Consider yourself warned; Bunnies are bloodthirsty killers! Your only defense against them is a holy handgrenade. I know its true, I saw it in a movie.
-- Hi from Reno, where they play Keno in the casino.
Organized her messages under the Trash folder? I'm guessing it was a strategic decision so she could quickly delete messages in the event of her dismissal. Its always interesting how even unsophisticated users will try to create a sense of control and privacy, even if its only in their mind.
I don't care if Dell ships with Linux (any distro). But, I DO care that Dell makes hardware support available for at least the big distros!
Give me supported hardware and drivers!
Hey all you hardware vendors out there, it's 2006 already! I've decided this year that any manufacturer that will not at least make drivers available is behind the times and I will no longer buy from them.
I'm tired of reverse engineered hardware support. It should not be this way anymore. I choose to vote with my $$$ and I will plainly tell any vendor why I will not choose them. No support for Linux, no support from me.
After an eight month study, Mr. Robbins concluded that TCO for Microsoft was significantly higher than Linux.
Mr. Robbins was overheard to say, "While Gentoo may cost countless hours of tweaking for bleeding-edge performance, Microsoft required the sale of one's soul to a man named Lucifer and yet resulted in only average performance."
When asked for their reply, Mr. Balmer cursed and threw a chair at this reporter. Mr. Gates only response was to place his fingertips together while saying, "Excellent."
Well, every technician starts somewhere, don't be such a curmudgeon. While I agree that slipstream is a valuable (and basic) skill for any tech nowadays, I'm surprised at how many I've met that have never done it or knew it could be done! That said, I've picked up a couple of links in this thread that were new to me. I was satisfied with the MS tools and method (they did the job) but now I'm interested in trying out some new tools.
You learn by doing. You learn by asking. Just don't stop learning.
Now it might just be me, but when I'm driving I barely have the attention to drink my coffee, talk on the cellphone and shave in the rearview mirror. I'm not sure I could devote proper attention to PGR3. Of course, you never know until you try.
I agree. Libranet is a very nice distro. It always seemed a bit expensive, being Debian, but it offered some unique value, first of which is Adminmenu. Adminmenu is simple, powerful and polished. Using IceWM as the default GUI makes for a familiar interface without the sluggishness of KDE or Gnome (Great for older hardware). The selection of applications is well thought out. Of course there's apt get if you need something not included. For the newbie, it is extremely friendly and fast, a great way to learn Linux. I've recommended it for years. For the experienced user, it's just Debian, but still a very nice "Linux for the Desktop" distro.
My highest compliments regarding Libranet after Adminmenu is the community. The community is very knowledgeable and helpful and generally polite. I set my parents up with Libranet for that very reason, I knew they could ask questions in the forum and get answers without getting flamed and never wanting to try that again.
Since Jon's death, this was kind of expected. Nonetheless it is very sad news for a great distro.
That's another nail in the coffin of Sun trying to control the future of Java. Come on you guys, open source Java already! With a real open source license this time please. Get on board and Java just might become more powerful than even you realized. Sure, you give up total control (so I guess it's just a matter of whats more important, seeing your technology succeed or maintaining control). Ignore reality and Sun Java will become irrelevant.
Thanks for the tip. I had never heard of Atlantis Nova before, It appears to offer a good basic feature set and wow that is small! Too bad it is only available as a Win32 program at this time.
I agree that for some users even AbiWord can be overkill (most Windows home users rarely need anything more powerful than WordPad, it's just crippled enough that they think they do). My real point is that there are several excellent word processors available both OSS and commercial besides MS Word.
I promote AbiWord because it is OSS, it works on every major OS (even QNX), the hardware requirements are minor, even an old 486 will work for a Windows box. The UI remains mostly the same regardless of the platform (MS can't seem to do that with Word (I guess they really do believe Apple users "think different"). The UI looks and feels finished. With it's plug-in architecture it can work with most any file format you can think of and it's under 5MB which is amazing when you compare what it competes with feature per feature!
Sorry about this is turning into a fan boy rant. That was not my intention, like I said originally said there are better alternatives to MS Word. We just need to keep reminding people of that.
Over the years, I've used different versions of MS Office at work and tried several different office suites at home. If all you need is a word processor, even OpenOffice is overkill.
I always recommend http://www.abiword.com/. It handles MS formats fine, it loads faster, the interface feels more polished and like OpenOffice it's available for about every OS. OpenOffice has a great set of features, but it feels slow and bloated, of course that's just my opinion.
A long time ago, before the office suite concept, companies believed in "best of breed" software. You have to hand it to the marketing goons at Microsoft who convinced the corporate world that besides a word processor, every employee needs a spreadsheet and a copy of PowerPoint on their desktop.
I would agree IBM is the most likely corporation to come to the rescue of Linux, so far they have defended it nicely. They have a tremendous stake in Linux, right now, but they don't own Linux.
They are a corporation and they make corporate decisions. Remember how quickly they threw in the towel with OS/2 on the desktop. There is no guarantee they will always be there for Linux.
I stand by the portion of my post which you quoted: Most people just use Windows unaware there are alternatives to Microsoft except maybe Apple. They don't care about their corporate ethics. Linux has come a long way, but it is still unknown to most computer users.
I only wish it were true, but I think you are sadly mistaken. Most people are completely unaware that Microsoft is a convicted monopolist. Most people have no idea what Linux is. By the way, who owns Linux again? Who exactly is going to sue Microsoft? Microsoft has been screwing around with Linux in every possible legal way it can. (Follow the SCO money trail or their many funded TCO studies and other FUD campaigns).
Microsoft's track record speaks volumes about their lack of respect for every company they have ever entered into an agreement with. They buy (or steal technology) and proclaim innovation. They pay lip service to security and standards. They embrace and extend.
If they truly want to learn, as you naively assert, let them make the first gesture: Make a standards compliant browser, support open document formats, open the source code for products they no longer want to support. Personally, I would have to see a BIG gesture before I believed they've changed their ways and actually were willing to work together.
RFID (or RFID alternative) is BAD. Talk about evil abuses of technology. Using it to take away my privacy is one thing, but use it to take away my beer? Now you've gone too far! And they say we're paranoid...
It isn't that no one wanted it. Apple just made it too simple. HP couldn't figure out how to incorporate a 50MB Windows driver that required 15 background processes to make it work.
Slashdot Mirror
Consider yourself warned; Bunnies are bloodthirsty killers! Your only defense against them is a holy handgrenade.
I know its true, I saw it in a movie.
--
Hi from Reno, where they play Keno in the casino.
I don't know what frightens me more, a Nancy Drew reference on slashdot, or the fact that I got it.
Organized her messages under the Trash folder? I'm guessing it was a strategic decision so she could quickly delete messages in the event of her dismissal. Its always interesting how even unsophisticated users will try to create a sense of control and privacy, even if its only in their mind.
I don't care if Dell ships with Linux (any distro).
But, I DO care that Dell makes hardware support available for at least the big distros!
Give me supported hardware and drivers!
Hey all you hardware vendors out there, it's 2006 already!
I've decided this year that any manufacturer that will not at least make drivers available is behind the times and I will no longer buy from them.
I'm tired of reverse engineered hardware support. It should not be this way anymore. I choose to vote with my $$$ and I will plainly tell any vendor why I will not choose them. No support for Linux, no support from me.
After an eight month study, Mr. Robbins concluded that TCO for Microsoft was significantly higher than Linux.
Mr. Robbins was overheard to say, "While Gentoo may cost countless hours of tweaking for bleeding-edge performance, Microsoft required the sale of one's soul to a man named Lucifer and yet resulted in only average performance."
When asked for their reply, Mr. Balmer cursed and threw a chair at this reporter. Mr. Gates only response was to place his fingertips together while saying, "Excellent."
No further comment was available.
Well, every technician starts somewhere, don't be such a curmudgeon. While I agree that slipstream is a valuable (and basic) skill for any tech nowadays, I'm surprised at how many I've met that have never done it or knew it could be done!
That said, I've picked up a couple of links in this thread that were new to me. I was satisfied with the MS tools and method (they did the job) but now I'm interested in trying out some new tools.
You learn by doing. You learn by asking. Just don't stop learning.
20/20 - Its a vision thing.
Now to begin work to stop the rain from falling down...
Fri, Dec 23, 2005 6:16 PM
Over a week old? It should have been duped by now.
Now it might just be me, but when I'm driving I barely have the attention to drink my coffee, talk on the cellphone and shave in the rearview mirror.
I'm not sure I could devote proper attention to PGR3.
Of course, you never know until you try.
They had found some of Microsoft's technology to be clunky
Let me guess, they were running Windows, right?
Sure, but their grammering ain't not going to be no better.
I agree. Libranet is a very nice distro. It always seemed a bit expensive, being Debian, but it offered some unique value, first of which is Adminmenu. Adminmenu is simple, powerful and polished. Using IceWM as the default GUI makes for a familiar interface without the sluggishness of KDE or Gnome (Great for older hardware). The selection of applications is well thought out. Of course there's apt get if you need something not included. For the newbie, it is extremely friendly and fast, a great way to learn Linux. I've recommended it for years. For the experienced user, it's just Debian, but still a very nice "Linux for the Desktop" distro.
My highest compliments regarding Libranet after Adminmenu is the community. The community is very knowledgeable and helpful and generally polite. I set my parents up with Libranet for that very reason, I knew they could ask questions in the forum and get answers without getting flamed and never wanting to try that again.
Since Jon's death, this was kind of expected. Nonetheless it is very sad news for a great distro.
That's another nail in the coffin of Sun trying to control the future of Java.
Come on you guys, open source Java already! With a real open source license this time please.
Get on board and Java just might become more powerful than even you realized. Sure, you give up total control (so I guess it's just a matter of whats more important, seeing your technology succeed or maintaining control). Ignore reality and Sun Java will become irrelevant.
So how long until we can get an overlay for Google Earth?
Thanks for the tip. I had never heard of Atlantis Nova before, It appears to offer a good basic feature set and wow that is small! Too bad it is only available as a Win32 program at this time.
I agree that for some users even AbiWord can be overkill (most Windows home users rarely need anything more powerful than WordPad, it's just crippled enough that they think they do). My real point is that there are several excellent word processors available both OSS and commercial besides MS Word.
I promote AbiWord because it is OSS, it works on every major OS (even QNX), the hardware requirements are minor, even an old 486 will work for a Windows box. The UI remains mostly the same regardless of the platform (MS can't seem to do that with Word (I guess they really do believe Apple users "think different"). The UI looks and feels finished. With it's plug-in architecture it can work with most any file format you can think of and it's under 5MB which is amazing when you compare what it competes with feature per feature!
Sorry about this is turning into a fan boy rant. That was not my intention, like I said originally said there are better alternatives to MS Word. We just need to keep reminding people of that.
Over the years, I've used different versions of MS Office at work and tried several different office suites at home. If all you need is a word processor, even OpenOffice is overkill.
I always recommend http://www.abiword.com/. It handles MS formats fine, it loads faster, the interface feels more polished and like OpenOffice it's available for about every OS. OpenOffice has a great set of features, but it feels slow and bloated, of course that's just my opinion.
A long time ago, before the office suite concept, companies believed in "best of breed" software. You have to hand it to the marketing goons at Microsoft who convinced the corporate world that besides a word processor, every employee needs a spreadsheet and a copy of PowerPoint on their desktop.
I would agree IBM is the most likely corporation to come to the rescue of Linux, so far they have defended it nicely. They have a tremendous stake in Linux, right now, but they don't own Linux.
They are a corporation and they make corporate decisions. Remember how quickly they threw in the towel with OS/2 on the desktop. There is no guarantee they will always be there for Linux.
I stand by the portion of my post which you quoted: Most people just use Windows unaware there are alternatives to Microsoft except maybe Apple. They don't care about their corporate ethics. Linux has come a long way, but it is still unknown to most computer users.
I only wish it were true, but I think you are sadly mistaken.
Most people are completely unaware that Microsoft is a convicted monopolist.
Most people have no idea what Linux is. By the way, who owns Linux again? Who exactly is going to sue Microsoft?
Microsoft has been screwing around with Linux in every possible legal way it can. (Follow the SCO money trail or their many funded TCO studies and other FUD campaigns).
Microsoft's track record speaks volumes about their lack of respect for every company they have ever entered into an agreement with.
They buy (or steal technology) and proclaim innovation. They pay lip service to security and standards. They embrace and extend.
If they truly want to learn, as you naively assert, let them make the first gesture: Make a standards compliant browser, support open document formats, open the source code for products they no longer want to support.
Personally, I would have to see a BIG gesture before I believed they've changed their ways and actually were willing to work together.
That's why I keep saying, "Linux is still not ready for the desktop."
I've come up with an awareness slogan to help us remedy the situation: "It's not the applications, it's the infections."
Excellent security advice. Let me guess, you're MCSE, right?
Well, don't forget a quick dip into molten lead so Superman can't use his x-ray vision to read the individual bits on the HDD from a distance.
RFID (or RFID alternative) is BAD. Talk about evil abuses of technology.
Using it to take away my privacy is one thing, but use it to take away my beer?
Now you've gone too far!
And they say we're paranoid...
It isn't that no one wanted it. Apple just made it too simple.
HP couldn't figure out how to incorporate a 50MB Windows driver that required 15 background processes to make it work.
Can you see me now?
Good.
Huh? I was expecting an article on laptops.