from various places on the web, including: "Have an Epson Printer? File for a $45 Settlement" but being as I have never owned an Epson printer I didn't dig around to see what this was all about. If this was for real and someone knows more about the issue, please post here about it.
Quotes from the "FREE AT LAST" linked article above: (bold emphasis mine)
"But we were prepared for this Microsoft gambit. Why, we asked, after thousands of dollars already expended, should we feed the Microsoft maw again? Why this kilobuck penalty because we're getting a new machine? Made no sense."
"So down it came to the nut-cutting time. Brand-new computer, sitting here on top of the desk. Chicken-out, go with Windows, or take the Linux plunge. Let's see: $800 for Vista and Office 2007, single install, or Ubuntu, Firefox and Open Office, all for free."
IMO, I feel the title of that most excellent article pretty much sums up the growing change going on today. Why spend when a free and open alternative exists?
Bring on the future, where things like fab@home are in every home, where people no longer have to wait for companies to develop products, the people as a community develop them together, with the same spirit/philosophy of FOSS.
I don't want a Win/Mac box, I don't care how easy either of them appear, I want a free and open source box and neither Win/Mac provide me with that freedom. Here's a brief article I recommend everyone read:
The fact that our society today is filled with people who would rather consume than fiddle is one of the reasons why gas guzzling cars with proprietary internals are still used by the majority. Eventually this will all change as people will more easily be able to develop their own hardware themselves (think something like fab@home in every home) with free/open hardware designs shared and improved upon.
The question is: do you want to support the FOSS movement or do you want to support companies who provide closed source software? I don't care if hardware from Microsoft or Apple can run Linux, I don't want my money going to either company, period. If other people enjoy tinkering with said hardware, cool. I believe we all should (and will, eventually) be developing hardware on our own. Those who would respond with, "I don't care about all that, I just want X,Y,Z" are the focal point of blame. Unwind the philosophy from the person and the soul is nothing but another bag of peas to scan at the check stand for Company A,B,C.
"To illustrate: run Openbox, load Firefox, and mess around inside the window"
Why, if I'm running a tiny window manager, would I want to run Firefox? What about the Dillo web browser? Compare Dillo in Openbox to Windows and IE on the slower cpu you mentioned.
"Just don't push your choice on me"
Where were you in the 1990's with the OEMs, Windows, and preloads? People are pushing CHOICES, choices which are still lacking for many when they go to buy a new computer.
Ubuntu is on the desktop, heck I have people aged 70 and above using Ubuntu having moved them away from Windows and they love it.
We need companies/OEMs which won't back down in preloading Linux on new computers for sale, who will report any money waved their way or strong arm tactics to the FTC, EFF, etc. and make a stink about it in the media until Linux is commonly rolled with new systems as an option. In other words, we need people with a spine who won't bend like Gumby when blockheads approach.
The Firefox NYT ad has shown how important marketing is to open source. Perhaps if we all worked together we could continue to contribute to marketing efforts like the Firefox NYT ad, rather than fragmented blog posts here and forum posts there. When Linux is loaded on enough devices and accepted by a majority, how much longer then will anyone continue to complain about a lack of drivers. It's an uphill battle, but isn't that always the case when it comes to freedom?
That's probably what the person who modded my parent post down was asking themselves, too, I'd guess. Shame on those of you who missed the ST:TNG reference!:P
Please see the Wikipedia page for Professor Moriarty and on that page, scroll down to where it says "Moriarty in pop culture" where it includes the bit about the ST:TNG episode where "the three trapped crewmembers programmed the holodeck inside the holodeck to create a holographic simulation of the outside world, leaving Moriarty and the Countess safely stored in a databank aboard the Enterprise."
At the end of the episode, Picard mentions something about how we all may simply be inside such a device sitting on someone's desk somewhere.
Did Microsoft hold secret talks with Novell prior to any public announcement to any agreement?
If so, I would hope openSUSE developers would be more concerned about this, rather than a clearly *open* offer from Shuttleworth. I used SUSE for several years prior to Novell coming into the SUSE picture, before I switched to Ubuntu Linux.
I said it before and I'll say it again, I think Mr. Shuttleworth is brilliant.
Look, if Microsoft wanted to bring Windows and Linux together, why didn't they do it when they partnered with Corel around six years ago? (if, indeed, it was a partnership, correct me if I'm wrong please) Does anyone remember Corel Linux? It, like Ubuntu, was a Debian based Linux distribution, with an easy to use graphical installer! And this was around six years ago! (There was even a Corel Linux for Dummies book, check Amazon dot com and see for yourself) Anyone who wants to gain an enlightened perspective can google about Corel Linux and Microsoft and inform themselves. Here are a few important articles:
"Government lawyers want to know more about a deal in which Microsoft gave Corel, perhaps best known for its WordPerfect program, $135 million in exchange for 24 million shares of Corel stock last October." "After the investment, Corel announced it would retreat from developing software designed to run on the Linux operating system, which competes with Microsoft's Windows operating system." - quotes source
Do you want open meetings and discussions? Isn't that what an open source community thrives on? Or do you want secret meetings?
For those of you who would rather crack chair throwing or developer jokes and ignore the issue, read for yourself in an interview with Bill Gates dated 11/17/2006 where he mentions Novell, indemnification, and the word pioneering all in the same reponse to a question:
History repeats itself, and I believe, in my opinion, we're seeing it happen right now. IMO the Corel/Microsoft events in history should not be ignored. In fact, I suggest they be looked at again closely and compared to the present Novell/Microsoft events for educational purposes.:) Google for yourself and see, there are a lot of juicy articles out there on this. And yes, I know about Xandros, my point is about where Corel Linux was headed.
"There is no reason to care whether anybody else uses it or not. This isn't a goddamn religion. Quit campaigning to save the world"
Don't confuse religion with philosophy. The free and open source movement is powerful, it scares many a big greedy corp because it returns power back into the hands of the people. Those who care about humanity and something greater than themselves will not stop.
That's the problem with the world today, too many people just don't give a shit.. so long as they can press their new shiny gadget up to their fat little chin and smile while giggling like a winner of the special olympics and satisfy their own desires, to hell with everyone else, let the corporations spoon feed us.
"Why don't they advertise" is the real question.
When the masses see new commercials on TV and non-tech magazines today for Windows XP (which came out how many years ago? Jesus..) and NONE for Linux, what are they to think?
It's all about marketing, getting the name and message into the minds of the people.
But you also have to fight what I like to call the name gobbling effect. For example, when you tell people about X Windows, what is their response? "you mean Windows XP?" how about Linux Live CDs? "you mean Windows Live?" Or how about, I run X on my box? "you have an xbox?"
Getting people to remember the name is important, but often difficult, look what happened to Corel Linux before it even had much of a chance? Sure, it's now Xandros, but you see, people knew Corel, and a name like Corel Linux would've stuck easily. It was Debian based and even had a GUI installer. But you see, here again the name was too powerful, and sure enough "Corel Sells Out To Microsoft"* and following shortly after with "Corel to Spin Off Desktop Linux Unit" and "Xandros Buys Corel's Linux".
"The terms of the Microsoft investment included an option under which Microsoft could request that Corel translate Microsoft's next-generation.Net server software to Linux. Hanlon said that regardless of the restructuring options it selects, the company will fulfill its contractual requirements." - quote source Yeah, I bet.
* = "It isn't quite as strange as Microsoft 's investment in Apple Computer several years ago, but it ranks right up there."
In tin foil hat speculation mode, look what erupted in the press about Google via the censorship/China/web issue, even though Microsoft itself and Yahoo were also mentioned in news articles regarding the same issue, but the outcry was all against Google, and what did this follow? The wide news coverage of a possible "Goobuntu".
How many corporations are going to tolerate pressure from an outside source to stop selling Linux if they start? Especially when the millions of dollars are wiggled in their direction. We need someone with actual balls to stand up and market Linux to the masses that won't back down under pressure. On their way to success, you can bet every skeleton in their closet will be brought out for parade when they turn down offers for buyouts.
As others have suggested elsewhere, the fight needs to be taken via EFF or some other means to break up the grip that exists at the OEM level and bring choice to the people when they purchase their computer to begin with.
I don't see this program getting much mention in the press but F-Secure's BlackLight Beta scans for rootkits on Windows systems and I tested it on a friend's system which had the Sony rootkit on it and it listed all the files found re: Sony rootkit.
It's still in beta, but it works.
Mafia Reference? How fitting: Antispyware Shootout
on
Antispyware Shootout
·
· Score: 1
Could the/. article title be a veiled reference to Mafia like tactics? "Antispyware Shootout" sounds like it could be possible, and probably most fitting.
I can see how someone could make a lot of money by supporting people's Win-boxes with all these scanning tools but otherwise IMO it's a big waste of time. Rather than load my friends and family's Win-boxes with all these scanning tools I just install Ubuntu or SUSE Linux (both free) on their system and have them dual boot and instruct them to use Linux on-line only and use Windows offline for whatever.
The result? They don't have to worry about updating/installing new versions of a closed source software firewall which may or may not need tweaking with each new version, they don't have to install more "lipstick on a pig" closed source tools to help "secure" a closed source system. Sure, some of the closed source free security tools may sound great, they may work well for some purposes, but what is really inside the code? What other code may take advantage of the scanning program itself? There are just too many unknowns, IMO, to place any trust in all these closed source so-called solutions.
I've set many computer newbies up with Linux dual boot setups and they are all very surprised at how much easier Linux is to use on-line with Synaptic or YaST and all the open source programs they have available at the click of the mouse. The program descriptions are there, Synaptic shows where the programs are installed (unlike a lot of.EXEs made for Win which still leave shit all over the drive after their uninstall), and they can remove whatever they want when they want just as easily as they installed the program.
But for many it doesn't matter, they grow angry when you mention Linux, and call you a zealot for suggesting it. They are happy with their broken systems and will continue to throw lipstick on a pig and feel safe in their illusion while they will never know what really squeals beneath in the closed source.
Do the world a favor, get those fucked up Win boxes OFFLINE, I'm tired of seeing infected machines bouncing around in my firewall logs.
And yet people continue to buy the latest offerings from M$ while this type of thing continues. Jesus, if you care about free software and the philosophy behind it all, STOP FEEDING the monster you so despise! There's a reason people like Gandhi are so few and so famous, because most people are too chicken shit to stand up for something worthwhile, something larger than themselves. They would much rather blow off steam by typing a few words of hate online about a company before sitting down to play with a gadget offered from the same company they claim to hate!
What we need to rock the boat are television commercials and newspaper ads (like the Firefox NYT ad for example) about the virtues of FOSS.
People volunteering to set up booths/tables near high foot traffic areas to hand out informational materials and Linux install/live CDs would also go a long way to spreading the word. Wikis are useful and cool but if more effort was devoted to pushing the FOSS philosophy out in the real world, maybe so many people wouldn't be brainwashed into one corporation's way of thinking.
Slashdot Mirror
I recall hearing about:
"In re Epson Ink Cartridge Cases Judicial Council Coordination Proceeding No. 4347 Los Angeles County Superior Court"
from various places on the web, including: "Have an Epson Printer? File for a $45 Settlement" but being as I have never owned an Epson printer I didn't dig around to see what this was all about. If this was for real and someone knows more about the issue, please post here about it.
Aside from that, related news: "Epson wins initial ruling in ink cartridge suit"
More and more I'm seeing these types of stories pop up:
* "FREE AT LAST" by David Bond 03/19/2007
Quotes from the "FREE AT LAST" linked article above: (bold emphasis mine)
"But we were prepared for this Microsoft gambit. Why, we asked, after thousands of dollars already expended, should we feed the Microsoft maw again? Why this kilobuck penalty because we're getting a new machine? Made no sense."
"So down it came to the nut-cutting time. Brand-new computer, sitting here on top of the desk. Chicken-out, go with Windows, or take the Linux plunge. Let's see: $800 for Vista and Office 2007, single install, or Ubuntu, Firefox and Open Office, all for free."
IMO, I feel the title of that most excellent article pretty much sums up the growing change going on today. Why spend when a free and open alternative exists?
Speaking of standards:
* "Microsoft breaks with standards effort" 03-25-2003
* "Microsoft quits W3C standardisation panel" 03/24/2003
How about a free and open standard in gaming?
* "Microsoft DirectX killing innovation" 03-27-2003
* "PERSONAL FABRICATION: A Talk with Neil Gershenfeld"
* Democratizing Innovation
Bring on the future, where things like fab@home are in every home, where people no longer have to wait for companies to develop products, the people as a community develop them together, with the same spirit/philosophy of FOSS.
I don't want a Win/Mac box, I don't care how easy either of them appear, I want a free and open source box and neither Win/Mac provide me with that freedom. Here's a brief article I recommend everyone read:
The Land of "Nothing for free" by Jeremy Allison .
The fact that our society today is filled with people who would rather consume than fiddle is one of the reasons why gas guzzling cars with proprietary internals are still used by the majority. Eventually this will all change as people will more easily be able to develop their own hardware themselves (think something like fab@home in every home) with free/open hardware designs shared and improved upon.
The question is: do you want to support the FOSS movement or do you want to support companies who provide closed source software? I don't care if hardware from Microsoft or Apple can run Linux, I don't want my money going to either company, period. If other people enjoy tinkering with said hardware, cool. I believe we all should (and will, eventually) be developing hardware on our own. Those who would respond with, "I don't care about all that, I just want X,Y,Z" are the focal point of blame. Unwind the philosophy from the person and the soul is nothing but another bag of peas to scan at the check stand for Company A,B,C.
"To illustrate: run Openbox, load Firefox, and mess around inside the window" Why, if I'm running a tiny window manager, would I want to run Firefox? What about the Dillo web browser? Compare Dillo in Openbox to Windows and IE on the slower cpu you mentioned.
"Improving the performance would take, what? Digging into the source code?"
:)
At least you have that option on a Linux box.
"On a 400MHz machine, Windows feels more responsive."
And yet, have you tried:
* Openbox
* Fluxbox
* Blackbox
* IceWM
and many of the other Window Managers? They are simple enough to install on your Ubuntu (or whatever distro you want to use) box.
"Just don't push your choice on me" Where were you in the 1990's with the OEMs, Windows, and preloads? People are pushing CHOICES, choices which are still lacking for many when they go to buy a new computer.
Ubuntu is on the desktop, heck I have people aged 70 and above using Ubuntu having moved them away from Windows and they love it.
We need companies/OEMs which won't back down in preloading Linux on new computers for sale, who will report any money waved their way or strong arm tactics to the FTC, EFF, etc. and make a stink about it in the media until Linux is commonly rolled with new systems as an option. In other words, we need people with a spine who won't bend like Gumby when blockheads approach.
The Firefox NYT ad has shown how important marketing is to open source. Perhaps if we all worked together we could continue to contribute to marketing efforts like the Firefox NYT ad, rather than fragmented blog posts here and forum posts there. When Linux is loaded on enough devices and accepted by a majority, how much longer then will anyone continue to complain about a lack of drivers. It's an uphill battle, but isn't that always the case when it comes to freedom?
"Who's Moriarty?"
:P
That's probably what the person who modded my parent post down was asking themselves, too, I'd guess. Shame on those of you who missed the ST:TNG reference!
Please see the Wikipedia page for Professor Moriarty and on that page, scroll down to where it says "Moriarty in pop culture" where it includes the bit about the ST:TNG episode where "the three trapped crewmembers programmed the holodeck inside the holodeck to create a holographic simulation of the outside world, leaving Moriarty and the Countess safely stored in a databank aboard the Enterprise." At the end of the episode, Picard mentions something about how we all may simply be inside such a device sitting on someone's desk somewhere.
Or perhaps we're just in a holodeck inside a holodeck?
Did Microsoft hold secret talks with Novell prior to any public announcement to any agreement?
:) Google for yourself and see, there are a lot of juicy articles out there on this. And yes, I know about Xandros, my point is about where Corel Linux was headed.
If so, I would hope openSUSE developers would be more concerned about this, rather than a clearly *open* offer from Shuttleworth. I used SUSE for several years prior to Novell coming into the SUSE picture, before I switched to Ubuntu Linux.
I said it before and I'll say it again, I think Mr. Shuttleworth is brilliant.
Look, if Microsoft wanted to bring Windows and Linux together, why didn't they do it when they partnered with Corel around six years ago? (if, indeed, it was a partnership, correct me if I'm wrong please) Does anyone remember Corel Linux? It, like Ubuntu, was a Debian based Linux distribution, with an easy to use graphical installer! And this was around six years ago! (There was even a Corel Linux for Dummies book, check Amazon dot com and see for yourself) Anyone who wants to gain an enlightened perspective can google about Corel Linux and Microsoft and inform themselves. Here are a few important articles:
"Corel Sells Out To Microsoft"
"Interview: Corel's Linux VP on the Microsoft deal" @ CNN 10/16/2000
"Microsoft Faces New Antitrust Probe Over Corel Deal"
"Government lawyers want to know more about a deal in which Microsoft gave Corel, perhaps best known for its WordPerfect program, $135 million in exchange for 24 million shares of Corel stock last October." "After the investment, Corel announced it would retreat from developing software designed to run on the Linux operating system, which competes with Microsoft's Windows operating system." - quotes source
"Microsoft Litigation" List - Educate yourself
I ask you: Who do YOU trust?
Do you want open meetings and discussions? Isn't that what an open source community thrives on? Or do you want secret meetings?
For those of you who would rather crack chair throwing or developer jokes and ignore the issue, read for yourself in an interview with Bill Gates dated 11/17/2006 where he mentions Novell, indemnification, and the word pioneering all in the same reponse to a question:
"Gates on Vista, Linux and more"
History repeats itself, and I believe, in my opinion, we're seeing it happen right now. IMO the Corel/Microsoft events in history should not be ignored. In fact, I suggest they be looked at again closely and compared to the present Novell/Microsoft events for educational purposes.
"You ever notice how people who believe in creationism look really unevolved?" - Bill Hicks
Does the U.S. Government (or any government in the world) get to audit the source code of Vista for themselves? If not, why not?
Yeah, did you see my post with a CNN news link for comparison here ?
Like making DirectX open source?
I wonder what this latest partnership will be like six years from now.
Consider:
"Interview: Corel's Linux VP on the Microsoft deal"
Reminds me of this article: "It's the Games, Stupid!"
"There is no reason to care whether anybody else uses it or not. This isn't a goddamn religion. Quit campaigning to save the world" Don't confuse religion with philosophy. The free and open source movement is powerful, it scares many a big greedy corp because it returns power back into the hands of the people. Those who care about humanity and something greater than themselves will not stop. That's the problem with the world today, too many people just don't give a shit.. so long as they can press their new shiny gadget up to their fat little chin and smile while giggling like a winner of the special olympics and satisfy their own desires, to hell with everyone else, let the corporations spoon feed us.
"Why don't they advertise" is the real question. When the masses see new commercials on TV and non-tech magazines today for Windows XP (which came out how many years ago? Jesus..) and NONE for Linux, what are they to think?
It's all about marketing , getting the name and message into the minds of the people.
.Net server software to Linux. Hanlon said that regardless of the restructuring options it selects, the company will fulfill its contractual requirements." - quote source Yeah, I bet.
But you also have to fight what I like to call the name gobbling effect. For example, when you tell people about X Windows, what is their response? "you mean Windows XP?" how about Linux Live CDs? "you mean Windows Live?" Or how about, I run X on my box? "you have an xbox?"
Getting people to remember the name is important, but often difficult, look what happened to Corel Linux before it even had much of a chance? Sure, it's now Xandros, but you see, people knew Corel, and a name like Corel Linux would've stuck easily. It was Debian based and even had a GUI installer. But you see, here again the name was too powerful, and sure enough "Corel Sells Out To Microsoft" * and following shortly after with "Corel to Spin Off Desktop Linux Unit" and "Xandros Buys Corel's Linux".
"The terms of the Microsoft investment included an option under which Microsoft could request that Corel translate Microsoft's next-generation
* = "It isn't quite as strange as Microsoft 's investment in Apple Computer several years ago, but it ranks right up there."
In tin foil hat speculation mode, look what erupted in the press about Google via the censorship/China/web issue, even though Microsoft itself and Yahoo were also mentioned in news articles regarding the same issue, but the outcry was all against Google, and what did this follow? The wide news coverage of a possible "Goobuntu".
How many corporations are going to tolerate pressure from an outside source to stop selling Linux if they start? Especially when the millions of dollars are wiggled in their direction. We need someone with actual balls to stand up and market Linux to the masses that won't back down under pressure. On their way to success, you can bet every skeleton in their closet will be brought out for parade when they turn down offers for buyouts.
As others have suggested elsewhere, the fight needs to be taken via EFF or some other means to break up the grip that exists at the OEM level and bring choice to the people when they purchase their computer to begin with.
I don't see this program getting much mention in the press but F-Secure's BlackLight Beta scans for rootkits on Windows systems and I tested it on a friend's system which had the Sony rootkit on it and it listed all the files found re: Sony rootkit. It's still in beta, but it works.
Could the /. article title be a veiled reference to Mafia like tactics? "Antispyware Shootout" sounds like it could be possible, and probably most fitting.
.EXEs made for Win which still leave shit all over the drive after their uninstall), and they can remove whatever they want when they want just as easily as they installed the program.
I can see how someone could make a lot of money by supporting people's Win-boxes with all these scanning tools but otherwise IMO it's a big waste of time. Rather than load my friends and family's Win-boxes with all these scanning tools I just install Ubuntu or SUSE Linux (both free) on their system and have them dual boot and instruct them to use Linux on-line only and use Windows offline for whatever.
The result? They don't have to worry about updating/installing new versions of a closed source software firewall which may or may not need tweaking with each new version, they don't have to install more "lipstick on a pig" closed source tools to help "secure" a closed source system. Sure, some of the closed source free security tools may sound great, they may work well for some purposes, but what is really inside the code? What other code may take advantage of the scanning program itself? There are just too many unknowns, IMO, to place any trust in all these closed source so-called solutions.
I've set many computer newbies up with Linux dual boot setups and they are all very surprised at how much easier Linux is to use on-line with Synaptic or YaST and all the open source programs they have available at the click of the mouse. The program descriptions are there, Synaptic shows where the programs are installed (unlike a lot of
But for many it doesn't matter, they grow angry when you mention Linux, and call you a zealot for suggesting it. They are happy with their broken systems and will continue to throw lipstick on a pig and feel safe in their illusion while they will never know what really squeals beneath in the closed source.
Do the world a favor, get those fucked up Win boxes OFFLINE, I'm tired of seeing infected machines bouncing around in my firewall logs.
And yet people continue to buy the latest offerings from M$ while this type of thing continues. Jesus, if you care about free software and the philosophy behind it all, STOP FEEDING the monster you so despise! There's a reason people like Gandhi are so few and so famous, because most people are too chicken shit to stand up for something worthwhile, something larger than themselves. They would much rather blow off steam by typing a few words of hate online about a company before sitting down to play with a gadget offered from the same company they claim to hate! What we need to rock the boat are television commercials and newspaper ads (like the Firefox NYT ad for example) about the virtues of FOSS. People volunteering to set up booths/tables near high foot traffic areas to hand out informational materials and Linux install/live CDs would also go a long way to spreading the word. Wikis are useful and cool but if more effort was devoted to pushing the FOSS philosophy out in the real world, maybe so many people wouldn't be brainwashed into one corporation's way of thinking.
"the real issue isn't so much health as it is the addictive nature of nicotine. Its a drug, that has no benefits,"
No benefits? What about this article: nicotine seriously improves health"
"You seem to have missed my point altogether."
:)
Why, because I didn't agree with it?