"You can already do this if you don't confine yourself with Word/doc. And why would you do this when you have a choice. And you have."
You live in dream world, my friend. Some developers really can't choose the platform and/or file formats they have to work with. I agree that choice is worth fighting for and I was trying to make a point that open standards and file formats are better, but obviously you missed it. If the market leader actually used an open format, it would be better for developers and the consumers.
...would mean (for me) that the XML schemas would be available publicly over the net. The benefits for all application developers, using MS file formats, would be huge. Say you have a web service and need to receive Office files from whatever clients you have. If the schemas would be directly available through a URL, you could use wichever parser suits you best and check the files for correctness (ie. do they contain the information you need). The possibilities would be enormous.
Terrance: You're such a pig-fucker, Phillip!
Phillip: Why would you call me a pig-fucker?
Terrance: Well, let's see. First of all, you fuck pigs.
Phillip: Oh yeah!
From TFA:"For most of us, it's not a switch to Apple, but a return. Hard as this was to believe the mid 90s, the Mac was in its time the canonical hacker's computer."
So these guys are already maclovers, driven away from their favourite platform by the suckyness and unsecure future of System 7,8 and 9. Now, with OSX actually making the Mac a rather nice, geek- and user-friendly system, they return to the system they've been pining for ever since they left "home". Not surprising.
How exactly does Emporer Linux justify chargin $500 more for a computer without a licencsed OS?
They justify it by doing stuff to it. Whatever stuff is and whatever pricetag they choose to put on stuff is their business. Your business is to decide whether or not you want to pay for stuff.
Their version of linux is just an option. You don't need to buy from them. Some people do want to pay for a pre-installed OS. And don't forget the PHB's who don't linke the sound of "cheap software/freeware". (Yes, I know the difference between freeware and free software.)
Open source runs on Windows too. stop equating open source with Linux
Sure, but Linux, ie. the kernel itself, has several isssues about patents, which is why software patents are a threat to Linux itself. Windows, which might have some patent issues (we don't know, we don't get to see the source) is protected by a *very* mighty corporation with a patent portfolio of its own.
This time we only won one defensive battle. However, the process hasn't ended, it is restarting. This gives the pro patent-lobby a good chance to regroup and rethink their strategies. Anybody opposing software patents in the EU should do the same.
All those letters to MEP's are still waiting to be sent, BUT... this time we could try harder to get the public aware of the threats that software patents bring. Letters ought to be sent to all major newspapers so that the readers know that there is such an issue and that it is a serious issue. Also, people should be made aware that this isn't a free software issue, but an issue that threatens the software industry of the EU.
When writing these letters, remember to point out that you aren't anti business, but rather that software patents are anti business. The greatest support for software patents is from people who think they are pro business.
Well... At least you can find the Abu Ghraib-pictures from Google images now. So at least they do one less evil. This might help Google grab a few more users.
"I'm responsible for ensuring that our customers understand the benefits of the Microsoft platform."
Well, in marketroid lingo this actually translates to "I do my best to present the Microsoft platform in the best possible light", so I think it's unfair to hint at his dishonesty for this. Is the article dishonest? Well... Are infomercials dishonest? Basically they use the same concept. Take for example, an infomercial pushing the new "NailMaster Pro". One of the key points that the actors would try to make would be that nails are next to impossible to fasten anywhere with a regular hammer, while using the NailMaster Pro is safe, easy and fun. Whether or not it is true, is not as important as the fact that you are made aware that they are pushing a product.
Are commercials dishonest? Sure, you get a biased opinion, but they're supposed to promote a product, not to give you an impartial roundup of your possible choices and their pros/cons.
That is not entirely correct, since their objectives are to help people migrate away from linux. A linux consultant is an expert that consults on the topic of linux.
And yes, I did RTFA, so I know that neither Taylor or Hilf, nor Microsoft use the term. They are, in fact, more accurate and honest about what the do. Taylor "[ensures] customers understand the benefits of the Microsoft platform" and Hilf "[leads the] Linux and Open Source Technology Analysis Center" at Microsoft.
The problem is that there is very often little vested interest in fixing bugs in closed software...if it can be covered up, then so be it.
One should also always remember that the difference between a bug and a feature is often in the documentation.
...which reminds me of an IBM thinkpad I had. It had a mysterious bug^H^H^Hfeature that caused the mouse pointer to move a bit on it's own after using the red pointing device. The documentation described this behaviour and stated quite clearly: "This is not a bug!". The documentation did not explain what the "feature" was good for. "Whew!", I thought, "It's a good thing I know it's not a bug!"
How this got modded 4, insightful I cannot understand...
"I guess my concern is that this guy is doing this more for himself than for the people he's giving these cards to, out of a misguided sense of altruism. I can almost guarantee that none of these people he's going to be giving these CD's to could care less about Linux - he obviously cares a lot more than they do, if he feels it necessary to jam these Linux CD's down their throats.
Take it easy! He's just giving away free cd's! He's not force-installing linux on anybody's machines! There's a whole lot of difference! They have the (easy) choice of ignoring the cd and throwing it away, something that *many* of us do with the *thousands* of free cd's we've received from ISP's and *several* vendors.
I mean they can download Linux the same way he can, but they haven't."
Sure they can, but in my experience they do not know they can. A live cd is very practical, because you can get to know linux, without the hassle of installing it and without the risk of losing any data! And if you don't want to try it, you can easily dispose of the cd and nobody has forced you to do or use anything.
What you have written above essentially translates to: "The most powerful and successful country in the world is further to the right than the rest of the world."
Hang on there, pal! While I think we can all agree that the US is the most powerful country in the world, a lot of us do really challenge the "success" of it. Personally, I see your "welfare system" as a total disaster resulting from your right-wing politics.
I see my own country as a whole lot more succesful based on a few simple facts. If I need medical treatment, nobody will ask me "Do yo have insurance?". Nobody!
I study at a university in a master's programme and I don't pay tuiton fees.
I'm about to become a father and guess what! I can stay at home with my wife and my newborn baby for three weeks and *not* lose my income. I can stay at the hospital with my wife if I want to and the bill comes to about 30$ a night.
When my kid goes to school (which I assume is free in the US as well) I don't have to give him/her a lunchbox or lunch money. Why? The state provides him/her with a hot lunch.
There's more. There's lots more.
I don't want to badmouth the US. I'm just saying that people measure success in different ways. So no, he was not talking about the most successful country in the world. He was talking about the US.
You really don't need to live in a communist country to have these benefits.
If you would've bothered to RTFM: "I know that "format c:" and "rm -Rf/" aren't equivalent, but they usually are interchangeable punchlines to jokes, which is why they were chosen."
This comparison is mostly to check how well you can get a n00b to screw up his system, which is notoriously done with format and rm.
A more realistic comparison would be format c and mkfs -t vfat/dev/hda1
True. I know from experience that the latter takes at most about a hundredth the time format c: takes. (depending on the size of c:) Which is why I used to boot to Linux before a windows install in the old days of Win9X. YMMV, of course...
Couldn't they have thought of a better, nicer name...?
Sounds like kleenex...
...unless it rhymes with linux as Linus pronounces it. (You know, short "i" as in "hit") Of course, that's not a very good name, either... "Oh shinux!" =~ s/n/t/;
...so that I could actually view a trailer on my computer every once in a while. Why, oh why, must the movie industry be in bed with Apple to such a degree that there actually is not even one trailer available in a non-quicktime format?
Oh, and moderators, to make this post on-topic, I ask for links to a cross-platform-viewable trailer to this movie.
Slashdot Mirror
young McVoy has become.
You live in dream world, my friend. Some developers really can't choose the platform and/or file formats they have to work with. I agree that choice is worth fighting for and I was trying to make a point that open standards and file formats are better, but obviously you missed it. If the market leader actually used an open format, it would be better for developers and the consumers.
...would mean (for me) that the XML schemas would be available publicly over the net. The benefits for all application developers, using MS file formats, would be huge. Say you have a web service and need to receive Office files from whatever clients you have. If the schemas would be directly available through a URL, you could use wichever parser suits you best and check the files for correctness (ie. do they contain the information you need). The possibilities would be enormous.
Terrance: You're such a pig-fucker, Phillip!
Phillip: Why would you call me a pig-fucker?
Terrance: Well, let's see. First of all, you fuck pigs.
Phillip: Oh yeah!
Actually you could be right. The recent delays in the release of the next stable, are extremely problematic.
You are absolutely right! Releases of Debian stable have *never* been delayed before!!!
So these guys are already maclovers, driven away from their favourite platform by the suckyness and unsecure future of System 7,8 and 9. Now, with OSX actually making the Mac a rather nice, geek- and user-friendly system, they return to the system they've been pining for ever since they left "home". Not surprising.
They justify it by doing stuff to it. Whatever stuff is and whatever pricetag they choose to put on stuff is their business. Your business is to decide whether or not you want to pay for stuff.
Their version of linux is just an option. You don't need to buy from them. Some people do want to pay for a pre-installed OS. And don't forget the PHB's who don't linke the sound of "cheap software/freeware". (Yes, I know the difference between freeware and free software.)
11:11:11
01:01:01
00:00:00
12:34:56
please feel free to add your own
I will, thank you.
22:22:22
For us non-anglo-saxons.
Sure, but Linux, ie. the kernel itself, has several isssues about patents, which is why software patents are a threat to Linux itself. Windows, which might have some patent issues (we don't know, we don't get to see the source) is protected by a *very* mighty corporation with a patent portfolio of its own.
All those letters to MEP's are still waiting to be sent, BUT ... this time we could try harder to get the public aware of the threats that software patents bring. Letters ought to be sent to all major newspapers so that the readers know that there is such an issue and that it is a serious issue. Also, people should be made aware that this isn't a free software issue, but an issue that threatens the software industry of the EU.
When writing these letters, remember to point out that you aren't anti business, but rather that software patents are anti business. The greatest support for software patents is from people who think they are pro business.
I agree, but including FreeSBIE in the roundup is definitely valid.
Well... At least you can find the Abu Ghraib-pictures from Google images now. So at least they do one less evil. This might help Google grab a few more users.
Well, in marketroid lingo this actually translates to "I do my best to present the Microsoft platform in the best possible light", so I think it's unfair to hint at his dishonesty for this. Is the article dishonest? Well... Are infomercials dishonest? Basically they use the same concept. Take for example, an infomercial pushing the new "NailMaster Pro". One of the key points that the actors would try to make would be that nails are next to impossible to fasten anywhere with a regular hammer, while using the NailMaster Pro is safe, easy and fun. Whether or not it is true, is not as important as the fact that you are made aware that they are pushing a product.
Are commercials dishonest? Sure, you get a biased opinion, but they're supposed to promote a product, not to give you an impartial roundup of your possible choices and their pros/cons.
MOD PARENT UP +1 Psychic!
And yes, I did RTFA, so I know that neither Taylor or Hilf, nor Microsoft use the term. They are, in fact, more accurate and honest about what the do. Taylor "[ensures] customers understand the benefits of the Microsoft platform" and Hilf "[leads the] Linux and Open Source Technology Analysis Center" at Microsoft.
The problem is that there is very often little vested interest in fixing bugs in closed software...if it can be covered up, then so be it.
One should also always remember that the difference between a bug and a feature is often in the documentation.
"I guess my concern is that this guy is doing this more for himself than for the people he's giving these cards to, out of a misguided sense of altruism. I can almost guarantee that none of these people he's going to be giving these CD's to could care less about Linux - he obviously cares a lot more than they do, if he feels it necessary to jam these Linux CD's down their throats.
Take it easy! He's just giving away free cd's! He's not force-installing linux on anybody's machines! There's a whole lot of difference! They have the (easy) choice of ignoring the cd and throwing it away, something that *many* of us do with the *thousands* of free cd's we've received from ISP's and *several* vendors.
I mean they can download Linux the same way he can, but they haven't."
Sure they can, but in my experience they do not know they can. A live cd is very practical, because you can get to know linux, without the hassle of installing it and without the risk of losing any data! And if you don't want to try it, you can easily dispose of the cd and nobody has forced you to do or use anything.
mkdir foo; cd foo
end"
is even more effective
Yeah, but sheesh... try and get a n00b to remember that. Kids today...
Hang on there, pal! While I think we can all agree that the US is the most powerful country in the world, a lot of us do really challenge the "success" of it. Personally, I see your "welfare system" as a total disaster resulting from your right-wing politics.
I see my own country as a whole lot more succesful based on a few simple facts. If I need medical treatment, nobody will ask me "Do yo have insurance?". Nobody!
I study at a university in a master's programme and I don't pay tuiton fees.
I'm about to become a father and guess what! I can stay at home with my wife and my newborn baby for three weeks and *not* lose my income. I can stay at the hospital with my wife if I want to and the bill comes to about 30$ a night.
When my kid goes to school (which I assume is free in the US as well) I don't have to give him/her a lunchbox or lunch money. Why? The state provides him/her with a hot lunch.
There's more. There's lots more.
I don't want to badmouth the US. I'm just saying that people measure success in different ways. So no, he was not talking about the most successful country in the world. He was talking about the US.
You really don't need to live in a communist country to have these benefits.
"I know that "format c:" and "rm -Rf
This comparison is mostly to check how well you can get a n00b to screw up his system, which is notoriously done with format and rm.
True. I know from experience that the latter takes at most about a hundredth the time format c: takes. (depending on the size of c:) Which is why I used to boot to Linux before a windows install in the old days of Win9X. YMMV, of course...
Yeah, but this release is probably just to show off to the NetBSD team that the FreeBSD team has the guts to stick with the demon logo.
RTFA! It's only 125 pounds! (Sterling, I'm sure.)
Oh, and moderators, to make this post on-topic, I ask for links to a cross-platform-viewable trailer to this movie.