...all the hardware comes, OEM, with Vista. At my current business, we are constantly delayed by having to order the downgrade back to XP professional.
Interesting read about Slashdot server farm. I'm somewhat surprised to see that Slashdot subscribers have two dedicated servers to read the main page, that's as many servers dedicated to a minority of users as to the rest of the users. But well, that's good for them, they help our best thrustworthy news site so they diserve to be rewarded:-p
For the first time, I've watched a report about Linux on belgian national french-speaking public TV (RTBF) in the evening news, just after the report about Vista launch. The world is more and more becoming aware of the alternatives and I'm happy for that:).
I don't remember where I read it, but I think any version of Vista can be run inside a VM. What you can't do is running multiple instances of one licence of Vista inside a VM (also one licence of vista and the same licence running simultaneously inside a vm), unless you use the ultimate edition.
Usually, you don't sell the software as is. Actually, you sell support. For example, installation, technical assistance and so on. This business can be profitable because your own costs are way lower than if you were doing traditional business (If you used proprietary, commercial software, you should have to pay much more royalties for licenses for example). However there are about no chances you can become a monopoly and earn large amounts of money like Microsoft, because if you practice too high prices, someone else will fork your product and replace you. That's perfectly legal of course. So I think it's a more fair business.
Maybe because the corporate edition does not require activation ? I don't know exactly, but in the case of XP, the corporate edition is meant to be installed on a great number of PCs. So activating every box would be impossible.
I can imagine Microsoft first completes Windows then starts programming the activation process. I can imagine it requires some time to complete that part of the program. I don't know, maybe it's completely wrong.
So what is Vista offering that Linux is not offering better. Old windows application compatibly that is it.
That might also change in the future. I'm about exclusively using Linux. About one week ago, my father asked me if I wanted to see a video about the Huygens probe on Titan. When I put the CD, I realised it wasn't a plain video but a (Windows) program. I did not want to reboot so I gave Wine a chance. I was astonished actually, the program launched and the video played flawlessly.
So, as the Windows compatibility layer of Linux is getting better and better with time, maybe one day, "I want to use my old applications" will no more be a valid reason not to switch to Linux:)
What's with removing programs ? I never remove programs under Linux. At the price of hard drives nowadays I don't mind ig 1 or 2 GB are taken by some apps I'm not planning to (ever) use. Why should I remove them ? They don't do anything wrong by just sitting there.
That was what I also thought in the beginning. But there are at least two reasons not to keep unused software installed. First, when you use Debian Sid, softwares are upgraded daily. So if you keep unused softwares, chances are you will have to download new versions of softwares you don't use, hence wasting bandwidth. Where I live, the upload/download is limited to 10GB per month (yea it sucks but it is like that). Second, some packages I might not need could be loading as services everytime I boot, hence slowing bootup and wasting memory, system availabilty.
Those are the two reasons I can think of but I'm pretty sure there are several more reasons...
I have learned from my past mistakes what the upgrade treadmill problems are.
I would agree with you if I hadn't tried Debian GNU/Linux. The big problem of Windows is that it doesn't use a database managed installation system. When you remove a program under Windows (add/remove program in control pannel), what Windows does is simply calling the uninstaller of said program. Then it's up to the uninstaller to handle the uninstallation properly. When the uninstaller asks you something like "This is a shared library, are you sure you really want to remove it ?", you'd better say no unless you are really really sure. This is because Windows doesn't use a database managed installer, and hence cannot determine whether a given shared library can be safely removed or is used by another program. For the very same reason, when Windows is upgraded, it cannot be determined if the components that are removed/upgraded will be incompatible with installed programs or not. I have been running Debian Sid for more than four years now, upgrading the packages every days. Still no major problem for me.
Anyway for the case of Windows, I would tend to agree with you anyway...
Don't worry. It's still possible to use a live CD à la Knoppix, then install the latest debootstrap and use it to install Debian. Well I suppose it will still be possible in the foreseeable future. This is about the only solution when your hardware is too recent to be detected by the installer anyway.
I assume your misunderstanding is the result of the situation with the LZH-algorithm, or in practical terms, the GIF format.
Note that the GIF compression algorithm is not LZH but LZW. LZH is another compressed file format. This one is created using Huffman coding if I remember correctly. The Huffmann coding is used in MPEG (or JPEG) format.
Actually, this model (GeForce 2 Pro) is supported by the nvidia legacy driver. Version 7182. I hope this driver will also be compatible with kernel 2.6.17, last time I checked it wasn't. That's worth a try anyway. Thanks for pointing me that out.
I have an old Athlon 900MHz with 768 Megs of RAM. This config is more than enough for me to run the latest Debian Sid IMHO. Except for graphics performances. There is a GeForce2 in this box, and I can't use proprietary nvidia driver with the latest kernel (as more recent version of the nvidia driver does not support my geforce 2 anymore). That's why I have to use nv. But that sucks a bit. No 3D acceleration (so no quake 3,...), and 2D performances are way inferior to closed nvidia driver.
If there are open drivers for an intel graphics accelerator that is rather cheap and at least as fast as my more-than-five-year-old geforce 2, I'll buy for sure:)
Slashdot Mirror
Yes, just google for kde 4 windows. You'll see that a Windows port of KDE 4 is ongoing. See this Wiki.
But for the moment it's just a project so if you are really interested in seeing KDE 4 ported to Windows, jump on the boat and help !
If so it's made with Firefox 3 Beta 1 Yeah ! (If not, well it's made with Iceweasel 2.0.0.9)
...all the hardware comes, OEM, with Vista. At my current business, we are constantly delayed by having to order the downgrade back to XP professional.You mean the upgrade right ?
... between the theorical release date of Vista and its real release date, I'm not that sure Windows 9 will be released in early 2010 actually.
So what ? His grandparents may come from Greece. That does not mean mean he's Greek because his surname sounds greekish ...
You must be new here. Welcome to Slashdot :-)
Damn ! It's been a while a Slashdot comment has not made me laughing like that :-p Thanks mate :-)
Interesting read about Slashdot server farm. I'm somewhat surprised to see that Slashdot subscribers have two dedicated servers to read the main page, that's as many servers dedicated to a minority of users as to the rest of the users. But well, that's good for them, they help our best thrustworthy news site so they diserve to be rewarded :-p
This could as well be vaporware
Use VLC or mplayer if you want to play DVDs on Windows without the need of those annoying codecs ;-).
Research for the Linux operating system benefits Windows too :)
Thanks God, there are no software patents here ! For how long ? ...
For the first time, I've watched a report about Linux on belgian national french-speaking public TV (RTBF) in the evening news, just after the report about Vista launch. The world is more and more becoming aware of the alternatives and I'm happy for that :).
OSDL are your hosts here at slashdot
Nope, actually, Slashdot is hosted by the OSTG, this acronym meaning Open Source Technology Group.
I don't remember where I read it, but I think any version of Vista can be run inside a VM. What you can't do is running multiple instances of one licence of Vista inside a VM (also one licence of vista and the same licence running simultaneously inside a vm), unless you use the ultimate edition.
Usually, you don't sell the software as is. Actually, you sell support. For example, installation, technical assistance and so on. This business can be profitable because your own costs are way lower than if you were doing traditional business (If you used proprietary, commercial software, you should have to pay much more royalties for licenses for example). However there are about no chances you can become a monopoly and earn large amounts of money like Microsoft, because if you practice too high prices, someone else will fork your product and replace you. That's perfectly legal of course. So I think it's a more fair business.
It would be even better if word viewer was bundled with Vista though. Maybe that's the case, I don't know.
Maybe because the corporate edition does not require activation ? I don't know exactly, but in the case of XP, the corporate edition is meant to be installed on a great number of PCs. So activating every box would be impossible.
I can imagine Microsoft first completes Windows then starts programming the activation process. I can imagine it requires some time to complete that part of the program. I don't know, maybe it's completely wrong.
First Hustler Prize Awarded ?
Maybe I am the only Slashdot reader that enjoys pr0n ...
So what is Vista offering that Linux is not offering better. Old windows application compatibly that is it.
That might also change in the future. I'm about exclusively using Linux. About one week ago, my father asked me if I wanted to see a video about the Huygens probe on Titan. When I put the CD, I realised it wasn't a plain video but a (Windows) program. I did not want to reboot so I gave Wine a chance. I was astonished actually, the program launched and the video played flawlessly.
So, as the Windows compatibility layer of Linux is getting better and better with time, maybe one day, "I want to use my old applications" will no more be a valid reason not to switch to Linux :)
What's with removing programs ? I never remove programs under Linux. At the price of hard drives nowadays I don't mind ig 1 or 2 GB are taken by some apps I'm not planning to (ever) use. Why should I remove them ? They don't do anything wrong by just sitting there.
That was what I also thought in the beginning. But there are at least two reasons not to keep unused software installed. First, when you use Debian Sid, softwares are upgraded daily. So if you keep unused softwares, chances are you will have to download new versions of softwares you don't use, hence wasting bandwidth. Where I live, the upload/download is limited to 10GB per month (yea it sucks but it is like that). Second, some packages I might not need could be loading as services everytime I boot, hence slowing bootup and wasting memory, system availabilty.
Those are the two reasons I can think of but I'm pretty sure there are several more reasons ...
I have learned from my past mistakes what the upgrade treadmill problems are.
I would agree with you if I hadn't tried Debian GNU/Linux. The big problem of Windows is that it doesn't use a database managed installation system. When you remove a program under Windows (add/remove program in control pannel), what Windows does is simply calling the uninstaller of said program. Then it's up to the uninstaller to handle the uninstallation properly. When the uninstaller asks you something like "This is a shared library, are you sure you really want to remove it ?", you'd better say no unless you are really really sure. This is because Windows doesn't use a database managed installer, and hence cannot determine whether a given shared library can be safely removed or is used by another program. For the very same reason, when Windows is upgraded, it cannot be determined if the components that are removed/upgraded will be incompatible with installed programs or not. I have been running Debian Sid for more than four years now, upgrading the packages every days. Still no major problem for me.
Anyway for the case of Windows, I would tend to agree with you anyway ...
Don't worry. It's still possible to use a live CD à la Knoppix, then install the latest debootstrap and use it to install Debian. Well I suppose it will still be possible in the foreseeable future. This is about the only solution when your hardware is too recent to be detected by the installer anyway.
I assume your misunderstanding is the result of the situation with the LZH-algorithm, or in practical terms, the GIF format.
Note that the GIF compression algorithm is not LZH but LZW. LZH is another compressed file format. This one is created using Huffman coding if I remember correctly. The Huffmann coding is used in MPEG (or JPEG) format.
Actually, this model (GeForce 2 Pro) is supported by the nvidia legacy driver. Version 7182. I hope this driver will also be compatible with kernel 2.6.17, last time I checked it wasn't. That's worth a try anyway. Thanks for pointing me that out.
I have an old Athlon 900MHz with 768 Megs of RAM. This config is more than enough for me to run the latest Debian Sid IMHO. Except for graphics performances. There is a GeForce2 in this box, and I can't use proprietary nvidia driver with the latest kernel (as more recent version of the nvidia driver does not support my geforce 2 anymore). That's why I have to use nv. But that sucks a bit. No 3D acceleration (so no quake 3, ...), and 2D performances are way inferior to closed nvidia driver.
:)
If there are open drivers for an intel graphics accelerator that is rather cheap and at least as fast as my more-than-five-year-old geforce 2, I'll buy for sure