You just need to look at how many people are entering computer science (20,000 a year in the UK, I think) to see that plenty of people (such as me, 15) are *actually* interested in computing, and not just games and making crappy Powerpoint animations.
Most of the people in my classes know more than their parents about computers. That is a fact, and they are probably teaching their parents a little (or at least helping with problems).
There are about 3 people in each year of 240 who are interested in programming, and another 10 who can write basic HTML. Beyond that, almost everybody uses MSN, Hotmail/Gmail and browses the web. Some also play computer games.
Granted, they don't pick up much computer knowledge (a lot of which is MS-centric) but it's usually more than their parents.
>Or at least, until the distro-vendor goes bust, or stops supporting their version, or the upgrade program becomes obsolete, or the size of the upgrade is too massive for their internet connection, either because of speed or quotas.
Very few distro vendors have gone bust, and most are using package managers from other systems.
Stops supporting their version? *Upgrades*are*free*. There might be a program you need to install (called "base-system" or something) before you can get any newer updates, but that shouldn't cause problems. Besides, that "problem" happens with Windows and OS X too, except that then you need to pay for the upgrade.
Upgrade program becomes obsolete? Again they can get the new program, probably from the upgrade program itself. (portage can update portage, apt-get can get apt, etc). (Similarly, Internet Explorer can get the latest Windows Update ActiveX control)
Upgrade too large? That is not the distro vendor's fault. The distros compress everything anyway, and there's nothing more they can do. Besides, the person can get just the upgrades for the programs they use most. (Or most need upgrades for.) This "problem" happens with XP and OS X too. (More so for XP, with massive cumulative updates and service packs which must be installed to get later security updates.)
Fighting it? If it caused any problems, they can uninstall it.
>>Linux update is the best on most distros. It can update your kernel and *almost*every*program* on your computer
>But normal consumers don't want to update the kernel, and anything else is not `linux update'. If consumers wanted a way to update whatever freeware they have on their Windoze machines, it would exist (and does, for instance, with cygwin). Real consumers don't want it, basicly because few of them install significant amounmts of such software, and of those who do, fewer are interested in keeping at the cutting edge.
They would want to update the kernel if they find out it fixes some bugs that might apply to them, has some performance tweaks, or fixes a security issue.
People would appreciate a way to update their programs, but this has the problem that there is too much duplication in programs: there are many mail clients, many advanced text editors, etc. and many have wierd things like not offering direct downloads, having massive installation programs etc.
On Linux the packages are simply source tarballs or (for binary distros) a package providing the binaries and an indication of the library dependencies. Can you imagine trying to find out exactly what a Windows program requires?
>Commercial software houses make their own choices. I have no idea why the big games houses haven't gotten together to create a unified update mechanism, presumably ferrets-in-a-sack issues, but they would be unlikely to act differently on Linux.
I don't know what the ferrets are, but I imagine they can't be bothered. If somebody can't be bothered to run a certain company's upgrade-checking program, can they even be bothered to run the game?
To anybody who wants the joke explained: this is what you would have to say to get into a bank. You buy the voice recorder program, check the administrator's voice number at the bank's public site, call them, open voice recorder, it changes their mutterings of "hello? hello?" to "my voice is my passport. Verify me". Then you connect to the bank and wheeeeee!
> That article continues by marking down OSX for not having a 'live cd' despite there being no conceivable reason for a Mac owner to need one
True. Windows wasn't marked down for no LiveCD as far as I can remember. That doesn't matter, though, because you need external programs to do practically anything.
> marks Windows down for lack of built in Excel support (jesus, how monolithic do you want your OS?)
Everybody else managed to put spreadsheet support in. It's important because the de facto spreadsheet program is from the same company and costs a lot of money. (Same for word processing and presentations)
> then adds marks to a Linux distro for having a windows emulator without saying how well it works, or that Windows doesn't need one!
Yes, I was also surprised when they didn't mention Windows "sort of" has a Windows emulator. (They could have titled the column "Windows programs compatible"). Also they didn't mention you can get wine for all those distros.
> and practically no marks are given for stability or security,
Very stupid indeed.
> leads me to wonder if the author even knows what an OS is - certainly any non tech-savvy readers won't know after reading the article.
The OS nowadays is not about the kernel; it's about the package. There's no point offering comparisons of kernels for desktop use. An OS is nowadays considered to include the apps bundled with it.
>>The author doesn't bother explaining that Linux is free, >To a consumer-user Linux is not free, they would want to get it in a nice supported package, not a download form some obscure place on the internet. So they'd be paying for a box in a shop.
At least they get upgrades forever.
>>that updates to Linux are free
>Er, unlike Windows Update? Or the MacOS-X update system which keeps changing how Safari is broken this week?
Windows Update has only small additions and does not do anything about "third-party" programs. It offers basic bug fixes and security updates and the occassional new program (Journal Viewer, Windows Media Player updates,.NET Framework, DirectX updates). It doesn't even update MSN Messenger or any other Microsoft packages.
Mac OS X update is better. You get plenty of smaller updates, including new features, but you still need to pay for major updates.
Linux update is the best on most distros. It can update your kernel and *almost*every*program* on your computer, even stuff which wasn't included in the OS.
Actually, on Windows it's Start -> All Programs -> Company Name -> Product Name
Or maybe Start -> All Programs -> Company Name -> Product Name -> Start Product (instead of readme, register, uninstall...)
Or maybe Start -> All Programs -> Product Name -> Start Product
Or if you're in luck, Start -> All Programs -> Product Name.
Gnome and KDE are much better there. The menu items use generic names ("Movie Player" -> Totem), too. Microsoft just call their products by generic name.;)
"Get a clue Microsoft! The Google Toolbar supplements basic lack of features in IE (such as auto-complete, search box, and pop blocker). When it's your product, you don't need to add a toolbar extension, you just add the features to to the goddamn browser itself!"
They would be bashed into a pulp by people talking about taking advantage of Windows monopoly to create IE monopoly to create MSN Search/Hotmail/MSN Groups/etc monopoly.
Gimp is actually a fairly compact tool compared to Photoshop, which insists on being in a huge window...
As opposed to GIMP, whose slew of windows is extremely confusing and requires its own workspace, which stops me from seeing all my other applications. Just like Photoshop.
If only GIMP had MDI, I would be... happier with it than I already am. I already am happy.
I understand it's some Gtk+ problem stopping them?
Please, tell me some more! Gnome apps rule in this. The menu items almost always make sense. (Except for the games and, well, "Archive Manager" is a tad complicated.)
Gnome by default has menus showing the descriptions of programs. "Image Viewer" will launch "Eye of GNOME" (an awful name IMO), "Archive Manager" -> "File Roller", etc.
KDE has a preference to turn this on (or place these descriptions in brackets, or add the name in brackets, etc) but the only way to change this in Gnome is to right-click every item and change the name. I don't mind.
Examine the Gnome HIG and you will see that any distribution changing this behaviour is not following the HIG.
The problem with this (the Gnome way, that is) is that third-party apps begin to hack at the beauty. "Openoffice.org 1.1.2 Writer"; "Gaim Instant Messenger"; "Galeon Web Browser" all go against the grain.
> DVD-menu editing is quite a fringe item. A simple script could whip-up a nice generic menu for whatever set of videos you want to master.
I was thinking of the advanced sort with animations, cool graphics, switches (subtitles on/off) and so on. The sort of menus you can see in most commercial DVDs. (Follow that link to doom9.net (unless that's.org, I forget) to see what I mean.)
I understand that professional graphics artists have Mac OS X as their OS of choice. They would be easy to convert... right?
CAD Good IDEs Movie/animation editing Professional DVD menu editing (Look, it's complicated) Graphical LOGO Macromedia Flash or Shockwave editor (or editor of something similarly good) Vector-based drawing
How you set the font to Arial? Don't loose your precious time with such details. If you really want to, it's buried in that hard to reach sub-menu, and will apply to all paragraphs with the same style. What is a style? 50 minutes explaining (Real) word processors. If they get it, they will love it. If they don't get it, they will stay away from the font sub-menu.)
Funny, that. Since Office XP and its addition of the Task Pane (that thing on the right), I have usually left it on "Styles and formatting". I don't go right down to defining a style called "Emphasis" which is italics, but I do various other things. Very handy.
People adding new lines instead of page breaks? Pah! I've seen people pressing space instead of centering! Even on an old Acorn computer which has a word processor with about 20 buttons! (Compare to Word, not forgetting the menu...) On the other hand, they were only 8... but so was I, and I managed.
Slashdot Mirror
.Net is new. DLL hell was before that.
.Net.
Most applications still don't use
>- try to edit a LaTeX document with Abiword or OpenOffice
... fuckin' anything.
.tex).
>Try to edit a PDF in
He clearly meant the source file (usually
Piss off.
You just need to look at how many people are entering computer science (20,000 a year in the UK, I think) to see that plenty of people (such as me, 15) are *actually* interested in computing, and not just games and making crappy Powerpoint animations.
Most of the people in my classes know more than their parents about computers. That is a fact, and they are probably teaching their parents a little (or at least helping with problems).
There are about 3 people in each year of 240 who are interested in programming, and another 10 who can write basic HTML. Beyond that, almost everybody uses MSN, Hotmail/Gmail and browses the web. Some also play computer games.
Granted, they don't pick up much computer knowledge (a lot of which is MS-centric) but it's usually more than their parents.
>>At least they get upgrades forever.
>Or at least, until the distro-vendor goes bust, or stops supporting their version, or the upgrade program becomes obsolete, or the size of the upgrade is too massive for their internet connection, either because of speed or quotas.
Very few distro vendors have gone bust, and most are using package managers from other systems.
Stops supporting their version? *Upgrades*are*free*. There might be a program you need to install (called "base-system" or something) before you can get any newer updates, but that shouldn't cause problems. Besides, that "problem" happens with Windows and OS X too, except that then you need to pay for the upgrade.
Upgrade program becomes obsolete? Again they can get the new program, probably from the upgrade program itself. (portage can update portage, apt-get can get apt, etc). (Similarly, Internet Explorer can get the latest Windows Update ActiveX control)
Upgrade too large? That is not the distro vendor's fault. The distros compress everything anyway, and there's nothing more they can do. Besides, the person can get just the upgrades for the programs they use most. (Or most need upgrades for.) This "problem" happens with XP and OS X too. (More so for XP, with massive cumulative updates and service packs which must be installed to get later security updates.)
You can get the CD and do a repair installation in that case. Granted, you might have got it through OEM, in which case you're screwed.
>>Windows Update has only small additions
>Tell that to people fighting the effects of SP2.
Fighting it? If it caused any problems, they can uninstall it.
>>Linux update is the best on most distros. It can update your kernel and *almost*every*program* on your computer
>But normal consumers don't want to update the kernel, and anything else is not `linux update'. If consumers wanted a way to update whatever freeware they have on their Windoze machines, it would exist (and does, for instance, with cygwin). Real consumers don't want it, basicly because few of them install significant amounmts of such software, and of those who do, fewer are interested in keeping at the cutting edge.
They would want to update the kernel if they find out it fixes some bugs that might apply to them, has some performance tweaks, or fixes a security issue.
People would appreciate a way to update their programs, but this has the problem that there is too much duplication in programs: there are many mail clients, many advanced text editors, etc. and many have wierd things like not offering direct downloads, having massive installation programs etc.
On Linux the packages are simply source tarballs or (for binary distros) a package providing the binaries and an indication of the library dependencies. Can you imagine trying to find out exactly what a Windows program requires?
>Commercial software houses make their own choices. I have no idea why the big games houses haven't gotten together to create a unified update mechanism, presumably ferrets-in-a-sack issues, but they would be unlikely to act differently on Linux.
I don't know what the ferrets are, but I imagine they can't be bothered. If somebody can't be bothered to run a certain company's upgrade-checking program, can they even be bothered to run the game?
> Passwords. Gheesh. What year is this? The year of Linux on the desktop.
He said *past* employment. That could be a lie, though.
...played Uplink.
To anybody who wants the joke explained: this is what you would have to say to get into a bank. You buy the voice recorder program, check the administrator's voice number at the bank's public site, call them, open voice recorder, it changes their mutterings of "hello? hello?" to "my voice is my passport. Verify me". Then you connect to the bank and wheeeeee!
> That article continues by marking down OSX for not having a 'live cd' despite there being no conceivable reason for a Mac owner to need one
True. Windows wasn't marked down for no LiveCD as far as I can remember. That doesn't matter, though, because you need external programs to do practically anything.
> marks Windows down for lack of built in Excel support (jesus, how monolithic do you want your OS?)
Everybody else managed to put spreadsheet support in. It's important because the de facto spreadsheet program is from the same company and costs a lot of money. (Same for word processing and presentations)
> then adds marks to a Linux distro for having a windows emulator without saying how well it works, or that Windows doesn't need one!
Yes, I was also surprised when they didn't mention Windows "sort of" has a Windows emulator. (They could have titled the column "Windows programs compatible"). Also they didn't mention you can get wine for all those distros.
> and practically no marks are given for stability or security,
Very stupid indeed.
> leads me to wonder if the author even knows what an OS is - certainly any non tech-savvy readers won't know after reading the article.
The OS nowadays is not about the kernel; it's about the package. There's no point offering comparisons of kernels for desktop use. An OS is nowadays considered to include the apps bundled with it.
>>The author doesn't bother explaining that Linux is free,
.NET Framework, DirectX updates). It doesn't even update MSN Messenger or any other Microsoft packages.
>To a consumer-user Linux is not free, they would want to get it in a nice supported package, not a download form some obscure place on the internet. So they'd be paying for a box in a shop.
At least they get upgrades forever.
>>that updates to Linux are free
>Er, unlike Windows Update? Or the MacOS-X update system which keeps changing how Safari is broken this week?
Windows Update has only small additions and does not do anything about "third-party" programs. It offers basic bug fixes and security updates and the occassional new program (Journal Viewer, Windows Media Player updates,
Mac OS X update is better. You get plenty of smaller updates, including new features, but you still need to pay for major updates.
Linux update is the best on most distros. It can update your kernel and *almost*every*program* on your computer, even stuff which wasn't included in the OS.
Actually, on Windows it's Start -> All Programs -> Company Name -> Product Name
;)
Or maybe Start -> All Programs -> Company Name -> Product Name -> Start Product (instead of readme, register, uninstall...)
Or maybe Start -> All Programs -> Product Name -> Start Product
Or if you're in luck, Start -> All Programs -> Product Name.
Gnome and KDE are much better there. The menu items use generic names ("Movie Player" -> Totem), too. Microsoft just call their products by generic name.
MySQL does not do bounds checking for speed. It does not cough and die when given stuff beyond the storage capabilities of the field.
The character in the original book ("Howl's Moving Castle" by Diane Wynne Jones) was also named Sophie.
Mmm I don't get it. "No untrusted software"?
"Get a clue Microsoft! The Google Toolbar supplements basic lack of features in IE (such as auto-complete, search box, and pop blocker). When it's your product, you don't need to add a toolbar extension, you just add the features to to the goddamn browser itself!"
They would be bashed into a pulp by people talking about taking advantage of Windows monopoly to create IE monopoly to create MSN Search/Hotmail/MSN Groups/etc monopoly.
As opposed to GIMP, whose slew of windows is extremely confusing and requires its own workspace, which stops me from seeing all my other applications. Just like Photoshop.
If only GIMP had MDI, I would be... happier with it than I already am. I already am happy.
I understand it's some Gtk+ problem stopping them?
Is it called Safari on all the menus?
iLife.
Please, tell me some more! Gnome apps rule in this. The menu items almost always make sense. (Except for the games and, well, "Archive Manager" is a tad complicated.)
Agreed.
Gnome by default has menus showing the descriptions of programs. "Image Viewer" will launch "Eye of GNOME" (an awful name IMO), "Archive Manager" -> "File Roller", etc.
KDE has a preference to turn this on (or place these descriptions in brackets, or add the name in brackets, etc) but the only way to change this in Gnome is to right-click every item and change the name. I don't mind.
Examine the Gnome HIG and you will see that any distribution changing this behaviour is not following the HIG.
The problem with this (the Gnome way, that is) is that third-party apps begin to hack at the beauty. "Openoffice.org 1.1.2 Writer"; "Gaim Instant Messenger"; "Galeon Web Browser" all go against the grain.
Well, can you graphically create Qt or Gtk+ dialogs?
If so, why the hell is it an Emacs addon/plugin/thingy?
Actually, you would probably keep most of it... they wouldn't be able to use it to make many burritos. Sad stuff.
> DVD-menu editing is quite a fringe item. A simple script could whip-up a nice generic menu for whatever set of videos you want to master.
.org, I forget) to see what I mean.)
I was thinking of the advanced sort with animations, cool graphics, switches (subtitles on/off) and so on. The sort of menus you can see in most commercial DVDs. (Follow that link to doom9.net (unless that's
I understand that professional graphics artists have Mac OS X as their OS of choice. They would be easy to convert... right?
I thought it said:
Will Will Power Change Earth's Climate?
Bit odd, isn't it?
CAD
Good IDEs
Movie/animation editing
Professional DVD menu editing (Look, it's complicated)
Graphical LOGO
Macromedia Flash or Shockwave editor (or editor of something similarly good)
Vector-based drawing
Funny, that. Since Office XP and its addition of the Task Pane (that thing on the right), I have usually left it on "Styles and formatting". I don't go right down to defining a style called "Emphasis" which is italics, but I do various other things. Very handy.
People adding new lines instead of page breaks? Pah! I've seen people pressing space instead of centering! Even on an old Acorn computer which has a word processor with about 20 buttons! (Compare to Word, not forgetting the menu...) On the other hand, they were only 8... but so was I, and I managed.
Anyway. I clearly could go on for hours too.