Call me some kind of freak or something, but why the fuck would you want to own a gun?
For the same reason you would own any other possesion, you desire it and/or it has purpose for you.
Hell, why not keep some bottles of poison in the kitchen,
Such as cleaning solvents and drain-o?
and put land mines in the garden while you're at it. Hey, put spikes on the front of your car!
The drama is making me weep.
Are you actually so paranoid (or macho) that owning something designed to kill people sounds like a good idea?
Yes. As long as there are people in this world that will hurt or kill others to take from them their life, liberty, or property or simply to inflict pain and death, it is a very wise idea to have a weapon with which to defend yourself. If you shirk your responsibility to ensure your own survival in this world, your life is unavoidably at the whim of your predators. Lions and lambs don't yet lay together, friend.
Observation of people for 12 years in internet usage. And nothing is stopping you from going to someone offering faster service. For example, you could always purchase on OC192 for your house. You'd pay several thousand a month for it, but you can buy it. You want something cheaper? You could always start your own business for it.
Well I've observed people for 13 years in internet usage and I see that people need more bandwidth (I said statistics, not opinion). And if you read the article, you'd realize the point is that the US is lagging seriously behind other industrialized nations in the adoption and availability of broadband to consumers. I seriously doubt consumers in Japan, South Korea, Finland, France, and Canada are all rushing out and paying for optical carrier and running fiber to their house. Their carriers are providing better infrastructure and higher capacity consumer lines, and at a cost that is sufficiently affordable that consumers are adopting them. And I'm sorry, but if you think SONET is a consumer grade infrastructure you've got your head wedged firmly up your ass.
Of course not, but she is more representative of what most people need than you are. That is what businesses start out offering, to the average person. You are a niche market. Businesses that cater only to the niche tend to go out of business.
Grandma is not representative of what "most people need". Grandma is a demographic of what working consumers wanted 50 years ago. The US had better start paying attention to what the demographic of current and emerging working consumers are wanting -bandwidth. Bandwidth for services that both do and don't currently exist. We have terabyte sized disks and we want to fill them with video and audio. We have HD televisions and we want dozens of stations in 1080p. We have XBoxes, Wiis, and playstations that communicate over the internet, and we want the content from those links to be high quality and fast. We have digital telephones, and video communications equipment and software. Every internet-aware product and service that is released will continue to use more and more bandwidth to provide a better experience. As was said in TFA, "Speed defines what is possible on the internet." I don't give a shit if you're happy with grandma being the standard of the internet consumer, the rest of the industrialized world is seeing the benefit in widely available, high capacity communications. There's no reason we should be left behind in a communications backwater.
Congratulations, you are in the 95th percentile. However, the article did not talk about the 99th, it talked about the 50th. The 50th percentile of people in the US do none of what you mentioned. As they start to, bandwidth will go up to handle the new demands. Until then, people will not buy internet plans that are several times what they need as it is more than they use.
I'd love to see your source for those conflicting statistics. And I'd also like to point out that th 95th or 99th or whatever percentile of customers out of several million customers still represents tens of thousands or more customers, and they deserve their needs to be addressed for the money they pay too. Grandma on her couch looking at knitting web sites and downloading pictures of her grandbaby does not encompass the needs or desires of all US communications consumers.
Yeah, and Individuals, like you, will stress their connection. As that happens, companies will offer faster connections.
No, they will tell you not to do that because it stresses their network. Besides, the time to plan for the future is not 10 years after it's gone by. Why does it make sense for people to pay money for a congested broadband connection while they wait for the provider to finally decide the time is right to finally adapt to their load?
Why do you need to own a car that can reach a speed of 145Mph? Why do you need a combo meal from McDonalds with a complete day's supply of 2000 calories? Why do you need 600 channels of cable TV? Why do you need 1080p resolution television when 420i already works fine? Why do you need a 20,000sqft home? Why do you need your own pool when there is a community pool 4 miles away?
No one needs these things, they want them; and they want them at reasonable prices and availability. That's how a free market is supposed to work; people are not artificially limited to only what an entity arbitrates that they require, but rather they are free to pursue what they want, and it is generally accepted that people in America want quality communications infrastructure for their computers, iPhones, blackberries, game consoles, and VOIP phones that doesn't cost them an arm and a leg.
I personally can't stand TortoiseSVN. It's good enough for Windows since that platform has a failure of a command shell, but it's just too distracting and cumbersome for me. When I want to commit or merge, I don't want to navigate through menus and dialogs, I want to svn commit or svn merge.... The only prompt I ever want to see is for my commit message. I do, however, like to get a visual representation of my repository, and I've found that trac's repo browser is very handy for that. But I know that's just my own preference.
I know this is off-topic, but what makes you prefer the graphical interface over the command line app? And please don't say that the command line is 'old'. I'll reach through the intarweb tubes and take your stapler away if you say that;)
... just because some private investigator found "evidence" doesn't mean a court will or should automatically allow it to be presented.
Well, the US government is already contracting mercenaries for combat action, why not let the PIs in on the official investigative duties as well? They're cheaper and more effective, since they don't have to obey those pesky "laws" that protect the public from the government. I mean, entrapment only applies to officials, not to PIs. And no one can dispute how a PI gets his evidence in court, it's a TRADE SECRET! Brillant!
I beg the question, if man did not invent computers and software, would have it come into existence in a billion years?
Yes, you are begging the question - a logical fallacy - "How are computers and software like life?" You have to prove this premise before that argument can have any merit.
... And for C, evolution can't be proven as it takes millions of years for something to evolve and back to point B, we haven't even seen beneficial mutations be passed on. So while ID isn't science, evolution isn't really either.
Wow, troll? Is there really someone who missed the whole Catholic priest scandal?
To mods: I wasn't implying that all Catholic priests are pedophiles... sheesh!
It was a good question to pose. We naturally assume the priesthood to be of good intention.. if we never question the priesthood, it is, as you posited, a perfect place for pedophiles to infiltrate. Much akin to the idea of the creation of the world.. if we don't seriously question the biblical idea, it leaves the door open for the wrong idea to be implanted by fools posing as religious authorities.
the Arris Touchstone 502G (among other VoIP MTAs) has a built-in battery backup
According to your link, the 10 hour battery backup is an optional extra.
If you're issued the touchstone through your provider (which is most likely), they will include the battery. Digital/VOIP phone providers are aware of the concerns customers have for loss of power. I was issued my touchstone from Cox and it has performed well during power failures. Only my wireless handsets wouldn't work, for obvious reasons.
Someone mod the parent post up. If Bush is stealing Iraqi oil, I'd like to know where he's been stashing it... because we sure as hell aren't getting it.
Since you failed to answer any of the substance of my reply, I can only assume that means you concede the argument. I'm really quite disappointed that all you can come up with is a retort to a postscript that merely cites a dictionary reference. I wonder if you even cared to notice that none of the usage examples support your spelling...
No, the user does not care. The user doesn't buy a kernel from here, a browser from there. They get "Linux" installed on their computer by Dell or Lenovo. If it works they'll order it again, if it doesn't they won't. Linux market share shows what people think of it, and you are dreaming if you think it would be the dominant OS if only it came prepackaged with every computer.
When the fuck did I ever say Linux would be the dominant OS? If you actually read what I post instead of imagining what you think I would say if I were some evil Linux zealot determined to ruin every user's life, you'd see:
Personally I don't think every user on the planet was meant to work on a Linux [...] system
I put you in squarely in that category of people that should never ever EVER use Linux or any other unix-like system. I already think most Linux distributions are dumbed down with enough candy that I don't want to use them, if you had your way they would just be poor imitations of Windows without the vendor support. The appealing factors of open source unix-like operating systems are freedom, cost (as in zero) of ownership, and empowerment. If you value the Windows way, just stick with it. No one is bending you over a table and forcing you to use all this free software that you think is so damn hard to get along with. And stop bitching. I loathe your goddamn incessant bitching.
And fix your stupid signature. For god's sake, it's E N R O L L M E N T. There's two l's in there, jackass.
This is a technical answer to a real life problem which in no way addresses it. Microsoft's famed blue screen of death was mostly caused by third party drivers, yet they knew that telling the user "is not us it's the driver providers" would not in any way help.
No, it is a fundamental difference in Microsoft culture and Linux culture, that Microsoft fanboys like you refuse to acknowledge and instead attack because it's not what you've grown accustomed to.
Your excuse "well you should have bought a better system" is even lamer and fanboi-sher.
Any consumer should carefully consider a choice before making it, 'buyer beware'. Except in this case, we're talking about free (as in beer and speech) software, so the user isn't even paying any money. I don't feel too compelled to apologize.
And by-the-by, most people do choose a better system which is why less than 1% of people use linux. My personal computers run Windows (much as I dislike M$), and my workstation runs Ubuntu which is the only half-tolerable version of linux in terms of usability.
Linux desktop market share is not low because it is a crappy system; Linux is a modern preemptive multitasking operating system that has very good performance measures and a wide range of available third party software. What puts it at a low market share is that it is not prepackaged in every Dell, Gateway, HP, Lenovo, IBM, Acer, E-Machines, Sony, Toshiba, and Fujitsu computer sold across the globe. There are a select few distributions trying to tackle the desktop market, and they are gaining progress in getting their systems as options on prefab machines. This, coupled with Vista's undeniably embarrassing failure to impress the Windows audience will undoubtedly result in a rise in desktop market share for Linux. Not that I care, anyway. Personally I don't think every user on the planet was meant to work on a Linux (or in my own case, FreeBSD) system. And that's cool, but they shouldn't bitch and whine either when they come into this arena with undue expectations that aren't met.
It is GMs fault that they make crappy cars (funny you use this example in a day that GM stock fell to its lowest value in over 30 yrs)
You're making a straw man out of my analogy that has no relevance. The crux of the argument was that GM makes chassis, which are then given a body and accessories by GMC, Chevy, and the other GM partners. To blame GM because Chevy didn't give you a GPS system is irrational. To say GM sucks because your Chevy didn't have a GPS is irrational. Similarly, to blame Linux because distribution XYZ didn't make your printer work for you is irrational.
and it is linux developers fault that these many years after becoming widely used it can still be a pain in the neck to us even when compared to the not so high standard of Windows.
Again with purposefully missing the point. What's with you and not retaining what you read anyway? Linux developers make the kernel. Distribution developers make the fluffy systems that are prepopulated with software, package management, desktop systems, print spoolers, and all that other fun stuff. And how can you at once chide Linux as having a 1% market share and then turn around and say it's widely used? Which is it? Plus, I really would love to see how you've quantified the market share at 1%... most professional analysts are not able to even guess at the market share because there are no sales records to infer upon.
Wrong, asshole. It's the user's choice. If the user doesn't like it, fine. The user is not forced to use any *nix system. Aside from that, my point was that 'Linux' does not provide what the OP was upset about; i.e. Linux is a kernel, not a complete system. It has drivers for talking to printers, but doesn't force any standard for print spooling. The distribution the user chooses may or may not provide a default spooler and other amenities, and the user has the ability to choose his own.
Blaming Linux because 'mah printur dont work' is like blaming GM because there's no GPS system in your crappy little Cavalier, but your dad had one in his Corolla. You *chose* a specific type of GM car, without the feature set you wanted that you saw in your dad's car that isn't made by GM. How is that GM's fault? If you wanted a GPS system so you didn't have to know how to read a map, you should have a) bought your dad's Corolla, or b) bought a car built on a GM chassis that *offers* a GPS. Turning that analogy back on Linux systems, several other posters have happily chimed in that their Ubuntu systems were a breeze to set up printing on - they come with a default spooler (cups), and the extra hooks to auto-configure printers. This equates to the Chevy Impala with a GPS; a GM chassis car that offers the features you want.
It's not Microsoft alone! This kind of frustration happens on the Linux platform everyday. Try setting up a printer...even that supported by Linux. You get into issues like CUPS as if you are supposed to know what the OS is gonna use to get the printer setup.
For God's sake...if I want to setup a printer, it should be the system's job to install ALL software needed to get it working. What is so difficult in that?
Insightful my ass, this should be modded +5 Funny.
The operating system's job is to control the printer device, not to control the way the printer is exposed to the end user. That's what print spoolers are for. Windows has made a bad habit of extending the operating system into areas that should be userland, forever sealing its users in a consistent (usually consistently crappy) environment. In the UNIX world, print spoolers are rightly in the userland and the user picks which to use, be it lpd, cups, lprng, css, whatever. the user has a choice, and consequently it is the user, not the operating system, that implements it.
Your ass had better be posting from a Darfur refugee camp, if you're going to make that kind of claim.
False dichotomy: either you're in a refugee camp or you're doing nothing to help.
Straw man. I made no correlation between (not) being in a Darfur refugee camp and (not) accomplishing anything. Furthermore, you and the gp have both made the error of interpreting the statement I made as a logical argument, when in reality it is sarcasm intended to knock the gp off his high horse.
Your ass had better be posting from a Darfur refugee camp, if you're going to make that kind of claim.
Non sequitur. I didn't say "good guys" seek out high levels of risk, I said "good guys" will act even if there is risk. We all have opportunities to help others come our way, and many of them they carry risks - physical risks, legal risks, financial risks, social risks.
Red herring.
Those who sit idle while evil happens are not "good guys". The "good guys" are those who will actually get up off their asses to help out others, even at some risk. The tragedy in Darfur is generally accepted as being evil. It is happening now. Therefore, by your own accord, you are not a good guy if you are not getting off your ass to help out in Darfur. I assume you are sitting on your ass to post on slashdot. So, if you're an authority on "how to be a good guy", your ass should at least be in the vicinity of Darfur so that when you eventually get up off it you can go help out, as all good guys apparently do.
The good guys almost always outnumber the bad guys, but most won't do a single thing about it becauase they have their own lives to worry about.
Those who sit idle while evil happens are not "good guys". The "good guys" are those who will actually get up off their asses to help out others, even at some risk
Your ass had better be posting from a Darfur refugee camp, if you're going to make that kind of claim.
Slashdot Mirror
Call me some kind of freak or something, but why the fuck would you want to own a gun?
For the same reason you would own any other possesion, you desire it and/or it has purpose for you.
Hell, why not keep some bottles of poison in the kitchen,
Such as cleaning solvents and drain-o?
and put land mines in the garden while you're at it. Hey, put spikes on the front of your car!
The drama is making me weep.
Are you actually so paranoid (or macho) that owning something designed to kill people sounds like a good idea?
Yes. As long as there are people in this world that will hurt or kill others to take from them their life, liberty, or property or simply to inflict pain and death, it is a very wise idea to have a weapon with which to defend yourself. If you shirk your responsibility to ensure your own survival in this world, your life is unavoidably at the whim of your predators. Lions and lambs don't yet lay together, friend.
People figured this out a long time ago when naked female wood elves paraded through everquest.
Ever see Jurassic Park?
This warrants a new adage:
Never reboot if the raptor fences aren't out
Or perhaps:
Don't put your maintenance sheds by the raptor pens
Observation of people for 12 years in internet usage. And nothing is stopping you from going to someone offering faster service. For example, you could always purchase on OC192 for your house. You'd pay several thousand a month for it, but you can buy it. You want something cheaper? You could always start your own business for it.
Well I've observed people for 13 years in internet usage and I see that people need more bandwidth (I said statistics, not opinion). And if you read the article, you'd realize the point is that the US is lagging seriously behind other industrialized nations in the adoption and availability of broadband to consumers. I seriously doubt consumers in Japan, South Korea, Finland, France, and Canada are all rushing out and paying for optical carrier and running fiber to their house. Their carriers are providing better infrastructure and higher capacity consumer lines, and at a cost that is sufficiently affordable that consumers are adopting them. And I'm sorry, but if you think SONET is a consumer grade infrastructure you've got your head wedged firmly up your ass.
Of course not, but she is more representative of what most people need than you are. That is what businesses start out offering, to the average person. You are a niche market. Businesses that cater only to the niche tend to go out of business.
Grandma is not representative of what "most people need". Grandma is a demographic of what working consumers wanted 50 years ago. The US had better start paying attention to what the demographic of current and emerging working consumers are wanting -bandwidth. Bandwidth for services that both do and don't currently exist. We have terabyte sized disks and we want to fill them with video and audio. We have HD televisions and we want dozens of stations in 1080p. We have XBoxes, Wiis, and playstations that communicate over the internet, and we want the content from those links to be high quality and fast. We have digital telephones, and video communications equipment and software. Every internet-aware product and service that is released will continue to use more and more bandwidth to provide a better experience. As was said in TFA, "Speed defines what is possible on the internet." I don't give a shit if you're happy with grandma being the standard of the internet consumer, the rest of the industrialized world is seeing the benefit in widely available, high capacity communications. There's no reason we should be left behind in a communications backwater.
Congratulations, you are in the 95th percentile. However, the article did not talk about the 99th, it talked about the 50th. The 50th percentile of people in the US do none of what you mentioned. As they start to, bandwidth will go up to handle the new demands. Until then, people will not buy internet plans that are several times what they need as it is more than they use.
I'd love to see your source for those conflicting statistics. And I'd also like to point out that th 95th or 99th or whatever percentile of customers out of several million customers still represents tens of thousands or more customers, and they deserve their needs to be addressed for the money they pay too. Grandma on her couch looking at knitting web sites and downloading pictures of her grandbaby does not encompass the needs or desires of all US communications consumers.
Yeah, and Individuals, like you, will stress their connection. As that happens, companies will offer faster connections.
No, they will tell you not to do that because it stresses their network. Besides, the time to plan for the future is not 10 years after it's gone by. Why does it make sense for people to pay money for a congested broadband connection while they wait for the provider to finally decide the time is right to finally adapt to their load?
Why do you need to own a car that can reach a speed of 145Mph? Why do you need a combo meal from McDonalds with a complete day's supply of 2000 calories? Why do you need 600 channels of cable TV? Why do you need 1080p resolution television when 420i already works fine? Why do you need a 20,000sqft home? Why do you need your own pool when there is a community pool 4 miles away?
No one needs these things, they want them; and they want them at reasonable prices and availability. That's how a free market is supposed to work; people are not artificially limited to only what an entity arbitrates that they require, but rather they are free to pursue what they want, and it is generally accepted that people in America want quality communications infrastructure for their computers, iPhones, blackberries, game consoles, and VOIP phones that doesn't cost them an arm and a leg.
I personally can't stand TortoiseSVN. It's good enough for Windows since that platform has a failure of a command shell, but it's just too distracting and cumbersome for me. When I want to commit or merge, I don't want to navigate through menus and dialogs, I want to svn commit or svn merge .... The only prompt I ever want to see is for my commit message. I do, however, like to get a visual representation of my repository, and I've found that trac's repo browser is very handy for that. But I know that's just my own preference.
I know this is off-topic, but what makes you prefer the graphical interface over the command line app? And please don't say that the command line is 'old'. I'll reach through the intarweb tubes and take your stapler away if you say that ;)
... just because some private investigator found "evidence" doesn't mean a court will or should automatically allow it to be presented.
Well, the US government is already contracting mercenaries for combat action, why not let the PIs in on the official investigative duties as well? They're cheaper and more effective, since they don't have to obey those pesky "laws" that protect the public from the government. I mean, entrapment only applies to officials, not to PIs. And no one can dispute how a PI gets his evidence in court, it's a TRADE SECRET! Brillant!
WISSYWIG - What I See? Say You, What I Get?
I beg the question, if man did not invent computers and software, would have it come into existence in a billion years?
Yes, you are begging the question - a logical fallacy - "How are computers and software like life?" You have to prove this premise before that argument can have any merit.
... And for C, evolution can't be proven as it takes millions of years for something to evolve and back to point B, we haven't even seen beneficial mutations be passed on. So while ID isn't science, evolution isn't really either.
You apparently are not quite up on your reading
Wow, troll? Is there really someone who missed the whole Catholic priest scandal?
To mods: I wasn't implying that all Catholic priests are pedophiles... sheesh!
It was a good question to pose. We naturally assume the priesthood to be of good intention.. if we never question the priesthood, it is, as you posited, a perfect place for pedophiles to infiltrate. Much akin to the idea of the creation of the world.. if we don't seriously question the biblical idea, it leaves the door open for the wrong idea to be implanted by fools posing as religious authorities.
the Arris Touchstone 502G (among other VoIP MTAs) has a built-in battery backup
According to your link, the 10 hour battery backup is an optional extra.
If you're issued the touchstone through your provider (which is most likely), they will include the battery. Digital/VOIP phone providers are aware of the concerns customers have for loss of power. I was issued my touchstone from Cox and it has performed well during power failures. Only my wireless handsets wouldn't work, for obvious reasons.
An Apple Inc. laptop a day keeps the Norton Disk Doctor away...
Someone mod the parent post up. If Bush is stealing Iraqi oil, I'd like to know where he's been stashing it... because we sure as hell aren't getting it.
Since you failed to answer any of the substance of my reply, I can only assume that means you concede the argument. I'm really quite disappointed that all you can come up with is a retort to a postscript that merely cites a dictionary reference. I wonder if you even cared to notice that none of the usage examples support your spelling...
No, the user does not care. The user doesn't buy a kernel from here, a browser from there. They get "Linux" installed on their computer by Dell or Lenovo. If it works they'll order it again, if it doesn't they won't. Linux market share shows what people think of it, and you are dreaming if you think it would be the dominant OS if only it came prepackaged with every computer.
When the fuck did I ever say Linux would be the dominant OS? If you actually read what I post instead of imagining what you think I would say if I were some evil Linux zealot determined to ruin every user's life, you'd see:
Personally I don't think every user on the planet was meant to work on a Linux [...] system
I put you in squarely in that category of people that should never ever EVER use Linux or any other unix-like system. I already think most Linux distributions are dumbed down with enough candy that I don't want to use them, if you had your way they would just be poor imitations of Windows without the vendor support. The appealing factors of open source unix-like operating systems are freedom, cost (as in zero) of ownership, and empowerment. If you value the Windows way, just stick with it. No one is bending you over a table and forcing you to use all this free software that you think is so damn hard to get along with. And stop bitching. I loathe your goddamn incessant bitching.
And fix your stupid signature. For god's sake, it's E N R O L L M E N T. There's two l's in there, jackass.
This is a technical answer to a real life problem which in no way addresses it. Microsoft's famed blue screen of death was mostly caused by third party drivers, yet they knew that telling the user "is not us it's the driver providers" would not in any way help.
No, it is a fundamental difference in Microsoft culture and Linux culture, that Microsoft fanboys like you refuse to acknowledge and instead attack because it's not what you've grown accustomed to.
Your excuse "well you should have bought a better system" is even lamer and fanboi-sher.
Any consumer should carefully consider a choice before making it, 'buyer beware'. Except in this case, we're talking about free (as in beer and speech) software, so the user isn't even paying any money. I don't feel too compelled to apologize.
And by-the-by, most people do choose a better system which is why less than 1% of people use linux. My personal computers run Windows (much as I dislike M$), and my workstation runs Ubuntu which is the only half-tolerable version of linux in terms of usability.
Linux desktop market share is not low because it is a crappy system; Linux is a modern preemptive multitasking operating system that has very good performance measures and a wide range of available third party software. What puts it at a low market share is that it is not prepackaged in every Dell, Gateway, HP, Lenovo, IBM, Acer, E-Machines, Sony, Toshiba, and Fujitsu computer sold across the globe. There are a select few distributions trying to tackle the desktop market, and they are gaining progress in getting their systems as options on prefab machines. This, coupled with Vista's undeniably embarrassing failure to impress the Windows audience will undoubtedly result in a rise in desktop market share for Linux. Not that I care, anyway. Personally I don't think every user on the planet was meant to work on a Linux (or in my own case, FreeBSD) system. And that's cool, but they shouldn't bitch and whine either when they come into this arena with undue expectations that aren't met.
It is GMs fault that they make crappy cars (funny you use this example in a day that GM stock fell to its lowest value in over 30 yrs)
You're making a straw man out of my analogy that has no relevance. The crux of the argument was that GM makes chassis, which are then given a body and accessories by GMC, Chevy, and the other GM partners. To blame GM because Chevy didn't give you a GPS system is irrational. To say GM sucks because your Chevy didn't have a GPS is irrational. Similarly, to blame Linux because distribution XYZ didn't make your printer work for you is irrational.
and it is linux developers fault that these many years after becoming widely used it can still be a pain in the neck to us even when compared to the not so high standard of Windows.
Again with purposefully missing the point. What's with you and not retaining what you read anyway? Linux developers make the kernel. Distribution developers make the fluffy systems that are prepopulated with software, package management, desktop systems, print spoolers, and all that other fun stuff. And how can you at once chide Linux as having a 1% market share and then turn around and say it's widely used? Which is it? Plus, I really would love to see how you've quantified the market share at 1% ... most professional analysts are not able to even guess at the market share because there are no sales records to infer upon.
I.e. "its the users fault".
Wrong, asshole. It's the user's choice. If the user doesn't like it, fine. The user is not forced to use any *nix system. Aside from that, my point was that 'Linux' does not provide what the OP was upset about; i.e. Linux is a kernel, not a complete system. It has drivers for talking to printers, but doesn't force any standard for print spooling. The distribution the user chooses may or may not provide a default spooler and other amenities, and the user has the ability to choose his own.
Blaming Linux because 'mah printur dont work' is like blaming GM because there's no GPS system in your crappy little Cavalier, but your dad had one in his Corolla. You *chose* a specific type of GM car, without the feature set you wanted that you saw in your dad's car that isn't made by GM. How is that GM's fault? If you wanted a GPS system so you didn't have to know how to read a map, you should have a) bought your dad's Corolla, or b) bought a car built on a GM chassis that *offers* a GPS. Turning that analogy back on Linux systems, several other posters have happily chimed in that their Ubuntu systems were a breeze to set up printing on - they come with a default spooler (cups), and the extra hooks to auto-configure printers. This equates to the Chevy Impala with a GPS; a GM chassis car that offers the features you want.
For God's sake...if I want to setup a printer, it should be the system's job to install ALL software needed to get it working. What is so difficult in that?
Insightful my ass, this should be modded +5 Funny.
The operating system's job is to control the printer device, not to control the way the printer is exposed to the end user. That's what print spoolers are for. Windows has made a bad habit of extending the operating system into areas that should be userland, forever sealing its users in a consistent (usually consistently crappy) environment. In the UNIX world, print spoolers are rightly in the userland and the user picks which to use, be it lpd, cups, lprng, css, whatever. the user has a choice, and consequently it is the user, not the operating system, that implements it.
False dichotomy: either you're in a refugee camp or you're doing nothing to help.
Straw man. I made no correlation between (not) being in a Darfur refugee camp and (not) accomplishing anything. Furthermore, you and the gp have both made the error of interpreting the statement I made as a logical argument, when in reality it is sarcasm intended to knock the gp off his high horse.
Non sequitur. I didn't say "good guys" seek out high levels of risk, I said "good guys" will act even if there is risk. We all have opportunities to help others come our way, and many of them they carry risks - physical risks, legal risks, financial risks, social risks.
Red herring. Those who sit idle while evil happens are not "good guys". The "good guys" are those who will actually get up off their asses to help out others, even at some risk. The tragedy in Darfur is generally accepted as being evil. It is happening now. Therefore, by your own accord, you are not a good guy if you are not getting off your ass to help out in Darfur. I assume you are sitting on your ass to post on slashdot. So, if you're an authority on "how to be a good guy", your ass should at least be in the vicinity of Darfur so that when you eventually get up off it you can go help out, as all good guys apparently do.Those who sit idle while evil happens are not "good guys". The "good guys" are those who will actually get up off their asses to help out others, even at some risk
Your ass had better be posting from a Darfur refugee camp, if you're going to make that kind of claim.And never forget SPISPOPD to avoid logistical failure.