It can be done- the Palm Pre/Pixi/WebOS was/is that way. There was no NEED to "root" the phone, because they gave everyone root access by just entering developer mode. It was wonderful- very hackable, very nice. If you screw up the phone (which I never did), no big deal... it is "unbrickable". Just power it on with a key held in, download the current image from the web and flash it back to normal. Why the carriers didn't lock it down, I don't know.
If Android could do that, then I would be very happy. It is irritating when carriers put junkware on the phone, especially stuff that launches automatically and runs/does stuff you don't want.
Not sure how long it takes to boot ChromeOS. But this Mandriva 2010.1 Linux system is about 10 seconds. Granted, it is not a netbook. But my EEE 1000 netbook boots Unbuntu 10.04 Linux in 18 seconds. Both are pretty darn reasonable for full functionality.
Otherwise, give me my 4.3" Evo Android phone or perhaps a 10" non-X86 tablet running Android 3.0...
I totally agree with your posting except for the assumption that the *easiest* solution requires Ubuntu. There are other full Linux distros just as easy (or more) to use/install and just as powerful (or more).
How is "dual booting" a solution? If I load Linux on a machine, then I already have access to web surfing under Chrome/Chromium, Firefox, or whatever.... in addition to anything else I want to do. I think if one finds they want to load Linux "dual boot" on a machine running Chrome OS, that makes Chrome OS a "FAIL" because the user really doesn't want to just run a web browser.
I agree with the other articles- there is no need or demand for "Chrome OS". If you want open, fast, free, flexible, use Linux on the machine. If you want to run lots of commercial software, games, etc, run MS-Windows on the machine. If you want both, run Linux and load MS-Windows in Virtualbox, or dual boot the two. Otherwise, Android seems like the best "solution".
1) Small compared to the page/content size 2) Non-moving or animated in ANY way (no scrolling, flipping, blinking, sliding, motion, video, etc) 3) Non-Flash (which pretty much goes with #2) 4) No mouseover interaction other than it just being a link 5) No sound 6) Clearly indicate they are an ad 7) Fast loading and not requiring pre-loading before other content
THAT is a tasteful Ad. The kind I would never be compelled to block or push off my screen because it distracts from my reading. Unfortunately that kind of ad is extraordinarily rare. Could Wikipedia really do that, and never give in to pressure? I don't know.
It should not be acceptable to be required to submit your identity to be stored in some database, just to purchase a legal product. Their duty is only to verify age. That can be done by looking at the person and looking at the ID.
>"If there must be such a thing as a Caps Lock key on conventional keyboards, I wish it could be banished (along with the Insert/Delete pair) to a hard-to-fumble-upon switch on the bottom of the keyboard or laptop."
There are many reasons one might need or want a Caps-lock key and it doesn't and shouldn't be hidden away. I often need one when coding and doing certain types of data entry. I certainly find it a lot more valuable than the apparently mandated, non-standard, changing, "my this" and "my that" keys that appear all over the place. And what do you have against the del/ins keys??? They are very valuable in word processing and editors.
If you are so hot to banish a key, it should be the damn NumLock key, which has caused nothing but stress and anger in the 30 years I have been using computers. Any modern keyboard that has both a keypad and cursor/ins/del/pgup/down keys should be mapped so they stay the way they were meant to be used and not mysteriously changed when using vnc, a different Xserver, in some emulator, moving to a different VT, etc. Or perhaps the seemingly-mandated "MS-Windows" keys, which should be something generic that doesn't insult everyone who uses some other operating system on their computer.
I can't believe I am apparently the only commenter (??? at least thus far) who is shocked that people don't think about that they are not being "carded", they are being RECORDED. It is not at all like being carded, where someone LOOKS at your ID to make sure you are of age and then you can purchase anonymously. Instead, there will be PROOF POSITIVE of who you are (name, address, etc), your magic number, your photograph, where you were and what date/time, and even your blood alcohol... tied to what you are buying. Plus, one could swap the guts of the machine in the "breathalyser" and test for anything else they care to look for. And all this data is being stored in a database.... one that, no doubt, we will have no idea what it is being used for now or in the future. Computers don't "forget". I think this is a HORRIBLE blow to privacy and civil liberties and if accepted, will open the door to more and more such stuff.
Wouldn't it be easier to just use thin-client computing with encrypted sessions (where the thin client has no local storage and no mapping back of any ports)? I do it with Linux/X every day...
For every example you listed, there are dozens of examples of DRM that is/has been broken or worked around (DVD, BluRay, games on many consoles, hundreds of computer games, WiFi, CD audio, many satellite, PDF, etc, etc- just search Slashdot). Plus, some of those listed are not really examples of DRM, just plain encryption- that is not what DRM is about. DRM is about trying to let people see/use data and yet not let them copy the data.
Conclusion- DRM works SOMETIMES, but not most of the time. It is a deterrent that can make copying more difficult and in the process often severely punishes legitimate users/owners.
>You're pretty foolish to think nothing can be done about it.
You could, perhaps, protect a secret from being disclosed by 99.99% of people. But all it takes is one person and the secret is out. I never said they shouldn't try. Making it harder should be their goal.
>"To prevent further breaches, the Pentagon has ordered that a feature that allows material to be copied onto thumb drives or other removable devices be disabled on its classified computer systems"
Yeah, like that is really going to make THAT much of a difference. Oh- make sure to remove all printers too, prevent all Email/IRC/IM, cut and paste, CD/DVDRW, etc. I suppose I can't criticize them for trying, but no amount of stuff like that is going to prevent information leaks if someone wants to leak information. It is no different than DRM.
NAT Time! Granted, it is not a solution for everything, but there are just TONS of networks that could be behind NAT's and don't need anywhere near the IPV4 space they have. I have a feeling NATing will suddenly become a lot more popular.
>You have no idea what Nokia even provides in the first place.
You are awfully presumptuous! I do know what they provide, and I am quite aware that most of their phones are not smart phones. However, that does not preclude them from replacing Symbian with Linux on lower end phones. Those 5+ billion you speak of could just as well be using Linux. Linux can deal with slower, and lower memory, if tuned correctly. A single OS for all their phones (under Linux) would have focused all their development efforts in one, forward, compatible, flexible direction.
As an example, watch as more and more lower end phones become Android powered...
Nokia made a HUGE mistake by not using and embracing Linux sooner. They missed a great opportunity to have a robust, flexible, modern, and evolving platform. Had they just quickly moved all their phones to what they did with the N770 "Internet Tablet", things could have been different. Now with the single N900 phone, they are in a similar boat as Palm (in some ways)....
Palm made the same mistake- they promised they were moving everything to Linux YEARS before they FINALLY released Palm Linux WebOS. By they time they did, it was too little too late.... Android had already started to gobble up mindshare not already taken by Apple. Terrible delays, then hardware that was just too slow/not enough RAM, then the HP buyout. Too bad, too, since WebOS is really a great design.
Just because Amazon doesn't COLLECT sales tax doesn't mean you do not have to pay it. In Virginia (and I expect most states with sales tax), you are required, by law, to list your out of state purchases each year on your income tax forms and pay the tax.
I use Mandriva and Fedora and I don't think it is any harder or easier to work with Apple equipment than Ubuntu. Perhaps you all mean "Linux" and not "Ubuntu"? Or do some people suddenly think Linux = "Ubuntu"?
This is what static linking is for. You can make a binary and selectively link in as many libraries as static as you need to run on older or older machines.... and it doesn't have to be the same kernel version either.
I have static programs that are over 10 years old (big, GUI-intense ones even) that still run 8-10 years later because they are very static.
In any case, for commercial software, static and/or library-including makes sense. It is about the only way you can guarantee your software will run on most or all of the distros, several versions back, without having to make dozens and dozens of separate downloadables of your stuff.
Believe what you like. If it quacks like a duck, looks like a duck, acts like a duck, then it is a duck. UNIX (all uppercase) is a trademark. Unix (not uppercase) is a concept.
Slashdot Mirror
It can be done- the Palm Pre/Pixi/WebOS was/is that way. There was no NEED to "root" the phone, because they gave everyone root access by just entering developer mode. It was wonderful- very hackable, very nice. If you screw up the phone (which I never did), no big deal... it is "unbrickable". Just power it on with a key held in, download the current image from the web and flash it back to normal. Why the carriers didn't lock it down, I don't know.
If Android could do that, then I would be very happy. It is irritating when carriers put junkware on the phone, especially stuff that launches automatically and runs/does stuff you don't want.
Not sure how long it takes to boot ChromeOS. But this Mandriva 2010.1 Linux system is about 10 seconds. Granted, it is not a netbook. But my EEE 1000 netbook boots Unbuntu 10.04 Linux in 18 seconds. Both are pretty darn reasonable for full functionality.
Otherwise, give me my 4.3" Evo Android phone or perhaps a 10" non-X86 tablet running Android 3.0...
I totally agree with your posting except for the assumption that the *easiest* solution requires Ubuntu. There are other full Linux distros just as easy (or more) to use/install and just as powerful (or more).
>"The easiest solution might be dual-booting"
How is "dual booting" a solution? If I load Linux on a machine, then I already have access to web surfing under Chrome/Chromium, Firefox, or whatever.... in addition to anything else I want to do. I think if one finds they want to load Linux "dual boot" on a machine running Chrome OS, that makes Chrome OS a "FAIL" because the user really doesn't want to just run a web browser.
I agree with the other articles- there is no need or demand for "Chrome OS". If you want open, fast, free, flexible, use Linux on the machine. If you want to run lots of commercial software, games, etc, run MS-Windows on the machine. If you want both, run Linux and load MS-Windows in Virtualbox, or dual boot the two. Otherwise, Android seems like the best "solution".
I could deal with ads, but only if they were:
1) Small compared to the page/content size
2) Non-moving or animated in ANY way (no scrolling, flipping, blinking, sliding, motion, video, etc)
3) Non-Flash (which pretty much goes with #2)
4) No mouseover interaction other than it just being a link
5) No sound
6) Clearly indicate they are an ad
7) Fast loading and not requiring pre-loading before other content
THAT is a tasteful Ad. The kind I would never be compelled to block or push off my screen because it distracts from my reading. Unfortunately that kind of ad is extraordinarily rare. Could Wikipedia really do that, and never give in to pressure? I don't know.
It should not be acceptable to be required to submit your identity to be stored in some database, just to purchase a legal product. Their duty is only to verify age. That can be done by looking at the person and looking at the ID.
>"If there must be such a thing as a Caps Lock key on conventional keyboards, I wish it could be banished (along with the Insert/Delete pair) to a hard-to-fumble-upon switch on the bottom of the keyboard or laptop."
There are many reasons one might need or want a Caps-lock key and it doesn't and shouldn't be hidden away. I often need one when coding and doing certain types of data entry. I certainly find it a lot more valuable than the apparently mandated, non-standard, changing, "my this" and "my that" keys that appear all over the place. And what do you have against the del/ins keys??? They are very valuable in word processing and editors.
If you are so hot to banish a key, it should be the damn NumLock key, which has caused nothing but stress and anger in the 30 years I have been using computers. Any modern keyboard that has both a keypad and cursor/ins/del/pgup/down keys should be mapped so they stay the way they were meant to be used and not mysteriously changed when using vnc, a different Xserver, in some emulator, moving to a different VT, etc. Or perhaps the seemingly-mandated "MS-Windows" keys, which should be something generic that doesn't insult everyone who uses some other operating system on their computer.
I can't believe I am apparently the only commenter (??? at least thus far) who is shocked that people don't think about that they are not being "carded", they are being RECORDED. It is not at all like being carded, where someone LOOKS at your ID to make sure you are of age and then you can purchase anonymously. Instead, there will be PROOF POSITIVE of who you are (name, address, etc), your magic number, your photograph, where you were and what date/time, and even your blood alcohol... tied to what you are buying. Plus, one could swap the guts of the machine in the "breathalyser" and test for anything else they care to look for. And all this data is being stored in a database.... one that, no doubt, we will have no idea what it is being used for now or in the future. Computers don't "forget". I think this is a HORRIBLE blow to privacy and civil liberties and if accepted, will open the door to more and more such stuff.
Had I not already posted (obviously), I would have marked your posting +1 Informative.
Wouldn't it be easier to just use thin-client computing with encrypted sessions (where the thin client has no local storage and no mapping back of any ports)? I do it with Linux/X every day...
>"So, DRM works, and is quite effective."
For every example you listed, there are dozens of examples of DRM that is/has been broken or worked around (DVD, BluRay, games on many consoles, hundreds of computer games, WiFi, CD audio, many satellite, PDF, etc, etc- just search Slashdot). Plus, some of those listed are not really examples of DRM, just plain encryption- that is not what DRM is about. DRM is about trying to let people see/use data and yet not let them copy the data.
Conclusion- DRM works SOMETIMES, but not most of the time. It is a deterrent that can make copying more difficult and in the process often severely punishes legitimate users/owners.
>You're pretty foolish to think nothing can be done about it.
You could, perhaps, protect a secret from being disclosed by 99.99% of people. But all it takes is one person and the secret is out. I never said they shouldn't try. Making it harder should be their goal.
>BTW, DRM works,
And you were calling ME foolish?
>"To prevent further breaches, the Pentagon has ordered that a feature that allows material to be copied onto thumb drives or other removable devices be disabled on its classified computer systems"
Yeah, like that is really going to make THAT much of a difference. Oh- make sure to remove all printers too, prevent all Email/IRC/IM, cut and paste, CD/DVDRW, etc. I suppose I can't criticize them for trying, but no amount of stuff like that is going to prevent information leaks if someone wants to leak information. It is no different than DRM.
NAT Time!
Granted, it is not a solution for everything, but there are just TONS of networks that could be behind NAT's and don't need anywhere near the IPV4 space they have. I have a feeling NATing will suddenly become a lot more popular.
>You have no idea what Nokia even provides in the first place.
You are awfully presumptuous! I do know what they provide, and I am quite aware that most of their phones are not smart phones. However, that does not preclude them from replacing Symbian with Linux on lower end phones. Those 5+ billion you speak of could just as well be using Linux. Linux can deal with slower, and lower memory, if tuned correctly. A single OS for all their phones (under Linux) would have focused all their development efforts in one, forward, compatible, flexible direction.
As an example, watch as more and more lower end phones become Android powered...
Nokia made a HUGE mistake by not using and embracing Linux sooner. They missed a great opportunity to have a robust, flexible, modern, and evolving platform. Had they just quickly moved all their phones to what they did with the N770 "Internet Tablet", things could have been different. Now with the single N900 phone, they are in a similar boat as Palm (in some ways)....
Palm made the same mistake- they promised they were moving everything to Linux YEARS before they FINALLY released Palm Linux WebOS. By they time they did, it was too little too late.... Android had already started to gobble up mindshare not already taken by Apple. Terrible delays, then hardware that was just too slow/not enough RAM, then the HP buyout. Too bad, too, since WebOS is really a great design.
Sorry, I missed that!
If you were refering to me:
1) It is none of your business
2) I never criticized Amazon
Just because Amazon doesn't COLLECT sales tax doesn't mean you do not have to pay it. In Virginia (and I expect most states with sales tax), you are required, by law, to list your out of state purchases each year on your income tax forms and pay the tax.
:)
You are correct, I should have complained to the grandparent.
I use Mandriva and Fedora and I don't think it is any harder or easier to work with Apple equipment than Ubuntu. Perhaps you all mean "Linux" and not "Ubuntu"? Or do some people suddenly think Linux = "Ubuntu"?
This is what static linking is for. You can make a binary and selectively link in as many libraries as static as you need to run on older or older machines.... and it doesn't have to be the same kernel version either.
I have static programs that are over 10 years old (big, GUI-intense ones even) that still run 8-10 years later because they are very static.
In any case, for commercial software, static and/or library-including makes sense. It is about the only way you can guarantee your software will run on most or all of the distros, several versions back, without having to make dozens and dozens of separate downloadables of your stuff.
Believe what you like. If it quacks like a duck, looks like a duck, acts like a duck, then it is a duck. UNIX (all uppercase) is a trademark. Unix (not uppercase) is a concept.
Drat, bitten by the in plain text. Try 2:
>Also, RHEL != UNIX
Correct.
RHEL = Linux &
Linux = Unix thus
RHEL = Unix
Linux != UNIX, however
>Also, RHEL != UNIX
Correct.
RHEL = Linux &
Linux = Unix thus
RHEL = Unix
Linux UNIX, however