Yes, and I even read an article stating that less releases were coming out because labels were taking less risks due to lack of sales and returns on their investments.
People complain that the RIAA hurts the lower, more independent artists, but lowering sales through downloading just means labels won't sign those artists in the first place, making the music scene all the more boring because musicians aren't making money.
Nobody on Slashdot seems to care or acknowledge the musicians in this equation. It's all about "downloaders rights" or something.
Help what? Are you arguing that we should all continue downloading mp3s of albums we should be purchasing?
Slashdot's general stance on this is unclear. They seem to admit that it's illegal, yet post articles that try to claim it's okay. It's just a justification of the convenience that people have gotten used to.
I don't worry about getting "sued" or whatever because--gasp--I actually buy the shit I want for $10 at the local store. Everyone else I know downloads the fuck out of every album in existence. Don't tell me all those kids and college students downloading everything under the sun doesn't affect their tendency to buy the CDs instead. It's illogical and a sign of deluding yourselves into thinking otherwise. It's the big wink-wink, inside joke about file-sharing that everyone silently acknowledges.
What is it about Slashdotters that makes them think they're always the majority?
I guarantee at least 80% of downloaders never even dream of leaving the house to buy the CD they just downloaded. You are being PURPOSEFULLY naive if you believe everyone is holding themselves to an honor system here.
Wow, you bought CDs in Napster's heyday. That changes everything...
The problem is that nobody here can morally or legally justify downloading the music that other human beings worked hard to make. This leads to:
1.) Everyone trying to justify it as a "culture movement." Music wants to be free! Never mind nobody getting paid for making it.
2.) It's an anti-RIAA thing! We're just battling the RIAA by ripping off these artists. Two wrongs make a right, and the immorality of stealing music is rendered null by the fact that some bands signed contracts they didn't like later on.
3.) Having a product that is in stores available illegally online magically makes people go and purchase the product in the stores! When someone downloads an entire album off of Sharereactor's forums or Kazaa or WinMX, there is a magic spell that makes them suddenly want to purchase the album they have already just obtained for free. People are honorable like this. Society is perfect and moral and I choose to believe such to alleviate the pang of guilt I feel over it. After all, I bought CDs during Napster's heyday!
So you honestly believe that, given a choice between downloading an album in 10 minutes and going to the store to buy an album for $10, someone would choose the latter?
Wow, an Australian report showed sales going up instead of down. That one little study sure proves the logic wrong there.
I love Slashdot. It always latches onto some single study or report and drives it home as evidence for their entire viewpoint. For instance, when the RIAA sent hundreds of thousands of lawsuits, and a couple of them happened to end up at places where someone used a grandfather's computer or some 11-year old girl used her mommy's computer. Suddenly, the RIAA is bullying! And the mantra repeated is that it's "crappy music" that is hurting sales, even though both crappy and good music has always been around.
Now, a single Australian study shows that sales went up instead of down, and suddenly that's evidence that MP3s and CD-Rs don't hurt sales. Meanwhile, COMMON SENSE AND LOGIC dictates that someone would rather go online and download an album for free in 10 minutes rather than go to the store and buy it for $10.
Nobody on Slashdot can offer a single valid justification for downloading music without paying for it. Not a one. I feel sorry for the artists that get ripped off. Here comes the part where people try to reply with "BUT THE RIAA RIPS THEM OFF EVERYDAY!1" even though the bands willingly signed contracts with their labels.
You want to know how much of a joke it's become? See What A Crappy Present. Kids aren't going to be buying albums anymore because you people have made downloading so commonplace. Think it through. What do you think is going to happen? Labels will stop taking chances on bands because they don't get returns on those investments, since "culture movement" people like you download the fuck out of them.
Seeing as how it takes longer to install drivers, upgrade things, and set things up in general. Slashdotters LOVE to bitch about Microsoft yet again, yet disregard Linux completely in the equation, because to them, setting up Linux is a HOBBY, while setting up Windows is a HASSLE. It's called bias.
I remember the hell of just setting up APCI on my laptop until I realized that the reason the daemon kept crashing is that it just didn't work on my laptop. The evidence was when I tried two other distros and the same thing happened.
How much longer before movie-downloading becomes so commonplace and convenient that Slashdotters start convincing themselves that they're justified in doing it to appease that pang of guilt they feel? They've already done it with mp3s. After movies, all that's left is warez, but for some reason everyone is opposed to that.
You're basically saying that you're willing to break the law. I think this is all a joke as much as you do, but if Linux was somehow rendered completely illegal, I wouldn't bother with it anymore. There is BSD, y'know.
Re:Communism is not bad unless implemented.
on
The Voice of Groklaw
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· Score: 1
In other words, it doesn't work with humans. Sounds about right.
Some might say the same about American Democracy. You take the good with the bad and try to work with what you get.
It appears I have riled a frothing fanboy. Barring the fact that your rantings are amusing in themselves, I'll reply point by point to explain my perspective.
Oh, please provide some evidence for your wild claims.
You don't believe people were saying this in 1998? Every year, I have heard that "Linux will surpass Windows in the desktop," and it never does. This has been going on for many years, particularly on Slashdot. I don't need to provide claims for simple statements and opinion made years ago. It's common knowledge.
It certainly is desktop-ready.
No, it is absolutely, 100% not. What you see as "desktop-ready" is really a bunch of graphics blitted onto screen from a desktop environment on top of a window manager on top of a window library on top of xlib on top of X, all designed to make really cool screenshots for the backs of Linux distributions packaging, but when you actually grab the mouse to operate the thing, ultimately falls short. I still remember the first day I tried Red Hat 9, and GNOME's taskbar became stuck to the mouse cursor so that whichever side of the screen I moved to, the taskbar followed. Nothing fixed this, so I had to kill X, which screwed up the startup scripts. I laughed.
*IF* the applications are there, Linux takes over.
There are no apps.
Just look at the 3d-modelling world which has gone over to Linux almost completely.
Yes, the professional effects world has largely moved from SGI to Linux. That is not the general desktop market but a niche of the professional workstation market. They don't need actual functional desktop environments, because they're busy making movies with their computers.
If the applications are not there, Windows stays in place, obviously. That's why all the gamers are running Windows and will do so for a while.
Precisely. Also including the fact that drivers for Linux are horribly behind and that people are deathly afraid of the overly complex Linux filesystem structure, which is another example of reasons leading to acceptance. By that I mean, most Linux users accept things simply because their are reasons behind them. You have dozens of bizarre directories and optional directories and redundant and conflicting directories because the standard Linux filesystem says so, and they have their little reasons.
This has nothing to do with Linux on the technical side. Linux certainly is desktop ready and has been so for quite some time, no matter what Trolls like Overly Critical Guy claim.
You seem to repeating desperately to yourself that Linux is desktop ready. "No, it is! Linux is desktop ready, I swear it!" Then you call me a "Troll" simply because you disagree with my opinion. Clearly, I have struck a nerve.
(Actually the Windows-GUI is quite primitive and horrible to work with once you are used to Unix-style copy/paste, 3-mouse button GUI-support and multiple desktops)
I hear this claim all the time. Perhaps if copy-paste actually worked in Linux, it would be true. It's amusing that you claim the entire Windows GUI is primitive and horrible simply because you are used to using a third mouse button to paste. Who is the troll? Just remap your mouse button. Problem solved. Next.
It all depends on the applications.
According to your previous statement, it's the cut-paste that things depend on, but moving right along.
As some cities migrate to Linux and governmental apps get ported to Linux, the migration gets easier, faster and cheaper for other cities and the migration accelerates.
Cities migrating to Linux in order to use VMWare to run Windows applications on them. It's deliciously amusing. Governments used UNIX and other variants before, and now they'll use Linux. I fail to see how this will speed actual mainstream desktop acceptance, as if a user would move to Linux based only on the fact that the government uses it, rat
For me, Linux is the superior desktop already. It has been for the past 3 years. It's not as hideous or as insulting to use as WinXP,
Do you know how to change themes?
which others claim in all seriousness is "superior" to Linux desktops because of its "integration and usability". Whatever the hell that means. To each his own.
That means everything from cut-and-paste actually working to programs installing and removing themselves without resorting to underlying system package managers like RPMs.
The majority of people who complain that the Linux desktop sucks is the ones who get the hang-ups over "integration" and the fact that Linux does not work like Windows does.
Incorrect. The majority of people who complain that the Linux desktop sucks are ones who simply point out that it is poorly designed and not properly implemented. And, believe it or not, people desire an integrated system. I don't understand opposition to that.
The criticisms also stem from the fact that it is often TOO much like Windows. KDE, for instance.
For me, I couldn't care less about integration, and the fact that it doesn't work like Windows is a feature, not a bug.
I have yet to see any paradigm shift away from the Windows-like imitations any time soon.
From your post, I draw the conclusion that you disagree with my opinion simply because it is consistent over time. How is it lame and biased to point out that grand predictions for Linux are made every year and not always fulfilled? Do you wish to hear no criticism ever?
To prediction now: 2004 will be the most successful year for Linux and Free software so far. Platform has greatly improved and is mature, robust and dependable upon. Few available desktop offers are awesome (Fedora, Xandros, latest Mandrake and SuSE) and Linux will gain more share on this market as well. It seems that big corporate / government IS decision makers are finally willing to give Linux/OSS a real try, rather than to only listen. And you know what - that one try is all Linux needs - once you saw it going, you'll never go back to whatever you used before.
I've been hearing it since 1998. It's simply not true, and never fulfills itself every year in which I hear it. Sorry.
Since, oh, the late 90's the tide changed so that Microsoft is the "Big [DRM] Brother" Monoploy, IBM is cool and Apple is a religion (some things don't change). Slashdot was pivotal for this generational mindshift.
Essentially, what you are admitting to here is the massive, biased groupthink that goes on. Have people already so easily forgotten IBM's past sins? Oh, they've adopted Linux, so let's welcome them into our arms with praise on Slashdot! It's sheep-like.
Second, the community didn't just flock to Slashdot and bitch about how SCO sux, nor did it mount DDoS attacks against SCO (which would have brought the wrath of public condemnation against it, as SCO must have hoped, since they obviously had prepared Press Releases for such an occasion; the DDoS attacks SCO did experience were not community based, and, in fact, the community worked to stave off such attacks).
I guess you missed all the posts endlessly bitching about SCO or linking to some page on their website and saying "Click here, and be sure to refresh it several times to make sure you're up to date," modded up as Funny, of course.
Pay It Forward is not just a cute ideal, its' the underlying concept of the FOSS community -- enjoy the fruits of my labor and in return benefit others.
Much like communism--and I say this with no intent to troll, because communism in itself is not bad, but the implementations of it in the past have been--it has very positive and workable ideas that are good ideas, but it is bogged with politics and, well, human faults that hinder its progress. I fully expect Linux users in 5-10 years to be still be trudging along with X and KDE and proclaiming the benefits of 20 or so windowing libraries and ways to do things. There is a fear of consolidation that I disagree with, because it has spread a lot of energy thin which could have been concentrated into lesser but much more effective projects.
I'm trying to figure out what this "crisis" is that Cringely speaks of. What are we pretending isn't there? Is he just arbritrarily deciding there is a crisis just because he thinks there is? There has been no crisis, SCO has been laughed at all along, and 2.6 came out as Linus plunged forward.
The "SCO debacle" has always been viewed as a bothersome joke that will soon pass. Where is the crisis in the Linux community? The only one I know of is the trend of bad SCO jokes we get now and then.:)
I think "Internet companies" and the attempted commercialization of the Internet has really ruined it in many ways. So I'm not so sure I really want such commercialized ventures to work, particularly "Internet-only advertising firms," which usually equates to godawful banner ads and spam. I miss the old days of the net when it was almost purely information in nature.
What makes you think it's just one person? Do you have the proof?
Yes, I do.
I have yet to see *one* post where you praise OSS. I only hear you complain about why it's a bad idea or why it's a monumental failure. In other words you're full of shit.
I don't really care what posts of mine you see or don't see. It's not my fault you don't know my entire posting history or whatever. I love stringing you along like this, and it pleases me that I receive your attention. Be sure to reply to this!
Go ahead and try to act innocent. You can try to erase the past, but the Google cache will call you a liar. That's just one entry (and it took less than a minute to find) that proves you *had* journal entries, but have since deleted them. All of them. If they were innocent, then why did you delete them? Damning indeed.
To anybody curious: I wrote journal entries about certain posts I made that pointed out the hypocrisy of Slashbots. Big news there!! They're deleted because I haven't updated my journal in forever, so I felt it wasn't worth the bother. Be sure to reply to this, because I own you.
Your overreactive reply is amusing. I didn't claim that Linux didn't make progress this year, but I was merely pointing out that every year, I hear all these grand predictions about the leaps and bounds Linux will make, and at the end of the year, it feels like we've gone full-circle and are still chasing the tails of Microsoft, or upgrading to the latest point release of KDE, or whatever.
I don't deny those were great victories for Linux this year, but I'm talking about the predictions made.
Or was your poorly-worded, vague and ambiguous comment directed at actual desktop apps? Because, you see, Linux developers can't win with such people.
Sure, they can. I fully believe Linux will have a superior desktop in this decade. It's just taking a REALLY long time.
There are plenty of small projects out there attempting to make a "revolutionary" desktop, but the vast majority of people want something that works similar to Windows. If all distros went with something like TreeWM, you'd be blasting the community for making things too unapproachable and strange.
Yes, I would. What does TreeWM have to do with this? I want Linux to be the ultimate desktop. This means not working with something similar to Windows (while in the same breath, criticizing Windows and Microsoft in every article).
To the person who modded me as Troll: Next time, reply with your disagreement instead of censoring my opinion just because you don't agree with it. I'll rationally debate with you, believe it or not!
I've been reading the Linux predictions for every new year, and every year, time passes and nothing revolutionary happens.
I remember in 1998 when Linux was supposed to "surpass Windows on the desktop." I've been hearing it every year since, as well as Linux being "desktop-ready."
Please, hurry up! I really, really want to use it and not be forced to go to OS X for a UNIX desktop. But I have a feeling we'll be stuck in GNOME/KDE world for another 5-10 years.
The worm is not harmful to infected machines and has infected only a few PCs at this point, according to an analysis by Trend Micro Inc.
So why is this worth an entire headline? Shouldn't we at least wait until it's actually doing anything, or did Slashdot just want to get a new Microsoft worm article with a byline of "new-year-new-problems," despite sites like LinuxSecurity that list new vulnerabilities WEEKLY that Slashdot never reports?
And before anybody accuses me of being a Microsoft shill (you know who you are), I'm merely being the voice of opposition because I see so much groupthink here. I wish Slashdot was more rational and down the middle and objective, that's all. There is a genuine bias and propaganda going on against Microsoft, the RIAA, and so forth. Any inkling of a worm, no matter how minor and ineffective, gets breathlessly reported the minute it's submitted. Meanwhile, you never hear a thing about the faults of Linux security, except when they're forced to, like with the breaches of GNU/FSF, GNOME, Debian, and Gentoo, all within the span of six months or so.
Don't bother suggesting improvements
on
No More Leap Second?
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· Score: 3, Insightful
Every time you bother to suggest something to CmdrTaco, he'll either never reply or respond with a really nasty, sarcastic e-mail.
Taco really abhors change that isn't his. Especially if it's something that's already implemented elsewhere (i.e., Kuro5hin), they'll claim it "doesn't scale well."
Slashdot is behind the times. Its userbase has become a joke of groupthink and trolls, and the editors don't even read their links or posted stories anymore. It still has the momentum of a large fanbase, however, which just increases the stupidity because we have all these mistakes happening in front of a huge readership.
It won't matter what I say anyway, because you're obviously one of those ultra-hard liberal lefties judging by the URL you link to. "Sharing is caring?" Riiiigghht. Let's forget about the humans who made the music you're stealing by not paying for.
Slashdot Mirror
Yes, and I even read an article stating that less releases were coming out because labels were taking less risks due to lack of sales and returns on their investments.
People complain that the RIAA hurts the lower, more independent artists, but lowering sales through downloading just means labels won't sign those artists in the first place, making the music scene all the more boring because musicians aren't making money.
Nobody on Slashdot seems to care or acknowledge the musicians in this equation. It's all about "downloaders rights" or something.
Help what? Are you arguing that we should all continue downloading mp3s of albums we should be purchasing?
Slashdot's general stance on this is unclear. They seem to admit that it's illegal, yet post articles that try to claim it's okay. It's just a justification of the convenience that people have gotten used to.
I don't worry about getting "sued" or whatever because--gasp--I actually buy the shit I want for $10 at the local store. Everyone else I know downloads the fuck out of every album in existence. Don't tell me all those kids and college students downloading everything under the sun doesn't affect their tendency to buy the CDs instead. It's illogical and a sign of deluding yourselves into thinking otherwise. It's the big wink-wink, inside joke about file-sharing that everyone silently acknowledges.
What is it about Slashdotters that makes them think they're always the majority?
I guarantee at least 80% of downloaders never even dream of leaving the house to buy the CD they just downloaded. You are being PURPOSEFULLY naive if you believe everyone is holding themselves to an honor system here.
Wow, you bought CDs in Napster's heyday. That changes everything...
The problem is that nobody here can morally or legally justify downloading the music that other human beings worked hard to make. This leads to:
1.) Everyone trying to justify it as a "culture movement." Music wants to be free! Never mind nobody getting paid for making it.
2.) It's an anti-RIAA thing! We're just battling the RIAA by ripping off these artists. Two wrongs make a right, and the immorality of stealing music is rendered null by the fact that some bands signed contracts they didn't like later on.
3.) Having a product that is in stores available illegally online magically makes people go and purchase the product in the stores! When someone downloads an entire album off of Sharereactor's forums or Kazaa or WinMX, there is a magic spell that makes them suddenly want to purchase the album they have already just obtained for free. People are honorable like this. Society is perfect and moral and I choose to believe such to alleviate the pang of guilt I feel over it. After all, I bought CDs during Napster's heyday!
Blech.
So you honestly believe that, given a choice between downloading an album in 10 minutes and going to the store to buy an album for $10, someone would choose the latter?
Wow, an Australian report showed sales going up instead of down. That one little study sure proves the logic wrong there.
I love Slashdot. It always latches onto some single study or report and drives it home as evidence for their entire viewpoint. For instance, when the RIAA sent hundreds of thousands of lawsuits, and a couple of them happened to end up at places where someone used a grandfather's computer or some 11-year old girl used her mommy's computer. Suddenly, the RIAA is bullying! And the mantra repeated is that it's "crappy music" that is hurting sales, even though both crappy and good music has always been around.
Now, a single Australian study shows that sales went up instead of down, and suddenly that's evidence that MP3s and CD-Rs don't hurt sales. Meanwhile, COMMON SENSE AND LOGIC dictates that someone would rather go online and download an album for free in 10 minutes rather than go to the store and buy it for $10.
Nobody on Slashdot can offer a single valid justification for downloading music without paying for it. Not a one. I feel sorry for the artists that get ripped off. Here comes the part where people try to reply with "BUT THE RIAA RIPS THEM OFF EVERYDAY!1" even though the bands willingly signed contracts with their labels.
You want to know how much of a joke it's become? See What A Crappy Present. Kids aren't going to be buying albums anymore because you people have made downloading so commonplace. Think it through. What do you think is going to happen? Labels will stop taking chances on bands because they don't get returns on those investments, since "culture movement" people like you download the fuck out of them.
Seeing as how it takes longer to install drivers, upgrade things, and set things up in general. Slashdotters LOVE to bitch about Microsoft yet again, yet disregard Linux completely in the equation, because to them, setting up Linux is a HOBBY, while setting up Windows is a HASSLE. It's called bias.
:P
I remember the hell of just setting up APCI on my laptop until I realized that the reason the daemon kept crashing is that it just didn't work on my laptop. The evidence was when I tried two other distros and the same thing happened.
Meanwhile, Windows already works.
How much longer before movie-downloading becomes so commonplace and convenient that Slashdotters start convincing themselves that they're justified in doing it to appease that pang of guilt they feel? They've already done it with mp3s. After movies, all that's left is warez, but for some reason everyone is opposed to that.
You're basically saying that you're willing to break the law. I think this is all a joke as much as you do, but if Linux was somehow rendered completely illegal, I wouldn't bother with it anymore. There is BSD, y'know.
In other words, it doesn't work with humans. Sounds about right.
Some might say the same about American Democracy. You take the good with the bad and try to work with what you get.
It appears I have riled a frothing fanboy. Barring the fact that your rantings are amusing in themselves, I'll reply point by point to explain my perspective.
Oh, please provide some evidence for your wild claims.
You don't believe people were saying this in 1998? Every year, I have heard that "Linux will surpass Windows in the desktop," and it never does. This has been going on for many years, particularly on Slashdot. I don't need to provide claims for simple statements and opinion made years ago. It's common knowledge.
It certainly is desktop-ready.
No, it is absolutely, 100% not. What you see as "desktop-ready" is really a bunch of graphics blitted onto screen from a desktop environment on top of a window manager on top of a window library on top of xlib on top of X, all designed to make really cool screenshots for the backs of Linux distributions packaging, but when you actually grab the mouse to operate the thing, ultimately falls short. I still remember the first day I tried Red Hat 9, and GNOME's taskbar became stuck to the mouse cursor so that whichever side of the screen I moved to, the taskbar followed. Nothing fixed this, so I had to kill X, which screwed up the startup scripts. I laughed.
*IF* the applications are there, Linux takes over.
There are no apps.
Just look at the 3d-modelling world which has gone over to Linux almost completely.
Yes, the professional effects world has largely moved from SGI to Linux. That is not the general desktop market but a niche of the professional workstation market. They don't need actual functional desktop environments, because they're busy making movies with their computers.
If the applications are not there, Windows stays in place, obviously. That's why all the gamers are running Windows and will do so for a while.
Precisely. Also including the fact that drivers for Linux are horribly behind and that people are deathly afraid of the overly complex Linux filesystem structure, which is another example of reasons leading to acceptance. By that I mean, most Linux users accept things simply because their are reasons behind them. You have dozens of bizarre directories and optional directories and redundant and conflicting directories because the standard Linux filesystem says so, and they have their little reasons.
This has nothing to do with Linux on the technical side. Linux certainly is desktop ready and has been so for quite some time, no matter what Trolls like Overly Critical Guy claim.
You seem to repeating desperately to yourself that Linux is desktop ready. "No, it is! Linux is desktop ready, I swear it!" Then you call me a "Troll" simply because you disagree with my opinion. Clearly, I have struck a nerve.
(Actually the Windows-GUI is quite primitive and horrible to work with once you are used to Unix-style copy/paste, 3-mouse button GUI-support and multiple desktops)
I hear this claim all the time. Perhaps if copy-paste actually worked in Linux, it would be true. It's amusing that you claim the entire Windows GUI is primitive and horrible simply because you are used to using a third mouse button to paste. Who is the troll? Just remap your mouse button. Problem solved. Next.
It all depends on the applications.
According to your previous statement, it's the cut-paste that things depend on, but moving right along.
As some cities migrate to Linux and governmental apps get ported to Linux, the migration gets easier, faster and cheaper for other cities and the migration accelerates.
Cities migrating to Linux in order to use VMWare to run Windows applications on them. It's deliciously amusing. Governments used UNIX and other variants before, and now they'll use Linux. I fail to see how this will speed actual mainstream desktop acceptance, as if a user would move to Linux based only on the fact that the government uses it, rat
For me, Linux is the superior desktop already. It has been for the past 3 years. It's not as hideous or as insulting to use as WinXP,
Do you know how to change themes?
which others claim in all seriousness is "superior" to Linux desktops because of its "integration and usability". Whatever the hell that means. To each his own.
That means everything from cut-and-paste actually working to programs installing and removing themselves without resorting to underlying system package managers like RPMs.
The majority of people who complain that the Linux desktop sucks is the ones who get the hang-ups over "integration" and the fact that Linux does not work like Windows does.
Incorrect. The majority of people who complain that the Linux desktop sucks are ones who simply point out that it is poorly designed and not properly implemented. And, believe it or not, people desire an integrated system. I don't understand opposition to that.
The criticisms also stem from the fact that it is often TOO much like Windows. KDE, for instance.
For me, I couldn't care less about integration, and the fact that it doesn't work like Windows is a feature, not a bug.
I have yet to see any paradigm shift away from the Windows-like imitations any time soon.
From your post, I draw the conclusion that you disagree with my opinion simply because it is consistent over time. How is it lame and biased to point out that grand predictions for Linux are made every year and not always fulfilled? Do you wish to hear no criticism ever?
To prediction now: 2004 will be the most successful year for Linux and Free software so far. Platform has greatly improved and is mature, robust and dependable upon. Few available desktop offers are awesome (Fedora, Xandros, latest Mandrake and SuSE) and Linux will gain more share on this market as well. It seems that big corporate / government IS decision makers are finally willing to give Linux/OSS a real try, rather than to only listen. And you know what - that one try is all Linux needs - once you saw it going, you'll never go back to whatever you used before.
I've been hearing it since 1998. It's simply not true, and never fulfills itself every year in which I hear it. Sorry.
Since, oh, the late 90's the tide changed so that Microsoft is the "Big [DRM] Brother" Monoploy, IBM is cool and Apple is a religion (some things don't change). Slashdot was pivotal for this generational mindshift.
Essentially, what you are admitting to here is the massive, biased groupthink that goes on. Have people already so easily forgotten IBM's past sins? Oh, they've adopted Linux, so let's welcome them into our arms with praise on Slashdot! It's sheep-like.
Second, the community didn't just flock to Slashdot and bitch about how SCO sux, nor did it mount DDoS attacks against SCO (which would have brought the wrath of public condemnation against it, as SCO must have hoped, since they obviously had prepared Press Releases for such an occasion; the DDoS attacks SCO did experience were not community based, and, in fact, the community worked to stave off such attacks).
I guess you missed all the posts endlessly bitching about SCO or linking to some page on their website and saying "Click here, and be sure to refresh it several times to make sure you're up to date," modded up as Funny, of course.
Pay It Forward is not just a cute ideal, its' the underlying concept of the FOSS community -- enjoy the fruits of my labor and in return benefit others.
Much like communism--and I say this with no intent to troll, because communism in itself is not bad, but the implementations of it in the past have been--it has very positive and workable ideas that are good ideas, but it is bogged with politics and, well, human faults that hinder its progress. I fully expect Linux users in 5-10 years to be still be trudging along with X and KDE and proclaiming the benefits of 20 or so windowing libraries and ways to do things. There is a fear of consolidation that I disagree with, because it has spread a lot of energy thin which could have been concentrated into lesser but much more effective projects.
I really hope that changes this decade.
I'm trying to figure out what this "crisis" is that Cringely speaks of. What are we pretending isn't there? Is he just arbritrarily deciding there is a crisis just because he thinks there is? There has been no crisis, SCO has been laughed at all along, and 2.6 came out as Linus plunged forward.
:)
The "SCO debacle" has always been viewed as a bothersome joke that will soon pass. Where is the crisis in the Linux community? The only one I know of is the trend of bad SCO jokes we get now and then.
I think "Internet companies" and the attempted commercialization of the Internet has really ruined it in many ways. So I'm not so sure I really want such commercialized ventures to work, particularly "Internet-only advertising firms," which usually equates to godawful banner ads and spam. I miss the old days of the net when it was almost purely information in nature.
What makes you think it's just one person? Do you have the proof?
Yes, I do.
I have yet to see *one* post where you praise OSS. I only hear you complain about why it's a bad idea or why it's a monumental failure. In other words you're full of shit.
I don't really care what posts of mine you see or don't see. It's not my fault you don't know my entire posting history or whatever. I love stringing you along like this, and it pleases me that I receive your attention. Be sure to reply to this!
Go ahead and try to act innocent. You can try to erase the past, but the Google cache will call you a liar. That's just one entry (and it took less than a minute to find) that proves you *had* journal entries, but have since deleted them. All of them. If they were innocent, then why did you delete them? Damning indeed.
To anybody curious: I wrote journal entries about certain posts I made that pointed out the hypocrisy of Slashbots. Big news there!! They're deleted because I haven't updated my journal in forever, so I felt it wasn't worth the bother. Be sure to reply to this, because I own you.
Next.
Your overreactive reply is amusing. I didn't claim that Linux didn't make progress this year, but I was merely pointing out that every year, I hear all these grand predictions about the leaps and bounds Linux will make, and at the end of the year, it feels like we've gone full-circle and are still chasing the tails of Microsoft, or upgrading to the latest point release of KDE, or whatever.
I don't deny those were great victories for Linux this year, but I'm talking about the predictions made.
Or was your poorly-worded, vague and ambiguous comment directed at actual desktop apps? Because, you see, Linux developers can't win with such people.
Sure, they can. I fully believe Linux will have a superior desktop in this decade. It's just taking a REALLY long time.
There are plenty of small projects out there attempting to make a "revolutionary" desktop, but the vast majority of people want something that works similar to Windows. If all distros went with something like TreeWM, you'd be blasting the community for making things too unapproachable and strange.
Yes, I would. What does TreeWM have to do with this? I want Linux to be the ultimate desktop. This means not working with something similar to Windows (while in the same breath, criticizing Windows and Microsoft in every article).
To the person who modded me as Troll: Next time, reply with your disagreement instead of censoring my opinion just because you don't agree with it. I'll rationally debate with you, believe it or not!
This sounds exactly like what was said at the end of 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002...
I've been reading the Linux predictions for every new year, and every year, time passes and nothing revolutionary happens.
I remember in 1998 when Linux was supposed to "surpass Windows on the desktop." I've been hearing it every year since, as well as Linux being "desktop-ready."
Please, hurry up! I really, really want to use it and not be forced to go to OS X for a UNIX desktop. But I have a feeling we'll be stuck in GNOME/KDE world for another 5-10 years.
Why do you post repeated replies to my messages? Isn't one enough? They do log IPs, you know.
I think OSS is a great idea when it works.
I have no idea what you're talking about with the "damning entries" in my journal.
We do. You are horribly wrong if you think all things are allowed. I have no idea how you got modded up to +5 Insightful.
It's an attempt to waste mod points. It's from www.anti-slash.org.
The worm is not harmful to infected machines and has infected only a few PCs at this point, according to an analysis by Trend Micro Inc.
So why is this worth an entire headline? Shouldn't we at least wait until it's actually doing anything, or did Slashdot just want to get a new Microsoft worm article with a byline of "new-year-new-problems," despite sites like LinuxSecurity that list new vulnerabilities WEEKLY that Slashdot never reports?
And before anybody accuses me of being a Microsoft shill (you know who you are), I'm merely being the voice of opposition because I see so much groupthink here. I wish Slashdot was more rational and down the middle and objective, that's all. There is a genuine bias and propaganda going on against Microsoft, the RIAA, and so forth. Any inkling of a worm, no matter how minor and ineffective, gets breathlessly reported the minute it's submitted. Meanwhile, you never hear a thing about the faults of Linux security, except when they're forced to, like with the breaches of GNU/FSF, GNOME, Debian, and Gentoo, all within the span of six months or so.
Every time you bother to suggest something to CmdrTaco, he'll either never reply or respond with a really nasty, sarcastic e-mail.
Taco really abhors change that isn't his. Especially if it's something that's already implemented elsewhere (i.e., Kuro5hin), they'll claim it "doesn't scale well."
Slashdot is behind the times. Its userbase has become a joke of groupthink and trolls, and the editors don't even read their links or posted stories anymore. It still has the momentum of a large fanbase, however, which just increases the stupidity because we have all these mistakes happening in front of a huge readership.
It won't matter what I say anyway, because you're obviously one of those ultra-hard liberal lefties judging by the URL you link to. "Sharing is caring?" Riiiigghht. Let's forget about the humans who made the music you're stealing by not paying for.