i am a newly converted fan of Ubuntu. i've been using red hat (now fedora) since Red Hat 4.2. after using an ibook and growing to dislike OS X i finally decided to take Kubuntu for ppc out for a drive...and wound up LOVING it!
but what i find interesting is that the author created a flash file to view the installation process but flash isn't supported on the ppc version of ubuntu. odd that. of course i have to wonder why flash isn't supported.
regardless - i find ubuntu a complete success. i totally get why it's becoming so popular. ease of installment (even though it's all text based) and zippy performance.
My personal take on this (coming from someone who's used Linux for nearly 10 years now) is that it's not "Linux" (as in kernel) that's become so fat, it's the window environments.
Anytime I set up a computer with Linux, if said computer is older, I will set the desktop up with either blackbox or afterstep. Doing so makes those machines quite spritely. On the same machines, you use KDE or GNOME and you're going to slow the machine down quite a bit.
So if someone is looking to create an environment for a sub-100 dollar laptop they better be looking at one of the "other white meats" of the Linux desktop environment.
To be honest, I'm saddened by the serious lack of interest it seems the Linux community has developed for the other DEs. I personally run blackbox on my desktop and love it. I would love to see a renewed interest in these far-less-bloated DEs.
Do you think Netflix is going to also patent their wonderful method of throttling their better customers? I just signed up for Blockbuster after watching my netflix shipping come to a slow grinding halt. I am actually LUCKY if I get my three movies at a time in a single week now. So I wanted to check out Blockbuster to see how they fared. Now they are getting sued by Netflix. Boy is that irony? Of course this will never go through - if it does, imagine the precident it will set. KMart will go after Walmart (for their methodology of having consumers in lines to pay for goods). Converse will go after Adidas (for their methodology of creating goods to go on someone's feet).
I just hope like hell Blockbuster isn't also sued for slowing down the shipping of movies. I do believe Netflix has the corner on that market!
I think this article has some very valid points. I will add that one of the issues surrounding Evolution is that:
a) it's future? who knows what's going to happen to it. Novell isn't making some of the best decisions with regards to it's Linux future. Who knows what they plan to do.
b) evolutions' inability to be updated. What the heck? I'm still having to run version 2.2.3 because there's no way to update unless I want to compile from source. Yes, I know how to compile from source but the dependencies of that app are a nightmare! and the average joe isn't about to start compiling from source just to update an applicaiton. this is really a show stopper considering tools like yum and apt-get. Why on earth are the evolution developers not making it possible to update their product with the most used tools to do so? makes no sense.
c) buggy. evolution still has some issues. from random crashes, to the spamassassin daemon issues, to odd UI changes. these are problems that will continue to plague this application.
don't get me wrong, i've been using evolution since it's beta days and it's come a long, long way. but there was a time when i could solve a lot of the above problems on my own. now i can't.
but to be honest, i don't see many changes happening in the future. and with Mozilla Thunderbird growing like it is, and the hopes of a calendar integration into Thunderbird, I just might know what my next mail client will be.
i remember when i entered a ton of splash screens for one of the recent GNOME splash screen contests. work my @zz off on it and the screen they chose was l^m3. so i fire up the GIMP and start to create a new splash screen and notice that they are requiring a tutorial to go along with this one.
well girls, i'm sorry. even though i'm a writer, i don't really have time to not only create a new splash screen for your app AND have to work up a tutorial too boot.
so i guess i'll just have to settle for whatever l^m3 splash screen they choose (and i fire up the GIMP a LOT!).
maybe the tutorial should include the means to use your own screen shot???
are both going to switch over. not because i've provoked them but because they are so tired of the windows problems they've been having (malware, spyware, viruses, slowdowns due to malware and antivirus programs). my girlfriend is also happy that her kids won't be able to just randomly install various things on her computer. THAT is really the main reason she's excited about it. well that and being able to use quality software without having to dump a large amount of fundage into it.
once again i am reminded why i stopped purchasing new music. listen up RIAA - kiss my ass. there are plenty of shops that sell used CDs of which you don't see a single penny. and there's Ebay.
it makes me sad to think that this industry screws everyone it comes in contact with. artists, audience, consumers...i'm surprised they haven't figured out a way to screw themselves.
i'm just as much against M$ as the next guy. been using linux for over 10 years now as my only OS. but i will say this: Red Hat and Fedora had to drop mp3 support because of legal issues. i had to install a bunch of crap to get rhytmbox to support the mp3 format.
you will never get a single penny from me. you've done nothing but screw everyone involved and you won't stop here.
i haven't purchased a new CD in years now. and i won't go with iTunes either. when i want new music i'll just continue to go to the local used stores and drop 7 or 8 bucks on a used CD that sounds just as good as it was when it was first bought. only this time - you're not getting any money (at least until the RIAA starts to demand payup from places like used CD stores - i wouldn't be surprised if it happens).
so go ahead - dig your grave even deeper still. that's fine. eventually you'll drive all the artists into pressing and selling their own music. and when that happens maybe the music industry will take off again.
you make a very good point. smaller, independent theatres don't suffer from this problem so much. we have one here, The Baxter, that has become the only theatre i will attend because the audiences *tend* to be better (there are exceptions).
the multiplexes however have become a substitute for babysitters where the parents drop off their kids and let them go see whatever unsupervised. so the kids go nuts. but it's not just kids. i've had experiences nearly ruined by adults who have no manners whatsoever.
i'd say that ultimately the biggest problem is the decline of respect in this country (america). no one seems to care anymore about anyone but themselves and they don't give a $hit if they ruin someone eleses movie experience. i'm a huge movie fan and hate to see this experience turn into a zoo.
the average computer user is about as tech savvy as a roll of toilet paper and you can quickly get a handle on the fact that they don't care!
the vast majority of people don't know the difference between windows media player, quicktime, xine, realplayer, etc, etc. they just know they click on something and fun happens.
it's really insane that this debate continues when it's pretty pointless. and microsoft knows this. they know the average user is just a rodent in a maze chasing cheese.
so XP N isn't going to change anything. unbundling MS isn't going to change anything. heck even if the powers that be say "You must ship MS with FireFox and not IE" it won't matter because most people call it a browser and that's it.
applications are just "things" that allow most users to see and hear "stuff". they could care less if it's from a monopoly or if it's open or closed source. all they care about is that it lets them see and hear the goods.
and that's all just too bad because the unwashed masses don't understand what's actually happening to their experience.
someone got pissed off and, instead of just taking their toys and going home, bought up all the toys on the playground and then went home. now no one has anything to play with.
and of course the US goverment will look at this and go "oh look at the cute kiddie who can buy all the toys and go home. isn't that sweet. what a lil' entrepreneur he is."
consumers want to blame companies companies want to blame hackers hackers want to blame developers developers want to blame users users blame whoever the media tells them to blame.
there is some truth to what is being said here. sure early hacking showed the developers they had to pay some attention to security. but couldn't that be done in a controlled environment? why? because that way innocent people wouldn't be put out. there are people losing identities and money because of theives (i say 'thieves' becuase a hack where you steal is a theft - sorry everyone but that's the law).
so continue to point your own finger when a finger is pointed at you but at some point some culpability must be had.
this is such a boon to Mac. when i bought my ibook (i use it for writing when i'm away from my desk) i couldn't believe how difficult it was to find a word processor that i not only liked to use but felt good about using.
after trying and trying i finally got the X11 port of openoffice installed but it was the most amazingly slow thing. eventually i found neooffice and found it to fit the bill perfectly.
i wish other softwares would follow their lead. sure you can try to install packages with fink but it's not terribly user friendly.
and, after 10 years of using Linux software, i'm not about to start paying for software i can use for free on my desktop!
How could Linux be affected by this? First, and foremost, OS X and most of its better software costs money. Linux and pretty much all of its software does not cost money.
I have an iBook. I like my iBook. i like my ibook because it allows me to write my books (using NeoOffice) at places other than my desk. But that's it. If I were to have to purchase all the equivalent software for my ibook that i use on my Linux desktop - I, well, I couldn't because I'm a starving artist.
So Linux won't suffer from OS X moving to x86 software. The same people that use Linux will continue to use Linux.
Besides - the reason a lot of people use OS X is because of the sexy hardware it runs on. x86 hardware (unless you're getting it from alienware or something) is just blah.
but there really does have to be a way to use POD effectively. maybe what it really needs is for someone to come out with a really good digital reader. you know - paperback size or something. one that can hold a library of books. sort of like the ipod - only the ibook. it would require a bigger dispay (which should be the primary real estate of the device).
if that were to actually happen - POD would be the answer to so many authors dreams. well - theoretically.
print on demand sucks. you generally get reamed up the a**, get locked into a contract where you can't publish through a standard publishing house for X number of years, and make little to no money. ALSO when agents and/or publishing houses see that you've published via POD they will immediately turn their noses at you.
POD and digital publishing are theoretically good ideas that just can't seem to get their wings. the public simply doesn't want to read a book from their computer or from a handheld. that's really too bad because agents and publishers are so rarely accepting work these days.
i wouldn't work for you. it's really THAT simple.
look i have four tatoos - all of them hidden. i have four small holes in my ears - i wear one earring in each ear. so i'm not trying to say "hey i have brands, sarrifications, skull tatoos, etc...you must accept me" but there are other issues at play with me (which i won't go into).
anyway - as an employee it's also my choice as well. i can pick and choose who i work for. and i won't work for a company that is so narrow minded as to think one must look like everyone else in order to be productive.
it's that simple.
it shocks me how narrow minded people can be. you really think the way someone dresses displays a sense of professionalism and trust? i know a lot of men in suits that'll steal your wife, your job, and your good name before you can say armani.
it's just sad that America is still stuck in that dreadful time where men can only be taken seriously in suits or khakis and women only in dreses or skirts.
oh and you - idiot with the "unless you're gay" line. grow the fuck up. if you still think that only gay men wear earrings you might want to crawl out of your basement, stop coding for a second, and realize that everyone is different and that, my dear friend, makes the world interesting.
so unless you guys and gals want to live in a world where everyone is identical i'd suggest you broaden your horizons and accept people who look, dress, and act a little differently than you.
just because a guy has tipped hair, a tatoo or two, and a piercing doesn't mean he isn't professional - it just means he might, just might, have a personality.
i have to agree with this question. sure i carry a pad and paper with me most everywhere i go. you never know when an idea will hit you. however, if you get rather prolific with that pen and paper you eventually have to transfer those words to the word processor (OpenOffice preferably).
now before you toss up your arms and say "how hard is that?" you have to understand that some people write a LOT. and when you write as part of your living the last thing you want to do is to have to waste time writing over and over the same words (i would think coders would appreciate that).
of course even if you were to get something portable enough, entering text into one of those horribly user un-friendly keyboards would stink. so i guess what we'd be looking for was something of a micro-laptop like device.
anyway - i was just standing up for the man's question because i think it's valid.
CNET is starting to do trial podcasts. i just can't seem to imagine willingly downloading something to my ipod, listening to it once, and then syncing my ipod just to remove it.
the way i see this - it's just another means for TPTB (The Powers That Be) to create something and convince the public they need it so they can eventually try to charge money for it.
no thanks. i'll just keep using my ipod for its intended purpose - music.
i would think that the increase of the insipid internet spam has helped the SPAM "meat" company quite a bit.
i would say that in the 80s SPAM had its heyday but quickly faded into near non-existence. here comes spam and now everyone knows what SPAM is.
come on - it's free publicity. who WOULDN'T want that? maybe they should take it in stride and spin it with a little humor. they'd probably fare better than trying to take people to court.
Slashdot Mirror
Freedom of choice Is what you got Freedom from choice Is what you want thank you devo (or A Perfect Circle depending on your bent)
i am a newly converted fan of Ubuntu. i've been using red hat (now fedora) since Red Hat 4.2. after using an ibook and growing to dislike OS X i finally decided to take Kubuntu for ppc out for a drive...and wound up LOVING it!
;-)
but what i find interesting is that the author created a flash file to view the installation process but flash isn't supported on the ppc version of ubuntu. odd that. of course i have to wonder why flash isn't supported.
regardless - i find ubuntu a complete success. i totally get why it's becoming so popular. ease of installment (even though it's all text based) and zippy performance.
but dang it - get flash to work!
My personal take on this (coming from someone who's used Linux for nearly 10 years now) is that it's not "Linux" (as in kernel) that's become so fat, it's the window environments.
Anytime I set up a computer with Linux, if said computer is older, I will set the desktop up with either blackbox or afterstep. Doing so makes those machines quite spritely. On the same machines, you use KDE or GNOME and you're going to slow the machine down quite a bit.
So if someone is looking to create an environment for a sub-100 dollar laptop they better be looking at one of the "other white meats" of the Linux desktop environment.
To be honest, I'm saddened by the serious lack of interest it seems the Linux community has developed for the other DEs. I personally run blackbox on my desktop and love it. I would love to see a renewed interest in these far-less-bloated DEs.
Do you think Netflix is going to also patent their wonderful method of throttling their better customers? I just signed up for Blockbuster after watching my netflix shipping come to a slow grinding halt. I am actually LUCKY if I get my three movies at a time in a single week now. So I wanted to check out Blockbuster to see how they fared. Now they are getting sued by Netflix. Boy is that irony? Of course this will never go through - if it does, imagine the precident it will set. KMart will go after Walmart (for their methodology of having consumers in lines to pay for goods). Converse will go after Adidas (for their methodology of creating goods to go on someone's feet). I just hope like hell Blockbuster isn't also sued for slowing down the shipping of movies. I do believe Netflix has the corner on that market!
I think this article has some very valid points. I will add that one of the issues surrounding Evolution is that:
a) it's future? who knows what's going to happen to it. Novell isn't making some of the best decisions with regards to it's Linux future. Who knows what they plan to do.
b) evolutions' inability to be updated. What the heck? I'm still having to run version 2.2.3 because there's no way to update unless I want to compile from source. Yes, I know how to compile from source but the dependencies of that app are a nightmare! and the average joe isn't about to start compiling from source just to update an applicaiton. this is really a show stopper considering tools like yum and apt-get. Why on earth are the evolution developers not making it possible to update their product with the most used tools to do so? makes no sense.
c) buggy. evolution still has some issues. from random crashes, to the spamassassin daemon issues, to odd UI changes. these are problems that will continue to plague this application.
don't get me wrong, i've been using evolution since it's beta days and it's come a long, long way. but there was a time when i could solve a lot of the above problems on my own. now i can't.
but to be honest, i don't see many changes happening in the future. and with Mozilla Thunderbird growing like it is, and the hopes of a calendar integration into Thunderbird, I just might know what my next mail client will be.
i remember when i entered a ton of splash screens for one of the recent GNOME splash screen contests. work my @zz off on it and the screen they chose was l^m3. so i fire up the GIMP and start to create a new splash screen and notice that they are requiring a tutorial to go along with this one.
well girls, i'm sorry. even though i'm a writer, i don't really have time to not only create a new splash screen for your app AND have to work up a tutorial too boot.
so i guess i'll just have to settle for whatever l^m3 splash screen they choose (and i fire up the GIMP a LOT!).
maybe the tutorial should include the means to use your own screen shot???
are both going to switch over. not because i've provoked them but because they are so tired of the windows problems they've been having (malware, spyware, viruses, slowdowns due to malware and antivirus programs). my girlfriend is also happy that her kids won't be able to just randomly install various things on her computer. THAT is really the main reason she's excited about it. well that and being able to use quality software without having to dump a large amount of fundage into it.
once again i am reminded why i stopped purchasing new music. listen up RIAA - kiss my ass. there are plenty of shops that sell used CDs of which you don't see a single penny. and there's Ebay.
it makes me sad to think that this industry screws everyone it comes in contact with. artists, audience, consumers...i'm surprised they haven't figured out a way to screw themselves.
i'm just as much against M$ as the next guy. been using linux for over 10 years now as my only OS. but i will say this: Red Hat and Fedora had to drop mp3 support because of legal issues. i had to install a bunch of crap to get rhytmbox to support the mp3 format.
i hope you're listening recording industry:
you will never get a single penny from me. you've done nothing but screw everyone involved and you won't stop here.
i haven't purchased a new CD in years now. and i won't go with iTunes either. when i want new music i'll just continue to go to the local used stores and drop 7 or 8 bucks on a used CD that sounds just as good as it was when it was first bought. only this time - you're not getting any money (at least until the RIAA starts to demand payup from places like used CD stores - i wouldn't be surprised if it happens).
so go ahead - dig your grave even deeper still. that's fine. eventually you'll drive all the artists into pressing and selling their own music. and when that happens maybe the music industry will take off again.
you make a very good point. smaller, independent theatres don't suffer from this problem so much. we have one here, The Baxter, that has become the only theatre i will attend because the audiences *tend* to be better (there are exceptions).
the multiplexes however have become a substitute for babysitters where the parents drop off their kids and let them go see whatever unsupervised. so the kids go nuts. but it's not just kids. i've had experiences nearly ruined by adults who have no manners whatsoever.
i'd say that ultimately the biggest problem is the decline of respect in this country (america). no one seems to care anymore about anyone but themselves and they don't give a $hit if they ruin someone eleses movie experience. i'm a huge movie fan and hate to see this experience turn into a zoo.
do they have a tofu shrimp bandage we can use?
the average computer user is about as tech savvy as a roll of toilet paper and you can quickly get a handle on the fact that they don't care!
the vast majority of people don't know the difference between windows media player, quicktime, xine, realplayer, etc, etc. they just know they click on something and fun happens.
it's really insane that this debate continues when it's pretty pointless. and microsoft knows this. they know the average user is just a rodent in a maze chasing cheese.
so XP N isn't going to change anything. unbundling MS isn't going to change anything. heck even if the powers that be say "You must ship MS with FireFox and not IE" it won't matter because most people call it a browser and that's it.
applications are just "things" that allow most users to see and hear "stuff". they could care less if it's from a monopoly or if it's open or closed source. all they care about is that it lets them see and hear the goods.
and that's all just too bad because the unwashed masses don't understand what's actually happening to their experience.
someone got pissed off and, instead of just taking their toys and going home, bought up all the toys on the playground and then went home. now no one has anything to play with.
and of course the US goverment will look at this and go "oh look at the cute kiddie who can buy all the toys and go home. isn't that sweet. what a lil' entrepreneur he is."
consumers want to blame companies
companies want to blame hackers
hackers want to blame developers
developers want to blame users
users blame whoever the media tells them to blame.
there is some truth to what is being said here. sure early hacking showed the developers they had to pay some attention to security. but couldn't that be done in a controlled environment? why? because that way innocent people wouldn't be put out. there are people losing identities and money because of theives (i say 'thieves' becuase a hack where you steal is a theft - sorry everyone but that's the law).
so continue to point your own finger when a finger is pointed at you but at some point some culpability must be had.
this is such a boon to Mac. when i bought my ibook (i use it for writing when i'm away from my desk) i couldn't believe how difficult it was to find a word processor that i not only liked to use but felt good about using.
after trying and trying i finally got the X11 port of openoffice installed but it was the most amazingly slow thing. eventually i found neooffice and found it to fit the bill perfectly.
i wish other softwares would follow their lead. sure you can try to install packages with fink but it's not terribly user friendly.
and, after 10 years of using Linux software, i'm not about to start paying for software i can use for free on my desktop!
I have an iBook. I like my iBook. i like my ibook because it allows me to write my books (using NeoOffice) at places other than my desk. But that's it. If I were to have to purchase all the equivalent software for my ibook that i use on my Linux desktop - I, well, I couldn't because I'm a starving artist.
So Linux won't suffer from OS X moving to x86 software. The same people that use Linux will continue to use Linux.
Besides - the reason a lot of people use OS X is because of the sexy hardware it runs on. x86 hardware (unless you're getting it from alienware or something) is just blah.
a streaming video of a "concert" they probably pulled off the shelf, dusted off, and converted to a format they could easily push into your system.
now that's a celebration.
i absolutely agree with you.
but there really does have to be a way to use POD effectively. maybe what it really needs is for someone to come out with a really good digital reader. you know - paperback size or something. one that can hold a library of books. sort of like the ipod - only the ibook. it would require a bigger dispay (which should be the primary real estate of the device).
if that were to actually happen - POD would be the answer to so many authors dreams. well - theoretically.
print on demand sucks. you generally get reamed up the a**, get locked into a contract where you can't publish through a standard publishing house for X number of years, and make little to no money. ALSO when agents and/or publishing houses see that you've published via POD they will immediately turn their noses at you.
POD and digital publishing are theoretically good ideas that just can't seem to get their wings. the public simply doesn't want to read a book from their computer or from a handheld. that's really too bad because agents and publishers are so rarely accepting work these days.
i wouldn't work for you. it's really THAT simple. look i have four tatoos - all of them hidden. i have four small holes in my ears - i wear one earring in each ear. so i'm not trying to say "hey i have brands, sarrifications, skull tatoos, etc...you must accept me" but there are other issues at play with me (which i won't go into). anyway - as an employee it's also my choice as well. i can pick and choose who i work for. and i won't work for a company that is so narrow minded as to think one must look like everyone else in order to be productive. it's that simple.
it shocks me how narrow minded people can be. you really think the way someone dresses displays a sense of professionalism and trust? i know a lot of men in suits that'll steal your wife, your job, and your good name before you can say armani.
it's just sad that America is still stuck in that dreadful time where men can only be taken seriously in suits or khakis and women only in dreses or skirts.
oh and you - idiot with the "unless you're gay" line. grow the fuck up. if you still think that only gay men wear earrings you might want to crawl out of your basement, stop coding for a second, and realize that everyone is different and that, my dear friend, makes the world interesting.
so unless you guys and gals want to live in a world where everyone is identical i'd suggest you broaden your horizons and accept people who look, dress, and act a little differently than you.
just because a guy has tipped hair, a tatoo or two, and a piercing doesn't mean he isn't professional - it just means he might, just might, have a personality.
i have to agree with this question. sure i carry a pad and paper with me most everywhere i go. you never know when an idea will hit you. however, if you get rather prolific with that pen and paper you eventually have to transfer those words to the word processor (OpenOffice preferably).
now before you toss up your arms and say "how hard is that?" you have to understand that some people write a LOT. and when you write as part of your living the last thing you want to do is to have to waste time writing over and over the same words (i would think coders would appreciate that).
of course even if you were to get something portable enough, entering text into one of those horribly user un-friendly keyboards would stink. so i guess what we'd be looking for was something of a micro-laptop like device.
anyway - i was just standing up for the man's question because i think it's valid.
Yet Another Waist of the Net
CNET is starting to do trial podcasts. i just can't seem to imagine willingly downloading something to my ipod, listening to it once, and then syncing my ipod just to remove it.
the way i see this - it's just another means for TPTB (The Powers That Be) to create something and convince the public they need it so they can eventually try to charge money for it.
no thanks. i'll just keep using my ipod for its intended purpose - music.
i would think that the increase of the insipid internet spam has helped the SPAM "meat" company quite a bit.
i would say that in the 80s SPAM had its heyday but quickly faded into near non-existence. here comes spam and now everyone knows what SPAM is.
come on - it's free publicity. who WOULDN'T want that? maybe they should take it in stride and spin it with a little humor. they'd probably fare better than trying to take people to court.