The article discusses technical aspects of the OSs. And that's important. But Linux and Windows differ in principles of design philosophy. The parent post hints at this; it is a crucial point.
Let's not begin the quarrel of which OS has the ~better~ GUI. The point is that although a GUI can be well-designed, it will by its very nature be a greater burden on the OS than a command typed at the prompt. It's a performance burden, it's a design burden, it's a maintenance burden for the development team. (Axiom: The more complex software becomes, the less even its creators and maintainers understand it.) Eventually it produces a Support burden because users know dulcet coital nothing about their computers.
Then bring in the Internet. Make it very popular. Hell, make it commercial. People are learning that you can get things done quickly with Linux. UNIX was networking when Bill Gates was battling pimples.
Linux builds on the better tradition. So it's not just the cost, but the design philosophy of Linux that is beating Windows.
For example, the first version of Encyclopedia Britannica on compact disc (circa 1995):
cost a heap o' piastres
proprietary Windows-based executables instead of an open, cross-platform design
a parallel-port security dongle (Never Again!)
they told me "tough luck" when Windows NT came out and the dongle-driver was incompatible
I had previously bought a set of their encyclopedia as well as their "Great Books" set. Although both sets were excellent value (and I still have them), the bad experience with their CD made me vow never to buy another product from them.
On the bright side, I discovered that the manufacturer of the dongle has made a new version of the dongle-driver available, so I can use the EB CD again. (Hey, if you own one of these CDs, see Rainbow for the driver.)
Evil spirits do troll the Middle Ether... wickedly whispering that "the books were better". We must not heed them! They seek to draw us into Flamewar...
Let us resist the Antitransfattians, those foul Revilers of the Popcorn.
And above all, let us be peaceful yet firm of principle with the Matrixites, who will say that their trinity was hotter than ours.
Yes, good thinking... it's a kind of social Quality Assurance team, doing the clicking and bounds-testing and pushing the "product" around.
Notions have to be tested by application or creative misapplication. There's a certain prestige associated with showing good taste in your choosing what memes you "echo". There's a strong trace of that in blogging.
It's interesting to consider humour memes, that is little bits of "humour" creativity (quirks, expressions, situations) that are widely echoed by television viewers. For example, several Seinfeld memes (as in "Moops") are still circulating. But a humour meme, unlike a physical invention, once "tested" and "approved" is dead when it has circulated widely and been repeated enough not to produce laughter anymore.
Then 20 years later, the memes can be re-circulated (That 70s Show) for new profit. In my experience, machines don't have this virtue. (My TRS-80 is long gone!)
Less creative television and movies resort to "jolts per minute". We could also call this "weak memes per minute". An actor celebrated for his weak-meme work can pursue a career as Governor.;^)
I don't agree that there are "few original ideas" or there is "nothing new under the Sun". However, there are few original thinkers.
If memory serves, a 19th century sociologist by the name of "Darde" posited that out of 100 people, 1 is truly creative and the remaining 99 are echoic.
The research in question suggests the same. And so does the nature of television.
I find that Websterian dictionaries usually disappoint. Oh for the time long-passed when Lexicographers and Terminologists strode the planet like demi-gods!
3 a (1) : incongruity between the actual result of a sequence of events and the normal or expected result (2) : an event or result marked by such incongruity
Hell, amigo! An mere incongruity between my expectation and the actual result could just be my being wrong.
An irony requires a poetic twist (not Chubby Checker reciting a sonnet), or as this online dictionary notes, an aspect of poignancy:
ironic adj.
1. Characterized by or constituting irony. 2. Given to the use of irony. See Synonyms at sarcastic. 3. Poignantly contrary to what was expected or intended: madness, an ironic fate for such a clear thinker.
ironically adv. ironicalness n.
Usage Note: The words ironic, irony, and ironically are sometimes used of events and circumstances that might better be described as simply "coincidental" or "improbable," in that they suggest no particular lessons about human vanity or folly. Thus 78 percent of the Usage Panel rejects the use of ironically in the sentence In 1969 Susie moved from Ithaca to California where she met her husband-to-be, who, ironically, also came from upstate New York. Some Panelists noted that this particular usage might be acceptable if Susie had in fact moved to California in order to find a husband, in which case the story could be taken as exemplifying the folly of supposing that we can know what fate has in store for us. By contrast, 73 percent accepted the sentence Ironically, even as the government was fulminating against American policy, American jeans and videocassettes were the hottest items in the stalls of the market, where the incongruity can be seen as an example of human inconsistency.
Source: The American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright (C) 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
- - -
Now, if the document had been in OpenOffice format, the irony would have been the contradictory revelation of SCOldera's attacking open-source software while using OSS because they can't afford Microsoft Office. (Actually, having seen their results, I'm sure they can't.)
You know, I don't care as much who comes out ahead in the online music store wars, just as long as they are seen as a viable alternative to purchasing shiny plastic discs at the mall.
What isn't viable to me is paying for poor-quality sound. Music with a full dynamic range (classical, some jazz) suffers from lossy compression.
Online music stores will be viable to me when I can download the same sound quality that I can buy on a disc from a meatspace establishment or from Amazon and MyMusic.
Will there come a day when employers who feel threatened by OSS forbid their software developers from developing OSS in their spare time?
Is MonopoSoft so afraid of its inability to build better software than the competition and OSS that it would go so far?
I think it would.
In fact, my own employer uses some loose language in the employment agreement that could be interpreted to mean that the company owns whatever software I create in my spare time.
The purpose is to open the door for a discussion to re-introduce the concept of free love.
I know that talking about an energy crisis seems like a long way to go about it, but...
---
WTF? Winterize The Fruit-Loops.
The first generation of the LS-120s was slow. But the second generation (the 2x) is/was excellent and I own three of them.
I like unpopular but reliable technology.
I recently heard McNealy tell an audience that SCO has a "live case" against Linux. I understood that to meam, "Buy Solaris."
Of course, he only made the comment because a dunderhead in the audience needed to approach the microphone and ask an intelligent-sounding question... so he asked about SCO.
- - -
>
- Theophraste
Slashdot Mirror
What is the earliest usage of the verb "to slashdot"?
Let's not begin the quarrel of which OS has the ~better~ GUI. The point is that although a GUI can be well-designed, it will by its very nature be a greater burden on the OS than a command typed at the prompt. It's a performance burden, it's a design burden, it's a maintenance burden for the development team. (Axiom: The more complex software becomes, the less even its creators and maintainers understand it.) Eventually it produces a Support burden because users know dulcet coital nothing about their computers.
Then bring in the Internet. Make it very popular. Hell, make it commercial. People are learning that you can get things done quickly with Linux. UNIX was networking when Bill Gates was battling pimples.
Linux builds on the better tradition. So it's not just the cost, but the design philosophy of Linux that is beating Windows.
cost a heap o' piastres
proprietary Windows-based executables instead of an open, cross-platform design
a parallel-port security dongle (Never Again!)
they told me "tough luck" when Windows NT came out and the dongle-driver was incompatible
I had previously bought a set of their encyclopedia as well as their "Great Books" set. Although both sets were excellent value (and I still have them), the bad experience with their CD made me vow never to buy another product from them.
On the bright side, I discovered that the manufacturer of the dongle has made a new version of the dongle-driver available, so I can use the EB CD again. (Hey, if you own one of these CDs, see Rainbow for the driver.)
Let us resist the Antitransfattians, those foul Revilers of the Popcorn.
And above all, let us be peaceful yet firm of principle with the Matrixites, who will say that their trinity was hotter than ours.
Dude, I was gettin' it while I was writin' it. (^:
Of course! :o)
Notions have to be tested by application or creative misapplication. There's a certain prestige associated with showing good taste in your choosing what memes you "echo". There's a strong trace of that in blogging.
It's interesting to consider humour memes, that is little bits of "humour" creativity (quirks, expressions, situations) that are widely echoed by television viewers. For example, several Seinfeld memes (as in "Moops") are still circulating. But a humour meme, unlike a physical invention, once "tested" and "approved" is dead when it has circulated widely and been repeated enough not to produce laughter anymore.
Then 20 years later, the memes can be re-circulated (That 70s Show) for new profit. In my experience, machines don't have this virtue. (My TRS-80 is long gone!)
Less creative television and movies resort to "jolts per minute". We could also call this "weak memes per minute". An actor celebrated for his weak-meme work can pursue a career as Governor. ;^)
If memory serves, a 19th century sociologist by the name of "Darde" posited that out of 100 people, 1 is truly creative and the remaining 99 are echoic.
The research in question suggests the same. And so does the nature of television.
Hell, amigo! An mere incongruity between my expectation and the actual result could just be my being wrong.
An irony requires a poetic twist (not Chubby Checker reciting a sonnet), or as this online dictionary notes, an aspect of poignancy:
- - -
Now, if the document had been in OpenOffice format, the irony would have been the contradictory revelation of SCOldera's attacking open-source software while using OSS because they can't afford Microsoft Office. (Actually, having seen their results, I'm sure they can't.)
What isn't viable to me is paying for poor-quality sound. Music with a full dynamic range (classical, some jazz) suffers from lossy compression.
Online music stores will be viable to me when I can download the same sound quality that I can buy on a disc from a meatspace establishment or from Amazon and MyMusic.
- - -
Is MonopoSoft so afraid of its inability to build better software than the competition and OSS that it would go so far?
I think it would.
In fact, my own employer uses some loose language in the employment agreement that could be interpreted to mean that the company owns whatever software I create in my spare time.
Imagine this baby with a huge backside cache!
The purpose is to open the door for a discussion to re-introduce the concept of free love. I know that talking about an energy crisis seems like a long way to go about it, but... --- WTF? Winterize The Fruit-Loops.
The first generation of the LS-120s was slow. But the second generation (the 2x) is/was excellent and I own three of them. I like unpopular but reliable technology.
I recently heard McNealy tell an audience that SCO has a "live case" against Linux. I understood that to meam, "Buy Solaris." Of course, he only made the comment because a dunderhead in the audience needed to approach the microphone and ask an intelligent-sounding question... so he asked about SCO. - - - > - Theophraste