Sorry, my defensive Southern neighbours. I meant (and should have said) "Americans and other developed nations like Canada, Australia, and Western European countries", but I was in a rush. In the quest to be the best, you also become the famous/caricature/prototype.
Many of these comments are weak. It's not just about getting free stuff, and it has nothing to do with the fact that Brazil exports very little IP.
It's about big, important, multinational patent holders playing fair. Notice that Roche sat on their patent throne until Brazil threatened to make their own drugs. Notice that they were able to sell the stuff at *less than half the original price* when Brazil actually held good on the threat.
Is this unlike Microsoft's behaviour? I think not. They crank up the prices of their OS and Office constantly, even though they are raking in the dough - that is until emerging markets are unwilling to put up with it. All of a sudden code starts to be released, discount editions are offered, and cooperation with foreign governments begins. And guess what? They are still raking in the dough. Who would have thunk?
Just because Americans are willing to put up monopolies, inflated prices, and unfair patents doesn't make it right. Maybe it's time to learn something from the third world.
When my laymen friends ask if they should install Linux, I shrug and ask them what's wrong with their Windows?
Overwhelmingly, it seems to be adware/spyware, and the all the other stuff that people install intentionally or accidentally. Within a year or two, the average windows machine gets bloated with semi-removable crap.
The people I've moved over to linux have no problems using it. It's installing it, getting all of the hardware configured, and installing all of the strangely named multimedia software/codecs that is the tricky part. This all usually comes preinstalled on Windows, so it's an unfair comparison.
I am always sickened when I have to use a fresh Windows installation, and it comes without a DVD decoder, a CD burner, a decent text editor, a PDF reader, a popup blocker, an FTP client, or a graphics file converter - all stuff that comes standard with most linux distro, or that I can install (for free) with *one command*.
I have a Prismiq. It's pretty good, but not as cool as it sounds. It plays mpeg4 quite well, and streams radio from the net, but still has some issues.
Linux support is not great, even though the device itself runs linux. Videos freeze. FF/REW rarely works. The software often runs multiple instances of itself for no reason.
All in all, it's much cooler than nothing at all, and much easier than a linux box as a PVR, but has so much unrealized potential.
QDVDAuthor (http://qdvdauthor.sourceforge.net/main.html) is really cool, and creates menus and jpeg slideshows along with videos.
BTW, it's included in Mandrake 10 contribs by Yours Truly.
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Xantrex has everything you need for the indoor part of your project, whether grid-tied (called "net metering" in Canada) or battery-based.
I've been discussing all sorts of linux on tablet issues on my site:
http://groundstate.ca/tablet
Includes available software, wireless roaming, Mandrakelinux, and specifically, the TC1000 and TC1100.
Sorry, my defensive Southern neighbours. I meant (and should have said) "Americans and other developed nations like Canada, Australia, and Western European countries", but I was in a rush. In the quest to be the best, you also become the famous/caricature/prototype.
Many of these comments are weak. It's not just about getting free stuff, and it has nothing to do with the fact that Brazil exports very little IP. It's about big, important, multinational patent holders playing fair. Notice that Roche sat on their patent throne until Brazil threatened to make their own drugs. Notice that they were able to sell the stuff at *less than half the original price* when Brazil actually held good on the threat. Is this unlike Microsoft's behaviour? I think not. They crank up the prices of their OS and Office constantly, even though they are raking in the dough - that is until emerging markets are unwilling to put up with it. All of a sudden code starts to be released, discount editions are offered, and cooperation with foreign governments begins. And guess what? They are still raking in the dough. Who would have thunk? Just because Americans are willing to put up monopolies, inflated prices, and unfair patents doesn't make it right. Maybe it's time to learn something from the third world.
When my laymen friends ask if they should install Linux, I shrug and ask them what's wrong with their Windows?
Overwhelmingly, it seems to be adware/spyware, and the all the other stuff that people install intentionally or accidentally. Within a year or two, the average windows machine gets bloated with semi-removable crap.
The people I've moved over to linux have no problems using it. It's installing it, getting all of the hardware configured, and installing all of the strangely named multimedia software/codecs that is the tricky part. This all usually comes preinstalled on Windows, so it's an unfair comparison.
I am always sickened when I have to use a fresh Windows installation, and it comes without a DVD decoder, a CD burner, a decent text editor, a PDF reader, a popup blocker, an FTP client, or a graphics file converter - all stuff that comes standard with most linux distro, or that I can install (for free) with *one command*.
That's what's wrong with Windows.
I have a Prismiq. It's pretty good, but not as cool as it sounds. It plays mpeg4 quite well, and streams radio from the net, but still has some issues. Linux support is not great, even though the device itself runs linux. Videos freeze. FF/REW rarely works. The software often runs multiple instances of itself for no reason. All in all, it's much cooler than nothing at all, and much easier than a linux box as a PVR, but has so much unrealized potential.
QDVDAuthor (http://qdvdauthor.sourceforge.net/main.html) is really cool, and creates menus and jpeg slideshows along with videos. BTW, it's included in Mandrake 10 contribs by Yours Truly.