Sure, longer battery life is always nice, and I don't always remember to keep my phone charged either, but is having to plug in a cord once a day really such a hassle?:)
I sometimes travel to see clients. I need to stay overnight. I don't want to carry a charger/dock. Right now, I don't have to.
That's just wrong. There's no reason why an equivalent of Exchange with address books, shared calendars, shared folders and mail can't be done with its own set of open standards. I'm not talking about any of it working with any Microsoft stuff. I'm talking about something that works with open source apps, or as a web application. Something that delivers similar business functionality.
Sure, it doesn't work for everyone. I'm no blind zealot. I had a need, it filled it, it does some of what I need elsewhere. I prefer the UNIX shell too.
"OK, for those of you who began using linux within the past year or two, I guess I must ask: Has the experience of new linux users improved at all, since that time? Do YOU people see it catching on, or is it still more or less the same bag of obstacles for you as it was for me 5-6 years ago?
"
Yes.
I remember trying RH some years ago, and could barely get it off the ground.
Then, last year, I was trying to set up Wordpress under Windows, and just couldn't get it going, so I stuck Ubuntu Linux on a box. It installed like a dream, and I had one problem with the wireless card (I bought a new one!), and then it was fine. I now do Wordpress development on it.
It's a lot, lot better. I believe it's moved from "hardcore geek" to "power user" level. You still get some setup problems, it's not as easy as grabbing a PC from Dell, and nor will it do certain things so easily (like games, DVD playback, well-known applications).
So, it's not ready for Joe User to set up... yet. However, Ubuntu is quite straightforward, though. Installing software and upgrades is probably easier than Windows.
Incidentally, I agree with what you say in general. There's a whole lot more than the technical merits of Linux to consider.
Download a live ISO (or get Ubuntu to send you a CD) and try it as a live CD. I'd be interested to hear how you get on.
The server conversion is important, though. A lot of Windows server applications create a dependancy on clients also being Windows based.
The last thing that will go in many companies will be the Windows clients. It's important to recognise that the ties (to servers and applications) have to be unbound before the clients can also go.
I know a lot of traditionally mainframe/Windows businesses that are at some level bringing in Linux servers, often to do tasks like mail or firewalls.
There never will be a "year of Linux", in the same way that there was no "year of Windows". It takes time, and it happens slowly. For me, 2006 meant the first time that I installed Linux on a laptop, and it was productive for me. Next year, some more people will discover it.
But in the very long term, I believe it's unstoppable.
Telling people they shouldn't buy HD-DVD and Blu-Ray and "you should prohibit them from your home and your life.". Do the FSF people get out from their myopic community at any time and meet some normal people? Most of them couldn't care less about free software rights. They buy a PC from Dell, they pop their DVD/HD-DVD in and it plays the movie. It does what they want.
I have a lot of respect for Mark Shuttleworth because he actually has some understanding of the problem. That people want to do this stuff, and right now, Linux can't (or at least not without some rather grey legal areas). And his drive is to solve it, not pretend that you can make it go away or persuade people to restrict their lives for it.
The FSF are insignificant, blind zealots working in their own little world, unable to see that sensible compromise in the short term may be necessary in the long term.
The likes of Canonical are doing far more for free software than the FSF are.
OpenSolaris community? What OpenSolaris community?
I know a lot of tech people working in large corporations, small corporations, in banking, retail, service industries, and I haven't heard a single one express an opinion about OpenSolaris.
There's just no buzz at all. In fact, the one guy I know in a Solaris environment tells me that they're gradually switching to RHEL.
If there's 1 prediction that I have - it's that Sun are going to continue to shrink.
The most important thing about COBOL was the "BO" part - Business Orientated.
Most languages are more general than COBOL. COBOL was, with it's myriad of sections, designed for business and in particular data processing. It's deliberately structured around that.
Can't Microsoft do what they always do? Take Mapudungun, add their own extensions and define Microsoft Mapudungun as the new standard? Then sue the tribespeople for using it?
These tribal elders got some sort of evidence that their language was created sometime in the last say, 200 years (not sure what copyright term is in Chile). Or that they have sole rights to it? How many people left the tribe and went off somewhere? Don't they also have partial rights to this?
This is about one thing - money. And it's set up to pander to treehuggers. Oh, the big bad corporation are stealing the property of the worthy friends of gaia. I expect that if they drag it out a little, Microsoft will settle, regardless of the merits of the case.
It's quite obviously a conspiracy that a company doing research into oil serves the oil industry. I was shocked to find that they weren't doing research for Pixar, Chanel and Death Row Records.
The past has proven time and time again that reports provided by people backed by certain corporations, such as Cigarrette Manufacturers, Oil Firms and both the RIAA and MPAA are filled with half-truths, straight lies, clear misrepresentations of data (once the data is brought out into the public space), as well as a number of other "Dirty Pool" tactics.
In which case, attack the half-truths and straight lies. To do anything else is prejudiced and unscientific.
You know what annoys me? That people can't accept that something being on the web is just fine. That it's only legitimate if it gets turned into a book or goes to TV.
I think it's a generational thing. Lots of young people are now tuned out of TV, tuned out of newspapers. Their default space is online - chatting via MSN, reading myspace, blogs, youtube. TV is something they switch to when there's something they really want to see.
It's not really about massage, and from what I see about tui na, it's not that.
It's to do with stimulating muscles to heal themselves and rebalance, from what I recall my massage therapist said. If your jaw gets put out of line, your body will naturally heal it over time. Bowen technique stimulates the muscles that do that work so you can heal more quickly.
There's some research into it going on at Coventry University in the UK, which I thought was to be published but hasn't been yet.
I've never understood that. People who won't tell their doctor about a large lump they're embarrassed about where it is. Given the choice between embarrassment and leaving a malignant tumour, I know which I'd pick.
Reading around, talking to doctors and the ENT, I got the impression that eustation problems are a bit of a nightmare. That the area around the jaw, eustation, ear etc. are very tight, and inaccessible so diagnosis is extremely difficult.
Did Bowen work for me? Yes. Absolutely. Has it been scientifically tested? No (although there is some testing being done now).
Before doing my Bowen, I was struggling to concentrate. I would fall asleep at about 8pm, be grumpy with my family because of the discomfort. Afterwards, I functioned much better. Where my ear had not been secreting wax, it started doing so.
Slashdot Mirror
I sometimes travel to see clients. I need to stay overnight. I don't want to carry a charger/dock. Right now, I don't have to.
I figured if there was one place I could go to get away from thinking about the 5th test, it was slashdot.
Your guys played very well, though.
That's just wrong. There's no reason why an equivalent of Exchange with address books, shared calendars, shared folders and mail can't be done with its own set of open standards. I'm not talking about any of it working with any Microsoft stuff. I'm talking about something that works with open source apps, or as a web application. Something that delivers similar business functionality.
Sure, it doesn't work for everyone. I'm no blind zealot. I had a need, it filled it, it does some of what I need elsewhere. I prefer the UNIX shell too.
Yes.
I remember trying RH some years ago, and could barely get it off the ground.
Then, last year, I was trying to set up Wordpress under Windows, and just couldn't get it going, so I stuck Ubuntu Linux on a box. It installed like a dream, and I had one problem with the wireless card (I bought a new one!), and then it was fine. I now do Wordpress development on it.
It's a lot, lot better. I believe it's moved from "hardcore geek" to "power user" level. You still get some setup problems, it's not as easy as grabbing a PC from Dell, and nor will it do certain things so easily (like games, DVD playback, well-known applications).
So, it's not ready for Joe User to set up... yet. However, Ubuntu is quite straightforward, though. Installing software and upgrades is probably easier than Windows.
Incidentally, I agree with what you say in general. There's a whole lot more than the technical merits of Linux to consider.
Download a live ISO (or get Ubuntu to send you a CD) and try it as a live CD. I'd be interested to hear how you get on.
The last thing that will go in many companies will be the Windows clients. It's important to recognise that the ties (to servers and applications) have to be unbound before the clients can also go.
Businesses want this. What are you going to say "no, you can't have this". Not going to work. Give them an alternative, and they might go for it.
If more zealots stopped complaining about Microsoft and started coding Sharepoint/Exchange replacements, the problem would get solved.
There never will be a "year of Linux", in the same way that there was no "year of Windows". It takes time, and it happens slowly. For me, 2006 meant the first time that I installed Linux on a laptop, and it was productive for me. Next year, some more people will discover it.
But in the very long term, I believe it's unstoppable.
Telling people they shouldn't buy HD-DVD and Blu-Ray and "you should prohibit them from your home and your life.". Do the FSF people get out from their myopic community at any time and meet some normal people? Most of them couldn't care less about free software rights. They buy a PC from Dell, they pop their DVD/HD-DVD in and it plays the movie. It does what they want.
I have a lot of respect for Mark Shuttleworth because he actually has some understanding of the problem. That people want to do this stuff, and right now, Linux can't (or at least not without some rather grey legal areas). And his drive is to solve it, not pretend that you can make it go away or persuade people to restrict their lives for it.
The FSF are insignificant, blind zealots working in their own little world, unable to see that sensible compromise in the short term may be necessary in the long term.
The likes of Canonical are doing far more for free software than the FSF are.
I know a lot of tech people working in large corporations, small corporations, in banking, retail, service industries, and I haven't heard a single one express an opinion about OpenSolaris.
There's just no buzz at all. In fact, the one guy I know in a Solaris environment tells me that they're gradually switching to RHEL.
If there's 1 prediction that I have - it's that Sun are going to continue to shrink.
It does a pretty good job for data processing.
Most languages are more general than COBOL. COBOL was, with it's myriad of sections, designed for business and in particular data processing. It's deliberately structured around that.
Sounds like Commando. Some of the finest alumni of the Imperial Stormtrooper School of Marksmanship.
In Star Wars, hacks in, finds location of the shield generator. In Empire, hacks in, finds out the the Millenium Falcon's hyperdrive is disabled.
Likewise, no tribe, no people, no government has the right to dictate how a language should be used. It's for everyone.
Can't Microsoft do what they always do? Take Mapudungun, add their own extensions and define Microsoft Mapudungun as the new standard? Then sue the tribespeople for using it?
These tribal elders got some sort of evidence that their language was created sometime in the last say, 200 years (not sure what copyright term is in Chile). Or that they have sole rights to it? How many people left the tribe and went off somewhere? Don't they also have partial rights to this?
This is about one thing - money. And it's set up to pander to treehuggers. Oh, the big bad corporation are stealing the property of the worthy friends of gaia. I expect that if they drag it out a little, Microsoft will settle, regardless of the merits of the case.
Google for "co-op party" sometime. They'll tell you about all the Labour MPs that they funded. You know, the people who voted for the war in Iraq.
It's quite obviously a conspiracy that a company doing research into oil serves the oil industry. I was shocked to find that they weren't doing research for Pixar, Chanel and Death Row Records.
In which case, attack the half-truths and straight lies. To do anything else is prejudiced and unscientific.
I think it's a generational thing. Lots of young people are now tuned out of TV, tuned out of newspapers. Their default space is online - chatting via MSN, reading myspace, blogs, youtube. TV is something they switch to when there's something they really want to see.
It's to do with stimulating muscles to heal themselves and rebalance, from what I recall my massage therapist said. If your jaw gets put out of line, your body will naturally heal it over time. Bowen technique stimulates the muscles that do that work so you can heal more quickly.
There's some research into it going on at Coventry University in the UK, which I thought was to be published but hasn't been yet.
I've never understood that. People who won't tell their doctor about a large lump they're embarrassed about where it is. Given the choice between embarrassment and leaving a malignant tumour, I know which I'd pick.
Reading around, talking to doctors and the ENT, I got the impression that eustation problems are a bit of a nightmare. That the area around the jaw, eustation, ear etc. are very tight, and inaccessible so diagnosis is extremely difficult.
Did Bowen work for me? Yes. Absolutely. Has it been scientifically tested? No (although there is some testing being done now).
Before doing my Bowen, I was struggling to concentrate. I would fall asleep at about 8pm, be grumpy with my family because of the discomfort. Afterwards, I functioned much better. Where my ear had not been secreting wax, it started doing so.