If you have to ask, there is no reason to. All those people who have nerd family members or friends that are always fixing their windows computer- they need Linux.
I used to date a woman who did PR and marketing for MS, so you can imagine we had some in-depth and sometimes heated discussions about MS vs. Linux and Macs.
This is why Slashdotters can't keep women. The few that come around we scare off with talk of the strange but fun leenux.
We even recommend that they don't run as Administrators, but that's not practical because too many 3rd party software developers write their software so that the user HAS to be and Administrator to use their program. So you see, Windows isn't the only piece of the security puzzle."
To me this is the biggest problem with Windows. If people could just run in restricted mode (like I do all day, everyday in Linux) then many of the viruses, malware, and other Windows problems would be a lot better. Once I learned the advantages of a restricted user through Linux, I tried to get my mom to run as a restricted user on her windows XP machine. When Quicken didn't work, the idea went out the window (no pun intended). I partially think this is Microsoft's fault- they should push this more for their software like Apple does.
Giving away IE to suck the life out of Netscape, for instance.
That really worked well in the long run didn't it? Now IE is a leaky ship from the Age of Sail and Netscape's grandson (Firefox) is on a path to destroy the former('s market dominance) in a sleek aircraft carrier.
I honestly hope you are serious about moving, and I will help you pack. If you and your son are such complete cowards you are scared of a draft that does not exist, then please please please get the fuck out. Members of my family have been in every war the US has had, including the revolution. I am ashamed for them and myself, (DS1) that we fought to protect your cowardly ass.
please please please get out quick. Don't wait another week. Where are you at? I'll happily take vacation to come help you pack.
While I realize that once a coward, always a coward, if you think just because you are in canada that will stop the mooslums from attacking you, (Yes I know its mispelled, I did it on purpose to show the coward muhamad ali's method of saying it) you are insane. They attacked the WTC because it was a shining example of freedom, but they hate all christians, and intend to kill us all. no matter how cowardly you are, or where you run and hide.
Ok. Ok.....Let me first say "hello Canadians." Its always fun to get into threads with the friendly people up north.
Now many of you must have read this poster's comment and thought "man, those people in America sure are ignorant." If fact, it must puzzle you that in our public sphere we actually glorify such people. The reason is that many of us Americans who are not as ignorant have decided that we need such people to help us out. How could such a person help us out you say? Simple: by fighting in a war to protect our economic interests. As this person freely admitted: " Members of my family have been in every war the US has had, including the revolution." See.....these people are encouraged to think that "evil Muslim bogey-man is going to jump out in the night and kill you because you like Jesus" because the truth (the fact that the middle east hates us because of huge economic and militaristic disparities) is often too hard for these people to understand and because we need these people as cannon fodder. In the Muslim world, some of the Islamic militants do the same thing. They tell the people that "Christians (Jews, whatever) are evil and they must die" because only these sorts of lies can motivate regular people into sacrificing their most important possession (their life) for the nation's economic conflicts. Of course the biggest difference is that in the United States people are allowed to freely chose if they want to be this way, without fear of bodily harm if you refrain.
Truth be told, America has suffered WAY less damage considering our relative wealth than any other nation-state in history. The cigarette companies kill way more people than "terrorists" can ever hope to. Yet this is not because of luck. No, we Americans stay safe because millions of Americans willingly accept the "the bad guy is going to kill you" logic and therefore volunteer to be shipped in countries all over the world where constant vigilance stops most 9-11s from even happening. In fact, there is a school of thought (I don't subscribe to it, but I don't see much evidence against it) that 9-11 was an attack that was allow to happen because we (as Americans) have done such a good job defending ourselves that fewer people were willing to believe that a "bogeyman" was out to get them and our military was declining. Even though this seems extreme, I will say that I know that 9-11 definitely increased the supply of people who are willing to die to keep everyone else safe.
Now, I understand if you (as a foreigner or as an American) strongly disagree with how our military conducts itself. I will personally admit that we have been less covert about our actions (WMDs, who the f-ck bought that excuse when the other two "axis of evil" countries were sitting on a pile of them) than in the past, but I assure you that I military has the same goal it has always had- defend America and help protect its economic interests. I must say that I personally (and many other Americans would agree) am a little embarrassed that America's first priority is greed, but I accept this as a fact of life t
I hope eBay will not reward you for your speculatory activities.
I hope that Ebay does what it was created to do- match an able buyer and seller. Who are you to cast aspersions towards this entrepreneur? If someone is willing to pay him a higer price for the unit on ebay because they did not take the steps neccesary to get a unit before it was released, then why is it negative for this person to offer such a product? Why is making money a bad thing?
In all truth, the parent posters plan probably won't work- but not because some enitity (such as EBay) decieds that his plan is too immoral to succeed. It won't work because this sort of speculative buying is best for shortages, which with Video Game products usually only happens around Christmas. There will probably be enough units for early adopters when it releases, and the parent will most likely have to sell the units at a price lower than they were aquired. But this failure will be a result of the parents lack of understanding regarding the Video Game economy, and not because what he/she planned to do was immoral.
If you think selling game systems on Ebay is immoral, how do you survive in a world where a lot of Wall Street money is procured through much more evil means? (such as insider trading) Do you not buy anything for big companies, for fear that that product is provided in an immoral fashion (such as slave labor)?
I don't believe your scenario, but look at what you're saying. You want to inflict harm on the interests of most users in favor of your selfish desires. You are afraid that if this technology becomes popular, presumably because it satisfies the needs and desires of the broad mass of users, you will be inconvenienced.
I wish to inflict harm on no one. I have ill will toward no computer user- they all add to the demand of computers which makes my box cheaper.
What I dislike is the fact that currently many computer users have not taken the time to learn how to use their computer or spent the money on a computer that does not require as much of a learning curve (such as Apple). I can understand why someone would need a computer but not have the time to lock it down- thats why nerds like me exist to do it for them. If the doorlock broke in my car I wouldn't fix it myself!
Yet these people (through their lazyness) have accepted that their broken computer isn't their fault- its the fault of computers. (Even though my Ubuntu box works without such pain because I spent the time to learn how to use it. ) Therefore these people are willing to accept changes which MIGHT make the situation better for them (Trusted Computing) but surely will make the situation worse for me.
Is Ubuntu ready for the desktop? You bet your ass it is.
It is. I won't boot into anything else personally. But I wouldn't hand out the Ubuntu CD like its candy though. Two reasons. The first one is that there are a bunch of packages that have to be installed in order to get a "fully working desktop." For me, no probelm- fire up synaptic, enable the universe and install to the hearts content. I can go from a clean hard disk to a fully functional Ubuntu in 28 minutes on broadband. But I think that some of my friends would have trouble added that software themselves. Maybe not.
The biggest reason I can't pass out Ubuntu is that fact that people my age have all this damn illegal data that they are hell bent on holding on to. Getting rid of Windows isn't a problem- backing up their 40 gigs of MP3s and getting rid of windows is a problem. You can't jsut tell people "Just redownload all that stuff," because then they will throw the Ubuntu CD in the trash. Thats why making converts of my friends (all twenty something) is hard work. Many could benefit from Ubuntu , but they are too lazy to backup all their illegal data on CDs and it would take me too much time to do it for them. The people who are ripe for the "Ubuntu switch" are
1. People who have never used a computer. (Grandma jumps to mind here)
2. Someone who already has backups of their data
(best case) 3. Someone who has already nuked their XP machine. These people are great- their damn data is already gone (well, not completly, as a knoppix disk could probably get it back. But I'm not willing to waste my night backing up illegal info on Knoppix when my eventual goal is to spread Linux. )
The truth is that TC along with Remote Attestation is a new feature set for your computer which allows new ways for people to cooperate online. Some people oppose this because they don't believe that others should be allowed to cooperate in ways they don't approve of. They don't want you to be able to credibly commit to obeying certain rules in processing data. But they have no right to interfere in your private decision making processes.
No...thats not it. I don't "oppose people having choice" or some crap like that. I oppose this becoming an industry standard that REMOVES my option of not having it. Once every computer has this, it won't be long before ISPs can say "we only want trusted machines on our network." It is the begining of the end for the computer cowboy; Trusting Computing is the first step to civilize the wild west called the internet. Sure for most users (those with tons of spyware on their computer, or with computers that their kids have loaded with enough illegal IP that a lawsuit might come any day in the mail) trusted computing might be seen as a good thing. But for someone who has taken these little multipurpose machines called computers and have used them as they wish despite lacking the blessings of the company's involved (such as me playing DVDs on my Linux box), Trusted Computing is a sign that the companies that have created this wild west are sick of not being obeyed.
This might help some company keep its local network in shape, which is great for them and a reason for its eventual success. But with that comes a future where my computer follows the law despite my wishes (or I lose Internet access), which would make it a very boring hunk of silicon and circutry indeed.
They have RPMs for every modern RPM distro but not a single.deb. Darn. I could compile it from source, but I have been avoiding that ever since I switched to Ubuntu.
Is there a way to be sort of bleeding edge while still expecting the thing to boot and function?
Sure, work with the backports guy. He is really nice. He has backported things like GTKpod and Gimp for me. Also the devs behind the distro are working to open up the universe some. Ubuntu has some kinks to be worked out, but everyone working on them is very nice about their role.
Hoary IS a second release, isn't it?
Correct. Ubuntu is an infant currently. Hopefully in a year or so when the community grows, more people will be willing to step in and fix some of the problems the devs don't want to deal with (like the backport guy did). Of course....you could always just use plain Debian Sid if you want the daily packages without the bugginess of Hoary (I recently gave up on Hoary- it is too buggy now). Just use the nice Kanotix installer to get it on your hard drive and enjoy!
If every Linux provided everything listed here, most of the other distros wouldn't exist. I have to break it up.
Short and sweet: with so many distributions of Linux to choose from, and so many of them good to excellent, which Linux delivers the best balance of stability, high-level support options, security, rapid updates, and ease of administration?
In my opinion the Linux that best fits these criteria is Ubuntu. Its stable releases ARE stable (so far) and they come every six months. You can get support from the company that makes it. Updates come in precompiled binaries so you don't have to waste all your cpu time updating your machines. Administration is based mostly on Gnome tools (which are very nice in 2.8+) and other configuration can be done in the time-tested "debian way."
If an admin wants to standardize on one Linux distribution and have the best of all worlds on everything from file-and-print servers to database boxes, what, in the experience of the Slashdot pros, is that Holy Grail of Linuxes - - the one that does it all while also making upper management feel warm and fuzzy?"
Hmmmm...See making "the suits" happy is a different thing than having a good distro. This is where Ubuntu fails, because despite its greatness, its name "Warty the Warthog" would make any MBA type shoot heineken out his or her nose.
Therefore something with a bigger corporate bend is probably needed, and you second best option is probably MEPIS or SUSE.
Remember, a Jack-of-all-Trades does no one thing well.
I know, I know. It was the lessor of two evils: Microsoft or ATI. I refused to buy another PS2 after my first one turned into a brick with constant use.
Even though, in my experiance Microsoft hardware does better with Linux than Ati's does. My friend's new Microsoft wireless keyboard and mouse set works with Ubuntu out of the box! And Microsoft's wireless card seems to work better in Linux than Windows!
that's because the constituents don't get off their asses and make their voices heard.
No, its because only big businesses (and those who run them) can afford the expensive media circus that is required to get your voice heard in the modern age. Just who do you think paid for all of Bush's pricy relection ads?
Fact is, individual people have no chance to compete against professional, expensive corporate lobbists. Its easier to let the evil laws come to pass then use an Ego-driven judge to throw all of the bought and paid for laws out!
They are soo bad (especially for 3d), that they count more as an insult than a good effort. Its like ATI is saying "ya, we can get our cards to work with Linux. But we don't want to spend the time to make them work well."
(glares at ATI card in my Ubuntu box).
Thats why I gave up on this PC gaming crap and just bought me a Gamecube.
Slashdot Mirror
Ever tried Gnome? Made me think my XP box was "my daughter's first PC" after I tried Gnome.
Do you use an emulator...? The smoothing can add some life to those old graphics.
If you have to ask, there is no reason to. All those people who have nerd family members or friends that are always fixing their windows computer- they need Linux.
So...
not being professional=money?
Nope. The packages come from Debian and the bug fixes go back to Debian. Its not a fork....just a clean up job.
Or, as many will know it after its next official release: Debian with Xorg.
This is why Slashdotters can't keep women. The few that come around we scare off with talk of the strange but fun leenux.
To me this is the biggest problem with Windows. If people could just run in restricted mode (like I do all day, everyday in Linux) then many of the viruses, malware, and other Windows problems would be a lot better. Once I learned the advantages of a restricted user through Linux, I tried to get my mom to run as a restricted user on her windows XP machine. When Quicken didn't work, the idea went out the window (no pun intended). I partially think this is Microsoft's fault- they should push this more for their software like Apple does.
That really worked well in the long run didn't it? Now IE is a leaky ship from the Age of Sail and Netscape's grandson (Firefox) is on a path to destroy the former('s market dominance) in a sleek aircraft carrier.
Ok. Ok.....Let me first say "hello Canadians." Its always fun to get into threads with the friendly people up north.
Now many of you must have read this poster's comment and thought "man, those people in America sure are ignorant." If fact, it must puzzle you that in our public sphere we actually glorify such people. The reason is that many of us Americans who are not as ignorant have decided that we need such people to help us out. How could such a person help us out you say? Simple: by fighting in a war to protect our economic interests. As this person freely admitted: " Members of my family have been in every war the US has had, including the revolution." See.....these people are encouraged to think that "evil Muslim bogey-man is going to jump out in the night and kill you because you like Jesus" because the truth (the fact that the middle east hates us because of huge economic and militaristic disparities) is often too hard for these people to understand and because we need these people as cannon fodder. In the Muslim world, some of the Islamic militants do the same thing. They tell the people that "Christians (Jews, whatever) are evil and they must die" because only these sorts of lies can motivate regular people into sacrificing their most important possession (their life) for the nation's economic conflicts. Of course the biggest difference is that in the United States people are allowed to freely chose if they want to be this way, without fear of bodily harm if you refrain.
Truth be told, America has suffered WAY less damage considering our relative wealth than any other nation-state in history. The cigarette companies kill way more people than "terrorists" can ever hope to. Yet this is not because of luck. No, we Americans stay safe because millions of Americans willingly accept the "the bad guy is going to kill you" logic and therefore volunteer to be shipped in countries all over the world where constant vigilance stops most 9-11s from even happening. In fact, there is a school of thought (I don't subscribe to it, but I don't see much evidence against it) that 9-11 was an attack that was allow to happen because we (as Americans) have done such a good job defending ourselves that fewer people were willing to believe that a "bogeyman" was out to get them and our military was declining. Even though this seems extreme, I will say that I know that 9-11 definitely increased the supply of people who are willing to die to keep everyone else safe.
Now, I understand if you (as a foreigner or as an American) strongly disagree with how our military conducts itself. I will personally admit that we have been less covert about our actions (WMDs, who the f-ck bought that excuse when the other two "axis of evil" countries were sitting on a pile of them) than in the past, but I assure you that I military has the same goal it has always had- defend America and help protect its economic interests. I must say that I personally (and many other Americans would agree) am a little embarrassed that America's first priority is greed, but I accept this as a fact of life t
I hope that Ebay does what it was created to do- match an able buyer and seller. Who are you to cast aspersions towards this entrepreneur? If someone is willing to pay him a higer price for the unit on ebay because they did not take the steps neccesary to get a unit before it was released, then why is it negative for this person to offer such a product? Why is making money a bad thing?
In all truth, the parent posters plan probably won't work- but not because some enitity (such as EBay) decieds that his plan is too immoral to succeed. It won't work because this sort of speculative buying is best for shortages, which with Video Game products usually only happens around Christmas. There will probably be enough units for early adopters when it releases, and the parent will most likely have to sell the units at a price lower than they were aquired. But this failure will be a result of the parents lack of understanding regarding the Video Game economy, and not because what he/she planned to do was immoral.
If you think selling game systems on Ebay is immoral, how do you survive in a world where a lot of Wall Street money is procured through much more evil means? (such as insider trading) Do you not buy anything for big companies, for fear that that product is provided in an immoral fashion (such as slave labor)?
I wish to inflict harm on no one. I have ill will toward no computer user- they all add to the demand of computers which makes my box cheaper.
What I dislike is the fact that currently many computer users have not taken the time to learn how to use their computer or spent the money on a computer that does not require as much of a learning curve (such as Apple). I can understand why someone would need a computer but not have the time to lock it down- thats why nerds like me exist to do it for them. If the doorlock broke in my car I wouldn't fix it myself!
Yet these people (through their lazyness) have accepted that their broken computer isn't their fault- its the fault of computers. (Even though my Ubuntu box works without such pain because I spent the time to learn how to use it. ) Therefore these people are willing to accept changes which MIGHT make the situation better for them (Trusted Computing) but surely will make the situation worse for me.
It is. I won't boot into anything else personally. But I wouldn't hand out the Ubuntu CD like its candy though. Two reasons. The first one is that there are a bunch of packages that have to be installed in order to get a "fully working desktop." For me, no probelm- fire up synaptic, enable the universe and install to the hearts content. I can go from a clean hard disk to a fully functional Ubuntu in 28 minutes on broadband. But I think that some of my friends would have trouble added that software themselves. Maybe not.
The biggest reason I can't pass out Ubuntu is that fact that people my age have all this damn illegal data that they are hell bent on holding on to. Getting rid of Windows isn't a problem- backing up their 40 gigs of MP3s and getting rid of windows is a problem. You can't jsut tell people "Just redownload all that stuff," because then they will throw the Ubuntu CD in the trash. Thats why making converts of my friends (all twenty something) is hard work. Many could benefit from Ubuntu , but they are too lazy to backup all their illegal data on CDs and it would take me too much time to do it for them. The people who are ripe for the "Ubuntu switch" are
1. People who have never used a computer. (Grandma jumps to mind here)
2. Someone who already has backups of their data
(best case) 3. Someone who has already nuked their XP machine. These people are great- their damn data is already gone (well, not completly, as a knoppix disk could probably get it back. But I'm not willing to waste my night backing up illegal info on Knoppix when my eventual goal is to spread Linux. )
No...thats not it. I don't "oppose people having choice" or some crap like that. I oppose this becoming an industry standard that REMOVES my option of not having it. Once every computer has this, it won't be long before ISPs can say "we only want trusted machines on our network." It is the begining of the end for the computer cowboy; Trusting Computing is the first step to civilize the wild west called the internet. Sure for most users (those with tons of spyware on their computer, or with computers that their kids have loaded with enough illegal IP that a lawsuit might come any day in the mail) trusted computing might be seen as a good thing. But for someone who has taken these little multipurpose machines called computers and have used them as they wish despite lacking the blessings of the company's involved (such as me playing DVDs on my Linux box), Trusted Computing is a sign that the companies that have created this wild west are sick of not being obeyed.
This might help some company keep its local network in shape, which is great for them and a reason for its eventual success. But with that comes a future where my computer follows the law despite my wishes (or I lose Internet access), which would make it a very boring hunk of silicon and circutry indeed.
They have RPMs for every modern RPM distro but not a single .deb. Darn. I could compile it from source, but I have been avoiding that ever since I switched to Ubuntu.
Sure, work with the backports guy. He is really nice. He has backported things like GTKpod and Gimp for me. Also the devs behind the distro are working to open up the universe some. Ubuntu has some kinks to be worked out, but everyone working on them is very nice about their role.
Hoary IS a second release, isn't it?
Correct. Ubuntu is an infant currently. Hopefully in a year or so when the community grows, more people will be willing to step in and fix some of the problems the devs don't want to deal with (like the backport guy did). Of course....you could always just use plain Debian Sid if you want the daily packages without the bugginess of Hoary (I recently gave up on Hoary- it is too buggy now). Just use the nice Kanotix installer to get it on your hard drive and enjoy!
First of all, Ubuntu's KDE isn't that bad. Secondly, have you ever tried MEPIS?
Short and sweet: with so many distributions of Linux to choose from, and so many of them good to excellent, which Linux delivers the best balance of stability, high-level support options, security, rapid updates, and ease of administration?
In my opinion the Linux that best fits these criteria is Ubuntu. Its stable releases ARE stable (so far) and they come every six months. You can get support from the company that makes it. Updates come in precompiled binaries so you don't have to waste all your cpu time updating your machines. Administration is based mostly on Gnome tools (which are very nice in 2.8+) and other configuration can be done in the time-tested "debian way."
If an admin wants to standardize on one Linux distribution and have the best of all worlds on everything from file-and-print servers to database boxes, what, in the experience of the Slashdot pros, is that Holy Grail of Linuxes - - the one that does it all while also making upper management feel warm and fuzzy?"
Hmmmm...See making "the suits" happy is a different thing than having a good distro. This is where Ubuntu fails, because despite its greatness, its name "Warty the Warthog" would make any MBA type shoot heineken out his or her nose.
Therefore something with a bigger corporate bend is probably needed, and you second best option is probably MEPIS or SUSE.
Remember, a Jack-of-all-Trades does no one thing well.
I know, I know. It was the lessor of two evils: Microsoft or ATI. I refused to buy another PS2 after my first one turned into a brick with constant use.
Even though, in my experiance Microsoft hardware does better with Linux than Ati's does. My friend's new Microsoft wireless keyboard and mouse set works with Ubuntu out of the box! And Microsoft's wireless card seems to work better in Linux than Windows!
No, its because only big businesses (and those who run them) can afford the expensive media circus that is required to get your voice heard in the modern age. Just who do you think paid for all of Bush's pricy relection ads?
Fact is, individual people have no chance to compete against professional, expensive corporate lobbists. Its easier to let the evil laws come to pass then use an Ego-driven judge to throw all of the bought and paid for laws out!
Are the drivers crap?
They are soo bad (especially for 3d), that they count more as an insult than a good effort. Its like ATI is saying "ya, we can get our cards to work with Linux. But we don't want to spend the time to make them work well."
(glares at ATI card in my Ubuntu box).
Thats why I gave up on this PC gaming crap and just bought me a Gamecube.
File a bug report. The Ubuntu devs are pretty accessable.
You can browse the packages here.
I'm glad this post got me to read this, I like stuff about the Internet's history.
And apt-getting KDE.
Wikipedia is our friend for this one:
"Compared to other U.S. conservatives, neoconservatives are characterized by an aggressive stance on foreign policy, a lesser social conservatism, and weaker dedication to a policy of minimal government.I think that last point is the biggest difference. Bush has run up a dept beyond the dreams of any Democratic President!