You go to a computer store and everything on offer is pre-loaded with windoze...it's as if no other O/S exists
The OEM system install has been the gold standard in the consumer market for the better part of thirty years.
Hardware and software ships as a factory-tested and generally well-balanced system for its intended - advertised - use.
The buyer has a warranty - the toll-free number for support. He doesn't need to google for a solution. He doesn't need his son-in-law.
The DIY Linux OS install is never going to happen in numbers which matter.
The FOSS app for Windows is already there. There is almost nothing of interest in the home and SOHO markets that is uniquely or distinctly Linux.
By the time the Linux product hits the retail shelves - with licensed media play and other essentials - the "free" OS is a trivial discount at best. The retailer needs more to justify maintaining a dual inventory and support structure.
Most users want the OS to recede into the background. To be undemanding of their attention as possible.
That is why geek memes like "Windoze" work to Microsoft's advantage.
Every new, additional release of windows, and every new API they introduce dilutes the Windows XP/IE monoculture that was stopping the acceptance of alternative OSes
Simply an observation.
In both the Net Applications and W3Schools stats, Linux is dead in the water - and Win 7 began kicking ass before its commercial release.
While Apple remains quite content with its upscale OS niche - in the fat years, worth about 5%-10% of the client market, domestically.
Client-side, FOSS isn't producing much of interest that is Linux only - and perhaps too much product for every OS that remains - at best - second tier.
If people were willing to re-learn an OS and developers would re-write all their applications, I have little doubt Linux would have majority marketshare.
Appple and Microsoft began with the client OS. Their target the non-technical end-user. That was over thirty years ago.
The recent hoo-rah here over Pulse Audio made crystal clear that to this day the geek doesn't always understand what is required to compete in this sector -
However, some authors, like J. K. Rowling, are rich greedy bastards who don't care about the disabled. I already own all her books, and most of the movies. I felt pretty good about downloading her collective works on The Pirate Bay, and would encourage all of you to get it there to punish her.
The Harry Potter series in all media/formats including audiobook and large print editions are available from your local or regional public library.
Customized digital audiobooks and players are free loans to the blind and disabled - distributed by the Library of Congress - a service which began in the 1930s.
Postal delivery or digital download.
It is lunatic for anyone with failing vision to waste his time and energy on text to speech conversion when these professional readings are freely available.
What I don't get is the choice of BOTH OSes on this thing. If you read the specs this thing is maxed out at 1Gb, which makes it a poor choice for Windows 7, which most reviews I've seen set 2Gb as the "sweet spot" for that OS to really perform, and Android? WTF?
The install is Windows 7 Starter Edition. Two steps down from Home Premium.
I can't believe I've never seen a video of a side-by-side comparison of Windows and Mac doing the standard things--booting up, suspend, hibernate, restore, low stress battery runtime test, high use battery runtime test...
You put your audience asleep.
Without having proved much of anything really.
There are just too many variables - in hardware, software, usage patterns, operating environments and so on.
The simplest and cheapest way to extend battery life is with a heavier battery pack.
The "instant on" browser needs "instant access" Wi-Fi or cellular.
Isn't this the same old story we keep hearing? This F/OSS OS isn't ready for primetime, etc, no better than Win xxxx... Seriously, can't we do better as a whole? So what if one "analyst" at a tech website says it sucks?
First impressions matter.
Android as the "fast booting" Linux mini-OS had little to offer when compared directly to Win 7 Starter Edition installed on a mediocre entry level netbook. ______
but at the moment it's hardly going to lure people away from even Windows 7
From the reviewer's POV Win 7 Starter Edition looks pretty damn good.
The burning question, though, is why anyone would opt against booting into Windows 7 in the first place. Cold booting does admittedly take about three times as long as Android...but waking from hibernation takes a mere 20 seconds, just five seconds longer than the quick OS.
Windows 7 might feel a touch more sluggish than XP Home...but its refinement and ease of use come as ample reward, and importantly it suffers none of the aggravating limitations of its Google-powered rival.
As it stands, novelty merely serves as a brief distraction from the D250's competent, but unremarkable charms. We still hope future updates will reinstate the marketplace and make more of Android's obvious potential, but there are much better netbooks available for less.
The Verdict:
Google's Android OS provides a disappointing distraction from an otherwise average netbook
The very idea that something infinitely reproducible could be considered to have value is preposterous
Is that a 100 Euro note I see in your hand?
Since it has no value, may I have it, please?
Our computers slipped a cog and erased $100,000 - perhaps twice that or more - from your New York accounts.
We don't really know. But not to worry.
It was, after all, no more than a string of ones and zeros in the database - no more than a ghostly entry in a phantom ledger.
Strange to think that one of own accountants received an accidental credit of $15 million that day.
Property is a real or intangible object whose ownership is defined and defended by the state.
I haven't the least idea of how an industrial - much less a post-industrial - economy is supposed to function without the extraordinary convenience and security that trade in intangible property provides.
It is easy and cheap for the geek to make his copy.
Easy and cheap if you ignore the enormous economic and technical infrastructure that makes it possible.
For him - but not for everyone.
The geek is too often dishonest about the cost of production and marketing - and the price he is willing to pay.
2008 saw the release of three movies with extraordinary geek-cred:
Iron Man, The Dark Knight and Wall-E. Production costs alone $150-$200 million dollars each.
The return from Pirate Bay: $0.
The geek is too often dishonest about the consequences of not paying:
Production simply shifts to serve the needs and values of those who will pay.
Pixar has sequels to Toy Story and Cars in the works.
Pixar didn't have to risk a dime on Wall-E - and there is no other studio in the West that could have pulled it off.
If I stand on a street corner downtown handing out maps of where to buy drugs, can I be arrested even if I have no connection to the people actually selling drugs?
Yes.
In the real world, of course, you would be dead before morning if you tried anything of this sort on your own.
They should just provide a link on the site to the online version of the court order listing all the links they're supposed to delete. Then let them sue the court.
Pull a stunt like this on an American judge and you will be fitted for a 6x8 cinder block cell and a bunk mate named Big Mike.
Slashdot Mirror
Probably about as many people who still read slashdot, even after the noisy posts by people who don't understand geek culture
I'd say the noisy poster undrestands the geek culture altogether too well.
You go to a computer store and everything on offer is pre-loaded with windoze...it's as if no other O/S exists
The OEM system install has been the gold standard in the consumer market for the better part of thirty years.
Hardware and software ships as a factory-tested and generally well-balanced system for its intended - advertised - use.
The buyer has a warranty - the toll-free number for support. He doesn't need to google for a solution. He doesn't need his son-in-law.
The DIY Linux OS install is never going to happen in numbers which matter.
The FOSS app for Windows is already there. There is almost nothing of interest in the home and SOHO markets that is uniquely or distinctly Linux.
By the time the Linux product hits the retail shelves - with licensed media play and other essentials - the "free" OS is a trivial discount at best. The retailer needs more to justify maintaining a dual inventory and support structure.
Most users want the OS to recede into the background. To be undemanding of their attention as possible.
That is why geek memes like "Windoze" work to Microsoft's advantage.
How much revenue does Washington State get from Microsoft? Not just in direct taxes but on all the taxes that the employees pay?
How much does Washington get in return from those providing goods and services to Microsoft and its employees?
The median family income in Redmond is $92,000 and the average home lists for a tad under half a million dollars.
Really? I'll best most people in Washington (state) do.
Microsoft employs about 45,000 in the Seattle area and owns 8 million square feet of office space.
High paying jobs. Clean industry. Not a tough sell.
The median family income in Redmond [population 46,000] is $92,000. The average home costs $455,000.
Returning $4,000 a year in property taxes. Redmond, WA
You want to give all that up? See Microsoft move out?
There isn't a politician in any state or province anywhere in the world wouldn't be pleased to accomodate you.
Or maybe it's proprietary. Some people are willing to compromise on freedom.
I would define my freedom as a user as the freedom to install any app under any license without someone looking over my shoulder.
OSX makes this easy. Windows makes this easy. Linux makes this hard.
It isn't, though, unless you really expect to use all of that 1 TB capacity. The average computer user uses maybe 1-200 gigs.
The pocket camcorder that sells for less than $200 generates 8 GB of 720p video in less than two hours.
Is it really that difficult to fill a 1 TB hard drive?
After the riots have settled down and the withdrawal symptoms have faded
I expect to see a geek in a riot about the same time BnL perfects the all-terrain hover chair.
I just love how we in developed nations assume that those in the 3rd world are stupid.
The nineteenth and early twentieth century American student was not stupid.
But only a fraction would have the opportunity to go on to high school or formal vocational training.
OLPC's original mission was outreach to the poorest of schools and the youngest and most isolated of children and their families.
There is no point to loading the XO with an enormous - essentially random - collection of books these kids and their parents cannot read.
Every new, additional release of windows, and every new API they introduce dilutes the Windows XP/IE monoculture that was stopping the acceptance of alternative OSes
Simply an observation.
In both the Net Applications and W3Schools stats, Linux is dead in the water - and Win 7 began kicking ass before its commercial release.
While Apple remains quite content with its upscale OS niche - in the fat years, worth about 5%-10% of the client market, domestically.
Client-side, FOSS isn't producing much of interest that is Linux only - and perhaps too much product for every OS that remains - at best - second tier.
Interesting.. I'm counting 2 BSODs, 6 complete lock ups and a few failures to activate disk drives waking up from sleep mode since Monday
If I saw this behavior I'd be thinking I'd had serious hardware or driver issues.
If people were willing to re-learn an OS and developers would re-write all their applications, I have little doubt Linux would have majority marketshare.
Appple and Microsoft began with the client OS. Their target the non-technical end-user. That was over thirty years ago.
The recent hoo-rah here over Pulse Audio made crystal clear that to this day the geek doesn't always understand what is required to compete in this sector -
or even if he wants to try.
-- or he can check the list of window keyboard shortcuts
You should not have to search google or the wikipedia for a solution to a problem that does not exist on any other consumer-oriented operating system.
However, some authors, like J. K. Rowling, are rich greedy bastards who don't care about the disabled. I already own all her books, and most of the movies. I felt pretty good about downloading her collective works on The Pirate Bay, and would encourage all of you to get it there to punish her.
The Harry Potter series in all media/formats including audiobook and large print editions are available from your local or regional public library.
Customized digital audiobooks and players are free loans to the blind and disabled - distributed by the Library of Congress - a service which began in the 1930s.
Postal delivery or digital download.
It is lunatic for anyone with failing vision to waste his time and energy on text to speech conversion when these professional readings are freely available.
The Braille edition of the Deadly Hollows costs $15. The full set in Braille: $60. Promoting Braille Literacy: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
It is hard to "punish" someone who is richer than the Queen of England.
That every pirated copy is a lost sale. If he's thinking "I could have made five times as much" then he's very mistaken
But the commercial artist - in any media - has the option of shifting to markets which will give him less grief.
When geek cred isn't enough to pay the bills for projects like Battlestar Galactica the developer will look for opportunities elsewhere:
In Twilight or High School Musical 3.
What I don't get is the choice of BOTH OSes on this thing. If you read the specs this thing is maxed out at 1Gb, which makes it a poor choice for Windows 7, which most reviews I've seen set 2Gb as the "sweet spot" for that OS to really perform, and Android? WTF?
The install is Windows 7 Starter Edition. Two steps down from Home Premium.
Of course if you're a Microsoft slave, you can wait for a bug to be fixed "when we get around to it"
You see that a lot in FOSS as well.
What you don't see so much in the Windows world is a natural-born instinct for insults guaranteed to piss off any potential convert.
depending on how buggy THIS Windows version is...
In nine months the public beta/RC of Win 7 took a 1.5% share of the desktop. 50% higher than Linux, all flavors. Top Operating System Share Trend
If there were any show-stoppers they should have been exposed by now.
Vulnerability Report: Microsoft Windows 7
There are no unpatched Secunia advisories affecting this product, when all vendor patches are applied.
Vulnerability Report: Microsoft Windows Vista
The most severe unpatched Secunia advisory affecting Microsoft Windows Vista, with all vendor patches applied, is rated Less critical
I can't believe I've never seen a video of a side-by-side comparison of Windows and Mac doing the standard things--booting up, suspend, hibernate, restore, low stress battery runtime test, high use battery runtime test...
You put your audience asleep.
Without having proved much of anything really.
There are just too many variables - in hardware, software, usage patterns, operating environments and so on.
The simplest and cheapest way to extend battery life is with a heavier battery pack.
The "instant on" browser needs "instant access" Wi-Fi or cellular.
Which it may or may not get.
Isn't this the same old story we keep hearing? This F/OSS OS isn't ready for primetime, etc, no better than Win xxxx ... Seriously, can't we do better as a whole? So what if one "analyst" at a tech website says it sucks?
First impressions matter.
Android as the "fast booting" Linux mini-OS had little to offer when compared directly to Win 7 Starter Edition installed on a mediocre entry level netbook.
______
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade Family Pack (3-User) $150 I believe this is a first for Microsoft.
Upgrade from XP or Vista. 32 and 64 bit.
but at the moment it's hardly going to lure people away from even Windows 7
From the reviewer's POV Win 7 Starter Edition looks pretty damn good.
The burning question, though, is why anyone would opt against booting into Windows 7 in the first place. Cold booting does admittedly take about three times as long as Android...but waking from hibernation takes a mere 20 seconds, just five seconds longer than the quick OS.
Windows 7 might feel a touch more sluggish than XP Home...but its refinement and ease of use come as ample reward, and importantly it suffers none of the aggravating limitations of its Google-powered rival.
As it stands, novelty merely serves as a brief distraction from the D250's competent, but unremarkable charms. We still hope future updates will reinstate the marketplace and make more of Android's obvious potential, but there are much better netbooks available for less.
The Verdict:
Google's Android OS provides a disappointing distraction from an otherwise average netbook
When the Atom Netbook came out, Asus' Linux netbooks were still better specced for the same price...
The netbook is more than a gadget.
But for most households, I suspect, it is still framed as a second or third PC purchase.
Nice to have but not essential.
That makes the XP or Win 7 netbook a very attractive option for the Windows household.
It will never be enough to offer something "almost as good" or "a little bit better" or "a little bit cheaper."
The very idea that something infinitely reproducible could be considered to have value is preposterous
Is that a 100 Euro note I see in your hand?
Since it has no value, may I have it, please?
Our computers slipped a cog and erased $100,000 - perhaps twice that or more - from your New York accounts.
We don't really know. But not to worry.
It was, after all, no more than a string of ones and zeros in the database - no more than a ghostly entry in a phantom ledger.
Strange to think that one of own accountants received an accidental credit of $15 million that day.
Property is a real or intangible object whose ownership is defined and defended by the state.
I haven't the least idea of how an industrial - much less a post-industrial - economy is supposed to function without the extraordinary convenience and security that trade in intangible property provides.
It is easy and cheap for the geek to make his copy.
Easy and cheap if you ignore the enormous economic and technical infrastructure that makes it possible.
For him - but not for everyone.
The geek is too often dishonest about the cost of production and marketing - and the price he is willing to pay.
2008 saw the release of three movies with extraordinary geek-cred:
Iron Man, The Dark Knight and Wall-E. Production costs alone $150-$200 million dollars each.
The return from Pirate Bay: $0.
The geek is too often dishonest about the consequences of not paying:
Production simply shifts to serve the needs and values of those who will pay.
Pixar has sequels to Toy Story and Cars in the works.
Pixar didn't have to risk a dime on Wall-E - and there is no other studio in the West that could have pulled it off.
The EU is more then just the economic union it was meant to be.
"Meant to be?"
The desire for a meaningful European political union can be traced back to the fall of the western Roman empire.
It is arguably the one great accomplishment of European diplomacy in the twentieth century - and it took two world wars to get there.
If I stand on a street corner downtown handing out maps of where to buy drugs, can I be arrested even if I have no connection to the people actually selling drugs?
Yes.
In the real world, of course, you would be dead before morning if you tried anything of this sort on your own.
They should just provide a link on the site to the online version of the court order listing all the links they're supposed to delete. Then let them sue the court.
Pull a stunt like this on an American judge and you will be fitted for a 6x8 cinder block cell and a bunk mate named Big Mike.
One would think this idea also violated the EU's Charter of Rights
Rights without limits are the stuff of fantasy.
You want to stay online at home? You want to keep your family online at home?
Then don't go for that third strike.
It's that easy.
There are thousands of online sources for media of every sort - almost all of it free, but some of which you might have to pay for - or go without ---
Rather like the stateside peons without broadband -
who must make do with radio and TV, shop WalMart and Blockbuster, borrow videos from their local public library, or go without.