I'm sorry, but it is going to be a very long time before Linux makes it to retail stores in any large numbers. It just is not as easy to use as Windows. Slashdotters seem to forget that not everyone is a computer guru. I work in a tech support call center for ACT!, and let me tell you, 90% of people I talk to don't know jack about their computers...and throwing in things like roots, shells, and crappy application installs are only going to confuse them more.
You want to see Linux go the the big time? Make it easy to use. Don't give the user a choice between KDE and Gnome. Don't even let them see the packages to install...the names will confuse them. Make applications easy to install...maybe even make them install dependecies automatically. Never mention anything about a root account...the end user doesn't need to know. Basically, let them drive the car without explaining how it all works.
Because Linux, my friends, is not intuitive enough for the everyday user. I'm not saying it's not a great OS, it just takes more technical smarts to know how to use than Windoze or OS X.
Seriously though, the hurricane bearing down on New Orleans right now should give folks something to think about with respect to global warming.
Yeah, because there's never been hurricanes in that area before right...oh wait, what about Hurricane Besty in 1965 that pummeled New Orleans? Oh yeah!
You can only play the same song twice in a row if the algorithm reshuffles the songlist after every song played.
I believe TFA said that he noticed that the same song was on the list twice, so obviously he could have gotten the same song twice in a row. Kind of a no duh moment there, but whatever.
I think his point was that with a random order, it is possible for the same song to play twice in row. Not likely, but possible. He then goes on to say that people sometimes try to find patterns where there are none...which is correct. iTunes just happened to play the same song twice randomly.
That simply means that the AV program monitors the behavior of programs and makes sure they don't violate security policy. If they do, the AV software assumes it is a virus
Unfortunately, according TFA, the programs that did the best "proactive" virus detection also tend to catch a lot of false positives.
Kinda like shooting squirrels with cruise missiles. Effective....yes. But was it worth taking out the tree/yard/half a house the squirrel was next to?
Maybe if theaters didn't charge so much people would go more. (Actually, you can leave the maybe part off) There's a theater in my town that shows older films (ones that have already been in the box office for month or two) for $1.50, and they seem to do a lot of business. I've been able to see pretty much every good/mediocre movie that's come out in the past few years on the big screen for about the same price as renting a DVD (unless you go with more than 2 people).
"Google is becoming far more powerful than even Microsoft. Microsoft isn't hording near the personal information as Google is collecting from people."
Just what info do you think Google is gathering about me? I have a gmail account...so now they have my first/last name and my email address. Just like every spam company out there who trashed my last email account. And access to my emails...who cares? It's the same no matter what email service you use...unless you host your own server. But in that case, you still may be sending so someone on a "Free" email service.
However, he completely overlooks those applications that have equalled or surpassed their commercial counterparts (like Apache, OpenOffice, Mozilla, and so on).
That depends on your definition of surpassed. If you mean more features/stability...yes. If you mean easier and more intuitive to use...maybe not.
What they really should have done was actually let the kids do whatever they wanted with the machines as long as they got their school work done. Then, after the school year is done, they could Ghost (or something similar) the machines and start them fresh for the next year.
If tehy don't want the kids to access porn, setup some kind of router side filtering and port blocking. That will keep a majority of the kids from looking at "inappropriate material". And about teh few who get around the blocks? Well those are your future IT people.
We're looking at the death of file sharing as we know it...
Correction, we're looking at the death of illegal file sharing. You can still share all of the music, movies, pictures, etc that you want...so long as it's not violating copyright. (Like photo's you've taken, or indie music)
I wouldn't call it a browser replacement anymore than I would call a pizza delivery a replacement for my car. It just puts a lot of things that you would normally use a browser for in an easily accessible location. I would imagine that you still have to have a browser if you want more info on the RSS feeds/weather/whatever.
Could there possibly be a correlation between increased EMFs and the increase in autism, cancer, etc.?
Maybe, but why don't we look to something a bit more obvious for the cause of these things. Like diet for example. Sugar intake in the last 100 years has increased from about 4 lbs to 160 lbs per person per year in the US. Plus we eat foods covered with pesticides and herbicides, pumped with preservatives and hormones, and bleached and refined until nothing of any nutritious value is left. All this has been increasing in recent years...and health problems get worse. More cancer, more diabetes, and God knows what other diseases can be linked to the kind of diet we eat these days.
Maybe once we figure out if that is a factor, we can move onto finding out whether or not the WiFi has anything to do with it. Of course, the food industry/corporations would prefer if you didn't...
If so, why is there such a high risk. Surely everyone runs firewalls these days?
You would be suprised. I talk to people everyday (I work in a call center) who do not have a firewall. They don't even know what one is. They run their happy little Norton Antivirus and think that everything is going to be great. We need education!!!
I would like to know who it is that let this into the network and give them a nice punch in the nose. I am sure they hope no one finds out as it probably cost the company several millions in downtime.
Not like it would matter if you did find out. I wouldn't consider it the end user's fault for bringing the virus into the corp. network, expecially if all of your machines weren't patched already (which it sounds like they weren't). Can't really expect him/her to do something that IT hasn't been doing.
it'll encourage clueless managers to order that their company's systems be upgraded
More likely they'll just install a firewall like they should have had before hand. And maybe keep their machines up-to-date.
At least that's what I would do, rather than replace however many machines I have in order to run Vista...and also pay for any additional training that would require for staff.
Slashdot Mirror
Apparently you missed the fact, like many others, that it was a "humorous" article.
I expect more out of a Slashdot headline story.
You haven't been here very long have you?
I'm sorry, but it is going to be a very long time before Linux makes it to retail stores in any large numbers. It just is not as easy to use as Windows. Slashdotters seem to forget that not everyone is a computer guru. I work in a tech support call center for ACT!, and let me tell you, 90% of people I talk to don't know jack about their computers...and throwing in things like roots, shells, and crappy application installs are only going to confuse them more.
You want to see Linux go the the big time? Make it easy to use. Don't give the user a choice between KDE and Gnome. Don't even let them see the packages to install...the names will confuse them. Make applications easy to install...maybe even make them install dependecies automatically. Never mention anything about a root account...the end user doesn't need to know. Basically, let them drive the car without explaining how it all works.
Anyway, just my $.02
Because Linux, my friends, is not intuitive enough for the everyday user. I'm not saying it's not a great OS, it just takes more technical smarts to know how to use than Windoze or OS X.
Seriously though, the hurricane bearing down on New Orleans right now should give folks something to think about with respect to global warming.
Yeah, because there's never been hurricanes in that area before right...oh wait, what about Hurricane Besty in 1965 that pummeled New Orleans? Oh yeah!
You can only play the same song twice in a row if the algorithm reshuffles the songlist after every song played.
I believe TFA said that he noticed that the same song was on the list twice, so obviously he could have gotten the same song twice in a row. Kind of a no duh moment there, but whatever.
Yes it was...methinks he has too much time on his hands.
I think his point was that with a random order, it is possible for the same song to play twice in row. Not likely, but possible. He then goes on to say that people sometimes try to find patterns where there are none...which is correct. iTunes just happened to play the same song twice randomly.
So from this we learn that the random play on iTunes really is random, and that rating a song really does have an effect. Who'd a thunk?
Next, "iTunes really does play tunes!"
I think it is more likely that life on Earth originated on Mars that the other way around
Does it really matter whether it started on Mars or on Earth? Either way we still don't konw HOW it started.
That simply means that the AV program monitors the behavior of programs and makes sure they don't violate security policy. If they do, the AV software assumes it is a virus
Unfortunately, according TFA, the programs that did the best "proactive" virus detection also tend to catch a lot of false positives.
Kinda like shooting squirrels with cruise missiles. Effective....yes. But was it worth taking out the tree/yard/half a house the squirrel was next to?
Because "crappy" is relative. A lot of people like that Top 40 music.
Maybe if theaters didn't charge so much people would go more. (Actually, you can leave the maybe part off) There's a theater in my town that shows older films (ones that have already been in the box office for month or two) for $1.50, and they seem to do a lot of business. I've been able to see pretty much every good/mediocre movie that's come out in the past few years on the big screen for about the same price as renting a DVD (unless you go with more than 2 people).
"Google is becoming far more powerful than even Microsoft. Microsoft isn't hording near the personal information as Google is collecting from people." Just what info do you think Google is gathering about me? I have a gmail account...so now they have my first/last name and my email address. Just like every spam company out there who trashed my last email account. And access to my emails...who cares? It's the same no matter what email service you use...unless you host your own server. But in that case, you still may be sending so someone on a "Free" email service.
That was before release...this is after. It's a follow-up.
However, he completely overlooks those applications that have equalled or surpassed their commercial counterparts (like Apache, OpenOffice, Mozilla, and so on).
That depends on your definition of surpassed. If you mean more features/stability...yes. If you mean easier and more intuitive to use...maybe not.
What they really should have done was actually let the kids do whatever they wanted with the machines as long as they got their school work done. Then, after the school year is done, they could Ghost (or something similar) the machines and start them fresh for the next year.
If tehy don't want the kids to access porn, setup some kind of router side filtering and port blocking. That will keep a majority of the kids from looking at "inappropriate material". And about teh few who get around the blocks? Well those are your future IT people.
We're looking at the death of file sharing as we know it...
Correction, we're looking at the death of illegal file sharing. You can still share all of the music, movies, pictures, etc that you want...so long as it's not violating copyright. (Like photo's you've taken, or indie music)
I wouldn't call it a browser replacement anymore than I would call a pizza delivery a replacement for my car. It just puts a lot of things that you would normally use a browser for in an easily accessible location. I would imagine that you still have to have a browser if you want more info on the RSS feeds/weather/whatever.
Does his wine run linux?
I'd be more interested to know if his Linux runs on wine.
I think they would have called them kings/rulers/lords...
Could there possibly be a correlation between increased EMFs and the increase in autism, cancer, etc.?
Maybe, but why don't we look to something a bit more obvious for the cause of these things. Like diet for example. Sugar intake in the last 100 years has increased from about 4 lbs to 160 lbs per person per year in the US. Plus we eat foods covered with pesticides and herbicides, pumped with preservatives and hormones, and bleached and refined until nothing of any nutritious value is left. All this has been increasing in recent years...and health problems get worse. More cancer, more diabetes, and God knows what other diseases can be linked to the kind of diet we eat these days.
Maybe once we figure out if that is a factor, we can move onto finding out whether or not the WiFi has anything to do with it. Of course, the food industry/corporations would prefer if you didn't...
If so, why is there such a high risk. Surely everyone runs firewalls these days?
You would be suprised. I talk to people everyday (I work in a call center) who do not have a firewall. They don't even know what one is. They run their happy little Norton Antivirus and think that everything is going to be great. We need education!!!
I would like to know who it is that let this into the network and give them a nice punch in the nose. I am sure they hope no one finds out as it probably cost the company several millions in downtime.
Not like it would matter if you did find out. I wouldn't consider it the end user's fault for bringing the virus into the corp. network, expecially if all of your machines weren't patched already (which it sounds like they weren't). Can't really expect him/her to do something that IT hasn't been doing.
it'll encourage clueless managers to order that their company's systems be upgraded
More likely they'll just install a firewall like they should have had before hand. And maybe keep their machines up-to-date.
At least that's what I would do, rather than replace however many machines I have in order to run Vista...and also pay for any additional training that would require for staff.