If Microsoft are selling them at such a loss (which I believe they admit that they are) wouldn't the best thing that we can do be to all go out and buy one and turn it into a linux-based router or firewall or coffee machine etc. and help reduce MS profit margins? Don't buy a single game, sell (give away) the ones that it comes with by default (if it does these days) thereby denying futher cuts from the games that others might buy for new.
Just a thought. btw I have an XBox and think they are pretty neat - they introduced me to the world of console gaming and that can't be all that bad. Right?
I wonder when I'll be able to order it in resturant.
me: I'd like a flute of printer ink thank you.
waiter: Would that be red, yellow, blue or black?
me: Make it blue - oh and none of that refiller ink crap!
6 years from now at McDonalds. "Would you like printer ink with that?"
For those that live outside North America, the coffeeshop in a bookstore idea isn't very common. It is becoming more common in Australia, but unless you are in a large chain, it is rare.
It's true that often the moving of someone over to linux involves lots of evangelising (almost bludgeoning). It's like an attack on the uninitiated based on very technical arguments - which ultimately leaves them feeling stupid. More often than not the discussion begins in a friendly benign way and ends in both side getting red in the face. I gave up several years ago trying to convert people (and oh did I try).
So what follows is only my opinion of what I think is best for the open source community and the end user as a whole.
Lead by example: Despite all the best technical arguments in the world, people's curiosity is tweaked by what appears to be different. "Wow that windows looks different?", "It's not windows." (count to 5 in head) "Really?.. well what is it?" Whatever your opinions are of Lindows and their ilk, the reality is that they are keeping things similar, but making them a little different. People look at it seriously and wonder what it is like to use, whether it will address some of the things that they didn't like about Windows etc. The more end users that linux attracts the more momentum to polish the experience. There is no reason at all why linux can't be polished, it's just usually because the community looks down on form over function. Unfortunately the mums and dads of the world don't know much about the function and can only judge by the form.
One of our complaints about windows is that it hides things from us or tries to second guess what we want - this is often held up by the non-techinical types as windows biggest strength. No amount of arguing that cmd.exe is crap will affect them.
I marvel at the mum and dad computer user because they treat computers as tools (as they really are). That is my mother will boot the machine, type in an email, send it, read her other messages and then turn the computer off. On the other hand I like to leave my machine on if not constantly, then at least for 8 or 9 hours at a stretch. Arguments on Stability simply don't impress her unless something crashes in the 20 minutes that she is using the machine (which is very rare).
One linux zealot I knew would constantly sprout the "linux is free" line. That would get people in in droves. He was quite happy to run off copies of mandrake or slackware and give them to those that were interested, but soon as they came to ask him questions (usually on how to get the modem working) it was "RTFM" or he'd help but make them feel stupid the entire time. So linux wasn't free because it was a trade off for these people of time versus money.
So now, I try to get linux running somewhere visible and quietly let others come to me to ask about it rather than taking it on the road. The more non-technical people we get championing linux the better because they will talk about it in "real world" terms and they will make the best advocates.
It's interesting, at my last place of work (which hopefully is dying a painful death) you had the tech types coming in (about 10 a.m) hot brew in hand spending the next 15 minutes catching up on mail, slashdot, web comics and so on (maybe it's more like 40 mins after spam now) and shooting the breeze about counter strike. More often than not on my travels through the office, the admin staff would come in for the morning with juice in hand and settle into a session of bejewelled!
Lunch time comes around and you can hear the happy tones of popcap games in the hallowed halls of the business world.
I love the passive-agressive nature of this reply. The semi-political "I'm not going to retaliate to this slanderous, vindictive, untrue, overstated (did I leave anything out?) lie written by this traitor." I think the reply was written in haste, so I'm thinking that it should read "I don't have time to retaliate.. yet."
All the same it is a shame to see clashes like this. Transparency is a key differentiator of OSS - so transparent you can even see the ego clashes and arguments. I'm sure that this is a good sign that OSS is working, since I don't see any spin doctors and PR vampires flitting in to shield us from the mess. At the very least it is entertaining!
Ah well.. I was seriously looking at gentoo for my next distro to thrash about in. I think it's time to bite the bullet and find my link to Debian.
Slashdot Mirror
Just a thought. btw I have an XBox and think they are pretty neat - they introduced me to the world of console gaming and that can't be all that bad. Right?
I wonder when I'll be able to order it in resturant.
me: I'd like a flute of printer ink thank you.
waiter: Would that be red, yellow, blue or black?
me: Make it blue - oh and none of that refiller ink crap!
6 years from now at McDonalds. "Would you like printer ink with that?"
For those that live outside North America, the coffeeshop in a bookstore idea isn't very common. It is becoming more common in Australia, but unless you are in a large chain, it is rare.
So what follows is only my opinion of what I think is best for the open source community and the end user as a whole.
Lead by example: Despite all the best technical arguments in the world, people's curiosity is tweaked by what appears to be different. "Wow that windows looks different?", "It's not windows." (count to 5 in head) "Really?.. well what is it?" Whatever your opinions are of Lindows and their ilk, the reality is that they are keeping things similar, but making them a little different. People look at it seriously and wonder what it is like to use, whether it will address some of the things that they didn't like about Windows etc. The more end users that linux attracts the more momentum to polish the experience. There is no reason at all why linux can't be polished, it's just usually because the community looks down on form over function. Unfortunately the mums and dads of the world don't know much about the function and can only judge by the form.
One of our complaints about windows is that it hides things from us or tries to second guess what we want - this is often held up by the non-techinical types as windows biggest strength. No amount of arguing that cmd.exe is crap will affect them.
I marvel at the mum and dad computer user because they treat computers as tools (as they really are). That is my mother will boot the machine, type in an email, send it, read her other messages and then turn the computer off. On the other hand I like to leave my machine on if not constantly, then at least for 8 or 9 hours at a stretch. Arguments on Stability simply don't impress her unless something crashes in the 20 minutes that she is using the machine (which is very rare).
One linux zealot I knew would constantly sprout the "linux is free" line. That would get people in in droves. He was quite happy to run off copies of mandrake or slackware and give them to those that were interested, but soon as they came to ask him questions (usually on how to get the modem working) it was "RTFM" or he'd help but make them feel stupid the entire time. So linux wasn't free because it was a trade off for these people of time versus money.
So now, I try to get linux running somewhere visible and quietly let others come to me to ask about it rather than taking it on the road. The more non-technical people we get championing linux the better because they will talk about it in "real world" terms and they will make the best advocates.
Lunch time comes around and you can hear the happy tones of popcap games in the hallowed halls of the business world.
Long live work-place recreation.
All the same it is a shame to see clashes like this. Transparency is a key differentiator of OSS - so transparent you can even see the ego clashes and arguments. I'm sure that this is a good sign that OSS is working, since I don't see any spin doctors and PR vampires flitting in to shield us from the mess. At the very least it is entertaining!
Ah well.. I was seriously looking at gentoo for my next distro to thrash about in. I think it's time to bite the bullet and find my link to Debian.