clicks on advertisements to inflate the website publishers CTR and ideally stuff his pockets full of cash. This is somewhat more then slimy or immoral and is something to be legitimately upset about because it hurts advertisers *and* legitimate website publishers (who are competing in a diluted marketplace because of these automated 'clickbots').
PPC is down no matter how you look at it. Marketers, typically, jumped the gun on this new fangled advertising and spent boatloads of money 'targeting' their clientele without even having to research. Surprise. Not everyone is trustworthy. Right now google uses a blacklisting system. It is a thorny issue. If I wanted to blacklist my competitor whats to stop ME from hiring a security specialist in Croatia or Texas to start an artificial click campaign on their behalf?
Fortunately for if I considered my ad revenue...well, revenue, I'd go broke. I bleed money. But then its a good cause and my day job puts food on the table. Just keep those clickbots away from me. I can still use that nickle on the dollar!
Its no fun if you make it sound all reasonable.
*smacks fist into palm*
I don't actually think Windows is good. Its simply good enough. Like Linux is good enough. But Linux is good enough for a few different things. What I take issue with (and this probably isn't you directly, I was responding to the original 'article') is the common fantasy that Linux is good enough in the same areas Windows is, so good in fact that it will work as a drop in replacement for these poor souls using Windows 98.
Like I said, I love Linux. My livelihood depends on it. But that doesn't make Linux an end-user distro, its still niche. And it should be while we continue to work out some of the large issue people tend to turn a blind eye at.
Better is good. But its not 'there' yet.
Thats my spiel.
If I didn't still use Linux every day. I'm not an idiot.
:)
Whether its on the server or the workstation its still got the same issues. Frankly I'm getting tired of outlining them so I'll leave the fencing to someone or something else.
You like Linux. Thats great. Hell, you might even be part of what helps to make it better. Has it been getting better? Sure. Of course. What gets me is these little stories that pop up and the wide-eyed users that rally around them.
I think its interesting that your sensibilities have devolved. Considering Linux came into being in part, because one size (Microsoft at the time, I'm obviously not speaking about Linus' original creation of the kernel) does not fit all. Variety is, even today, a good thing. Letting your biases cloud your judgment really accomplishes very little. So you don't like the Mach5 core (giving no reasons). *shrug* Why should you have to. What is important is that some people do. Some people are very productive on their OS of choice. I don't see anything to fault in that.
Not support it? Okay. I can't say you'll be the richer for it but homogeny suits some people. Don't get me wrong, as I stated I'm now mainly an XP Pro user. But honestly, this kind of thuggish trumpeting seems silly no matter what the campain. We get so attached to one way of seeing things sometimes we endup stunting the very thing we are trying to support.
Without honest dialog Linux will fail. Fortunately while there are plenty of rabid 'believers' there are also some more even-haned supporters. Like Linus. And he has a little sway.
I could bean 3 programmers right now from where I sit. You're only outlining my point.
;)
Regedit is useful.
Does the average user need to or know how to use it? If the rest of the UE was incomplete enough that you HAD to use regedit on a day to day basis you might have had me scratching my head, but as it is I think your grasping.
There's nothing wrong with layers. Nothing. But when you're layers don't work seemlessly you create something different: unnecessary complexity.
Which of course was my point.
You'll argue your point about layers till one or the other of use turn blue. But that doesn't change a thing. Linux is complex. Cobbling together legacy code to create the basis of a modern UE is, well, like DOS all over again. HIMEM anyone?
Anyway, I'd love to continue to argue with you, but I've probably got some drivers to recompile. Hell, maybe even some work to do.
I think its as simple (and complicated) as that. We are still trying to straddle both sides of the fence. It doesn't work, not really anyway. People love to point out Mach and Fink but they miss the forest for the trees.
Apple built a consumer OS first. The underlying layer is gravy. Thats reasonable.
Linux users (I'm of course generlizing, we are a pretty diverse group) approach the whole thing backwards. Its like Microsoft slapping Windows 3.1 onto DOS. Only they made that mistake years ago (and paid for it).
Just had to tip hat. Thanks for not flaming me for speaking my piece (granted) and of course I obviously agree. I'm an early adopter. My 'crush' is over and now I like to evaluate things (Linux) with both eyes wide open. I think its the right way to do things. Obviously some people disagree. I probably would have 4 or 5 years ago.
You've A) got some computer back ground B) have a serious love for computers. Thats fine. Great in fact. But 8 years is long enough not only to have seen your type, but to have been one. Linux has many strong points, but the UI is still not one of them.
... say Mandriva, Lycoris (*cough*), Suse, Linspire. And I won't expect it to until I hear die-hard Linux users crying out. To really pull Linux out of the rut its in you need to step on toes. And we generally don't like to rock the boat. Go figure. Linus is probably the most outspoken. He created a kernel and chose to release it under the GPL. But he's not out to change the world. Rock the capitalist pigs. He's just a guy with some passion and interest.
Last time I check Ubuntu didn't seem that different from
Anyway, stages of Linux fandom can be summed up simply: 1) WOW 2) OH! AHH! 3) Opps! 4) Damn it 5) Well? 6) F@ck 7) Ahhh.
I'm at Ahhh, I don't know what 8 is but Ahhh is simply seeing it as it is. Linux != Jesus/Mohammed/Budda/etc. Its code. Its fun and its not perfect. I think the best thing 'the community' can do is take it off the pedestal we've seemed to put it on and take a long hard look. You know, like we do in other aspects of our day to day lives. Then we can talk without getting so defensive. I'm not trying to hurt anyone or anything. Just passed that initial blush a while ago. I'd like to talk more about what makes Linux good and what doesn't then pretend its ready for the masses. How they hell else are we supposed to get it there?
And they always think they know better. Its funny, but its also mostly a fact. Layers are fine, once you've got the top layer sorted out. They should be transparent to the end user. I applaud Apple for leaving them in while creating a seamless UE. If a single Linux distro I wouldn't quibble. But vi is not just a layer, excluding nico its an important component of any Linux system. Because that UI will fail. And when it does you get to learn things like dmesg. Vi/nano/pico. Things you shouldn't have to learn. So layers are bad. Their like a lame excuse. Something to fall back on when you're caught with your pants down.
So sure. Posix is cool. All those little tools are useful, but to who? The average user? Do you think they might confuse some people?
Right here is where you're supposed to stop me. Tell me something like "if they don't want to see them then they should get a Mac". Fine. But while you're platitudes about layers sound nice if their not more or less seamless you have something entirely different. Cruft is one of them. Complex abstraction.
You see, Linux has a lot of good things to offer. But one size does not fit all.
Exactly. And here I salute you. This is where Linux has the best chance of taking hold in the consumer market. But then you're obviously articulate and likely well educated. You'll use what suits you best, as you have. Unfortunately a lot of people who truly could benifit from Linux due to economics don't have the familiarity let along technical background managing a "user" distribution requires.
... quirks.
... you guessed it, driver problems) and create a distro 100% made for the end user. Let Red Hat and Suse cover the server markets. Debian and Gentoo the hardcore users. Their doing great.
Its a nightmare really. I've experimented both on my mother (not technically inept, but not sold on the 'ease of use') and my wife, who even with full-time, live-in support eventually grew weary of the
Sure XP isn't perfect. Neither is the MacOS. And we both know 98 isn't. But their good enough. Good enough you can get your work done. Good enough developers support them. Good enough you don't have to dig under the hood, much (most Americans I know throw the computer out when it comes to that point. Imagine how many computers they'd have to throw out if they were forced to run Linux?).
Anyway, I'm rambling here. I like your candor and I appreciate your situation. You use the right tool for the right job. Maybe, by the time your hardware doesn't support that Windows 98 disk someone will have grown the balls the piss of the 'Linux community" (Linus somehow isn't one of these zealots and would likely embrace some change, albeit my understanding is he is staunchly against creating a stable driver API, which in turn leads to
Its not like dumbing down Linux will somehow make all that juicy GPL code magically go away. It'll just give the users something they can...well, use. Without having to have a bachelor's degree in computer science. And why call it dumbing down anyway. Its 2006. I think it fair to expect some usability issues to be transparent. In fact I think a lot of them should be.
Enjoy your notebook. If it makes you feel any better I can't afford one. Too many trips to the mall I guess.
I love Linux. I'm also a systems admin so its easy for me to love. It does what I need it to quickly, quietly and without much trouble.
/rant
On the flip side I've used it on my home computer for about 8 years. We've certainly had our ups and downs. I dual-boot now. I spend most of my time using XP Pro. Why would I do this after 8 years of pure Linux bliss? Because it does what I need it to. Its that simple.
Anybody want to watch for an exciting influx of newbies, the best kind; newbies who are switching simply because they are too cheap to update. Not boatloads of tinkerers, programmers, OSS zealots. Nah. Just some people that have been using an out-dated, unstable OS for no good reason.
Granted, people who can't *afford* it should ignore my platitudes, unless you live in North America or some other well off nation and have confused not being able to feed your family with compulsive mall shopping and junk food binges (you don't have my sympathy).
Anyway, Linux sucks for the average users for the same reasons its sucked. They've made a great server. Slapped on a (few) DE(s) and called it a Windows killer. I don't see it.
Maybe baby steps. KDE 4 should be fun. Maybe one of the user distros will get the *wild* idea to tie it to the system. Drop legecy support. Call me crazy, but I just don't see Windows 98 users getting cosy with VI, modprobe, hell, package management. Its like we all talk Klingon and don't understand when everyone else isn't doing it.
There are certain things end-users need and expect. Linux distros don't offer them. Hence, no Linux eat Windows.
Seriously. Right tool. Right job. Never make it more complicated then that. Biases are *SO* 99. BSD, Solaris, AIX, Mac, FreeDOS, Minix, PlayStation I don't care. Whatever you need. Where BeOS when you need it. Lets all switch to Amiga and tell everyone who doesn't their lusers.
There's a point in there. Maybe.
Stop posting as AC. Anyway, CF or not their application *should* be overgoing some serious overhauling right now. They certainly have the financing.
?fuseaction
Still looks CF to me, but then I don't work there. Does coward?
I'd call it Musicians Rights Management. Which I feel more fuzzy towards they the stodgy old corps.
What were we talking about?
And on pirate bay you'll get mp3's with a usable sample and bitrate. 96/22050 is really only useful for previewing music ... like MySpace does. Anyway, it appears the hack is fixed. Now if they could just get their application to scale we'd have something to talk about.
Coukld be worse. :P
Honestly, I thought about it and decided to abbreviate despite the similarities, simply because the post was about one company. Seems you managed and we've had a conversation despite this decision which leads me to the only logical conclusion: I was right (its always the same conclusion, I might have to re-evaluate my sample data, but I won't be telling my customers).
Ciao!
http://signup.myspace.com/index.cfm
I think its a poorly designed service (part of why its so popular actually, lots of bugs (css expliots, less sanitising) that let users take more control, for better and worse.
:)
The catch with those great digital download sites for the small artists is you need a LABEL. They don't deal with artists directly. Which was great news for me, I was preparing to launch a 'virtual' label for artists who needed help with that part. But thats on hold now with MySpace's plan. I'll see how it works out.
Anyway, I agree about the great DRM free sites and believe me, I use everyone of them (you left off indie911, check my resources page for some more, foreign, etc). Magnatune I have mixed feeling about because while its a noble effort I don't think it gets enough exposure to actually help. While sites like the previously mentioned 911 (I promise, I have no affiliation) offer roughly %70 per track, which to me would sound a little more tempting (that and they are actively trying to gain more attention, we'll see how far they get).
Anyway, the downloads aren't quite the windfall to a lot of the artists who post their work there. Even if their reasoning isn't perfect (its their music, so its their call) a lot of artists really don't want their music freely available and for a variety of reasons. It'll probably get fixed quickly then they can play cat-n-mouse, who knows.
I actually work with a lot of MySpace artists with my site (I have a MS account, but I mean popexperiment). Ya, ripping off 96Kbps @ 22050Khz will really help you satisfy that need. Nothing like kicking back and taking in the hiss.
The only thing I really don't like about this is a lot of musicians and labels have come to depend on MS (say what you like, I work in a web-services company, I know Coldfusion and MySpaces scales poorly) and they might start pulling content. MS is actually the best resource out there right now for finding new work (since mp3.com really, which is shit now). Thats a simple fact. And artists can be very, very sketchy about 'lossing control' of their content. Another fact I have to contend with regularly (I run an internet radio channel/show on the previously mentioned site).
Lets hope they plug the hole quickly before knees start to jerk.
More interesting is the pending MySpace downloads. Assuming they don't build it out themselves (which the article seems to suggest isn't the case) this could be great for a lot of independant/international artists and even better for the listeners. Because MS encoded files are great for a quick taste but garbage to really listen to.
Anyway, as usual, we'll see how the chips fall. The net is pretty orgainic.
Because you keep hitting it. A few of the best experiences I've had working IT were system failures. Its funny/sad, but those can clearly convey messages you've been trying to get across for ages in seconds. Because of course your right. A functioning network is almost invisible outside the IT department, which makes it hard for a manager to see the technical reasons some things should be prioritized (granted, I've met a lot of IT people who don't know how to clearly convey the whats and whys in the first place which is a whole other issue).
I got it in an earlier post, but I appreciate your response. From a business point of view it sounds a little strange. Do we want those features? But then it sounds like Apple is happy not particularly targeting business so the milestones and the added features are probably pretty nice, particularly if they aren't part of a businesses budgetary concerns (designers, end users, fans and artists aside).
I image it works well for their target market. Just like keeping Windows more or less stable for predictable lengths of time works for the 'average' or business user, where enhancements aren't a primary consern.
And I wish someone would mod you up. I've still (as a purchaser) got to consider XP Pro has been out since 2001, with only unpaid upgrades (not that I don't see the advantage of the incremental feature enhancements, Internet Explorer being a fine example of a primary services thats seen no real improvement over the last 5 years, while Safari continues to develop (with of course the help of the KDE team)).
Anyway, I just wanted to chime in and thank you for taking the time to provide a serious response to an honest question.
Lots of companies deal with mixed environments. I've managed a few myself.
But the truth is most simply don't want to and why should they? Where's the return?
Like 95->98->2000->XP->Vista.... All free?
This is of course in response to my honest question regarding cost with Apples upgrades. But no-one seems interested in addressing that and point to the same thing instead. How long between each Apple upgrade? XP and XP Pro has been out since 2001 and continue to be supported with no clear EOL currently in sight (although Vista appears to be RC1).
That said I'm not trying to say Windows is better because of this, rather, as I said I'm new to Apple and I'm curious how the treadmill works. From the outside it seems a little funky, at the very least like a viable revenue stream if they ever *did* decide to go commodity. But all I get are these apples/oranges comparisons, unless of course I'm misunderstanding and Apple only releases *paid* upgrades every 3 to 4 years. But it doens't look that way, which is why I asked the question in the first place.
Just being able to use the term ROI says a lot about your background.
;)
This is business and terms like ROI, TCO and depreciation drive it. Managers make decisions, budgets and profit margins count. Its fine to be geeky and say you'd like to see something ideally, but industry is about compromise. Working IT is certainly about compromise.
I think a lot of the Slashdotters that take such hard lines are either clueless, young, inexperienced, idealistic, truly devout or all the above.
Behind every IT department there's an MBA and frankly I believe there should be. You may not always agree with everything they do but if you're half lucky they are able to take in the big picture and make decisions that keep you in paychecks and maybe even cover the costs of some of that 'extra' hardware you really need.
Before turning to IT I had the good fortune of working administration. Meaning budgeting, board meetings, human resources, the nitty-gritty. It definitely helps to have a broader point of view. We technical people tend to get too focused on our own areas of expertise. We see things one way and believe that this is the right way. And it looks that way. Until you move your view a little bit and see that your company is hemorrhaging money. Or that a large purchase will take you from black to red.
We don't have to explain to a board of directors why the company isn't able to meet its goals. But someone does.
The power of the mighty dollar.
Sorry for the rant, but its get so tiresome hearing all the idealism sans pragmatism and its nice to hear a little sanity in amongst the chatter.