Dude, chill out. If you're a professional, then OF COURSE you'll use Photoshop. I AM NOT A GRAPHIC DESIGNER. So why would *I* WASTE hundreds of dollars buying something I don't need?
Step out of your own situation to consider others. For my situation, and MOST people out there, Photoshop is massive overkill. My dad has it and uses about 5 features, all of which are available on the Gimp. Are you getting my point?
What I basically said was "use what works". If you have a problem with that then you're a Photoshop / Apple salesman.
And yes, Ubuntu is my real distro -- I am a Mac user (not an artist, a musician) who is "switching" to Linux, because that's where all the music apps are, among other reasons.
Exactly. DON'T waste your money on Photoshop. For my purposes, I actually prefer MS Paint. It's fast, it's simple, it doesn't cost $500 bucks or whatever, it doesn't take 5 minutes to load up....
If I'm doing real heavy work with multiple layers, I use the Gimp. It's free, and I have used it enough that the layout seems natural to me, while the Photoshop way of doing things seems unnatural and difficult.
Use what you NEED to ACCOMPLISH A TASK, don't use what everybody else is telling you to run because it's cool. I get my work done faster and cheaper with a minimalistic setup. I've even taken to running MSPaint in Wine as I'm quickly migrating to an all-Linux home network.
Now, if my prediction that Microsoft will have a Linux or other UNIX-like kernel in Windows by 2015 holds up I'll consider myself the Nostradomus of IT.
Future MS releases, possibly even Longhorn, are strongly rumored to use the OpenBSD kernel. There was a Slashdot article on it, but thanks to the big Mac "switch" news (heh heh, Apple is a switcher!), Slashdot is hobbled and search is unavailable.
Watch The Incredibles; made by Pixar, shares largely owned by Steve Jobs. The special features show Jobs sitting at a meeting with the creative staff of Pixar, so he seems to be at least marginally involved.
The computer Mister Incredible gets his secret mission on at the beginning of the movie is a Tablet PC. No big deal, might not have anything to do with Apple. Could just be a very cool form factor.
BUT...
The Tablet PC had an iPod SCROLL WHEEL ON IT! That's very strange, especially because the iPod scroll wheel is so distinctive -- and patented by Apple.
After watching the movie and seeing the iTablet, I saw the Slashdot story mentioning Apple had received a patent for a Tablet-looking device. That just added strength to the rumour.
Would Jobs and Co. be so cocky that they'd telegraph their future product lines like this? Nobody seems to have noticed it but me. This clue has slipped unnoticed under the radar of everybody until now, it seems.
I may be right, I may be wrong. It's just a possibility. A strong possibility. Apple made music over the net work when nobody else could. They made MP3 players move when nobody else could. Now are they going to start the Tablet PC revolution everybody's been expecting for the last 5 or 10 years?
[I just hope they've dumped Broadcom for their wireless cards; my PowerBook's wireless is useless under Linux because Broadcom are complete A$$holes who won't release any specs. I won't be buying another computer with Broadcom in it until they get a clue and start supporting their customers.]
what is it with slashdot running all these captchas lately ? "To confirm you're not a script, please type the text shown in this image:"
Apparently, the Slashdot editors think our comments are so stupid that we HAVE to be bots. Sorry, Taco, we really are that stupid. At least I am. No wait. I mean, my posts are. I mean, I'm not a bot. I'm sure I'm smarter than a bot, even though I keep typing the captcha thing wrong. Maybe it's an IQ test, like a minimum height requirement on a Roller Coaster. I got it on my third try. What I'm trying to say is... uh, I forgot.
Dammit IQ Captcha, what are you trying to tell me!?!?!?
===========
Slashdot User Ubuntu, Your IQ = 86
Some famous celebrities with your IQ are: Paris Hilton George Bush the cast of Friends
The computer we recommend for you is: Apple Macintosh with One-Button Mouse
By making it easy to write client-side scripts that modify webpages as you surf, it shifts the balance of power from content creators to content consumers.
No Greasemonkey? Web = Cathedral
Greasemonkey? Web = Bazaar
Flexibility and user control are good. To get the maximum utility out of a tool (like the Internet), we must seek to maximize the number of ways it can be used. Greasemonkey helps us do that. Just imagine if computers themselves were very closed and we could only use them in the ways companies originally intended us to -- they'd be single-purpose fancy calculators, and I for one wouldn't waste money on one. Instead, the openness and untapped potential of these things is amazing, and accounts for many of the advancements we've made in the last 50 years.
... like all good businessmen, whoever wins the OS wars, he wants to profit from it. If you can't beat them, join them.
Michael Dell has always been a forward thinker (as evidenced by his innovation in sales techniques online) and I would imagine that he sees the potential in Linux. I wouldn't be surprised if his half-hearted attempts to sell Linux desktops were only half-hearted due to MS pressure and threats. MS has Dell and the other OEMs over a barrel. Dell may want his freedom, and Red Hat may be the "get out of MS Jail free" card he needs.
I believe Linux actually is truly desktop ready -- and this is coming from a former Mac guy who relishes his ease-of-use more than anything. If I can use Ubuntu daily, anyone can. And I'm sure Dell has seen Linux's progress as well as anybody else here and is betting on it continuing. He's getting in on the "ground floor", so to speak.
These problems don't exist in Ubuntu, at least in my experience. The printer setup is the same format as windows; choose your printer manufacturer, then the model, then install. Done. I was AMAZED how easy it was to set up my printer under Linux after hearing all the bitching about it here on Slashdot. The list of supported printers is HUGE and included every printer in my house.
And no offense, but I highly doubt linux came pre-installed -- if your wife installed Linux herself, she can probably set up the printer herself. But if she has to take her computer to "the shop" to have someone else install Windows XP for her, I doubt she's capable or interested in setting up linux herself, so I would assume that you set up linux for her -- if you did, you should be able to set up the printer. It's quite easy if you stop whining and actually give it a chance.
Mark Cuban just mentioned this a few days ago on his blog. Some good points, especially the fact that America NEEDS to go digital so it can privatise analog and sell it off to raise money!
Open-sourcing your sex life may or may not not be the best route for you. Let me explain some of your different licensing options, since I've already been down this road and have learned a lot of painful lessons.
If you open-source your sex life, you won't likely increase your userbase as much as you'd think. You can expect at best 1-2% of the total users (much like "laissez-faire" Linux, hot, sexy, and openly available as it may be). Haggard old Windows (technically under a much stricter one-user "monogamous" license), on the other hand, has 90% of the mindshare. There's a lot more hot coeds interested in investing their time into a long-term legal, registered copy of Windows than Linux, if you know what I mean. Women feel comforted by the strict EULA "vows" that you take when you click "I DO" during the install. If you opt for a proprietary, single-user sex life license, you can be sure of a certain level of solid usage, but unlike Linux, there is really no thrill or excitement involved. The Windows GUI gets tired and stale very quickly, is generally considered "crippleware" and won't do a lot of the naughty things Linux does for you without paying dearly for the extra functionality, and is prone to "bloat" -- Windows seems to double in size every few years. HOWEVER -- the secret of Windows happiness for you, my friend, is that cheap and dirty copies of Windows are easily "acquired" when nobody's looking, and most people have either considered going for a quickie download or are running an illicit second copy somewhere besides their main computer right now. I have a legal copy of Win98 running, but I UPGRADED to a secret install of 2000 on the side, and it's a lot smoother running... unfortunately, no OS ever went down as frequently as my original Win98 did, except when I experimented with Amiga in college.
The main problems with running an illicit copy of Windows are that
a)you KNOW that a lot of other people are enjoying the same copy that you are at the same time as you, and
b) Windows will definitely lead you to viruses, bugs of all sorts that are hard to get rid of, and in the end, ultimate disappointment and regret.
What I'm saying is you don't have to announce you're open to actually BE open. And if you're married, you should DEFINITELY tell your wife that you fully respect her Intellectual Property rights, onerous and burdensome as they may be, and that you respect her patent monopoly despite the fact that she never seems to use it. If you mess with your wife (the legal owner), you will end up in a place worse than death -- alone and settling for the most pathetic OS of all -- Windows "ME".
Every product is vulnerable to failure and obsolescence. Look at the rise and fall (and rise again) of Apple. Look at Novell Netware. Look at Corel's Wordperfect. It wouldn't take much for Windows to join their former victims in the "Where Are They Now?" pile. The market is prone to crazy reversals of fortune.
Not since the big dotcom boom have I heard that old familiar mantra: "This time it's different!". What I've learned from the dotcom boom is that it's NEVER different. Evolution and revolution happen. Things get better and the laggards disappear for lack of interest.
In short, I don't think the domination of Windows is forever. And the reason I don't think so is because yesterday my Mac Switcher friend at work lent me his copy of the Ubuntu PPC LiveCD, I tried it on my PowerBook last night, and today, I've already downloaded the x86 version and am writing this post from Ubuntu. THAT'S how fast it can change. I never tried Ubuntu before last night, but I honestly can't believe how bloody GOOD it is! I laughed out loud with happiness the way I did the first time I booted up my Mac.
And if it can happen to me, it can happen to anyone. The people just have to discover Linux. Seriously, very very few even know that Linux exists, and that must change. Once it does, we will win.
p.s. I can't believe I signed up just this morning and nobody had the nym ubuntu yet! I feel almost guilty, like I'm one of those domain name squatters or something, but I believe in ubuntu as much as anybody else. Humanity to Others!
Slashdot Mirror
Dude, chill out. If you're a professional, then OF COURSE you'll use Photoshop. I AM NOT A GRAPHIC DESIGNER. So why would *I* WASTE hundreds of dollars buying something I don't need?
Step out of your own situation to consider others. For my situation, and MOST people out there, Photoshop is massive overkill. My dad has it and uses about 5 features, all of which are available on the Gimp. Are you getting my point?
What I basically said was "use what works". If you have a problem with that then you're a Photoshop / Apple salesman.
And yes, Ubuntu is my real distro -- I am a Mac user (not an artist, a musician) who is "switching" to Linux, because that's where all the music apps are, among other reasons.
Exactly. DON'T waste your money on Photoshop. For my purposes, I actually prefer MS Paint. It's fast, it's simple, it doesn't cost $500 bucks or whatever, it doesn't take 5 minutes to load up....
If I'm doing real heavy work with multiple layers, I use the Gimp. It's free, and I have used it enough that the layout seems natural to me, while the Photoshop way of doing things seems unnatural and difficult.
Use what you NEED to ACCOMPLISH A TASK, don't use what everybody else is telling you to run because it's cool. I get my work done faster and cheaper with a minimalistic setup. I've even taken to running MSPaint in Wine as I'm quickly migrating to an all-Linux home network.
Now, if my prediction that Microsoft will have a Linux or other UNIX-like kernel in Windows by 2015 holds up I'll consider myself the Nostradomus of IT.
Future MS releases, possibly even Longhorn, are strongly rumored to use the OpenBSD kernel. There was a Slashdot article on it, but thanks to the big Mac "switch" news (heh heh, Apple is a switcher!), Slashdot is hobbled and search is unavailable.
BTW, nice to meet you, Nostradamus, sir.
On x86, Apple is now directly competing with Microsoft, whereas before, MS pretty much left them alone and instead focused on killing x86 Linux.
Apple is now in Microsoft's sights.
I think Apple's going to release a Tablet PC.
Watch The Incredibles; made by Pixar, shares largely owned by Steve Jobs. The special features show Jobs sitting at a meeting with the creative staff of Pixar, so he seems to be at least marginally involved.
The computer Mister Incredible gets his secret mission on at the beginning of the movie is a Tablet PC. No big deal, might not have anything to do with Apple. Could just be a very cool form factor.
BUT...
The Tablet PC had an iPod SCROLL WHEEL ON IT! That's very strange, especially because the iPod scroll wheel is so distinctive -- and patented by Apple.
After watching the movie and seeing the iTablet, I saw the Slashdot story mentioning Apple had received a patent for a Tablet-looking device. That just added strength to the rumour.
Would Jobs and Co. be so cocky that they'd telegraph their future product lines like this? Nobody seems to have noticed it but me. This clue has slipped unnoticed under the radar of everybody until now, it seems.
I may be right, I may be wrong. It's just a possibility. A strong possibility. Apple made music over the net work when nobody else could. They made MP3 players move when nobody else could. Now are they going to start the Tablet PC revolution everybody's been expecting for the last 5 or 10 years?
[I just hope they've dumped Broadcom for their wireless cards; my PowerBook's wireless is useless under Linux because Broadcom are complete A$$holes who won't release any specs. I won't be buying another computer with Broadcom in it until they get a clue and start supporting their customers.]
Apparently, the Slashdot editors think our comments are so stupid that we HAVE to be bots. Sorry, Taco, we really are that stupid. At least I am. No wait. I mean, my posts are. I mean, I'm not a bot. I'm sure I'm smarter than a bot, even though I keep typing the captcha thing wrong. Maybe it's an IQ test, like a minimum height requirement on a Roller Coaster. I got it on my third try. What I'm trying to say is... uh, I forgot.
Dammit IQ Captcha, what are you trying to tell me!?!?!?
======================
Are my eyes deceiving me? Please tell me that Microsoft didn't get OpenOffice version 2 before the rest of us did!
By making it easy to write client-side scripts that modify webpages as you surf, it shifts the balance of power from content creators to content consumers.
No Greasemonkey? Web = Cathedral
Greasemonkey? Web = Bazaar
Flexibility and user control are good. To get the maximum utility out of a tool (like the Internet), we must seek to maximize the number of ways it can be used. Greasemonkey helps us do that. Just imagine if computers themselves were very closed and we could only use them in the ways companies originally intended us to -- they'd be single-purpose fancy calculators, and I for one wouldn't waste money on one. Instead, the openness and untapped potential of these things is amazing, and accounts for many of the advancements we've made in the last 50 years.
Go Greasemonkey!
Apple buys NeXT, NeXT now rules Apple.
Dell buys into Red Hat, ???
(Just kidding!)
... like all good businessmen, whoever wins the OS wars, he wants to profit from it. If you can't beat them, join them.
Michael Dell has always been a forward thinker (as evidenced by his innovation in sales techniques online) and I would imagine that he sees the potential in Linux. I wouldn't be surprised if his half-hearted attempts to sell Linux desktops were only half-hearted due to MS pressure and threats. MS has Dell and the other OEMs over a barrel. Dell may want his freedom, and Red Hat may be the "get out of MS Jail free" card he needs.
I believe Linux actually is truly desktop ready -- and this is coming from a former Mac guy who relishes his ease-of-use more than anything. If I can use Ubuntu daily, anyone can. And I'm sure Dell has seen Linux's progress as well as anybody else here and is betting on it continuing. He's getting in on the "ground floor", so to speak.
These problems don't exist in Ubuntu, at least in my experience. The printer setup is the same format as windows; choose your printer manufacturer, then the model, then install. Done. I was AMAZED how easy it was to set up my printer under Linux after hearing all the bitching about it here on Slashdot. The list of supported printers is HUGE and included every printer in my house.
And no offense, but I highly doubt linux came pre-installed -- if your wife installed Linux herself, she can probably set up the printer herself. But if she has to take her computer to "the shop" to have someone else install Windows XP for her, I doubt she's capable or interested in setting up linux herself, so I would assume that you set up linux for her -- if you did, you should be able to set up the printer. It's quite easy if you stop whining and actually give it a chance.
Well, that's pretty cool...
Call me when they come with a free Princess Amidala.
If the Chinese Government doesn't want the people to see something, just post it as a link on Slashdot.
Problem solved, no censorship required.
... but I'd SWEAR that Mac OS X has BSD code in it.
That reminds me -- I just saw a wicked movie.
Windows Users = Longhorn
Apple Users = Tiger
Linux User (that's me) = WARTY WARTHOG?
In the overtly sexual OS naming scheme, Linux users seem to be getting the short end of the... stick, if you know what I mean.
Mark Cuban just mentioned this a few days ago on his blog. Some good points, especially the fact that America NEEDS to go digital so it can privatise analog and sell it off to raise money!
If you open-source your sex life, you won't likely increase your userbase as much as you'd think. You can expect at best 1-2% of the total users (much like "laissez-faire" Linux, hot, sexy, and openly available as it may be). Haggard old Windows (technically under a much stricter one-user "monogamous" license), on the other hand, has 90% of the mindshare. There's a lot more hot coeds interested in investing their time into a long-term legal, registered copy of Windows than Linux, if you know what I mean. Women feel comforted by the strict EULA "vows" that you take when you click "I DO" during the install. If you opt for a proprietary, single-user sex life license, you can be sure of a certain level of solid usage, but unlike Linux, there is really no thrill or excitement involved. The Windows GUI gets tired and stale very quickly, is generally considered "crippleware" and won't do a lot of the naughty things Linux does for you without paying dearly for the extra functionality, and is prone to "bloat" -- Windows seems to double in size every few years. HOWEVER -- the secret of Windows happiness for you, my friend, is that cheap and dirty copies of Windows are easily "acquired" when nobody's looking, and most people have either considered going for a quickie download or are running an illicit second copy somewhere besides their main computer right now. I have a legal copy of Win98 running, but I UPGRADED to a secret install of 2000 on the side, and it's a lot smoother running... unfortunately, no OS ever went down as frequently as my original Win98 did, except when I experimented with Amiga in college.
The main problems with running an illicit copy of Windows are that
a)you KNOW that a lot of other people are enjoying the same copy that you are at the same time as you, and
b) Windows will definitely lead you to viruses, bugs of all sorts that are hard to get rid of, and in the end, ultimate disappointment and regret.
What I'm saying is you don't have to announce you're open to actually BE open. And if you're married, you should DEFINITELY tell your wife that you fully respect her Intellectual Property rights, onerous and burdensome as they may be, and that you respect her patent monopoly despite the fact that she never seems to use it. If you mess with your wife (the legal owner), you will end up in a place worse than death -- alone and settling for the most pathetic OS of all -- Windows "ME".
Every product is vulnerable to failure and obsolescence. Look at the rise and fall (and rise again) of Apple. Look at Novell Netware. Look at Corel's Wordperfect. It wouldn't take much for Windows to join their former victims in the "Where Are They Now?" pile. The market is prone to crazy reversals of fortune.
Not since the big dotcom boom have I heard that old familiar mantra: "This time it's different!". What I've learned from the dotcom boom is that it's NEVER different. Evolution and revolution happen. Things get better and the laggards disappear for lack of interest.
In short, I don't think the domination of Windows is forever. And the reason I don't think so is because yesterday my Mac Switcher friend at work lent me his copy of the Ubuntu PPC LiveCD, I tried it on my PowerBook last night, and today, I've already downloaded the x86 version and am writing this post from Ubuntu. THAT'S how fast it can change. I never tried Ubuntu before last night, but I honestly can't believe how bloody GOOD it is! I laughed out loud with happiness the way I did the first time I booted up my Mac.
And if it can happen to me, it can happen to anyone. The people just have to discover Linux. Seriously, very very few even know that Linux exists, and that must change. Once it does, we will win.
p.s. I can't believe I signed up just this morning and nobody had the nym ubuntu yet! I feel almost guilty, like I'm one of those domain name squatters or something, but I believe in ubuntu as much as anybody else. Humanity to Others!