if it requires four obscure command-line options, manually installing more services and editing config files to do something that a Mac can do out of the box, it isn't really working
Exactly! The fact you have to actually type stuff to install something puts alot of people off Linux. Yes installing from source using the command line can make sure it does it exactly how you want it to be done, but for "95% of the time" (quoting from an installation guide) the same 4 commands will work. I'm a linux newbie for the most part and maybe someone can answer for me, but if it's true that most software will install with the untar, configure, make and make install commands, then why at the very least is there not a batch file or the linux equivilent that you can doubleclick will do the install? I have asked linux enthusiasts this plenty of times and I always get answers about control over source and even more often I get "Why do you want to turn Linux into Windows?!", so there is a lot of snobbery over this issue. I'm not suggesting that the command line should have no part on the install of software, I'm suggesting that it shouldn't be the primary method of doing something so basic.
Fortunatly there is progress with the.rpm and.deb installers, as well as.package files. The way I see it is linux arrogance and snobbery is holding Linux back and stopping it from getting a decent foothold on the desktop market.
You raise an excellent point. Yes a lot of P2P is used for piracy which is why ISPs can mostly claim the moral high ground on mass crippling of internet connections, but we're not very far away from high bandwidth apps such as downloadable TV and movies from legitimate sources. Here in the UK we have SkyByBroadband, where you can download movies and sports clips. There's 8 million Sky TV subscribers in the UK most of those probably wont use SkyByBroadband, but that's just today. It wont be long before there's loads of companies offering similar services and these companies, as well as the people subscribing will be saying to the ISPs "What's going on?!". This time the ISPs can't say "Abusers!" this time as it just wont stick when they're advertising "unlimited downloads" and "fast downloads". People wont care about the technical limitations, just that they've been sold a service that doesn't do what it's meant to.
In my opinion the ISPs are more interested in boosting their top speeds at the moment, so they can brag about their speedy networks, but as soon as people start using that high speed connection all at once then there wont be the capacity to maintain it. What can the ISPs and network owners do? Well they can either start selling their products with limited downloads (which a lot of ISPs already do) and notices to expect low speeds at peak times, or they can charge users more to pay for the extra capacity required. Download caps wont work once there's media download services everywhere, and people wont pay the actual cost of downloading how much they want per month, so things are going to get EXTREMELY difficult for ISPs. The only other option is to get companies that use more of an ISPs bandwidth to pay a fee for more bandwidth, but a tiered internet is potentially dangerous by offering an ISP the option to extort money from service providers so that users can get to their services.
Re:weird perspective for a conflict... and wrong!
on
Sun's Open Source DRM
·
· Score: 1
I still play Monkey Island, that would be impossible with DRM
Installing software from source is in my opinion one of the worst things about Linux. Try talking grandma through installing a single piece of software and see it grow into finding all the dependencies and figuring out why suddenly installing one thing has broken another thing..Package files are a huge improvement but this is still a serious issue which is made worse by the constant arrogance of a lot of linux developers and users that fail to even admit it's a problem and that it needs to be sorted. I'm not suggesting take away installing from source and all the freedom to configure that software on Linux gives you, but a universal installer must become the norm.
Swapping MS Office with OpenOffice is one thing, but these people could hardly have been using their computers that much if they didn't notice there was a different operating system. In a situation where the user is doing stuff slightly more indepth, I'm sure you'd find that there would be more complaints and comments than "My MSN is missing".
When they asked about the games and MSN, they were simply told that they were deleted.
If they're playing games to the extent that a company has to switch users to another operating system, and then the employee turns around and asks "where's the games?", surely the answer would be more along the lines of "We don't pay you to play games (bitch!)".
Perhams something is needed to help people see the truth. Games marketing, just like most marketing has become a matter of hyping up every aspect of the game/system. Whenever a new console comes out it's the one that's supposed to kill all other systems, and whenever a new game is out it's supposed to be the last game you'll ever need. So the best way to know if hype is BS or not is to actually try out the thing in question
Being a connoisseur of electronic visual arts (I've watched TV in both the UK and US), I can say that in my experience the only difference between US TVs and UK TVs is that there's more TV models in the US that don't have the red "standby" LED, and some that don't have a "completly off" power switch.
I was once trying to tell an American friend of mine that a TV will consume a huge amount power while it's on standby in it's lifetime. They asked me how they could tell if they're TV is in standby and I said that the red LED is on, but the TV didn't have one. So then I said that Standby is when the TV's on but not switched off, but this person's TV set didnt have a power switch. So then I said it's when a TV appears to be off, but when you press the on button on the remote, it will magically come back to life!
When people are given the choices of pressing a button on the remote control, and physically unplugging the TV set most of the time they'll go for the remote, press the "Power" button and then the TV will look dead. With my TV, I find that with the glow of the unusually big LED and the buzzing noise it makes on standby, it's more of a comfort switching the damn thing off!
I agree, BT don't need to worry about this kind of thing.
For a lot of people in the UK, whether they use their landline, or a VoIP phone they are still paying money to BT one way or another. Either by traditional phone bills, or through their ISP who use the BT network. Not to mention you pay BT a chunk of money each month even if you don't make any calls at all. And with NTL getting stronger, it seems like BT's monopoly is under threat enough for it to avoid being broken up like AT&T in the US. Products that use the BT network wont scare BT as they could just provide a similar one. The threat will come from cable companies, who can tempt people away from BT completly
But there is no doubt that sometimes they get things wrong. Once I watched them "disprove" a myth that I know for a fact to be true, which was rather dissapointing.
Just out of interest, what was the myth they "disproved"?
Yes all those points are done better in other places. Although your "watch a movie" excuse is total bullshit.
The point which you have missed is that you can do all of those in one game. Grand Theft Auto is a game where if you want to drive people around in a taxi (which is pretty fun considering HOW you do it) you can. if you want to fly a plane or boat you can. What other games let you do so much? Even if it's not the most perfect way of doing it.
When I was young games were rated on "lastability" or how long you'll be playing them after you buy it (I dont know if they still do that, they don't sell Mean Machines Sega anymore and that's the only one I'll buy!). GTA, with all it's game styles, options and freedom would get a 10 for lastability because there's so much to do.
Learn what you're talking about. The EU wants the internet to be in the hands of more multinational body, the UN. Did you not read anything about this story? As the US is part of the UN we'd have a say too. Personally I think there's no need to change control just yet. Also, your anti-UN/EU/Whatever-you-think-you're-talking-about comments are just stupid.
If you don't want MSN to have your data, don't give MSN your data. Average Joe User may fuel MSN's userbase allowing them to continue this approach to advertising, but for the informed it's very easy to just avoid these kinds of services.
Everytime I hear that information about myself could and is sold, despite how common this is, frustrates me. it may not be feasible for all but I try to live without attaching myself to many things, such as random subscriptions (check this box to receive mail), credit card(s), intrusive website registrations. Even the link you provided to the seattle times wanted me to register, thank god for bugmenot. Again, it may not be feasible to take every step, but if people were to refuse to allow their information to be used for monetary gain then companies would stop and find another more cost effective way to increase profits at the expense of the little man's personal privacy/rights. [end rant]
But sometimes when things said in private go public, heads need to roll. I can think of a few times this has happened in politics. Unfortunatly, what the people in charge of big corporations say and do isnt scrutinised as much by the press as much as they should be considering the political power they posess
a name that coincidentally sounds like Windows
I heard the Lindows/Linspire people were thoroughly shocked when Microsoft informed them (via their lawyers) of the similarities
I once bought an issue of a gaming magazine years ago, I think it was UltimatePC, and the demo CD had the CIH Virus on it. The next month came a warning and an apology.
Slashdot Mirror
Exactly! The fact you have to actually type stuff to install something puts alot of people off Linux. Yes installing from source using the command line can make sure it does it exactly how you want it to be done, but for "95% of the time" (quoting from an installation guide) the same 4 commands will work. I'm a linux newbie for the most part and maybe someone can answer for me, but if it's true that most software will install with the untar, configure, make and make install commands, then why at the very least is there not a batch file or the linux equivilent that you can doubleclick will do the install? I have asked linux enthusiasts this plenty of times and I always get answers about control over source and even more often I get "Why do you want to turn Linux into Windows?!", so there is a lot of snobbery over this issue. I'm not suggesting that the command line should have no part on the install of software, I'm suggesting that it shouldn't be the primary method of doing something so basic.
Fortunatly there is progress with the .rpm and .deb installers, as well as .package files. The way I see it is linux arrogance and snobbery is holding Linux back and stopping it from getting a decent foothold on the desktop market.
In my opinion the ISPs are more interested in boosting their top speeds at the moment, so they can brag about their speedy networks, but as soon as people start using that high speed connection all at once then there wont be the capacity to maintain it. What can the ISPs and network owners do? Well they can either start selling their products with limited downloads (which a lot of ISPs already do) and notices to expect low speeds at peak times, or they can charge users more to pay for the extra capacity required. Download caps wont work once there's media download services everywhere, and people wont pay the actual cost of downloading how much they want per month, so things are going to get EXTREMELY difficult for ISPs. The only other option is to get companies that use more of an ISPs bandwidth to pay a fee for more bandwidth, but a tiered internet is potentially dangerous by offering an ISP the option to extort money from service providers so that users can get to their services.
What about Dial A Pirate?!
They choose a generic sounding name and surprisingly it's been used before
I doubt there's a limited number of small girls though, many of which can probably pretend to play a saxaphone
Installing software from source is in my opinion one of the worst things about Linux. Try talking grandma through installing a single piece of software and see it grow into finding all the dependencies and figuring out why suddenly installing one thing has broken another thing. .Package files are a huge improvement but this is still a serious issue which is made worse by the constant arrogance of a lot of linux developers and users that fail to even admit it's a problem and that it needs to be sorted. I'm not suggesting take away installing from source and all the freedom to configure that software on Linux gives you, but a universal installer must become the norm.
Oh the irony
Why don't you move to a different ISP?
I expect these people were idiots
Swapping MS Office with OpenOffice is one thing, but these people could hardly have been using their computers that much if they didn't notice there was a different operating system. In a situation where the user is doing stuff slightly more indepth, I'm sure you'd find that there would be more complaints and comments than "My MSN is missing".
When they asked about the games and MSN, they were simply told that they were deleted.
If they're playing games to the extent that a company has to switch users to another operating system, and then the employee turns around and asks "where's the games?", surely the answer would be more along the lines of "We don't pay you to play games (bitch!)".
Perhams something is needed to help people see the truth. Games marketing, just like most marketing has become a matter of hyping up every aspect of the game/system. Whenever a new console comes out it's the one that's supposed to kill all other systems, and whenever a new game is out it's supposed to be the last game you'll ever need. So the best way to know if hype is BS or not is to actually try out the thing in question
His last mission was a failure though, he never did find out if ants could be trained to sort tiny screws in space.
I was once trying to tell an American friend of mine that a TV will consume a huge amount power while it's on standby in it's lifetime. They asked me how they could tell if they're TV is in standby and I said that the red LED is on, but the TV didn't have one. So then I said that Standby is when the TV's on but not switched off, but this person's TV set didnt have a power switch. So then I said it's when a TV appears to be off, but when you press the on button on the remote, it will magically come back to life!
When people are given the choices of pressing a button on the remote control, and physically unplugging the TV set most of the time they'll go for the remote, press the "Power" button and then the TV will look dead. With my TV, I find that with the glow of the unusually big LED and the buzzing noise it makes on standby, it's more of a comfort switching the damn thing off!
For a lot of people in the UK, whether they use their landline, or a VoIP phone they are still paying money to BT one way or another. Either by traditional phone bills, or through their ISP who use the BT network. Not to mention you pay BT a chunk of money each month even if you don't make any calls at all. And with NTL getting stronger, it seems like BT's monopoly is under threat enough for it to avoid being broken up like AT&T in the US. Products that use the BT network wont scare BT as they could just provide a similar one. The threat will come from cable companies, who can tempt people away from BT completly
Just out of interest, what was the myth they "disproved"?
but your missing a chance to save money!
that depends on how old you are
The point which you have missed is that you can do all of those in one game. Grand Theft Auto is a game where if you want to drive people around in a taxi (which is pretty fun considering HOW you do it) you can. if you want to fly a plane or boat you can. What other games let you do so much? Even if it's not the most perfect way of doing it.
When I was young games were rated on "lastability" or how long you'll be playing them after you buy it (I dont know if they still do that, they don't sell Mean Machines Sega anymore and that's the only one I'll buy!). GTA, with all it's game styles, options and freedom would get a 10 for lastability because there's so much to do.
Learn what you're talking about. The EU wants the internet to be in the hands of more multinational body, the UN. Did you not read anything about this story? As the US is part of the UN we'd have a say too. Personally I think there's no need to change control just yet. Also, your anti-UN/EU/Whatever-you-think-you're-talking-about comments are just stupid.
Good job on that
does that really work? I'm no expert on the fiddly bits of windows but there's sites like this that say it doesnt.
they say there's no shortage but the price is still $70 per barrel of geeks!
Everytime I hear that information about myself could and is sold, despite how common this is, frustrates me. it may not be feasible for all but I try to live without attaching myself to many things, such as random subscriptions (check this box to receive mail), credit card(s), intrusive website registrations. Even the link you provided to the seattle times wanted me to register, thank god for bugmenot. Again, it may not be feasible to take every step, but if people were to refuse to allow their information to be used for monetary gain then companies would stop and find another more cost effective way to increase profits at the expense of the little man's personal privacy/rights. [end rant]
But sometimes when things said in private go public, heads need to roll. I can think of a few times this has happened in politics. Unfortunatly, what the people in charge of big corporations say and do isnt scrutinised as much by the press as much as they should be considering the political power they posess
a name that coincidentally sounds like Windows I heard the Lindows/Linspire people were thoroughly shocked when Microsoft informed them (via their lawyers) of the similarities
I once bought an issue of a gaming magazine years ago, I think it was UltimatePC, and the demo CD had the CIH Virus on it. The next month came a warning and an apology.