installing Red Hat is a much more pleasant experience than installing Windows XP.
I agree. Mind you I don't use XP, I use 98.
However, if Red fails to automatically work with, say a TV card, it can be a bit of a nightmare to get it to work. By contrast, I can be pretty certain that in Windows I will just have to stick the driver disk in and hit NEXT a few times.
This is nothing to do with the OS itself. Like a lot of other problems with Linux, it just comes down to lack of support from third parties.
Sure, everyone who has anything to do with computers knows that installing windows is never problematic and just a breeze for your below average computer users.
I have no idea how hard installing windows is for a below average user, but I do know how easy I found it. I just built a new box dual booting windows 98 and Slackware. The windows installation, and the installation of every driver indows needed, can be summed up as follows:
Next--->Next--->Next--->Finish.
By contrast, Slackware required me to (GASP) edit config files!!
Now I don't mind editing config files, but it IS far easier to click a button 4 or 5 times.
Incidently, I have never come across a piece of hardware that failed to work under win 98.
these machines sound like a solution even worse than the problem
WHAT PROBLEM ?!
Could someone, anyone, please explain what the hell is wrong with a paper ballot and a pen?
Thats the system we use for parlimentary elections in the UK, and it seems to work fine. Arguments about whether voting machines should be closed or open source miss the point. There should not be any voting machines at all.
I disagree, if Microsoft moves towards total war than an astronomical increase in windows IT costs (brought on by exploits, worms, and viruses which do real damage) could be the difference between victory and defeat.
So could you explain something to me? I have a friend who just bought a new PC. It's running windows XP. He really is'nt that interested in computers, he just bought it to surf the net and so his kids could play games. Why do you think he deserves to have his box screwed up by "exploits, worms, and viruses"?
And before you come out with the old chestnut about, "If you don't take the time to educate yourself about computers, you deserve what you get", consider this. I have another friend who's a Marine. If he bumped into you in the street and beat the living hell out of you, would that be justified becuase you never bothered to learn unarmed combat? Of course not.
Creating viruses is always wrong. Anyway, it would never work. Microsoft would just claim that OSS communitty were virus writers, willing to stoop to any level to hurt those who chose not to use OSS products. I mean, we all hate MS's shady business tactics, but at least they don't write viruses!
So in the UK it's illegal to let your friend borrow anything of yours, because that's larceny?~
No, because theft requires that the object stolen be taken without owners consent. Thats why theft is a very bad example of this point. Many crimes are only crimes if no consent is given. Others are crimes irrespective of consent.
For example, the statute on rape defines it as sexual intercourse without consent. The statute on assault makes no mention of consent, which is why you can't consent to an assault.
If there is not legal difference between what is essentially two pieces of property, would it be legal for me to draw up a contract with a client that expressly forbid them from filing a case against me if i decide to steal their car?
No, not really. At least, not in the UK (I know sod all about US law). On this side of the pond, you cannot sign away statutory rights. What this means is that if something is illegal e.g: assault, it is still a crime even if you consent to it. Or, to put it another way, it is impossible to consent to having a crime being committed against you.
There was quite a famous case involving a group of gay guys who were into BDSM. They made videos of themselves nailing one anothers foreskins to a coffee table (I'm not making this up!). The tape fell into the hands of the police, who arrested them and charged them with assault. Even_though_they_had_consented.
Although, if you wanted to contractually allow me to take your car, why not just sell me it for $2?
Slashdot Mirror
installing Red Hat is a much more pleasant experience than installing Windows XP.
I agree. Mind you I don't use XP, I use 98.
However, if Red fails to automatically work with, say a TV card, it can be a bit of a nightmare to get it to work. By contrast, I can be pretty certain that in Windows I will just have to stick the driver disk in and hit NEXT a few times.
This is nothing to do with the OS itself. Like a lot of other problems with Linux, it just comes down to lack of support from third parties.
Sure, everyone who has anything to do with computers knows that installing windows is never problematic and just a breeze for your below average computer users.
I have no idea how hard installing windows is for a below average user, but I do know how easy I found it. I just built a new box dual booting windows 98 and Slackware. The windows installation, and the installation of every driver indows needed, can be summed up as follows:
Next--->Next--->Next--->Finish.
By contrast, Slackware required me to (GASP) edit config files!!
Now I don't mind editing config files, but it IS far easier to click a button 4 or 5 times.
Incidently, I have never come across a piece of hardware that failed to work under win 98.
these machines sound like a solution even worse than the problem
WHAT PROBLEM ?! Could someone, anyone, please explain what the hell is wrong with a paper ballot and a pen?
Thats the system we use for parlimentary elections in the UK, and it seems to work fine. Arguments about whether voting machines should be closed or open source miss the point. There should not be any voting machines at all.
So, when Windows doesn't work with sound or video out of the box, it's not newbie friendly?
Disclaimer: I am running Slackware on my box as I type this. Also, when I installed it, my sound card worked perfectly without my touching anything.
Now to answer the above. To configure more or less any hardware in windows you, follow these steps.
1) Insert driver cd-rom
2) Next-Next-Next-Next-Finish.
No need to think, no need to know anything
That is what Joe Six Pack thinks of as newbie friendly.
I disagree, if Microsoft moves towards total war than an astronomical increase in windows IT costs (brought on by exploits, worms, and viruses which do real damage) could be the difference between victory and defeat.
So could you explain something to me? I have a friend who just bought a new PC. It's running windows XP. He really is'nt that interested in computers, he just bought it to surf the net and so his kids could play games. Why do you think he deserves to have his box screwed up by "exploits, worms, and viruses"?
And before you come out with the old chestnut about, "If you don't take the time to educate yourself about computers, you deserve what you get", consider this. I have another friend who's a Marine. If he bumped into you in the street and beat the living hell out of you, would that be justified becuase you never bothered to learn unarmed combat? Of course not.
Creating viruses is always wrong. Anyway, it would never work. Microsoft would just claim that OSS communitty were virus writers, willing to stoop to any level to hurt those who chose not to use OSS products. I mean, we all hate MS's shady business tactics, but at least they don't write viruses!
So in the UK it's illegal to let your friend borrow anything of yours, because that's larceny?~
No, because theft requires that the object stolen be taken without owners consent. Thats why theft is a very bad example of this point. Many crimes are only crimes if no consent is given. Others are crimes irrespective of consent.
For example, the statute on rape defines it as sexual intercourse without consent. The statute on assault makes no mention of consent, which is why you can't consent to an assault.
If there is not legal difference between what is essentially two pieces of property, would it be legal for me to draw up a contract with a client that expressly forbid them from filing a case against me if i decide to steal their car?
No, not really. At least, not in the UK (I know sod all about US law). On this side of the pond, you cannot sign away statutory rights. What this means is that if something is illegal e.g: assault, it is still a crime even if you consent to it. Or, to put it another way, it is impossible to consent to having a crime being committed against you.
There was quite a famous case involving a group of gay guys who were into BDSM. They made videos of themselves nailing one anothers foreskins to a coffee table (I'm not making this up!). The tape fell into the hands of the police, who arrested them and charged them with assault. Even_though_they_had_consented.
Although, if you wanted to contractually allow me to take your car, why not just sell me it for $2?