Although I agree with your point on printers, your "nightmare to maintain" is based on what ?
My Ubuntu system tells me when updates and fixes are available, and I just click yes to install them. Everything works on my system, nothing has ever broken. When I run across something I want to try out, I install it with Synaptic.. couldn't be easier. When I decided a year ago that I wanted a new printer I researched the models I was interested in on Google to see what problems there were with Linux (was running Debian at the time). I'm not saying it was a snap to get the printer working, but I figured it out. So yes I'll give you the printer thing, but not "nightmare to maintain".
The hardest part of Linux is the same in Windows.. A little knowledge about setting up hard drives, and what hardware you have. These are comparable in difficulty for the most part when starting with a blank drive. Once installed "support" is not much of an issue with Linux. Programs generaly work the same. You might have to show someone new how to use Synaptic for installing programs, but I don't see where a lot of hand holding is necessary.
The number one thing you should do before installing Linux is to research your hardware on Google to see what problems others have had, and their solutions... Download anything you might need, and burn it to a CD... including things like instructions. If it seems too complicated, then try Google on other Distros to see if they are any better for your hardware.
When people show interest in Linux, I give them a live CD to use for awhile, and when they are ready I help them install, and show them how to install other programs. I always recommend dual boot.. If they want to totaly dump Windows they should use Linux with dual boot for awhile first, and when they find themselves never going into Windows then they are ready.
It's broadcasting just the same... regardles of how different you would like to make it. I could reverse the argument and say that it is so different from radio broadcasting that no royalties should be paid at all.. but it IS broadcasting, and the pricing scheme should be the same.
I never said that royalties should not be paid. The fact that a conventional radio station pays a flat fee to broadcast a song regardless of the number of listeners is my issue. We are not talking about selling concert tickets we are talking about broadcasting.
I could argue some points about how many times you should be paid for the same peice of work.. but I won't. All the more power to someone that creates something that people want to listen to an buy many times over. My point about free market is that the people "in the biz" can create their own stations. They would actually have an advantage as they would have access to the artists for interviews and other exclusive content.
Again my point is that per broadcast fees of a song are ok, but number of listeners should not matter.
An album, CD, tape, or mp3 is the product you sell.
A radio station playing music is advertising the product.
Why would you charge the radio station more for more listeners (more advertising) ?
It's not done in conventional radio, why should it be done in internet radio.
If it is truely a free market, then you would create your own station and compete
instead of demanding extra money from the successful.
Unlike conventional radio stations, more listeners costs the station more money. Imagine what would happen if local radio and TV stations were charged extra based upon the numbers of viewers and listners.. I doubt that would fly.
I see nothing wrong with calling him a yahoo. When I know that someone else can do something on their computer such as installing an OS, and I try it and it doesn't work for me.. I figure out why. If I was just to spout off how bad this must be because I couldn't do it then I would consider myself a Yahoo.
My brother is a yahoo.. He tried and tried and tried to download and instll Linux... wrote me letters on how Linux sucks, and that every distro he tried wouldn't install.. The problem tuned out to be that he would download the ISO and just copy it to a CD, instead of burning it from an image... amazingly I was able to explain to him how ISO's work and for some reason Linux installed finally. So it gets frustrating when people have install problems and say how Linux sucks, when all it takes is a little knowledge and some research (which should be done before you attempt installation)
I don't own a laptop, or have wireless.. but if I was suddenly to obtain such a machine, I would first do some googling to see what kind of install problems people had with my hardare, and their solutions... and anything I might need I would have downloaded prior to installing.. but that's just me trying to avoid being a yahoo.
If you read the posts above, you will see that command line install is only one way to install programs. The "easy way" is to launch Synaptic, type "beagle" in the search for programs to install, select for install, and apply.. Synaptic is easy to use.
Besides "command line" apt-get, and Synaptic, you can also download.deb files and double click em just like you do with Windows.exe files and if you have all the right required libraries, it will install using an installer. Synaptic is easier though, because it's connected to the repository and all the dependencies are current to that repository.
Too complicated for you ? Have your grandma explain it.. I'm done.
1.) "The Standard" is not necessarily a good thing, unless the standard is consistant. I used to work in AutoCad because it was "the standard".. then next thing I know we can't read other customers files because they upgraded and we didn't.. so we had to upgrade.. and just like ".doc" we had ".dxf" which was SUPPOSED to be a standard that any CAD program could read, not just Autocad.. but of course it didn't work unless you had the right version of Autocad.
2.) Compatability... Why does it have to be OO the does all the work ? Why isn't Microsoft making Office able to open an OpenOffice file ? Who is really doing more to be compatable ?
3.) Learning Curve... There are learning curves when upgrading versions of Office. Most Word Processors and Spreadsheets operate pretty much the same within reason anyway. The learning curve argument is one of the worst excuses for not using OpenOffice. You could tell me that the thing just loads too slow.. and I would agree with you.. but tell me it's hard to learn... well that doesn't fly.
4.) Development.. Yes Sun has incentive to continue, but OpenOffice itself seems to be developing just fine on it's own. They recently added a Database to the suite.. not that it's that great, but they are "doing things". They are not stalled.. I get updates and fixes all the time. Why are they doing this ? perhaps because users want improvements and features added.
5.) Scripts.. Having dealt with some of the scripts and Macros that people at work have conjured up.. I don't know why you would want them. I know that there are some other applications that plug numbers into an Excell spreadsheets.. We don't have any at our joint, so I guess that doesn't matter "to me".. but I can see your point,, although I have to wonder if it's not possible to plug those same numbers into OO Spreadsheet.
6.) Unknown.. When PDF files first started showing up in email inboxes there were people caught off guard.. What do we do with it ?... well people adapted. People now have no qualms about sending someone a PDF file. It is especially effective "downhill".. send a vendor an OpenOffice file attatchment, and if they are hungry enough they will adapt. If YOUR customers sent you such files, and said that's what WE use, well I imagine you would install it on a machine and read it.
I seem to remember hearing a story on NPR about a woman collecting seeds that were not geniticly modified. (I think she was from India). Her thoughts were that we needed these in case the geneticly engineered stuff went terribly wrong. This way you would have untainted crops with no cross pollination. Maybe they should get them from her.
I have 2 webmail accounts, as well as my ISP popmail. My reasons for having the webmail accounts are a little different.
I use one of them for the times I have to provide an email address when filling out some form online, like when making a purchase. This mail is also connected to my "portal" homepage, and it has pretty good spam and blocking utils.
The second I have, because it is needed for MSN messenger, and handy that it is tied into it. I know there are other instant message clients out there.. but the freinds and family I know are all tied into that, and I was a hotmail user before MS bought it and hooked in messenger anyway. I think it used to be better, but gotta have it, so I live with it. It's fairly easy to keep from getting much junk mail.
My ISP account is only given to trusted family (those that have shown me they are not going to forward me stupid jokes that have been forwarded a million times). It is pristine, I don't get any crap mail in this account. If a freind or family member has proven themselves on the web mail accounts, then I will get them this address.
Maybe it seems that way, when you can install most of the OS from the net, and get new apps, and updates so painlessly.. But if you lost your net connection the stuff you have installed would still work. (except of course the internet apps)
I like to listen to internet radio (shoutcast). I can also store mp3's on my comp and listen to my own playlists. I think having an internet office app has it's uses just like internet radio.. but I definately want to be able to have my own apps on my computer.
I think someday internet Java apps will be where they need to be.. but in my experience, most of em are just not there yet.. and I cringe when one of them screws up my brownsing expereince by freezing everything up until I have to kill it.. It's as bad as going to a web page that stops loading because the server is looking for some image file.. You just say, well maybe I'll come back when they get their shit together.
There is nothing stopping any person (or company) from creating, marketing and selling a non GPL app for Linux.
In my opinion Linux is doing just fine. It is easy enough to install, and I could care less if your grandmother can install it. The people who can "figure out" how to install it, have enough skills to actually appreciate it and use it. Those that don't have enough computer literacy to install it in it's current state should not be involved with running Linux, and probably not ANY computer OS that is not installed for them by someone else with a few more brain cells.
Do you think there would be too many programs ? Currently Synaptic on my machine tells me there are 18,402 packages listed, 1,144 installed. All of these were tested before being made part of the repository.
If a Windows program had to go through such a process before it was accepted, "by users not a company", I doubt there would be ANY hidden malware crap in it.
Sure Linux can be targeted.. The main difference is that most software is distributed through repository type systems. With Debian you have a few levels of testing before it gets to Stable. Lets say the world wakes up some morning and everyone decided that they are now Linux Debian users and they all install Debian stable. Now it is possile that the more clever hackers may find a way to create nasty things, but it will be extremly difficult to distribute them. People complain how difficult it is to install apps in Linux, but Synaptic is easy to use and you won't be getting any spyware through the Stable repository, because it won't make it through the screening process.
I suppose email attatchments might be a way.. who knows, things can be done, just not so damn easily.
Now if the new Debian world that we created decided that they wanted to get their stuff outside of the repository system... then they are on their own. They may as well stay with Windows.
This is what makes repositories the best way to install software. What are the chances a script like that would make it past "testing" and into "stable" ?
I'm sure you probably conviced some people that "lamers" are in grave danger on Linux, but I suspect that the majority install stuff through repos anyway. Those that dabble around and even know how to run a script in Linux probably have a little more brains than you give them credit for.
I don't know why Microsoft, or another third party group, doesn't create a repository like download center.. where you know that what your getting has been tested and shown not to have crap in it. Sounds like a better system to me.
Is also a good option for finding stuff from around the globe.
Shoutcast is a good start.. you can do it straight from a web browser (www.shoutcast.com) or get fancy and use a player like winamp or xmms... My combo with Linux is.. Streamtuner/Xmms/Streamripper but there are other ways equally good on both Windows and Linux. Guess if you want it to be portable, you'll have to find a (streamripper) way somehow... but damned if I know how.
mixing repos is kinda like taking different versions of the same operating system and willy nilly choosing a file from this version and a file from that version.. it might work, probably will work.. but you get what you get when it doesn't.
I like internet radio too, especially Shoutcast. I don't care about the satelite part of Sirius, I looked into getting an internet subscription because I wanted to be able to hear NFL games that were not being shown on the tube. Basicly they decided that you had to have active-x to use their service, and although I could boot into Windows to use it.. screw that. They also did not reply to my emails (And I was nice too). I had the old card out ready to sign up, I guess they don't want any buisness. Good luck to em.
I remember reading that Cod were getting smaller, because the smaller fish escaping the nets, were breeding with smaller fish escaping the nets.. Looked for a link and can't find the story... maybe I dreamed it.. Never mind.
That's a good question. That you can hold people in jail for years without a hearing to determine exactly what they are being charged with is exactly the problem isn't it ?
There are many stories of people released. There are also stories of those sent there that were accused by others simply for revenge and even monitary gain. How can you think that everyone arrested is guilty ? Is that true here in the US ?... just keep thinking on it.
Ok, when you capture someone or they surrender.. you most certainly do need to take prisoners.. What kind of video game world are you living in ?
I don't think we are hated for taking prisoners. It might be the treatment of those prisoners. I imagine your assumption is that everyone who was taken prisoner is a "terrorist" and doesn't deserve humane treatment. However many were civilians caught up in the wrong place at the wrong time, some are legitimate solders, and others just fighting on the "wrong side" for whatever beliefs they had. Certainly there are some real terrorists in custody but I think the number is a extremly low one. To lump everyone together is a pretty big mistake.. kind of like lumping Iraq and 911 together.
Well.. besides GTk and QT.. there is also the Fox toolkit.. WX widgets.. and Tcl-Tk
As a user, I don't care when some apps that I like use a different widget set, if they are well done. I use Gnome, but I also run Amsn which uses Tcl-Tk (because I like it better).. and I used to prefer K3B as a burner as well as KDE's dialer (before I had DSL). never bothered me a bit if they looked different as long as they worked well. I've also come across good programs utilizing the fox toolkit and WX. If a developer is comforatble with one toolkit over another and they do a good job with it.. more power to em !
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My Ubuntu system tells me when updates and fixes are available, and I just click yes to install them. Everything works on my system, nothing has ever broken. When I run across something I want to try out, I install it with Synaptic.. couldn't be easier. When I decided a year ago that I wanted a new printer I researched the models I was interested in on Google to see what problems there were with Linux (was running Debian at the time). I'm not saying it was a snap to get the printer working, but I figured it out. So yes I'll give you the printer thing, but not "nightmare to maintain".
The number one thing you should do before installing Linux is to research your hardware on Google to see what problems others have had, and their solutions... Download anything you might need, and burn it to a CD ... including things like instructions. If it seems too complicated, then try Google on other Distros to see if they are any better for your hardware.
When people show interest in Linux, I give them a live CD to use for awhile, and when they are ready I help them install, and show them how to install other programs. I always recommend dual boot.. If they want to totaly dump Windows they should use Linux with dual boot for awhile first, and when they find themselves never going into Windows then they are ready.
damn snakes
It's broadcasting just the same... regardles of how different you would like to make it. I could reverse the argument and say that it is so different from radio broadcasting that no royalties should be paid at all.. but it IS broadcasting, and the pricing scheme should be the same.
I could argue some points about how many times you should be paid for the same peice of work.. but I won't. All the more power to someone that creates something that people want to listen to an buy many times over. My point about free market is that the people "in the biz" can create their own stations. They would actually have an advantage as they would have access to the artists for interviews and other exclusive content.
Again my point is that per broadcast fees of a song are ok, but number of listeners should not matter.
A radio station playing music is advertising the product.
Why would you charge the radio station more for more listeners (more advertising) ?
It's not done in conventional radio, why should it be done in internet radio.
If it is truely a free market, then you would create your own station and compete
instead of demanding extra money from the successful.
Unlike conventional radio stations, more listeners costs the station more money. Imagine what would happen if local radio and TV stations were charged extra based upon the numbers of viewers and listners.. I doubt that would fly.
My brother is a yahoo.. He tried and tried and tried to download and instll Linux... wrote me letters on how Linux sucks, and that every distro he tried wouldn't install.. The problem tuned out to be that he would download the ISO and just copy it to a CD, instead of burning it from an image... amazingly I was able to explain to him how ISO's work and for some reason Linux installed finally. So it gets frustrating when people have install problems and say how Linux sucks, when all it takes is a little knowledge and some research (which should be done before you attempt installation)
I don't own a laptop, or have wireless.. but if I was suddenly to obtain such a machine, I would first do some googling to see what kind of install problems people had with my hardare, and their solutions... and anything I might need I would have downloaded prior to installing .. but that's just me trying to avoid being a yahoo.
Besides "command line" apt-get, and Synaptic, you can also download .deb files and double click em just like you do with Windows .exe files and if you have all the right required libraries, it will install using an installer. Synaptic is easier though, because it's connected to the repository and all the dependencies are current to that repository.
Too complicated for you ? Have your grandma explain it.. I'm done.
2.) Compatability... Why does it have to be OO the does all the work ? Why isn't Microsoft making Office able to open an OpenOffice file ? Who is really doing more to be compatable ?
3.) Learning Curve ... There are learning curves when upgrading versions of Office. Most Word Processors and Spreadsheets operate pretty much the same within reason anyway. The learning curve argument is one of the worst excuses for not using OpenOffice. You could tell me that the thing just loads too slow.. and I would agree with you.. but tell me it's hard to learn... well that doesn't fly.
4.) Development.. Yes Sun has incentive to continue, but OpenOffice itself seems to be developing just fine on it's own. They recently added a Database to the suite.. not that it's that great, but they are "doing things". They are not stalled.. I get updates and fixes all the time. Why are they doing this ? perhaps because users want improvements and features added.
5.) Scripts.. Having dealt with some of the scripts and Macros that people at work have conjured up.. I don't know why you would want them. I know that there are some other applications that plug numbers into an Excell spreadsheets.. We don't have any at our joint, so I guess that doesn't matter "to me".. but I can see your point,, although I have to wonder if it's not possible to plug those same numbers into OO Spreadsheet.
6.) Unknown.. When PDF files first started showing up in email inboxes there were people caught off guard.. What do we do with it ? ... well people adapted. People now have no qualms about sending someone a PDF file. It is especially effective "downhill".. send a vendor an OpenOffice file attatchment, and if they are hungry enough they will adapt. If YOUR customers sent you such files, and said that's what WE use, well I imagine you would install it on a machine and read it.
I seem to remember hearing a story on NPR about a woman collecting seeds that were not geniticly modified. (I think she was from India). Her thoughts were that we needed these in case the geneticly engineered stuff went terribly wrong. This way you would have untainted crops with no cross pollination. Maybe they should get them from her.
I use one of them for the times I have to provide an email address when filling out some form online, like when making a purchase. This mail is also connected to my "portal" homepage, and it has pretty good spam and blocking utils.
The second I have, because it is needed for MSN messenger, and handy that it is tied into it. I know there are other instant message clients out there.. but the freinds and family I know are all tied into that, and I was a hotmail user before MS bought it and hooked in messenger anyway. I think it used to be better, but gotta have it, so I live with it. It's fairly easy to keep from getting much junk mail.
My ISP account is only given to trusted family (those that have shown me they are not going to forward me stupid jokes that have been forwarded a million times). It is pristine, I don't get any crap mail in this account. If a freind or family member has proven themselves on the web mail accounts, then I will get them this address.
I like to listen to internet radio (shoutcast). I can also store mp3's on my comp and listen to my own playlists. I think having an internet office app has it's uses just like internet radio.. but I definately want to be able to have my own apps on my computer.
I think someday internet Java apps will be where they need to be.. but in my experience, most of em are just not there yet.. and I cringe when one of them screws up my brownsing expereince by freezing everything up until I have to kill it.. It's as bad as going to a web page that stops loading because the server is looking for some image file.. You just say, well maybe I'll come back when they get their shit together.
In my opinion Linux is doing just fine. It is easy enough to install, and I could care less if your grandmother can install it. The people who can "figure out" how to install it, have enough skills to actually appreciate it and use it. Those that don't have enough computer literacy to install it in it's current state should not be involved with running Linux, and probably not ANY computer OS that is not installed for them by someone else with a few more brain cells.
Do you think there would be too many programs ? Currently Synaptic on my machine tells me there are 18,402 packages listed, 1,144 installed. All of these were tested before being made part of the repository.
If a Windows program had to go through such a process before it was accepted, "by users not a company", I doubt there would be ANY hidden malware crap in it.
I suppose email attatchments might be a way.. who knows, things can be done, just not so damn easily.
Now if the new Debian world that we created decided that they wanted to get their stuff outside of the repository system... then they are on their own. They may as well stay with Windows.
I'm sure you probably conviced some people that "lamers" are in grave danger on Linux, but I suspect that the majority install stuff through repos anyway. Those that dabble around and even know how to run a script in Linux probably have a little more brains than you give them credit for.
I don't know why Microsoft, or another third party group, doesn't create a repository like download center.. where you know that what your getting has been tested and shown not to have crap in it. Sounds like a better system to me.
Shoutcast is a good start.. you can do it straight from a web browser (www.shoutcast.com) or get fancy and use a player like winamp or xmms... My combo with Linux is.. Streamtuner/Xmms/Streamripper but there are other ways equally good on both Windows and Linux. Guess if you want it to be portable, you'll have to find a (streamripper) way somehow... but damned if I know how.
To each their own, but that genre seems aptly named in my opinion.
mixing repos is kinda like taking different versions of the same operating system and willy nilly choosing a file from this version and a file from that version.. it might work, probably will work.. but you get what you get when it doesn't.
I like internet radio too, especially Shoutcast. I don't care about the satelite part of Sirius, I looked into getting an internet subscription because I wanted to be able to hear NFL games that were not being shown on the tube. Basicly they decided that you had to have active-x to use their service, and although I could boot into Windows to use it.. screw that. They also did not reply to my emails (And I was nice too). I had the old card out ready to sign up, I guess they don't want any buisness. Good luck to em.
I remember reading that Cod were getting smaller, because the smaller fish escaping the nets, were breeding with smaller fish escaping the nets.. Looked for a link and can't find the story... maybe I dreamed it.. Never mind.
There are many stories of people released. There are also stories of those sent there that were accused by others simply for revenge and even monitary gain. How can you think that everyone arrested is guilty ? Is that true here in the US ? ... just keep thinking on it.
I don't think we are hated for taking prisoners. It might be the treatment of those prisoners. I imagine your assumption is that everyone who was taken prisoner is a "terrorist" and doesn't deserve humane treatment. However many were civilians caught up in the wrong place at the wrong time, some are legitimate solders, and others just fighting on the "wrong side" for whatever beliefs they had. Certainly there are some real terrorists in custody but I think the number is a extremly low one. To lump everyone together is a pretty big mistake.. kind of like lumping Iraq and 911 together.
As a user, I don't care when some apps that I like use a different widget set, if they are well done. I use Gnome, but I also run Amsn which uses Tcl-Tk (because I like it better).. and I used to prefer K3B as a burner as well as KDE's dialer (before I had DSL). never bothered me a bit if they looked different as long as they worked well. I've also come across good programs utilizing the fox toolkit and WX. If a developer is comforatble with one toolkit over another and they do a good job with it.. more power to em !