1) IBM should try to make their computers LINUX COMPATIBLE, not DISTRO COMPATIBLE. Some clueless people will start to think that Linux is something RedHat invented, just like today many think that that windowing systems are a M$ invention. 2) If IBM wants their computers to be LINUX COMPATIBLE CERTIFIED, they should think to start making them BE COMPATIBLE, and they think to CERTIFY THAT CONDITION. And here we get into this nice subjet: "Why is entitled to certify linux compatibility?".
I've always checked at newsgroups before buying anything. If I buy a CD burner, I check, for example, the cdrecord page, not a particular distro's page. If I buy a notebook, maybe I check at LINUX LAPTOP PAGE. Why not giving away hardware to people who is working for that to became functional under linux instead of just trying to get a "certification". Sure, they can't do that...some say the modem don't works... Why not giving specs and a new Thinkpad 600E as a gift to a guy involved in ther serial port stuff of the kernel, (or pnp, usb or whatever is wrong with their modem...?!!). Many people, the kind of people who installs Linux on a notebook, don't give SH*T if a company says that something is "Linux compatible" if that don't appears on a newsgroup or in that hardware's working group specific page...
GRASS, an open source software package, running in a pentium with 32Mb Ram, a cd-reader and a 14" monitor can take you to the point where if you know that planes have wings, that tanks are cars with cannons on top and that a building in the center with 5 little buildings around are AA systems, you are a junior satellite image interpreter... Just remember, roads and cables lead to buildings. And if a road dissapears in the middle of nothing, maybe there's an underground bunker there... Talking seriously, maybe I can't recognize a missile launch facility, but if you show anybody a tank from above, it don't get many skills to recognize it...
For 4 years I've been working on Remote sensing. I feel that there's a missconception about satellite imagery. 1m resolution is not so "Hi Res" imagery. Same imagery has been around for years in form of aerial photography, let's say, for more than 40 years. Yes, the times have changed, now images are processed and used with computers, you have powerfull geographic information systems, etc...but privacy is still the same... There's no way that 1m resolution can be used to see french girls topless in ibiza, or if you are wearing red shirts or even if you read marx or bradbury... 1m resolution can show if you built a new room in your house, or if that nice swiming pool you built in your house is big or small. Just like walking and watching from the street... In military applications, every government of the planet knows the satellite orbits, and no one will test that "hot new tank" while the satellite is above them. Russians knew that US planes and satellites were taking images during the cold war, and funny things happened, but I can't remember a serious discovery in the intelligence field, when everybody knew what was going around. Maybe in the first years it was secret, but quickly it became obvious that imagery was just a control tool, nor a real secret eye in the space. This reminds me "The Simpsons" when the goverment guys say they don't know where monty burns hides the 1 billion dollars note, but sattelites show that is not in the roof...that's the real thing... Real privacy violations are coming, but not 1m resolution images...maybe electromagnetic scaning of monitors activity, or laser microphones targeted to our windows, but...jejeje...not ikonos from the space... just my 2 cents...
A RAD tool like Delphi will bring tons of new apps to Linux. I've worked for two big companies where the internal use software was developed with Delphi...If the compatibility is at source code level, many companies will have no excuse to use Linux internally. That's the desktops, yes, not server-side only. So...we will be one step closer to world domination. Really, a linux desktop would be a dream for tech support. Imagine having a generic installation for every department and not having to deal with regitery, slightly different ne200 cards with different win drivers. User profiles changing location, tighter security, flexible permisions for users...I can wait to see that! Because many computers at big companies just run 2 or 3 softwares every day. Many just run 1 (tel. assistance, accounting, word-processor...)
Well, I hope to see that one day
NT doesn't need GNOME, but I don't need NT!
on
The Future of GNOME
·
· Score: 1
I like KDE, I like GNOME. They are both nice to me, and I use KDE on my notebook (Travelmate 5000, P90, 16 RAM) wich is kinda slow, and GNOME in my desktops. I like both. I use enlighthenment sometimes, and WindowMaker others. It's a question of mood. I certainly don't use NT, because I won't pay, no way...Linux just fills all my needs in the office, at home and in the road. I take my travelmate on vacations and amuse myself coding. Yes, I'm a nerd... But I know what I want from my OS and from my GUI...FLEXIBILITY and FREEDOM OF CHOICE. If somebody don't like this...well is up to them.
Many friends of mine, installed Linux on their homes just because the look and fell of GNOME or KDE was new and exciting, they visually liked, more than windows9x or NT. I fell strange watching them swithching OS, just because the GUI,(I switched OS without thinking in the GUI...), but now, in Linux world, they can switch desktops as often as they want. This is not religion or politics, so keep the flames away, is just a choice.
Well, when I was a child I attended to a christian school. My parents were both geologists. I grew up collecting fossils with my mom. She took me to the field since I was 6 months old. When I reached 2nd grade I told my teacher that the man evolved from apes, and fishes from older fishes...well, I was 6 years old:) It was a REALLY religious school, and my teacher was a true believer. But instead of getting mad with me, she called my father and he went down to the school and gave a class about evolution to us. Then, the teacher told us that the men is seeking ways to explain god's work and maybe god created animals and then started to change them because maybe he wanted them to be more suitable for mankind. That was OK for me then, and one of those childrens now is a priest. I was 6 and I didn't loose my faith, it took another 4 years for me to loose my faith, and It was when I realized that religion is as human as politics and there was nothing divine about it. When I understood that the bible is a good book, as good as any book that tries to help people, and it was written by people.
Science is not responsable to make childrens loose it's faith in god, religious people is.
They are just contributing to make kids hate them and became nonbelievers, just like me. Because, when you fell the authorithy is cheating on you, you just react.
Well, I had a similar history. While I was waiting for the bus to go back home from work, I saw a fight, two guys of my age, looked like normal persons, but really upset. In a moment a guy dressed "civilian" came running into the scene with a gun. From the bus stop I yelled "hold on, is not that serious". A simple fight, mostrly insults, don't require a 9mm gun. Well, the guy was a cop, and in minute one of it's partners arrested me for being involved in a street fight...(?!). Just because I tried to tell them that it was a simple fight (traffic problems) and a gun was a bit out of place. Next time I'll keep silent and I'll watch the guy kill someone. Who cares? This is the new millenium society!
Well, the picture in Argentina is not so different (I always though that AU and AR are VERY similar in many social aspects). Here we have not one but 2 companies that control 49,5% of the market each, they have the SAME prices. So, let's say you want to build a ISP. You have a US$1000/month fee for a 64-128Kb line, but both telco have their own ISP (no real money is moved). So, how you compete? New companies are expected to start giving services by the end of the year, and I'm SURE that they will display similar prices to the current monopolies. Competition? No, nobody want's to screw up the big communications bussiness. They are all friends, they like what they have and will never risk it so nobody is going to really lower prices.
Imagine the ammount of applications written in Delphi being available for linux? This would be a REAL boost on Linux and Delphi (of course), and Borland knows this. I like this, I really like this
Well, this is sad but this guy sound like one of those '50 american guys looking for communists under carpets and ashtrays... A technology has no political content, is just a way to do things. Metcalfe tries to bind microsoft success to the notion of "pro-american" and linux for contraposition to "anti-american"...well, I'm American, South American in fact, and I gladly perceive Linux as a "World" thing, not just one country thing, and there's were the magic lies at the end. Then again, anti-social...well, I made MANY social contact with other linux users in the last years, and happily avoided contact with corporate "User Support" employes who are always 2nd years students that don't have a clue about what they are supporting anyway. Anti-capitalism? Well, people who is actually porting apps to Linux must be happy for having another reason to get new contract time, more work os more services to sell. Many companies are implementing Servers under Linux and I readed a Price Waterhouse Coopers manual for Linux, and if this guys are getting their employees used to linux, they must have a good reason...(And if PWC is not a good example of capitalism, I'm really lost) I do not think that linux is anti microsoft, is just plain better if you got a clue, but if you are old and slow to learn, well, that up to you Bobo...I'm in command of my destiny and I choose the OS that will take me there...Is it clear? Right to Choose, that's not american, not capitalistic, not communist, not socialist, not social is UNIVERSAL) Who cares how many users? Thanks god there's DIFFERENT CHOICES and people uses them, imagine a world where everybody dress the same, eat the same, drives the same and installs the same, PLAIN BOARING! What' s the point with those numbers if at the end Bob accepts that nobody knows real numbers anyway? What's the point of this article??!! My Advise to Bob is to perform brain surgery on himself, it's clear he has nothing to loose anyway...
Let's see, since I started my first semester many yars ago in CS, EVERY professor told some joke about "CS people can't communicate", or finishing phrases with a "but as you know, we talk difficult". I always thought that this is a lie, but there's another problem around there. People, a lot of people (not all), is loosing it's hability to commuinicate ideas. I found myself sometimes unable to express my thoughts even english is obiously not my languaje. (in fact, spanish is). I would be in deep trouble explaining a Mindcraft guy everything I think about their tests, and is quite simple to tell him something more direct like "Jerk" or a plain "F' You!", that's the easy way. Many people suffer the same syndrome using it's own languaje. I've seen it many times. I remeber this teacher assistant back trying to explain why he believed that client-server model sucked (poor him...) and he finished in a way very similar to those stupid mindcraft mails. But every of us should start thinking that there's a lot of people around there that sees groups o millions of people like the open source movement, or just the linux users or bsd users as 1 single person or maybe the 10 persons who e-mailed those insults to midcraft. And they will think that there's millions of us who are all like crazy bastards who will bomb redmond with a H bomb, just because we are anti-monopolistic (at least many of us). Remeber the article of "Bob Ethernet"? Well, maybe that's the image we are giving, or the image that they are getting. And that's bad. There's a real need of a PR, but a decentralized PR group. Every one of us is a PR representative of what we think and what we like, and we all should be carefull of how we exercise it. I still remember OS/2 advocates being ridiculizated by media, and I have to admit that some of their moves where childish and silly, not the kind of actions that will attract people. At the end, our better panphlet to promote Linux is Linux itself (or Bsd, or the OS model itself). Be carefull, future depends on today.
PS: Not bad for somebody without formal english classes!
I can't understand this kind of bussiness movements. What is S3 buying anyway? Diamond brand? WHat Diamond have that s3 needs to buy? Because I feel that S3 have the tech skills to develop any product they want. And at 10% of the price of Diamond acquisition, they can take S3 brand from a OEM level to general public. SO where's the deal?
I'm not saying YOU are trying to take all credit... But many people around here TENDS to talk in first person too much...I and I and I. Maybe there's lack of WE and WE and WE... But this is general and no personal. WE need to put efforts to show ONE community instead of many individual persons.
The Open Source Concept is being embraced by many, and that is succesfull for all of us. But my dear friend, please remember that this "success" not belongs to anybody in particular. Users, Developers, Supporters, Real Media...there's so many people out there that shares this success...we all should be carefully on how we split this big success cake...
Anyway, the real issue here is start the "OSI Certified" Logo contest;)
This is really important, no media coverage about this story? My fuc*ing bank runs on IIS! I want my money back! Who the hell is giving security certifications in this world? Mickey Mouse?
I HATE this propietary software!
If Open Source, every sysadmin in the planet would have fixed this (but don't tell M$, they should not master this secret)
"Due the great complexity in today's software, in some cases bugs can't be used as a quality metric, the real metric should be the time it gets the bug get fixed"
Well, I won't say IIS4.0 is bad, and quality less right now, I'll wait 'till next week when M$ will be still deniyng it and no patch would be available for their customers.
Sounds like everything I readed on books about UNIX and his history is absolutely wrong! I will check Jack's column more often. Now I will uninstall my Linux API and I will install my NETSCAPE OS 4.6. And I'll install a command set like Norton Commander to run in top of my Mozilla GUI in order to use it's amazing SUN emulation system...
Yes!!! I'm ready to have my own opinion column at the andover!
Software piracy is the effect of a cause called high prices. Let alone scpecific applications, and let's focus on the common things you'll see pirated in s friend's computer: 1) Win 2) Office 3) Games
This 3 issues are the strong leg for Intel/Windows monopoly. You can combine product 1) with either 2) and/or 3) and you got the main reason for the question: "Why people use Windows?".
M$ lost money on piracy, but won all the market. So...are they really concerned about it? Are they going to fight piracy?
Hardware keys have been around for YEARS. If they want to stop piracy they have better tools. But IMHO, they just enjoy people coping their SW.
This give me a another good reason to convince people that linux is really usefull in a bussiness enviroment. There's the field were linux can show it's versatility and flexibility.
Slashdot Mirror
1) IBM should try to make their computers LINUX COMPATIBLE, not DISTRO COMPATIBLE. Some clueless people will start to think that Linux is something RedHat invented, just like today many think that that windowing systems are a M$ invention.
2) If IBM wants their computers to be LINUX COMPATIBLE CERTIFIED, they should think to start making them BE COMPATIBLE, and they think to CERTIFY THAT CONDITION. And here we get into this nice subjet:
"Why is entitled to certify linux compatibility?".
I've always checked at newsgroups before buying anything. If I buy a CD burner, I check, for example, the cdrecord page, not a particular distro's page. If I buy a notebook, maybe I check at LINUX LAPTOP PAGE. Why not giving away hardware to people who is working for that to became functional under linux instead of just trying to get a "certification". Sure, they can't do that...some say the modem don't works...
Why not giving specs and a new Thinkpad 600E as a gift to a guy involved in ther serial port stuff of the kernel, (or pnp, usb or whatever is wrong with their modem...?!!). Many people, the kind of people who installs Linux on a notebook, don't give SH*T if a company says that something is "Linux compatible" if that don't appears on a newsgroup or in that hardware's working group specific page...
Modern marketing for morons:
1) Use the word "computer"
2) Use the word "virtual"
3) Use the word "internet"
Mix them as you like and sell something.
Example:
"Contact your virtual dead friends from your computer anywhere in the world using internet."
Yes, the world is full of stupid people, a good proof of that is the number of enterprises paying NT licences for file serving...
---------------------
"Chaos is ruled by a very well defined set of rules"
GRASS, an open source software package, running in a pentium with 32Mb Ram, a cd-reader and a 14" monitor can take you to the point where if you know that planes have wings, that tanks are cars with cannons on top and that a building in the center with 5 little buildings around are AA systems, you are a junior satellite image interpreter...
Just remember, roads and cables lead to buildings. And if a road dissapears in the middle of nothing, maybe there's an underground bunker there...
Talking seriously, maybe I can't recognize a missile launch facility, but if you show anybody a tank from above, it don't get many skills to recognize it...
For 4 years I've been working on Remote sensing. I feel that there's a missconception about satellite imagery. 1m resolution is not so "Hi Res" imagery. Same imagery has been around for years in form of aerial photography, let's say, for more than 40 years. Yes, the times have changed, now images are processed and used with computers, you have powerfull geographic information systems, etc...but privacy is still the same... There's no way that 1m resolution can be used to see french girls topless in ibiza, or if you are wearing red shirts or even if you read marx or bradbury... 1m resolution can show if you built a new room in your house, or if that nice swiming pool you built in your house is big or small. Just like walking and watching from the street... In military applications, every government of the planet knows the satellite orbits, and no one will test that "hot new tank" while the satellite is above them. Russians knew that US planes and satellites were taking images during the cold war, and funny things happened, but I can't remember a serious discovery in the intelligence field, when everybody knew what was going around. Maybe in the first years it was secret, but quickly it became obvious that imagery was just a control tool, nor a real secret eye in the space. This reminds me "The Simpsons" when the goverment guys say they don't know where monty burns hides the 1 billion dollars note, but sattelites show that is not in the roof...that's the real thing... Real privacy violations are coming, but not 1m resolution images...maybe electromagnetic scaning of monitors activity, or laser microphones targeted to our windows, but...jejeje...not ikonos from the space... just my 2 cents...
A RAD tool like Delphi will bring tons of new apps to Linux. I've worked for two big companies where the internal use software was developed with Delphi...If the compatibility is at source code level, many companies will have no excuse to use Linux internally. That's the desktops, yes, not server-side only. So...we will be one step closer to world domination.
Really, a linux desktop would be a dream for tech support. Imagine having a generic installation for every department and not having to deal with regitery, slightly different ne200 cards with different win drivers. User profiles changing location, tighter security, flexible permisions for users...I can wait to see that!
Because many computers at big companies just run 2 or 3 softwares every day. Many just run 1 (tel. assistance, accounting, word-processor...)
Well, I hope to see that one day
I like KDE, I like GNOME. They are both nice to me, and I use KDE on my notebook (Travelmate 5000, P90, 16 RAM) wich is kinda slow, and GNOME in my desktops. I like both.
I use enlighthenment sometimes, and WindowMaker others. It's a question of mood. I certainly don't use NT, because I won't pay, no way...Linux just fills all my needs in the office, at home and in the road. I take my travelmate on vacations and amuse myself coding. Yes, I'm a nerd...
But I know what I want from my OS and from my GUI...FLEXIBILITY and FREEDOM OF CHOICE.
If somebody don't like this...well is up to them.
Many friends of mine, installed Linux on their homes just because the look and fell of GNOME or KDE was new and exciting, they visually liked, more than windows9x or NT.
I fell strange watching them swithching OS, just because the GUI,(I switched OS without thinking in the GUI...), but now, in Linux world, they can switch desktops as often as they want.
This is not religion or politics, so keep the flames away, is just a choice.
My Box, my choice
Well, when I was a child I attended to a christian school. My parents were both geologists. I grew up collecting fossils with my mom. She took me to the field since I was 6 months old. :)
When I reached 2nd grade I told my teacher that the man evolved from apes, and fishes from older fishes...well, I was 6 years old
It was a REALLY religious school, and my teacher was a true believer. But instead of getting mad with me, she called my father and he went down to the school and gave a class about evolution to us.
Then, the teacher told us that the men is seeking ways to explain god's work and maybe god created animals and then started to change them because maybe he wanted them to be more suitable for mankind. That was OK for me then, and one of those childrens now is a priest.
I was 6 and I didn't loose my faith, it took another 4 years for me to loose my faith, and It was when I realized that religion is as human as politics and there was nothing divine about it. When I understood that the bible is a good book, as good as any book that tries to help people, and it was written by people.
Science is not responsable to make childrens loose it's faith in god, religious people is.
They are just contributing to make kids hate them and became nonbelievers, just like me. Because, when you fell the authorithy is cheating on you, you just react.
Well, I had a similar history.
While I was waiting for the bus to go back home from work, I saw a fight, two guys of my age, looked like normal persons, but really upset. In a moment a guy dressed "civilian" came running into the scene with a gun. From the bus stop I yelled "hold on, is not that serious". A simple fight, mostrly insults, don't require a 9mm gun.
Well, the guy was a cop, and in minute one of it's partners arrested me for being involved in a street fight...(?!). Just because I tried to tell them that it was a simple fight (traffic problems) and a gun was a bit out of place.
Next time I'll keep silent and I'll watch the guy kill someone. Who cares? This is the new millenium society!
We have to assume that every legal form of communication that the FBI has not complaints on, is now being taped easily?
Well, the picture in Argentina is not so different (I always though that AU and AR are VERY similar in many social aspects). Here we have not one but 2 companies that control 49,5% of the market each, they have the SAME prices. So, let's say you want to build a ISP. You have a US$1000/month fee for a 64-128Kb line, but both telco have their own ISP (no real money is moved). So, how you compete?
New companies are expected to start giving services by the end of the year, and I'm SURE that they will display similar prices to the current monopolies. Competition? No, nobody want's to screw up the big communications bussiness. They are all friends, they like what they have and will never risk it so nobody is going to really lower prices.
Now, I want a phaser and warp accelerators.
And how are they going to implement such tax?
Today, anything containing the word "internet" make it's way to the news. I starting to hate that!
Imagine the ammount of applications written in Delphi being available for linux?
This would be a REAL boost on Linux and Delphi (of course), and Borland knows this.
I like this, I really like this
Well, this is sad but this guy sound like one of those '50 american guys looking for communists under carpets and ashtrays...
A technology has no political content, is just a way to do things. Metcalfe tries to bind microsoft success to the notion of "pro-american" and linux for contraposition to "anti-american"...well, I'm American, South American in fact, and I gladly perceive Linux as a "World" thing, not just one country thing, and there's were the magic lies at the end.
Then again, anti-social...well, I made MANY social contact with other linux users in the last years, and happily avoided contact with corporate "User Support" employes who are always 2nd years students that don't have a clue about what they are supporting anyway.
Anti-capitalism? Well, people who is actually porting apps to Linux must be happy for having another reason to get new contract time, more work os more services to sell.
Many companies are implementing Servers under Linux and I readed a Price Waterhouse Coopers manual for Linux, and if this guys are getting their employees used to linux, they must have a good reason...(And if PWC is not a good example of capitalism, I'm really lost)
I do not think that linux is anti microsoft, is just plain better if you got a clue, but if you are old and slow to learn, well, that up to you Bobo...I'm in command of my destiny and I choose the OS that will take me there...Is it clear? Right to Choose, that's not american, not capitalistic, not communist, not socialist, not social is UNIVERSAL)
Who cares how many users? Thanks god there's DIFFERENT CHOICES and people uses them, imagine a world where everybody dress the same, eat the same, drives the same and installs the same, PLAIN BOARING!
What' s the point with those numbers if at the end Bob accepts that nobody knows real numbers anyway?
What's the point of this article??!!
My Advise to Bob is to perform brain surgery on himself, it's clear he has nothing to loose anyway...
Unlimited Bandwidth is physically impossible.
You can talk about BIG, BIGGER or HUGHE but not infinitum or unlimited.
Let's see, since I started my first semester many yars ago in CS, EVERY professor told some joke about "CS people can't communicate", or finishing phrases with a "but as you know, we talk difficult". I always thought that this is a lie, but there's another problem around there.
People, a lot of people (not all), is loosing it's hability to commuinicate ideas.
I found myself sometimes unable to express my thoughts even english is obiously not my languaje. (in fact, spanish is).
I would be in deep trouble explaining a Mindcraft guy everything I think about their tests, and is quite simple to tell him something more direct like "Jerk" or a plain "F' You!", that's the easy way.
Many people suffer the same syndrome using it's own languaje. I've seen it many times. I remeber this teacher assistant back trying to explain why he believed that client-server model sucked (poor him...) and he finished in a way very similar to those stupid mindcraft mails.
But every of us should start thinking that there's a lot of people around there that sees groups o millions of people like the open source movement, or just the linux users or bsd users as 1 single person or maybe the 10 persons who e-mailed those insults to midcraft.
And they will think that there's millions of us who are all like crazy bastards who will bomb redmond with a H bomb, just because we are anti-monopolistic (at least many of us).
Remeber the article of "Bob Ethernet"?
Well, maybe that's the image we are giving, or the image that they are getting. And that's bad.
There's a real need of a PR, but a decentralized PR group. Every one of us is a PR representative of what we think and what we like, and we all should be carefull of how we exercise it.
I still remember OS/2 advocates being ridiculizated by media, and I have to admit that some of their moves where childish and silly, not the kind of actions that will attract people.
At the end, our better panphlet to promote Linux is Linux itself (or Bsd, or the OS model itself).
Be carefull, future depends on today.
PS: Not bad for somebody without formal english classes!
I can't understand this kind of bussiness movements.
What is S3 buying anyway? Diamond brand?
WHat Diamond have that s3 needs to buy?
Because I feel that S3 have the tech skills to develop any product they want. And at 10% of the price of Diamond acquisition, they can take S3 brand from a OEM level to general public.
SO where's the deal?
I'm not saying YOU are trying to take all credit...
But many people around here TENDS to talk in first person too much...I and I and I.
Maybe there's lack of WE and WE and WE...
But this is general and no personal.
WE need to put efforts to show ONE community instead of many individual persons.
Just a thought...too much cafeine.
The Open Source Concept is being embraced by many, and that is succesfull for all of us. But my dear friend, please remember that this "success" not belongs to anybody in particular. Users, Developers, Supporters, Real Media...there's so many people out there that shares this success...we all should be carefully on how we split this big success cake...
;)
Anyway, the real issue here is start the "OSI Certified" Logo contest
This is really important, no media coverage about this story?
My fuc*ing bank runs on IIS! I want my money back!
Who the hell is giving security certifications in this world? Mickey Mouse?
I HATE this propietary software!
If Open Source, every sysadmin in the planet would have fixed this (but don't tell M$, they should not master this secret)
Linux, Pizza & Champagne!
"Due the great complexity in today's software, in some cases bugs can't be used as a quality metric, the real metric should be the time it gets the bug get fixed"
Well, I won't say IIS4.0 is bad, and quality less right now, I'll wait 'till next week when M$ will be still deniyng it and no patch would be available for their customers.
Sounds like everything I readed on books about UNIX and his history is absolutely wrong!
I will check Jack's column more often.
Now I will uninstall my Linux API and I will install my NETSCAPE OS 4.6.
And I'll install a command set like Norton Commander to run in top of my Mozilla GUI in order to use it's amazing SUN emulation system...
Yes!!!
I'm ready to have my own opinion column at the andover!
Software piracy is the effect of a cause called high prices. Let alone scpecific applications, and let's focus on the common things you'll see pirated in s friend's computer:
1) Win
2) Office
3) Games
This 3 issues are the strong leg for Intel/Windows monopoly. You can combine product 1) with either 2) and/or 3) and you got the main reason for the question: "Why people use Windows?".
M$ lost money on piracy, but won all the market. So...are they really concerned about it? Are they going to fight piracy?
Hardware keys have been around for YEARS. If they want to stop piracy they have better tools. But IMHO, they just enjoy people coping their SW.
This give me a another good reason to convince people that linux is really usefull in a bussiness enviroment. There's the field were linux can show it's versatility and flexibility.
The difference betewn you and me is that you still have to pay your software, you still have to wait for new versions of your OS to fix problems, and you still have to pay again. While I don't pay, I fix the problems, and will never pay for bug fixing.
My work is done under Linux versions of software, that many times are actually ported from other Unix platforms that are far more stable than windows versions and when I fell like to play games I use my playstation.
The only Linux drawback is that lacks of the Blue Screen Of Death© that is property of MS Corporation...that makes me fell real sad...for you.