Maybe they're not even trying to look altruistic. The license is more of a BSD-one, and Microsoft
has always made a point of not liking "the viral nature" of GPL.
So, this could actually be an honest experiment to see what they can gain from the OS-development
model, and not even pretending to be anything else than what they are, a company trying to make
profit.
One of the reasons I stopped using Linux (after having used it in some capacity for about 4 years) is that, to my eyes, XP is just prettier.
That makes me wonder why you've used linux at all. The main difference between GNU/Linux and Windows is that GNU/Linux is *nix, while Windows isn't. This actually makes switching to Windows a sheer impossibility for me, because I wouldn't get any work done. As much as I'd hate to do it, I'd use twm if I had to, although the Windows GUI is undoubtedly a prettier and better GUI (than twm).
You complain about scalability, but did you use Mac OS 9, where you could "dock" windows as tabs to the bottom of the screen, and navigate using "spring-loaded" folders?
Oh, don't get me started... Those actually prove my point, because they were ugly, hard-to-use kludges to compensate for what the spatial desktop lacks in scalability.
Seriously though... It's been tried on both the Mac and Windows and the conclusion has been almost unanimous: sure, it's nice for newbies to copy ten, twenty, maybe even fifty or so files, but it doesn't scale. It simply isn't practical for large amounts of files, which Apple noticed in time for OSX. Besides, had the Gnome team read "About face", they would know that UI design isn't all about catering for newbies.
Any government that invests money in any sort of software development should make sure that the money goes back to tax payers. Just as with anything else, the government (in theory, at least) invests money in stuff that is for the peoples benefit. Eg. defence fundings are spent in order to defend the people.
Free / Open source software is an effective way of making sure that the people benefits from the development. It's the ultimate public service. A penny spent on FOSS is a penny earned in future projects and software for the masses, while a penny spent on proprietary software is merely a penny spent.
Some years ago, I accidentally heard about an Irish band called The Wolfe Tones. I live in a country where they are totally unknown, so their records can't be bought in the store. P2P made it possible for me to download samples of their music. I was sold, and so was my girlfriend. We made a trip to Ireland just to attend their concert and, of course, buy their records. Turned out be a wonderful trip and a wonderful concert. Also turned out I spent a whole lot of money on that trip.
After getting a credit card, I regularly buy their records over the net. Their music has also made me interested in other Irish music, which I buy (Dubliners, Clancy brothers, Christy Moore, etc. etc), most of which is unavailable in my country.
The bottom line is that i have spent a whole lot more money *because* of p2p, than had I bought all the songs I've downloaded, which I wouldn't have anyhow, because most of it isn't good enough to be worth my money.
When reading this article I started to get annoyed at the sound of my PC. Darn it, I thought, wasted 150 euro on a silent case+power and another 35 euro on a silent CPU cooling solution and now the graphics card is driving me NUTS! PLEASE make it STOP! AAARGGH!
Then I went to the shower and when I came back the PC was dead quiet... Why? My girlfriend had put the radio on...
...but my GOD how that music is terrible. I can't STAND it! Make it GO AWAY!!!
Personally I use GNU/Linux frequently and I love it. I have never chosen not to use FreeBSD, but all my machines have Debian GNU/Linux more or less automatically. For a long while, I've been wanting to try out FreeBSD, but haven't had the spare machine to install it on. Now I don't need one...
..."Yes, I saw your advert in the bolour supplement."
"The what?"
"The bolour supplement!"
"The colour supplement?"
"Yes. I'm sorry I can't say the letter B."
"C?"
"Yes, that's right. It's all due to a trauma I suffered when I was a spoolboy. I was attacked by a bat."
"A cat?"
"No, a bat."
"Can you say the letter 'K'?"
"Oh yes. Khaki, king, kettle, Kuwait, Keble Bollege Oxford."
"Why don't you use the letter 'K' instead of the letter 'C'?"
"What do you mean... spell bolour with a 'K'?"
"Yes."
"Kolour... Oh, that's very good, I never thought of that."
"I'm fairly sure the decision was based on Microsoft's failure to support Hebrew in MS Office for MacOS"
Nnnnnnnno...
Definitely not. Not wanting to question the merits of the Mac, but I want to point out that it is only a marginal product and too insignificant to have any impact on the choice of Office product on any other platform than the Mac.
Actually, it is the Greek. (Danai). Since you use the form "Danaer", it seems to me that you either speek Swedish or German. Here are a couple of links in German and Swedish that you might find helpful.
For those of us whose latin is a bit rusty;-): "Whatever it is, I fear the Greeks, even when they bring gifts."
Words of warning uttered (in ancient Greek) by Laokoon as a warning to the Trojans when they found the wooden horse. The horse was, of course, the infamous Trojan horse, presented by the Greeks as a gift to the Trojans. The horse was full of Greek soldiers, who crept out of the horse in the night and conquered Troy from within.
From the FAQ: The Java Desktop System is shipped with Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition, 1.4.2 (with support for GNOME Look & Feel). The Java runtime is built into the desktop and into the Mozilla browser.
I get the strong feeling that this is nothing more than a customized Gnome-distro with support for Java binaries. Especially since there is no information on what it really is...
That raises the question "So what?". Why should I be interested?
Unlike MS systems, this will be REALLY configurable, so that more computer-savvy users can change the window manager and the behaviour of the windows, etc... This system may set the standard for many KDE/Gnome versions and distro's to come.
Waddaya mean? Don't know about KDE, but Gnome's been able to change the window manager since the beginning.
Slashdot Mirror
Ok, kids! Let's say it all together:
WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTIONS!
Weren't they replaced by steam-powered typewriters or something?
has always made a point of not liking "the viral nature" of GPL.
So, this could actually be an honest experiment to see what they can gain from the OS-development
model, and not even pretending to be anything else than what they are, a company trying to make
profit.
That makes me wonder why you've used linux at all. The main difference between GNU/Linux and Windows is that GNU/Linux is *nix, while Windows isn't. This actually makes switching to Windows a sheer impossibility for me, because I wouldn't get any work done. As much as I'd hate to do it, I'd use twm if I had to, although the Windows GUI is undoubtedly a prettier and better GUI (than twm).
Oh, don't get me started... Those actually prove my point, because they were ugly, hard-to-use kludges to compensate for what the spatial desktop lacks in scalability.
Seriously though... It's been tried on both the Mac and Windows and the conclusion has been almost unanimous: sure, it's nice for newbies to copy ten, twenty, maybe even fifty or so files, but it doesn't scale. It simply isn't practical for large amounts of files, which Apple noticed in time for OSX. Besides, had the Gnome team read "About face", they would know that UI design isn't all about catering for newbies.
So it is definitively not going to be very popular in Finland. The Finns are known as the worst small talkers in the world.
Oh, wait...
The Centurion actually does a *very* good impersonation of my Latin teacher.
Free / Open source software is an effective way of making sure that the people benefits from the development. It's the ultimate public service. A penny spent on FOSS is a penny earned in future projects and software for the masses, while a penny spent on proprietary software is merely a penny spent.
After getting a credit card, I regularly buy their records over the net. Their music has also made me interested in other Irish music, which I buy (Dubliners, Clancy brothers, Christy Moore, etc. etc), most of which is unavailable in my country.
The bottom line is that i have spent a whole lot more money *because* of p2p, than had I bought all the songs I've downloaded, which I wouldn't have anyhow, because most of it isn't good enough to be worth my money.
Then I went to the shower and when I came back the PC was dead quiet... Why? My girlfriend had put the radio on...
You will find that some EU member states do not agree with you about what is a basic human right, eg. Belgium and the Netherlands.
Personally I use GNU/Linux frequently and I love it. I have never chosen not to use FreeBSD, but all my machines have Debian GNU/Linux more or less automatically. For a long while, I've been wanting to try out FreeBSD, but haven't had the spare machine to install it on. Now I don't need one...
Carting it away???!!! Didn't you read the top post? He used an Asynchronous Transfer Mode network interface, so he didn't need to lift an ounce!
"The what?"
"The bolour supplement!"
"The colour supplement?"
"Yes. I'm sorry I can't say the letter B."
"C?"
"Yes, that's right. It's all due to a trauma I suffered when I was a spoolboy. I was attacked by a bat."
"A cat?"
"No, a bat."
"Can you say the letter 'K'?"
"Oh yes. Khaki, king, kettle, Kuwait, Keble Bollege Oxford."
"Why don't you use the letter 'K' instead of the letter 'C'?"
"What do you mean
"Yes."
"Kolour... Oh, that's very good, I never thought of that."
Nnnnnnnno...
Definitely not. Not wanting to question the merits of the Mac, but I want to point out that it is only a marginal product and too insignificant to have any impact on the choice of Office product on any other platform than the Mac.
Actually, it is the Greek. (Danai). Since you use the form "Danaer", it seems to me that you either speek Swedish or German. Here are a couple of links in German and Swedish that you might find helpful.
For those of us whose latin is a bit rusty ;-): "Whatever it is, I fear the Greeks, even when they bring gifts."
Words of warning uttered (in ancient Greek) by Laokoon as a warning to the Trojans when they found the wooden horse. The horse was, of course, the infamous Trojan horse, presented by the Greeks as a gift to the Trojans. The horse was full of Greek soldiers, who crept out of the horse in the night and conquered Troy from within.
Ah, but campaign contributions are a lawful and open method of financial support. There are, however, less lawful and less open methods.
You missed "vittu", which is there.
Nah. Stupidity ain't the problem. Corruption is. EU lawmakers are simply just as easily bought as US lawmakers. Maybe even easier.
ObNitpick: EU != Europe.
Where in the "article" does it say that the "Desktop" delivers anything more than support for Java?
The Java Desktop System is shipped with Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition, 1.4.2 (with support for GNOME Look & Feel). The Java runtime is built into the desktop and into the Mozilla browser.
I get the strong feeling that this is nothing more than a customized Gnome-distro with support for Java binaries. Especially since there is no information on what it really is...
That raises the question "So what?". Why should I be interested?
Waddaya mean? Don't know about KDE, but Gnome's been able to change the window manager since the beginning.