I think the situation is going to be the exact opposite. By this i mean, not only Microsoft is going to survive, but is going to make much more money than before.
This for two simple reasons:
Microsoft bigger enemy has never been Linux, but piracy. I estimate that the illegal windows installations atleast doubles the Linux ones (if not much more). But this is going to end very soon.
DRM is the future. You might like it or not, but they have all the rights to implement such stuff. And it does not reduce your freedom (if you don't want to "lease" music, you can go without it, or play your own). Google's behaviour, on the other side, does raise some concerns about privacy respect
By the way, let's also stop the "Microsoft is evil monopolyst" thing. They're none of the above. They're not evil because it's not evil to make money (the money they get was given willingfully, not stolen) and they're not monopolysts. The simple fact I'm typing this on a Linux desktop proves my point.
Ok this is a bit offtopic but, by looking at the beta screenshots, Vista UI looks like the kind of interface the Empire might like. The taskbar and the start button especially reminds me of Darth Vader helmet. Anyone else noticed?
Well, to a certain extent. I hate setting dialogs with a dozen billion options that I barely know why are there... that's what made me switch from kde to gnome.
Well, there is a way to customize it.
Manually add the *.desktop entry in/usr/share/applications (and there is a way to put it in the user home dir too to have user-specific configs). I agree that, anyway, it's horrible. Glad they brought the function back (cause I think there was such a feature in old releases).
I can ask you, just out of curiosity, how MS-SQL compares to the other players? Some of my customers want to use it for their solutions... should I issuade them or let them go (or get all my work on MS-SQL? Jokin;))
Okay, let's clarify that being less power-hungry is a good thing. I dunno how's the situation elsewhere, but here in Italy the electric power costs a lot. And computers + AC + everything elseis making our life pretty hard (power goin out randomly and such).
If you add to that that switching from a residential 3.5KW contract to a mid-office 6KW one costs you about 100$ month more (just to actually "have it", no consumes included) I do think that requiring less power _is_ a very important thing. Probably the most important. Right now, at work I'm having big problems in trying to convince my boss to upgrade the electric power contract, but he's refusing (I cannot blame him, it costs a lot). And sometimes our supply gets cut cause we get over the maximum power.
Uhm no. Probably you read the wrong book. Josef Dzugasvilij's "Commentaries on "The capital"" isn't the reference book for capitalism, even if the title might lead you to think so.
Yeah... but it's like cars, you know. I know people that reasons in the same way you said about software, then they complain, yell and almost assault physically the guy that sold them their new car because the onboard comp went kaputt, and the only ones able to repair it are the car's manifacturer guys (and not the mechanic down the road) and because they charged him $1000 for a job that the mech down the road would have done for far less than half. The job was: take a $500 new onboard comp, replace it with the old comp. I can even do that, it's pretty simple. Thay charged $500 for the new comp and $500 for man work (yeah right). And if you ask them to just sell you the new part without replacing it? They refuse.
What I'm trying to say with this confused tale is that the same people that gets so angry to the point of almost physically attacking someone when this guy plainly extorts them $500, doesn't see why open formats are important. And if I try to explain that to them they dismiss me saying "it's too complex". then, out of curiosity, I asked them what do they think the cause of their "misfortune" was.
The reply was: the goddamned electronics that's everywhere these days
What can i say... i sometimes think they deserve to be dominated
A.K.A. free software. If you want a strong leadership, a vision and such, don't even think to be able to modify the code, or take a look at what's under the hood. People, on Linux, mainly do things because they need that piece of software for their _personal_ needs. Then, they opensource it. But in the vast majority they code because they need it. Not because they don't know what to do.
This is both the strongness and weakness of Linux. Weakness for the reasons you mentioned, strongness because:
a) we aren't stuck to a model, and if it turns out to be a hell in high developement stage we can jump on another ship (well ok even Linux has its matters in this place, but ask Jobs about all the money Apple threw away before they bought NeXT and turned it into OSX, or the struggle Microsoft had to do to get rid of win 9x design)
b) it usually offers a more wide choice. The toaster jokes prove this point:D.
You're makin it too simple. Layers are needed so the guys writing the applications does not have to care about how the system really designs their window. They can just go "gimme a window which is made like this and that" and have all the fancy stuff for free. Or else, nobody would ever think of developing a graphic app.
(Btw, for an app I'm writing it goes even worse since i have glade#->gtk# too on top of everything)
Yeah, the new DNS servers are oh-so-different from the past. They don't just make that simple name-ip translation, now they do more... serve you coffee in bed, clean your house, wash your dishes, and tells you what are the news on the Times. But they need more processing power, hence newer hardware, period.
On a serious note, Linux ain't magical. But it lets you get rid of the frilly stuff. I want something that i can turn on pressing a button, turn off by doing the same to accomplish some simple tasks, like providing internet access to other pcs. And also be adaptable to other uses (like install apache on it to fiddle a bit with web developement). Tell me why i need a shiny gui with transparencies, fading menus, smooth shadows to do that.
I had a p200mmx, bought in 1996. I had windows 95/98 on it until 2002, when the processor went harakiri and died. Well, kinda dead... it was simply segfaulting any 3 seconds. So i replaced the processor with an even older spare p75 that a friend had at his house (but never used) from... well, i dunno. I had to remove some fossils anyway. Due to the fact that the lowest processor my motherboard was going to support was a p90, i had to overclock the processor. It still segfaults a lot, and can't absolutely handle any bz2 file (segfaults at the only sight) and also dislikes using 2.6 kernels and udev (well actually all goes fine till it tries to upload the firmware on my USB ADSL modem, where it kernel panics).
But as firewall/samba box/dns/dhcp server goes really good... doesn't hang up... sure, it has a slack 9.1 and 2.4.22 kernel... uses the old USB ADSL modem drivers... but it goes.
And, most of all, you don't have a living clip (which, btw, is the main cause of people having serious fear of biotechnologies) that tells you "I see you're fdisk'in, maybe you wanna know how to make an apple pie aswell?"
Linux geeks tend to customize installs further adding to hassles with emails like "this won't work on my custom hacked 2.6 Kernal with a mixture of Fedora/Slackware/and Debain I cobbled together and for those reasons is why I prefer developing for *BSD or OSX because I know where the dependancies will be on a standard installation is a much better argument.
But that's most of the fun in Linux:D.
On a side point, this lack of a "unified Linux distro" makes it possible for Linux to go everywhere, from FPGAs to routers to toasters and whatever else. I don't think any other OS runs on such a large base of platforms.
SLASH NOTICE: the following "Will it run" joke was removed due to unauthorized duplication
This reminds me of all the relatives calling me for Microsoft support. Just because I'm known to be "good with computers".
But I now tell them I'm very sorry, that I just run Linux now, and I almost forgot how Windows is, that I'm not updated about the last marvels from Microsoft... and give them Microsoft helpdesk number.
I don't see the whole thing so black. As soon as programs using the advanced features of reiser4 will come out, many people will start to ask for the reiser4 support in the main kernel. And it will get accepted. What scares me more isn't the fact that it ain't in the vanilla kernel yet, but the fact that so many developers does not know, or does not realize, the importance of such innovations. I think that, anyway, the revolution won't come from the main player of the linux world, for main reasons (one for all, not to shock customers).
I do think it is very positive we have reiser4, and the widespread use of it will come (not tomorrow maybe, but very soon).
Yeah the fake MDI is pretty annoying. I noted that too. They better chnage it or it'll end like the (in)famous tab navigation (with tabs going up and down with no apparent reason).
Well, I don't dual boot but i still use LILO/GRUB. Why? Because every time I recompile a new kernel, I add a new entry to the bootloader menu so I can easily access the old kernel in case something went wrong. Or to add a "safe mode" or such that allows me to avoid to type dozens of params. It's pretty useful.
Well yeah. Or you won't use it if you don't like it. Suppose for a sec that microsoft can get their "get the facts" campaign under a (sic) third party company called "linuxsolutions.com". You are totally free to say that linux is shit, but don't do that in the name of linux.
Well, I think we should stop taking everything RMS says so goddamned seriously. Seems like the people (and the media) tends to exagerate his figure, depicting him as a half hysterical mullah. He ain't.
And he's not saying that allah would kill anyone that does not call Linux GNU/Linux. He says _he_ likes to call it that way, for the aforementioned reasons, but he also thinks that the name is a very insignificant matter (that's why he does not mind if people calls it GNU/Linux, Linux, Lunix or "that open source thing"(tm)). He's simply stating his opinions, not declaring a war or such.
Slashdot Mirror
This for two simple reasons:
- Microsoft bigger enemy has never been Linux, but piracy. I estimate that the illegal windows installations atleast doubles the Linux ones (if not much more). But this is going to end very soon.
- DRM is the future. You might like it or not, but they have all the rights to implement such stuff. And it does not reduce your freedom (if you don't want to "lease" music, you can go without it, or play your own). Google's behaviour, on the other side, does raise some concerns about privacy respect
By the way, let's also stop the "Microsoft is evil monopolyst" thing. They're none of the above. They're not evil because it's not evil to make money (the money they get was given willingfully, not stolen) and they're not monopolysts. The simple fact I'm typing this on a Linux desktop proves my point.Ok this is a bit offtopic but, by looking at the beta screenshots, Vista UI looks like the kind of interface the Empire might like. The taskbar and the start button especially reminds me of Darth Vader helmet. Anyone else noticed?
Well, to a certain extent. I hate setting dialogs with a dozen billion options that I barely know why are there... that's what made me switch from kde to gnome.
Well, there is a way to customize it. Manually add the *.desktop entry in /usr/share/applications (and there is a way to put it in the user home dir too to have user-specific configs). I agree that, anyway, it's horrible. Glad they brought the function back (cause I think there was such a feature in old releases).
My sister, at the age of 14, used vi to write a school paper in latex (writing commands and such). Vi owns.
I can ask you, just out of curiosity, how MS-SQL compares to the other players? Some of my customers want to use it for their solutions... should I issuade them or let them go (or get all my work on MS-SQL? Jokin ;))
Okay, let's clarify that being less power-hungry is a good thing. I dunno how's the situation elsewhere, but here in Italy the electric power costs a lot. And computers + AC + everything elseis making our life pretty hard (power goin out randomly and such).
If you add to that that switching from a residential 3.5KW contract to a mid-office 6KW one costs you about 100$ month more (just to actually "have it", no consumes included) I do think that requiring less power _is_ a very important thing. Probably the most important. Right now, at work I'm having big problems in trying to convince my boss to upgrade the electric power contract, but he's refusing (I cannot blame him, it costs a lot). And sometimes our supply gets cut cause we get over the maximum power.
Uhm no. Probably you read the wrong book. Josef Dzugasvilij's "Commentaries on "The capital"" isn't the reference book for capitalism, even if the title might lead you to think so.
Yeah... but it's like cars, you know. I know people that reasons in the same way you said about software, then they complain, yell and almost assault physically the guy that sold them their new car because the onboard comp went kaputt, and the only ones able to repair it are the car's manifacturer guys (and not the mechanic down the road) and because they charged him $1000 for a job that the mech down the road would have done for far less than half. The job was: take a $500 new onboard comp, replace it with the old comp. I can even do that, it's pretty simple. Thay charged $500 for the new comp and $500 for man work (yeah right). And if you ask them to just sell you the new part without replacing it? They refuse.
What I'm trying to say with this confused tale is that the same people that gets so angry to the point of almost physically attacking someone when this guy plainly extorts them $500, doesn't see why open formats are important. And if I try to explain that to them they dismiss me saying "it's too complex". then, out of curiosity, I asked them what do they think the cause of their "misfortune" was.
The reply was: the goddamned electronics that's everywhere these days
What can i say... i sometimes think they deserve to be dominated
Well, actually you don't purchase software. You are licensed to use it.
This is both the strongness and weakness of Linux. Weakness for the reasons you mentioned, strongness because:
a) we aren't stuck to a model, and if it turns out to be a hell in high developement stage we can jump on another ship (well ok even Linux has its matters in this place, but ask Jobs about all the money Apple threw away before they bought NeXT and turned it into OSX, or the struggle Microsoft had to do to get rid of win 9x design)
b) it usually offers a more wide choice. The toaster jokes prove this point
You're makin it too simple. Layers are needed so the guys writing the applications does not have to care about how the system really designs their window. They can just go "gimme a window which is made like this and that" and have all the fancy stuff for free. Or else, nobody would ever think of developing a graphic app. (Btw, for an app I'm writing it goes even worse since i have glade#->gtk# too on top of everything)
Ok, your posts are way more funny than the article itself :D.
Yeah, the new DNS servers are oh-so-different from the past. They don't just make that simple name-ip translation, now they do more... serve you coffee in bed, clean your house, wash your dishes, and tells you what are the news on the Times. But they need more processing power, hence newer hardware, period.
On a serious note, Linux ain't magical. But it lets you get rid of the frilly stuff. I want something that i can turn on pressing a button, turn off by doing the same to accomplish some simple tasks, like providing internet access to other pcs. And also be adaptable to other uses (like install apache on it to fiddle a bit with web developement). Tell me why i need a shiny gui with transparencies, fading menus, smooth shadows to do that.
I had a p200mmx, bought in 1996. I had windows 95/98 on it until 2002, when the processor went harakiri and died. Well, kinda dead... it was simply segfaulting any 3 seconds. So i replaced the processor with an even older spare p75 that a friend had at his house (but never used) from... well, i dunno. I had to remove some fossils anyway. Due to the fact that the lowest processor my motherboard was going to support was a p90, i had to overclock the processor. It still segfaults a lot, and can't absolutely handle any bz2 file (segfaults at the only sight) and also dislikes using 2.6 kernels and udev (well actually all goes fine till it tries to upload the firmware on my USB ADSL modem, where it kernel panics).
But as firewall/samba box/dns/dhcp server goes really good... doesn't hang up... sure, it has a slack 9.1 and 2.4.22 kernel... uses the old USB ADSL modem drivers... but it goes.
And, most of all, you don't have a living clip (which, btw, is the main cause of people having serious fear of biotechnologies) that tells you "I see you're fdisk'in, maybe you wanna know how to make an apple pie aswell?"
But that's most of the fun in Linux
On a side point, this lack of a "unified Linux distro" makes it possible for Linux to go everywhere, from FPGAs to routers to toasters and whatever else. I don't think any other OS runs on such a large base of platforms.
SLASH NOTICE: the following "Will it run" joke was removed due to unauthorized duplication
This reminds me of all the relatives calling me for Microsoft support. Just because I'm known to be "good with computers".
But I now tell them I'm very sorry, that I just run Linux now, and I almost forgot how Windows is, that I'm not updated about the last marvels from Microsoft... and give them Microsoft helpdesk number.
I don't see the whole thing so black. As soon as programs using the advanced features of reiser4 will come out, many people will start to ask for the reiser4 support in the main kernel. And it will get accepted. What scares me more isn't the fact that it ain't in the vanilla kernel yet, but the fact that so many developers does not know, or does not realize, the importance of such innovations. I think that, anyway, the revolution won't come from the main player of the linux world, for main reasons (one for all, not to shock customers).
I do think it is very positive we have reiser4, and the widespread use of it will come (not tomorrow maybe, but very soon).
oh. And I thought I had to go in /etc/office2k3/layout.conf and set IDIOT_MDI_BEHAVIOUR=off.
Yeah the fake MDI is pretty annoying. I noted that too. They better chnage it or it'll end like the (in)famous tab navigation (with tabs going up and down with no apparent reason).
Well, I don't dual boot but i still use LILO/GRUB. Why? Because every time I recompile a new kernel, I add a new entry to the bootloader menu so I can easily access the old kernel in case something went wrong. Or to add a "safe mode" or such that allows me to avoid to type dozens of params. It's pretty useful.
Well yeah. Or you won't use it if you don't like it. Suppose for a sec that microsoft can get their "get the facts" campaign under a (sic) third party company called "linuxsolutions.com". You are totally free to say that linux is shit, but don't do that in the name of linux.
Well, I think we should stop taking everything RMS says so goddamned seriously. Seems like the people (and the media) tends to exagerate his figure, depicting him as a half hysterical mullah. He ain't.
And he's not saying that allah would kill anyone that does not call Linux GNU/Linux. He says _he_ likes to call it that way, for the aforementioned reasons, but he also thinks that the name is a very insignificant matter (that's why he does not mind if people calls it GNU/Linux, Linux, Lunix or "that open source thing"(tm)). He's simply stating his opinions, not declaring a war or such.