GTK for one.
Firefox doesn't use GTK+ for its UI. If it would, it'd be much faster (compare for example the UI speed of epiphany to firefox). It uses XUL and CSS.
I love the speed of epiphany and its consistency and integration with the gnome desktop, but there are certain firefox features I can't do without, like adblock, smooth scrolling, the search box, and mouse gestures. I wish epiphany would implement these or firefox to start using gtk+ and the gnome libs, at least on the linux version.
Hehe no man, I'm using firefox. When I said terminal, I meant a terminal window under X. I always have a terminal open, and the keyboard is faster than a click here click there GUI. That doesn't mean I don't like GUIs, I do.:)
Yes the reverse is also true, as long as these plugins/projects are not derivitive projects of the closed source project. Example of this: MS windows is closed source. There are many ports of GPL projects to windows and that's ok cause these projects are not derivitive but they are using a public interface, eg. they could be using the win32 api.
If however you modify/enhance the win32 api in some way, then you cannot redistribute it at all cause it's closed source which belongs to MS. Though with GPL projects if you modify/enhance a project you are free to release it as long as you distribute the source as well. This is alot better than the closed source alternative (no release at all) and also ensures that a free open source project stays this way.
No. He doesn't want any derivitive from his project to be used on a closed source project. The LGPL allows this.
What he wants is GPL. With GPL people can even make closed source plugins because they are not derivitive works. Also the GPL makes sure that derivitive projects will stay free and open source.
I don't make anything up. Heh, you made me go and search for that page I saw a couple of years back. At least I found it. Ok, I probably saw the MS internet claim somewhere else, not on their timeline, but I have seen it nonetheless. Anyway in this page according to their version of history they claim they invented the first programming language (!!!) which is equally absurd.
...Bill Gates and Paul Allen develop the first programming language...Have a look yourself
They are ofcourse talking about BASIC. While FORTRAN, LISP, COBOL, ALGOL etc etc already existed for roughly 20 (twenty!) years before BASIC.
How's parent a troll? Haven't you heard of sarcasm before?
MS did claim they invented the GUI, I even remember them claiming to have invented the 'internet', on a computing history timeline they published. I don't know if they claimed they invented the active directory or the TCP/IP stack, but I wouldn't be surprised. They've done such bold claims before.
And he's definitelly not a troll. Lookup his post history ffs.
Where have you been? Were you living in a cave or something?
There have been many cases of stolen GPL code where the offending party was contacted and they agreed to release the source code instead of taking it to court.
This happened when netfilter code (iptables) was stolen, and in many other cases. There is also an effort for making offending companies release source code. See http://gpl-violations.org/ for more info.
Cons: ...
3. stricter division of workforce between "mozilla products" that generate revenue, and "mozilla projects" that don't generate revenue, potentially disadvantaging the latter.
I hope this is not true. I'd hate to see a firefox Pro version that you need to buy, and a separate lesser free version of firefox.
the installation screen won't initialized and load without beforehand adding the "nofb" or the "vga=971" command in the kernel configuration line.
On certain hardware you need to pass these options, no matter what distro you're installing. Are you complaining about having to type a few extra characters on his first boot?
FC4 booted much faster than any previous version, still though, not as fast as other distros like Arch and Gentoo.
Gentoo is faster from other distros, but I don't see any difference on boot times. And anyway, if you're gonna complain about nofb, I can sure tell you that Gentoo is not for you. The installation is nothing but easy.
But I wasn't as happy with the memory consumption. About 230 MBs of RAM were used on a clean, default load (according to "free", just after the OS loaded -- no major cashing has occured yet).
Linux uses memory more aggressively than windows, and tries to avoid swapping, while windows does the opposite. This is the first complain I hear from windows users using linux. You need to understand that you *want* your memory to be used. The more memory is used, the faster your programs will run. And btw here's my free on Gentoo:
As you can see, most of my RAM is used. This does not slow the system down. It has the opposite effect. Anyway, I'm glad no major 'cashing' occured on your system.:D
I find this requirement huge, it means that computers with 256 MBs of RAM will swap heavily after only a few minutes of using the system (e.g. after opening Firefox and Evolution or OOo alone).
No you got it totally wrong. See above.
I had to go and unload some services before I could see the RAM usage go down
Most of these 'services' you stopped are init scripts that run once at boot and do nothing afterwards. So your RAM usage going down is most likely the placebo effect. Get a clue.
And btw, why can't I kill completely 'eggcups' (it keeps respawning) which takes so much RAM, and I don't even have a printer in my house?
Are you serious? you cann't stop a service? And you're writing a review on a linux distro???
Also of importance is the fact that Fedora does not automount FAT/NTFS partitions and so new users will find this a bit dissapointing.
Which free distro automounts a FAT/NTFS partition? AFAIK, none. But anyway all you got to do is add 1 (ONE) line to your fstab.
Having to use "mount" in the command line or have to mess up with your/etc/fstab is hardly fun.
Is this the same guy who was talking about arch and gentoo?:D
Sure you'll find the odd app that doesn't adhere to these guidelines, but that's the exception not the rule. Almost all the apps I run look consistent. And I bet you've seen the odd app on windows as well. Yes you know which one. The one with these massive buttons and different colors everywhere.:)
Thanks for clarifying what your project is about. There are some projects nowdays trying to recreate windows on linux, For example I saw a window manager that looked exactly like windows xp. Every time I see something like this, I ask *why???*
When I saw/Programs and that every application would be under/Programs, well, guess what I thought?:)
Anyway, I wish you luck with your project. To be honest, I'm used to the dir structure as it is, but I always try new things. When your distro becomes usable enough, I'll give it a go.:)
What drives are these files on? Windows usually has a nice simple letter per drive, so you can swap disks around simply and easily. The unix system is massively more powerful and flexible and abstracts all this away - appropriate for a networked machine where files can be anywhere but less so for an isolated desktop with a couple of hard drives and a cd drive...
Hmmm...the drive letters represent physical drives. The directories are logical structures. IMHO mixing physical drives with logical directories is a serious design error. You shouldn't care whether your programs folder is on your 1st drive or your second. Let's say you're running out of space on your 1st drive and you want to tranfer your programs to your 2nd new drive. In linux you would transfer the/bin folder to your 2nd drive and edit fstab to automatically mount/bin on your new drive. That's all you need to do. Your system will work fine and all your menus and shorcuts to programs will work just fine. On windows, if you just transfer your Program Files folder to a new drive, your system will not work. (Maybe if you track down all system references to C:\Program Files and change them to D:\Program Files it might work, but where exactly do you start? The registry would be full of references to C:\Program Files. Needless to mention that all your start menu and program shorcuts will not work.) Or lets say you got important documents and you want a RAID 1 on your/home directory spread on 2 drives. Easy. You just create the array and mount your/home to it. I cann't imagine doing things like that in windows. Maybe it is possible, but the fact that logical dir paths depend on physical hardware(C: D: etc.) makes things alot more difficult.
The same ol' arguments from windows users. You know what? I've seen people who were clueless about computers, being more perceptive to linux than windows users. Windows users react, because it's different, and they usually refuse to read even a single paragraph of a help file, because that's how they're used to from windows.
From TFA:
Installing Applications is complicated
I hear this argument all the time and it really is starting to annoy me. It's just different from windows, that'a all.
A typical windows installation:
You first need to download the installer application or insert the cd where the app resides.
A window pops up welcoming you to the installation, you click next.
Then the program's license pops up which you need to click accept and click next.
Then you need to choose whether you want another installation target folder, other than the default C:\Program Files\ and click next.
Then you choose the name of the start menu group and click next.
Then if the program installs any DLLs which are outdated you'll be asked whether you want to keep or overwrite the some2423_app.DLL or not and click next.
If all goes ok, you'll click next for a few more times before finishing the installation by...clicking Finish
A typical linux installation:
Depending on your distribution you type:
apt-get install thisapp
or you might have to type yum install thisapp
or emerge thisapp.
In all cases, the app will be downloaded and installed for you. That's it.
Directory structures can be confusing to navigate
No they're not. It's just different from windows, that'a all. /bin for binaries/sbin for system binaries. whats so confusing about it?
Oh, I see it now, C:\Program Files for binaries and C:\Windows\System32 for system binaries is better, yes?
Or maybe the fact that you have your kernel and boot loader in one place under/boot is confusing? maybe it's better to have them scattered all over the place like in C:\boot.ini and in C:\Windows\System32 as well as in the registry?
Or maybe the slash(/) is confusing? Although you use slash for URLs and pretty much anything, why not use the backslash for browsing directories like in windows, eh? Better, yes?
I'd say that *nix directory structure is the standard and anything else that uses backslashes and obscure directory structures is plain wrong and confusing.
Interface is confusing and inconsistent.
No it's not. You're coming from windows, that's all. Infact I can find hundrends of inconsistencies with the windows interface. Like for example to shut down your pc you need to click Start. Huh?
And if you're talking about how desktop enviroments are different, like Gnome and KDE, well, they're meant to be different! Use the one you like. There is no reason why everything should look the same. You want simplicity and ease of use? Go with Gnome. You want eye candy and many options to tweak? Go with KDE. You want fast response times(if you're on old hardware)? Go with Fluxbox or IceWM. You want super duper eye candy and fancy effects while you don't care so much on stability? Go with Enlightment. There's something for everyone, and I think this is alot better than trying to fit all sizes in one shoe.
Steep learning curve required to understand system functions.
Oh, common! How much easier can system functions get? Is it easier on windows? If so, why? Maybe because you've spent so many years learning how to use every system function? Do the same on linux (RTFM/learn) and then come back and tell me if it was at all difficult. You see, it's different but it's not difficult. Don't expect to know-it-all on your 1st day. And don't expect to "just figure it out" without even reading a single sentence of a help file.
When you started driving, did you just took the car into town, expecting to just figure out things without trying to learn? Didn't think so. But you w
I thought there was no such thing as a central C&C on botnets. An infected pc, can be a member of many botnets. Today a pc is doing the bidding of joe hax0r, tomorrow is doing the bidding of billy rox0r. Even if you shut down one C&C, the thousands of infected pcs, remain infected and ready to join another botnet.
These people need to realise that one day they will be forced to pay seperate licences. You cann't get away with it forever. And Microsoft has already started pressuring users and businesses to buy licences with the "genuine (dis?)advantage" program.
With DRM and palladium coming, I think Microsoft will be able to enforce license purchases within the next 2 years. Notice I said 'be able'-they won't do it yet, not as long as there are viable free alternatives like Linux.
So their strategy is to get as many users as possible on windows, pirated or not, and when there are only a few left on Linux, force everyone to pay. Then you'll look ofcourse for a free alternative, but it'll be too little too late.
The funny thing is, most windows users with pirated versions, think they are 'cheating' Microsoft, while infact they are playing Microsoft's game. And Microsoft treats them like criminals, like they've done something bad. The same tactic banks use. They'll give you more credit than you can afford, and when you cann't pay it back on time, they'll blame you and treat you like you've done something bad. So people usually fall into the trap, borrow more than they can afford and end up paying extraordinary fees without complaining. After all, it's their fault...isn't it?
These people need to stop thinking about short term convenience and think the long term implications of their actions.
Nowdays, Linux is very easy to use and very powerful. There really is, no excuse not to use it.
I did install some time back a few distros, doing full installations with both Gnome & KDE installed at the same time, and all programs seemed to work. But what would have happened if I would have only installed only one of them? Are programs not only distro dependant but also KDE/Gnome/other dependant?
They'd work but they wouldn't look "native" to your desktop. On KDE there's also a GTK-Qt theme engine which makes Gnome apps look like KDE native. I wish there was something like this for Gnome as I'm using Gnome only. I wonder why noone has done it; is it because of Qt's licence?
I've set firefox to delete cookies when it exits and I use Cookieculler to protect any cookies I want to keep, like login cookies on sites I visit often.
I don't like taking part in marketing surveys without my concent, and I don't like the idea of some company tracking my web usage.
Once you've set which cookies you want protected, everything is being taking care of, automatically. I really cann't understand people who don't take this simple step to protect their privacy.
There is a search box, it's just not so easy to find. Overall, a very good site, though it badly needs some web design improvements. Wolfram is quite good as well. I've used it several times and found exactly what I wanted, fast. I'll be using both from now on.
Ok, I read the product description, saw the screenshots, and it looked like a really nice IDE. I know its proprietary and all, but I was eager to try it, even though since I moved to C/C++ I haven't touched VB for years. Anyway, the download finished, and I started the app.
Then all of a sudden the app reminded me why I don't like proprietary software.
A window pops up asking me for a licence or key with an option to continue on the demo. I chose this one.
"Retrieving Demo key..." comes up...and I wait..."The key could not be retrieved cause the server timed out". Tried again to no avail. The software refused to start, so I happilly removed it from my disk.
the server was probably/.ed but why do I need to retrieve a key for a demo product is beyond me. All they managed to do is annoy people who thought of trying their product.
If you didn't want us to try your demo, then why do you advertise it on slashdot?
If you did want us to try it, then why do you feel you need to fortify your demo with licence keys?
You want your demo to reach as many people as possible, and this is just not going to happen. Good luck with your bussiness model, you'll need it.
GPL doesn't restrict you. It ensures your freedom and makes sure that you will be able to receive any improvements on GPL'd code for free to do whatever you want with them, so noone will be able to deny you access to the source or deny any of your rights to use a GPL'd application.
You're missing the point. It's not just about the ID card. It's about the database(s).
You'd be required to use the ID for public services, health services, to get a job, to travel, to use private sector services, like buying a book, a dvd, a newspaper, etc etc.
Now, each goverment agency will have its own database collecting relevant information about you. Private companies will also keep their own databases collecting information about you. Ok, you're gonna say, nothing new here. I already use a card for my bank, another one to drive, another one for my local library, another one for my local supermarket etc. So what's the difference?
The difference is that you'll only use *one* card. That is *one* database *key* able to be used to run queries across any databases that keep information about you. These queries can return results in seconds with almost no effort. While nowdays, to get a profile on a person you'd need too much resources and time. So they only do it for criminals and not for your average citizen. Things will change though. Combine this with statistics, a proactive policy and the export of ID data to the US and things get scary pretty quickly. Think of the unlimited possibilities for the goverment or corporations; they could built complete profiles on you. Something that is impossible today because even though you exist on many databases, they are not integrated.
For example, you receive a letter saying...
...you are not allowed to drive, because a recent police cross-check on databases, revealed that you have been driving for the last 10 weekends following a certain pattern. You were always driving about 2 hours after your visit to a pub, where you had a few drinks each time. Although you had always 2 drinks and you were below the limit, statistics showed that 56% of the people who follow the certain pattern and have the health problem you have, have increased risk of causing an accident. No action is required by you, your ID card has been updated. Have a nice day.
...you are required to attend to your local police station for an interview. You have been considered as a posible threat to national security. Although we hold no evidence against you, our database cross-checks have revealed that you belong to a high risk category. You have borrowed 4 books from your local library over the last 2 weeks; 1 on politics, 1 on communism, 1 on freedom and 1 on computer networks. You are a member of Greenpeace and an activist for a group against recent goverment actions like our recent war. You are also classified as a person who has objections with authority as your school records show, an incident at your previous employment, as well as a conversation you had with a police officer last year. You associate with a person who has broken the law once (your neighboor) and he has a friend where he broke the law twice this year. None of these facts about you is explicitly unlawful, however the combination of these facts classifies you as having a 12% chance of commiting an act which would be detrimental to our national security, within the next 6 months. USA security agencies comfirm this as well. Due to our proactive policy we would like an interview with you. The outcome of our interview will determine whether you will be sent to camp delta for reeducation or not. If you do not attend your local police station within 24 hours you will be arrested. Your ID card service capabilities have been suspended until then. Have a nice day.
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GTK for one. Firefox doesn't use GTK+ for its UI. If it would, it'd be much faster (compare for example the UI speed of epiphany to firefox). It uses XUL and CSS.
I love the speed of epiphany and its consistency and integration with the gnome desktop, but there are certain firefox features I can't do without, like adblock, smooth scrolling, the search box, and mouse gestures. I wish epiphany would implement these or firefox to start using gtk+ and the gnome libs, at least on the linux version.
Hehe no man, I'm using firefox. When I said terminal, I meant a terminal window under X. I always have a terminal open, and the keyboard is faster than a click here click there GUI. That doesn't mean I don't like GUIs, I do. :)
I just type rot13 on a terminal then the text to be encoded/decoded.
.bashrc
No right clicks and decoders.
Just 1 line on my
alias rot13="tr A-Za-z N-ZA-Mn-za-m"
Yes the reverse is also true, as long as these plugins/projects are not derivitive projects of the closed source project. Example of this: MS windows is closed source. There are many ports of GPL projects to windows and that's ok cause these projects are not derivitive but they are using a public interface, eg. they could be using the win32 api.
If however you modify/enhance the win32 api in some way, then you cannot redistribute it at all cause it's closed source which belongs to MS. Though with GPL projects if you modify/enhance a project you are free to release it as long as you distribute the source as well. This is alot better than the closed source alternative (no release at all) and also ensures that a free open source project stays this way.
No. He doesn't want any derivitive from his project to be used on a closed source project. The LGPL allows this.
What he wants is GPL. With GPL people can even make closed source plugins because they are not derivitive works. Also the GPL makes sure that derivitive projects will stay free and open source.
So the GPL is exactly what he needs.
I don't make anything up. Heh, you made me go and search for that page I saw a couple of years back. At least I found it. Ok, I probably saw the MS internet claim somewhere else, not on their timeline, but I have seen it nonetheless. Anyway in this page according to their version of history they claim they invented the first programming language (!!!) which is equally absurd.
...Bill Gates and Paul Allen develop the first programming language...
Have a look yourself
They are ofcourse talking about BASIC. While FORTRAN, LISP, COBOL, ALGOL etc etc already existed for roughly 20 (twenty!) years before BASIC.
How's parent a troll? Haven't you heard of sarcasm before?
MS did claim they invented the GUI, I even remember them claiming to have invented the 'internet', on a computing history timeline they published. I don't know if they claimed they invented the active directory or the TCP/IP stack, but I wouldn't be surprised. They've done such bold claims before.
And he's definitelly not a troll. Lookup his post history ffs.
Where have you been? Were you living in a cave or something?
There have been many cases of stolen GPL code where the offending party was contacted and they agreed to release the source code instead of taking it to court.
This happened when netfilter code (iptables) was stolen, and in many other cases. There is also an effort for making offending companies release source code. See http://gpl-violations.org/ for more info.
From Planet Mozilla: D.Glazman blog
...
Cons:
3. stricter division of workforce between "mozilla products" that generate revenue, and "mozilla projects" that don't generate revenue, potentially disadvantaging the latter.
I hope this is not true. I'd hate to see a firefox Pro version that you need to buy, and a separate lesser free version of firefox.
mod parent insightful !!!
From TFA:
:D
/etc/fstab is hardly fun. :D
/. ?
the installation screen won't initialized and load without beforehand adding the "nofb" or the "vga=971" command in the kernel configuration line.
On certain hardware you need to pass these options, no matter what distro you're installing. Are you complaining about having to type a few extra characters on his first boot?
FC4 booted much faster than any previous version, still though, not as fast as other distros like Arch and Gentoo.
Gentoo is faster from other distros, but I don't see any difference on boot times. And anyway, if you're gonna complain about nofb, I can sure tell you that Gentoo is not for you. The installation is nothing but easy.
But I wasn't as happy with the memory consumption. About 230 MBs of RAM were used on a clean, default load (according to "free", just after the OS loaded -- no major cashing has occured yet).
Linux uses memory more aggressively than windows, and tries to avoid swapping, while windows does the opposite. This is the first complain I hear from windows users using linux. You need to understand that you *want* your memory to be used. The more memory is used, the faster your programs will run. And btw here's my free on Gentoo:
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 513828 428216 85612 0 50048 176256
-/+ buffers/cache: 201912 311916
Swap: 506008 4024 501984
As you can see, most of my RAM is used. This does not slow the system down. It has the opposite effect. Anyway, I'm glad no major 'cashing' occured on your system.
I find this requirement huge, it means that computers with 256 MBs of RAM will swap heavily after only a few minutes of using the system (e.g. after opening Firefox and Evolution or OOo alone).
No you got it totally wrong. See above.
I had to go and unload some services before I could see the RAM usage go down
Most of these 'services' you stopped are init scripts that run once at boot and do nothing afterwards. So your RAM usage going down is most likely the placebo effect. Get a clue.
And btw, why can't I kill completely 'eggcups' (it keeps respawning) which takes so much RAM, and I don't even have a printer in my house?
Are you serious? you cann't stop a service? And you're writing a review on a linux distro???
Also of importance is the fact that Fedora does not automount FAT/NTFS partitions and so new users will find this a bit dissapointing.
Which free distro automounts a FAT/NTFS partition? AFAIK, none. But anyway all you got to do is add 1 (ONE) line to your fstab.
Having to use "mount" in the command line or have to mess up with your
Is this the same guy who was talking about arch and gentoo?
Why did this horrible review made it on
There are no established guidelines for UI development on Linux, at least none that are stringently adhered to.
:)
This is not true. Each desktop has its own human interface guidelines.
Gnome HIG
KDE HIG
Sure you'll find the odd app that doesn't adhere to these guidelines, but that's the exception not the rule. Almost all the apps I run look consistent. And I bet you've seen the odd app on windows as well. Yes you know which one. The one with these massive buttons and different colors everywhere.
Thanks for clarifying what your project is about. There are some projects nowdays trying to recreate windows on linux, For example I saw a window manager that looked exactly like windows xp. Every time I see something like this, I ask *why???* /Programs and that every application would be under /Programs, well, guess what I thought? :)
:)
When I saw
Anyway, I wish you luck with your project. To be honest, I'm used to the dir structure as it is, but I always try new things. When your distro becomes usable enough, I'll give it a go.
What drives are these files on? Windows usually has a nice simple letter per drive, so you can swap disks around simply and easily. The unix system is massively more powerful and flexible and abstracts all this away - appropriate for a networked machine where files can be anywhere but less so for an isolated desktop with a couple of hard drives and a cd drive...
/bin folder to your 2nd drive and edit fstab to automatically mount /bin on your new drive. That's all you need to do. Your system will work fine and all your menus and shorcuts to programs will work just fine. On windows, if you just transfer your Program Files folder to a new drive, your system will not work. (Maybe if you track down all system references to C:\Program Files and change them to D:\Program Files it might work, but where exactly do you start? The registry would be full of references to C:\Program Files. Needless to mention that all your start menu and program shorcuts will not work.) /home directory spread on 2 drives. Easy. You just create the array and mount your /home to it. I cann't imagine doing things like that in windows. Maybe it is possible, but the fact that logical dir paths depend on physical hardware(C: D: etc.) makes things alot more difficult.
Hmmm...the drive letters represent physical drives. The directories are logical structures. IMHO mixing physical drives with logical directories is a serious design error. You shouldn't care whether your programs folder is on your 1st drive or your second. Let's say you're running out of space on your 1st drive and you want to tranfer your programs to your 2nd new drive. In linux you would transfer the
Or lets say you got important documents and you want a RAID 1 on your
The same ol' arguments from windows users. You know what? I've seen people who were clueless about computers, being more perceptive to linux than windows users. Windows users react, because it's different, and they usually refuse to read even a single paragraph of a help file, because that's how they're used to from windows.
/bin for binaries /sbin for system binaries. whats so confusing about it?
Oh, I see it now, C:\Program Files for binaries and C:\Windows\System32 for system binaries is better, yes? /boot is confusing? maybe it's better to have them scattered all over the place like in C:\boot.ini and in C:\Windows\System32 as well as in the registry?
From TFA:
Installing Applications is complicated
I hear this argument all the time and it really is starting to annoy me. It's just different from windows, that'a all.
A typical windows installation:
You first need to download the installer application or insert the cd where the app resides.
A window pops up welcoming you to the installation, you click next.
Then the program's license pops up which you need to click accept and click next.
Then you need to choose whether you want another installation target folder, other than the default C:\Program Files\ and click next.
Then you choose the name of the start menu group and click next.
Then if the program installs any DLLs which are outdated you'll be asked whether you want to keep or overwrite the some2423_app.DLL or not and click next.
If all goes ok, you'll click next for a few more times before finishing the installation by...clicking Finish
A typical linux installation:
Depending on your distribution you type:
apt-get install thisapp
or you might have to type yum install thisapp
or emerge thisapp.
In all cases, the app will be downloaded and installed for you. That's it.
Directory structures can be confusing to navigate
No they're not. It's just different from windows, that'a all.
Or maybe the fact that you have your kernel and boot loader in one place under
Or maybe the slash(/) is confusing? Although you use slash for URLs and pretty much anything, why not use the backslash for browsing directories like in windows, eh? Better, yes?
I'd say that *nix directory structure is the standard and anything else that uses backslashes and obscure directory structures is plain wrong and confusing.
Interface is confusing and inconsistent.
No it's not. You're coming from windows, that's all. Infact I can find hundrends of inconsistencies with the windows interface. Like for example to shut down your pc you need to click Start. Huh?
And if you're talking about how desktop enviroments are different, like Gnome and KDE, well, they're meant to be different! Use the one you like. There is no reason why everything should look the same. You want simplicity and ease of use? Go with Gnome. You want eye candy and many options to tweak? Go with KDE. You want fast response times(if you're on old hardware)? Go with Fluxbox or IceWM. You want super duper eye candy and fancy effects while you don't care so much on stability? Go with Enlightment.
There's something for everyone, and I think this is alot better than trying to fit all sizes in one shoe.
Steep learning curve required to understand system functions.
Oh, common! How much easier can system functions get? Is it easier on windows? If so, why? Maybe because you've spent so many years learning how to use every system function? Do the same on linux (RTFM/learn) and then come back and tell me if it was at all difficult. You see, it's different but it's not difficult. Don't expect to know-it-all on your 1st day. And don't expect to "just figure it out" without even reading a single sentence of a help file.
When you started driving, did you just took the car into town, expecting to just figure out things without trying to learn? Didn't think so. But you w
People don't switch from Windows XP to Linux because of its slick looks
They are not? Have you seen any linux desktops lately?
No need to show me your desktop. I bet it's as original as the next windows desktop.
I thought there was no such thing as a central C&C on botnets. An infected pc, can be a member of many botnets. Today a pc is doing the bidding of joe hax0r, tomorrow is doing the bidding of billy rox0r. Even if you shut down one C&C, the thousands of infected pcs, remain infected and ready to join another botnet.
The only sollution is user education.
These people need to realise that one day they will be forced to pay seperate licences. You cann't get away with it forever. And Microsoft has already started pressuring users and businesses to buy licences with the "genuine (dis?)advantage" program.
With DRM and palladium coming, I think Microsoft will be able to enforce license purchases within the next 2 years. Notice I said 'be able'-they won't do it yet, not as long as there are viable free alternatives like Linux.
So their strategy is to get as many users as possible on windows, pirated or not, and when there are only a few left on Linux, force everyone to pay. Then you'll look ofcourse for a free alternative, but it'll be too little too late.
The funny thing is, most windows users with pirated versions, think they are 'cheating' Microsoft, while infact they are playing Microsoft's game. And Microsoft treats them like criminals, like they've done something bad. The same tactic banks use. They'll give you more credit than you can afford, and when you cann't pay it back on time, they'll blame you and treat you like you've done something bad. So people usually fall into the trap, borrow more than they can afford and end up paying extraordinary fees without complaining. After all, it's their fault...isn't it?
These people need to stop thinking about short term convenience and think the long term implications of their actions.
Nowdays, Linux is very easy to use and very powerful. There really is, no excuse not to use it.
Miranda was dealing with a gpl violation 2 years ago. The infringing app was ZeeZ IM.
I did install some time back a few distros, doing full installations with both Gnome & KDE installed at the same time, and all programs seemed to work. But what would have happened if I would have only installed only one of them? Are programs not only distro dependant but also KDE/Gnome/other dependant?
They'd work but they wouldn't look "native" to your desktop. On KDE there's also a GTK-Qt theme engine which makes Gnome apps look like KDE native. I wish there was something like this for Gnome as I'm using Gnome only. I wonder why noone has done it; is it because of Qt's licence?
I've set firefox to delete cookies when it exits and I use Cookieculler to protect any cookies I want to keep, like login cookies on sites I visit often.
I don't like taking part in marketing surveys without my concent, and I don't like the idea of some company tracking my web usage.
Once you've set which cookies you want protected, everything is being taking care of, automatically. I really cann't understand people who don't take this simple step to protect their privacy.
There is a search box, it's just not so easy to find. Overall, a very good site, though it badly needs some web design improvements.
Wolfram is quite good as well. I've used it several times and found exactly what I wanted, fast. I'll be using both from now on.
Ok, I read the product description, saw the screenshots, and it looked like a really nice IDE. I know its proprietary and all, but I was eager to try it, even though since I moved to C/C++ I haven't touched VB for years. Anyway, the download finished, and I started the app.
/.ed but why do I need to retrieve a key for a demo product is beyond me. All they managed to do is annoy people who thought of trying their product.
Then all of a sudden the app reminded me why I don't like proprietary software. A window pops up asking me for a licence or key with an option to continue on the demo. I chose this one.
"Retrieving Demo key..." comes up...and I wait..."The key could not be retrieved cause the server timed out". Tried again to no avail. The software refused to start, so I happilly removed it from my disk.
the server was probably
If you didn't want us to try your demo, then why do you advertise it on slashdot?
If you did want us to try it, then why do you feel you need to fortify your demo with licence keys?
You want your demo to reach as many people as possible, and this is just not going to happen. Good luck with your bussiness model, you'll need it.
GPL doesn't restrict you. It ensures your freedom and makes sure that you will be able to receive any improvements on GPL'd code for free to do whatever you want with them, so noone will be able to deny you access to the source or deny any of your rights to use a GPL'd application.
You're missing the point. It's not just about the ID card. It's about the database(s).
...you are not allowed to drive, because a recent police cross-check on databases, revealed that you have been driving for the last 10 weekends following a certain pattern. You were always driving about 2 hours after your visit to a pub, where you had a few drinks each time. Although you had always 2 drinks and you were below the limit, statistics showed that 56% of the people who follow the certain pattern and have the health problem you have, have increased risk of causing an accident. No action is required by you, your ID card has been updated. Have a nice day.
...you are required to attend to your local police station for an interview. You have been considered as a posible threat to national security. Although we hold no evidence against you, our database cross-checks have revealed that you belong to a high risk category. You have borrowed 4 books from your local library over the last 2 weeks; 1 on politics, 1 on communism, 1 on freedom and 1 on computer networks. You are a member of Greenpeace and an activist for a group against recent goverment actions like our recent war. You are also classified as a person who has objections with authority as your school records show, an incident at your previous employment, as well as a conversation you had with a police officer last year. You associate with a person who has broken the law once (your neighboor) and he has a friend where he broke the law twice this year. None of these facts about you is explicitly unlawful, however the combination of these facts classifies you as having a 12% chance of commiting an act which would be detrimental to our national security, within the next 6 months. USA security agencies comfirm this as well. Due to our proactive policy we would like an interview with you. The outcome of our interview will determine whether you will be sent to camp delta for reeducation or not. If you do not attend your local police station within 24 hours you will be arrested. Your ID card service capabilities have been suspended until then. Have a nice day.
You'd be required to use the ID for public services, health services, to get a job, to travel, to use private sector services, like buying a book, a dvd, a newspaper, etc etc.
Now, each goverment agency will have its own database collecting relevant information about you. Private companies will also keep their own databases collecting information about you. Ok, you're gonna say, nothing new here. I already use a card for my bank, another one to drive, another one for my local library, another one for my local supermarket etc. So what's the difference?
The difference is that you'll only use *one* card. That is *one* database *key* able to be used to run queries across any databases that keep information about you. These queries can return results in seconds with almost no effort. While nowdays, to get a profile on a person you'd need too much resources and time. So they only do it for criminals and not for your average citizen. Things will change though. Combine this with statistics, a proactive policy and the export of ID data to the US and things get scary pretty quickly. Think of the unlimited possibilities for the goverment or corporations; they could built complete profiles on you. Something that is impossible today because even though you exist on many databases, they are not integrated.
For example, you receive a letter saying...
You think this is fiction? Yes, but for how long?