Are you seriously stating that you're considering a 190mhz machine, with 64MB of RAM, with a 640x480 8-bit display, as a web browser? Do you use the same web I do? Even applying CSS rules would crush that machine.
And yet, strangely, I've been surfing the Web all the time I'm away on a trip on my NEC MobilePro 900C using Opera. People should bloody stop assuming that it's impossible to have a working desktop computer unless you use 1 GHz and a shitload of RAM.
How about you stop and think what specs PC's had at the beginning of the 90's, and still people somehow managed to get their stuff done. Apps haven't changed that much in between, we basically do most of the same stuff now that we did back then.
The MobilePro is a great example. It has a WiFi connection and a wired one (thanks to PC cards), solid state storage (CF card), I get to surf the Web, it doubles as a book reader and manga reader, I can listen to streaming online radio or MP3's (got speakers and headphone jack), I play games, edit and view office docs, see PDF's, I have SSH, Total Commander, email, Skype, YM, IRC, remote desktop and VNC, runs Python, got all kinds of file tools (search and so on) etc.
Basically, with the exception of playing movies (although it can do that too with some limitations) or big-ass games or P2P, it's everything a regular desktop is. All that in under 10x5 inches, a regular keyboard, touchscreen, 400 MHz CPU and 64 MB of RAM. Did I mention it has a 16bit screen (65535 colors)? Or that it's a USB host and can use USB printers and mice?
First of all, there's no such thing as "intellectual property" no matter who insists upon it. You can't own information and to pretend anyone does is stupid. You can control where information gets, yes. You can award people certain rights for original creations, yes (that is what copyright is). But you can't treat pieces of information like potatoes, no matter how some people and corporations would like to.
Second, I think you're confusing copyright and patents at least on some level. Most physical inventions are protected by patents, not copyright. As for the incentive argument, it's questionable. There's free software as well as all kinds of content out there available for free. People who create it don't have any incentive in the sense you imply, yet they keep doing it, and they can do so because of copyright.
So I have to disagree to your attempt at putting copyright and patents together as if they were both nothing more than making money for the authors. It's a misrepresentation of both.
Non-admin rights, client-side file-scanners, web-side black-lists, and user training is the only way malware is going to go away.
Yeah, 'cause we've seen how great all these methods have worked so far. We're using them for 20 years now and malware's doing better than ever.
You know what I find interesing about all these methods you listed? They all assume that security has already been breached, that malware is on your computer, and attempt to contain damage and patch things up.
Is it just me that finds this approach FUCKING STUPID? Oh look, it's not just me.
Here's a radical new crazy idea: how about fixing security holes so that malware doesn't get in in the first place? How about spitting in the face of the software makers that push shoddy flawed products on us? Or on antivirus makers, their protection schemes and parasitic way of life?
And why the hell do computer users assume that getting malware on your computer is the norm? Would they also consider someone breaking in their house normal? Bloody no, they'd scream and have a fit. Why is it not ok to have your house browsed through by strangers, but it's ok for your private files?
Because we're soft in the head, that's why. We, users, have picked up some very bad habits because a fucked up software industry is doing a sloppy job and then blows smoke in our eyes and tries to pretend it's "the hackers" fault, not theirs. "Oh noes, the bad hackers made a worm and there are losses of billions worldwide, let's shoot them when we catch them." I say fuck that, why the hell did the worm get into my system in the first place?
That's the main issue with Microsoft. If it does go away, what else will it take down with it? (And that's without getting into the question 'what do we replace it with?').
...telling Microsoft you were a 45 year old gay midget into tranny foot fetish porn with interests in RC cars, the Book of Mormon, and central Asian camel farming.
TFA notes the trouble MS is having with companies switching to Vista from XP...it looks like this could be the foothold Apple needs to launch some newer and more powerful products for the corporate user base.
Apple does not have a "corporate user base", it has unofficial/unsupported (as far as they are concerned) use of Macs in corporate environments.
Look, it's not about coming up with a new sexy notebook for the "corporate crowd". It doesn't work like that. If a company wants to cater to that environment it needs support and it needs to do it as well as possible. Currently, Apple does NOT have what it takes. Their end consumer supporting network is NOT up to par for corporate environment. Microsoft, Red Hat, the various PC and server makers, they all have infrastructure and business plans in place for this, Apple does not.
And I don't see them going for it. If anything, it would take efforts of a grand magnitude, for iffy results. That's MHO. Jobs has the figures and the facts and the kind of business brains I do not and so far he hasn't announced moving into the corporate market.
That said, I believe most EU countries, as well as Australia and recently Canada have laws similar to the DMCA.
That's a strange belief (not to mention wrong). Why do you assume it's normal for most countries to have something similar to the DMCA? Most countries' enforcement of copyright does not reach the ridiculous levels seen in the US.
I was going to ask about that too. How many people you know that pay for support for software? Hardware, yes, but software? Especially for Linux, which is traditionally the land of the DIY'er?
After a few replies, I trust I have made my point. The GP's statement (what will happen when "bad people" get a hold of this techonology) is too vague. Everybody's definition of "bad people" differs, insomuch that basically it can be anybody. So it's no use wondering what the next person will do with the technology, it's anybody's guess.
The only thing that is "intuitive" is a nipple. Could we retire this tired old phrase, please? Not clever.
OK, how about "the only thing that's intuitive is pooping."
The meaning of that tired old saying still holds true. The only things that are really, truly intuitive are those coming from instinct (bodily functions being one example.)
There's nothing instinctual helping you with computers. So we resort to learning and then applying what we learned. Some people learn the basic principles and apply them. Most people immitate what they're being shown.
Due to this, and since most people are lazy, wary of computers and Windows is the dominant interface, chances are that most people will be familiar with the Windows ways of doing things and wary of learning something new (or using their head applying basic principles to new situations).
Simple facts. Whoever agrees to that will be able to use them to his or her advantage.
Granted, it happens, but they're usually very few such kludges, with easy fixes most of them. Personally, I prefer to do the system upgrade over avoiding it due to these little annoyances. But that's me, others may choose to stick to a point release and upgrade inside it, you're right.
So what are you saying, never upgrade away from the point-release? Or never do a system upgrade that will take you from an Ubuntu major release to the next?
I suspect the latter. It makes some sense, I have to admit. There are cases when these major upgrades comes with some trouble. In the same train of thought, some Ubuntu point releases have came across a lot better than others, so as long as Ubuntu keeps offering updates for them you can stick to them.
In any case, I stand corrected. I had forgotten about the inside-point-release update lifecycle.
In its defence, there's something to be said about making applications as easy to use as possible, which is the Gnome way.
That said, Brasero is a bit ridiculous in that regard. It's probably just me, I like a bit of looking under the hood in my burner app. So if you're like me and want something Gnome'ish then I recommend you try GnomeBaker, it's a happy medium between the absolute simplicity of Brasero and the ton of stuff in K3B.
Point releases are meaningless for existing users of any Linux distro with a decent package manager. They just click on "upgrade" and it does what it usually does.
The hype is there to attract new users (hopefully). These releases also serve as milestone for the distro maintainers. But otherwise...
What I'm trying to say is that a Linux point release shouldn't be considered the same as old-school releases (get a new CD, wipe, reinstall). With permanent Internet connections and decent package managers all that is in the past, you install once and upgrade forever. Reinstall is only if something really bad happens to the machine.
Because when you install a desktop environment "by hand" so to speak you may not necessarily obtain the same level of out of the box experience as the one offered by the prepackaged one.
Besides, the GP was not suggesting people reinstall to get another desktop env., he was just saying that you can get XFCE or KDE by default. If you like them it makes sense to download Kubuntu or Xubuntu directly, not get Ubuntu and waste time replacing the desktop.
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How about you stop and think what specs PC's had at the beginning of the 90's, and still people somehow managed to get their stuff done. Apps haven't changed that much in between, we basically do most of the same stuff now that we did back then.
The MobilePro is a great example. It has a WiFi connection and a wired one (thanks to PC cards), solid state storage (CF card), I get to surf the Web, it doubles as a book reader and manga reader, I can listen to streaming online radio or MP3's (got speakers and headphone jack), I play games, edit and view office docs, see PDF's, I have SSH, Total Commander, email, Skype, YM, IRC, remote desktop and VNC, runs Python, got all kinds of file tools (search and so on) etc.
Basically, with the exception of playing movies (although it can do that too with some limitations) or big-ass games or P2P, it's everything a regular desktop is. All that in under 10x5 inches, a regular keyboard, touchscreen, 400 MHz CPU and 64 MB of RAM. Did I mention it has a 16bit screen (65535 colors)? Or that it's a USB host and can use USB printers and mice?
"Ah, but can a Beowulf cluster of these babies run Vista?"
http://www.linux.com/feature/118986
And since we're on the topic, let's also see Impress vs Powerpoint and Calc vs Excel:
http://www.linux.com/feature/119546
http://www.linux.com/feature/119513
Conclusion: evenly matched.
First of all, there's no such thing as "intellectual property" no matter who insists upon it. You can't own information and to pretend anyone does is stupid. You can control where information gets, yes. You can award people certain rights for original creations, yes (that is what copyright is). But you can't treat pieces of information like potatoes, no matter how some people and corporations would like to.
Second, I think you're confusing copyright and patents at least on some level. Most physical inventions are protected by patents, not copyright. As for the incentive argument, it's questionable. There's free software as well as all kinds of content out there available for free. People who create it don't have any incentive in the sense you imply, yet they keep doing it, and they can do so because of copyright.
So I have to disagree to your attempt at putting copyright and patents together as if they were both nothing more than making money for the authors. It's a misrepresentation of both.
We're really spoiled for choice under Linux, by the way.
Oooh, love the subtle touch, how you said "have been" ie. not "are".
Actually, I expected to see parent modded Insightful.
You know what I find interesing about all these methods you listed? They all assume that security has already been breached, that malware is on your computer, and attempt to contain damage and patch things up.
Is it just me that finds this approach FUCKING STUPID? Oh look, it's not just me.
Here's a radical new crazy idea: how about fixing security holes so that malware doesn't get in in the first place? How about spitting in the face of the software makers that push shoddy flawed products on us? Or on antivirus makers, their protection schemes and parasitic way of life?
And why the hell do computer users assume that getting malware on your computer is the norm? Would they also consider someone breaking in their house normal? Bloody no, they'd scream and have a fit. Why is it not ok to have your house browsed through by strangers, but it's ok for your private files?
Because we're soft in the head, that's why. We, users, have picked up some very bad habits because a fucked up software industry is doing a sloppy job and then blows smoke in our eyes and tries to pretend it's "the hackers" fault, not theirs. "Oh noes, the bad hackers made a worm and there are losses of billions worldwide, let's shoot them when we catch them." I say fuck that, why the hell did the worm get into my system in the first place?
That's the main issue with Microsoft. If it does go away, what else will it take down with it? (And that's without getting into the question 'what do we replace it with?').
(groan) You've made me remember their Vista SP1 internal video again... Which is a painful, painful memory.
Look, it's not about coming up with a new sexy notebook for the "corporate crowd". It doesn't work like that. If a company wants to cater to that environment it needs support and it needs to do it as well as possible. Currently, Apple does NOT have what it takes. Their end consumer supporting network is NOT up to par for corporate environment. Microsoft, Red Hat, the various PC and server makers, they all have infrastructure and business plans in place for this, Apple does not.
And I don't see them going for it. If anything, it would take efforts of a grand magnitude, for iffy results. That's MHO. Jobs has the figures and the facts and the kind of business brains I do not and so far he hasn't announced moving into the corporate market.
I was going to ask about that too. How many people you know that pay for support for software? Hardware, yes, but software? Especially for Linux, which is traditionally the land of the DIY'er?
After a few replies, I trust I have made my point. The GP's statement (what will happen when "bad people" get a hold of this techonology) is too vague. Everybody's definition of "bad people" differs, insomuch that basically it can be anybody. So it's no use wondering what the next person will do with the technology, it's anybody's guess.
Define "bad people", please.
...or at least Firefox. Other browsers may not handle it so well.
The meaning of that tired old saying still holds true. The only things that are really, truly intuitive are those coming from instinct (bodily functions being one example.)
There's nothing instinctual helping you with computers. So we resort to learning and then applying what we learned. Some people learn the basic principles and apply them. Most people immitate what they're being shown.
Due to this, and since most people are lazy, wary of computers and Windows is the dominant interface, chances are that most people will be familiar with the Windows ways of doing things and wary of learning something new (or using their head applying basic principles to new situations).
Simple facts. Whoever agrees to that will be able to use them to his or her advantage.
Mod parent +1 Bitter.
:)
Sorry man, that's how it came across after the 50 geek+GF jokes before it.
Granted, it happens, but they're usually very few such kludges, with easy fixes most of them. Personally, I prefer to do the system upgrade over avoiding it due to these little annoyances. But that's me, others may choose to stick to a point release and upgrade inside it, you're right.
So what are you saying, never upgrade away from the point-release? Or never do a system upgrade that will take you from an Ubuntu major release to the next?
I suspect the latter. It makes some sense, I have to admit. There are cases when these major upgrades comes with some trouble. In the same train of thought, some Ubuntu point releases have came across a lot better than others, so as long as Ubuntu keeps offering updates for them you can stick to them.
In any case, I stand corrected. I had forgotten about the inside-point-release update lifecycle.
In its defence, there's something to be said about making applications as easy to use as possible, which is the Gnome way.
That said, Brasero is a bit ridiculous in that regard. It's probably just me, I like a bit of looking under the hood in my burner app. So if you're like me and want something Gnome'ish then I recommend you try GnomeBaker, it's a happy medium between the absolute simplicity of Brasero and the ton of stuff in K3B.
Point releases are meaningless for existing users of any Linux distro with a decent package manager. They just click on "upgrade" and it does what it usually does.
The hype is there to attract new users (hopefully). These releases also serve as milestone for the distro maintainers. But otherwise...
What I'm trying to say is that a Linux point release shouldn't be considered the same as old-school releases (get a new CD, wipe, reinstall). With permanent Internet connections and decent package managers all that is in the past, you install once and upgrade forever. Reinstall is only if something really bad happens to the machine.
Because when you install a desktop environment "by hand" so to speak you may not necessarily obtain the same level of out of the box experience as the one offered by the prepackaged one.
Besides, the GP was not suggesting people reinstall to get another desktop env., he was just saying that you can get XFCE or KDE by default. If you like them it makes sense to download Kubuntu or Xubuntu directly, not get Ubuntu and waste time replacing the desktop.