...is all this work really worth it? If you think about it, what all of this work is going towards is a high-tech solution for people to be lazy. For some applications, sure it makes sense, like a high flow area such as bridge/highway tolls and paying for the subway etc. In areas like that it makes sense that the person, probably in a hurry, should be able to keep going, especially if they are in a car already traveling in excess of 50mph. But when you're talking about a credit card... you're gonna be in a store anyways, and you're gonna have to stop at the "register" where you will have to wait for all of the encrypted transactions to happen. At this point, why not just say hello to a friendly sales clerk (and if he isn't friendly, complain becuase that's what they're getting paid for) and hand him your credit card to swipe through a machine? What time is there really to be saved? Maybe 30 seconds? Is that worth your credit card being able to be hacked by just about anyone who wants to (because once one persone figures it out, everyone who wants to will know how). So i reiterate in asking myself why these companies are putting so much effort into being lazy, especially in something that will save negligable amounts of time?
I've always been a fan of Sun, and it's never steered me wrong. They've been struggling lately as a company, hence signing a deal with such a large retailer will be very beneficial for them. Plus, anything to get Lindows off the market, it is a shame even to the name of Windows and especially to Linux.
BTW i read in some study that in a few years the only OEM computer companies with any sort of market share will be Dell and WalMart
Well, I suppose it's what you're looking for out of a computer, but one of the best things about linux is it's compatibility with old hardware. Debian is my personal favorite of a distro because it's so streamlined. Only what you want when you want it. Fluff like anaconda (like RedHat) will only slow down slower machines like mine and decrease the performance.
On that note, is dselect really that bad? In the time it took me to learn the interface and to select (or deselect) all the packages that i wanted, the windows XP installer would have just about finished loading the SCSI, SATA, & RAID drivers, none of which I have the remote possibility of using.
Now here's where i get really scitzofrenic:
The good thing about this anaconda installer is that it will bring a wider user base to Debian (though many people will be wary because they heard from a friend of a friend that it's hard to install) and to Linux in general (I hope) which will in turn bring about better driver support and software releases to Linux (though maybe i'm just being idealistic)
Well, if they want to get something cheaper... why pay for Sun's services when you could simply run any free distro of linux like Debian or Slackware. Because 100% free is the way to be.
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...is all this work really worth it? If you think about it, what all of this work is going towards is a high-tech solution for people to be lazy. For some applications, sure it makes sense, like a high flow area such as bridge/highway tolls and paying for the subway etc. In areas like that it makes sense that the person, probably in a hurry, should be able to keep going, especially if they are in a car already traveling in excess of 50mph. But when you're talking about a credit card... you're gonna be in a store anyways, and you're gonna have to stop at the "register" where you will have to wait for all of the encrypted transactions to happen. At this point, why not just say hello to a friendly sales clerk (and if he isn't friendly, complain becuase that's what they're getting paid for) and hand him your credit card to swipe through a machine? What time is there really to be saved? Maybe 30 seconds? Is that worth your credit card being able to be hacked by just about anyone who wants to (because once one persone figures it out, everyone who wants to will know how). So i reiterate in asking myself why these companies are putting so much effort into being lazy, especially in something that will save negligable amounts of time?
I've always been a fan of Sun, and it's never steered me wrong. They've been struggling lately as a company, hence signing a deal with such a large retailer will be very beneficial for them. Plus, anything to get Lindows off the market, it is a shame even to the name of Windows and especially to Linux.
BTW i read in some study that in a few years the only OEM computer companies with any sort of market share will be Dell and WalMart
Well, I suppose it's what you're looking for out of a computer, but one of the best things about linux is it's compatibility with old hardware. Debian is my personal favorite of a distro because it's so streamlined. Only what you want when you want it. Fluff like anaconda (like RedHat) will only slow down slower machines like mine and decrease the performance.
On that note, is dselect really that bad? In the time it took me to learn the interface and to select (or deselect) all the packages that i wanted, the windows XP installer would have just about finished loading the SCSI, SATA, & RAID drivers, none of which I have the remote possibility of using.
Now here's where i get really scitzofrenic:
The good thing about this anaconda installer is that it will bring a wider user base to Debian (though many people will be wary because they heard from a friend of a friend that it's hard to install) and to Linux in general (I hope) which will in turn bring about better driver support and software releases to Linux (though maybe i'm just being idealistic)
Well, if they want to get something cheaper... why pay for Sun's services when you could simply run any free distro of linux like Debian or Slackware. Because 100% free is the way to be.