Let me set the record straight: OC'd processors NEVER run stable. If they did, Intel would have clocked them in the higher bin or whatever. It might seem to run stable, but it really won't. I've seen many overclockers who say their system runs "rock stable" and then turn around and bitch about how windows seems to bluescreen every 5 minutes. Get a clue, people. You get what you pay for.
If it was an Office Depot decision, it would be OK. If it was a decision made under pressure from Microsoft, it's not OK. Because monopolies have unprecedented power, they are subject to additional restrictions.
Look at the about dialog box. All-new code my ass. The quirks I'm talking about are just regular bugs and non-existent support for newer standards -- nothing to do with the bugs you're talking about. Besides, Mozilla works just about as well with old content, making your point irrelevant.
I'll bet that Microsoft has ten times as many developers working on IE as Netscape does. Also, they release for just ONE platform, while mozilla develops for at least 10. Small wonder that they can crank out new releases faster. Besides, MSIE 6 is, for the most part, a version of Spyglass mosaic with many new features bolted on. It still has many old quirks and bugs in its HTML interpreter, and has shitty support for stylesheets, XHTML, et cetera. Netscape/Mozilla is 100% new code.
I'm sure it wouldn't take Mozilla developers so long if they started from an old, working codebase, made it for just one platform, and had thousands of bright and experienced developers working for them like Microsoft does. What's truly amazing is that the quality of MS products is so low, given their incredible resources.
I don't play it and I think it's pretty stupid, but I know quite a few people who do. Besides, if you are addicted to evercrack, you probably won't convert to a system that doesn't have it. If TG starts supporting at least 60% of new games (they do about 30%), many Windows gamers I know would consider converting.
No. I'm talking about the 90% of volume. You'd be pretty hard-pressed to find a current printer, disposable or not, that does not work with Linux. Same thing for joysticks and, to some extent, scanners. BTW, some of the cheapest stuff is best-supported. I recently bought a Mustek 1200UB scanner for $40 from Wal-mart and it worked flawlessly with Mandrake.
You could use WineX to install the Windows client. Very nice product, and only $15 for a 3-month subscription to their service (basically support forums and access to the full version binaries).
RAM tests are not very reliable. A certain cell that gets reset when another (adjacent) cell is written to will probably not get detected with a simple ram test, but it will bring havoc to a program if it is loaded into that space. Also, RAM tests cannot detect memory errors caused by bad motherboard design or random errors.
Basically, if you get random crashes/bluescreens/segfaults on your machine, it's probably RAM. Sometimes, it might just be something like gcc segfaulting every once in a while, with no apparent cause. Other times, it may be corrupted files, weirdness, bad archives, etc. It's actually quite similar to what happens when you overclock.
If the chip is half-bad, there are good chances that it has defects in the other half. Usually, it's a problem with the process and not just random quirks. It's just that one half works better than the other. In fact, many windows crashes are not caused by Windows, but by bad RAM. And good luck finding anything with memtest86. Once, I ran that program for about 3 hours on a machine with bad RAM. It didn't find anything. When I replaced one of the sticks, all the problems went away.
If what you're saying is true, then why does 96% of the population buy Windows machines? They usually look ugly, work poorly, and aren't very upgradable. I think your argument falls flat on its face. People buy computers that are well-marketed (like that Dell dude), cheap (no, Macs aren't cheap), and win at the bigger-is-better numbers game (which Macs certainly don't). Aesthetics and usability are a concern only AFTER you bought a computer. And most of the people who dislike their new PC won't switch to Apple because they are not familiar with it and don't want to experiment. They would rather buy another Windows PC than a different computer.
Linux has potential assuming that it will become more usable and somehow get marketed. Apple has potential if they sell a Mac with numbers (clock speed, megs of RAM, etc) identical to a $799 PC for $799. Few would buy a more expensive machine merely because it looks better.
Some people need to be forced to take a reading comprehension training class. They said that they are authorized to act for the copyright holder LISTED ABOVE. They didn't list OpenOffice.org there, did they? Why do so many slashdot posters act as if they are in 8th grade? Maybe because they are?
You're talking about physical property. It's different with intellectual "property," since the author does not lose anything except potential profits from copying.
If you turn this over to the private sector, who the hell do you think would pay the billions of dollars needed to set up even a space tourism thing, much less a Mars colony? Investors? Yeah right.
Remember, kiddo: businesses are concerned with making money NOW, not maybe or 10 years down the road or $n billion dollars later, as would be the case with space hotels and such. They would maybe launch satellites -- because that makes some money -- but that would be it. And speaking of fuckups, I can name dozens caused by private contractors. Mars polar lander, Hubble space telescope, and possibly the Columbia tragedy were caused by errors made by contractors.
Do you think private industry would have built the Internet had the government not funded it? Yeah right. Hell, even DSL wasn't available until the FCC ordered the companies to share their lines with others. If they followed your logic, we would still have $50K/month T1 lines. I don't think you can trust private companies with something as important as the space program when they can't even be trusted with something as simple as a telephone network (hence the FCC).
Linux is 100% C. 2600 code is probably not in even assembler. I'm pretty sure those games were coded directly in machine language. Which is what you have if you download a ROM.
If I own a telephone set and an associated line, it would still be illegal for me to record my friend's conversation when he's using it, at least without asking his permission first. A company can't legally record its employees' conversations, either. Your argument does not apply.
Actually, this is capitalism at its finest, and is also typically American. Don't believe me? Read a book or study history or something. If this was regulated more (i.e. this kind of stuff was prohibited), it would be called socialism. If it was regulated less, it would be called libertarianism.
Apparently, you are retarded. I think the things you mention have been adressed about a million times already.
First, the running-as-root idea was smart. The slashdot masses need to understand that people do NOT want to fuck with passwords, usernames, and that shit on their PC. On a server, fine, but not on a PC.
You don't install a super-secure keycard system for every room in your house, do you? That would be fucking annoying, and would at most protect you from yourself. That's about what the regular distributions are set up like. That does not make them any more secure. If you don't have many users on the system, then you don't need the unix password system and you might as well run as root. Yes, you need to have external services shut off, but Lindows is very good in that regard. So, care to enlighten me about how to hack a system with no open ports and a strict iptables config, even if it doesn't have a root password?
Besides, your argument is invalid in any case. If you don't want to run as root, you are free to create a normal account. Lindows supports that.
As for click and run, I have one word for you: easy. I subscribe to Mandrakeclub for the same reason. It makes it easier to get stuff for your distro. Yes, I could fuck with.tar.gz sources and get them to maybe run on my system, but I'd rather pay a few bucks so somebody else does the dirty work. What's the problem with that?
If you don't like Lindows, use Mandrake. I like them, but I can see where Lindows might fit in. The fact that something might not be intended for certain types of uses is a concept slashdot whores can't grasp.
Actually, you can get a good gaming notebook for about $1800. Try discountlaptops.com or powernotebooks.com. The funny thing is that Alienware sells the same Sager model for about twice the price.
The more they MANUFACTURE, the lower the per-unit cost (up to a point). Unless they don't have money or are really stupid, they are manufacturing them at the optimal production rate anyway. Sales have nothing to do with manufacturing (other than they have to stop manufacturing when the product doesn't sell).
Besides, the 50 extra xboxes that Microsoft would sell due to Linux existing for it would not make any difference. Are people actually taking this childish bullshit seriously? There aren't enough 13-year-old Linux geeks to make a difference, and hardly anyone else would buy an xbox to run Linux on it. I don't know why this bullshit is being regurgitated here.
$100,000 can be used to pay for one scientist for one year of his work. That's without any equipment, and it's likely to be a fairly run-of-the-mill scientist. That money would not accomplish _anything_ in terms of getting closer to a cure. To do that, you need BILLIONS of dollars and decades of time.
What's so impressive about the hardware? The processor is much slower than a PC one (don't tell me the architecture can compensate for a twofold difference in MHz, since it can't). The case is very nicely designed, that's true. However, the whole thing is very expensive. $2000 for a 12" notebook with an 866 MHz processor? Gimme a break. Unless you need a really small and light notebook (since that's the only category Apple offers), you might as well get a cheaper and faster PC-based one, with a bigger screen and better Linux support.
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Let me set the record straight: OC'd processors NEVER run stable. If they did, Intel would have clocked them in the higher bin or whatever. It might seem to run stable, but it really won't. I've seen many overclockers who say their system runs "rock stable" and then turn around and bitch about how windows seems to bluescreen every 5 minutes. Get a clue, people. You get what you pay for.
If it was an Office Depot decision, it would be OK. If it was a decision made under pressure from Microsoft, it's not OK. Because monopolies have unprecedented power, they are subject to additional restrictions.
Look at the about dialog box. All-new code my ass. The quirks I'm talking about are just regular bugs and non-existent support for newer standards -- nothing to do with the bugs you're talking about. Besides, Mozilla works just about as well with old content, making your point irrelevant.
I'll bet that Microsoft has ten times as many developers working on IE as Netscape does. Also, they release for just ONE platform, while mozilla develops for at least 10. Small wonder that they can crank out new releases faster. Besides, MSIE 6 is, for the most part, a version of Spyglass mosaic with many new features bolted on. It still has many old quirks and bugs in its HTML interpreter, and has shitty support for stylesheets, XHTML, et cetera. Netscape/Mozilla is 100% new code.
I'm sure it wouldn't take Mozilla developers so long if they started from an old, working codebase, made it for just one platform, and had thousands of bright and experienced developers working for them like Microsoft does. What's truly amazing is that the quality of MS products is so low, given their incredible resources.
I don't play it and I think it's pretty stupid, but I know quite a few people who do. Besides, if you are addicted to evercrack, you probably won't convert to a system that doesn't have it. If TG starts supporting at least 60% of new games (they do about 30%), many Windows gamers I know would consider converting.
No. I'm talking about the 90% of volume. You'd be pretty hard-pressed to find a current printer, disposable or not, that does not work with Linux. Same thing for joysticks and, to some extent, scanners. BTW, some of the cheapest stuff is best-supported. I recently bought a Mustek 1200UB scanner for $40 from Wal-mart and it worked flawlessly with Mandrake.
Actually, they are very appealing as it is. You gotta admit, there's no other way to play Battlefield 1942 or Everquest on Linux.
You could use WineX to install the Windows client. Very nice product, and only $15 for a 3-month subscription to their service (basically support forums and access to the full version binaries).
You're talking about Linux like it was 4 years ago. Try a recent version and you'll see that 90% of hardware works without any difficulties.
RAM tests are not very reliable. A certain cell that gets reset when another (adjacent) cell is written to will probably not get detected with a simple ram test, but it will bring havoc to a program if it is loaded into that space. Also, RAM tests cannot detect memory errors caused by bad motherboard design or random errors.
Basically, if you get random crashes/bluescreens/segfaults on your machine, it's probably RAM. Sometimes, it might just be something like gcc segfaulting every once in a while, with no apparent cause. Other times, it may be corrupted files, weirdness, bad archives, etc. It's actually quite similar to what happens when you overclock.
If the chip is half-bad, there are good chances that it has defects in the other half. Usually, it's a problem with the process and not just random quirks. It's just that one half works better than the other. In fact, many windows crashes are not caused by Windows, but by bad RAM. And good luck finding anything with memtest86. Once, I ran that program for about 3 hours on a machine with bad RAM. It didn't find anything. When I replaced one of the sticks, all the problems went away.
Umm... you never actually tried that, have you? Memtest takes about 20-40 hours to find the bad clusters. I'd rather pay $30 for a new module.
If what you're saying is true, then why does 96% of the population buy Windows machines? They usually look ugly, work poorly, and aren't very upgradable. I think your argument falls flat on its face. People buy computers that are well-marketed (like that Dell dude), cheap (no, Macs aren't cheap), and win at the bigger-is-better numbers game (which Macs certainly don't). Aesthetics and usability are a concern only AFTER you bought a computer. And most of the people who dislike their new PC won't switch to Apple because they are not familiar with it and don't want to experiment. They would rather buy another Windows PC than a different computer.
Linux has potential assuming that it will become more usable and somehow get marketed. Apple has potential if they sell a Mac with numbers (clock speed, megs of RAM, etc) identical to a $799 PC for $799. Few would buy a more expensive machine merely because it looks better.
Some people need to be forced to take a reading comprehension training class. They said that they are authorized to act for the copyright holder LISTED ABOVE. They didn't list OpenOffice.org there, did they? Why do so many slashdot posters act as if they are in 8th grade? Maybe because they are?
You're talking about physical property. It's different with intellectual "property," since the author does not lose anything except potential profits from copying.
If you turn this over to the private sector, who the hell do you think would pay the billions of dollars needed to set up even a space tourism thing, much less a Mars colony? Investors? Yeah right.
Remember, kiddo: businesses are concerned with making money NOW, not maybe or 10 years down the road or $n billion dollars later, as would be the case with space hotels and such. They would maybe launch satellites -- because that makes some money -- but that would be it. And speaking of fuckups, I can name dozens caused by private contractors. Mars polar lander, Hubble space telescope, and possibly the Columbia tragedy were caused by errors made by contractors.
Do you think private industry would have built the Internet had the government not funded it? Yeah right. Hell, even DSL wasn't available until the FCC ordered the companies to share their lines with others. If they followed your logic, we would still have $50K/month T1 lines. I don't think you can trust private companies with something as important as the space program when they can't even be trusted with something as simple as a telephone network (hence the FCC).
Umm.. the shuttle would be useless without the ISS. What the hell would you do with it? Send up satellites for $500m?
Linux is 100% C. 2600 code is probably not in even assembler. I'm pretty sure those games were coded directly in machine language. Which is what you have if you download a ROM.
If I own a telephone set and an associated line, it would still be illegal for me to record my friend's conversation when he's using it, at least without asking his permission first. A company can't legally record its employees' conversations, either. Your argument does not apply.
Actually, this is capitalism at its finest, and is also typically American. Don't believe me? Read a book or study history or something. If this was regulated more (i.e. this kind of stuff was prohibited), it would be called socialism. If it was regulated less, it would be called libertarianism.
Apparently, you are retarded. I think the things you mention have been adressed about a million times already.
.tar.gz sources and get them to maybe run on my system, but I'd rather pay a few bucks so somebody else does the dirty work. What's the problem with that?
First, the running-as-root idea was smart. The slashdot masses need to understand that people do NOT want to fuck with passwords, usernames, and that shit on their PC. On a server, fine, but not on a PC.
You don't install a super-secure keycard system for every room in your house, do you? That would be fucking annoying, and would at most protect you from yourself. That's about what the regular distributions are set up like. That does not make them any more secure. If you don't have many users on the system, then you don't need the unix password system and you might as well run as root. Yes, you need to have external services shut off, but Lindows is very good in that regard. So, care to enlighten me about how to hack a system with no open ports and a strict iptables config, even if it doesn't have a root password?
Besides, your argument is invalid in any case. If you don't want to run as root, you are free to create a normal account. Lindows supports that.
As for click and run, I have one word for you: easy. I subscribe to Mandrakeclub for the same reason. It makes it easier to get stuff for your distro. Yes, I could fuck with
If you don't like Lindows, use Mandrake. I like them, but I can see where Lindows might fit in. The fact that something might not be intended for certain types of uses is a concept slashdot whores can't grasp.
Actually, you can get a good gaming notebook for about $1800. Try discountlaptops.com or powernotebooks.com. The funny thing is that Alienware sells the same Sager model for about twice the price.
Bullshit.
The more they MANUFACTURE, the lower the per-unit cost (up to a point). Unless they don't have money or are really stupid, they are manufacturing them at the optimal production rate anyway. Sales have nothing to do with manufacturing (other than they have to stop manufacturing when the product doesn't sell).
Besides, the 50 extra xboxes that Microsoft would sell due to Linux existing for it would not make any difference. Are people actually taking this childish bullshit seriously? There aren't enough 13-year-old Linux geeks to make a difference, and hardly anyone else would buy an xbox to run Linux on it. I don't know why this bullshit is being regurgitated here.
$100,000 can be used to pay for one scientist for one year of his work. That's without any equipment, and it's likely to be a fairly run-of-the-mill scientist. That money would not accomplish _anything_ in terms of getting closer to a cure. To do that, you need BILLIONS of dollars and decades of time.
What's so impressive about the hardware? The processor is much slower than a PC one (don't tell me the architecture can compensate for a twofold difference in MHz, since it can't). The case is very nicely designed, that's true. However, the whole thing is very expensive. $2000 for a 12" notebook with an 866 MHz processor? Gimme a break. Unless you need a really small and light notebook (since that's the only category Apple offers), you might as well get a cheaper and faster PC-based one, with a bigger screen and better Linux support.