For me, Microsoft sucks... But by the way, it can be a pleasure to see how bad is their crap on Linux! Windows hacks wouldn't work this time, boys!
I can predict right now what's goign to happen.
Microsoft Ports Office to linux.
It runs like shit. Microsoft says "Well, if you were using windows, you wouldn't have this problem. After all, it's obviously the Operating System, as Office runs fine under Windows". Or they'll play the "Linux fragmentation" game or whatnot.
Either that, or I could easily see them just starting a port just for the benefit of their current problems with the US government, and scrapping it as soon as the case is over.
Microsoft is not known for doing things "for the betterment" of anyone other than themselves. Currently, the desktop, or office environment, isn't threatened by Linux, the network market is. Why in the hell would they bother? You would think they would slam things like Apache and Sendmail, trying to find replacements for those.
Before you go flaming Al Gore, know the facts. Mr. Gore, as a senator is largely responsible for the commercial Internet we have today. As I recell, he was the Net's chief supporter in congress, actually helped move the closed research oritented internet to the Internet we know today. Granted, he did not "create" the Internet, but, of any presidential candidate, he is the most Internet friendly.
Hell, I'd rather have the overcommercialized internet that we had 5 years ago than have the ID tracking, unsecure bullshit we call the internet today, loaded up with it's proprietary html formats and wonderful "active-everything" crap, and eveyrone and their mother owning a.com domain.
And that's becasue I've only been a 'net junkie for 5 years or so, before that a BBS operator. I imagine more hardened i-net veterans would want it even earlier than that. Today's internet is over-promoted and over-hyped.
Do not give in to the urge to purchase action figures of myself and the apostles. For, I am not getting any royalties, and my lawyer is calling them tomorrow!
This would be much more fitting as your webpage.:)
No way! I love that game. I spend more time than I care to admit, "sinning".:)
Oh yeah, I break the laws and commandments of your god on a daily basis.
Among the many slogans that we need to remember for a healthy, happy life.
How about "do unto others, as you would have done unto you?", you know, the one good phrase in the bible that many christians just don't seem to get. After all, how would you like it if I posted something like "Satan Saves: Molest a Small Child today" on slashdot?
Gee, and I thought TWAIN was a software interface, á la SANE... gotta check my "Scanners for Dummies" book!
TWAIN (afaik) is an interface from the program to the driver. The driver is still needed for the hardware interface, at least in the windows world.
-Erik-
Repost, so I'll repost
on
RMS vs. ESR
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· Score: 1
The reason I think Raymod makes a better spokesman for OSS, is that he is far less arogant, obnoxious and fanatic than Stallman. Stallman tends to drive people away from himself.
You're still way too intended on seeing this as a black and white issue. It's not, and the reason that there is so much argument around it is that it's a giant gray area, the goals of the FSF and OSS have a lot of overlaps.
Method vs. Implementation. Astute realism vs. idealism. That's all that it really comes down to. I tend to honor stallman's attitude - he let's me know where he stands. Raymond, while he is good at talking to the suits, he's very evasive - almost like a politician. Not to mention his group seems spends more time slamming, excluding, and essentially trying to "write out" the FSF than actually accomplishing their goal, which is to advocate the perks of open source, not have a pissing match with a guy who's been doing it for a good 20 years longer than they have.
Stallman has his moments - I've really been meaning to write to him about the "linus is getting more attention than me" article, which I thought was utter crap. But in most senses, he has a very valid, if idealistic, point. And I think we could all learn some valuable moral lessons from him. I mean, how many of these figureheads can you say you KNOW are HONEST? I can think of stallman, but no one else makes such a large effort to prove their sincerity, even if it comes to ranting and raving like a stubborn brat at times.
I learned a valuable lesson in my childhood: "honor your elders, and you will prosper". RMS is our "elder" of free software. Honor him, and actually consider what he has to say before pushing him off as unrealistic, and you will prosper, even if you don't agree with him.
-Erik-
Repost, so I'll repost
on
RMS vs. ESR
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· Score: 1
GCC is a horrible compiler. It's development is slow, it lacks optimizations for the pentium chip, let alone the ppro, p2, or k6. To paraphrase Strustrep, it's c++ compiler isn't really a c++ compiler. It was only when pragmatists at cygnus started the egcs project that free software had a decent modern compiler with patches for the optimizations I mentioned before, and a competant c++ implementation.
No one was commenting on the efficiency of hte compiler itself, only that it's free.
You can write something that compiles on GCC and be pretty rest-assured that it's going to compile on anything else. That's because *IT'S FREE*. Try that with HP's cc, borland C, or MS C.
Also, it should be noted that stallman hasn't been able to program since the early 90's, before things like C++ were catching on and well before a Pentium was even on paper. Stallman was 90% of gcc.
Frankly, this shouldn't be a ESR vs. RMS battle. I honor RMS more for his achievments, but I honor ESR more for being able to talk to both sides (hackers and suits) equally.
It's HACKERS VS. SUITS folks, not OSS vs FSF. Frankly it'd be nice if the media wouldn't keep blowing this out of proportion, especially places like O'Reilly which have their obvious beefs with Stallman. I'm so glad I don't fund them anymore.
"The goals are the same, the implementation is different"
-Erik-
Freedom vs Usablility (read: Human Nature)
on
Wired on RMS
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· Score: 1
RMS in some ways needs to get a life. Just saying its a Freedom/Liberties issue is not going to win the day. For those of us in the *REAL WORLD* we have things we have to get done. Applications that need to be written etc. And while I would rather use free software to do it, I will use whatever I need to to get the job done.
A lot of you guys just don't get it. This isn't a Idealism vs. Realism issue, this is a simple, unadulterated human nature issue.
Some people are in it for the money. Some, are in it for the fame. Some are in it for the morality. Some are in it for the experiece. I'm sure that if I thought about it I could find a BILLION other reasons that seperate people are involved in using, writing, and advocating free software.
I think people should really stop looking at RMS as a person. RMS is not a person in a lot of ways. He's honest, he's still interested in contributing to a goal where he's been spit on, laughed at, ignored, and detested, among other thigns.
No self respecting human being would ever do that. They just don't have the balls, tolerance, or patience to do such a thing. And the funny thing is, is that 90% of you don't even notice it.
RMS should be to Free Software what John Carmack is to 3d gaming. Simple. But that's not how it happens. John Carmack is loaded, RMS is not interested in money. John Carmack goes to macworld, acts like an asshole and cuts down the mac vigorously in front of them, and he gets applauded, whereas if RMS went to COMDEX and did the same thing, you wouldn't be hearing good things about it.
Just being free will not convince people to use things. Being better AND free will. But you have to have a better product first.
Remember that when you type "make", "gcc", "bash", "gas", "gdb", "emacs", "cp", "mv", "ls", "less".... Do I really need to say anything more?
I have to agree - sure, Linux is stable. I'm a recent convert, and I'm impressed what one installation of S.u.S.E. 5.3 could teach me. But I don't think Linux is EASIER yet than Windows 95/98. However, I expect that the attention of "The Suits" is only going to stimulate the development of more usability.
"Easier" is a very relative term. After all, do you mean "easy to use", or "easy to manage", "easy to install", etc... There are multiple facets of "easy".
Easy to use, Linux already has that if the machine is already setup. My mother could use WindowMaker and the GIMP just fine, but I'm not about to expect her to compile either of them, or even use a packing format with binaries.
What we need are easier methods of maintainment - the equivalent of an "installshield" or "active setup" in the winblows world. Packaging methods don't solve this problem, hell, in a lot of ways they're just a glorified ZIP file, which, hell, my mother can't even figure those out.
And I ask "what can I use this gnome thing for? I really wanna have something, cuz my son's scout troop's getting this whole event going on, lotsa rope tying and tent-pitching and stuff and we need some flyers to print out with some pictures. i just got this scanner thingamabob and this color inkjet printer, boy did that set me back. haven't got 'em out of the box yet, so can i just plug 'em in and drag some pictures around and make some flyers? oh yeah if i could mail 'em to some buddies on AOL that would be big, or maybe i should put 'em on that webspace that our internet hookup gives us. is there a program that'll lemme do that?"
Well, a lot of this depends on the hardware you're using. I don't believe that Linux has heavy support for TWAIN (the protocol used for scanners, digital cameras, etc), nor many of these devices at the driver level are supported. Best bet would be to write the creator of your hardware and demand a set of Linux drivers, then work on getting the TWAIN support you need, with a program, not unlike a situation in windows.
The printer, that all depends on what printer you have. If you have an HP, chances are it'll work. If you have a "windows printer" or a printer that uses the "Windows Printing System", you might as well take it back and buy a real printer, because it's probably not going to work even if (ahem... canon) they wanted to write a Linux driver for it.
The fact is, every single arguement here has to do with vendor support and not the programs. There are multiple programs out there that provide the various support needed for thsi stuff, and just like any piece of specialty free software, you hunt for it or you write it yourself.
AOL could write a client for Linux, no one is stopping them.
And yes, I imagine Joe Sixpack has a telephone and a voice, that he can use to call his hardware vendors.
Please don't fill me with your FUD, and spend less time concentrating on the negative and get out there and spread what GNOME can *DO*, instead of what it can't.
Note: I think that those people out there expending their energy to cut down Linux to it's knees, should start spending their time enhancing the effort instead of waiting for something to happen. Advocation, Documentation, Meetings, these are all things that can easily be accomplished by "Joe Sixpack". Either that, or they should go back to NT and forget Linux alltogether, as all of us would benefit greatly without you. You're no better than the OS/2, MacOS, or a lot of the FreeBSD people, the true "Anything but Micro$oft" anal-retentives.
It consists of a panel at the bottom of the screen with several icons/little menus and some buttons for different desktops, and you can put stuff like a load meter or a biff there. It's ugly, but there you have it. MS prolly ripped it off if anything for their taskbar thing w/menus, buttons (for applications) and little icons. CDE is reasonably wm-independent AFAIK (i've only used it w/mwm, suck).
CDE can be real beautiful if it's setup right. I've never done it myself, as I don't have the cash for Motif, CDE, or a nice HP machine to play with, but I have seen professor's setups with it and it can do some really neat stuff if it's configured properly.
I'm itching to try GNOME now, I never got the CVS or the release sources to build on my slackware machine, the only real distro . Hopefully these compile issues have been fixed, really. I've been itching to try it but tearing apart makefiles and source for something that I might not even like is not something I'm interested in.
Kudos to GNOME, the developers, and all their hard work. Hopefully this will be another smack in the face to the home of my future terrorist actions, Redmond, WA.:)
KDE may not run but Opera definitely will... it kicks ass on a 486... even in Win95.
That's the dman truth, we had Opera running on a 486/25 w/ 8mb RAM under 95, and manipulating the OS was slower than actually operating the browser.... But... heh, that's not much of a surprise.:)
Personally, never liked the FF series that much; my speed is more Daggerfall, Ultima Online, Civilization, etc... where in the first, you have absolutely no obligation to follow the storyline, and the game can still be just as entertaining, in the second, there is no set storyline, or in the third, you can happily ignore everyone else (except for the occasional border defense), and do whatever the hell you wanna do with the game for a couple of centuries.
There's something very distinct that every one of these games lacks, and does a damn good job of lacking at - plot.
I like playing these games, but they only get so entertaining.... I have a friend who has a score of over 800% (and he has a copy of the save for anyone who disputes it) in Civ II, just because, well, it's a multiplayer version of Civ I with a few more toys and some live action video. The game NEVER changes, the same goes with daggerfall.. I've seen more plot in a Burt I. Gordon movie (watch MST3k if you don't know what i'm talking about).
And just *DON'T* get me started on UO. I am not the slightest bit interested in getting winnuked because I played the game better than some shithead 14 year old 3133+ hax0r d00d.
While the FF series can get old in it's "leading by the nose" philosophy, at least there is something to follow and a sense of completion to the game. IMO, FF 5 Japanese is the only one that does a good job of bringing the "Role" in Role Playing.
But when it comes down to it, Civ, the entire Ultima series, Master Of Orion, (which IMHO is the best of all three) etc, are just glorified versions of solitaire or minesweeper, they only evolve in thier own environment, incapable of changing the mechanics or direction of the game at at all, hence, lacking plot, and getting old.
PNG is just -starting- to creep into mainstream use. And I believe its at least a year old now.
PNG has been out for YEARS. The author of the old DOS image viewer QPEG created it.... 5... 6 years ago? It's just you haven't seen it because it was made to kill GIF, something that just wasn't going to happen in the large BBS scene and the 40 billion GIF viewers that were out there.
Only when compu$erve decided that it was going to be a cock about it's proprietary image formats (at least AOL has been stringent from the beginning) did people start considering PNG.
-Erik-
Not our fault you have shitty bandwidth
on
Mr. T vs. Halflife
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· Score: 1
I suppose for you NT-using, Katz-reading, Furby-buying, cigarette-smoking, superbowl-watching morons, it makes for some pretty good entertainment!
Yeah, it doesn't appeal to the uptight, church-going, bible-thumping, humorless, prude, and anal retentive pointy haired bosses.
Generalization is not a very admirable thing to do. So go back to your 1.5 ton truck, grab your banjo, play, and leave slashdot alone, ok?
I don't take being called an NT user, or a superbowl watcher for that matter, very kindly:)
If you like High Speed CDROMS, Large Hard Drives, and Powerful Graphics Cards, you dont thank Microsoft. Think of the TWO larest sectors of software for home use. Video Games and Adult Material. Imagine, Virtual Valerie or Leasure suite Larry in CGA! Mr Bill had nothing to do with that!
IIRC Leisure Suit Larry (#1) was a CGA or EGA game, I really don't recall anymore. I got a newer updated VGA version of it later, it's still IMHO the best thing Sierra ever produced (with Gabriel Knight and the Quest For Glory series following in a close second).
That's right. I remember running LSL 2 on a hercules monochrome card, off of floppy disk on an 8088 under PC-DOS 3.3 (it was an old machine at the time heh):) Hmm.... I wonder where those are..:)
But first I need to fill my starflight addiction. That game is just too frickin big, been playing it off and on for nearly 10 years and never beat it, too much fun just crusing around in the ship exploring solar systems heh.
This is the australian OLGA, good site. Not very large, but it has a tab request forum. I've been playing bass a lot lately and found this to be an invaluable resource for many of those more complex bass tunes out there.
Am I the only one who really wishes they'd re-think this "multi-player only" strategy, and release a single-player set of levels with it?
No way, I think id has figured it out this time. They have never made a single player game that is halfway enjoyable, at least after Wolfenstein 3d. DOOM/DOOM II/QUAKE/QUAKE II are all the same, run to the end of hte level, shoot guys on your way. These games only have everlasting play value via multiplayer.
Now, Half Life is the exact opposite, great single player, but multiplayer sucks the hardest chicken.
Personally I want a sin port *NOW*:) Get with it ritual.
But seriously, I think we need to be careful about this refunds issue. Linux is hard enough to configure (the install can go easily but I spent 2 allnighters getting PPP configured) that many, many people will only be able to use it if it comes pre-installed on a machine. Even Jon Katz recognizes this.
Does anybody know a good site where there is intelligent discourse about news articles and editorials without resorting to name calling or childish elitism? A site where someone can express there opinion without being called an "idiot" or a "loser" and people make a contructive critiscisms? where if you make a mistake, people will point it out to you, not shove it in your face with a flamethrower followed by a barrage of insults? i can't seem to find one....
So, please try your best to explain what choices are being suppressed by your lack of getting a refund? I don't think the refund has anything to do with choice; it reeks of mob rules from a group of people who are used to everything being free of charge.
Here we go with another car analogy... (Screen fades like a pool of water and whooping sound ensues..)
Ok. You just bought a ford from the dealership. Ford's, they run basically on Unleaded Gasoline. Some of them are nice cars, some of them suck rocks.
But, Ford Motor Co. uses dealerships to sell their stock.
Now, imagine going into a Ford Dealership and finding out that you have to purchase this special attachment to your gas tank to use FORD brand gas, and there's no way to get out of it, unless you want to buy a different car. And, it is common knowledge that most cars run better on unleaded gas than on FORD brand gas.
But, there are only Ford Gas Stations around. So, if you buy a chevy, honda, diahatsu (sp) or whatever, you might as well start storing your gasoline in your tank, because you sure as hell aren't going to find it outside of specialty areas.
Hopefully this made the point. This has little or nothing to do with Linux, Be, OS/2, or whatever, it has to do with the fact that people would like the choice that they deserve. Windows (or the FORD gas adapter, with the gas being binaries/whatnot) is the only thing that's keeping itself in business. There are no technological advantages to using windows, nor are there really any "ease of use" issues that are truthfully prevalent in windows that do not exist anywhere else.
Other operating systems have installers. I'd say a good 90% of Windows being a force period in the market has to do with 3 things:
1) Monopolistic Power (ie, bundling with PC's) 2) Binary Compatibility 3) Name (that of being the only one that most people know)
When people see, hear, and speak about a subject, when they only know one answer or topic of discussion, the actual discussion of hte topic itself is moot because there is nothing to discuss. Hence if there is only Windows, there is only Windows to discuss and alternatives are ignored due to the fact of ignorance.
I think you are missing the point to why 99.999% of the people buy computers. It isn't to spend countless sleepless hours tweaking/etc files or poring through video card and monitor docs to make sure settings will work under X Windoze. It isn't because they want to make sure they are using kernel version 2.0.2.1.3.44.5.2.3.44.5... by recompiling their kernel every other day. It isn't to use vi/emacs/gcc/gdb to write their own check balancing program from scratch in C because current offerings have some obscure bug that can't be fixed because the former developers got bored with the project. It isn't because they want to go out and learn obscure markup commands in LaTeX to help their kids write a report for school or update their resume.
Hrm.
I got one question.
What in the hell does this entire message have to do with Free Choice, or paying for something that you didn't ask for?
Frankly I could give a shit if you like NT more or not, although I would question your choice in forums to discuss such a thing.
I read halfway through this thing and thought to myself: "Wow, this article is way too long.. It's almost like Mr. Petreley is trying to convince us of what he doesn't believe himself."
I'm not a Red Hat user (GO SLACKWARE!), but I think they've done some good things, and hell, people seem to forget that Red Hat is in the business of making money.
Slashdot Mirror
For me, Microsoft sucks... But by the way, it can
be a pleasure to see how bad is their crap on Linux! Windows hacks wouldn't work this time, boys!
I can predict right now what's goign to happen.
Microsoft Ports Office to linux.
It runs like shit. Microsoft says "Well, if you were using windows, you wouldn't have this problem. After all, it's obviously the Operating System, as Office runs fine under Windows". Or they'll play the "Linux fragmentation" game or whatnot.
Either that, or I could easily see them just starting a port just for the benefit of their current problems with the US government, and scrapping it as soon as the case is over.
Microsoft is not known for doing things "for the betterment" of anyone other than themselves. Currently, the desktop, or office environment, isn't threatened by Linux, the network market is. Why in the hell would they bother? You would think they would slam things like Apache and Sendmail, trying to find replacements for those.
-Erik- (the ever-pessimistic)
Before you go flaming Al Gore, know the facts. Mr. Gore, as a senator is largely responsible for the commercial Internet we have today. As I recell, he was the Net's chief supporter in congress, actually helped move the closed research oritented internet to the Internet we know today. Granted, he did not "create" the Internet, but, of any presidential candidate, he is the most Internet friendly.
.com domain.
Hell, I'd rather have the overcommercialized internet that we had 5 years ago than have the ID tracking, unsecure bullshit we call the internet today, loaded up with it's proprietary html formats and wonderful "active-everything" crap, and eveyrone and their mother owning a
And that's becasue I've only been a 'net junkie for 5 years or so, before that a BBS operator. I imagine more hardened i-net veterans would want it even earlier than that. Today's internet is over-promoted and over-hyped.
-Erik-
Maybe a ./ aid fund would be appropiate or perhaps a list of casualties and their configurations...?
:)
Well, considering the answer to this is normally a change of OS and software... And the answer software wise is normally a free one....
The fund could just consist of a simple FTP site directing victims to various Linux distribution sites..
-Erik-
Do not give in to the urge to purchase action figures of myself and the apostles. For, I am not getting any royalties, and my lawyer is calling them tomorrow!
:)
This would be much more fitting as your webpage.
-Erik-
Linux Rox
:)
:)
Windows Sux
Sin is Stupid
No way! I love that game. I spend more time than I care to admit, "sinning".
Oh yeah, I break the laws and commandments of your god on a daily basis.
Among the many slogans that we need to remember for a healthy, happy life.
How about "do unto others, as you would have done unto you?", you know, the one good phrase in the bible that many christians just don't seem to get. After all, how would you like it if I posted something like "Satan Saves: Molest a Small Child today" on slashdot?
You'd be outraged, right?
The door swings both ways...
-Erik-
Gee, and I thought TWAIN was a software interface, á la SANE... gotta check my "Scanners for Dummies" book!
TWAIN (afaik) is an interface from the program to the driver. The driver is still needed for the hardware interface, at least in the windows world.
-Erik-
The reason I think Raymod makes a better spokesman for OSS, is that he is far less arogant, obnoxious and fanatic than Stallman. Stallman tends to drive people away from himself.
You're still way too intended on seeing this as a black and white issue. It's not, and the reason that there is so much argument around it is that it's a giant gray area, the goals of the FSF and OSS have a lot of overlaps.
Method vs. Implementation. Astute realism vs. idealism. That's all that it really comes down to. I tend to honor stallman's attitude - he let's me know where he stands. Raymond, while he is good at talking to the suits, he's very evasive - almost like a politician. Not to mention his group seems spends more time slamming, excluding, and essentially trying to "write out" the FSF than actually accomplishing their goal, which is to advocate the perks of open source, not have a pissing match with a guy who's been doing it for a good 20 years longer than they have.
Stallman has his moments - I've really been meaning to write to him about the "linus is getting more attention than me" article, which I thought was utter crap. But in most senses, he has a very valid, if idealistic, point. And I think we could all learn some valuable moral lessons from him. I mean, how many of these figureheads can you say you KNOW are HONEST? I can think of stallman, but no one else makes such a large effort to prove their sincerity, even if it comes to ranting and raving like a stubborn brat at times.
I learned a valuable lesson in my childhood: "honor your elders, and you will prosper". RMS is our "elder" of free software. Honor him, and actually consider what he has to say before pushing him off as unrealistic, and you will prosper, even if you don't agree with him.
-Erik-
GCC is a horrible compiler. It's development is slow, it lacks optimizations for the pentium chip, let alone the ppro, p2, or k6. To paraphrase Strustrep, it's c++ compiler isn't really a c++ compiler. It was only when pragmatists at cygnus started the egcs project that free software had a decent modern compiler with patches for the optimizations I mentioned before, and a competant c++ implementation.
No one was commenting on the efficiency of hte compiler itself, only that it's free.
You can write something that compiles on GCC and be pretty rest-assured that it's going to compile on anything else. That's because *IT'S FREE*. Try that with HP's cc, borland C, or MS C.
Also, it should be noted that stallman hasn't been able to program since the early 90's, before things like C++ were catching on and well before a Pentium was even on paper. Stallman was 90% of gcc.
Frankly, this shouldn't be a ESR vs. RMS battle. I honor RMS more for his achievments, but I honor ESR more for being able to talk to both sides (hackers and suits) equally.
It's HACKERS VS. SUITS folks, not OSS vs FSF. Frankly it'd be nice if the media wouldn't keep blowing this out of proportion, especially places like O'Reilly which have their obvious beefs with Stallman. I'm so glad I don't fund them anymore.
"The goals are the same, the implementation is different"
-Erik-
RMS in some ways needs to get a life. Just saying its a Freedom/Liberties issue is not going to win the day. For those of us in the *REAL WORLD* we have things we have to get done. Applications that need to be written etc. And while I would rather use free software to do it, I will use whatever I need to to get the job done.
A lot of you guys just don't get it. This isn't a Idealism vs. Realism issue, this is a simple, unadulterated human nature issue.
Some people are in it for the money. Some, are in it for the fame. Some are in it for the morality. Some are in it for the experiece. I'm sure that if I thought about it I could find a BILLION other reasons that seperate people are involved in using, writing, and advocating free software.
I think people should really stop looking at RMS as a person. RMS is not a person in a lot of ways. He's honest, he's still interested in contributing to a goal where he's been spit on, laughed at, ignored, and detested, among other thigns.
No self respecting human being would ever do that. They just don't have the balls, tolerance, or patience to do such a thing. And the funny thing is, is that 90% of you don't even notice it.
RMS should be to Free Software what John Carmack is to 3d gaming. Simple. But that's not how it happens. John Carmack is loaded, RMS is not interested in money. John Carmack goes to macworld, acts like an asshole and cuts down the mac vigorously in front of them, and he gets applauded, whereas if RMS went to COMDEX and did the same thing, you wouldn't be hearing good things about it.
Just being free will not convince people to use things. Being better AND free will. But you have to have a better product first.
Remember that when you type "make", "gcc", "bash", "gas", "gdb", "emacs", "cp", "mv", "ls", "less".... Do I really need to say anything more?
-Erik-
I have to agree - sure, Linux is stable. I'm a recent convert, and I'm impressed what one installation of S.u.S.E. 5.3 could teach me. But I don't think Linux is EASIER yet than Windows 95/98. However, I expect that the attention of "The Suits" is only going to stimulate the development of more usability.
:)
"Easier" is a very relative term. After all, do you mean "easy to use", or "easy to manage", "easy to install", etc... There are multiple facets of "easy".
Easy to use, Linux already has that if the machine is already setup. My mother could use WindowMaker and the GIMP just fine, but I'm not about to expect her to compile either of them, or even use a packing format with binaries.
What we need are easier methods of maintainment - the equivalent of an "installshield" or "active setup" in the winblows world. Packaging methods don't solve this problem, hell, in a lot of ways they're just a glorified ZIP file, which, hell, my mother can't even figure those out.
Definately something to think about.
-Erik-
And I ask "what can I use this gnome thing for? I really wanna have something, cuz my son's scout troop's getting this whole event going on, lotsa rope tying and tent-pitching and stuff and we need some flyers to print out with some pictures. i just got this scanner thingamabob and this color inkjet printer, boy did that set me back. haven't got 'em out of the box yet, so can i just plug 'em in and drag some pictures around and make some flyers? oh yeah if i could mail 'em to some buddies on AOL that would be big, or maybe i should put 'em on that webspace that our internet hookup gives us. is there a program that'll lemme do that?"
Well, a lot of this depends on the hardware you're using. I don't believe that Linux has heavy support for TWAIN (the protocol used for scanners, digital cameras, etc), nor many of these devices at the driver level are supported. Best bet would be to write the creator of your hardware and demand a set of Linux drivers, then work on getting the TWAIN support you need, with a program, not unlike a situation in windows.
The printer, that all depends on what printer you have. If you have an HP, chances are it'll work. If you have a "windows printer" or a printer that uses the "Windows Printing System", you might as well take it back and buy a real printer, because it's probably not going to work even if (ahem... canon) they wanted to write a Linux driver for it.
The fact is, every single arguement here has to do with vendor support and not the programs. There are multiple programs out there that provide the various support needed for thsi stuff, and just like any piece of specialty free software, you hunt for it or you write it yourself.
AOL could write a client for Linux, no one is stopping them.
And yes, I imagine Joe Sixpack has a telephone and a voice, that he can use to call his hardware vendors.
Please don't fill me with your FUD, and spend less time concentrating on the negative and get out there and spread what GNOME can *DO*, instead of what it can't.
Note: I think that those people out there expending their energy to cut down Linux to it's knees, should start spending their time enhancing the effort instead of waiting for something to happen. Advocation, Documentation, Meetings, these are all things that can easily be accomplished by "Joe Sixpack". Either that, or they should go back to NT and forget Linux alltogether, as all of us would benefit greatly without you. You're no better than the OS/2, MacOS, or a lot of the FreeBSD people, the true "Anything but Micro$oft" anal-retentives.
-Erik "I need some über chronic buds" Hollensbe-
It consists of a panel at the bottom of the screen with several icons/little menus and some buttons for different desktops, and you can put stuff like a load meter or a biff there. It's ugly, but there you have it. MS prolly ripped it off if anything for their taskbar thing w/menus, buttons (for applications) and little icons. CDE is reasonably wm-independent AFAIK (i've only used it w/mwm, suck).
:)
CDE can be real beautiful if it's setup right. I've never done it myself, as I don't have the cash for Motif, CDE, or a nice HP machine to play with, but I have seen professor's setups with it and it can do some really neat stuff if it's configured properly.
I'm itching to try GNOME now, I never got the CVS or the release sources to build on my slackware machine, the only real distro . Hopefully these compile issues have been fixed, really. I've been itching to try it but tearing apart makefiles and source for something that I might not even like is not something I'm interested in.
Kudos to GNOME, the developers, and all their hard work. Hopefully this will be another smack in the face to the home of my future terrorist actions, Redmond, WA.
-Erik-
KDE may not run but Opera definitely will... it kicks ass on a 486... even in Win95.
:)
That's the dman truth, we had Opera running on a 486/25 w/ 8mb RAM under 95, and manipulating the OS was slower than actually operating the browser.... But... heh, that's not much of a surprise.
-Erik-
Personally, never liked the FF series that much; my speed is more Daggerfall, Ultima Online, Civilization, etc... where in the first, you have absolutely no obligation to follow the storyline, and the game can still be just as entertaining, in the second, there is no set storyline, or in the third, you can happily ignore everyone else (except for the occasional border defense), and do whatever the hell you wanna do with the game for a couple of centuries.
There's something very distinct that every one of these games lacks, and does a damn good job of lacking at - plot.
I like playing these games, but they only get so entertaining.... I have a friend who has a score of over 800% (and he has a copy of the save for anyone who disputes it) in Civ II, just because, well, it's a multiplayer version of Civ I with a few more toys and some live action video. The game NEVER changes, the same goes with daggerfall.. I've seen more plot in a Burt I. Gordon movie (watch MST3k if you don't know what i'm talking about).
And just *DON'T* get me started on UO. I am not the slightest bit interested in getting winnuked because I played the game better than some shithead 14 year old 3133+ hax0r d00d.
While the FF series can get old in it's "leading by the nose" philosophy, at least there is something to follow and a sense of completion to the game. IMO, FF 5 Japanese is the only one that does a good job of bringing the "Role" in Role Playing.
But when it comes down to it, Civ, the entire Ultima series, Master Of Orion, (which IMHO is the best of all three) etc, are just glorified versions of solitaire or minesweeper, they only evolve in thier own environment, incapable of changing the mechanics or direction of the game at at all, hence, lacking plot, and getting old.
-Erik-
PNG is just -starting- to creep into mainstream use. And I believe its at least a year old now.
PNG has been out for YEARS. The author of the old DOS image viewer QPEG created it.... 5... 6 years ago? It's just you haven't seen it because it was made to kill GIF, something that just wasn't going to happen in the large BBS scene and the 40 billion GIF viewers that were out there.
Only when compu$erve decided that it was going to be a cock about it's proprietary image formats (at least AOL has been stringent from the beginning) did people start considering PNG.
-Erik-
I suppose for you NT-using, Katz-reading, Furby-buying, cigarette-smoking, superbowl-watching morons, it makes for some pretty good entertainment!
:)
Yeah, it doesn't appeal to the uptight, church-going, bible-thumping, humorless, prude, and anal retentive pointy haired bosses.
Generalization is not a very admirable thing to do. So go back to your 1.5 ton truck, grab your banjo, play, and leave slashdot alone, ok?
I don't take being called an NT user, or a superbowl watcher for that matter, very kindly
-Erik-
Read this guy's backlog of posts, he's just a troll. Please one of you moderators out there, get rid of this guy.
-Erik-
If you like High Speed CDROMS, Large Hard Drives, and Powerful Graphics Cards, you dont thank Microsoft. Think of the TWO larest sectors of software for home use. Video Games and Adult Material. Imagine, Virtual Valerie or Leasure suite Larry in CGA! Mr Bill had nothing to do with that!
:) Hmm.... I wonder where those are.. :)
IIRC Leisure Suit Larry (#1) was a CGA or EGA game, I really don't recall anymore. I got a newer updated VGA version of it later, it's still IMHO the best thing Sierra ever produced (with Gabriel Knight and the Quest For Glory series following in a close second).
That's right. I remember running LSL 2 on a hercules monochrome card, off of floppy disk on an 8088 under PC-DOS 3.3 (it was an old machine at the time heh)
But first I need to fill my starflight addiction. That game is just too frickin big, been playing it off and on for nearly 10 years and never beat it, too much fun just crusing around in the ship exploring solar systems heh.
-Erik-
http://www.smallbusiness.net.au/~wynwood/
This is the australian OLGA, good site. Not very large, but it has a tab request forum. I've been playing bass a lot lately and found this to be an invaluable resource for many of those more complex bass tunes out there.
-Erik-
Am I the only one who really wishes they'd
:) Get with it ritual.
re-think this "multi-player only" strategy,
and release a single-player set of levels with it?
No way, I think id has figured it out this time. They have never made a single player game that is halfway enjoyable, at least after Wolfenstein 3d. DOOM/DOOM II/QUAKE/QUAKE II are all the same, run to the end of hte level, shoot guys on your way. These games only have everlasting play value via multiplayer.
Now, Half Life is the exact opposite, great single player, but multiplayer sucks the hardest chicken.
Personally I want a sin port *NOW*
-Erik-
But seriously, I think we need to be careful about this refunds issue. Linux is hard enough to configure (the install can go easily but I spent 2 allnighters getting PPP configured) that many, many people will only be able to use it if it comes pre-installed on a machine. Even Jon Katz recognizes this.
Pre-installation isn't the issue. It's choice.
Does anybody know a good site where there is intelligent discourse about news articles and editorials without resorting to name calling or childish elitism? A site where someone can express there opinion without being called an "idiot" or a "loser" and people make a contructive critiscisms? where if you make a mistake, people will point it out to you, not shove it in your face with a flamethrower followed by a barrage of insults? i can't seem to find one....
:)
Yeah they still exist. They called BBS's.
-Erik-
So, please try your best to explain what choices are being suppressed by your lack of getting a refund? I don't think the refund has anything to do with choice; it reeks of mob rules from a group of people who are used to everything being free of charge.
Here we go with another car analogy... (Screen fades like a pool of water and whooping sound ensues..)
Ok. You just bought a ford from the dealership. Ford's, they run basically on Unleaded Gasoline. Some of them are nice cars, some of them suck rocks.
But, Ford Motor Co. uses dealerships to sell their stock.
Now, imagine going into a Ford Dealership and finding out that you have to purchase this special attachment to your gas tank to use FORD brand gas, and there's no way to get out of it, unless you want to buy a different car. And, it is common knowledge that most cars run better on unleaded gas than on FORD brand gas.
But, there are only Ford Gas Stations around. So, if you buy a chevy, honda, diahatsu (sp) or whatever, you might as well start storing your gasoline in your tank, because you sure as hell aren't going to find it outside of specialty areas.
Hopefully this made the point. This has little or nothing to do with Linux, Be, OS/2, or whatever, it has to do with the fact that people would like the choice that they deserve. Windows (or the FORD gas adapter, with the gas being binaries/whatnot) is the only thing that's keeping itself in business. There are no technological advantages to using windows, nor are there really any "ease of use" issues that are truthfully prevalent in windows that do not exist anywhere else.
Other operating systems have installers. I'd say a good 90% of Windows being a force period in the market has to do with 3 things:
1) Monopolistic Power (ie, bundling with PC's)
2) Binary Compatibility
3) Name (that of being the only one that most people know)
When people see, hear, and speak about a subject, when they only know one answer or topic of discussion, the actual discussion of hte topic itself is moot because there is nothing to discuss. Hence if there is only Windows, there is only Windows to discuss and alternatives are ignored due to the fact of ignorance.
-Erik-
I think you are missing the point to why 99.999% of the people buy computers. It isn't to spend countless sleepless hours tweaking /etc files or poring through video card and monitor docs to make sure settings will work under X Windoze. It isn't because they want to make sure they are using kernel version 2.0.2.1.3.44.5.2.3.44.5... by recompiling their kernel every other day. It isn't to use vi/emacs/gcc/gdb to write their own check balancing program from scratch in C because current offerings have some obscure bug that can't be fixed because the former developers got bored with the project. It isn't because they want to go out and learn obscure markup commands in LaTeX to help their kids write a report for school or update their resume.
Hrm.
I got one question.
What in the hell does this entire message have to do with Free Choice, or paying for something that you didn't ask for?
Frankly I could give a shit if you like NT more or not, although I would question your choice in forums to discuss such a thing.
-Erik-
I read halfway through this thing and thought to myself: "Wow, this article is way too long.. It's almost like Mr. Petreley is trying to convince us of what he doesn't believe himself."
I'm not a Red Hat user (GO SLACKWARE!), but I think they've done some good things, and hell, people seem to forget that Red Hat is in the business of making money.
-Erik-