I'm even seeing people that would benefit from using Linux but the hoops you sometimes have to go through to even get a printer to work would fox these people.
Exactly! The ironic thing is, Linux (or any alternative OS is perfect for the two extremes -- power users, and extremely basic users who have someone else set up the system and then never touch the configuration themselves. But you're just asking for trouble if you leave it in the hands of people who think that they can perform all system administration thanks to their intimate knowledge of the Windows Add/Remove Programs feature.
There's a third: A powerful version that is stable. I need to spend my time using Linux to do things for my job, I don't like to spend time debugging the OS.
This is why I love Debian as a server. I could test and install software myself if I had to, but why? The last thing I want to do is spend endless hours figuring out which versions of which software I can use to maintain security without breaking compatibility with my existing data or config files. Life's too short to mess with a server that isn't guaranteed to "just work."
Intriguing approach. Release fixes in the form of anti-spyware or anti-virus software and you look like a good guy fighting the evil hackers rather than a clumsy developer covering your mistakes.:)
It's funny that this comment is rated "Score:1, Informative" (as of this posting) considering that the "Best BSD" it links to is NetBSD rather than the actual topic of this story, FreeBSD.
But notice under the requirements section (as was mentioned in the article summary) it supports VLC for playback. And I doubt VLC has support for whatever DRM system they'd potentially use.
Or are you talking about something else that I overlooked?...
$100 is still more than £39.99 (which converts to about $75.) Maybe the price dropped first in the US, but not as far. Now the ball's in the court of whatever store I might potentially visit to buy a GameCube. If they don't do something about it I just might have to fly to the UK for a cheaper gaming system.:P
And I'm concerned that whatever did it might still be bouncing around the universe somewhere.
Even if it is, does it matter? I don't see how this would be any greater cause for concern than the objects that made other huge craters on other planets/moons/etc. I mean, respectfully, it's not news that there are big things floating out in space, or that some of them have collided with other objects. And if it does head our way, I have faith in Bruce Willis.
Look, I'm not saying that I like the the RIAA and MPAA. Absolutely not. What I'm getting at is that it might not be so bad to have a new model for paying for media. It would actually be pretty cool if I could pay a generic fee for a license to download whatever I want without fear of litigation. That would not get rid of the *AA but it would be advantageous for you and me.
I know the courts won't see this as "a right to copy everything" since the tax is already paid, but I'll fell less guilty next time I download something illegally.
Exactly. I'd gladly pay a copyright tax if it gave me rights to legally download and copy whatever I want. The pessimist in my says this would never happen. But it would be interesting to see what happens if someone were taken to court and used that as a defense. If such a tax doesn't give you license to copy stuff, then is it really anything other than highway robbery by record/movie/software companies?
anything over that and it's easier for me and just about everyone else to just record it via (DVR of choice).
Quite true, but if I had a DVR setup and got the right station I wouldn't bother downloading the first place. To me the advantage of being able to download is the option to get only the odd show or two. I don't want to pay for a big cable package when all I really care about is one show on one channel. Downloads are a (the?) solution to that problem.
Yes, the iTunes Music Store is an excellent option for music. But currently there's no good way of downloading TV shows or movies legally. We need something along the lines of an iVideo Store. The ability to download individual TV episodes for $1 or $2 would be great.
I, for example, want to get Stargate Atlantis legally without paying an extra $30 per month to get a "good" cable TV package. I don't want all the other crap, just this one program. But like audio CDs, the problem with the existing system is that you have to buy it all just to get the one or two things you want.
so if its not proprietary how does one using IE or opera or whatever view these web based apps?
That's the thing, they're not supposed to because we're not talking about making web-based apps at all. We're talking about creating software within a framework that also happens to be host to a web browser. You could write something that extends the browser's functionality but you could also write something that has nothing to do with browsing at all and doesn't even need to access the Internet. If appropriate you could spin it off as a separate app that does not integrate browsing functionality, like the Sunbird project.
At risk of sounding like a hair-splitting Mozilla fanboy, I disagree.
Mozilla offers a framework for building applications, which is why there's an entire O'Reilly book on the subject. One of the primary functions of the Mozilla application is that of a web browser, but it's not accurate to say that XUL is a proprietary web browser language. A bowser is just one of the many things you could create within that framework, as evidenced by the existence of mail and news, IRC, composer, calendar and other components as well as the standalone Firefox, Thunderbird, Sunbird and Nvu apps.
it is somehow okay to rip off somebodies hard work ("just a simple copyright violation"), but to rip off his *logo* is somehow mean and nasty and below the belt? dude, you have some serious prioritisation issues.....
Well, in most cases people redistribute content without the right to do so and that's the end of the story. But this thread is about someone who redistributed content without rights and impersonated the creator in the process. Neither is particularly honorable, but the latter is arguably more devious.
Gentoo with Fedora's installer. Nice! I've always been intrigued by Gentoo (not a fanboy!:P) but the installation process was too time-consuming to justify toying with it much. It looks like Vidalinux solves that problem.
open source is an attempt at communist ideals emulated within a capitalist reality
While this may appear to be the case at first glance, it is not true. Take the BSD license -- while the code is free, it is reusable in commercial software and changes need not be released. Effectively it allows a publicly created resource to be used in a private or commercial venture. This type of openness is a far cry from any license a Communist would use.
The is one thing that I believe makes the BSD license a beautiful thing. The same code, created under the same license, can be freely reused in something totally open (such as Linux), partly open (such as Mac OS X), or totally closed (such as Windows XP.) Communist? Hardly.
Kalak's comments are spot-on. It's often easy for open-source to infiltrate one part of an organization -- a CMS for their website, for example. But total conversion including desktops can be quite difficult when the very foundation of the org runs on Windows-only software that is mandatory to complete certain tasks or communicate with parent/partner organizations.
Sorry, I have a few words in my original post that are technically spelled correctly but are not the right word to use. I think one thing but type another. Ugh...
Christ, remind me never to give money to your wasteful organization. I'll save my money for a group that doesn't turn my contributions over to an illegal monopoly.
I share your sentiment, but we have to be realistic. Just because non-profits run on donations and are on a tight budget doesn't mean they know the first thing about Linux, or that it even exists. It's one thing to convert individual users, but an entire organization and all its software and data are a whole different story.
I work for an organization that provides tech support for non-profits. It's sad but true, non-profits have to live in the same world as commercial entities. They're subject to the same forces as anyone else -- they have momentum with existing Microsoft installations; there are custom legacy software that would require replacement, retaining, and conversation of data; they have users who only know Windows and (rightly or wrongly) would resist a switch to any other OS because it would mean they have to learn to use something slightly different.
You should be supporting the original poster's efforts to switch, not deriding him for not having already completed the task on every machine they have.
Same here. I don't see anything in particular wrong with it.
On a semi-related note, it would be nice to see the Mac OS X version make some of its windows more like palettes that don't necessarily have a focused or unfocused state. As-is, clicking on a tool's icon actually takes two clicks. The first brings the window to the front, then the second selects it. Similarly, you needs to clicks to actually use it on the document. This is not a problem in Linux since the window focus model is typically configured in a way that allows the first click to select the tool even if the window does not have focus.
Most games were smooth most of the time. But there were a few that, during more intense parts (relatively speaking), tended to slow down. SMB3, as demonstrated in the video on the site, was one of those. With enough objects moving around the screen it did get a bit choppy.
It certainly wasn't a big enough problem to affect the games' playability. It was noticeable, however, on the rare occasions that it happened.
No company can set shop in different EU countries and then dictate in which one you can buy.
I seriously doubt Apple made a separate UK store just because they felt like it. Why would they have two European stores if there wasn't some other reason?
I think dictating which store you can use is a result of copyright/licensing issues. Making you buy from one store or another is probably legally valid in that context. Bear in mind that Apple would probably be violating licensing terms with the record companies regarding distribution if they weren't separating these stores.
Again, overcharging is not nice of them if that's what's going on. But it's a totally separate issue.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm sure there are better ways to run OS updates and virus scans than via a web page. :)
It's funny that this comment is rated "Score:1, Informative" (as of this posting) considering that the "Best BSD" it links to is NetBSD rather than the actual topic of this story, FreeBSD.
But notice under the requirements section (as was mentioned in the article summary) it supports VLC for playback. And I doubt VLC has support for whatever DRM system they'd potentially use.
Or are you talking about something else that I overlooked?...
$100 is still more than £39.99 (which converts to about $75.) Maybe the price dropped first in the US, but not as far. Now the ball's in the court of whatever store I might potentially visit to buy a GameCube. If they don't do something about it I just might have to fly to the UK for a cheaper gaming system. :P
Down from £79.99 to £39.99? Wow! I wish one of the US retailers would follow their lead in deciding that the GameCube isn't selling well enough. :P
Look, I'm not saying that I like the the RIAA and MPAA. Absolutely not. What I'm getting at is that it might not be so bad to have a new model for paying for media. It would actually be pretty cool if I could pay a generic fee for a license to download whatever I want without fear of litigation. That would not get rid of the *AA but it would be advantageous for you and me.
Yes, the iTunes Music Store is an excellent option for music. But currently there's no good way of downloading TV shows or movies legally. We need something along the lines of an iVideo Store. The ability to download individual TV episodes for $1 or $2 would be great.
I, for example, want to get Stargate Atlantis legally without paying an extra $30 per month to get a "good" cable TV package. I don't want all the other crap, just this one program. But like audio CDs, the problem with the existing system is that you have to buy it all just to get the one or two things you want.
At risk of sounding like a hair-splitting Mozilla fanboy, I disagree.
Mozilla offers a framework for building applications, which is why there's an entire O'Reilly book on the subject. One of the primary functions of the Mozilla application is that of a web browser, but it's not accurate to say that XUL is a proprietary web browser language. A bowser is just one of the many things you could create within that framework, as evidenced by the existence of mail and news, IRC, composer, calendar and other components as well as the standalone Firefox, Thunderbird, Sunbird and Nvu apps.
Gentoo with Fedora's installer. Nice! I've always been intrigued by Gentoo (not a fanboy! :P) but the installation process was too time-consuming to justify toying with it much. It looks like Vidalinux solves that problem.
The is one thing that I believe makes the BSD license a beautiful thing. The same code, created under the same license, can be freely reused in something totally open (such as Linux), partly open (such as Mac OS X), or totally closed (such as Windows XP.) Communist? Hardly.
Kalak's comments are spot-on. It's often easy for open-source to infiltrate one part of an organization -- a CMS for their website, for example. But total conversion including desktops can be quite difficult when the very foundation of the org runs on Windows-only software that is mandatory to complete certain tasks or communicate with parent/partner organizations.
Sorry, I have a few words in my original post that are technically spelled correctly but are not the right word to use. I think one thing but type another. Ugh...
I work for an organization that provides tech support for non-profits. It's sad but true, non-profits have to live in the same world as commercial entities. They're subject to the same forces as anyone else -- they have momentum with existing Microsoft installations; there are custom legacy software that would require replacement, retaining, and conversation of data; they have users who only know Windows and (rightly or wrongly) would resist a switch to any other OS because it would mean they have to learn to use something slightly different.
You should be supporting the original poster's efforts to switch, not deriding him for not having already completed the task on every machine they have.
Excellent advice. It worked like a charm. Thank you!
Same here. I don't see anything in particular wrong with it.
On a semi-related note, it would be nice to see the Mac OS X version make some of its windows more like palettes that don't necessarily have a focused or unfocused state. As-is, clicking on a tool's icon actually takes two clicks. The first brings the window to the front, then the second selects it. Similarly, you needs to clicks to actually use it on the document. This is not a problem in Linux since the window focus model is typically configured in a way that allows the first click to select the tool even if the window does not have focus.
Most games were smooth most of the time. But there were a few that, during more intense parts (relatively speaking), tended to slow down. SMB3, as demonstrated in the video on the site, was one of those. With enough objects moving around the screen it did get a bit choppy.
It certainly wasn't a big enough problem to affect the games' playability. It was noticeable, however, on the rare occasions that it happened.
I think dictating which store you can use is a result of copyright/licensing issues. Making you buy from one store or another is probably legally valid in that context. Bear in mind that Apple would probably be violating licensing terms with the record companies regarding distribution if they weren't separating these stores.
Again, overcharging is not nice of them if that's what's going on. But it's a totally separate issue.