Not to mention monthly fees for TiVo and the like.
I've been using the same set of video tapes to record the 2 shows I record every week for the past 3 years. Either television programming needs to get a lot better, or TiVo, DVD-RW, etc. needs to get a lot cheaper. The VHS solution is working just fine for me.
willie
I have been running Linux (currently FC3) on my Desktop for 3 + years, as a result of being thuroughly disgusted with Windows. Fortunately my company of 600 + has a very decentralized IT department and no one noticed until I said something and to this day no one really cares what I run as long I get my work done. As such, as a community of one, I have become quite use to figuring out how to "make it do what I want" and consider myself very competent. I have paid for no software (with the exception of Crossover which I paid for since I considered it my choice to make the switch). I would be a greater advocate for Linux desktop migration, but I have to compete with a small but vocal contingency of OS-X users.
One of the biggest problems I have found is that in order to install software in linux I go though a number of steps:
1) go to the site. Poke around to see what I need in addition to the software package in question to install to make the disired package work. This is really just a cursory look and usually results in nothing.
2) download the package (sometimes a tgz, sometimes a rpm, sometimes a bin, etc).
3) attempt to install. 8 out 10 times this will not work.
4) armed with whatever lame error message I received as a result of #3, I start researching. Sometimes there is a readme, and sometimes it is actually helpful. In the case of Firefox 1.5 there was a readme that was totally not helpful. I revisit the website... this time with a little more enthusiasm for my quest for info. Apparently with fc3 you have to download and install linc then touch a file called.autoreg before you can acheive that seemless gnome integration. If a visit to the website is not helpful, I start googling.
5) bounce between #3 and #4 for a while until I get everything installed. Or I loose interest and put it aside... effectively giving up.
As a windows user, installing software was as easy as double clicking setup.exe, and 9 times out of 10 that worked. For me the litmus test is this: Can my father do it? Install an application in Linux: No. Install an application in Windows: yes (unfortunately sometimes when he doesn't mean to).
The problem, I think, partly stems from an inherent arrogance on the part of developers who think that if you are running linux you are smart enough to figure out how to administer and configure it. And for the most part that is true, but only because of things like this that prevent wider spread adoption.
Slashdot Mirror
My desire to be cheap has forced my standards to be extremely low.
willie
Not to mention monthly fees for TiVo and the like. I've been using the same set of video tapes to record the 2 shows I record every week for the past 3 years. Either television programming needs to get a lot better, or TiVo, DVD-RW, etc. needs to get a lot cheaper. The VHS solution is working just fine for me. willie
And cheaper than most, I might add.
You've seriously overestimated the American public's ability to give a damn.
willie
I have been running Linux (currently FC3) on my Desktop for 3 + years, as a result of being thuroughly disgusted with Windows. Fortunately my company of 600 + has a very decentralized IT department and no one noticed until I said something and to this day no one really cares what I run as long I get my work done. As such, as a community of one, I have become quite use to figuring out how to "make it do what I want" and consider myself very competent. I have paid for no software (with the exception of Crossover which I paid for since I considered it my choice to make the switch). I would be a greater advocate for Linux desktop migration, but I have to compete with a small but vocal contingency of OS-X users.
.autoreg before you can acheive that seemless gnome integration. If a visit to the website is not helpful, I start googling.
One of the biggest problems I have found is that in order to install software in linux I go though a number of steps:
1) go to the site. Poke around to see what I need in addition to the software package in question to install to make the disired package work. This is really just a cursory look and usually results in nothing.
2) download the package (sometimes a tgz, sometimes a rpm, sometimes a bin, etc).
3) attempt to install. 8 out 10 times this will not work.
4) armed with whatever lame error message I received as a result of #3, I start researching. Sometimes there is a readme, and sometimes it is actually helpful. In the case of Firefox 1.5 there was a readme that was totally not helpful. I revisit the website... this time with a little more enthusiasm for my quest for info. Apparently with fc3 you have to download and install linc then touch a file called
5) bounce between #3 and #4 for a while until I get everything installed. Or I loose interest and put it aside... effectively giving up.
As a windows user, installing software was as easy as double clicking setup.exe, and 9 times out of 10 that worked. For me the litmus test is this: Can my father do it? Install an application in Linux: No. Install an application in Windows: yes (unfortunately sometimes when he doesn't mean to).
The problem, I think, partly stems from an inherent arrogance on the part of developers who think that if you are running linux you are smart enough to figure out how to administer and configure it. And for the most part that is true, but only because of things like this that prevent wider spread adoption.
Lets build a slashdot desktop client. Then I can /. offline.
willie
I really thought we had something going with this keyboard/mouse thing.
I knew Bush would think of an inventive solution.