Apple have this little habit of having these fun little idea's that turn into unstoppable revolutions. Were it not for the enormous braking force of Microsoft ripping their idea's constantly they'd be much further ahead then they are now.
Apple has a way of leveraging Windows dominance on the desktop to its own advantage. Which is why half its current revenues can be traced back to the iPod and iTunes.
In thirty days, Vista will become the default consumer install on every PC sold in the United States.
The Mac will remain strong in the same niche markets it has held for the last twenty years. But Boot Camp is the reality, not the Mac as the up and coming desktop OS.
Linux bringing up the rear ---as always--- with negligible OEM sales. In markets where the OEM system install is golden.
That is what this is all about. The marginalization of the Geek outside his own community.
It has always warned that its stats are not be taken as representative of users among the larger population.
This should be obvious from the stats for W2K, which was never offered or sold as an OS for the general consumer market.
Which one of those doesn't pass the Acid2?
I haven't met anyone, anywhere, outside of Slashdot, who has the foggiest idea what Acid 2 is or why he should care. It is, after all, nothing more than a stress test for a browser.
But then it's not about "supporting linux" it's about using _standard_ codecs and standard files. Wmv is "Windows Only" and not a standard where other codecs are actual standards and are cross platform as a _result_ of being standards.
Users are --- ruthlessly --- pragmatic about "actual standards."
The proprietary solution that "just works " like Skype. The de facto solution that is overwhelmingly popular. AIM. Cross-platform compatibility be damned.
Committees move slowly. Markets move fast.
That is why technologies like WMV or Flash take hold at Warp 10 while the Geek in his Civic is still stuck in first gear.
Back when I was with a Solaris shop, complete newbies could start being productive with godawful CDE in only a couple of days
When you talk about newbies, what, precisely, do you mean>
"Back in the days" (and it wouldn't be so very long ago) how many employees working in big business ever touched a computer keyboard? How many now can't do their job without one?
As long as you continue to confuse a kernel with a full operating system, then you don't even hold a credible opinion either on the matter of the adoption of Free Software: you don't even know what you're talking about!
when users begin thinking in terms of kernels ("what the hell can I do with a kernel?") instead of the fully functional operating system or OS distribution, then we can talk.
When is the last time you saw a jury rule a law unconstitutional.
It doesn't happen.
It cannot happen in the American legal system.
The judge tells the jury what the law is.
The jury decides the factual question remaining in dispute.
The jury doesn't debate the constitutionality of the death penalty. The jury votes on whether the state has met its burden of proof under the law when it demands the death penalty.
Or to put it another way, the prices charged for DVDs and CDs is a massive rip-off, and that's something joe public will care about. It just needs explaining in the right terms.
The typical price for a high definition DVD sold through Amazon is $20 USD.
The typical production budget for a Pixar film is approaching $100 million USD. It takes five to ten years and the labor of 400 people to bring a Pixar film from its initial concept to theatrical release.
No deposit, no return. People want content from the major providers. People pay for content from the major providers. That is why the mere title of the next --- and last --- Harry Potter novel makes headline news worldwide.
Can we force them to install Windows without a restore disc that's pre-loaded with drivers? "Here's a plain Windows XP SP1 install disc.
How about we play the game honestly and give them an up-to-date install disk with the SATA drivers?
Or would you care to see how well a newbie does with a five-year old ISO of your favorite Linux distro?
The law doesn't make something so. I could legislate that a reindeer was a tree and reindeers wouldn't suddenly become trees.
If it makes you feel better you can go on quoting from your Funk and Wagnall's.
But the laws that apply to trees now also apply to reindeer. Rights of Ownership. Harvesting. Import and Export Controls. The ordinary issues that come before a court.
The law evolves through the use of simple, serviceable, analogies.
The ocean-going freighter isn't a person.
But you can bring a suit against the vessel when its ownership is disguised or effectively immune from prosecution. This introduces a measure of simplicity and fairness to a system that would otherwise work against you.
People don't talk how they write. If most people saw what they said written down on the screen, they wouldn't even be able to understand it. Keyboards work a lot better for entering text.
People don't write or talk in the same way they use IM. Perhaps "speech recognition" as a way of interacting with a computer will not evolve as form of dictation, or as Star Trek's Enterprise AI, but something new and unexpected.
I'd not be surprised if Gates is on to something here.
Notice the uber-troll passive aggresive use of the word "legacy". I hope other slashdotters here will pick up the word and add it to their everyday vocabulary
Good lord.
As if Geek-speak wasn't stupidly off-putting enough as it stands. Passive-aggressive indeed.
Vista on the boss's quad core 64 bit system isn't going to look or perform like a legacy OS and it is the boss the sales drone gets to see.
Treacherous Computing, DRM, and the Copyright Raiders
Does the Geek ever stop to think his language brings back memories of the wearisome, sophomoric, political rants and slogans that most of us leave behind when we are out of college?
The mainstream politician ignores these issues because these issues will never become mainstream as the Geek defines them. If the FSF wants to be politically effective, it needs to listen more and shout less.
To the home user, rental and subscription services offer added value. That the content is protected against re-distribution through the P2P nets is not the end of the world.
I am looking for creative ways to introduce Linux as my desktop and server OS of choice
Hold up, there, cowboy. That is the wrong question to ask.
The systems and servers aren't your personal plaything. They are there to meet the needs of your employer. The small organization. The all-Windows shop.
There are often reasons for choosing the proprietary app. The predominant OS for a business of your size or type or location. Reasons that are not always narrowly technical, not always narrowly economic.
IBM uses cool Star Trek names for product descriptions. Microsoft uses a marketing department full of interior designers for its product names.
Star Trek sells an OS to the Geek. Microsoft targets the suburban soccer mom. There are more soccer moms than Geeks.
Everything released by Microsoft since then has been step backwards in ease of use and freedom.
Freedom doesn't have the same meaning in Window's core markets as it does to the Geek. Ease of use doesn't have the same meaning in Microsoft's core markets as it has to the Geek.
There is simply not the same obsession with ownership and control.
Renting music from Rhapsody or Y! Unlimited becomes as convenient as renting videos from Netflix or your neighborhood Blockbuster.
Slashdot Mirror
it is news because it is an interesting example of the technology in use beyond the desktop and the server.
a look outside your own domain can be very revealing.
The problem is that Windows users also vote with their money and there are a lot more of them than us.
Apple has a way of leveraging Windows dominance on the desktop to its own advantage. Which is why half its current revenues can be traced back to the iPod and iTunes.
In thirty days, Vista will become the default consumer install on every PC sold in the United States.
The Mac will remain strong in the same niche markets it has held for the last twenty years. But Boot Camp is the reality, not the Mac as the up and coming desktop OS.
Linux bringing up the rear ---as always--- with negligible OEM sales. In markets where the OEM system install is golden.
That is what this is all about. The marginalization of the Geek outside his own community.
W3Schools is a site for web developers.
It has always warned that its stats are not be taken as representative of users among the larger population.
This should be obvious from the stats for W2K, which was never offered or sold as an OS for the general consumer market.
Which one of those doesn't pass the Acid2?
I haven't met anyone, anywhere, outside of Slashdot, who has the foggiest idea what Acid 2 is or why he should care. It is, after all, nothing more than a stress test for a browser.
But then it's not about "supporting linux" it's about using _standard_ codecs and standard files. Wmv is "Windows Only" and not a standard where other codecs are actual standards and are cross platform as a _result_ of being standards.
Users are --- ruthlessly --- pragmatic about "actual standards."
The proprietary solution that "just works " like Skype. The de facto solution that is overwhelmingly popular. AIM. Cross-platform compatibility be damned.
Committees move slowly. Markets move fast.
That is why technologies like WMV or Flash take hold at Warp 10 while the Geek in his Civic is still stuck in first gear.
When you talk about newbies, what, precisely, do you mean> "Back in the days" (and it wouldn't be so very long ago) how many employees working in big business ever touched a computer keyboard? How many now can't do their job without one?
when users begin thinking in terms of kernels ("what the hell can I do with a kernel?") instead of the fully functional operating system or OS distribution, then we can talk.
because this so-called "hack" is based on the published algorithm for AACS decryption? what matters is where and how he got the keys.
It doesn't happen.
It cannot happen in the American legal system.
The judge tells the jury what the law is.
The jury decides the factual question remaining in dispute.
The jury doesn't debate the constitutionality of the death penalty. The jury votes on whether the state has met its burden of proof under the law when it demands the death penalty.
I suspect it is major league sports that draws most buyers to HD.
The typical price for a high definition DVD sold through Amazon is $20 USD.
The typical production budget for a Pixar film is approaching $100 million USD. It takes five to ten years and the labor of 400 people to bring a Pixar film from its initial concept to theatrical release.
No deposit, no return. People want content from the major providers. People pay for content from the major providers. That is why the mere title of the next --- and last --- Harry Potter novel makes headline news worldwide.
How about we play the game honestly and give them an up-to-date install disk with the SATA drivers? Or would you care to see how well a newbie does with a five-year old ISO of your favorite Linux distro?
Numbers, please.
"A lot" of OEM system installs has a different meaning when you are HP or Dell. Walmart, CompUSA or OfficeMax.
If it makes you feel better you can go on quoting from your Funk and Wagnall's.
But the laws that apply to trees now also apply to reindeer. Rights of Ownership. Harvesting. Import and Export Controls. The ordinary issues that come before a court.
The law evolves through the use of simple, serviceable, analogies.
The ocean-going freighter isn't a person.
But you can bring a suit against the vessel when its ownership is disguised or effectively immune from prosecution. This introduces a measure of simplicity and fairness to a system that would otherwise work against you.
I am one of the tens of millions who subscribe to cable TV and other services.
People don't write or talk in the same way they use IM. Perhaps "speech recognition" as a way of interacting with a computer will not evolve as form of dictation, or as Star Trek's Enterprise AI, but something new and unexpected.
I'd not be surprised if Gates is on to something here.
But is this true among the general population? It is difficult not to think of Chinese or Japanese popular culture in strongly visual terms.
my father finds it hard to hear and isolate voices and becomes anxious and stressed in crowds. this tech would be a godsend.
when you start from a small enough base, any growth looks impressive. when you hold 90% or more of the market, growth itself looks impressive.
Good lord.
As if Geek-speak wasn't stupidly off-putting enough as it stands. Passive-aggressive indeed.
Vista on the boss's quad core 64 bit system isn't going to look or perform like a legacy OS and it is the boss the sales drone gets to see.
Does the Geek ever stop to think his language brings back memories of the wearisome, sophomoric, political rants and slogans that most of us leave behind when we are out of college?
The mainstream politician ignores these issues because these issues will never become mainstream as the Geek defines them. If the FSF wants to be politically effective, it needs to listen more and shout less.
To the home user, rental and subscription services offer added value. That the content is protected against re-distribution through the P2P nets is not the end of the world.
Hold up, there, cowboy. That is the wrong question to ask.
The systems and servers aren't your personal plaything. They are there to meet the needs of your employer. The small organization. The all-Windows shop.
There are often reasons for choosing the proprietary app. The predominant OS for a business of your size or type or location. Reasons that are not always narrowly technical, not always narrowly economic.
This would matter if people were out buying an OS.
What they buy is the computer with the OEM Windows system install. Windows at $20-$75.
What they buy are Windows PCs in numbers which can keep the Asian OEMs fully employed for the next five years.
There are enormous economies of scale at work here. In production. In marketing. In distribution. Even Walmart in the end had to throw in the towel.
Star Trek sells an OS to the Geek. Microsoft targets the suburban soccer mom. There are more soccer moms than Geeks.
Everything released by Microsoft since then has been step backwards in ease of use and freedom.
Freedom doesn't have the same meaning in Window's core markets as it does to the Geek. Ease of use doesn't have the same meaning in Microsoft's core markets as it has to the Geek.
There is simply not the same obsession with ownership and control.
Renting music from Rhapsody or Y! Unlimited becomes as convenient as renting videos from Netflix or your neighborhood Blockbuster.
Professional rips. One click on a playlist.
This wins points only within the hermetically sealed Geek forums like Slashdot.