The same things I gain from having a DVD player. I won't have to hook my laptop (which I sometimes leave at work) up to my television. I won't have to run Windows on my laptop (which is currently installed strictly for Netflix). I won't have to wait for a compile to finish. I won't have to plug in AC adapter, S-Video, and audio cable every time I want to use the service.
This is worth $100 to me. It would not be worth $200 or more for a higher end version, with more features that I can't benefit from without also buying a new television.
it's an offering for the poor that want a halfed assed option for cheaper.
Wow, I see the 'conceited fuck' knob goes up to 11.
Try rephrasing that with a little less vitriol next time. Sometimes we poor unwashed masses like a little entertainment as well. I suppose my used Corolla is just a half-assed option for the poor who can't afford a Mercedes.
Am I really the only person who is insulted by this? Or am I just biased by being 'poor?'
Me. I'm the target audience. I don't have a HD capable television, and have no particular desire to own one until the prices come down considerably. I do have a high-speed internet connection. I have loved the fact that I can hook the s-video and stereo output from my laptop to my entertainment center and watch movies, documentaries, television shows, etc.
Before you decide that the only audience worth having owns a 40"+ 1080P television, take a look around. Not everyone can drop that much cash on entertainment, and not everyone thinks it is a good idea to buy entertainment on credit.
For $100, with no extra monthly fees, this quite simply enhances the service I already have (and am quite happy with). I think the R&D was right on, and they picked the perfect mix of capabilities for an initial model. Look for these to sell in huge quantities.
Create a blank RAID-1 (or 0 or 5 or 1+0, doesn't matter) array. Insert Windows XP installation disk (not the third party raid drivers, remember, we're using the built-in tools of the operating system here. Boot to XP installation disk. Attempt to install. This will not work with the vast majority of RAID controllers. Similar circumstances with my other points; no-go without software and tools that are (are you ready?) NOT PART OF THE WINDOWS OPERATING SYSTEM.
I'm simply going to assume you have never tried to install Windows XP on a relatively modern computer without having the driver disks or internet access (remember, the "Via RAID Disk" is not part of Windows itself, thus not meeting the criteria). If that assumption is incorrect, than you are simply being dishonest.
Am I the only person that's getting tired of this old chestnut?
1) It was unable to use my RAID controller to install onto the existing RAID-1 array Neither will Windows, up until (possibly) Vista, and then it depends on what RAID controller you have.
2) It was unable to use my wireless card. It didn't see it at all, so it wasn't in the "connections" menu. Again, neither will Windows, up until (possibly) Vista, depending on what your wireless adapter is.
3) It failed to notice that I have a dual-head video card with two screens attached. The second screen was a mirror of the first during boot, but after boot it turned into a fantastic mosaic of random-colored 80x25 random-ASCII. Neither will Windows, up until Vista, depending on what your graphics adapter is.
As far as I can tell, none of these problems were addressable via the provided system configuration tools. And none of your aforementioned issues are addressable with the provided system configuration tools for Windows.
My point is not to say that Linux is the be-all/end-all and has achieved software Nirvana, but to point out (as many already have) that these types of issues are often just as difficult, if not more so, to solve under Windows as they are under Linux.
For my own anecdote, I have an Atheros based PCI-E wireless adapter for my desktop pc. Yes, I had to monkey around installing a non-final release of the MadWifi package to make it functional under Linux, but when I did it was functional. Fully. Under Windows, the device drivers do not allow WPA PERIOD. Not an option at all. Done. Does this mean windows is not ready for the desktop? Not at all. It means that most people simply take the configuration they get out of the box and never re-install themselves, or that their "re-install" disks are a pre-built image of the factory load.
Wow, I'll have to question the truth of the anecdote itself. I live in a cheap apartment, at $750 per month. That's $9000/year. That would leave $3000/year for everything else. I could easily fit my food budget in that amount (~$65/week), and have maybe $30/week left over. I walk to work, so no gas budget. My cellular plan (the cheap one, no frills) is $40/month; still cheaper than a landline. That would leave $80/month. Take out another $30/month for the lowest tier broadband, and we're down to $50 per month. I keep the thermostat at 60F, but even so I use roughly 600 - 800 gallons of #2 per year; that works out to ~175/month at the low end. Now I'm $125/month in the red. Notice all the missing pieces in this theoretical budget?
No, this story is either severely exaggerated, completely fabricated, or 'forgetting' to mention something along the lines of 'lived rent-free with friends/family.' Either that or Chicago is some magical fairy land with a cost of living right out of the 1940s.
I agree completely...I worked for a major tech support outfit (we did MSN internet access phone support) back in 2000; by the time I left I was so sick of the technology that I quite literally went back to the farm. I milked, repaired electric fences, brought in hay, etc. and did it from 6 in the morning to around 7 at night. I was happy. If it wasn't for the low pay I'd probably still be there now. Sometimes simple is good.
I'm not sure I can agree with that. I live in Maine and have a Maine driver's license. It is modern, digitized, with a machine scannable code on the back. Given the near unanimity of the vote in our legislature, and the opinions of the vast majority of the people I interact with here (across both sides of the political fence), I think it is quite honestly exactly what it seems; moral outrage at a perceived federal power grab. Lack of a modern, modifiable system does not seem to be the key factor here.
And for those of us like me, with glaring errors on my report? I check my credit report once a year. This year, I found out that they don't know where I live. Apparently I live 80 miles away, in a town I've never even visited. My job? Yeah, the most recent place of employment they have for me is from 4 years ago. Actual credit history? I bought a new car 3.5 years ago; it's going to be paid off in three weeks. There are no late payments, it's ontime, it was a solid ~$14,000 loan. It's not even listed on the big three credit bureau reports. My screwed up credit card from six years ago? Yeah, that was my bad, but it managed to get listed.
So people say "Oh, you can get that all cleared up!". To those people I ask, have you ever tried?!? I can't call; they will only listen to letters. The last letter I wrote got me a response from one of the Big Three (I won't say which) which basically said "We don't believe you are who you say you are. Sorry."
I have a good job right now, one I'm very happy with, but if I need to go job hunting and they rely on a credit check, they might not even believe I'm who I say I am. Basically, the credit system is designed to get great deals for people who can already afford it, and to fuck anyone who is poor and can't afford to climb out of the cracks they've fallen into. Employers checking credit? Should be completely illegal except for certain specific (read: handling lots of money) jobs. Screw this.
Intention means shit. What if his rationalizations, efforts, and goals lead to what many consider the ruination of our great country? Are we supposed to give the man a f*cking medal because he MEANS WELL???? I don't care what the f*ck his conscience is telling him, AND I don't give a f*ck what party he's part of. I can see actions. I can see results. Sometimes the olive branch, middle-path, whatever you choose to call it, IS NOT DEFENSIBLE.
The version you refer to as Corporate is actually nothing more than a volume license edition...In other words, the version that just about everyone is using pirated is Windows XP Professional, Volume License Edition. The key here is Professional- To go 'Legit' so to speak, without losing installed programs, preferences, or data, they would need to buy a copy of Windows XP Professional (Home or Media Center editions will not work, they won't 'find' their copy of windows to 'repair') and then do the in-place repair installation, (boot to cd, skip first repair option, at the point you would normally install or partition, you will also have the option to 'repair' an existing installation) using their new product key at the point it asks for it. I've helped a few people go 'legit' this way when linux or a clean install was not an option. This has the added advantage of essentially converting the volume license install into a standard, legal install, without losing anything other than a few Windows Updates that will need to be re-installed.
There is a local small Telco where I live that offers 3-20mbit with unlimited in-state and out-of-state long distance phone service starting at a flat $70/month. The voice is traditional, non-VOIP (no new-fangled stuff to setup), and their tech support is open 24hrs, and located about 40 miles from where I live. The service is extremely stable, fast, and reliable, and tech-support is top-notch. It's by far the best ISP service I've ever had. What's more, most of the people I interact with (I work for a small PC-repair/system builder type shop; you know the type), are quite content paying more for higher grade service/support than what they get from Verizon.
Cost is not nearly as important as knowing Mom can call tech support and get her internet 'fixed' without feeling like she just had her wisdom teeth out.
Even private religious colleges are dominated by one or another of these Darwinist ism's, for the textbooks are written by professors in major universities. Only a handful of tiny Bible colleges, Bible institutes, and under-capitalized, high-tuition four-year colleges offer slightly less radical viewpoints.
In high school, in every academic field, the assumptions of modern Darwinism dominate the textbooks, yet only 10% of Americans admit to being Darwinists. Almost half say that God created mankind less than 10,000 years ago.
Insightful? Since when is the opinion that most belief == most true worthy of being modded insightful? Did anyone look in to what this person had to say? What sources he was quoting from?
As for the original article, when an organization's site actually uses the phrase "card carrying communist", I tend to take it with a grain of salt. It makes it fairly obvious which side is "radical" to them.
After reading what they have to say I think we have a clear cut case of pot and kettle. Nothing new, just more political partisan-politics based crying.
Want an example? I dropped an Ubuntu 5.10 CD into my athlon workstation which has a Geforce3 card in it, and a 17" Viewsonic monitor. When it finished installing, X came up, but at a resolution and frequency rate the monitor didn't support, so I could barely read the screen. I got that fixed, then discovered OpenGL wasn't hardware accelerated, so I installed the nvidia driver package.
X windows promptly locked up on the next reboot, and did so until I removed all the nvidia-related packages. I downloaded drivers from Nvidia's site, and installed them by hand, and it finally worked.
So it's the community's fault that nVidia won't opensource their drivers or release technical documentation for their hardware? Please, chalk that one up to where it belongs...nVidia.
I then tried to figure out how to change my screen saver. It wasn't in the Gnome menus- I finally found it under a "debian" menu elsewhere. Apparently my system has at least two "system settings" menus. What the...
It's right under System, then I believe preferences, top left, third from the corner. Look next time.
Ask yourself this: what does Linux do better today compared with in 2000, almost 6 years ago? I'm not talking about crap like antialiased text- I mean things that actually MATTER to users...
Automatic hardware detection that is far superior in every way to Windows, hardware support, stability, productivity (Open Office, Evolution, etc.), multimedia support, security, ease of use (yes, I know, two menus are awfully deep to navigate to for a screensaver), game support...Do you see my point here? Instead of ranting against the developers, why don't you try reverse engineering hardware to write a driver for it, and then when you whip one (with full 3D support) out in about 15 minutes, which is obviously what you, the consumer, have a right to expect, then come back here and post again about this topic. Instead, why don't you talk to people who do use it on a regular basis every day instead of dipping their toes in once every 6 years.
You're missing the point. It isn't, even the slightest bit, about replacing windows workstations with linux, or replacing closed source software with open source, it's about (now follow me here) OPEN STANDARDS. "Spreadsheet format A shall be formatted in XML thusly..." Have you ever seen how many times state government has to hand replicate data, simply because the Bureau of Motor Vehicles uses this format and the Bureau of Vital Statistics uses that? Can you even concieve of how much waste paper this generates? I feel like I'm trying to argue against burning as a witch the woman who took her stalkings off to summon a storm, that's how plainly obvious this case is!! What you're telling me is that it is the government's place to mandate that I shall use Microsoft Windows with Microsoft Office (~$300) if I want to properly view any state documents, as shall every state computer, and this is perfectly fair for competition. In 5-10 years, all documents will be garbage, as Microsft has abandoned the format and the process of converting them to Office 14 format cannot be legally done.
If Microsoft chose to support this open file format, even with a plugin, Microsoft Office would more than likely remain the office package of choice. Ask you random non-techie what the difference is between Microsoft Office and Open Office, and then ask which they'd rather have.
Funny you should mention that...I think it's aura, not even altitude. Bear with me here: Sitting beside me is my precious fileserver. I call him Ironman. Ironman has a current uptime of about 270 days (had to bring him down when I moved). It is a dual PII-400MHz based on a Tekram P6B40D-A5 motherboard (440BX Chipset) that used to belong to my old roommate. He replaced it because it was flaky. I tried for months to get it stable for him, and I couldn't. I watched it crash. It wasn't user error, it was...something...else. Since coming in to my care it has been rock solid. For five years. He has gone through three more computers since then, two of which now reside quite pleasantly in other people's care. We tried an nForce 2 Ultra chipset first, moved to a Via (forget exactly which), and from there to a SiS. The nForce was the only one that didn't find a home. His current system? Via, identical flakiness issues to what he's had on completely different hardware platforms. The only way we could make it remotely stable is with Windows 2000...and I had to give him a set of backup cds to do a monthly restore.
Therefore, my conclusion is evident: Evil Psychic Powers. Nothing to do with the hardware...keep movin' folks, every chipset is the same, it's just the evil powers.
Really? That's odd...I've had the exact opposite experience. Almost every nVidia chipset board I've seen or touched has been flaky as all hell and completely unstable...Via has been a dream every time in the last 5 years. In fact, we build probably 20-30 computers a week at my shop based on the AMD chip and the Via chipset. Takes almost no effort to do the install and have them stable.
One; they were not even allowed to return the damn things.
Two; Parents? Phone call? Administration? No, let's just hit'em with a felony charge, rather than taking the toys away and calling Mommy and Daddy.
Three; I'm just sick enough of disrespectful adults who assume that because they've managed to be blessed with the great gift of being born into the earlier bastion of greatness and civilization that was the {insert decade here} they have the right to treat children as pets or chattel, that I'm ready to support euthanasia as a means of keeping them in line.
I have a great idea; let's hit your kids with a trumped up felony charge. You've already said they have a problem with lying. We should be able to come up with something, now shouldn't we!
And remember children, the core of respect is FEAR. Funny, I always thought the core of respect was admiration and a desire to emulate the one respected. Is the desire to emulate this kind of fear mongering desireable? Remember that, and all of you under 18's who read Slashdot remember, crime is wrong, but so is unjust punishment. "Making an example" is a gross miscarriage of justice; it's dramatically overdoing the punishment in the hopes that it will reduce the chances of others committing the same crime. As I recall, there is no mention in the constitution of making examples.
As an example, let windows update install your ATI Radeon drivers, and then try to run an opengl screensaver. Sure, most games seem to work fine, but that screensaver sure doesn't. Now, go to ATI's website and download the latest ATI built driver and-TADA-that screensaver looks really cool again! Not much is changing, and CAD people will never let go of OpenGL, esp. for Direct3D. This whole issue is...well, a non-issue. OpenGL will be implemented at the driver/software level.
Well, according to Meriam-Webster, the definition of human is as follows:
Main Entry: 2human Function: noun : a bipedal primate mammal (Homo sapiens) : MAN; broadly : any living or extinct member of the family (Hominidae) to which the primate belongs
Since a collection of several tens of cells with potential is no more a primate than a fucking newt is by the definition, I'd say no, it's clearly not human. Let's say we define human to be the stage when a fetus (very different thing, for all you fundamentalists who believe we're murdering babies, as you've been told to believe) has at least a reasonable chance to survive ex-utero, without extreme medical intervention.
Also, let's throw out the entire concept of PLAYING GOD as an ethical issue. If that was the ruler by which we lived scientifically, and it was adhered to strictly rather than constantly being eroded and pushed back year after year, we'd be in the dark ages. Wanna bet that King Richard III would be more than a little horrified (and maybe bring divinity into it) at the idea of machine-breathing? Okay with that? Than how about taking a dead man/woman's flesh and putting it into your own body? That's called an organ transplant, to you folks living in the dark ages. Learn to deal with the fact that a substantial percentage of people living today (including a close friend of mine's son with adrenoleukodystrophy) are only alive because of our willingness at some level to PLAY GOD.
-A remote call center is fine to talk Joe Average in figuring out why their AOL connection isn't working as expected.-
I would disagree with this, and for a very good reason. I work for a very small (read: Boss, Me, New Guy) general PC Repair/System Builder type store (you know the type). For the last six years the company has had 25-35% growth every year, precisely because people don't want to call India to find out why their AOL connection isn't working. They call us. These are the same people that seem to be dropping their Dell's after the second HDD, Mobo, etc. failure to buy one of our (higher priced) systems. Granted, I'm absolutely positive we're not making a single noticeable dent in Dell's sales, but on the other hand, that almost non-existant dent in their sales translates to outstanding growth for a business our size. So keep up with that outstanding customer support big guys! Daddy needs a fat christmas bonus check...
I can tell you as a professional screwmonkey who installs windows and reinstalls windows and fixes the most bizarre windows screwups imaginable all day long, every day, that linux is almost universally easier and quicker to install. Must I bring this up again? *Sigh* Try installing Windows XP on a SATA HDD with no access to a floppy drive. There, happy? And once you do pull off that magical trick, make sure (if you're running a D*ll) that you don't ever install the optional hardware driver updates, unless you truly enjoy 640x480 with 4 colors. Be prepared for at least five reboots to install all the drivers on those precious driver disks you mentioned. Try installing windows on my Asus A7n8x based system faster than I can install FC3. In fact, I bet you'd be (probably) still formatting that 160GB HDD with NTFS (PATA, since you don't have a floppy disk drive) when I'm getting ready to boot in for the first time. Go on, try it. I dare you. Specialized hardware my ass. The only standard hardware that typically works right off the bat with windows xp is from just about the time of the 1GHz CPU. And god help you if you're trying to find the drivers for the bastard stepchild versions of hardware a lot of the big OEM's use.
I take it you've never seen the fun that commences when you download the optional video drivers from windows update onto a dell machine, huh? As a professional screw-monkey I can tell you categorically: it's still a mixed bag on both fronts. With linux, if the hardware is at least a year or so old, you're pretty much guaranteed to be go, right from the install. If it's brand-spanking shiny new hardware, good luck. With windows, it's just kind of a grab-bag. Anyone remember the "Soundblaster Live!" look-alike-but-different-enough-to-need-proprietar y-drivers (windows or linux) that dell (again) used? Bottom line, and what the article managed to point out as the real problem, end users don't have to install windows. If they really did, the 45-min format followed by frantic driver hunt after paying ~$200 would quickly end their little software adventure.
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The same things I gain from having a DVD player. I won't have to hook my laptop (which I sometimes leave at work) up to my television. I won't have to run Windows on my laptop (which is currently installed strictly for Netflix). I won't have to wait for a compile to finish. I won't have to plug in AC adapter, S-Video, and audio cable every time I want to use the service. This is worth $100 to me. It would not be worth $200 or more for a higher end version, with more features that I can't benefit from without also buying a new television.
Wow, I see the 'conceited fuck' knob goes up to 11.
Try rephrasing that with a little less vitriol next time. Sometimes we poor unwashed masses like a little entertainment as well. I suppose my used Corolla is just a half-assed option for the poor who can't afford a Mercedes.
Am I really the only person who is insulted by this? Or am I just biased by being 'poor?'
Me. I'm the target audience. I don't have a HD capable television, and have no particular desire to own one until the prices come down considerably. I do have a high-speed internet connection. I have loved the fact that I can hook the s-video and stereo output from my laptop to my entertainment center and watch movies, documentaries, television shows, etc. Before you decide that the only audience worth having owns a 40"+ 1080P television, take a look around. Not everyone can drop that much cash on entertainment, and not everyone thinks it is a good idea to buy entertainment on credit. For $100, with no extra monthly fees, this quite simply enhances the service I already have (and am quite happy with). I think the R&D was right on, and they picked the perfect mix of capabilities for an initial model. Look for these to sell in huge quantities.
Create a blank RAID-1 (or 0 or 5 or 1+0, doesn't matter) array. Insert Windows XP installation disk (not the third party raid drivers, remember, we're using the built-in tools of the operating system here. Boot to XP installation disk. Attempt to install. This will not work with the vast majority of RAID controllers. Similar circumstances with my other points; no-go without software and tools that are (are you ready?) NOT PART OF THE WINDOWS OPERATING SYSTEM. I'm simply going to assume you have never tried to install Windows XP on a relatively modern computer without having the driver disks or internet access (remember, the "Via RAID Disk" is not part of Windows itself, thus not meeting the criteria). If that assumption is incorrect, than you are simply being dishonest.
Wow, I'll have to question the truth of the anecdote itself. I live in a cheap apartment, at $750 per month. That's $9000/year. That would leave $3000/year for everything else. I could easily fit my food budget in that amount (~$65/week), and have maybe $30/week left over. I walk to work, so no gas budget. My cellular plan (the cheap one, no frills) is $40/month; still cheaper than a landline. That would leave $80/month. Take out another $30/month for the lowest tier broadband, and we're down to $50 per month. I keep the thermostat at 60F, but even so I use roughly 600 - 800 gallons of #2 per year; that works out to ~175/month at the low end. Now I'm $125/month in the red. Notice all the missing pieces in this theoretical budget?
No, this story is either severely exaggerated, completely fabricated, or 'forgetting' to mention something along the lines of 'lived rent-free with friends/family.' Either that or Chicago is some magical fairy land with a cost of living right out of the 1940s.
I agree completely...I worked for a major tech support outfit (we did MSN internet access phone support) back in 2000; by the time I left I was so sick of the technology that I quite literally went back to the farm. I milked, repaired electric fences, brought in hay, etc. and did it from 6 in the morning to around 7 at night. I was happy. If it wasn't for the low pay I'd probably still be there now. Sometimes simple is good.
I'm not sure I can agree with that. I live in Maine and have a Maine driver's license. It is modern, digitized, with a machine scannable code on the back. Given the near unanimity of the vote in our legislature, and the opinions of the vast majority of the people I interact with here (across both sides of the political fence), I think it is quite honestly exactly what it seems; moral outrage at a perceived federal power grab. Lack of a modern, modifiable system does not seem to be the key factor here.
And for those of us like me, with glaring errors on my report? I check my credit report once a year. This year, I found out that they don't know where I live. Apparently I live 80 miles away, in a town I've never even visited. My job? Yeah, the most recent place of employment they have for me is from 4 years ago. Actual credit history? I bought a new car 3.5 years ago; it's going to be paid off in three weeks. There are no late payments, it's ontime, it was a solid ~$14,000 loan. It's not even listed on the big three credit bureau reports. My screwed up credit card from six years ago? Yeah, that was my bad, but it managed to get listed.
So people say "Oh, you can get that all cleared up!". To those people I ask, have you ever tried?!? I can't call; they will only listen to letters. The last letter I wrote got me a response from one of the Big Three (I won't say which) which basically said "We don't believe you are who you say you are. Sorry."
I have a good job right now, one I'm very happy with, but if I need to go job hunting and they rely on a credit check, they might not even believe I'm who I say I am. Basically, the credit system is designed to get great deals for people who can already afford it, and to fuck anyone who is poor and can't afford to climb out of the cracks they've fallen into. Employers checking credit? Should be completely illegal except for certain specific (read: handling lots of money) jobs. Screw this.
Intention means shit. What if his rationalizations, efforts, and goals lead to what many consider the ruination of our great country? Are we supposed to give the man a f*cking medal because he MEANS WELL???? I don't care what the f*ck his conscience is telling him, AND I don't give a f*ck what party he's part of. I can see actions. I can see results. Sometimes the olive branch, middle-path, whatever you choose to call it, IS NOT DEFENSIBLE.
The version you refer to as Corporate is actually nothing more than a volume license edition...In other words, the version that just about everyone is using pirated is Windows XP Professional, Volume License Edition. The key here is Professional- To go 'Legit' so to speak, without losing installed programs, preferences, or data, they would need to buy a copy of Windows XP Professional (Home or Media Center editions will not work, they won't 'find' their copy of windows to 'repair') and then do the in-place repair installation, (boot to cd, skip first repair option, at the point you would normally install or partition, you will also have the option to 'repair' an existing installation) using their new product key at the point it asks for it. I've helped a few people go 'legit' this way when linux or a clean install was not an option. This has the added advantage of essentially converting the volume license install into a standard, legal install, without losing anything other than a few Windows Updates that will need to be re-installed.
There is a local small Telco where I live that offers 3-20mbit with unlimited in-state and out-of-state long distance phone service starting at a flat $70/month. The voice is traditional, non-VOIP (no new-fangled stuff to setup), and their tech support is open 24hrs, and located about 40 miles from where I live. The service is extremely stable, fast, and reliable, and tech-support is top-notch. It's by far the best ISP service I've ever had. What's more, most of the people I interact with (I work for a small PC-repair/system builder type shop; you know the type), are quite content paying more for higher grade service/support than what they get from Verizon.
Cost is not nearly as important as knowing Mom can call tech support and get her internet 'fixed' without feeling like she just had her wisdom teeth out.
Even private religious colleges are dominated by one or another of these Darwinist ism's, for the textbooks are written by professors in major universities. Only a handful of tiny Bible colleges, Bible institutes, and under-capitalized, high-tuition four-year colleges offer slightly less radical viewpoints.
In high school, in every academic field, the assumptions of modern Darwinism dominate the textbooks, yet only 10% of Americans admit to being Darwinists. Almost half say that God created mankind less than 10,000 years ago.
Insightful? Since when is the opinion that most belief == most true worthy of being modded insightful? Did anyone look in to what this person had to say? What sources he was quoting from?
As for the original article, when an organization's site actually uses the phrase "card carrying communist", I tend to take it with a grain of salt. It makes it fairly obvious which side is "radical" to them.
After reading what they have to say I think we have a clear cut case of pot and kettle. Nothing new, just more political partisan-politics based crying.
Want an example? I dropped an Ubuntu 5.10 CD into my athlon workstation which has a Geforce3 card in it, and a 17" Viewsonic monitor. When it finished installing, X came up, but at a resolution and frequency rate the monitor didn't support, so I could barely read the screen. I got that fixed, then discovered OpenGL wasn't hardware accelerated, so I installed the nvidia driver package.
X windows promptly locked up on the next reboot, and did so until I removed all the nvidia-related packages. I downloaded drivers from Nvidia's site, and installed them by hand, and it finally worked.
So it's the community's fault that nVidia won't opensource their drivers or release technical documentation for their hardware? Please, chalk that one up to where it belongs...nVidia.
I then tried to figure out how to change my screen saver. It wasn't in the Gnome menus- I finally found it under a "debian" menu elsewhere. Apparently my system has at least two "system settings" menus. What the...
It's right under System, then I believe preferences, top left, third from the corner. Look next time.
Ask yourself this: what does Linux do better today compared with in 2000, almost 6 years ago? I'm not talking about crap like antialiased text- I mean things that actually MATTER to users...
Automatic hardware detection that is far superior in every way to Windows, hardware support, stability, productivity (Open Office, Evolution, etc.), multimedia support, security, ease of use (yes, I know, two menus are awfully deep to navigate to for a screensaver), game support...Do you see my point here? Instead of ranting against the developers, why don't you try reverse engineering hardware to write a driver for it, and then when you whip one (with full 3D support) out in about 15 minutes, which is obviously what you, the consumer, have a right to expect, then come back here and post again about this topic. Instead, why don't you talk to people who do use it on a regular basis every day instead of dipping their toes in once every 6 years.
You're missing the point. It isn't, even the slightest bit, about replacing windows workstations with linux, or replacing closed source software with open source, it's about (now follow me here) OPEN STANDARDS . "Spreadsheet format A shall be formatted in XML thusly..." Have you ever seen how many times state government has to hand replicate data, simply because the Bureau of Motor Vehicles uses this format and the Bureau of Vital Statistics uses that? Can you even concieve of how much waste paper this generates? I feel like I'm trying to argue against burning as a witch the woman who took her stalkings off to summon a storm, that's how plainly obvious this case is!! What you're telling me is that it is the government's place to mandate that I shall use Microsoft Windows with Microsoft Office (~$300) if I want to properly view any state documents, as shall every state computer, and this is perfectly fair for competition. In 5-10 years, all documents will be garbage, as Microsft has abandoned the format and the process of converting them to Office 14 format cannot be legally done.
If Microsoft chose to support this open file format, even with a plugin, Microsoft Office would more than likely remain the office package of choice. Ask you random non-techie what the difference is between Microsoft Office and Open Office, and then ask which they'd rather have.
Funny you should mention that...I think it's aura, not even altitude. Bear with me here: Sitting beside me is my precious fileserver. I call him Ironman. Ironman has a current uptime of about 270 days (had to bring him down when I moved). It is a dual PII-400MHz based on a Tekram P6B40D-A5 motherboard (440BX Chipset) that used to belong to my old roommate. He replaced it because it was flaky. I tried for months to get it stable for him, and I couldn't. I watched it crash. It wasn't user error, it was...something...else. Since coming in to my care it has been rock solid. For five years. He has gone through three more computers since then, two of which now reside quite pleasantly in other people's care. We tried an nForce 2 Ultra chipset first, moved to a Via (forget exactly which), and from there to a SiS. The nForce was the only one that didn't find a home. His current system? Via, identical flakiness issues to what he's had on completely different hardware platforms. The only way we could make it remotely stable is with Windows 2000...and I had to give him a set of backup cds to do a monthly restore.
Therefore, my conclusion is evident: Evil Psychic Powers. Nothing to do with the hardware...keep movin' folks, every chipset is the same, it's just the evil powers.
Really? That's odd...I've had the exact opposite experience. Almost every nVidia chipset board I've seen or touched has been flaky as all hell and completely unstable...Via has been a dream every time in the last 5 years. In fact, we build probably 20-30 computers a week at my shop based on the AMD chip and the Via chipset. Takes almost no effort to do the install and have them stable.
I call bullshit.
One; they were not even allowed to return the damn things.
Two; Parents? Phone call? Administration? No, let's just hit'em with a felony charge, rather than taking the toys away and calling Mommy and Daddy.
Three; I'm just sick enough of disrespectful adults who assume that because they've managed to be blessed with the great gift of being born into the earlier bastion of greatness and civilization that was the {insert decade here} they have the right to treat children as pets or chattel, that I'm ready to support euthanasia as a means of keeping them in line.
I have a great idea; let's hit your kids with a trumped up felony charge. You've already said they have a problem with lying. We should be able to come up with something, now shouldn't we!
And remember children, the core of respect is FEAR . Funny, I always thought the core of respect was admiration and a desire to emulate the one respected. Is the desire to emulate this kind of fear mongering desireable? Remember that, and all of you under 18's who read Slashdot remember, crime is wrong, but so is unjust punishment. "Making an example" is a gross miscarriage of justice; it's dramatically overdoing the punishment in the hopes that it will reduce the chances of others committing the same crime. As I recall, there is no mention in the constitution of making examples.
As an example, let windows update install your ATI Radeon drivers, and then try to run an opengl screensaver. Sure, most games seem to work fine, but that screensaver sure doesn't. Now, go to ATI's website and download the latest ATI built driver and-TADA-that screensaver looks really cool again! Not much is changing, and CAD people will never let go of OpenGL, esp. for Direct3D. This whole issue is...well, a non-issue. OpenGL will be implemented at the driver/software level.
Well, according to Meriam-Webster, the definition of human is as follows:
Main Entry: 2human
Function: noun
: a bipedal primate mammal (Homo sapiens) : MAN; broadly : any living or extinct member of the family (Hominidae) to which the primate belongs
Since a collection of several tens of cells with potential is no more a primate than a fucking newt is by the definition, I'd say no, it's clearly not human. Let's say we define human to be the stage when a fetus (very different thing, for all you fundamentalists who believe we're murdering babies, as you've been told to believe) has at least a reasonable chance to survive ex-utero, without extreme medical intervention.
Also, let's throw out the entire concept of PLAYING GOD as an ethical issue. If that was the ruler by which we lived scientifically, and it was adhered to strictly rather than constantly being eroded and pushed back year after year, we'd be in the dark ages. Wanna bet that King Richard III would be more than a little horrified (and maybe bring divinity into it) at the idea of machine-breathing? Okay with that? Than how about taking a dead man/woman's flesh and putting it into your own body? That's called an organ transplant, to you folks living in the dark ages. Learn to deal with the fact that a substantial percentage of people living today (including a close friend of mine's son with adrenoleukodystrophy) are only alive because of our willingness at some level to PLAY GOD.
-A remote call center is fine to talk Joe Average in figuring out why their AOL connection isn't working as expected.-
I would disagree with this, and for a very good reason. I work for a very small (read: Boss, Me, New Guy) general PC Repair/System Builder type store (you know the type). For the last six years the company has had 25-35% growth every year, precisely because people don't want to call India to find out why their AOL connection isn't working. They call us. These are the same people that seem to be dropping their Dell's after the second HDD, Mobo, etc. failure to buy one of our (higher priced) systems. Granted, I'm absolutely positive we're not making a single noticeable dent in Dell's sales, but on the other hand, that almost non-existant dent in their sales translates to outstanding growth for a business our size. So keep up with that outstanding customer support big guys! Daddy needs a fat christmas bonus check...
I would hardly call the damn search dog a security feature, but maybe that's just me.
I can tell you as a professional screwmonkey who installs windows and reinstalls windows and fixes the most bizarre windows screwups imaginable all day long, every day, that linux is almost universally easier and quicker to install. Must I bring this up again? *Sigh* Try installing Windows XP on a SATA HDD with no access to a floppy drive. There, happy? And once you do pull off that magical trick, make sure (if you're running a D*ll) that you don't ever install the optional hardware driver updates, unless you truly enjoy 640x480 with 4 colors. Be prepared for at least five reboots to install all the drivers on those precious driver disks you mentioned. Try installing windows on my Asus A7n8x based system faster than I can install FC3. In fact, I bet you'd be (probably) still formatting that 160GB HDD with NTFS (PATA, since you don't have a floppy disk drive) when I'm getting ready to boot in for the first time. Go on, try it. I dare you. Specialized hardware my ass. The only standard hardware that typically works right off the bat with windows xp is from just about the time of the 1GHz CPU. And god help you if you're trying to find the drivers for the bastard stepchild versions of hardware a lot of the big OEM's use.
I take it you've never seen the fun that commences when you download the optional video drivers from windows update onto a dell machine, huh? As a professional screw-monkey I can tell you categorically: it's still a mixed bag on both fronts. With linux, if the hardware is at least a year or so old, you're pretty much guaranteed to be go, right from the install. If it's brand-spanking shiny new hardware, good luck. With windows, it's just kind of a grab-bag. Anyone remember the "Soundblaster Live!" look-alike-but-different-enough-to-need-proprietar y-drivers (windows or linux) that dell (again) used? Bottom line, and what the article managed to point out as the real problem, end users don't have to install windows. If they really did, the 45-min format followed by frantic driver hunt after paying ~$200 would quickly end their little software adventure.
Actually, there's no secret to securing IIS of any version, really. Unplug the nic(s). Guaranteed 100% non-hackable without physical access. Simple. Any monkey can do it ;)