Linux is within shooting distance of becoming a real competitor to commercial desktop OSes. The OSS community has the code-fu to compete with commercial developers (and many OSS developers wear both hats), and Linux has made incredible progress in a short time.
However, the devil is in the details. Linux/OSS projects will never become solutions that _just_work_ without FOCUS AND DISCIPLINE that is is currently lacking in many (most?) OSS projects. Passing the finish line will require tedious hours of bughunting, testing, code auditing, etc. Does the community have the resolve to _really_finish_ projects, or is self interest the primary concern (I wanna code what I want, when I want, and only work on the fun stuff)?
There are people out there who enjoy finding and fixing bugs and auditing code. They are (in my experience) an odd breed of people who can be difficult, at best. But IMO we NEED these people. Take a look at what Theo DeRaadt and his band of code cleaners have accomplished over at OpenBSD. This is exactly the sort of focus and discipline I think many OSS projects need. Support your local hardnosed bugfixer, and encourage more like them to join your project!
New thin film solar PV panels are in production. Thin film cells are not very efficient, but can be produced cheaply -- giving the enduser the most watts/dollar. Learn more here:
http://www.pacificsolar.com.au
"Traditional" PV kits are also available. Many US states offer good incentives or rebates on home PV installations, and grid intertie kits allow users to sell surplus watts back to their utility company. Learn more here:
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Linux is within shooting distance of becoming a real competitor to commercial desktop OSes. The OSS community has the code-fu to compete with commercial developers (and many OSS developers wear both hats), and Linux has made incredible progress in a short time.
However, the devil is in the details. Linux/OSS projects will never become solutions that _just_work_ without FOCUS AND DISCIPLINE that is is currently lacking in many (most?) OSS projects. Passing the finish line will require tedious hours of bughunting, testing, code auditing, etc. Does the community have the resolve to _really_finish_ projects, or is self interest the primary concern (I wanna code what I want, when I want, and only work on the fun stuff)?
There are people out there who enjoy finding and fixing bugs and auditing code. They are (in my experience) an odd breed of people who can be difficult, at best. But IMO we NEED these people. Take a look at what Theo DeRaadt and his band of code cleaners have accomplished over at OpenBSD. This is exactly the sort of focus and discipline I think many OSS projects need. Support your local hardnosed bugfixer, and encourage more like them to join your project!
That's my $0.02. Flame away.
A bit off topic, but...
i ntertie
New thin film solar PV panels are in production. Thin film cells are not very efficient, but can be produced cheaply -- giving the enduser the most watts/dollar. Learn more here:
http://www.pacificsolar.com.au
"Traditional" PV kits are also available. Many US states offer good incentives or rebates on home PV installations, and grid intertie kits allow users to sell surplus watts back to their utility company. Learn more here:
https://www.altenergystore.com/cart/kits2go.html#
Any Slashdotters "hot rodded" kits like these?
Cheers, c0mpil3r