Hello there,
I am a Canadian and I'm now in China teaching English and doing some freelance web development. I've been in China (Shanghai) for about 9 months now and to be honest it is VERY rare that I can't access any particuliar website. I remember just when I got here I did have some problems with a very few sites but then they seemed to have really cooled down lately about it since now these sites are easily accessible. Same thing with Google, they un-blocked it long time ago. I just tried both of the supposedly blocked websites (blogger and typepad) and I have absolutely no problem accessing these sites. I don't know where this information came from but they surely didn't block it for me!;)
I'm also pretty amazed by how easy and cheap it is to go online here (compared to Canada). I'm on a very fast cable connection, with no restrictions or quotas at all, and I pay about US 14$ (splitted between me and my flatmate). In Canada I have to pay over CDN 35$ for a cable connection that gives me like 6 gig max of downloads and a crappy 15k/s upload speed limit...
Anyways I just thought I should share that information with you guys as I feel sometimes we westerners tend to bitch a lot about China and its government without really seeing how things really are in the real world. China is under very heavy and fast transformations right now, as much economically than socially, and I think Shanghai is probably the best place to actually see that LIVE in front of your eyes. Shanghai is definately opening up to the world and its a pretty cool and fun place to live in (and party!) nowadays. You should see how fast skyscrapers are growing like mushrooms around here, it's quite unbelievable. And I haven't said anything about the amazing transportation system and its modern facilities... I still can't believe they can put these flat LCDs and huge plasma screens about every 5 meters in the metro, when I can't even afford one of those myself (Grr). Oh btw, I saw those terminals reboot once or twice, and yes it runs under Linux;) The cultural changes are there as well, as the younger generations seem not to differ as much as westerners anymore... But at the same time it's a bit of a shame cuz with McDonalds and KFC invading China (There's a famous street in Shanghai, Nanjing rd. where there is a McDonald's or KFC about every 100 meters!) I see SO many very FAT youngsters, which is something almost impossible to see amongst the 20+ and older generations... Too bad, I guess the amazing fact that chinese woman are all very thin and healthy looking will be something of the past and to remember... sigh!;)
There's a lot more to say but oh well, that was just my 2 cents about China...
When I first heard about this cluster I remember thinking that it didn't make much sense at first for them to use big PowerMac G5s when the Xserves seems to be a much more logical solution for such purpose(power consumtion, takes much less space, etc). So my thought is that they actually planned this already, they just wanted to make a big marketing hit with the PowerMac G5s to sell more of them, and then now they just replace them for something that makes more sense.
Might be wrong, but that's just an idea.(maybe the fact that I just watched "pirates of silicon valley" makes me do a bit more thinking about Apple's marketing strategies now:)
Ok, I don't know anything about FastTrack etc, but would this means that we can now finally use the old KaZaa "kza" linux version app again to go and search the same files as Morpheus users? I really liked it back when the old Linux kza app allowed me to search and download files on the Kazaa network straight from the Linux console.. That'd be great if I could use it again... *sigh*
The last Linux program I installed (gnomba) only required me to type my superuser password then this:
urpmi gnomba
I also could have clicked on a gnomba.rpm file and it would have requested for my password, that's it.
So yes, this guy lives in the same world as yours.
My intention wasn't to make an ass out of anyone, sorry if I sounded like that. My point was just that Linux apps are NOT ALWAYS following and copying windows... There ARE some innovative and great features under Linux GUIs that windows doesn't have without the help of some bloated and slow add-ons that are most of the time not free.
Now to answer your question, I'm using Mandrake 9.0, so yes, I do get all these features without messing around, and only after a 20 minutes install, that goes on while I watch TV in another room. Not to mention that all my hardware gets detected and configured automatically. I know that a lot of people bitch against Mandrake but I think it is a great distro for any newbie that wants to give Linux a try. Its installation is easy and it gives you a full featured and working workstation in minutes. Isn't that what we've been waiting for?
About vectorialized icons, I agree that icons aren't an important thing in a OS, all I was saying is that WinXP doesnt even have that yet. And you KNOW that most windows regular users are more interested in pretty icons than a console. So if Linux offers something better for them, it's another point for Linux on the desktop.
I'm sorry but Linux GUIs are way ahead of winXP on many levels... You seriously need to try Linux before even talking about its "non-innovative" GUIs. Does windows offer any good multiples workspaces options yet? Can you hold ALT then click anywhere inside a window to move it under window? Are windows icons vectorials and freely resizable yet? Can you listen to an mp3 or.ogg file just by moving your mouse over it yet? Can you tell a window to "stay on top" all the others all the time under Windows? You really need to get more info about what environments like Gnome 2 or KDE 3 are like before talking about it.
I do agree with you tho that Linux doesn't have everything like CD burning integrated into something like konqueror or Nautilus yet tho... But whatever, I wouldn't use it anyways, I hate WinXP ways of burning CDs.. You don't have much control over it and it's really annoying.
Linux will kick everyone's ass in not more than a couple of years.
5 years is like an eternity in the computer technologies world, I don't think anybody can or should predict what it will be like in 5 years, but I do think it gives a LOT of time for Linux to GROW and get more mainstream acceptance. It is already way superior than windows and it sure is growing much faster. Let's now see how fast the software vendors adapt themselves to that.
Show them how you can play and stream quicktime and windows media player files using MPlayer. MPlayer's latest release just plays about any format/codec possible. Don't forget to mention that it's free and open-source.
OpenOffice is important to demonstrate as well. Also talk about hardware compatibily and maybe show a TV tuner or webcam running under it. Maybe demonstrate Gnomemeeting for videoconferencing. Samba definately is worth talking about too.
Demonstrate Gaim, and Amsn for keeping in touch with the usual instant messenging buddies. Show a flash site, and some java. OpenGL and WineX for games...
You could aslo make them realize how the console can be useful by showing them how easily you can download a file from a "HTTP://" url by using "wget http://somewhere.com/somemovie.mov", instead of getting an annoying quicktime player embedded to start under internet explorer when typing in the url. Also how they can e-mail quickly from it using "mail someone@somewhere.com".
I guess i have tons of other ideas, I think the most important is to demonstrate how they can find alternative software as valuable if not better than what they use already.. They don't want to miss their every day-to-day apps!
If you have any chance to see the movie "Antitrust", pay attention to the computers desktops, most of them are using Gnome, you can clearly see the big Foot. Also sometimes when u see them typing, it's a Unix prompt. It's interesting because in most other movies we always see un-realistic weird looking OSes, like you said.
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Hello there, I am a Canadian and I'm now in China teaching English and doing some freelance web development. I've been in China (Shanghai) for about 9 months now and to be honest it is VERY rare that I can't access any particuliar website. I remember just when I got here I did have some problems with a very few sites but then they seemed to have really cooled down lately about it since now these sites are easily accessible. Same thing with Google, they un-blocked it long time ago. I just tried both of the supposedly blocked websites (blogger and typepad) and I have absolutely no problem accessing these sites. I don't know where this information came from but they surely didn't block it for me! ;)
I'm also pretty amazed by how easy and cheap it is to go online here (compared to Canada). I'm on a very fast cable connection, with no restrictions or quotas at all, and I pay about US 14$ (splitted between me and my flatmate). In Canada I have to pay over CDN 35$ for a cable connection that gives me like 6 gig max of downloads and a crappy 15k/s upload speed limit...
Anyways I just thought I should share that information with you guys as I feel sometimes we westerners tend to bitch a lot about China and its government without really seeing how things really are in the real world. China is under very heavy and fast transformations right now, as much economically than socially, and I think Shanghai is probably the best place to actually see that LIVE in front of your eyes. Shanghai is definately opening up to the world and its a pretty cool and fun place to live in (and party!) nowadays. You should see how fast skyscrapers are growing like mushrooms around here, it's quite unbelievable. And I haven't said anything about the amazing transportation system and its modern facilities... I still can't believe they can put these flat LCDs and huge plasma screens about every 5 meters in the metro, when I can't even afford one of those myself (Grr). Oh btw, I saw those terminals reboot once or twice, and yes it runs under Linux ;) The cultural changes are there as well, as the younger generations seem not to differ as much as westerners anymore... But at the same time it's a bit of a shame cuz with McDonalds and KFC invading China (There's a famous street in Shanghai, Nanjing rd. where there is a McDonald's or KFC about every 100 meters!) I see SO many very FAT youngsters, which is something almost impossible to see amongst the 20+ and older generations... Too bad, I guess the amazing fact that chinese woman are all very thin and healthy looking will be something of the past and to remember... sigh! ;)
There's a lot more to say but oh well, that was just my 2 cents about China...
For that price It must be Microsoft bidding on it as they don't want it to fall into anyone's hands :P
Thats nice of them... But they still don't replace your iPod battery when it dies after 18 months... do they now?
When I first heard about this cluster I remember thinking that it didn't make much sense at first for them to use big PowerMac G5s when the Xserves seems to be a much more logical solution for such purpose(power consumtion, takes much less space, etc). So my thought is that they actually planned this already, they just wanted to make a big marketing hit with the PowerMac G5s to sell more of them, and then now they just replace them for something that makes more sense.
:)
Might be wrong, but that's just an idea.(maybe the fact that I just watched "pirates of silicon valley" makes me do a bit more thinking about Apple's marketing strategies now
Ok, I don't know anything about FastTrack etc, but would this means that we can now finally use the old KaZaa "kza" linux version app again to go and search the same files as Morpheus users? I really liked it back when the old Linux kza app allowed me to search and download files on the Kazaa network straight from the Linux console.. That'd be great if I could use it again... *sigh*
The last Linux program I installed (gnomba) only required me to type my superuser password then this: urpmi gnomba I also could have clicked on a gnomba.rpm file and it would have requested for my password, that's it. So yes, this guy lives in the same world as yours.
My intention wasn't to make an ass out of anyone, sorry if I sounded like that. My point was just that Linux apps are NOT ALWAYS following and copying windows... There ARE some innovative and great features under Linux GUIs that windows doesn't have without the help of some bloated and slow add-ons that are most of the time not free.
Now to answer your question, I'm using Mandrake 9.0, so yes, I do get all these features without messing around, and only after a 20 minutes install, that goes on while I watch TV in another room. Not to mention that all my hardware gets detected and configured automatically. I know that a lot of people bitch against Mandrake but I think it is a great distro for any newbie that wants to give Linux a try. Its installation is easy and it gives you a full featured and working workstation in minutes. Isn't that what we've been waiting for?
About vectorialized icons, I agree that icons aren't an important thing in a OS, all I was saying is that WinXP doesnt even have that yet. And you KNOW that most windows regular users are more interested in pretty icons than a console. So if Linux offers something better for them, it's another point for Linux on the desktop.
I'm sorry but Linux GUIs are way ahead of winXP on many levels... You seriously need to try Linux before even talking about its "non-innovative" GUIs. Does windows offer any good multiples workspaces options yet? Can you hold ALT then click anywhere inside a window to move it under window? Are windows icons vectorials and freely resizable yet? Can you listen to an mp3 or .ogg file just by moving your mouse over it yet? Can you tell a window to "stay on top" all the others all the time under Windows? You really need to get more info about what environments like Gnome 2 or KDE 3 are like before talking about it.
I do agree with you tho that Linux doesn't have everything like CD burning integrated into something like konqueror or Nautilus yet tho... But whatever, I wouldn't use it anyways, I hate WinXP ways of burning CDs.. You don't have much control over it and it's really annoying.
Linux will kick everyone's ass in not more than a couple of years.
5 years is like an eternity in the computer technologies world, I don't think anybody can or should predict what it will be like in 5 years, but I do think it gives a LOT of time for Linux to GROW and get more mainstream acceptance. It is already way superior than windows and it sure is growing much faster. Let's now see how fast the software vendors adapt themselves to that.
Show them how you can play and stream quicktime and windows media player files using MPlayer. MPlayer's latest release just plays about any format/codec possible. Don't forget to mention that it's free and open-source.
OpenOffice is important to demonstrate as well. Also talk about hardware compatibily and maybe show a TV tuner or webcam running under it. Maybe demonstrate Gnomemeeting for videoconferencing. Samba definately is worth talking about too.
Demonstrate Gaim, and Amsn for keeping in touch with the usual instant messenging buddies. Show a flash site, and some java. OpenGL and WineX for games...
You could aslo make them realize how the console can be useful by showing them how easily you can download a file from a "HTTP://" url by using "wget http://somewhere.com/somemovie.mov", instead of getting an annoying quicktime player embedded to start under internet explorer when typing in the url. Also how they can e-mail quickly from it using "mail someone@somewhere.com".
I guess i have tons of other ideas, I think the most important is to demonstrate how they can find alternative software as valuable if not better than what they use already.. They don't want to miss their every day-to-day apps!
If you have any chance to see the movie "Antitrust", pay attention to the computers desktops, most of them are using Gnome, you can clearly see the big Foot. Also sometimes when u see them typing, it's a Unix prompt. It's interesting because in most other movies we always see un-realistic weird looking OSes, like you said.