Wow! You just described "a major telecommunications company" at which I may have worked . It's like you were going down their checklist. Oh yeah, you left off "Faster-Cheaper-Better"... (we modified this one to say "Faster-Cheaper-Better. Pick two.").
You don't get it, do you? People want what they have to work. They don't want to have to run out and buy replacement hardware for that which won't work with Linux. Let alone shelving perfectly good hardware that was working fine the day before on windows.
On one of my two Linux machines, I never was able to get the wireless adaptor to work, but I had already wasted two weeks trying. However, instead of running out and buying a replacement adaptor, I decided to avoid a potential new hardware issue and buy a wireless bridge instead ($89)... ironically, the same cost as XP Home (Personally if I were buying XP I'd get Pro over Home, but I hope you see the point). Someone first stepping into Linux (a newbie) would either return to the windows that they already had or buy a new copy, if for a new machine, rather than throw out a perfectly good wireless adaptor.
And for those of you who believe that the wireless issues are all solved, my last issue was only about a year ago using a USB wireless adaptor. And with all the people bringing it up, I suspect that things may not be as good as you had hoped. Also, most of my friends, like myself, first moved to Linux on an older machine to test the waters, so-to-speak. And if that went bad, out of the water they came.
First, I'd like to say Thanks for figuring out that this discussion is on "Why Linux is not spread", and not "Let's list what's wrong with Windows".
Second, you hit the nail on the head with the hardware/driver/install issue(s). And before everyone starts yelling that "It's the hardware manufacturer's fault, not Linux", remember that I am only pointing out the reason why Linux is not spreading.
Let me give you an example of what I'm talking about. I have 12 PCs at home, two of which are Linux. Both were conversions from windows. Both had working wireless cards in them when running Windows. Linux did not like these wireless cards. I searched and searched the Internet and only after determining what chipsets were on the cards did I finally find drivers (yes, you sometimes have to download Linux drivers from the Internet, just like windows).
One of the drivers came with 6 pages of step-by-step instructions, where on somewhere around the 4th page was the step to recompile the kernel. That's right. Right there is why Linux is not spreading. Only a serious geek would look at "recompile the kernel" and not see what's wrong with it. Joe Average doesn't even know what a kernel is.
If we want Linux to spread, then a layer needs to be build for Joe Average, and an understanding that the responsibility of installing hardware and software lies firmly in the hands of the manufacturer/author. Joe Average does not want to know anything about what's under the hood of his Linux just to install something. He doesn't want to even have to know what flavor of Linux he is running. The most he wants to have to know is that he IS running Linux (as opposed to Windows or OSX). He wants to double click the install and maybe be prompted for some very simple install info (like his name or if he wants to change the install path), then have the software and/or driver install and everything just works.
One of the coolest things about Linux is that you "can" lift the hood and tinker your heart out. Joe Average wants to sit in the seat, turn the key and go. Tinkering never crosses his mind. Once the Linux geeks, manufacturers and software engineers figure that out, then maybe Linux will spread like windows. Right now, however, Linux is not for Joe Average, sorry, and I'm not sure it wants to be.
Please try to see it from the perspective of someone that doesn't already know Linux.
I'm not from Kansas, but I currently reside on the east side of the state near Missouri. What I can tell you is that is that the good ol' boys in these parts would have the monster hunted down and its head mounted on the wall by morning... even if it meant going to a double-wide. Definitely a different kind of movie.
When will law makers figure out that it is what you do with the tool that should be illegal, not the tool itself? Otherwise knives and cars should be illegal, because both have been used to kill.
Don't forget that when a -caring- parent searches their kid's bedroom, it is not actually the kid's room. Yes they sleep there and keep their stuff there, but the parent pays for that room and therefore legally can search it. The same is true for schools and school lockers.
However, if a kid (16 or 17) has a job and an apartment that he/she pays for them self, their parent has no right to go into that apartment and search it. All of this applies to the cell phone, too. If the parents pay for it, they can search it all they want... it's theirs. If the kid pays for it, they can't.
In the scenario above, the school is not paying for the cell phone and has no right to search it. They can confiscate it and have the parents come in to retrieve it. But if it is believed to be involved in a crime, the phone should be handed over to the police, and even then I'll bet the police need either the parents permission or a court order to legally search it, not just the word of someone from the school.
I believe the school is on thin legal ice. All it would take is for one parent to say (via a lawyer) that "their" cell phone (since they pay for it) has been illegally searched and you'll see what I mean.
It's true. They've been studying our computers ever since we started broadcasting Internet signal into space (damn DirecTV). But I hear they are only up to the Commodore 64. Apparently they got stuck on Space Invaders for five years, until they figured out that it was just a game.
Read up? I live down the road from them. I've been good friends with an Amish guy since 1985. But in all fairness, I read the article.
Speaking from my first-hand experience, the Amish around here (in Missouri) do not have cell phones and do not use electricity. Maybe in Pennsylvania, but not around here. However, I would not be too surprised to see a propane powered refrigerator; though up to this point, I haven't. I would be surprised to see them use a gas grill since they are able to build a fire, and using a gas grill might be considered lazy or avoiding work.
My Amish friend Moses once told me (and I paraphrase) that <i>the main reason the Amish reject technology is because it makes people lazy, and that God meant for man to do his own share.</i>
In the article, the author starts by saying that back when phones first came out, there was a split in the Amish community on whether or not to use them, and that this split lead to an actual group of Amish leaving the tradition Amish and forming their own community. With this in mind, and knowing how strict the Amish are around here, I suspect that the author was dealing with this more-lenient group. I have been to the local Amish saw mill, to their hand-crafted furniture shop, to their farms and in their homes, and I have "never" seen any sign of a phone (cell or wireline), electricity or a generator. I'm not saying that it is not possible, I'm just saying that have dealt with the Amish for more than 20 years and have never see a single sign of it.
Remember, I'm living this and the author of the article was dealing with a group in Pennsylvania that he could reach by phone. The guy he talked to used electricity to make his furniture. Around here, that would be considered lazy. And trying to compete with the English is just another way of saying that they are conforming. I'm serious when I say, that around here, the Amish live in their own little world and they are not the least bit concerned with what is going on in ours. They don't compete, even to make a living, because they are almost completely self sufficient. And when they do need to buy something, I have never seen them short on money.
For example, Moses is the pig farmer for his community. He raises all that they need and more. The extra pigs he sells at the local sell barn. But there are rules related to selling meat. He must follow those rule. One rule he must follow is rhinitis vaccinations. I have helped him administer the shots to the pigs. He had to buy the vaccine, which is something they can't produce on their own, so they have to have money for it.
Another example is that the Amish love auctions. It is not unusual to see 8 to 10 Amish buggies at an auction where there are 40 cars of non-Amish. At the auctions I have mostly seen them buy things like plates and blankets. Now these things they could make themselves, so I'm not sure why they buy them at actions, but they do.
One last thing. In my experience, it take years of knowing an Amish person before they will carry on a real conversations with a non-Amish. I found this to be inconsistent with the openness of the Amish guy, Amos, in the article. It still strikes me as odd.
Why is everyone focusing on conspiracy theories instead just buying the cheaper PC, formatting the hard drive, installing the Linux distro of your choice, and selling the Windows XP key on eBay for $30 OBO? You'll come out way ahead dollar-wise, someone who wants Windows XP will be getting a legal XP key at a greatly reduced price while sticking it to MS at the same time, and you don't have to install FreeDOS if you don't want to.
My GOD, people, you're Linux users. Since when did you need a PC manufacturer to pre-install Linux for you? It just seems like you are more interested in complaining about MS trying to screw the world than you are in screwing MS back. Of course they're trying to screw the world; they're Microsoft. Get use to it.
If you really want to screw MS, "give" the key away to someone that was going to pay $89 for it. There, you just stopped a sell of Windows XP. Feels good, doesn't it? Now imagine every Linux user giving away there Windows XP key that they were "forced" to buy.
If you are going to pay for the XP license anyway, you might as well get it, and use it as best you can against MS. Have fun with it; get creative.
I'm the local computer expert to all of my friends and family, and when they plan a computer or computer related purchase, I inevitably get asked my opinion, or more accurately, "What should I do?" I assume that many of you are in the same boat.
Each time this happens, I have the same internal conflict between "What would I do if it were me?" and "What is right for them?" In the question of OS, for me, I would probably get Linux. I say probably, because at work, we use every flavor of OS you can think of, and I like to keep a box at home with each so that I can stay up on each (Yes, I still have a DOS and WfW 3.11 machine, and yes, we still have a DOS app written back in the 1980's that is still cranking. We are in the process of converting it to Java to run on XP).
I have talked the novice computer user into Linux before, but it has always turned out the same; lots of complains about software and hardware incompatibility, and I end up being their full-time computer support. In every case, they have ended up going back to Windows.
In my opinion, Linux is not yet ready for the masses, but Windows is (or at least more so). Linux is close; it is getting there, but it is not there yet. I feel two things are required to make Linux "General Public Ready", and they are:
1) Manufacturer support of Linux - both hardware and software 2) A common install process across ALL distributions of Linux (like InstallShield for Windows)
Once we get these two things, I'll start recommending Linux to the masses again; until then I'm pointing them to Window XP.
Cell phones seem to be moving in that direction. Unlike regular phones, however, cell phones may prove more problematic for the amish - while the whole community could see phone lines heading to the house of a family that used a regular phone, cell phones are "hidden", and thus they don't have as much social pressure on home cell phone users.
Hmmm... a heat powered cell phone; I wonder which provider sells that one. My cell phone's battery need recharging occasionally and uses electricity to do that, which comes into my house via power lines, which are not unlike those dreaded phone lines.
All joking aside, I think you are referring to Mennonites, not Amish. I live in Missouri, surrounded by a large Amish community, and I have never seen one with a cell phone, or for that matter any form of what we might call "technology", unless borrowed. And you can just forget electricity. I guess we must have old school Amish around here.
And when you speak of their "jobs" and "being competitive" with "the English", I haven't a clue what you're talking about. The jobs they have around here include things like plowing fields, raising pigs, making furniture, working at the saw mill (Amish owned and water powered), etc. They're really not trying to complete with "the English" at all. They really don't care. They do what they do, how they do it.
Don't get me wrong, if they need to get to town, they'd have no problem accepting a ride in my car. And I have had Amish "borrow" my cell phone to call stores in town and such, but I've never seen an Amish with his (or her) own cell phone.
I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, but I think that you've been dealing some rebel Amish that would be looked down on in these parts, or more likely, maybe you're confused and are talking about Mennonites.
Automated testing tools are best suited for regression testing. Regression testing is the set of test cases that are perform over and over again with each release. Its main function it to make sure that the new features did not break anything that was not supposed to change.
Our test group uses a product called Hammer (sorry, but I don't know where they got it or how much they paid for it) for their regression testing. Hammer has its own scripting language (may be VB based) and its own database that is used to hold test case data. For example, the test case may require that 1000 (different) customer accounts can be created within 60 seconds.
I don't know much more than that about Hammer, I just design, write and unit test the software. The test group feature, system and regression tests it, plus they cooridnate the beta testing that is done by the trainers and a small group of actual users. The users must "sign-off" on new software before it can go into Production.
And I agree that there is nothing like having "actual" users doing the testing for finding bugs and for prividing feedback.
I have been so burnt out from helping so many people over the years that I refuse to help anyone, even family members, or even talk to them about computers.
Dude! Won't even talk to them about computers? That is so sad. Seek help. Make friends that know how to take care of their own PC's. Re-join life. You, too, can be happy again. I believe... say it with me... "I believe"!
I bought my 640x480 LCD SharpVison (45 lbs) 5 years ago and paid about $5000 for it. I'm about to replace it because the technology has come so far. I can get a name brand 1024x768 DLP (2.2 lbs) for about $1600, HDTV compatible. I can't wait.
Oh yeah, 5 years with the same bulb with my SharpVision.:)
I have a similar store with my "first" projector (meaning introduced at work). It was my job to return a checked out projector after a standing late Friday office meeting. Well, all at the AV depart would leave before our meeting would end, so I had no choice but to bring it home so that it wouldn't grow legs.
Well, the first weekend I had it I noticed the video inputs, so I hooked it up to my home theater and watched a movie, and I've been hooked ever since.
The inevitable happened and our standing meeting ended and I was left without a projector. Within a month I had bought a SharpVison. I, too, will never go back to a TV.
I have a 600 lumens 3-panel LCD projector (a couple years old) that I display 129" diagonal at 16:9 and 90" at 4:3. I admit that I had to buy new drapes for the three windows in room. I made sure that they were thick enough to block bright sunlight. During the day, I need to close the drapes, but I don't need to dim or turn off the lights in the room. Normal room lighting is not an issue, just sunlight. If you are able to control the sunlight in the room, 700 lumens at 110" diagonal should not be an issue.
As for the picture quality, I've never had a complaint. Everyone who visits my house loves it, for movies, game and/or the Super Bowl. And as I've told everyone who has ever asked me about my project, "I can't go back". I know people that have paid more for their TV (tube or rear projection) than I paid for my projector, but their home theater will never compare to mine. I've been told that I need to sell tickets to the show and popcorn.
I have also convinced four others at my work that a projector is the way to go. Two have already purchased projectors and the other two are researching which model to buy.
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Wow! You just described "a major telecommunications company" at which I may have worked . It's like you were going down their checklist. Oh yeah, you left off "Faster-Cheaper-Better"... (we modified this one to say "Faster-Cheaper-Better. Pick two.").
On one of my two Linux machines, I never was able to get the wireless adaptor to work, but I had already wasted two weeks trying. However, instead of running out and buying a replacement adaptor, I decided to avoid a potential new hardware issue and buy a wireless bridge instead ($89)... ironically, the same cost as XP Home (Personally if I were buying XP I'd get Pro over Home, but I hope you see the point). Someone first stepping into Linux (a newbie) would either return to the windows that they already had or buy a new copy, if for a new machine, rather than throw out a perfectly good wireless adaptor.
And for those of you who believe that the wireless issues are all solved, my last issue was only about a year ago using a USB wireless adaptor. And with all the people bringing it up, I suspect that things may not be as good as you had hoped. Also, most of my friends, like myself, first moved to Linux on an older machine to test the waters, so-to-speak. And if that went bad, out of the water they came.
Second, you hit the nail on the head with the hardware/driver/install issue(s). And before everyone starts yelling that "It's the hardware manufacturer's fault, not Linux", remember that I am only pointing out the reason why Linux is not spreading.
Let me give you an example of what I'm talking about. I have 12 PCs at home, two of which are Linux. Both were conversions from windows. Both had working wireless cards in them when running Windows. Linux did not like these wireless cards. I searched and searched the Internet and only after determining what chipsets were on the cards did I finally find drivers (yes, you sometimes have to download Linux drivers from the Internet, just like windows).
One of the drivers came with 6 pages of step-by-step instructions, where on somewhere around the 4th page was the step to recompile the kernel. That's right. Right there is why Linux is not spreading. Only a serious geek would look at "recompile the kernel" and not see what's wrong with it. Joe Average doesn't even know what a kernel is.
If we want Linux to spread, then a layer needs to be build for Joe Average, and an understanding that the responsibility of installing hardware and software lies firmly in the hands of the manufacturer/author. Joe Average does not want to know anything about what's under the hood of his Linux just to install something. He doesn't want to even have to know what flavor of Linux he is running. The most he wants to have to know is that he IS running Linux (as opposed to Windows or OSX). He wants to double click the install and maybe be prompted for some very simple install info (like his name or if he wants to change the install path), then have the software and/or driver install and everything just works.
One of the coolest things about Linux is that you "can" lift the hood and tinker your heart out. Joe Average wants to sit in the seat, turn the key and go. Tinkering never crosses his mind. Once the Linux geeks, manufacturers and software engineers figure that out, then maybe Linux will spread like windows. Right now, however, Linux is not for Joe Average, sorry, and I'm not sure it wants to be.
Please try to see it from the perspective of someone that doesn't already know Linux.
I'm not from Kansas, but I currently reside on the east side of the state near Missouri. What I can tell you is that is that the good ol' boys in these parts would have the monster hunted down and its head mounted on the wall by morning... even if it meant going to a double-wide. Definitely a different kind of movie.
When will law makers figure out that it is what you do with the tool that should be illegal, not the tool itself? Otherwise knives and cars should be illegal, because both have been used to kill.
Close, but I think it is spelled Evilution.
However, if a kid (16 or 17) has a job and an apartment that he/she pays for them self, their parent has no right to go into that apartment and search it. All of this applies to the cell phone, too. If the parents pay for it, they can search it all they want... it's theirs. If the kid pays for it, they can't.
In the scenario above, the school is not paying for the cell phone and has no right to search it. They can confiscate it and have the parents come in to retrieve it. But if it is believed to be involved in a crime, the phone should be handed over to the police, and even then I'll bet the police need either the parents permission or a court order to legally search it, not just the word of someone from the school.
I believe the school is on thin legal ice. All it would take is for one parent to say (via a lawyer) that "their" cell phone (since they pay for it) has been illegally searched and you'll see what I mean.
It's true. They've been studying our computers ever since we started broadcasting Internet signal into space (damn DirecTV). But I hear they are only up to the Commodore 64. Apparently they got stuck on Space Invaders for five years, until they figured out that it was just a game.
Read up? I live down the road from them. I've been good friends with an Amish guy since 1985. But in all fairness, I read the article.
Speaking from my first-hand experience, the Amish around here (in Missouri) do not have cell phones and do not use electricity. Maybe in Pennsylvania, but not around here. However, I would not be too surprised to see a propane powered refrigerator; though up to this point, I haven't. I would be surprised to see them use a gas grill since they are able to build a fire, and using a gas grill might be considered lazy or avoiding work.
My Amish friend Moses once told me (and I paraphrase) that <i>the main reason the Amish reject technology is because it makes people lazy, and that God meant for man to do his own share.</i>
In the article, the author starts by saying that back when phones first came out, there was a split in the Amish community on whether or not to use them, and that this split lead to an actual group of Amish leaving the tradition Amish and forming their own community. With this in mind, and knowing how strict the Amish are around here, I suspect that the author was dealing with this more-lenient group. I have been to the local Amish saw mill, to their hand-crafted furniture shop, to their farms and in their homes, and I have "never" seen any sign of a phone (cell or wireline), electricity or a generator. I'm not saying that it is not possible, I'm just saying that have dealt with the Amish for more than 20 years and have never see a single sign of it.
Remember, I'm living this and the author of the article was dealing with a group in Pennsylvania that he could reach by phone. The guy he talked to used electricity to make his furniture. Around here, that would be considered lazy. And trying to compete with the English is just another way of saying that they are conforming. I'm serious when I say, that around here, the Amish live in their own little world and they are not the least bit concerned with what is going on in ours. They don't compete, even to make a living, because they are almost completely self sufficient. And when they do need to buy something, I have never seen them short on money.
For example, Moses is the pig farmer for his community. He raises all that they need and more. The extra pigs he sells at the local sell barn. But there are rules related to selling meat. He must follow those rule. One rule he must follow is rhinitis vaccinations. I have helped him administer the shots to the pigs. He had to buy the vaccine, which is something they can't produce on their own, so they have to have money for it.
Another example is that the Amish love auctions. It is not unusual to see 8 to 10 Amish buggies at an auction where there are 40 cars of non-Amish. At the auctions I have mostly seen them buy things like plates and blankets. Now these things they could make themselves, so I'm not sure why they buy them at actions, but they do.
One last thing. In my experience, it take years of knowing an Amish person before they will carry on a real conversations with a non-Amish. I found this to be inconsistent with the openness of the Amish guy, Amos, in the article. It still strikes me as odd.
Why is everyone focusing on conspiracy theories instead just buying the cheaper PC, formatting the hard drive, installing the Linux distro of your choice, and selling the Windows XP key on eBay for $30 OBO? You'll come out way ahead dollar-wise, someone who wants Windows XP will be getting a legal XP key at a greatly reduced price while sticking it to MS at the same time, and you don't have to install FreeDOS if you don't want to.
My GOD, people, you're Linux users. Since when did you need a PC manufacturer to pre-install Linux for you? It just seems like you are more interested in complaining about MS trying to screw the world than you are in screwing MS back. Of course they're trying to screw the world; they're Microsoft. Get use to it.
If you really want to screw MS, "give" the key away to someone that was going to pay $89 for it. There, you just stopped a sell of Windows XP. Feels good, doesn't it? Now imagine every Linux user giving away there Windows XP key that they were "forced" to buy.
If you are going to pay for the XP license anyway, you might as well get it, and use it as best you can against MS. Have fun with it; get creative.
I'm the local computer expert to all of my friends and family, and when they plan a computer or computer related purchase, I inevitably get asked my opinion, or more accurately, "What should I do?" I assume that many of you are in the same boat.
Each time this happens, I have the same internal conflict between "What would I do if it were me?" and "What is right for them?" In the question of OS, for me, I would probably get Linux. I say probably, because at work, we use every flavor of OS you can think of, and I like to keep a box at home with each so that I can stay up on each (Yes, I still have a DOS and WfW 3.11 machine, and yes, we still have a DOS app written back in the 1980's that is still cranking. We are in the process of converting it to Java to run on XP).
I have talked the novice computer user into Linux before, but it has always turned out the same; lots of complains about software and hardware incompatibility, and I end up being their full-time computer support. In every case, they have ended up going back to Windows.
In my opinion, Linux is not yet ready for the masses, but Windows is (or at least more so). Linux is close; it is getting there, but it is not there yet. I feel two things are required to make Linux "General Public Ready", and they are:
1) Manufacturer support of Linux - both hardware and software
2) A common install process across ALL distributions of Linux (like InstallShield for Windows)
Once we get these two things, I'll start recommending Linux to the masses again; until then I'm pointing them to Window XP.
Sorry for the lack of formatting... not sure what happened to it. Well, at least the italics worked. ;)
Cell phones seem to be moving in that direction. Unlike regular phones, however, cell phones may prove more problematic for the amish - while the whole community could see phone lines heading to the house of a family that used a regular phone, cell phones are "hidden", and thus they don't have as much social pressure on home cell phone users. Hmmm... a heat powered cell phone; I wonder which provider sells that one. My cell phone's battery need recharging occasionally and uses electricity to do that, which comes into my house via power lines, which are not unlike those dreaded phone lines. All joking aside, I think you are referring to Mennonites, not Amish. I live in Missouri, surrounded by a large Amish community, and I have never seen one with a cell phone, or for that matter any form of what we might call "technology", unless borrowed. And you can just forget electricity. I guess we must have old school Amish around here. And when you speak of their "jobs" and "being competitive" with "the English", I haven't a clue what you're talking about. The jobs they have around here include things like plowing fields, raising pigs, making furniture, working at the saw mill (Amish owned and water powered), etc. They're really not trying to complete with "the English" at all. They really don't care. They do what they do, how they do it. Don't get me wrong, if they need to get to town, they'd have no problem accepting a ride in my car. And I have had Amish "borrow" my cell phone to call stores in town and such, but I've never seen an Amish with his (or her) own cell phone. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, but I think that you've been dealing some rebel Amish that would be looked down on in these parts, or more likely, maybe you're confused and are talking about Mennonites.
Yes! Yes! Yes! I have been saying this for years. It brings a tear to my eye just knowing that someone else agrees with me.
Automated testing tools are best suited for regression testing. Regression testing is the set of test cases that are perform over and over again with each release. Its main function it to make sure that the new features did not break anything that was not supposed to change.
Our test group uses a product called Hammer (sorry, but I don't know where they got it or how much they paid for it) for their regression testing. Hammer has its own scripting language (may be VB based) and its own database that is used to hold test case data. For example, the test case may require that 1000 (different) customer accounts can be created within 60 seconds.
I don't know much more than that about Hammer, I just design, write and unit test the software. The test group feature, system and regression tests it, plus they cooridnate the beta testing that is done by the trainers and a small group of actual users. The users must "sign-off" on new software before it can go into Production.
And I agree that there is nothing like having "actual" users doing the testing for finding bugs and for prividing feedback.
Dude! Won't even talk to them about computers? That is so sad. Seek help. Make friends that know how to take care of their own PC's. Re-join life. You, too, can be happy again. I believe... say it with me... "I believe"!
Oh yeah, 5 years with the same bulb with my SharpVision. :)
Well, the first weekend I had it I noticed the video inputs, so I hooked it up to my home theater and watched a movie, and I've been hooked ever since.
The inevitable happened and our standing meeting ended and I was left without a projector. Within a month I had bought a SharpVison. I, too, will never go back to a TV.
I have a 600 lumens 3-panel LCD projector (a couple years old) that I display 129" diagonal at 16:9 and 90" at 4:3. I admit that I had to buy new drapes for the three windows in room. I made sure that they were thick enough to block bright sunlight. During the day, I need to close the drapes, but I don't need to dim or turn off the lights in the room. Normal room lighting is not an issue, just sunlight. If you are able to control the sunlight in the room, 700 lumens at 110" diagonal should not be an issue. As for the picture quality, I've never had a complaint. Everyone who visits my house loves it, for movies, game and/or the Super Bowl. And as I've told everyone who has ever asked me about my project, "I can't go back". I know people that have paid more for their TV (tube or rear projection) than I paid for my projector, but their home theater will never compare to mine. I've been told that I need to sell tickets to the show and popcorn. I have also convinced four others at my work that a projector is the way to go. Two have already purchased projectors and the other two are researching which model to buy.