1) The "PC" did not aquire a monopoly because the "PCAt the time it consisted of several dozen manufacturers, not all of home were 100% compatible with each other. Saying the PC aquired a monopoly is like saying that VHS aquired a monopoly. The PC is not a business so it's not even capable of getting a monopoly.
2) At the time there were several alternatives to Microsoft products, some of whom were even <gastp> preinstalled on PCs. On the OS side you had DR-DOS and PC-DOS, to name two. On the graphical shell side you had Geoworks. Then of course there was OS/2. Besides the few nefarious tricks Microsoft pulled, which every on Slashdot knows from there catechism, there were also the intelligent and ethical marketing practices they engaged in. Like providing an SDK, an affordable compiler, etc. In fact, most of their current unethical practices were not unethical at the time, simply because they were not a monopoly yet.
Do what I do. Look them in the eye and slowly and with all seriousness state, "I... will... not... give... you... my... phone... number."
You will have to say this twice, because they'll bitch after the first time. But I have never had to walk out of a store because they wouldn't take my cash. Of course, I don't make myself a pain in the ass in stores.
If I could get enough customers like you, I wouldn't mind. There are plenty of business that cater to the stingy tightwads, but it takes an larger clientele to make it work.
and then you're supposed to be a good little consumer and buy a bunch of other crap at full price
I know that sounds like politically correct Slashthink, but it isn't true. Business is not about screwing the customer. Having worked in retail, I know that getting the customer to buy non-sale stuff is NOT the motivation for sales. Sales exist because:
1) The customers want sales. They demand sales. A significant percentage of customers will not buy from you unless the item is on sale. It's the US version of haggling.
2) Sales lure in new business. Sales are why you put ads in the paper. "This Weekend Pay Normal price!" just doesn't cut it for an ad. I have more than once heard the phrase, "I wasn't going to buy a doohickey, but I can't turn down that price."
3) Sales get rid of old inventory. Sheesh, the sales ads even tell you this straight up! "We need to sell all our 2004 Hondas to make room for the new 2005 models!" A product that isn't moving isn't paying the bills.
Not only do I remember fiddling with IRQ jumpers on sound cards, I remember a brief period when I would have to deliberately unjump the PNP setting because PNP never worked.
Aaah! So you have to install a special daemon that keeps track of other Gentoo systems on the network. I was right, this WAS a new definition of "automatically" I had never heard of.
Sheesh. I can understand this with the Mac, because Macs install everything plus the kitchen sink. And I could understand it with Fedora, Mandrake and SuSE as well. But Gentoo?!?!? Isn't this a minimalistic system? Isn't it a system where nothing gets installed but what you tell it to install? So where does this Rendezvous-like functionality come from?
You don't even have to look as far back as the C64. Just think of Windows 3.1. This was merely a graphical shell on top of DOS. Remember the days of tweaking autoexec.bat and config.sys files so you could squeeze out that extra of lower memory so Windows would run? Remember editing PIF files? Or heaven forbid having to actually type "windows" to get Windows started?
Yet is was during this era when Windows was unsuitable for the home desktop that Microsoft aquired its monopoly on the home desktop. But command line Unix with a KDE or GNOME shell is too difficult for the newbie. Somehow we have to eliminate the command line completely before ZDNet editors will be able to use it...
things shouldn't stay more difficult just because they can
Who is keeping stuff more difficult? The opposite is happening. We're keeping the command line as it is, and adding a desktop the system. It's the bleacher pundits who are the ones advocating removing a complete command interface just to spite the intermediate and expert users.
None of them are going to come right out and say it. But like the grandparent post, I have run across people who want felons to vote simply because felons would be more likely to vote Democrat. No shit!
If you think that's bad, I've even heard some Democrats (in California, of course) argue that illegal immigrants be allowed to vote. At least a felon is a citizen...
I think it's really funny that Democrats count convicted felons as one of their constituencies. I can imagine Senator Cornhole bellowing, "I woulda won if the felons coulda voted for me!"
You guys really do believe your own bullshit, don't you? You managed in one post to construct an elaborate conspiracy based on what platform a site runs.
If you want Linux advocacy to lose all credibility, just keep this up...
If Bush wins, he is going to be accused to rigging the vote no matter what. He can't avoid this accusation, no matter how silly it might be at the time. Don't upgrade the voting machines, and he obviously won only because punch ballots were used. But if electronic voting is used, then he obviously won because of the untested ballots.
There is no voting technology that can be used that would prevent such accusations if he won.
These people have obviously forgotten the time Richard Stallman got caught using FreeBSD on his personal website. He quickly changed it, but for a while it was a funny advocacy talking point.
The point is, if even the founder of GNU can be discovered running a non-GNU website, then it pretty much doesn't matter what anyone runs.
If Republicans are only going to do business with upstanding American companies using only American created software, then why aren't they using Solaris or IRIX?
Since the Slashdot Democrats are obviously voting based on what platform their candidates use, can I as a FreeBSD user do any less? I guess my choice for candidate is clear...
If you're correct, then corporations will only use IIS and individual web designers will only use OSS. Funny, that's not what the real world shows though. Hate to say it, but if Microsoft is a monopoly, then they're a monopoly for the "little guy" as well.
Besides which, are you really so shallow that you would vote for a candidate based on what webserver his PR agency chose?
It's all about rich white men helping out other rich white men.
Wow! My company has been doing distributed compiles for about fifteen years now (with gcc, nonetheless). It's old hat. But along comes some guy telling Gentoo users to use distributed compiles, and suddenly it's the next best thing to sliced bread! This is like the sixth or seventh distcc article I've seen in the last month.
It's really nice that you guys have discovered this, but don't act like it's something new and amazing, or even that it's something unique to Linux.
Slashdot Mirror
1) The "PC" did not aquire a monopoly because the "PCAt the time it consisted of several dozen manufacturers, not all of home were 100% compatible with each other. Saying the PC aquired a monopoly is like saying that VHS aquired a monopoly. The PC is not a business so it's not even capable of getting a monopoly.
2) At the time there were several alternatives to Microsoft products, some of whom were even <gastp> preinstalled on PCs. On the OS side you had DR-DOS and PC-DOS, to name two. On the graphical shell side you had Geoworks. Then of course there was OS/2. Besides the few nefarious tricks Microsoft pulled, which every on Slashdot knows from there catechism, there were also the intelligent and ethical marketing practices they engaged in. Like providing an SDK, an affordable compiler, etc. In fact, most of their current unethical practices were not unethical at the time, simply because they were not a monopoly yet.
I see I've caught you on a bad day. Did your dog die, or have you gone cold-turkey?
Gentoo doesn't have it yet
Which just happens to be my whole point!
Make sure you spell the store's name correctly on the full page ad in the paper. Wouldn't want you to look more of an idiot than you really are...
Do what I do. Look them in the eye and slowly and with all seriousness state, "I... will... not... give... you... my... phone... number."
You will have to say this twice, because they'll bitch after the first time. But I have never had to walk out of a store because they wouldn't take my cash. Of course, I don't make myself a pain in the ass in stores.
If I could get enough customers like you, I wouldn't mind. There are plenty of business that cater to the stingy tightwads, but it takes an larger clientele to make it work.
and then you're supposed to be a good little consumer and buy a bunch of other crap at full price
I know that sounds like politically correct Slashthink, but it isn't true. Business is not about screwing the customer. Having worked in retail, I know that getting the customer to buy non-sale stuff is NOT the motivation for sales. Sales exist because:
1) The customers want sales. They demand sales. A significant percentage of customers will not buy from you unless the item is on sale. It's the US version of haggling.
2) Sales lure in new business. Sales are why you put ads in the paper. "This Weekend Pay Normal price!" just doesn't cut it for an ad. I have more than once heard the phrase, "I wasn't going to buy a doohickey, but I can't turn down that price."
3) Sales get rid of old inventory. Sheesh, the sales ads even tell you this straight up! "We need to sell all our 2004 Hondas to make room for the new 2005 models!" A product that isn't moving isn't paying the bills.
...the company having such a great monopoly...
Whoa! I missed that story in the paper. When did this happen? Inquiring minds want to know!
Then why is there a real "Gotham" in NYC?
Not only do I remember fiddling with IRQ jumpers on sound cards, I remember a brief period when I would have to deliberately unjump the PNP setting because PNP never worked.
Aaah! So you have to install a special daemon that keeps track of other Gentoo systems on the network. I was right, this WAS a new definition of "automatically" I had never heard of.
Sheesh. I can understand this with the Mac, because Macs install everything plus the kitchen sink. And I could understand it with Fedora, Mandrake and SuSE as well. But Gentoo?!?!? Isn't this a minimalistic system? Isn't it a system where nothing gets installed but what you tell it to install? So where does this Rendezvous-like functionality come from?
it's dirt simple to create an interface that asks appropriate questions
If it's so simple, why haven't you done it already?
You don't even have to look as far back as the C64. Just think of Windows 3.1. This was merely a graphical shell on top of DOS. Remember the days of tweaking autoexec.bat and config.sys files so you could squeeze out that extra of lower memory so Windows would run? Remember editing PIF files? Or heaven forbid having to actually type "windows" to get Windows started?
Yet is was during this era when Windows was unsuitable for the home desktop that Microsoft aquired its monopoly on the home desktop. But command line Unix with a KDE or GNOME shell is too difficult for the newbie. Somehow we have to eliminate the command line completely before ZDNet editors will be able to use it...
things shouldn't stay more difficult just because they can
Who is keeping stuff more difficult? The opposite is happening. We're keeping the command line as it is, and adding a desktop the system. It's the bleacher pundits who are the ones advocating removing a complete command interface just to spite the intermediate and expert users.
None of them are going to come right out and say it. But like the grandparent post, I have run across people who want felons to vote simply because felons would be more likely to vote Democrat. No shit!
If you think that's bad, I've even heard some Democrats (in California, of course) argue that illegal immigrants be allowed to vote. At least a felon is a citizen...
The portage system will use this feature automatically.
Really? I just plug a gcc-containing system into the network and Gentoo magically discovers and utilizes its compiler? Wow!
Or is some new definition of "automatically" that I wasn't previously aware of?
I keep hearing this, but I never see it. Can you point me to some objective verifiable sources that Fox News ever said that?
I think it's really funny that Democrats count convicted felons as one of their constituencies. I can imagine Senator Cornhole bellowing, "I woulda won if the felons coulda voted for me!"
You guys really do believe your own bullshit, don't you? You managed in one post to construct an elaborate conspiracy based on what platform a site runs.
If you want Linux advocacy to lose all credibility, just keep this up...
If Bush wins, he is going to be accused to rigging the vote no matter what. He can't avoid this accusation, no matter how silly it might be at the time. Don't upgrade the voting machines, and he obviously won only because punch ballots were used. But if electronic voting is used, then he obviously won because of the untested ballots.
There is no voting technology that can be used that would prevent such accusations if he won.
These people have obviously forgotten the time Richard Stallman got caught using FreeBSD on his personal website. He quickly changed it, but for a while it was a funny advocacy talking point.
The point is, if even the founder of GNU can be discovered running a non-GNU website, then it pretty much doesn't matter what anyone runs.
If Republicans are only going to do business with upstanding American companies using only American created software, then why aren't they using Solaris or IRIX?
Since the Slashdot Democrats are obviously voting based on what platform their candidates use, can I as a FreeBSD user do any less? I guess my choice for candidate is clear...
If you're correct, then corporations will only use IIS and individual web designers will only use OSS. Funny, that's not what the real world shows though. Hate to say it, but if Microsoft is a monopoly, then they're a monopoly for the "little guy" as well.
Besides which, are you really so shallow that you would vote for a candidate based on what webserver his PR agency chose?
It's all about rich white men helping out other rich white men.
Hey, let's keep Michael Moore out of this!
Wow! My company has been doing distributed compiles for about fifteen years now (with gcc, nonetheless). It's old hat. But along comes some guy telling Gentoo users to use distributed compiles, and suddenly it's the next best thing to sliced bread! This is like the sixth or seventh distcc article I've seen in the last month.
It's really nice that you guys have discovered this, but don't act like it's something new and amazing, or even that it's something unique to Linux.