I think OSX has it pretty much right with software installation - drag this "file" into your Applications directory. Done.
Modern Linux distros all have a "Just click the programs you like - we do the rest" system. That is easy and user friendly. All other systems suck. They're only good for EULA's and for people who want to sell software on CD.
Whether this will make a difference or not, depends on the effort Lenovo is going to put into the advertisement. Will they offer it on a dusty corner of their website, just for the folks who use Linux anyway? Or will they have it more prominent on their websites and ads, like "New! Linux now made easy for everyone. Be the first non-geek enjoying Linux!"
You know, a lot of people watch television in excess of 4-6 hours a day. I've never once heard any of them referred to as "addicts."
Here's your first time then. They are addicts. Really. They don't move, eat unhealthy and get fat. Real friends are replaced by TV-personalities. Their brains fade away. They die from it, and they die very lonely. If you still don't think it's an addiction, cut the cable for a week or so and see how they react.
Anyone who'se IQ is counted in multiple numbers and watches 2 hours of television a day, should be very careful. Is it really that informative or funny to spend 25% of your free time on it? When I was 15 years old, i watched 2 hours a day, and had to admit to myself it was nothing but an addiction. I quit.
1) No! Games are not addicting! Or, when someone is addicted, it comes from something else! Or the parents are to blame! Or at least it's not the fault of the games, right? Anyways I am not addicted, I just like to play.
I don't think you have done many recumbent races. I ride many races a year on my Challenge lowracer. Stayering and coöperation with competitors are fundamental as well. The only difference is you have smaller groups due to the greater differences in speed. A rowing bike is much slower than a velomobile, so it's two groups of rowing bikes, five groups of lowracers, three groups of tail-faired lowracers and four groups of velomobiles, for instance. But you have to use tactics or you lose. I blew many of my races this way when i just started.
A tactical very interesting part of recumbent racing is the go-kart circuit: in every corner it's a hard fight to get through first, but if you try to block your competitor too hard, you lose speed or may even crash. Fast acceleration, hefty but controlled braking is essential. With 14 corners every 38 seconds (my last race on a go-kart circuit), that's quite exciting.
Challenge SL-series are 9.8 kg (22lbs). SL-II is 8 kg (18 lbs). M5 makes lighter bikes, but they fall apart when you look too hard at them. Dutch recumbents lose 1,5 kg/year.
Hans Wessels did 68,3 km/h (42.5 mph) in the 200m with a tail-faired Razz-Fazz, by the way.
I wanted a recumbent for years (long wheel base) but because of their low production, they tend to be more expensive, are also heavier, and most look funny.
Why not a short wheel based? They are lighter, faster and especially the dutch ones like Challenge or Optima don't particulary look funny.
The fact is that linux is NOT ready for the desktop.
You mean, users can move or delete a doc without closing it; the 'button with the X-mark' has the same function in the file- and the http-browser instead of the contrary; you use multiple desktops to switch to another task instead of closing and reopening a bunch of doc's; clicking on an appointment in the diary selects the item instead of editing the name; security cannot be cheated by changing the extension of a filename; autocomplete is effective instead of annoying; creating a pdf is clicking on one button instead of sending an email to a server on the other side of the building;...
If that is what you mean with 'not ready for the desktop'; to hell with that desktop.
A lot of muslims take the vegetarian meal, when in doubt. On the other hand, this might get you in trouble too, since it means you're an environmental activist.
I guess your remark is just linguistic. 'Proprietary monoculture' is an pleonasm. When stuff is opensource, stuff will diversify. There will always be stubborn people thinking they can do it better, or at least different. Any succesfull OSS program has many forks. For every single task on your PC, there are a hoggilion different OS-apps available. In the small Linux-world, more wordprocessors are in active use than in the 20 times bigger Windows-world.
'Propietary monoculture' is only a pleonasm. Nothing to worry about, people always use them all the time.
True. And in every camp, it's neccesary to emphasise from time to time that it's bad to be an asshole and that assholes are spoiling it for the rest, just to keep the amounts of assholes as low as possible. We do this IRL too.
Any diesel-engine has fuel injection. clutchless shifting is half a century old, and not that complicated.
It's true you cannot look inside a CPU, but you can look into the filesystem, OS and the apps. A computer is based on logical responses, just like any machine. Of course some basic knowledge is needed, but that's not different from a car: without knowing what it's use is, how electricity works or what happens when the stinking liquid is ignited (and how that's done), noone would ever find out. I don't think the guys at MIT didn't think of how to provide that basic knowledge. It was an education project, right? Africans are not stupid, they are not lazy, they're just poor. They will try things out, they will see "if i shove this thingy over there, my letter is on a different place, you can see that in the line with all the slashes".
Who the hell is going to teach these kids to use the laptop? Who's going to troubleshoot it? My kid sister lives in a first world country with full access to schooling, the internet, and books, and she STILL needs me to fix anything that goes wrong with the computer.
Probably, a first world kid can't do that. But we're talking about kids in the developing world. They will learn to. Most adults in the first world need a mechanic to change a tyre of their car. In Afrika, people fix totally worn-out cars endlessly, and they don't need western mechanics to teach them how. This will happen with the laptops: people will soon understand them, and teach themselves how to fix it when it's broken. They will find uses for it we didn't imagine.
Fine. Your hotmail on your desktop. Will there be *any* users? Do you know anyone who uses hotmail as a serious personal email-account? I don't. The last one converted to Gmail 6 months ago, here at the office, when Groupwise got replaced bij Outlook. Everyone uses Gmail. If M$ wants this to be a succes, they'd better advertise it with 'Gmail on your desktop'. I don't think hotblondelooking4b1gd1ck1156431165@hotmail.com will want to read her hotmail from the desktop.
So they sue 100k people in the US. On the other side of the Atlanctic Ocean, all their precious patents are futile. Oh, and there is some woman in Brussells who is not very happy with the M$ monopoly. She's got some power over there. But the negative press about the suits will NOT be futile on the other side of the ocean. Linux will be totally legal in Europe, while every newspaper tells people 'they couldn't beat Linux by technology, now they try it The American Way' (Europeans are on average not very impressed by the merits of the US legal system).
The fun is, there is more than one ocean. On the other side of the Pacific one, US patents are worth less.
All three solutions are impossible here, due to lack of space, lack of money, pollution, and the lay-out of Holland: small, very old cities at a short distance from each other. It's a nasty problem: Dutch cities are too small for a real metropolian public transport system, but they are too old and too close together to manage the streams of individual transport. Holland is neither rural nor urban. (we still have to thank FSM on our knees for the 30 - 40 % cyclists, by the way) Probably this is why politicians don't like the report: it shows we cannot solve the congestion problem. It's there, and it will stay there. Now you tell this to your voters:(
The capacity of (road a + road b) is smaller than the capacity of (road a). Put it in a different way: If road b was there, you could increase the overall capacity by blocking it.
So constructing road b is bad for drivers, bad for the environment and bad for the budget. Literally, it would only benefit the construction firms. That was the result of the scientific research government doesn't want to know.
Slashdot Mirror
Note also the bit about having to drink any baby milk - previously held to be only an urban legend
Of course, terrorists don't drink unhealthy substances in the last hours before a suicide attack.
I think OSX has it pretty much right with software installation - drag this "file" into your Applications directory. Done.
Modern Linux distros all have a "Just click the programs you like - we do the rest" system. That is easy and user friendly. All other systems suck. They're only good for EULA's and for people who want to sell software on CD.
Whether this will make a difference or not, depends on the effort Lenovo is going to put into the advertisement. Will they offer it on a dusty corner of their website, just for the folks who use Linux anyway? Or will they have it more prominent on their websites and ads, like "New! Linux now made easy for everyone. Be the first non-geek enjoying Linux!"
You know, a lot of people watch television in excess of 4-6 hours a day. I've never once heard any of them referred to as "addicts."
Here's your first time then. They are addicts. Really. They don't move, eat unhealthy and get fat. Real friends are replaced by TV-personalities. Their brains fade away. They die from it, and they die very lonely. If you still don't think it's an addiction, cut the cable for a week or so and see how they react.
Anyone who'se IQ is counted in multiple numbers and watches 2 hours of television a day, should be very careful. Is it really that informative or funny to spend 25% of your free time on it? When I was 15 years old, i watched 2 hours a day, and had to admit to myself it was nothing but an addiction. I quit.
1) No! Games are not addicting! Or, when someone is addicted, it comes from something else! Or the parents are to blame! Or at least it's not the fault of the games, right? Anyways I am not addicted, I just like to play.
2) Yes, I was addicted once. It was bad.
Indeed, DDT has proven to be very effective for breeding strong, highly resistant mosquitoes.
I don't think you have done many recumbent races. I ride many races a year on my Challenge lowracer. Stayering and coöperation with competitors are fundamental as well. The only difference is you have smaller groups due to the greater differences in speed. A rowing bike is much slower than a velomobile, so it's two groups of rowing bikes, five groups of lowracers, three groups of tail-faired lowracers and four groups of velomobiles, for instance. But you have to use tactics or you lose. I blew many of my races this way when i just started.
A tactical very interesting part of recumbent racing is the go-kart circuit: in every corner it's a hard fight to get through first, but if you try to block your competitor too hard, you lose speed or may even crash. Fast acceleration, hefty but controlled braking is essential. With 14 corners every 38 seconds (my last race on a go-kart circuit), that's quite exciting.
Challenge SL-series are 9.8 kg (22lbs). SL-II is 8 kg (18 lbs). M5 makes lighter bikes, but they fall apart when you look too hard at them. Dutch recumbents lose 1,5 kg/year.
Hans Wessels did 68,3 km/h (42.5 mph) in the 200m with a tail-faired Razz-Fazz, by the way.
Many recumbents are heavier than light upright bikes. But that's the only difference. The Classique Genevoise is always won by recumbents. http://www.m5-ligfietsen.nl/site/EN/Races_and_reco rds/Classique_Genevoise/
I wanted a recumbent for years (long wheel base) but because of their low production, they tend to be more expensive, are also heavier, and most look funny.
Why not a short wheel based? They are lighter, faster and especially the dutch ones like Challenge or Optima don't particulary look funny.
You mean, advanced technology like bribing the employees of the local cinema?
The fact is that linux is NOT ready for the desktop.
You mean, users can move or delete a doc without closing it; the 'button with the X-mark' has the same function in the file- and the http-browser instead of the contrary; you use multiple desktops to switch to another task instead of closing and reopening a bunch of doc's; clicking on an appointment in the diary selects the item instead of editing the name; security cannot be cheated by changing the extension of a filename; autocomplete is effective instead of annoying; creating a pdf is clicking on one button instead of sending an email to a server on the other side of the building;...
If that is what you mean with 'not ready for the desktop'; to hell with that desktop.
A lot of muslims take the vegetarian meal, when in doubt. On the other hand, this might get you in trouble too, since it means you're an environmental activist.
I guess your remark is just linguistic. 'Proprietary monoculture' is an pleonasm. When stuff is opensource, stuff will diversify. There will always be stubborn people thinking they can do it better, or at least different. Any succesfull OSS program has many forks. For every single task on your PC, there are a hoggilion different OS-apps available. In the small Linux-world, more wordprocessors are in active use than in the 20 times bigger Windows-world.
'Propietary monoculture' is only a pleonasm. Nothing to worry about, people always use them all the time.
There are assholes in every camp.
True. And in every camp, it's neccesary to emphasise from time to time that it's bad to be an asshole and that assholes are spoiling it for the rest, just to keep the amounts of assholes as low as possible. We do this IRL too.
No fuel injection, no clutchless shifting
Any diesel-engine has fuel injection. clutchless shifting is half a century old, and not that complicated.
It's true you cannot look inside a CPU, but you can look into the filesystem, OS and the apps. A computer is based on logical responses, just like any machine. Of course some basic knowledge is needed, but that's not different from a car: without knowing what it's use is, how electricity works or what happens when the stinking liquid is ignited (and how that's done), noone would ever find out. I don't think the guys at MIT didn't think of how to provide that basic knowledge. It was an education project, right? Africans are not stupid, they are not lazy, they're just poor. They will try things out, they will see "if i shove this thingy over there, my letter is on a different place, you can see that in the line with all the slashes".
Who the hell is going to teach these kids to use the laptop? Who's going to troubleshoot it? My kid sister lives in a first world country with full access to schooling, the internet, and books, and she STILL needs me to fix anything that goes wrong with the computer.
Probably, a first world kid can't do that. But we're talking about kids in the developing world. They will learn to. Most adults in the first world need a mechanic to change a tyre of their car. In Afrika, people fix totally worn-out cars endlessly, and they don't need western mechanics to teach them how. This will happen with the laptops: people will soon understand them, and teach themselves how to fix it when it's broken. They will find uses for it we didn't imagine.
Fine. Your hotmail on your desktop. Will there be *any* users? Do you know anyone who uses hotmail as a serious personal email-account? I don't. The last one converted to Gmail 6 months ago, here at the office, when Groupwise got replaced bij Outlook. Everyone uses Gmail. If M$ wants this to be a succes, they'd better advertise it with 'Gmail on your desktop'. I don't think hotblondelooking4b1gd1ck1156431165@hotmail.com will want to read her hotmail from the desktop.
So they sue 100k people in the US. On the other side of the Atlanctic Ocean, all their precious patents are futile. Oh, and there is some woman in Brussells who is not very happy with the M$ monopoly. She's got some power over there. But the negative press about the suits will NOT be futile on the other side of the ocean. Linux will be totally legal in Europe, while every newspaper tells people 'they couldn't beat Linux by technology, now they try it The American Way' (Europeans are on average not very impressed by the merits of the US legal system).
The fun is, there is more than one ocean. On the other side of the Pacific one, US patents are worth less.
And i thought this would become the /.-article with only 'funny'-mods, but you blew it!
Finally, windows is ready for the desktop.
All three solutions are impossible here, due to lack of space, lack of money, pollution, and the lay-out of Holland: small, very old cities at a short distance from each other. It's a nasty problem: Dutch cities are too small for a real metropolian public transport system, but they are too old and too close together to manage the streams of individual transport. Holland is neither rural nor urban. (we still have to thank FSM on our knees for the 30 - 40 % cyclists, by the way) Probably this is why politicians don't like the report: it shows we cannot solve the congestion problem. It's there, and it will stay there. Now you tell this to your voters:(
I should explain this better. The point is:
The capacity of (road a + road b) is smaller than the capacity of (road a). Put it in a different way: If road b was there, you could increase the overall capacity by blocking it.
So constructing road b is bad for drivers, bad for the environment and bad for the budget. Literally, it would only benefit the construction firms. That was the result of the scientific research government doesn't want to know.
Demand isn't infinite...
It's definitly far more infinite than space in Holland (and money, too).
Because the system will mess up. Extra road, less capacity.