If they haven't realized that from all of the Linux publicity lately that it's an OS, then they probably won't be able to be reasoned with one way or another.
You are absolutely correct, of course - if CoLinux is eventually surrounded with a distro dedicated to this sort of thing, it may actually help in legitimzing OSS/Free software in the eyes of the skeptics.
According to the website, they've written special core drivers for the host OS which modify the way the host OS receives notifications from the hardware - to make the long story short, it allows both OSes to coexist peacefully and run at a decent speed as well.
Because the kernel has been ported directly onto the Windows API, this means that the kernel looks like a Windows program, yet is actually an encapsulated Linux system. This means that you can use whatever filesystem you wish. How they intend to solve the issue of getting data in and out of the encapsulated OS, I don't know - they aren't very clear on the website.
You could almost get away with this using VMware, but now with this Cooperative Linux project, it doesn't matter anymore!
If this gets the attention that I think it deserves, this could literally shake apart the entire foundation of the folks who continue to decry Linux. Now a savvy admin who wants to use the Linux versions of Windows crapware can do so, without reinstalling the OS and incurring the wrath of the Microsofties. He gets the best of both worlds: high-quality free software running on top of the "sanctioned" OS. The only drawback to this thing, IMO, is that it may stifle the efforts of people who are trying to port some of the more sophisticated Linux apps to Windows, and may simply give up when they hear that because of this, no porting is required. But I doubt that will be a major issue.
A patented, closed, proprietary file format can't hurt anyone if no one is using it. Use proper W3C XML or OOo filetypes, and sooner or later this may all go away.
Definitely. Now that X and XFree86 are one and the same, I'm sure they will bring up this matter at the best possible moment. Simply calling it "X" would be best, IMO.
Good question. He was involved in the brouhaha surrounding his statements on the forking of X (which I believe eventually led to Xouvert), but if he does bow out of this, it would probably be pretty bad. Especially since he has already done so much work on X and XFree86, and could probably help out immensely.
You are absolutely right, sir - Linux is perfect for desktops which have a very narrow set of duties that will rarely be breached by the person using it.
However, your comments about being able to avoid the CLI and double-click to install Linux drivers is a little bit far-fetched, IMO - no matter how useful the GUI becomes, I believe that a Linux system will always have a fully-featured CLI available for the end-user. The CLI isn't going to go away anytime soon, and I don't think I'd want to use a distro where it had. As for being able to double-click to install drivers, that's almost possible right now - the Gentoo ebuild system could probably be adapted to this fairly easily. However, this would only work if the company you were downloading the driver from did not distribute the driver in binary form - Linus has said over and over that binary modules will never be formally supported, so unless the company is willing to track internal API changes in the 2.6/2.8/3.0/whatever kernels, then it will have to release their drivers as source.
You have a point about Linux desktops - but I don't want to see the CLI go away, and I don't think the attitudes of hardware manufacturers will be changing anytime soon.
I agree with you - if there's no user input on how the distro should be laid out, how it should interact with the user and how similar it should be to Mcrisoft operating systems, then how is this going to succeed?
The Register article says that the OSDL is setting out to crate a specification for what an enterprise Linux distribution should be made up of. Yet the Register article also implies that the OSDL is not going to receive much direct user input on the spec itself. Is this going to turn out to be another UnitedLinux?
Someone has actually done this - the January 2004 issue of Maximum PC showed a woman who had modded a computer and a fishtank together into a single unit. It was really quite cool.
You may not see the advantage, but for someone who wants a small, fast, stylish machine that won't be constantly upgraded for a large Internet cafe, a kiosk, an office, etc etc etc may see a huge advantage. My father, for example, wants to buy an SN85G4 in two years, when 64bit computing has fully established itself; my sister already has an SN45G, and has had it for nearly a year now.
Frankly, I'm amazed at the machines that Shuttle is churning out these days; they're really onto something, and I have a feeling that STX (Shuttle Technology eXtended - the formfactor used by the motherboard, PSU and case) may become a de facto standard sometime soon, if it isn't already.
I think XFree86 4.4 will support the new Mobility Radeons - I'm not sure about the ATi drivers. As for the chipset itself, as long as it has a VIA VT8235/VT8237 southbridge, it will be supported IDE/SATA/AGP-wise by the latest 2.6 kernels.
I doubt you'd have any problems loading a 2.6-enabled distro onto that machine.
If people did that, then so many things would not exist, and the world of computing would probably be a twitching corpse, killed by a hypervirus.
Competition is the reason why MS is even willing to do stuff like this. Frankly, they shouldn't have ever done it at all, but the mere fact that people HAVE NOT accepted the statement "MS knows best" is part of the reason why MS even bothered to fix this.
The difference is that iTunes doesn't use the system's default browser to accomplish its goal, whereas Microsoft is not ging to let another browser anywhere near its own music app.
The issue at hand is that third-party apps like MusicMatch, Kazaa and others were forced to use IE, despite any default browser setting otherwise. It is this that Microsoft has so kindly decided to remove.
But I was under the impression that somewhere in the tangle of Windows libraries, there was an API where a program could pass a URL and the library would start the default browser. Was Microsoft simply ignoring the program's request?
Yes indeed! After so much hypocritical posturing and PR disasters and other bulls**t, it's nice to finally see someone in power who has a moderate viewpoint on the issue and is willing to calmly and rationally discuss ways to satisfy everyone.
Amazingly, this sounds quite true. During most of my school career I had trouble talking to people because I had nothing in common with them (I was ionterested in computers, everyone else was interested in something else). When I found the Internet and began registering on discussion forums and mailing lists, it really helped me. Now I'm in college and I have no problems relating to people and finding a common ground.
Slashdot Mirror
If they haven't realized that from all of the Linux publicity lately that it's an OS, then they probably won't be able to be reasoned with one way or another.
You are absolutely correct, of course - if CoLinux is eventually surrounded with a distro dedicated to this sort of thing, it may actually help in legitimzing OSS/Free software in the eyes of the skeptics.
According to the website, they've written special core drivers for the host OS which modify the way the host OS receives notifications from the hardware - to make the long story short, it allows both OSes to coexist peacefully and run at a decent speed as well.
Because the kernel has been ported directly onto the Windows API, this means that the kernel looks like a Windows program, yet is actually an encapsulated Linux system. This means that you can use whatever filesystem you wish. How they intend to solve the issue of getting data in and out of the encapsulated OS, I don't know - they aren't very clear on the website.
You could almost get away with this using VMware, but now with this Cooperative Linux project, it doesn't matter anymore!
If this gets the attention that I think it deserves, this could literally shake apart the entire foundation of the folks who continue to decry Linux. Now a savvy admin who wants to use the Linux versions of Windows crapware can do so, without reinstalling the OS and incurring the wrath of the Microsofties. He gets the best of both worlds: high-quality free software running on top of the "sanctioned" OS. The only drawback to this thing, IMO, is that it may stifle the efforts of people who are trying to port some of the more sophisticated Linux apps to Windows, and may simply give up when they hear that because of this, no porting is required. But I doubt that will be a major issue.
Here's to hoping this project goes somewhere!
Then don't use it.
A patented, closed, proprietary file format can't hurt anyone if no one is using it. Use proper W3C XML or OOo filetypes, and sooner or later this may all go away.
Definitely. Now that X and XFree86 are one and the same, I'm sure they will bring up this matter at the best possible moment. Simply calling it "X" would be best, IMO.
Good question. He was involved in the brouhaha surrounding his statements on the forking of X (which I believe eventually led to Xouvert), but if he does bow out of this, it would probably be pretty bad. Especially since he has already done so much work on X and XFree86, and could probably help out immensely.
You are absolutely right, sir - Linux is perfect for desktops which have a very narrow set of duties that will rarely be breached by the person using it.
However, your comments about being able to avoid the CLI and double-click to install Linux drivers is a little bit far-fetched, IMO - no matter how useful the GUI becomes, I believe that a Linux system will always have a fully-featured CLI available for the end-user. The CLI isn't going to go away anytime soon, and I don't think I'd want to use a distro where it had. As for being able to double-click to install drivers, that's almost possible right now - the Gentoo ebuild system could probably be adapted to this fairly easily. However, this would only work if the company you were downloading the driver from did not distribute the driver in binary form - Linus has said over and over that binary modules will never be formally supported, so unless the company is willing to track internal API changes in the 2.6/2.8/3.0/whatever kernels, then it will have to release their drivers as source.
You have a point about Linux desktops - but I don't want to see the CLI go away, and I don't think the attitudes of hardware manufacturers will be changing anytime soon.
I agree with you - if there's no user input on how the distro should be laid out, how it should interact with the user and how similar it should be to Mcrisoft operating systems, then how is this going to succeed?
The Register article says that the OSDL is setting out to crate a specification for what an enterprise Linux distribution should be made up of. Yet the Register article also implies that the OSDL is not going to receive much direct user input on the spec itself. Is this going to turn out to be another UnitedLinux?
Someone has actually done this - the January 2004 issue of Maximum PC showed a woman who had modded a computer and a fishtank together into a single unit. It was really quite cool.
You forgot the last two steps:
... ...PROFIT FOR THE SPAMMERS!
6.
7.
You may not see the advantage, but for someone who wants a small, fast, stylish machine that won't be constantly upgraded for a large Internet cafe, a kiosk, an office, etc etc etc may see a huge advantage. My father, for example, wants to buy an SN85G4 in two years, when 64bit computing has fully established itself; my sister already has an SN45G, and has had it for nearly a year now.
Frankly, I'm amazed at the machines that Shuttle is churning out these days; they're really onto something, and I have a feeling that STX (Shuttle Technology eXtended - the formfactor used by the motherboard, PSU and case) may become a de facto standard sometime soon, if it isn't already.
And that makes you smile?
As long as the spammers catch hell for their actions, I'm happy!
I think XFree86 4.4 will support the new Mobility Radeons - I'm not sure about the ATi drivers. As for the chipset itself, as long as it has a VIA VT8235/VT8237 southbridge, it will be supported IDE/SATA/AGP-wise by the latest 2.6 kernels. I doubt you'd have any problems loading a 2.6-enabled distro onto that machine.
If people did that, then so many things would not exist, and the world of computing would probably be a twitching corpse, killed by a hypervirus.
Competition is the reason why MS is even willing to do stuff like this. Frankly, they shouldn't have ever done it at all, but the mere fact that people HAVE NOT accepted the statement "MS knows best" is part of the reason why MS even bothered to fix this.
The difference is that iTunes doesn't use the system's default browser to accomplish its goal, whereas Microsoft is not ging to let another browser anywhere near its own music app. The issue at hand is that third-party apps like MusicMatch, Kazaa and others were forced to use IE, despite any default browser setting otherwise. It is this that Microsoft has so kindly decided to remove.
But I was under the impression that somewhere in the tangle of Windows libraries, there was an API where a program could pass a URL and the library would start the default browser. Was Microsoft simply ignoring the program's request?
Does it say anywhere how MS was preventing these programs from honoring the default browser setting?
Yes indeed! After so much hypocritical posturing and PR disasters and other bulls**t, it's nice to finally see someone in power who has a moderate viewpoint on the issue and is willing to calmly and rationally discuss ways to satisfy everyone.
Bravo to this guy! I hope he succeeds.
Amazingly, this sounds quite true. During most of my school career I had trouble talking to people because I had nothing in common with them (I was ionterested in computers, everyone else was interested in something else). When I found the Internet and began registering on discussion forums and mailing lists, it really helped me. Now I'm in college and I have no problems relating to people and finding a common ground.
Hooray for the Intarweb!
OT: That doesn't work on Firebird, y'know...
1. Install window in boardroom
2. Call board meeting
3. Chairman starts presentation
4. Goatse appears
5. Chairman is fired
6. Profit!