Napster on Thursday introduced a test version of its new software that will sell individual songs for 99 cents each, albums for $9.95. or monthly "all-you-can-eat" subscriptions for $9.95.
Is this a typo? I mean, why would I pay 9.95 for an album, when i can get the "buffet" subsciption at the same price. Would this be for people who are too lazy to cancel thier subscription when they get done downloading? What if my album has less then ten songs? This pricing scheme won't help them in a successful comeback.
That is great to see top management listening to the customers, and apologizing, even if it was only after they spoke out with thier money, or lack there of.
I still tend to think that other companies like those of games makers and OS's, would still be able to get away with implementing activiation codes. Money issues are what people feel most need for privacy using software.
Hero of the open source movement, geek made good, thorn in Bill Gates' side - there are so many reasons why people vote for Linus Torvalds each year.
In a nutshell it's because he embodies the idea that there is always another way, an antidote to the Microsofts of this world, evidence that the idea of the 'community' within IT is still there. If it wasn't for the presence of Lara Croft and Xena Warrior Princess, techies around the world would have posters of Torvalds on their walls.
Torvalds started work on the Linux kernel while he was at university in Helsinki in 1991 and since then it has been taken up and developed as a serious alternative to proprietary software.
In truth Torvalds best work is in the past but he got the ball rolling and he continues to be an Agenda Setter because he is the very embodiment of the open source community. A vote for Torvalds is not a vote for the man but more a vote for what he represents.
Linux now poses a major threat to Windows and a series of adoptions in the past year, especially at governmental level (and there are more expected in the coming year) means that threat is only set to increase.
"If the number contains more than three digits,'' the counter notes, "you truly are a Google frequent searcher.''
snip
Whether and when the counter might be placed on the Google screens of all users has not been decided, Ms. Mayer said. "The test is very new,'' she said. " We're still looking at the data.''
It has always amazed me how MS has been able to take a stranglehold on something like the x86 standard. It just doesn't seem right somehow. I mean, x86 wouldn't have ever been as successful as it is without IBM making it open. MS keeps finding ways to lead consumers to believe that they own the hardware just as Apple's computers. Maybe this is the problem? Consumers don't see the software as a seperate thing.
IE: What kind of computer do you have?
User: Windows.
We all know what it means and it probably makes most techs cringe. Mac users are able to say, "I have an Apple" and everyone know what they talking about. Maybe this is a flaw in the open style business model that needs to be addressed so that more people are aware that they aren't obligated to run Microsoft firm/software.
Since we are talking about ease of installation, new users may find it interesting to know that you can run version of Slackware from a DOS/Windows partition called ZipSlack/BigSlack without having to resize or reformat your existing drive. Just unzip and edit a batch file. I think the web site says it best...
ZipSlack is a special version of Slackware Linux. It's an already installed copy of Slackware that's ready to run from your DOS or Windows partition. It's a basic installation, you do not get everything that comes with Slackware. If you want everything with ZipSlack, then you should try BigSlack.
Hello fellow Slackware users and newcomers, just a few comments to help clarify a few things.
Slackware 9.1 comes in two CDs and it's Installation is text-based.
I would personally describe this as a menu based installation. ie: use arrow keys to select packages/options.
The only snag might be that the user will need to use the command line and not extremely user-friendly fdisk application to create partitions for Slackware.
Slashdot Mirror
screenshots here
Napster on Thursday introduced a test version of its new software that will sell individual songs for 99 cents each, albums for $9.95. or monthly "all-you-can-eat" subscriptions for $9.95.
Is this a typo? I mean, why would I pay 9.95 for an album, when i can get the "buffet" subsciption at the same price. Would this be for people who are too lazy to cancel thier subscription when they get done downloading? What if my album has less then ten songs? This pricing scheme won't help them in a successful comeback.
That is great to see top management listening to the customers, and apologizing, even if it was only after they spoke out with thier money, or lack there of.
I still tend to think that other companies like those of games makers and OS's, would still be able to get away with implementing activiation codes. Money issues are what people feel most need for privacy using software.
No 5. Linus Torvalds creator of Linux
Last year's position : 21
Hero of the open source movement, geek made good, thorn in Bill Gates' side - there are so many reasons why people vote for Linus Torvalds each year.
In a nutshell it's because he embodies the idea that there is always another way, an antidote to the Microsofts of this world, evidence that the idea of the 'community' within IT is still there. If it wasn't for the presence of Lara Croft and Xena Warrior Princess, techies around the world would have posters of Torvalds on their walls.
Torvalds started work on the Linux kernel while he was at university in Helsinki in 1991 and since then it has been taken up and developed as a serious alternative to proprietary software.
In truth Torvalds best work is in the past but he got the ball rolling and he continues to be an Agenda Setter because he is the very embodiment of the open source community. A vote for Torvalds is not a vote for the man but more a vote for what he represents.
Linux now poses a major threat to Windows and a series of adoptions in the past year, especially at governmental level (and there are more expected in the coming year) means that threat is only set to increase.
Rumour has it he's a Guinness man as well.
"If the number contains more than three digits,'' the counter notes, "you truly are a Google frequent searcher.''
snip
Whether and when the counter might be placed on the Google screens of all users has not been decided, Ms. Mayer said. "The test is very new,'' she said. " We're still looking at the data.''
"996...997...998...999...hmmmm"
It has always amazed me how MS has been able to take a stranglehold on something like the x86 standard. It just doesn't seem right somehow. I mean, x86 wouldn't have ever been as successful as it is without IBM making it open. MS keeps finding ways to lead consumers to believe that they own the hardware just as Apple's computers. Maybe this is the problem? Consumers don't see the software as a seperate thing.
IE: What kind of computer do you have?
User: Windows.
We all know what it means and it probably makes most techs cringe. Mac users are able to say, "I have an Apple" and everyone know what they talking about. Maybe this is a flaw in the open style business model that needs to be addressed so that more people are aware that they aren't obligated to run Microsoft firm/software.
Sounds cool, but why only 24 hours?
Yes, and unless these movies are "new releases" even Blockbuster would let you keep them for a full week.
Buying only Open Source/Linux does not create a monopoly because Open Source/Linux companies can still compete with each other.
On the other hand if you decided to buy only Windows software, it would create one because Microsoft is the only vendor.
Jim from Joe's Sanitation
Kelly from Kate's Recycling
Henry from Haul-U-Garbage
They just look at the resume and say,
"Where the hell is this guys application?"
Stolen from the article:
"For production of Sinbad every workstation and the entire renderfarm was Linux," notes DreamWorks head of animation technology Ed Leonard.
Here is a mirror for the png's.
XFce screens
Since we are talking about ease of installation, new users may find it interesting to know that you can run version of Slackware from a DOS/Windows partition called ZipSlack/BigSlack without having to resize or reformat your existing drive. Just unzip and edit a batch file. I think the web site says it best...
What is ZipSlack?
The text below is taken from the URL above.
ZipSlack is a special version of Slackware Linux. It's an already installed copy of Slackware that's ready to run from your DOS or Windows partition. It's a basic installation, you do not get everything that comes with Slackware. If you want everything with ZipSlack, then you should try BigSlack.
I made a few screenshots just in case anyone missed it :)
http://members.shaw.ca/pkgtool/pkgtool.png
http://members.shaw.ca/pkgtool/setup.png
Hello fellow Slackware users and newcomers, just a few comments to help clarify a few things.
Slackware 9.1 comes in two CDs and it's Installation is text-based.
I would personally describe this as a menu based installation. ie: use arrow keys to select packages/options.
The only snag might be that the user will need to use the command line and not extremely user-friendly fdisk application to create partitions for Slackware.
cfdisk is also available which is menu based.
If you type "pkgtool" you will find all the old menu based setup scripts, along with a few new ones.
Whatever you do, don't go cold turkey. :) Oh yeah and the withdrawl symptoms should clear up in about a week or so.
"...he'll have to fork out for a fresh set of Windows XP disks if he wants to perform the dual boot miracle"
Well, it looks like SCO will have to get in line to charge for Linux, in the mean time it looks like Microsoft has found a way.