In addition a lot of Ubuntu users do straight to the Ubuntu wiki or forums and search there first. The same probably happens with other distros that have good communities
That is because China is one of many countries where MS do not enforce copyrights.
A Chinese company selling in China might get atleast a reasonable proportion of people to pay.
I do not know China, but in my part of the world, no-one buys Windows, but corporates are paying up for Lotus Notes because IBM is starting to enforce it. Similarly you can get pirated DVDs of most films, but not films imported by a particular distributor.
How long does it take to switch layouts on the OS and desktop you are using?
I use KDE and I am trying Dvorak at the moment. If you activate more than one layout in KDE, clicking on an icon in the system tray switches between them. I was also very impressed that if the session is locked, it allows you to switch layouts to type your password in. Very good thinking on someone's part.
I know Gnome also has a layout switcher applet, so there is no problem there either.
I am amazed it took so long for someone to state this. Prioritising packet types is not the problem, or a minor one. Giving priority to particular content providers is a major problem. One is a nuisance that may impede particlar service types, if there are competing ISPs and a range of services it is not a huge problem. The latter completely distorts competition.
Why should they need technical help from people in the West?
One Sri Lankan company supplies trading systems to stock exchanges, including one of the largest in the US. I am not talking about outsourcing, but selling a complex product. Another company I know provides fairly high level IT consultancy from Sri Lanka.
Add to that Sri Lankan's traditional skill in improvisation and repair, and they have all they need at home - especially as they are based in Jaffna, an area that traditionally had very high standards of education (although I do not know how much that has been damaged by over two decades of war).
To summarise your argument, MS's big mistake was making Windows suck less. As long as it was really crap, people kept buying new versions in the hope of improvement. Once it got acceptably good, then people were happy and stuck with what they had.
Scarily plausible. The same does not seem to apply to Office though: people keep buying new versions of office just to write letters with.
Who says they are not liable?
Surely the US has jurisdiction on a notice issued under US law to a US company?
Can you be extradited for perjury? If so, it could get interesting.
It does have Java sprinkled all around (like the help system requires Java I believe)
Not the help system. I have Open Office with Java turned off and help works.
According to Wikipedia you need Java for some database access, latex, xslt and some other filters, accessability tools, the media player (not on all platforms) and scripting in Beanshell.
Yes I would agree that "except for driving in snow" is a good analogy. I live in the tropics.
Most people I know do not play games (of the sort we are talking about) on their PCs. In fact, thinking through my friends and family, I know only one gamer.
1. You think that its not worth analysing the numbers to see if they really support the conclusion 2. You think Windows is secure.
I wonder if there is any connection between 1 and 2.
Incidentally, the numbers do not support the conclusion. The usual issues are numbers of severe vulnerabilities, timeliness of disclosure, and the lack of a like of like comparison. Comparing the security holes in all the software that Red Hat distributes to just Windows is plain silly, particularly given the huge amount of software Red Hat does distribute.
I can see that was what you meant, but there was at least one response to your comment that took it differently.
Another good demonstration is differences between regions of a country (as your example of Vietnam), and changes over time.
A country (or a city) can change completely in two generations, and people have certainly not evolved significantly in that time. The two countries I know well have seen significant changes in crime, sexual mores, the honesty one can expect from people and a lot else in that time.
Yes, there is certainly a genetic component. We have moral instincts (I use the word loosely), we also have instincts and inherited behaviour that is immoral (like anger).
The article is based on a false dichotomy. Biology can explain (or partially explain) why we want to behave in a particular way. You need philosophy (possibly going into theology) to explain why you *should*.
You can simplify morality* as much as you want, but ultimately it rests on personal choices to do what is right. That is the starting point. Even religious explanations (for those who believe in them) are less fundamental, as they are only interesting if you have already decided that you want to do what is moral.
I also fail to see what is so surprising about the article. All human mental faculties must have evolved, therefore it is natural to expect to see some trace of them in our nearest relatives. I would expect other signs of moral behaviour in any reasonably intelligent animal - and there are other comments already posted with examples.
*by simplify I mean to cover a lot of things. These range from "do what helps us all survive" (a view expressed in other comments), to the golden rule, to the greatest commandment (actually two of them) of Christianity.
I live in a Buddhist country and I can tell you that women here face plenty of threats. I worry more about my wife driving home after dark here, than I did about her walking home after dark in London.
Sexual harassment on public transport is a huge problem, so are agressive unwelcome "attention" in a variety of situations. No one really knows about the extent of rape because the system is so bad at dealing with it - it is certainly not sensitive to victims.
Do you really expect grannys(or Joe sixpack/whatever we are calling typical users this week) to be able to cope with this. How can they cope with picking from mutiple versions (the comparison grid in the article has 27 rows!), downloading software to check that there hardware is compatible and then the install itself.
After all this (again according to the article), they may find that the Windows XP software they buy (or already have) will not work on it. They just want to be able to go to a shop, buy software, and know it will work.
Windows is find for geeks who know it, but the average users is better off with something that works out of the box like MacOS or Ubuntu.
I thought MS already knew the personas of Linux users:
1. Communists 2. People who want high TCO 3. People who are jealous of St Bill of Redmond's goodness 4. Unwashed hippies 5. IBM (see 4) 6. Un-American people. 7. Foreigners (see 6) 8. Terrorists (see 7) 9. Cancers 10. People who think they own "their" computers and other anti-capitalists
The BSA might close your business down, I have never heard of the EFF doing that to anyone, and I cannot see how they could ever do so.
FLOSS license compliance is an issue that only software vendors (or vendors of products that incorporate software) need even think about. The vast majority of businesses do not sell software (even if they develop software in-house, it is for their own use, so license issues do not arise).
I suppose she expects us (programmers) to rush out and perfect natural language processing
No, she expects to make money. If you look at the spammy, deceitful site, you can see that: 1) It is a money making site that tries to look like a campaign site of the sort that would be run by a non-profit - does the "American Family Advocacy Center" sound like a profit making business? 2) The "contract" is carefully placed at the bottom of the page, with a lot of stuff above it, so most human visitors would not see it, let alone spiders - and theoretically by viewing the site you agree to pay $5,000 if you save a local copy of the page (what about your cache?). 3) It makes no attempt to be readable by robots either.
There is no way the language in laws allowing electronic agents to form contracts intended to cover this - it is meant to cover situations like electronic trading systems where both parties intend to give software the right to form contracts on their behalf.
I am sure the courts will through this out.
Incidentally this idea occurred to me a few months ago. I did not try it because I am not low life.
Slashdot Mirror
In addition a lot of Ubuntu users do straight to the Ubuntu wiki or forums and search there first. The same probably happens with other distros that have good communities
That is because China is one of many countries where MS do not enforce copyrights.
A Chinese company selling in China might get atleast a reasonable proportion of people to pay.
I do not know China, but in my part of the world, no-one buys Windows, but corporates are paying up for Lotus Notes because IBM is starting to enforce it. Similarly you can get pirated DVDs of most films, but not films imported by a particular distributor.
P.S. Links are to my blog. I do know the subject - if you want my background go to the about page on the site in my sig.
How long does it take to switch layouts on the OS and desktop you are using?
I use KDE and I am trying Dvorak at the moment. If you activate more than one layout in KDE, clicking on an icon in the system tray switches between them. I was also very impressed that if the session is locked, it allows you to switch layouts to type your password in. Very good thinking on someone's part.
I know Gnome also has a layout switcher applet, so there is no problem there either.
I think that argument revolves around one simple question:
Do you want to:
1. Teach students to think for themselves, or
2. Learn to rely on believing what they are told by trusted authorities?
I think we can see what your school board's choice is.
I am amazed it took so long for someone to state this. Prioritising packet types is not the problem, or a minor one. Giving priority to particular content providers is a major problem. One is a nuisance that may impede particlar service types, if there are competing ISPs and a range of services it is not a huge problem. The latter completely distorts competition.
Why should they need technical help from people in the West?
One Sri Lankan company supplies trading systems to stock exchanges, including one of the largest in the US. I am not talking about outsourcing, but selling a complex product. Another company I know provides fairly high level IT consultancy from Sri Lanka.
Add to that Sri Lankan's traditional skill in improvisation and repair, and they have all they need at home - especially as they are based in Jaffna, an area that traditionally had very high standards of education (although I do not know how much that has been damaged by over two decades of war).
MS is dead just like Lisp
PS, note for stupid moderators, Paul Graham is well known as a Lisp advocate.
Yes, but the mileage could be expressed in km per litre.
To summarise your argument, MS's big mistake was making Windows suck less. As long as it was really crap, people kept buying new versions in the hope of improvement. Once it got acceptably good, then people were happy and stuck with what they had.
Scarily plausible. The same does not seem to apply to Office though: people keep buying new versions of office just to write letters with.
Who says they are not liable? Surely the US has jurisdiction on a notice issued under US law to a US company? Can you be extradited for perjury? If so, it could get interesting.
According to Wikipedia you need Java for some database access, latex, xslt and some other filters, accessability tools, the media player (not on all platforms) and scripting in Beanshell.
A car analogy again.
Yes I would agree that "except for driving in snow" is a good analogy. I live in the tropics.
Most people I know do not play games (of the sort we are talking about) on their PCs. In fact, thinking through my friends and family, I know only one gamer.
They might play solitaire or soduku, thats it.
"Tennants are people who live in a building owned by someone else." Not if they are squatting....
Yes, but its hard to install their software on a PC in your parents' basement. Therefore, from the point of view of Slashdot, SAP does not exist.
So:
1. You think that its not worth analysing the numbers to see if they really support the conclusion
2. You think Windows is secure.
I wonder if there is any connection between 1 and 2.
Incidentally, the numbers do not support the conclusion. The usual issues are numbers of severe vulnerabilities, timeliness of disclosure, and the lack of a like of like comparison. Comparing the security holes in all the software that Red Hat distributes to just Windows is plain silly, particularly given the huge amount of software Red Hat does distribute.
I can see that was what you meant, but there was at least one response to your comment that took it differently.
Another good demonstration is differences between regions of a country (as your example of Vietnam), and changes over time.
A country (or a city) can change completely in two generations, and people have certainly not evolved significantly in that time. The two countries I know well have seen significant changes in crime, sexual mores, the honesty one can expect from people and a lot else in that time.
The article is based on a false dichotomy. Biology can explain (or partially explain) why we want to behave in a particular way. You need philosophy (possibly going into theology) to explain why you *should*.
You can simplify morality* as much as you want, but ultimately it rests on personal choices to do what is right. That is the starting point. Even religious explanations (for those who believe in them) are less fundamental, as they are only interesting if you have already decided that you want to do what is moral.
I also fail to see what is so surprising about the article. All human mental faculties must have evolved, therefore it is natural to expect to see some trace of them in our nearest relatives. I would expect other signs of moral behaviour in any reasonably intelligent animal - and there are other comments already posted with examples.
*by simplify I mean to cover a lot of things. These range from "do what helps us all survive" (a view expressed in other comments), to the golden rule, to the greatest commandment (actually two of them) of Christianity.
I live in a Buddhist country and I can tell you that women here face plenty of threats. I worry more about my wife driving home after dark here, than I did about her walking home after dark in London.
Sexual harassment on public transport is a huge problem, so are agressive unwelcome "attention" in a variety of situations. No one really knows about the extent of rape because the system is so bad at dealing with it - it is certainly not sensitive to victims.
Do you really expect grannys(or Joe sixpack/whatever we are calling typical users this week) to be able to cope with this. How can they cope with picking from mutiple versions (the comparison grid in the article has 27 rows!), downloading software to check that there hardware is compatible and then the install itself.
After all this (again according to the article), they may find that the Windows XP software they buy (or already have) will not work on it. They just want to be able to go to a shop, buy software, and know it will work.
Windows is find for geeks who know it, but the average users is better off with something that works out of the box like MacOS or Ubuntu.
I thought MS already knew the personas of Linux users:
1. Communists
2. People who want high TCO
3. People who are jealous of St Bill of Redmond's goodness
4. Unwashed hippies
5. IBM (see 4)
6. Un-American people.
7. Foreigners (see 6)
8. Terrorists (see 7)
9. Cancers
10. People who think they own "their" computers and other anti-capitalists
The BSA might close your business down, I have never heard of the EFF doing that to anyone, and I cannot see how they could ever do so.
FLOSS license compliance is an issue that only software vendors (or vendors of products that incorporate software) need even think about. The vast majority of businesses do not sell software (even if they develop software in-house, it is for their own use, so license issues do not arise).
No, she expects to make money. If you look at the spammy, deceitful site, you can see that:
1) It is a money making site that tries to look like a campaign site of the sort that would be run by a non-profit - does the "American Family Advocacy Center" sound like a profit making business?
2) The "contract" is carefully placed at the bottom of the page, with a lot of stuff above it, so most human visitors would not see it, let alone spiders - and theoretically by viewing the site you agree to pay $5,000 if you save a local copy of the page (what about your cache?).
3) It makes no attempt to be readable by robots either.
There is no way the language in laws allowing electronic agents to form contracts intended to cover this - it is meant to cover situations like electronic trading systems where both parties intend to give software the right to form contracts on their behalf.
I am sure the courts will through this out.
Incidentally this idea occurred to me a few months ago. I did not try it because I am not low life.
In case you did not know, Feisty Fawn is will officially be Ubuntu 7.04 once launched.
This looks good: http://www.efficientpc.co.uk/systems/
There are also a few places that have a limited rage (sometimes one) of Linux PCs: http://www.clown-fish.com/shop/index.php?cPath=38 (they have plenty of Linux compatible barebone systems though http://www.clown-fish.com/shop/index.php?cPath=3) and http://www.thelinuxshop.co.uk/catalog/index.php?cP ath=30.
Of course in the US there is http://system76.com/