Actually you may be right about this. From watching a bunch of Discovery Channel shows, I can see that a lot of rich people that trick out their cars want a computer controlled multimedia setup in their cars. They showed one setting up a mini PC beside the dashboard and had to adjust the dash a few inches since it wouldn't fit well. This might solve these types of problems for car modifiers.
Another added bonus... maybe allowing your ipod to not just play through the speakers on your car, but actually syncing music with your car. Imagine how nice that would be. Play music controlled via an LCD monitor on your car. Then take your music with you after you park. Hmm...
Out of curiosity, does running two processors side by side really help with heat dissipation? Doesn't the heat increase simply because there are now two processors producing heat instead of one? Instead of one processor idling at around 40 degrees, you now have 2 idling at around 40 degrees. Plus the fact that most PCs aren't actually ventilated well with all the cables and additional cards inside.
Of course I'm also assuming that people will run two processors at fast speeds (2.0ghz and up). I doubt anyone would be willing to lower heat by running a dual-processor machine at slower clockrates (ie how much cooler is a dual 1ghz machine compared to a dual 2ghz machine?). Everyone always wants the fastest.
A new version of IE might very well be the biggest reason to upgrade to Longhorn from XP.
That's really sad. Maybe this is what browser makers have to market.
Firefox: "FREE download. Compare that to a $200 upgrade of IE."
Opera: "Only $37! Compare that to a $200 upgrade of IE."
Safari: "Only a few thousand dollars! You get a new hardware as well! Compare that to a $200 upgrade of IE."
Of course, I doubt IE will be the only reason to upgrade to Longhorn. Customers will be forced to upgrade whenever they buy a new machine preloaded with Longhorn. Customers will also be forced the momeny Microsoft says "We will no longer provide security updates to Windows before Longhorn." At that momeny they either switch to Macs, Linux, or get screwed by MS again.
Anyway, majority of my Internet-using clients are now using Firefox. So I'm doing my part and hopefully making Microsoft sweat a little more.
Astronauts aren't astronauts if they can't accept the risk they might get killed.
I'm scared of transporters also... but that won't stop me. Coz Ive got faith of the heart. Im going where my heart will take me. Ive got faith to believe. I can do anything. Yes siree.
I guess it would depend on what the lawsuit is for. If it were for the software itself, we all know that won't work. It's licensed to the end-user, and that license contains a "No Warranty" clause, just like every other software out there.
But if it were a lawsuit for false advertising... maybe. But I always remember seeing an ad or text or quote by Microsoft that simply says "More Secure". More secure than what, we really don't know. It could mean "More Secure than your home window made of glass" or "More Secure than your refrigerator". So a lawsuit with that won't work as well.
I frankly want a lawsuit against Microsoft anytime they mention a phrase something along the lines of "buying Microsoft products". I want them to change the word "buy" to "license". Maybe it will get people to actually read their damn EULAs. But that is a topic for another discussion.
I think there is a big difference with what Apple did with OSX and what MS did with NT.
Apple totally scrapped backward compatibility with old pre-OSX apps in OSX. They just put OS9 as a "virtual machine" of sorts, that could run as it's own process in OSX. This way people could still run OS9 apps while switching over to OSX.
Microsoft did create a new kernel with NT, but they retained probably all their old APIs, with all their bugs, basically retaining most of the bugs of previous Windows releases. When you run an old app in WinXP, you're running it with the APIs that exist in WinXP, probably rewritten APIs, most likely not.
The level of transparency with running old apps in WinXP does not make Apple's style look amateurish. In fact, it showed Apple had balls. They had a small market share, but they were willing to risk it to put up a totally new, more stable, OS.
Microsoft shows that, even with all their money, they aren't willing to redo everything for the sake of stability and security. Why? Probably because people would complain about their non-working apps (and Microsoft would say 'buy newer versions that are compatible'). Then these people might see Linux and Apple as viable alternatives.
Microsoft has all the money in the world to start from scratch. If they did, they'd get a lot of complaints, but in the end people will still use what they're familiar with. That would most probably be Windows. Although, people like me would start attempting to switch everyone I know to Linux.
Volvo service has done everything... from mounting additional engine supports, to changing and rebalancing the radiator fan, to changing transmission configurations, to making the idle rev a little higher, to changing other stuff I have no idea about.
The head service guy was handling the issue. He's straight from Sweden, so I suppose he's capable in terms of servicing Volvo's. It has lessened since, but I still feel it when in stop and go traffic. Horrible really. Can't possibly recommend a Volvo after this experience.
On the other hand, it is understandable that Volvo's expertise is in 5-inline engines. But still, it's unacceptable to sell a car of this quality.
My thoughts exactly. While Free Software purist will be against such a thing, I can imagine the advantages already. The same PalmOS GUI with the same Palm applications, meaning easy to use, quick, painless, relatively reliable. Together with the hackability of Linux.
I'm hoping things like bash, python, perl, are installable and runnable on it. I can imagine scripting backups to SD cards, instead of having to buy additional apps like BackupBuddyVFS, or Backupman. Plus, maybe a real ssh client with it running through a builtin Wifi connection. Administrators in big companies with Wifi internally will definitely enjoy this. Imagine setting a company-wide Palm policy where the Admin installs scripts to backup immediately to a centralized server through Wifi.
But then again... Palm has been a sore point for me ever since I bought the Zire 72 (with the horrible auto-lock debugging bug and the chipping paint). So I hope they do something good soon.
My family owns a Volvo S40. It sucks. Engine shakes like a diesel engine, and yet we know we bought a gasoline 4-inline engine. We looked under the hood and yes it is a 4-inline gasoline engine. And yet it shakes. Badly. We've complained to Volvo. Their service sucks. Strangely, a one-year older model doesn't shake as bad. We tricked their sales to drive to us another unit for a test drive. It's a turbo 4-inline engine. Still shakes as bad. It shakes until the interior is vibrating and you can already hear it and get a headache. Imagine this in stop-and-go traffic.
Second problem... their doors seem empty. When I close them, there's an empty tin can sound. Whereas on our Toyota Corolla Altis, it's a solid thud.
So no, Volvo's quality, under Ford's ownership, did not go up. Maybe the higher end models. But the lower end S40, pitted against Camrys, Accords, Cefiros, in pricing, is nowhere near the quality of the Japanese brands. Sure it's trendy. And sales may have increased under Ford. But it still a horrible car.
Sorry had to rant when I read Volvo and up-going quality in the same post.
This probably resulted in the quote:
"If you can't repeat it, it's not a bug"
End-User : Look at this bug!
Developer: What bug?
End-User : This bug!
Developer: Oh? Try it out on my development computer.
End-User :
Developer: See, it's not a bug. Must be your Windows or something. Have your IT department support it.
Manager : All right, no bugs, pay up.
If only development was like this little play I wrote.
Yahoo Messenger has this same feature. It's called the Buzz feature. You buzz a person, it goes "Ding Dong!!!" and shakes the window and sets it on top. I've done it to annoy a few people. I put in "I'M NOT WORKING" in big bright red colored font, then shake the window. If the boss is looking, then I've hit jackpot.
This is the reason I use gaim. When someone buzzes me, I get a *Buzz* text. Nothing more.
The only time I'll look to the US for anything space related is on Star Trek. I have a gut feeling that China might be the first to colonize the moon or some other big thing. Then again it sounds like my view on real life is being mixed with Star Trek already.
Frankly, I can't wait for Japan to develop some sort of communicator that I can pin on my shirt, tap, and just say the name of the person I want to talk to with immediate and seamless translations.
Either that or the skull implanted cellphones Nokia is planning on that Linus talks about in his Just For Fun book.
Shock: Company criticises competing OS ! Peronally I find that their comments, even though partial and biased (how could it be otherwise ?) are still much, much more objective than 99% of the typical linux fanboy comment about Solaris.
I mean, damn, they give you open office, Java and now they are open sourcing the best Unix environment out there - what more do you need ?
What more do I need/want? Maturity. I want maturity in the IT industry. I don't want an IT industry that focuses so much on bashing the other guy. I want an IT industry that focuses on what their products and services are and how they can help other companies. There's just so much hate and bashing that it sounds like a US presidential election.
Actually I have been thinking about an auto-update system of some sort for quite some time...
To force myself to learn Python, I'm thinking of setting up a Python daemon that will listen for an "administrator" machine that pushes commands that a company's SysAd wants. For example, if that person has deployed Fedora machines as the main desktop for an office, the normal options for auto-updating are:
1. Start, by default/etc/init.d/yum. This will be dependent on the set cron schedule on when to check and pull updates. This will also depend on the set "exclusions" in Fedora's yum settings.
2. ssh into each machine (or run around the office) and login and "yum update" all the machines.
What I'm thinking is a daemon that listens for commands that an administrator might want to push. Not just updating, but any commands (have all machines download the main yum.conf or whatever other config). So each client listens, me as Admin types something like "command-push 'yum update'" and all clients start updating like crazy.
Stuff I've thought about regarding this: 1. As admin, I don't set them to auto-update. This way I can force them to update, only once I've tested the updates well. 2. I don't have to ssh into each machine, or run around just to update, or whatever. 3. Security issues... there are plenty. Like how to actually validate the admin that is pushing the commands from his machine. 4. It's 2:36am, I'm sleepy. So ideas are jumbled.
Anyway, the auto-update thing is already in Fedora (just 'chkconfig yum on' I think). But as Admin, I want to automate the update only once I've tested the updates, which might mean a daemon to let me push the update call.
CD Burning like this is already in most distros that have Gnome 2.6 I believe. You go to burn:/// or select it in a "Places" menu option in Nautilus. Then drag and drop files to that window, and select "File" -> "Write CD". Gnome is also set to pop-up a burn window when inserting a blank CD. Plus Gnome can burn ISOs, something WinXP cannot. Right-click an ISO and select "Write to CD" or something like it (I know it's there, but never really used it since I still burn using cdrecord). I've done the drag and drop thing before and it works great.
Something to look forward to... context burning, which I believe is like the way Apple does it now. To burn photos, I will have to open gThumb (it's in current version already 2.6 I think). To burn audio, I open Rhythmbox (or Sound Juicer?). To burn files, I already open Nautilus. It might not be as powerful as a full burning app, but it does do wonders to those who don't really want the complication of another applicaton just for burning.
i don't get it. what's up with search being the "holy grail" of computing? kindly explain this to me. is everyone really this disorganized that everyone has to search for their own files now?
if everyone really wants to be able to search their stuff, it might be better to do away with files for documents completely. why not just make a real database (not fs database like winfs or whatever other bullshit they were thinking), where all documents, presentations, spreadsheets, are inputted into a real sql database as xml? maybe allow each application to create their own "database" with their own "table" with their own specific fields. then allow all these to be searchable by whatever search engine can be integrated with whatever desktop interface you may have. let's do away with files completely if people just keep on losing them, and have to search for them.
actually from reading what i just typed, it sounds like how a palm works. each app has their own searchable resource files. i don't really know how that will work with the stuff people type though. and images are another issue. most of the time, i find organizing pictures the toughest. documents are easy to categorize, but pictures, that's really a tough one.
Sounds like what I do. No matter what it is, Microsoft products failing, traffic jams, Linux ACPI not working correctly, high gasoline prices, I always blame Bill Gates. More recently, also George W. Bush.
Sounds unfair to them, but hey, at least it's someone else to blame but me.
It has to be easily installed even by Joe Sixpak, else your support costs will skyrocket. IMO, this is the largest stumbling block for Linux Desktops.
This is like saying that Joe Sixpak should be able install their own structured cabling in the office just to be able to surf the Net. It isn't Joe Sixpak's job to install or configure an OS. It's the OEM's and the SysAd's job to do that. In fact, the SysAd should lock down the OS. Joe Sixpak shouldn't even be allowed to install any additional apps. Only the SysAd should be allowed to install additional applications after approval from higher management, and after evaluation of said app. Besides, wasn't the article about Business-Desktop Linux and not Joe Sixpak-Desktop Linux?
Of note I use a Thinkpad T30 with the recently released Fedora Core 3. I'm a financial officer and systems administrator (yeah, strange combination). Upon install I can access USB Flash drives, I can use my crappy Mustek scanner, I can print on our companies networked printer, I can access my GF's MP3 player as a USB Flash drive as well. With a little configuration, I have a working WiFi connection.
Not only that, I've gained the advantage of knowing Linux and Windows. So if I ever switch jobs, they can rely on me for both technologies. I won't be locking a company into one-sided technologies.
Would like to note that I use an IBM Thinkpad T30 (absolutely different from your T40), and am using APM on it. I had nothing to do one day and basically stress-tested it. I tried suspend-to-RAM and suspend-to-disk while:
1. Playing music 2. Running glxgears 3. Playing Tux Racer
and upon resuming, these things still worked. I was pretty amazed. I once had an uptime of around a couple weeks worth because of suspend-to-disk (diligently saving my work before doing so). Frankly APM works quite well as long as the laptop is sane enough (which probably most, if not all, IBM Thinkpads are). I understand that ACPI is a targetted thing to fix for Linux kernel developers... or I might have just dreamed that up. I think I read that in some linux mailing list.
Just wanted to comment/question regarding the "non-swing" States.
If, for example, I live in "Bush" State. Does this mean that the majority of voters will be voting for Bush? And vice-versa for Kerry?
Doesn't this seem a little condescending? If a Kerry supporter lives in a Bush State, that's already like saying that that person's vote doesn't matter anymore. Or am I misunderstanding the "swing" status of a State?
Slashdot Mirror
Actually you may be right about this. From watching a bunch of Discovery Channel shows, I can see that a lot of rich people that trick out their cars want a computer controlled multimedia setup in their cars. They showed one setting up a mini PC beside the dashboard and had to adjust the dash a few inches since it wouldn't fit well. This might solve these types of problems for car modifiers.
Another added bonus... maybe allowing your ipod to not just play through the speakers on your car, but actually syncing music with your car. Imagine how nice that would be. Play music controlled via an LCD monitor on your car. Then take your music with you after you park. Hmm...
Out of curiosity, does running two processors side by side really help with heat dissipation? Doesn't the heat increase simply because there are now two processors producing heat instead of one? Instead of one processor idling at around 40 degrees, you now have 2 idling at around 40 degrees. Plus the fact that most PCs aren't actually ventilated well with all the cables and additional cards inside.
Of course I'm also assuming that people will run two processors at fast speeds (2.0ghz and up). I doubt anyone would be willing to lower heat by running a dual-processor machine at slower clockrates (ie how much cooler is a dual 1ghz machine compared to a dual 2ghz machine?). Everyone always wants the fastest.
A new version of IE might very well be the biggest reason to upgrade to Longhorn from XP.
That's really sad. Maybe this is what browser makers have to market.
Firefox: "FREE download. Compare that to a $200 upgrade of IE."
Opera: "Only $37! Compare that to a $200 upgrade of IE."
Safari: "Only a few thousand dollars! You get a new hardware as well! Compare that to a $200 upgrade of IE."
Of course, I doubt IE will be the only reason to upgrade to Longhorn. Customers will be forced to upgrade whenever they buy a new machine preloaded with Longhorn. Customers will also be forced the momeny Microsoft says "We will no longer provide security updates to Windows before Longhorn." At that momeny they either switch to Macs, Linux, or get screwed by MS again.
Anyway, majority of my Internet-using clients are now using Firefox. So I'm doing my part and hopefully making Microsoft sweat a little more.
Astronauts aren't astronauts if they can't accept the risk they might get killed.
I'm scared of transporters also... but that won't stop me. Coz Ive got faith of the heart. Im going where my heart will take me. Ive got faith to believe. I can do anything. Yes siree.
I guess it would depend on what the lawsuit is for. If it were for the software itself, we all know that won't work. It's licensed to the end-user, and that license contains a "No Warranty" clause, just like every other software out there. But if it were a lawsuit for false advertising... maybe. But I always remember seeing an ad or text or quote by Microsoft that simply says "More Secure". More secure than what, we really don't know. It could mean "More Secure than your home window made of glass" or "More Secure than your refrigerator". So a lawsuit with that won't work as well. I frankly want a lawsuit against Microsoft anytime they mention a phrase something along the lines of "buying Microsoft products". I want them to change the word "buy" to "license". Maybe it will get people to actually read their damn EULAs. But that is a topic for another discussion.
I think there is a big difference with what Apple did with OSX and what MS did with NT.
Apple totally scrapped backward compatibility with old pre-OSX apps in OSX. They just put OS9 as a "virtual machine" of sorts, that could run as it's own process in OSX. This way people could still run OS9 apps while switching over to OSX.
Microsoft did create a new kernel with NT, but they retained probably all their old APIs, with all their bugs, basically retaining most of the bugs of previous Windows releases. When you run an old app in WinXP, you're running it with the APIs that exist in WinXP, probably rewritten APIs, most likely not.
The level of transparency with running old apps in WinXP does not make Apple's style look amateurish. In fact, it showed Apple had balls. They had a small market share, but they were willing to risk it to put up a totally new, more stable, OS.
Microsoft shows that, even with all their money, they aren't willing to redo everything for the sake of stability and security. Why? Probably because people would complain about their non-working apps (and Microsoft would say 'buy newer versions that are compatible'). Then these people might see Linux and Apple as viable alternatives.
Microsoft has all the money in the world to start from scratch. If they did, they'd get a lot of complaints, but in the end people will still use what they're familiar with. That would most probably be Windows. Although, people like me would start attempting to switch everyone I know to Linux.
Volvo service has done everything... from mounting additional engine supports, to changing and rebalancing the radiator fan, to changing transmission configurations, to making the idle rev a little higher, to changing other stuff I have no idea about. The head service guy was handling the issue. He's straight from Sweden, so I suppose he's capable in terms of servicing Volvo's. It has lessened since, but I still feel it when in stop and go traffic. Horrible really. Can't possibly recommend a Volvo after this experience. On the other hand, it is understandable that Volvo's expertise is in 5-inline engines. But still, it's unacceptable to sell a car of this quality.
My thoughts exactly. While Free Software purist will be against such a thing, I can imagine the advantages already. The same PalmOS GUI with the same Palm applications, meaning easy to use, quick, painless, relatively reliable. Together with the hackability of Linux.
I'm hoping things like bash, python, perl, are installable and runnable on it. I can imagine scripting backups to SD cards, instead of having to buy additional apps like BackupBuddyVFS, or Backupman. Plus, maybe a real ssh client with it running through a builtin Wifi connection. Administrators in big companies with Wifi internally will definitely enjoy this. Imagine setting a company-wide Palm policy where the Admin installs scripts to backup immediately to a centralized server through Wifi.
But then again... Palm has been a sore point for me ever since I bought the Zire 72 (with the horrible auto-lock debugging bug and the chipping paint). So I hope they do something good soon.
I have a Thinkpad T30. I had the urge to throw it in a dumpster once. But didn't. What the hell were you thinking???
My family owns a Volvo S40. It sucks. Engine shakes like a diesel engine, and yet we know we bought a gasoline 4-inline engine. We looked under the hood and yes it is a 4-inline gasoline engine. And yet it shakes. Badly. We've complained to Volvo. Their service sucks. Strangely, a one-year older model doesn't shake as bad. We tricked their sales to drive to us another unit for a test drive. It's a turbo 4-inline engine. Still shakes as bad. It shakes until the interior is vibrating and you can already hear it and get a headache. Imagine this in stop-and-go traffic.
Second problem... their doors seem empty. When I close them, there's an empty tin can sound. Whereas on our Toyota Corolla Altis, it's a solid thud.
So no, Volvo's quality, under Ford's ownership, did not go up. Maybe the higher end models. But the lower end S40, pitted against Camrys, Accords, Cefiros, in pricing, is nowhere near the quality of the Japanese brands. Sure it's trendy. And sales may have increased under Ford. But it still a horrible car.
Sorry had to rant when I read Volvo and up-going quality in the same post.
This probably resulted in the quote: "If you can't repeat it, it's not a bug" End-User : Look at this bug! Developer: What bug? End-User : This bug! Developer: Oh? Try it out on my development computer. End-User : Developer: See, it's not a bug. Must be your Windows or something. Have your IT department support it. Manager : All right, no bugs, pay up. If only development was like this little play I wrote.
Yahoo Messenger has this same feature. It's called the Buzz feature. You buzz a person, it goes "Ding Dong!!!" and shakes the window and sets it on top. I've done it to annoy a few people. I put in "I'M NOT WORKING" in big bright red colored font, then shake the window. If the boss is looking, then I've hit jackpot. This is the reason I use gaim. When someone buzzes me, I get a *Buzz* text. Nothing more.
The only time I'll look to the US for anything space related is on Star Trek. I have a gut feeling that China might be the first to colonize the moon or some other big thing. Then again it sounds like my view on real life is being mixed with Star Trek already.
Really. I thought it was illegal to lie in court. Perjury I think its called.
You must be new here. Haven't you ever read a SCO article?
Frankly, I can't wait for Japan to develop some sort of communicator that I can pin on my shirt, tap, and just say the name of the person I want to talk to with immediate and seamless translations.
Either that or the skull implanted cellphones Nokia is planning on that Linus talks about in his Just For Fun book.
You must be female. I hear it the other way...
"You're a billionth of a second late! Hmph!"
Damn clocks.
the digs at Linux as marketing strategy
Shock: Company criticises competing OS ! Peronally I find that their comments, even though partial and biased (how could it be otherwise ?) are still much, much more objective than 99% of the typical linux fanboy comment about Solaris.
I mean, damn, they give you open office, Java and now they are open sourcing the best Unix environment out there - what more do you need ?
What more do I need/want? Maturity. I want maturity in the IT industry. I don't want an IT industry that focuses so much on bashing the other guy. I want an IT industry that focuses on what their products and services are and how they can help other companies. There's just so much hate and bashing that it sounds like a US presidential election.
I'm sorry, I just felt like ranting.
Actually I have been thinking about an auto-update system of some sort for quite some time...
/etc/init.d/yum. This will be dependent on the set cron schedule on when to check and pull updates. This will also depend on the set "exclusions" in Fedora's yum settings.
To force myself to learn Python, I'm thinking of setting up a Python daemon that will listen for an "administrator" machine that pushes commands that a company's SysAd wants. For example, if that person has deployed Fedora machines as the main desktop for an office, the normal options for auto-updating are:
1. Start, by default
2. ssh into each machine (or run around the office) and login and "yum update" all the machines.
What I'm thinking is a daemon that listens for commands that an administrator might want to push. Not just updating, but any commands (have all machines download the main yum.conf or whatever other config). So each client listens, me as Admin types something like "command-push 'yum update'" and all clients start updating like crazy.
Stuff I've thought about regarding this:
1. As admin, I don't set them to auto-update. This way I can force them to update, only once I've tested the updates well.
2. I don't have to ssh into each machine, or run around just to update, or whatever.
3. Security issues... there are plenty. Like how to actually validate the admin that is pushing the commands from his machine.
4. It's 2:36am, I'm sleepy. So ideas are jumbled.
Anyway, the auto-update thing is already in Fedora (just 'chkconfig yum on' I think). But as Admin, I want to automate the update only once I've tested the updates, which might mean a daemon to let me push the update call.
Am I making sense?
CD Burning like this is already in most distros that have Gnome 2.6 I believe. You go to burn:/// or select it in a "Places" menu option in Nautilus. Then drag and drop files to that window, and select "File" -> "Write CD". Gnome is also set to pop-up a burn window when inserting a blank CD. Plus Gnome can burn ISOs, something WinXP cannot. Right-click an ISO and select "Write to CD" or something like it (I know it's there, but never really used it since I still burn using cdrecord). I've done the drag and drop thing before and it works great.
Something to look forward to... context burning, which I believe is like the way Apple does it now. To burn photos, I will have to open gThumb (it's in current version already 2.6 I think). To burn audio, I open Rhythmbox (or Sound Juicer?). To burn files, I already open Nautilus. It might not be as powerful as a full burning app, but it does do wonders to those who don't really want the complication of another applicaton just for burning.
i don't get it. what's up with search being the "holy grail" of computing? kindly explain this to me. is everyone really this disorganized that everyone has to search for their own files now?
if everyone really wants to be able to search their stuff, it might be better to do away with files for documents completely. why not just make a real database (not fs database like winfs or whatever other bullshit they were thinking), where all documents, presentations, spreadsheets, are inputted into a real sql database as xml? maybe allow each application to create their own "database" with their own "table" with their own specific fields. then allow all these to be searchable by whatever search engine can be integrated with whatever desktop interface you may have. let's do away with files completely if people just keep on losing them, and have to search for them.
actually from reading what i just typed, it sounds like how a palm works. each app has their own searchable resource files. i don't really know how that will work with the stuff people type though. and images are another issue. most of the time, i find organizing pictures the toughest. documents are easy to categorize, but pictures, that's really a tough one.
Sounds like what I do. No matter what it is, Microsoft products failing, traffic jams, Linux ACPI not working correctly, high gasoline prices, I always blame Bill Gates. More recently, also George W. Bush.
Sounds unfair to them, but hey, at least it's someone else to blame but me.
It has to be easily installed even by Joe Sixpak, else your support costs will skyrocket. IMO, this is the largest stumbling block for Linux Desktops.
This is like saying that Joe Sixpak should be able install their own structured cabling in the office just to be able to surf the Net. It isn't Joe Sixpak's job to install or configure an OS. It's the OEM's and the SysAd's job to do that. In fact, the SysAd should lock down the OS. Joe Sixpak shouldn't even be allowed to install any additional apps. Only the SysAd should be allowed to install additional applications after approval from higher management, and after evaluation of said app. Besides, wasn't the article about Business-Desktop Linux and not Joe Sixpak-Desktop Linux?
Of note I use a Thinkpad T30 with the recently released Fedora Core 3. I'm a financial officer and systems administrator (yeah, strange combination). Upon install I can access USB Flash drives, I can use my crappy Mustek scanner, I can print on our companies networked printer, I can access my GF's MP3 player as a USB Flash drive as well. With a little configuration, I have a working WiFi connection.
Not only that, I've gained the advantage of knowing Linux and Windows. So if I ever switch jobs, they can rely on me for both technologies. I won't be locking a company into one-sided technologies.
Officially the release is about 2-3 times a year according to: http://fedora.redhat.com/about/
And I've read somewhere (forgot where) that a new version can get released anytime between 4-6 months.
It seems it's more of a moving target than Ubuntu, which has a fix schedule release and security support.
Would like to note that I use an IBM Thinkpad T30 (absolutely different from your T40), and am using APM on it. I had nothing to do one day and basically stress-tested it. I tried suspend-to-RAM and suspend-to-disk while:
1. Playing music
2. Running glxgears
3. Playing Tux Racer
and upon resuming, these things still worked. I was pretty amazed. I once had an uptime of around a couple weeks worth because of suspend-to-disk (diligently saving my work before doing so). Frankly APM works quite well as long as the laptop is sane enough (which probably most, if not all, IBM Thinkpads are). I understand that ACPI is a targetted thing to fix for Linux kernel developers... or I might have just dreamed that up. I think I read that in some linux mailing list.
Just wanted to comment/question regarding the "non-swing" States.
If, for example, I live in "Bush" State. Does this mean that the majority of voters will be voting for Bush? And vice-versa for Kerry?
Doesn't this seem a little condescending? If a Kerry supporter lives in a Bush State, that's already like saying that that person's vote doesn't matter anymore. Or am I misunderstanding the "swing" status of a State?