i don't understand why all the linux folks want the mainstream public converted over to linux!
i like the fact that because i run linux, i have more capability than the average windows joe. i like the fact that i am part of a technical movement that helps each other in times of need (newsgroups, forums). i like the fact that when my rights are threatened or otherwise, that it's this same group of folks that stand together (SCO?).
one of the things that MS doesn't have is the 'comminuty closeness' that *nix users have. this closeness is why linux innovation is an par with the biggest software company in the world.
i'm afraid that if linux were to ever win the desktop war, this closeness and community won't be as friendly or as helpful.
sure, we embrace IBM now, but for how long? you do realize that the way we feel about MS is similar to the way our fathers felt about IBM in the 70's.
Can you imagine worms and viruses that mass flag files for automatic destruction at random dates?
this brings up a very good point.
all of this document control shit that MS is putting in is really just a thorn in the side for technical users. i mean, even MS admits that destructed documents still leave copies on the Server as well as traces on the client. so, really what's the point? it's a complete false sense of security because underneath, the security really is non-existant.
also, i like the part in the Mecury News story where someone asks Bill Gates about the open source competition and he replies, `The distance between what we have and what the free software has is greater today than it's ever been'
i really don't believe that's true. have you noticed the great strides both KDE and Gnome have taken in the last 3 years? and i'm not even talking about the countless other projects that have advanced just as much.
right now, the 2 things that MS have going for it are application integration and market dominance. the things i've seen the open source community do in the last 3 years is nothing short of amazing. can you imagine what open source will have in the next 3?
While the plastic housing is convincing, it feels easy to scratch or crack. for a laptop, that's pretty important.
Nearly every other attempt to eject the CD resulted in the computer shutting down. that doesn't sound fun, but it's not a show stopper.
Also, the ports appear to just be cut out of the case with no protection to keep pins from bending, which takes away from the overall aesthetics. for a portable machine, this is pretty important.
Estimated battery life according to Panasonic is 7.5 hours. now, for a portable 2.8 lbs device, that just rocks!
There is signifigant light bleeding from the bottom of the screen which results in uneven illumination for the rest of the screen. uh oh, for a laptop, this is really, really bad. i mean, the screen is what you stare at all day long, right?
The keyboard has an anime-esque paint job, that we really liked in a cheesy "We understood Akira" way. and The anime styling borders on fun and tacky, but that's one of the reasons we liked it. oh!! so that's why it's on slashdot, because based on its merits as a functional laptop, it really isn't that big of a deal.
The where handed an ungodly amount of positive publicity/hype when Java came out, and then they just seemed to p*ss it away.
i don't think they're so much pissing it away. i think that it just took a little time for businesses to realize that java wasn't living up to the hype.
but let's not let that blind ourselves to the fact that Sun's strategy with regards to making a profit off it with StarOffice isn't actually very good.
what part of their strategy is failing? they are certainly doing more development with it, and a new version (StarOffice 7) just recently was announced. i think that StarOffice is a terrific idea for all the businesses that 'want to get someone on the phone' should the product fail or not work correctly.
I saw a CA license plate with "LINUX" on it a few months ago.
you can get whatever you want on your plates.
I have LINUX plates on my car in California. here's a pic. also, this car is for sale. 2000 GTI VR6 GLX, gotta sell it fast, so the price is waay under bluebook. mail me at gti@ventura.nu if you're interested or want to see more pics.
Much of the money that is ineffiently spent on space exploration could, in theory, be put to good use feeding the hungry (or, vastly more importantly, making them able to feed themselves).
what's the point in feeding hungry people here when a 5 km astroid comes ripping thru our atmosphere and kills every single one of us?
on Earth, we have all our eggs sitting in one basket, and that's a really bad idea.
we got to get off this rock and start setting up civilizations elsewhere. i mean, we are far from this, but we need to make the small steps necessary to eventually get there.
i am still trying to understand something. for years now, proponents to the GPL keep saying (including this article) that if you adopt GPL code into your project, then you have to open source and make available your entire project.
isn't this not true?
let's do an example: i make some new embedded linux device that makes popcorn. let's say i made some small kernel modifications to support my application which makes the popcorn.
wouldn't i only have to release the source to my modified kernel? i wouldn't have to open source the application itself.
I was a sysop on the 64 and DOS machine, and now I'm a sysadmin. I guess it's in the blood, or something.
my progression is nearly the same as yours, except i went the Amiga route from 1989 till about 1994 before finally conceding to the x86 platform.
i also was a sysop in the c64 days. from 1985 to 1988 i ran a heavily modified version (still got a printout of the code!) of CNET version 10, which was just great BBS software. also back then, handles were more cute, like Blackbeard, Pizza Man and Dark Wizard.
of course, phreaking was huge (and a lot of freakin fun i might add) back then, and so was trashing which was climbing into a PacBell dumpster in the middle of the night with a backpack and a flashlight, fishing out unbelievable documentation.
perhaps things were more fun then because government agencies (local and federal) didn't have any clue as to what was going on. here was all these kids doing all these illegal things without a worry or care in the world, and it really wasn't until the late eighties and nineties that law enforcement started to 'get the picture' and start cracking down.
i've ran linux exclusively (except for gaming) now since 1998, and yeah, it gives me the same warm and fuzzy feeling that the vic20, c64 and amiga did.
indeed it does run in the blood, i'm a sysadmin, too!
Unfortunately a lot of websites are designed to look and work their best on that lousy W3C compliant browser.
yes, this was a good point several years ago, but let me tell you that it's very rare when i stumble upon a website that doesn't look right. do me a favor, download mozilla firebird (for windows no doubt) and give it shot. i promise you will be impressed.
Why do I get the feeling that the posts about $2 MS products in Russia are being made by MS representatives?
ack, have at you! i've never been so insulted...
The main reason that I ask is that I keep seeing all of these posts about how Linux isn't used much in Russia because MS is $2 on the corner (always $2).
ok, ok i'll be a bit more honest. i've seen winxp for between 60 and 120 roubles, which is between $2 and $4.
i've been living in Saint Petersburg now for 6 months. i haven't met a fellow linux geek, but i have met a ton of windows weenies. i've installed linux on a dozen computers, but i find that the users play with it for 2 or 3 days, then boot back up into winxp.
perhaps i should look into locating a Saint Pete users group here.
i really don't understand what's stopping a big news agency like CNN from doing a 'Block popups with Mozilla'. perhaps not three years ago, but Mozilla certainly is good enough to hold its own against IE now.
my dad kept complaining about the number of popups he was having; i simply replaced his IE with mozilla. other than no more popups, he didn't notice any other differences. in fact, later he accidently deleted the mozilla icon and called me wanting to know how to start 'his IE' back up.
if microsoft included both IE and Mozilla in their operating systems, i'm curious what would happen to the marketshare numbers...
As an American living in Russia, let me tell you about the linux scoop: there is practically no linux here. why? because MS is free, or practically free. I can run down to the metro station and pick up MS winxp, MS office for 2 bucks a pop (licenses included). Games and DVD's are no different, and they have all the latest stuff. it's quite common when purchasing commerical software that the 'crack' resides on the same CD as the software. Games are just the same Russia has a beyond serious pirating problem (I'm sort of not complaining, I was tired of paying $50 per game in the US).
If a business has an option to run on linux for free or windows for free, they would probably choose windows, and that's what they do here.
I would love to see some member of the SPA or MS come here and try to do an company audit on any of the businesses here. i guarantee you these people would be left crawling out of the building with broken legs.
I've been a linux consultant and my business has been running since 1999, and in the States we're doing pretty good. I thought it would be easy to do some consulting here in Russia.
are you kidding? the only consulting I've been doing here is for a company in Sweden...
because internet costs here by the megabyte (usually between 3 and 6 cents per meg), i've written an accounting and billing application (iptables, php, mysql) that counts packets NAT'd behind the firewall for each machine. the whole thing runs on linux, and i'm finding more and more private underground networks that are more than willing to adopt linux to perform this function.
believe me, i'm trying like mad to get people interested in linux over here, but the fact that all MS products are practically free keeps getting in the way.
You don't go up to a sliding door at a supermarket and say open to tell it that you absolutely want it to open.
your logic and example go hand in hand. when i walk up to a sliding glass door, of course i want it to open. i would not have walked up otherwise. how often do you *not* want the sliding glass door to open? pretty much never. how often do you *not* want windows autuplaying a CD? at least 50 percent of the time.
If you worked at Dell or Gateway for tech support...
ahh, so that's your problem! sorry dude. i hear that taco bell is hiring friendly people. (i'm guessing that because you're apparently dense, you might be friendly).
Besides, being a moron...
personal experience?
So from that logic...
please, don't say the word logic. i don't think that word means what you think it means.
My favorite of course being Young's double chocolate stout.
what a strange coincidence! i don't know how popular Young's is, but i happened to see it in a little Finnish town on my way into Russia and bought it on an impulse.
what a terrific beer, rich and creamy with only a hint of chocolate. i don't know what other countries carries this, but i recommend it to anyone that can appreciate a good stout.
I run several emails accounts; one is ultimately public and receives around forty spams a day...another goes out to friends and people who know that the 'forward' button is a dangerous tool. The second receives No spam.
i've used this method since 1998 or so, and it works really well! since that time, my 'private' email address was spam free, but then just this year, a family member decided to send me an online birthday card.
that was it, this one single submission to a free birthday card now nets me between 5 and 10 spams a day. it is progressing as my email address is now undoubtably being sold on new mailing lists.
so, heads up everyone that uses a private email address for friends and family. be sure that they know how to keep your email address private as well as yourself.
Slashdot Mirror
i don't understand why all the linux folks want the mainstream public converted over to linux!
i like the fact that because i run linux, i have more capability than the average windows joe.
i like the fact that i am part of a technical movement that helps each other in times of need (newsgroups, forums).
i like the fact that when my rights are threatened or otherwise, that it's this same group of folks that stand together (SCO?).
one of the things that MS doesn't have is the 'comminuty closeness' that *nix users have.
this closeness is why linux innovation is an par with the biggest software company in the world.
i'm afraid that if linux were to ever win the desktop war, this closeness and community won't be as friendly or as helpful.
sure, we embrace IBM now, but for how long? you do realize that the way we feel about MS is similar to the way our fathers felt about IBM in the 70's.
"The words of the prophets are written on the Slashdot walls."
that's the spirit!
oh my god!
They've killed Clippy.
you bastards!
Can you imagine worms and viruses that mass flag files for automatic destruction at random dates?
this brings up a very good point.
all of this document control shit that MS is putting in is really just a thorn in the side for technical users. i mean, even MS admits that destructed documents still leave copies on the Server as well as traces on the client.
so, really what's the point? it's a complete false sense of security because underneath, the security really is non-existant.
also, i like the part in the Mecury News story where someone asks Bill Gates about the open source competition and he replies, `The distance between what we have and what the free software has is greater today than it's ever been'
i really don't believe that's true. have you noticed the great strides both KDE and Gnome have taken in the last 3 years? and i'm not even talking about the countless other projects that have advanced just as much.
right now, the 2 things that MS have going for it are application integration and market dominance. the things i've seen the open source community do in the last 3 years is nothing short of amazing. can you imagine what open source will have in the next 3?
a basic text editor with search/replace is fine for 99% of things.
have you ever considered that other users do more complicated things with an editor other than writing a letter to grandma?
one day, you might even look back on this post and think, 'gee i'm dumb'.
wow, i didn't realize that linux 2.6 has been released as stable!
are you an Amiga fan, too?
let's look at some important issues...
While the plastic housing is convincing, it feels easy to scratch or crack.
for a laptop, that's pretty important.
Nearly every other attempt to eject the CD resulted in the computer shutting down.
that doesn't sound fun, but it's not a show stopper.
Also, the ports appear to just be cut out of the case with no protection to keep pins from bending, which takes away from the overall aesthetics.
for a portable machine, this is pretty important.
Estimated battery life according to Panasonic is 7.5 hours.
now, for a portable 2.8 lbs device, that just rocks!
There is signifigant light bleeding from the bottom of the screen which results in uneven illumination for the rest of the screen.
uh oh, for a laptop, this is really, really bad. i mean, the screen is what you stare at all day long, right?
The keyboard has an anime-esque paint job, that we really liked in a cheesy "We understood Akira" way.
and
The anime styling borders on fun and tacky, but that's one of the reasons we liked it.
oh!! so that's why it's on slashdot, because based on its merits as a functional laptop, it really isn't that big of a deal.
The where handed an ungodly amount of positive publicity/hype when Java came out, and then they just seemed to p*ss it away.
i don't think they're so much pissing it away. i think that it just took a little time for businesses to realize that java wasn't living up to the hype.
but let's not let that blind ourselves to the fact that Sun's strategy with regards to making a profit off it with StarOffice isn't actually very good.
what part of their strategy is failing? they are certainly doing more development with it, and a new version (StarOffice 7) just recently was announced.
i think that StarOffice is a terrific idea for all the businesses that 'want to get someone on the phone' should the product fail or not work correctly.
I bid 10,000 quatloos for that POS...
if i don't get a better offer before the end of November, it's yours.
I saw a CA license plate with "LINUX" on it a few months ago.
you can get whatever you want on your plates.
I have LINUX plates on my car in California.
here's a pic.
also, this car is for sale. 2000 GTI VR6 GLX, gotta sell it fast, so the price is waay under bluebook. mail me at gti@ventura.nu if you're interested or want to see more pics.
Much of the money that is ineffiently spent on space exploration could, in theory, be put to good use feeding the hungry (or, vastly more importantly, making them able to feed themselves).
what's the point in feeding hungry people here when a 5 km astroid comes ripping thru our atmosphere and kills every single one of us?
on Earth, we have all our eggs sitting in one basket, and that's a really bad idea.
we got to get off this rock and start setting up civilizations elsewhere. i mean, we are far from this, but we need to make the small steps necessary to eventually get there.
at least now when you ask your friend's mom what ISP she uses and she says 'Netscape', you won't think she's a freakin moron.
oh wait..
i am still trying to understand something. for years now, proponents to the GPL keep saying (including this article) that if you adopt GPL code into your project, then you have to open source and make available your entire project.
isn't this not true?
let's do an example: i make some new embedded linux device that makes popcorn. let's say i made some small kernel modifications to support my application which makes the popcorn.
wouldn't i only have to release the source to my modified kernel? i wouldn't have to open source the application itself.
I was a sysop on the 64 and DOS machine, and now I'm a sysadmin. I guess it's in the blood, or something.
my progression is nearly the same as yours, except i went the Amiga route from 1989 till about 1994 before finally conceding to the x86 platform.
i also was a sysop in the c64 days. from 1985 to 1988 i ran a heavily modified version (still got a printout of the code!) of CNET version 10, which was just great BBS software.
also back then, handles were more cute, like Blackbeard, Pizza Man and Dark Wizard.
of course, phreaking was huge (and a lot of freakin fun i might add) back then, and so was trashing which was climbing into a PacBell dumpster in the middle of the night with a backpack and a flashlight, fishing out unbelievable documentation.
perhaps things were more fun then because government agencies (local and federal) didn't have any clue as to what was going on. here was all these kids doing all these illegal things without a worry or care in the world, and it really wasn't until the late eighties and nineties that law enforcement started to 'get the picture' and start cracking down.
i've ran linux exclusively (except for gaming) now since 1998, and yeah, it gives me the same warm and fuzzy feeling that the vic20, c64 and amiga did.
indeed it does run in the blood, i'm a sysadmin, too!
What's a movie without a $10 bucket of popcorn and a 7.50 keg of cherry coke!?!
yeah! and let's not forget that $3.50 big pack of milk duds to go with that 'corn.
Unfortunately a lot of websites are designed to look and work their best on that lousy W3C compliant browser.
yes, this was a good point several years ago, but let me tell you that it's very rare when i stumble upon a website that doesn't look right.
do me a favor, download mozilla firebird (for windows no doubt) and give it shot. i promise you will be impressed.
Why do I get the feeling that the posts about $2 MS products in Russia are being made by MS representatives?
ack, have at you! i've never been so insulted...
The main reason that I ask is that I keep seeing all of these posts about how Linux isn't used much in Russia because MS is $2 on the corner (always $2).
ok, ok i'll be a bit more honest. i've seen winxp for between 60 and 120 roubles, which is between $2 and $4.
i've been living in Saint Petersburg now for 6 months. i haven't met a fellow linux geek, but i have met a ton of windows weenies. i've installed linux on a dozen computers, but i find that the users play with it for 2 or 3 days, then boot back up into winxp.
perhaps i should look into locating a Saint Pete users group here.
i really don't understand what's stopping a big news agency like CNN from doing a 'Block popups with Mozilla'.
perhaps not three years ago, but Mozilla certainly is good enough to hold its own against IE now.
my dad kept complaining about the number of popups he was having; i simply replaced his IE with mozilla. other than no more popups, he didn't notice any other differences. in fact, later he accidently deleted the mozilla icon and called me wanting to know how to start 'his IE' back up.
if microsoft included both IE and Mozilla in their operating systems, i'm curious what would happen to the marketshare numbers...
yes, yes! and all the stormtroopers guns can be replaced with walkie talkies!
As an American living in Russia, let me tell you about the linux scoop:
there is practically no linux here. why? because MS is free, or practically free.
I can run down to the metro station and pick up MS winxp, MS office for 2 bucks a pop (licenses included).
Games and DVD's are no different, and they have all the latest stuff.
it's quite common when purchasing commerical software that the 'crack' resides on the same CD as the software.
Games are just the same
Russia has a beyond serious pirating problem (I'm sort of not complaining, I was tired of paying $50 per game in the US).
If a business has an option to run on linux for free or windows for free, they would probably choose windows, and that's what they do here.
I would love to see some member of the SPA or MS come here and try to do an company audit on any of the businesses here. i guarantee you these people would be left crawling out of the building with broken legs.
I've been a linux consultant and my business has been running since 1999, and in the States we're doing pretty good. I thought it would be easy to do some consulting here in Russia.
are you kidding? the only consulting I've been doing here is for a company in Sweden...
because internet costs here by the megabyte (usually between 3 and 6 cents per meg), i've written an accounting and billing application (iptables, php, mysql) that counts packets NAT'd behind the firewall for each machine. the whole thing runs on linux, and i'm finding more and more private underground networks that are more than willing to adopt linux to perform this function.
believe me, i'm trying like mad to get people interested in linux over here, but the fact that all MS products are practically free keeps getting in the way.
You don't go up to a sliding door at a supermarket and say open to tell it that you absolutely want it to open.
your logic and example go hand in hand.
when i walk up to a sliding glass door, of course i want it to open. i would not have walked up otherwise.
how often do you *not* want the sliding glass door to open? pretty much never.
how often do you *not* want windows autuplaying a CD? at least 50 percent of the time.
If you worked at Dell or Gateway for tech support...
ahh, so that's your problem! sorry dude. i hear that taco bell is hiring friendly people. (i'm guessing that because you're apparently dense, you might be friendly).
Besides, being a moron...
personal experience?
So from that logic...
please, don't say the word logic. i don't think that word means what you think it means.
My favorite of course being Young's double chocolate stout.
what a strange coincidence! i don't know how popular Young's is, but i happened to see it in a little Finnish town on my way into Russia and bought it on an impulse.
what a terrific beer, rich and creamy with only a hint of chocolate. i don't know what other countries carries this, but i recommend it to anyone that can appreciate a good stout.
I run several emails accounts; one is ultimately public and receives around forty spams a day...another goes out to friends and people who know that the 'forward' button is a dangerous tool. The second receives No spam.
i've used this method since 1998 or so, and it works really well! since that time, my 'private' email address was spam free, but then just this year, a family member decided to send me an online birthday card.
that was it, this one single submission to a free birthday card now nets me between 5 and 10 spams a day. it is progressing as my email address is now undoubtably being sold on new mailing lists.
so, heads up everyone that uses a private email address for friends and family. be sure that they know how to keep your email address private as well as yourself.
and the wooden ones smell good!
i don't know about you, but the smell of a pencil inspires me to write...
The ability to patch the kernel yourself is the only advantage Linux provides there
..blah blah.. ~/bin, etc., instead of being forced to put it in Program Files?
not very accurate. 100 percent of my system is open and patchable. what's your percentage with windows, like maybe 1 percent?
Oh, do you mean how in Linux
you mean progra~1?
yep, you sound like a windows user. a little hint.. stick with it, you're doing great.