At some point, I want to put it on a rotating pedestal in a helium-filled, climate-controlled case.
I have one of mine (the original ][+ ) encased in plexi-glass. Rotating? I'm just tickled pink that they last for six hours (All three) on the new APC I just installed.
In a lot of ways, computers were more fun then. They still are. My original Frogger boots up faster than Linux or Windows:) My kids love it.
Put some modern kids in front of an Apple ][ and show them HGR, PEEK, POKE, and PLOT. You can't do that under Windows (I guess thats why our IT skillz are fading). Anyway, just watching the kids interest in manipulating vector plots on a old Apple is very rewarding.
What does it take to make a long-time Windows user give up and try something else?
Excellent question. I offer a counter question.
What did it take for IBM to loose 75% of market (mind) share between 1988 and 1993? Possibly it could be because they were more expensive (IBM DOS/OS2), proprietary (PS/2,MCA), and had bad PR at the time (monopoly etc).
What did it take for Apple ][ users to switch over to Macs? Scratch that comment, I'm still an Apple ][ owner forever (Even though I own three Macs:) ).
What did it take for Lotus and Word Perfect to loose market/mindshare? Possibly cheap integrated Excel/Word versions? (We won't discuss the Windows API changes Microsoft made to gain advantage over Lotus/Word Perfect in this thread).
Your theory might hold some weight if there wasn't a huge market for counterfeit hardware, and other consumer goods. In such a case both the customer and the actual product maker end up losing because the customer doesn't have the product they thought they were buying and the actual producer's name gets tarnished if there are problems.
No, your mistaken. You would be right if we were talking about Asia. But this genuine check is targeted at the US, EU, UK, and AU were it is much harder to sell conterfeit goods (Yes I know it happens, but not on a broad scale).
This program is for the 60% of shipments White box PCs accounted for last year (See IDG/Gartner reports). Five of which I bought and installed Windows on none. See this article for more information http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/04/05/142521 6
Your talking points read like a Microsoft Marketing campaign.
instead they are trying to stop casual piracy and those who unknowingly purchases illegal copies of Windows.
I disagree. They see the sales of white box computers not matching the Windows Boxes sold and assume everyone is stealing from them. Never mind that people might be installing Linux/Win98/2000/BSD or whatever onto these computers. Look for them to lobby Congress about outlawing unlicensed computers next.
Question: The new "Genuine Advantage" tester is an Update on Windows Update. What happens if you just don't install it?
Nothing, for now. But it will be manditory soon.
For the moment, users can decline to download and install the pirate alert. But that may not last long. "While the program is presently opt-in, as it expands later in the year, it may become a requirement for the AU [Automatic Updates] service," Microsoft said in a FAQ on its Web site.
"Microsoft is limiting IE 7 and Windows Defender updates for non-genuine users," the company said on its Web site. Windows Vista, scheduled for general release in January 2007, will have an even bigger carrot: its Aero Glass interface will run only on valid copies of the operating system.
a new rootkit detection tool that builds on a prototype used by several sensitive U.S. government departments to find operating system abnormalities that may be linked to malicious rootkit activity.
Build one Linux source image with the kernel locked (no insmod modules). Problem solved. Why are they wasting our tax money?
How Microsoft, a software company, can develop such crappy software while Apple, arguably a hardware company, can develop such good software.
Because Steve Jobs, like him or not, has a hippy/beatnik vision to make computers easier to use. Since after the first Apple was released, money has never been his primary motivation.
And there's no way I'd fake that with a Linux gateway box intercepting the calls and faking the replies.
I didn't say that. I said there is no way (currently) that your going to intercept the messages via the host systems kernel by installing a custom driver.
BTW, your not going to have an easy job decoding those intercepted messages. Microsoft has some brillant programmers. The same request, from the same computer will look different everytime. Try and get the software running on an older CPU that doesn't support the DRM calls. That will help you out alot.
If not, intercept the calls and send your own response back. Make it a 10meg response full of garbage. See if you can't crash the machine and determine the DLL/EXE responsible. Thats half the battle.
How to find out? MD5 sum your/windows folder including the sub-directories (don't forget the hidden ones) before the patch. MD5 Sum again after the patch and compare the results. bdiff the questionable file differences and dis-assemble. At least thats what I used to do as a prior legitimate Windows license(s) owner (but before being called a thief by Microsoft).
Like I said earlier today, you either own a Microsoft appliance or a personal computer, these days you can't have both. Switch to something else or stay with Windows.
My prediction is that someone will be clever enough to write a daemon that will intercept the "phone home" activity and provide the response that the OS requires. Add some names to the hosts file along with the appropriate challenge-response and I'm thinking that'll just about do the trick.
Not on the host system you won't. To do this you would need to run in kernel space. Now remember the announcement from a few months ago http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/01/23/171 9232. The new Windows kernel will no longer run unsigned drivers. Face it, you don't own a personal computer anymore. You lease a Microsoft appliance.
To uphold the law? Prosecutors felt they had enough evidence. Last I heard, a bad economy was not a defense against criminal behavior.
How did the administration not uphold the law? Which law was broken? Guilt was found and punishment applied, they were not let off the hook (look at all the auxillary lawsuits that happend afterwards). I said in my orignial post the DOJ could have won a second trial.
US Law does not specify monopoly punishment guidelines. Don't forget that Microsoft still has to report and explain thier actions to judge Kelly every once-in-awhile.
It sounds like you disagree with the terms of the settlement (don't forget all the state AG's signed off on the agreement as well).
The same administration that made the DOJ drop its case against Microsoft. The same Microsoft that had launched an all-out lobbying offensive after it was convicted by judge Jackson, and had made substantial campaign contributions.
1) The DOJ did not drop its case against Microsoft. MS was proven guilty and punishment was handed out. Whether you agree with the settlement terms is a subject for a different debate.
2) Judge Jacksion was removed from the bench for discussing an on-going case with the media. Either the DOJ had to start another trial or come up with a penalty agreement with Microsoft. They would have won a second trial but not after several more years of litigation.
If you were the President during a recession had to make a choice that would impact the economy in a negitive way, what would your decision be?
I happpen to agree with the settlement. It keeps a single Microsoft mired down protecting the Windows monopoly instead of two or three nimble Microsofts. All the proprietary API's and formats in the world don't make much of a difference if no one is buying your product.
Give credit. AOL went from 1 million Apple/Commodore/Atari users to twenty million PC users within a couple of years. Compuserve didn't mail out all the free CDs or the story might have ended differently. Anyone remember Prodigy? http://www.ojr.org/ojr/stories/060112grubisich/
Does anyone also remember what it took for that AOL icon to appear on your fresh Windows install?
Other than that, I question Skype changing the network world. I was/still am redirecting/receiving local voice/radio/etc over tcp/ip since 1997. Its how I get my NFL fix for free.
People on both sides of this argument need to relax. Microsoft isn't going to sue any linux vendor/team. If there were any patent violations in the Linux kernel, Microsoft already would have sued. Judge to Microsoft "If you knew there were patent violations, why did you setup a Linux Lab ?"
Microsoft does hold questionable IP related patents on vFat/Win32/SMB included in any given Linux distribution. They see fat support, Samba, and Wine on top of Linux as IP violators.
I wonder what versions of Windows these customers are installing on these Linspire boxes.
Windows 98SE. It installed just fine on my wifes new 256M/64bit Intel (dual-boot OpenSuSE10). With the all the Win98 updates installed, its reliable and super-fast. The bonus is that you don't have to call Microsoft and prove your not a thief. She stays in SuSE most of the time but occasionally has to boot to Windows to use our Lexmark scanner.
The *shell* has changed. The shell being a rather important part of an OS.
Your "shell" prevents someone like you or me from acessing directly I/O location 0x330. What shell are you talking about? Oh, you mean the stupid one that can't display backgroud JPEGS on the desktop without ActiveX/Active Desktop.
Valid points, all of them. Correct me if wrong, but system 9 users complained when they had to switch to OSX and Windows 3.x users complained when they switched to 95. Windows 9x users complained when they switch to a NT based system.
Eclipse... yeesh. I know it's supposed to be good, and it might be a fine Java IDE, but my multiple attempts at trying to get it to do PHP ended in failure, and on the one success... deep disappointment. My experience with Zend Studio on Windows has spoiled me, apparently. Use Bluefish. Eclipse sucks for PHP. Did you buy the Zend license? What Web server did you use for PHP hosting? I couldn't get II's or Apache (multiple versions) too work across multiple versions. Personally I thought the cost was too much for what it did.
Games, too, like it or not. No, I'm talking about native games. None of this fiddling with WINE or Cedega. Video drivers (at least the proprietary ATI) are much more of a hassle to get working in Gentoo and even Ubuntu than is honestly necessary. I love the occasional game too after 10 hours of coding. I used to bitch at ATI but with the last two Linux versions they have released, I can't complain anymore. The drivers work just as well as the nVidia drivers on my wife and sons computers. The next time you try Linux download alot of Free games here: http://liflg.org/. Wine should only be used on games you already own.
IE was integrated because the same kind of display used to show files and directories could be used to display web content, and it made sense to integrate the same technology in order to save on system resources.
Your telling us that combining a program that parses/renders in-memory HTML takes up less resources than a program calling ReadDir()/OpenFile() ? Do you live in some kind of Bizzaro computing world? Are you a Microsoft employee or stock holder?
Riddle me this, Microsoft stated (under oath) IE was a core Windows component and couldn't be removed. So why can they remove it now? The Hal hasn't changed. Win32 hasn't changed?
The first one is MSDN AA (Academic Alliance), and has absolutely nothing to do with this discussion. Unless you're a college/university, or a student receving MS software through the MSDN AA program, then this has absolutely nothing to do with this discussion.
I'm more than willing to be wrong on this. Can you show me/provide a EULA that allows proffessionals to benchmark.net vs Java and publish the results? I did read the links. Have you read the.Net installer EULA?
You mean, why don't Linux distributions litter userspace with Mono apps?
I would not be surprised to see OSS and Linux distro makers embrace Mono, C#, GTK#, and the like moreso than Microsoft pushes.NET
I think I know what your saying, but I'm running SuSE 9.2, and I haven't even the mono runtimes. On my son's Ubuntu system, no mono either. Mono gets the crap beat out of it here: http://shootout.alioth.debian.org/ As a developer, there is still no reason for me not to choose Java over.Net. Java still has more cross-platform support with runtimes for AIX/WIN32/4690/zSeries/handhelds etc.
Choice is just one reason for using Linux. Marketing hype hopefully will never rule in Tux space.
2.6 Benchmark Testing. You may not disclose the results of any benchmark test of Server Software (as defined below in Section 4.1) or the.NET Framework component of the Software to any third party without Microsoft's prior written approval. The foregoing does not, however, apply to the Server Software for Windows Server or Exchange Server.
But, I persevered, and learned alot along the way. However, I don't think that people like my parents (in their 60's and 70's), or my musician friends, or many of my coworkers (IT security) have the time or interest into finding out such things. You might be right, but I don't agree with the premise that people don't want to learn something new because Windows is easier. If anything, my own personal experience has shown people are fed up with the viruses/hard crashes etc. are are willing to try/learn something new. But again, thats my own experience, not yours.
I have 3 Linux distros installed at home, every knoppix version since 3.4, and almost every box set of Suse and RH that came out on the shelf. I've seen fewer and fewer, if any, box sets at retail stores (CompUSA, Staples, Circuit City, Best Buy), far away from copies of XP, usually right along side of the "Learn to speak German!" sets, and even less compatible software, save for StarOffice, and some arcane firewall software.
Are the Linux boxes less stocked because they are selling or not selling? My Best Buy and CompUSA are well stocked. Does that mean they are selling or not selling? Here is a link for you: http://www.linuxelectrons.com/article.php/20060314 113237843
Slashdot Mirror
At some point, I want to put it on a rotating pedestal in a helium-filled, climate-controlled case.
:) My kids love it.
I have one of mine (the original ][+ ) encased in plexi-glass. Rotating? I'm just tickled pink that they last for six hours (All three) on the new APC I just installed.
In a lot of ways, computers were more fun then. They still are. My original Frogger boots up faster than Linux or Windows
Put some modern kids in front of an Apple ][ and show them HGR, PEEK, POKE, and PLOT. You can't do that under Windows (I guess thats why our IT skillz are fading). Anyway, just watching the kids interest in manipulating vector plots on a old Apple is very rewarding.
Enjoy,
What does it take to make a long-time Windows user give up and try something else?
:) ).
Excellent question. I offer a counter question.
What did it take for IBM to loose 75% of market (mind) share between 1988 and 1993? Possibly it could be because they were more expensive (IBM DOS/OS2), proprietary (PS/2,MCA), and had bad PR at the time (monopoly etc).
What did it take for Apple ][ users to switch over to Macs? Scratch that comment, I'm still an Apple ][ owner forever (Even though I own three Macs
What did it take for Lotus and Word Perfect to loose market/mindshare? Possibly cheap integrated Excel/Word versions? (We won't discuss the Windows API changes Microsoft made to gain advantage over Lotus/Word Perfect in this thread).
Enjoy,
Sorry... but you are quite wrong.
1 6
Your theory might hold some weight if there wasn't a huge market for counterfeit hardware, and other consumer goods. In such a case both the customer and the actual product maker end up losing because the customer doesn't have the product they thought they were buying and the actual producer's name gets tarnished if there are problems.
No, your mistaken. You would be right if we were talking about Asia. But this genuine check is targeted at the US, EU, UK, and AU were it is much harder to sell conterfeit goods (Yes I know it happens, but not on a broad scale).
This program is for the 60% of shipments White box PCs accounted for last year (See IDG/Gartner reports). Five of which I bought and installed Windows on none. See this article for more information http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/04/05/14252
Your talking points read like a Microsoft Marketing campaign.
Enjoy,
instead they are trying to stop casual piracy and those who unknowingly purchases illegal copies of Windows.
I disagree. They see the sales of white box computers not matching the Windows Boxes sold and assume everyone is stealing from them. Never mind that people might be installing Linux/Win98/2000/BSD or whatever onto these computers. Look for them to lobby Congress about outlawing unlicensed computers next.
Enjoy,
Question: The new "Genuine Advantage" tester is an Update on Windows Update. What happens if you just don't install it?
h tml?articleID=186701032
Nothing, for now. But it will be manditory soon.
For the moment, users can decline to download and install the pirate alert. But that may not last long. "While the program is presently opt-in, as it expands later in the year, it may become a requirement for the AU [Automatic Updates] service," Microsoft said in a FAQ on its Web site.
From the article here: http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.j
"Microsoft is limiting IE 7 and Windows Defender updates for non-genuine users," the company said on its Web site. Windows Vista, scheduled for general release in January 2007, will have an even bigger carrot: its Aero Glass interface will run only on valid copies of the operating system.
Enjoy,
a new rootkit detection tool that builds on a prototype used by several sensitive U.S. government departments to find operating system abnormalities that may be linked to malicious rootkit activity.
Build one Linux source image with the kernel locked (no insmod modules). Problem solved. Why are they wasting our tax money?
Enjoy,
How Microsoft, a software company, can develop such crappy software while Apple, arguably a hardware company, can develop such good software.
1 0&from=rss
A ccidental_Empires.php sometime.
Because Steve Jobs, like him or not, has a hippy/beatnik vision to make computers easier to use. Since after the first Apple was released, money has never been his primary motivation.
Bill Gates on the other hand, has visions of profit. He might even be a confused and unstable person. http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/01/31/16212
Read "Fire in the Valley" http://www.fireinthevalley.com/ or Accidental Empires
http://www.atarimagazines.com/compute/issue145/4_
Enjoy,
And there's no way I'd fake that with a Linux gateway box intercepting the calls and faking the replies.
I didn't say that. I said there is no way (currently) that your going to intercept the messages via the host systems kernel by installing a custom driver.
BTW, your not going to have an easy job decoding those intercepted messages. Microsoft has some brillant programmers. The same request, from the same computer will look different everytime. Try and get the software running on an older CPU that doesn't support the DRM calls. That will help you out alot.
If not, intercept the calls and send your own response back. Make it a 10meg response full of garbage. See if you can't crash the machine and determine the DLL/EXE responsible. Thats half the battle.
Enjoy,
How to find out? MD5 sum your /windows folder including the sub-directories (don't forget the hidden ones) before the patch. MD5 Sum again after the patch and compare the results. bdiff the questionable file differences and dis-assemble. At least thats what I used to do as a prior legitimate Windows license(s) owner (but before being called a thief by Microsoft).
Like I said earlier today, you either own a Microsoft appliance or a personal computer, these days you can't have both. Switch to something else or stay with Windows.
Enjoy,
My prediction is that someone will be clever enough to write a daemon that will intercept the "phone home" activity and provide the response that the OS requires. Add some names to the hosts file along with the appropriate challenge-response and I'm thinking that'll just about do the trick.
1 9232.
Not on the host system you won't. To do this you would need to run in kernel space. Now remember the announcement from a few months ago http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/01/23/17
The new Windows kernel will no longer run unsigned drivers. Face it, you don't own a personal computer anymore. You lease a Microsoft appliance.
Enjoy,
I'm glad to see Microsoft hasn't changed with the times. Still spreading FUD through the sales staff.5
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/10/10/14524
Hey Microsoft. I've bought 8 naked PCs since 2000 (and wiped Windows XP from two new laptops), come audit/arrest me for running Linux.
Enjoy,
1) This is a UK-only thing.
2 000-October/000405.html
s _shipped_without/
5
No its not, read here:
http://lists.essential.org/pipermail/random-bits/
This is a snippet from the orginal Microsoft memo that has somehow ceased to exist on thier web site.
Here is another link from 2000:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2000/11/23/ms_how_pc
Slashdot even had one (yes this one is a dupe),
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/10/10/14524
I've been called a thief by Microsoft since 2000 for buying Windowless PCs.
Enjoy,
To uphold the law?
Prosecutors felt they had enough evidence. Last I heard, a bad economy was not a defense against criminal behavior.
How did the administration not uphold the law? Which law was broken? Guilt was found and punishment applied, they were not let off the hook (look at all the auxillary lawsuits that happend afterwards). I said in my orignial post the DOJ could have won a second trial.
US Law does not specify monopoly punishment guidelines. Don't forget that Microsoft still has to report and explain thier actions to judge Kelly every once-in-awhile.
It sounds like you disagree with the terms of the settlement (don't forget all the state AG's signed off on the agreement as well).
Enjoy,
The same administration that made the DOJ drop its case against Microsoft. The same Microsoft that had launched an all-out lobbying offensive after it was convicted by judge Jackson, and had made substantial campaign contributions.
1) The DOJ did not drop its case against Microsoft. MS was proven guilty and punishment was handed out. Whether you agree with the settlement terms is a subject for a different debate.
2) Judge Jacksion was removed from the bench for discussing an on-going case with the media. Either the DOJ had to start another trial or come up with a penalty agreement with Microsoft. They would have won a second trial but not after several more years of litigation.
If you were the President during a recession had to make a choice that would impact the economy in a negitive way, what would your decision be?
I happpen to agree with the settlement. It keeps a single Microsoft mired down protecting the Windows monopoly instead of two or three nimble Microsofts. All the proprietary API's and formats in the world don't make much of a difference if no one is buying your product.
Enjoy,
Give credit. AOL went from 1 million Apple/Commodore/Atari users to twenty million PC users within a couple of years. Compuserve didn't mail out all the free CDs or the story might have ended differently. Anyone remember Prodigy?
http://www.ojr.org/ojr/stories/060112grubisich/
Does anyone also remember what it took for that AOL icon to appear on your fresh Windows install?
Other than that, I question Skype changing the network world.
I was/still am redirecting/receiving local voice/radio/etc over tcp/ip since 1997. Its how I get my NFL fix for free.
Enjoy,
http://interviews.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/0 8/08/1247220
People on both sides of this argument need to relax. Microsoft isn't going to sue any linux vendor/team. If there were any patent violations in the Linux kernel, Microsoft already would have sued.
Judge to Microsoft "If you knew there were patent violations, why did you setup a Linux Lab ?"
Microsoft does hold questionable IP related patents on vFat/Win32/SMB included in any given Linux distribution. They see fat support, Samba, and Wine on top of Linux as IP violators.
IANAL,
Enjoy.
I wonder what versions of Windows these customers are installing on these Linspire boxes.
Windows 98SE. It installed just fine on my wifes new 256M/64bit Intel (dual-boot OpenSuSE10). With the all the Win98 updates installed, its reliable and super-fast. The bonus is that you don't have to call Microsoft and prove your not a thief. She stays in SuSE most of the time but occasionally has to boot to Windows to use our Lexmark scanner.
Enjoy,
The *shell* has changed. The shell being a rather important part of an OS.
Your "shell" prevents someone like you or me from acessing directly I/O location 0x330. What shell are you talking about? Oh, you mean the stupid one that can't display backgroud JPEGS on the desktop without ActiveX/Active Desktop.
Stop being silly.
Enjoy,
Valid points, all of them. Correct me if wrong, but system 9 users complained when they had to switch to OSX and Windows 3.x users complained when they switched to 95. Windows 9x users complained when they switch to a NT based system.
Eclipse... yeesh. I know it's supposed to be good, and it might be a fine Java IDE, but my multiple attempts at trying to get it to do PHP ended in failure, and on the one success... deep disappointment. My experience with Zend Studio on Windows has spoiled me, apparently.
Use Bluefish. Eclipse sucks for PHP. Did you buy the Zend license? What Web server did you use for PHP hosting? I couldn't get II's or Apache (multiple versions) too work across multiple versions. Personally I thought the cost was too much for what it did.
Games, too, like it or not. No, I'm talking about native games. None of this fiddling with WINE or Cedega. Video drivers (at least the proprietary ATI) are much more of a hassle to get working in Gentoo and even Ubuntu than is honestly necessary.
I love the occasional game too after 10 hours of coding. I used to bitch at ATI but with the last two Linux versions they have released, I can't complain anymore. The drivers work just as well as the nVidia drivers on my wife and sons computers. The next time you try Linux download alot of Free games here: http://liflg.org/. Wine should only be used on games you already own.
Thanks for the response,
Enjoy.
Are you serious?
IE was integrated because the same kind of display used to show files and directories could be used to display web content, and it made sense to integrate the same technology in order to save on system resources.
Your telling us that combining a program that parses/renders in-memory HTML takes up less resources than a program calling ReadDir()/OpenFile() ? Do you live in some kind of Bizzaro computing world? Are you a Microsoft employee or stock holder?
Riddle me this, Microsoft stated (under oath) IE was a core Windows component and couldn't be removed. So why can they remove it now? The Hal hasn't changed. Win32 hasn't changed?
Enjoy,
New acronym alert:
PEE
You should read your own links.
.net vs Java and publish the results? I did read the links. Have you read the .Net installer EULA?
The first one is MSDN AA (Academic Alliance), and has absolutely nothing to do with this discussion. Unless you're a college/university, or a student receving MS software through the MSDN AA program, then this has absolutely nothing to do with this discussion.
I'm more than willing to be wrong on this. Can you show me/provide a EULA that allows proffessionals to benchmark
Thanks.
You mean, why don't Linux distributions litter userspace with Mono apps?
.NET
.Net. Java still has more cross-platform support with runtimes for AIX/WIN32/4690/zSeries/handhelds etc.
I would not be surprised to see OSS and Linux distro makers embrace Mono, C#, GTK#, and the like moreso than Microsoft pushes
I think I know what your saying, but I'm running SuSE 9.2, and I haven't even the mono runtimes. On my son's Ubuntu system, no mono either. Mono gets the crap beat out of it here: http://shootout.alioth.debian.org/ As a developer, there is still no reason for me not to choose Java over
Choice is just one reason for using Linux. Marketing hype hopefully will never rule in Tux space.
Enjoy,
I see nothing in that EULA that prohibits benchmarks against Java.
.NET Framework component of the Software to any third party without Microsoft's prior written approval. The foregoing does not, however, apply to the Server Software for Windows Server or Exchange Server.
= /library/en-us/dnnetdep/html/redisteula.asp
.NET Framework component of the OS Components (".NET Component"). You may disclose the results of any benchmark test of the .NET Component, provided that you comply with the following terms: (1)
Bullshit, and this pisses me off to no end.
My link and several others: http://www.msdnaa.net/EULA/EMEA/English.aspx
2.6 Benchmark Testing. You may not disclose the results of any benchmark test of Server Software (as defined below in Section 4.1) or the
Your Link has stipulations:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url
*You may conduct internal benchmark testing of the
Go read the compliance of terms.
Enjoy,
But, I persevered, and learned alot along the way. However, I don't think that people like my parents (in their 60's and 70's), or my musician friends, or many of my coworkers (IT security) have the time or interest into finding out such things.
4 113237843
You might be right, but I don't agree with the premise that people don't want to learn something new because Windows is easier. If anything, my own personal experience has shown people are fed up with the viruses/hard crashes etc. are are willing to try/learn something new. But again, thats my own experience, not yours.
I have 3 Linux distros installed at home, every knoppix version since 3.4, and almost every box set of Suse and RH that came out on the shelf. I've seen fewer and fewer, if any, box sets at retail stores (CompUSA, Staples, Circuit City, Best Buy), far away from copies of XP, usually right along side of the "Learn to speak German!" sets, and even less compatible software, save for StarOffice, and some arcane firewall software.
Are the Linux boxes less stocked because they are selling or not selling? My Best Buy and CompUSA are well stocked. Does that mean they are selling or not selling? Here is a link for you:
http://www.linuxelectrons.com/article.php/2006031
Enjoy,