They know Windows is insecure by default, but don't want to have to jump through hoops to chat on AIM, or post on MySpace
You must be using a bad distro if you are jumping through hoops to do web surfing or instant messaging. Firefox and gaim solve those problems nicely. Ubuntu, SuSE, and Mandriva are not that hard to set up. I think people are also looking at the time spent learning and setting up as a problem. But the time is a lot less than the constant clean up of windoz. Why you don't help get a few people started is a question you should be asking yourself. I know I have stopped most of the " My computer is acting up, come over and fix it" calls from family with one suse install set. True there will be calls to help them do things at first, but I would rather do that then reinstall after viruses and spyware.
I forgot to add, the odf format is about changing vendor lock in. But I think you and a lot of people confuse the format and plug in. The plugin by allowing the user to continue to use MS Office promotes the lockin because of the comfort factor. Getting users to stop using a program is harder than a lot of people think. Its why bundling works to M$ favor when they include software with Windowz. This isn't a problem when individuals or private companies/organizations want to continue to use M$ Office. But the state doing it is totally wrong. The state should have a mandate to use the most cost effective software to save the taxpayers money.
There are continued costs with using MS Office. Most of the licenses need to be paid for on a yearly basis with the government. As for retraining. Have you used Open Office? It is so close to to the current Word the retraining costs would be close to $0.
Let me start off by stating Im for the odf format. I think we need open formats. I hate to say it, but the plugin may be a bad idea. Why? Well in my mind FOSS helped Microsoft. We gave the government a way to keep using M$ Office. We as tax payers are paying the license fees for the government. If the plugin hadn't been available, odf format was mandated, and MS Office was not capable. The government may have had to use cheaper or free software. Saving the tax payer money. Money that could then be spent on other things like roads, schools, parks, or other community projects. Why would the government keep using M$ Office. A few reasons. First is the comfort factor. Its why bundling works, once you get someone to start using a program and they learn it, its hard to get them to change. Now the leaders do not have to listen to workers complain. Second is dirty tricks. FOSS will play by the rules and point out the benefits of switching. But M$ will give large campaign contributions, kickbacks to purchasing agents, even provide paid for FUD studies that lie about the cost of ownership. Is the plugin a win for free software? Not in my opinion. We all lost a chance to cause some real change and gave an easy out to people who keep spending our tax dollars like they grow on trees.
The program cant be. Its gnutella. Gnutella is completely decentralized. They shut down the company behind the client. But all the software out there will continue to work. Not only that but the gnutella network is completely open. Anyone can make a client for it. There are even open source clients. But there are problems with gnutella. Its completely open. Its possible to see you on the network and what files you are sharing. All the riaa has to do is search for a file name, download it from you and the record of what IP address the file came from. But sooner or later a completely anonymous file sharing program will show up. When that happens the iaa's will be sol.
Your right in a way. They should be forced to pay to have it done. Right after they are forced to break up the company into OS in one company and everything else in another. The USA should have done it long ago when they convicted Microsoft for the anti trust violations against Netscape.
So, that removes security as a reason for using Firefox. Speed never was a reason, and it certainly isn't efficient memory usage. That leaves what, exactly, as a reason for using Firefox over Opera, or even IE7? That it's open source? That's a pretty lousy reason
IE7? You have to be joking right? Its still in beta and relies a lot on IE6 code. You know the code that recently had 2 giant security flaws exposed, and they along with others have not been patched. Better to stay with Firefox, at least when holes are found they are patched faster than any other browser that I know of.
I totally agree with you. I just downloaded open SuSE 10.1 RC1, a 3.3 gig torrent. I will probably get the release torrent when the final release is made. I think a lot of these ISP's think that all P2P is people sharing copyrighted material, so they think no one will complain if we slow it down. What they forget is that there are a lot of legitimate uses for P2P. Another legitimate use is for gamers, World of Warcraft sends out patches with bittorrent. More and more legitimate uses are found as time goes on.
Blizzard is judge, jury, and executioner . There is no way to appeal, once they ban you, you are gone for good. Along with the money you paid to play that month and use of the game. Unlike Diablo 2 where there is a single player option, WOW is only online. A lot of their bans are done by Warden, an anti cheat piece of software. We all know programs, or the people who create them, never make errors, Right?
Courts like arbitration. The odds that this motion will fail are in the slim and none category. If you sign a contract with an arbitration clause, bank on going to arbitration. Arbitration was a term of a contract SCO's aleged predisser in interest signed. To get that contract not used agaisnt them they would basicly have to say they are not the predisser in interest. Since all of SCO's lawsuits are based on that fact, it isnt going to happen. One other thing in that motion is that Novell asked for the money from the Microsoft and Sun deals to be placed in trust. This because the apa contract says that sco isn't supposed to be able to grant Unix licensees without Novells approval. If this happens, good bye SCO.
Here are a few "Priceless" Apps that all first time Windoz users "have" to have. Of course all long time Windows users know to stay the hell away from them.
1. Bonzi Buddy
2. Comet Cursor
3. Kazaa
Make sure to not have any anti spyware programs installed to get the full effect.
For those that don't realize this is a joke, don't even download these spyware infested pieces of crap.
Why? You cant easily DRM Linux.
Why , well imho its because Linux is community driven not profit driven. While some people make a profit off Linux it is not its end all be all. There is no central company to buy off to put DRM in. Communities design it to be free and open. Any project that decides to become DRM infested will lose community support. Without a community behind it the project is as good as dead.
When one distro dies 4 more take its place. It isn't hard to do. Its easy to do with Linux, its called a fork! Using the last available code that wasn't DRM infected.
But the biggest fear of the DRM crowd is that Linux is a DRM free alternative. mThey fear more people will find Linux is open, and easier than they thought. I know I did, no trusted computing OS for me! I see this as the biggest fear from people like Real.
Will linux have DRM in the future? Maybe. It could be mandated by law, or some other dirty trick. But it all comes down to trust. Do I trust the Linux community or or closed sorce companies not to take away more than is abaslutly necessary? For me , its a no brainer.
For the record, Dell does sell Linux on servers, workstations and (allegedly) their N series desktops. However, it appears that you can only get Optiplex and Dimensions in their N series without an OS, not with Linux installed, at least from what I can determine on their somewhat mysterious website.
There is one problem. If you look on thier web site you can find the exact same computer with Windows installed, for the exact same price or lower. You dont save anything, so it makes it a waste of time.
Surely they are the only ones who have ever created an MPEG-2 compliant video device. Surely such a thing doesn't exist in _every_ Free movie player that exists.
You and many others might not care, but this is far more frightening for free video software ( i.e. mplayer totem etc ) than Microsoft.
This patent runs on linux to the whim of the shareholders of Lucent.
You are mixing hardware and software. A device is hardware, a player like mplayer or totem is software. The suit also includes dell and gateway because they are M$'s hardware partners Ecmmercetimes story .
The test is confusing. The results page at the end with black bars will say http://www.google.com/ in the address bar if it fails the test. You may have an old version of Firefox if it failed, or you may be reading the resulys of the test wrong. I just tested Firefox 1.5.0.1 and it passed.
Another, more likely scenario: Microsoft subtly changes its format, or changes the way that newer versions of its software interprets the older format files. The government is forced to upgrade because Microsoft stops supporting the older version of the program, but the newer version does weird things to all those old records when it opens them.
Sadly when Microsoft or any other company forces the government to upgrade. The public pays the bill. One of the nice things about open standards is that it promotes competition. That in turn lowers the cost. Saving the government money. This saved money lessens the need to raise taxes to pay for the ever rising cost of the next version of M$ Office.
KDE looks to much like windowz for me. The best thing about Linux is you can use different desktops. If you have enough disk space you don't have to chose. Most modern computers come with disks big enough to install 2 or 3 desktops.
I use SuSE but like Gnome, but have I KDE installed. I use applications like kb3 in gnome because I like some of its features. With both desktops installed some applications run on both desktops. But if there was a KDE application I wanted to run that only ran with KDE its a simple log out, change sessions, and log back in.
Slashdot Mirror
You must be using a bad distro if you are jumping through hoops to do web surfing or instant messaging. Firefox and gaim solve those problems nicely. Ubuntu, SuSE, and Mandriva are not that hard to set up.
I think people are also looking at the time spent learning and setting up as a problem. But the time is a lot less than the constant clean up of windoz. Why you don't help get a few people started is a question you should be asking yourself. I know I have stopped most of the " My computer is acting up, come over and fix it" calls from family with one suse install set. True there will be calls to help them do things at first, but I would rather do that then reinstall after viruses and spyware.
Only its impossible to buyout ODF and OpenOffice.org.
I forgot to add, the odf format is about changing vendor lock in. But I think you and a lot of people confuse the format and plug in. The plugin by allowing the user to continue to use MS Office promotes the lockin because of the comfort factor. Getting users to stop using a program is harder than a lot of people think. Its why bundling works to M$ favor when they include software with Windowz. This isn't a problem when individuals or private companies/organizations want to continue to use M$ Office. But the state doing it is totally wrong. The state should have a mandate to use the most cost effective software to save the taxpayers money.
There are continued costs with using MS Office. Most of the licenses need to be paid for on a yearly basis with the government. As for retraining. Have you used Open Office? It is so close to to the current Word the retraining costs would be close to $0.
Let me start off by stating Im for the odf format. I think we need open formats. I hate to say it, but the plugin may be a bad idea. Why? Well in my mind FOSS helped Microsoft.
We gave the government a way to keep using M$ Office. We as tax payers are paying the license fees for the government. If the plugin hadn't been available, odf format was mandated, and MS Office was not capable. The government may have had to use cheaper or free software. Saving the tax payer money. Money that could then be spent on other things like roads, schools, parks, or other community projects.
Why would the government keep using M$ Office. A few reasons. First is the comfort factor. Its why bundling works, once you get someone to start using a program and they learn it, its hard to get them to change. Now the leaders do not have to listen to workers complain.
Second is dirty tricks. FOSS will play by the rules and point out the benefits of switching. But M$ will give large campaign contributions, kickbacks to purchasing agents, even provide paid for FUD studies that lie about the cost of ownership.
Is the plugin a win for free software? Not in my opinion. We all lost a chance to cause some real change and gave an easy out to people who keep spending our tax dollars like they grow on trees.
The program cant be. Its gnutella. Gnutella is completely decentralized. They shut down the company behind the client. But all the software out there will continue to work. Not only that but the gnutella network is completely open. Anyone can make a client for it. There are even open source clients.
But there are problems with gnutella. Its completely open. Its possible to see you on the network and what files you are sharing. All the riaa has to do is search for a file name, download it from you and the record of what IP address the file came from.
But sooner or later a completely anonymous file sharing program will show up. When that happens the iaa's will be sol.
Your right in a way. They should be forced to pay to have it done. Right after they are forced to break up the company into OS in one company and everything else in another. The USA should have done it long ago when they convicted Microsoft for the anti trust violations against Netscape.
As long as you can defeat it by holding down the shift key while inserting the CD.
I totally agree with you. I just downloaded open SuSE 10.1 RC1, a 3.3 gig torrent. I will probably get the release torrent when the final release is made. I think a lot of these ISP's think that all P2P is people sharing copyrighted material, so they think no one will complain if we slow it down. What they forget is that there are a lot of legitimate uses for P2P. Another legitimate use is for gamers, World of Warcraft sends out patches with bittorrent. More and more legitimate uses are found as time goes on.
Blizzard is judge, jury, and executioner . There is no way to appeal, once they ban you, you are gone for good. Along with the money you paid to play that month and use of the game. Unlike Diablo 2 where there is a single player option, WOW is only online. A lot of their bans are done by Warden, an anti cheat piece of software. We all know programs, or the people who create them, never make errors, Right?
Courts like arbitration. The odds that this motion will fail are in the slim and none category. If you sign a contract with an arbitration clause, bank on going to arbitration. Arbitration was a term of a contract SCO's aleged predisser in interest signed. To get that contract not used agaisnt them they would basicly have to say they are not the predisser in interest. Since all of SCO's lawsuits are based on that fact, it isnt going to happen.
One other thing in that motion is that Novell asked for the money from the Microsoft and Sun deals to be placed in trust. This because the apa contract says that sco isn't supposed to be able to grant Unix licensees without Novells approval. If this happens, good bye SCO.
The chineese computer manufacturers could hold down costs by installing Linux or freedos. Im sure M$ wouldnt mind. :)
Here are a few "Priceless" Apps that all first time Windoz users "have" to have. Of course all long time Windows users know to stay the hell away from them. 1. Bonzi Buddy 2. Comet Cursor 3. Kazaa Make sure to not have any anti spyware programs installed to get the full effect. For those that don't realize this is a joke, don't even download these spyware infested pieces of crap.
Why? You cant easily DRM Linux. Why , well imho its because Linux is community driven not profit driven. While some people make a profit off Linux it is not its end all be all. There is no central company to buy off to put DRM in. Communities design it to be free and open. Any project that decides to become DRM infested will lose community support. Without a community behind it the project is as good as dead. When one distro dies 4 more take its place. It isn't hard to do. Its easy to do with Linux, its called a fork! Using the last available code that wasn't DRM infected. But the biggest fear of the DRM crowd is that Linux is a DRM free alternative. mThey fear more people will find Linux is open, and easier than they thought. I know I did, no trusted computing OS for me! I see this as the biggest fear from people like Real. Will linux have DRM in the future? Maybe. It could be mandated by law, or some other dirty trick. But it all comes down to trust. Do I trust the Linux community or or closed sorce companies not to take away more than is abaslutly necessary? For me , its a no brainer.
The test isnt if the pages change. The test is if http://www.google.com/ stays in the address bar even if the pages change.
The test is confusing. The results page at the end with black bars will say http://www.google.com/ in the address bar if it fails the test. You may have an old version of Firefox if it failed, or you may be reading the resulys of the test wrong. I just tested Firefox 1.5.0.1 and it passed.
KDE looks to much like windowz for me. The best thing about Linux is you can use different desktops. If you have enough disk space you don't have to chose. Most modern computers come with disks big enough to install 2 or 3 desktops. I use SuSE but like Gnome, but have I KDE installed. I use applications like kb3 in gnome because I like some of its features. With both desktops installed some applications run on both desktops. But if there was a KDE application I wanted to run that only ran with KDE its a simple log out, change sessions, and log back in.
Coward
The subject says it all.
To switch to Linux. Since I said bye bye to Windows on my desktop the one thing I dont miss is spyware.
It dose harm consumers if it forces compitition out of the market.