Why must linux emulate the behaviour of these other OSs'? To get more wide-spread adoption? Why is that useful?
It is useful because it takes time, money and talent to develop and promote a significant program, package or service. All things being equal, the platform with the greatest market share gets first claim on all three.
It is not necessary for Microsoft to lose huge market share in order to hurt the company a great deal. Even losing a small amount of market share will cut Microsoft's revenue growth to nothing and send Microsoft stock into a tailspin.
investors can live with little or no growth in revenues in a mature company that dominates it's market, earns $40 billion a year and remains debt-free with $50-$60 billion in liquid reserves.
if the tech sector remains weak, you bet on the companies best positioned to weather the storm.
Linux as the operating system that powers their media devices, remote controls, cars, video game consoles etc, etc will mean a lot more. This may be one of the key ways that linux gains mainstream consumer acceptance.
I'd take the odds that:
Embedded Linux has zero visibility to consumers, and at retail Linux based devices are not significantly cheaper or feature-rich when compared to their Microsoft branded equivalents.
In the end if it takes, HP, IBM, or mainland China to be the champion of freedom for certain types of intellectual property (IE that not owned by a mega corporation) then so be it.
Chinese films with a significant North American market are released as Region 1 DVDs. Films of China The Chinese government is not adverse to box-office success, commercial production, foreign investment and distribution. Chinese Film Industry To Be Established
(2003)
It was big, and it was expensive. But the video looked like total shit...He can't see the difference.
This is common with first adopters, always has been. RCA introduced color TV in 1954 and had to pull back because it's sets were too complex and unreliable for home use. In time the market learns and becomes more demanding.
But the pace has accelerated. High definition DVD players will enter the consumer market after digital TV sets have reached mass market prices, and both cable and broadcast networks have gone digital. It is happening now. Entry level for HDTV has dropped to $700-$800 for a heavyweight Toshiba with a CRT display.
I noticed a simple, telling, change over the holidays. It is becoming hard to find "Full Screen" DVDs even in the supermarket bargain bins. The wide-screen format and theatrical sound, sells. I suspect high-definition will sell as well.
I know plenty of people who go out and buy a machine with Windows preinstalled, and they just wipe it out and put Linux on. Then I know of people...
There are better ways of getting at the numbers than anecdotes like yours. Market research through opinion polling, for example. Tracking aftermarket sales of software and peripherals. Windows-only subscription services. Cable modem installs. Software upgrades and patches. Downloading SP2 through Windows Update.
well for all those that claim that linux is not that user friendly I have just a couple of words , Linksys, embeded devices (i.e. mp3 players and other pocket media players)
It shouldn't be difficult to make a single-purpose device with very limited user options easy to use. That said, it is the user interface and not the O/S which sells the iPod.
The people that have to port OSS to windows often dislike the process and software does not get ported very fast. Just because Mozilla does not follow the same rules does not mean that the rest of the OSS doesn't also.
Foxfire has visibility and funding. OpenOffice has visibility and funding. Because both have been ported to Windows.
Windows is build so that the system is *shielded* from the user as much as possible.
Which is what most users want, and have been willing to pay for.
Oh yeah and if you think that linux is hard or weird or whatever you should probably recal the time when you started using Windows. I bet you it was weird and hard too. Why should you expect Linux to be easier to learn than Windows?
Because it enters the desktop market ten years after Windows 95 and twenty years after the Mac?
IDC's research predicts that Linux's overall revenue for desktops, servers and packaged software running on Linux will exceed $35 billion by 2008.
The meaning isn't clear. Is server hardware being intertwined with sales of software and services? Is this an estimate of annual revenues in 2008 or simply an estimate of the total for 1998-2008? What are the numbers for Windows?
Softman was a retailer not an end-user. The decision I found was on a motion for a preliminary injunction, which meant that the law had to be read in the light most favorable to Softman. Softman v. Adobe
What you buy from Microsoft is the physical media (if provided) and a license to use their software, under the terms and conditions of an end-user agreement.
Joe leases his house or his forklift, not his software.
Over-Hyped, crappy software from Redmond that came pre-installed on every bloody PC is the cause.
The integrated, pre-installed, software bundle has been the key to success in the mass market. Connect the cables, switch on the power, and in under ten minutes you are good to go.
This is clearly the case in the "Fisher Price" incident. This is a well-known criticism of Windows XP.
It is common enough on Slashdot. But it reeks of the Geek attitude towards Microsoft and XP. "Well-known" and a concern to users generally? For that I would want proof.
moderation is of little help to an on-line encyclopedia unless it is raised to the level of an objective, unemotional, peer review by experts in their field.
Then, the huge market in China would drive the development of games on Linux
A perspective on the market in China, from a blogger in Shanghai with a middle class income or higher:
Personal computer's price are still not lower enough for people as TV to them. Computer costs 4000 - 6000 RMB, which is about 2 or three months' salary. Here is how I see the market: people with university education or higher tend to have a computer at home. People with a child older than 10 tend to buy a computer. Others may not want to spend $$$ on computers...Good Internet cafe charges 5 RMB or higher (per hour, about $1.25 US.) Internet at home is still relatively expensive.
China Internet Market Analysis
I assume these Chinese systems are roughly equivelent to the $500 entry level HP Pavillions sold at Walmart. Not gamer specs by western standards. You can clone Bejeweled endlessly, but you probably do not have the domestic base to warrant investment in projects like The Sims or Half-Life, asssuming you can slip them past the censors.
It is much harder to export culture than technology and it is popular culture that drives game design and sales, not the O/S. The United States and Japan are good at exporting culture, China is not.
It's odd...nobody seems to question the logic of putting out games for the mac.....but more Linux desktops were sold last year than macs, and apparently that userbase is just "way too small" for anybody to find interesting
The Mac user base is used to paying for software. It is a definable market with a predictable return. How many of those Linux desktops you described were ready for gaming? Not the ones sold off Walmart.com, surely.
what happens in 200 years time when someone wants to read a Blu-ray/HD-DVD? They can't!
most likely because the media has degraded beyond recovery, and not because the compression techniques and recording technologies haven't been preserved in the achieves.
this is not a new problem, it dates from the invention of writing and the first scratches on a clay tablet. there are secrets to protect, knowledge to preserve. language changes. media changes.
XviD appears to be not only the most logical choice from a point of view of being a freely available standard
the survival of a document usually depends on the number of copies originally in distribution.
books are easier to read and store than scrolls. easier to conceal in times of trouble. but it is success in the marketplace and not a technological ideal that prevails here. something Microsoft understands very well.
I don't have very good speakers or very good TV anyway, so DVD will do for me:)
the best price I've seen on HDTV with tuner is a $700 Toshiba.
26" CRT screen, heavy enough to give two men a hernia lifting the damn thing, but with very good specs overall, and enough back panel connections to keep you entangled for a week. digital isn't coming, digital is here.
What Microsoft should fear the most, is people waking up and realizing that:
A) It's not normal for your computer's configuration to get screwed up unless you're messing with it.
B) It's not normal to have to reinstall the OS every 3 weeks.
C) It's not normal to have to upgrade to the latest version of the OS just for the machine to behave normally (Note: though this isn't true if you want the latest security patches).
D) If you use an OS other than windows, all the previous problems disappear
I have seen no reason to re-install XP since the day Dell delivered my new system, two, two and half, years ago. There are some minor problems that need attention, but nothing to lose sleep over.
I didn't upgrade because Windows 95 (!) was misbehaving, I upgraded because my old system was pretty much dead, the programs it could run were aging badly and our neighborhood had just been wired for broadband cable.
Slashdot Mirror
It is useful because it takes time, money and talent to develop and promote a significant program, package or service. All things being equal, the platform with the greatest market share gets first claim on all three.
Microsoft was the first foreign company admitted into the China Software Industry Association. Microsoft Joins in China Software Industry Association (People's Daily Online, June 17, 2002)
China has brought intellectual property law into sych with it's major trading partners. Ministry of Science and Tecnlogy: Laws and Regulations
You do not maintain your position in world trade by ignoring the WTO. WTO China Updates
investors can live with little or no growth in revenues in a mature company that dominates it's market, earns $40 billion a year and remains debt-free with $50-$60 billion in liquid reserves.
if the tech sector remains weak, you bet on the companies best positioned to weather the storm.
I'd take the odds that:
Embedded Linux has zero visibility to consumers, and at retail Linux based devices are not significantly cheaper or feature-rich when compared to their Microsoft branded equivalents.
Microsoft was the first foreign company to gain admission to the China Software Industry Association. Microsoft Joins in China Software Industry Association (2002)
China's Intellectual Property Law has been brought into synch with the WTO and it's major trading partners. The Ministry of Science and Technology: Laws and Regulations
Chinese films with a significant North American market are released as Region 1 DVDs. Films of China The Chinese government is not adverse to box-office success, commercial production, foreign investment and distribution. Chinese Film Industry To Be Established (2003)
This is common with first adopters, always has been. RCA introduced color TV in 1954 and had to pull back because it's sets were too complex and unreliable for home use. In time the market learns and becomes more demanding.
But the pace has accelerated. High definition DVD players will enter the consumer market after digital TV sets have reached mass market prices, and both cable and broadcast networks have gone digital. It is happening now. Entry level for HDTV has dropped to $700-$800 for a heavyweight Toshiba with a CRT display.
I noticed a simple, telling, change over the holidays. It is becoming hard to find "Full Screen" DVDs even in the supermarket bargain bins. The wide-screen format and theatrical sound, sells. I suspect high-definition will sell as well.
There are better ways of getting at the numbers than anecdotes like yours. Market research through opinion polling, for example. Tracking aftermarket sales of software and peripherals. Windows-only subscription services. Cable modem installs. Software upgrades and patches. Downloading SP2 through Windows Update.
It shouldn't be difficult to make a single-purpose device with very limited user options easy to use. That said, it is the user interface and not the O/S which sells the iPod.
The people that have to port OSS to windows often dislike the process and software does not get ported very fast. Just because Mozilla does not follow the same rules does not mean that the rest of the OSS doesn't also.
Foxfire has visibility and funding. OpenOffice has visibility and funding. Because both have been ported to Windows.
Windows is build so that the system is *shielded* from the user as much as possible.
Which is what most users want, and have been willing to pay for.
Oh yeah and if you think that linux is hard or weird or whatever you should probably recal the time when you started using Windows. I bet you it was weird and hard too. Why should you expect Linux to be easier to learn than Windows?
Because it enters the desktop market ten years after Windows 95 and twenty years after the Mac?
The blockbuster stars often are the talent. They are the Cary Grants, the Sean Connerys, the Harrison Fords, of their generation.
The meaning isn't clear. Is server hardware being intertwined with sales of software and services? Is this an estimate of annual revenues in 2008 or simply an estimate of the total for 1998-2008? What are the numbers for Windows?
Softman was a retailer not an end-user. The decision I found was on a motion for a preliminary injunction, which meant that the law had to be read in the light most favorable to Softman. Softman v. Adobe
Joe leases his house or his forklift, not his software.
The integrated, pre-installed, software bundle has been the key to success in the mass market. Connect the cables, switch on the power, and in under ten minutes you are good to go.
It is common enough on Slashdot. But it reeks of the Geek attitude towards Microsoft and XP. "Well-known" and a concern to users generally? For that I would want proof.
The right word opens doors. The wrong word keeps them closed. Adobe has Photoshop, Open Source, the GIMP.
sounds to me like those who pay for their tickets, buy the DVDs, are being bled by the leeches who get their movies free.
Then there will be no commercial production anywhere in the world. You cannot "share" what does not exist.
moderation is of little help to an on-line encyclopedia unless it is raised to the level of an objective, unemotional, peer review by experts in their field.
P4 3.0 Ghz
256 MB PC333 DDR RAM, one slot available
40 GB Utra ATA 100 HDD
CD-RW/DVD
Integrated graphics, shared RAM (max 64 MB)
AC 97 Integrated audio
1 PC1, 1 AGP slot free
A perspective on the market in China, from a blogger in Shanghai with a middle class income or higher:
Personal computer's price are still not lower enough for people as TV to them. Computer costs 4000 - 6000 RMB, which is about 2 or three months' salary. Here is how I see the market: people with university education or higher tend to have a computer at home. People with a child older than 10 tend to buy a computer. Others may not want to spend $$$ on computers...Good Internet cafe charges 5 RMB or higher (per hour, about $1.25 US.) Internet at home is still relatively expensive. China Internet Market Analysis
I assume these Chinese systems are roughly equivelent to the $500 entry level HP Pavillions sold at Walmart. Not gamer specs by western standards. You can clone Bejeweled endlessly, but you probably do not have the domestic base to warrant investment in projects like The Sims or Half-Life, asssuming you can slip them past the censors.
It is much harder to export culture than technology and it is popular culture that drives game design and sales, not the O/S. The United States and Japan are good at exporting culture, China is not.
The Mac user base is used to paying for software. It is a definable market with a predictable return. How many of those Linux desktops you described were ready for gaming? Not the ones sold off Walmart.com, surely.
most likely because the media has degraded beyond recovery, and not because the compression techniques and recording technologies haven't been preserved in the achieves.
this is not a new problem, it dates from the invention of writing and the first scratches on a clay tablet. there are secrets to protect, knowledge to preserve. language changes. media changes.
XviD appears to be not only the most logical choice from a point of view of being a freely available standard
the survival of a document usually depends on the number of copies originally in distribution.
books are easier to read and store than scrolls. easier to conceal in times of trouble. but it is success in the marketplace and not a technological ideal that prevails here. something Microsoft understands very well.
I don't have very good speakers or very good TV anyway, so DVD will do for me :)
the best price I've seen on HDTV with tuner is a $700 Toshiba.
26" CRT screen, heavy enough to give two men a hernia lifting the damn thing, but with very good specs overall, and enough back panel connections to keep you entangled for a week. digital isn't coming, digital is here.
Not true. This link is a little old, but still serviceable: Dell Dominates PC Brand Repurchase Loyalty The white box makers are hurting: Dell, HP Taking Market Share From White Box PCs
I have seen no reason to re-install XP since the day Dell delivered my new system, two, two and half, years ago. There are some minor problems that need attention, but nothing to lose sleep over.
I didn't upgrade because Windows 95 (!) was misbehaving, I upgraded because my old system was pretty much dead, the programs it could run were aging badly and our neighborhood had just been wired for broadband cable.
Damn near everyone who buys the game. Talk of boycotts on Slashdot is just so much hot air.