While I don't doubt that moving some of their infrastructure to a Linux environment would yield nothing but gains for them, the fact remains that a ton of those guys are wedded to Excel. Many have spent years fine tuning massive VB macros.
I have the same problem at my work. I want to automate and speed up a lot of the reporting my coworkers do by moving the processing over to one of our Linux servers, but Excel is always a problem. Some of our people actually see Excel as a platform in itself.
It's become kind of a joke among some of us there. "Excel would make a great Operating System if only it had a decent spreadsheet."
Some of our macros can take upwards of twenty minutes to run.
I suppose they could use OpenOffice-server, and I've considered playing around with it, but it seems like too much unnecessary overhead. Right now I think I'm gonna give JExcelAPI a whirl as soon as I get a break in between projects.
While the parent was modded Funny, consider the implications if this was implemented on a desktop linux distro.
Installing Adobe AIR? They are going to have you gksudo or something for the install.
What about MS Office 2015 Suse Edition? They are going to have you gksudo for the install.
You might think so, but it seems to me that the sheer amount of energy required just to make those IC's available to him (growing the silicon crystals, shipping them, cutting them, etching them, shipping them again, packaging them, shipping them again, etc) would make it impossible to reproduce this with "limited resources".
But then again, if you cracked open all the electronics sitting in the garages of your average town you might come across a small mountain of TTL chips.
Thank you! I frequently visit torrentspy and I've now installed foxyproxy. What would have taken me 15 minutes (finding an appropriate way to get around this) has instead taken me 5 minutes. And now I never even have to see that warning screen.
But when I read summary's like that "Linux is finally ready for the desktop!" it makes me think what fucking rock were they hiding under? I've been using Linux distros to browse the web, develop software, write books, use my PVR hardware, listen to music, play video games, host my websites, etc, etc, etc for years now. You just described my experience exactly. Even down to the exact things I use my computer for. I've been on the same Gentoo install for over four years now (the only OS on there) and I just don't understand how all these people encounter so many problems. And it isn't as if I originally bought my hardware to be linux compatible.
I am relatively experienced with computers, but there are boatloads of people on here that could blow me out of the water. I have no amazing skills. And with that said, I can confidently say that Linux has "been ready for the desktop" for years.
Don't think I'm evangelizing, though. I'm of the opinion that things are fine the way they are now. I don't see how mass adoption of Linux would result in a net gain for ME.
but other types of workers (executives, salespeople, etc.) have little to no attention span and need a picture to be worth a thousand words I'm as prejudiced against non-programmers/techies as the next person, but that just jumped at me immediately as pretty damn condescending.
Companies should hire more people who can't handle basic finance, are mentally unstable, and known to break laws. I'd definately like to work at a place like that! I did work for a small business for ~4 years that practically sought out those types. It was the best job I ever had. It was a rare day that I didn't look forward to going to work.
I was recently trying to do the same thing. I wanted to run two X sessions, each with their own login. The idea was that I would be able to use the same computer while viewing content on my monitor and my tv as different users simultaneously.
The first thing you need to do is let X know about your keyboards and mice. Then create multiple layouts (all this done in xorg.conf). Then edit your login manager config file (works for both kdm and gdm) so that it starts multiple instances of itself using the specified X layouts.
Below is the entry I added to kdmrc for my dual layout config:
It's important to note that I while I did succeed in getting two X sessions running, and I was able to switch between them with alt-f7/alt-f8, I could not display both at the same time. Apparently you need a seperate video card for each session to pull this off successfully.
Linux users, for the overwhelmingly large part, seem to me to be roll-your-own types, and fairly advanced in their understanding of stuff like this compared to their Windows (and
even OSX) counterparts. So why not work with that instead of making this "Linux alternative" option viable? While I and many other linux users fit into this category, the Ubuntu fad has changed things a bit. We are seeing more and more wannabe computer hobbyists and kids experimenting, and often moving, to Ubuntu or Fedora. These generally aren't computer literate people (maybe Windows literate). Many either got on the computing bandwagon after the internet became popular, or are very young. These are people who have NEVER used a command line before (Am I the only one who finds this fact nearly unbelievable?).
I think Linux pre-installed might actually have a chance. The major distros are prettier than Windows, and they "just work." The above average computer user might be realizing that if you don't play video games, you just don't need Windows and all the headaches that come with it.
No kidding. That comment invalidates everything he said previously (as if there were anything of significance in any of the blurbs). Give me a friken break! I wasn't born yesterday.
Perhaps it was Triumph of the Nerds? I think I remember Andy Hertzfeld holding it up.
I'm not sure where you could possibly buy it, but there are torrents out there.
I would say that you have been lucky. In the past ten years, I've had four HD's crash, and I'm not rich (ie, I don't buy a lot of computer stuff, or even stuff in general). Thats four HD's out of maybe eight. Am I hard on my HD's? Not really, except maybe for the past four years that I've been running Gentoo (but that's only one drive). Just recently I had a 4.5 year old Western Digital die on me. This was a drive that I ran Windows on for maybe a year, then it just became an archive drive that was often read from, but rarely written to.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't HP offer Suse to it's customers?
I have an HP TC4200 tablet/laptop that I bought specifically because all it's hardware was known to work with Linux, and I could have sworn that I read about Suse being available for it from the factory. I bought it used (I never buy new) so it wasn't really an issue for me, hence the fuzzy memory.
I agree with you; people driving in the "fast" lane really piss me off. But I would just like to say that you are in the wrong too. Maybe you are just using slang, but there is no such thing as a "fast" lane! There is a PASSING lane, that's it. If you are not passing anyone, you have no business being in the passing lane. No matter what your speed. And that is, what I believe, to be the crux of the problem. For some reason people think that the left most lane is the "fast" lane, and since they don't want to think of themselves as slow, they MUST be in the "fast" lane.
I was in the same boat as you. There are tons of books available online, but sitting at my desktop and reading a book on the monitor just isn't an option for me (or my back). That's why I got a tablet PC. I needed a laptop anyway, so I picked up one of those HP TC4200. Now when I want to read, I just flip the screen around and laydown on my bed, or sit in my lazy boy, etc. Of course, I do prefer paper books, but with the amount that I read it's just too expensive to buy them. And it's hard to find stuff at the library if you don't already know what you are looking for. Even if you do know what you want, whether they have it at your particular library is a different matter.
No one was hurt, so whats the big deal? If anything, this is a good thing, because PayPal has to fix their building and the bomber gets satisfaction. Both sides get what they deserve.
Next stop, the phone company...
Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo - what a great game. very addictive.
I remember this one time, I brought it over to my friends house and he had some stimulants (which shall go unnamed). We played for a while and then I left to go to class, he was high as a kite. I came back about 3 hours later and he had beaten every challenge and gotten all the bonus stuff. It was the first time he'd ever played.
X-COM - Easily one of the top 5 games of all time. I still have the original CD, but I haven't dared install it for years. Once I start, I literally can't pull myself away from it until I've won.
I completely agree with you that people who are unfamiliar with Gentoo, are largely ignorant of what it's like to actually run a Gentoo system.
CFLAGS? I don't really run any fancy CFLAGS.
USE flags? If a program can benefit from a certain use flag, I add it.
It's Portage and the Gentoo toolset that really makes Gentoo a joy to work with.
I am always hearing people complain about how hard it is to install, and how it always breaks.
I always ask myself, "What the hell are they doing"?
I have been running the same Gentoo install for at least 3.5 years now on my desktop. I play games, surf the internet, write papers, download stuff on it. It also acts as my wireless router, MythTV machine, and file/ftp server.
I emerge -uD world at least once a week and encountering a problem is a rarity.
I just don't get it. How can everyone be having such a devil of a time maintaining just a basic Gentoo "surf the internet" computer, when I've had such an easy time for so long?
No one is saying that we evolved from apes that exist right now. The theory is that we shared a common ancestor.
"If birds evolved from reptiles, then why are there still reptiles"?
Slashdot Mirror
I have the same problem at my work. I want to automate and speed up a lot of the reporting my coworkers do by moving the processing over to one of our Linux servers, but Excel is always a problem. Some of our people actually see Excel as a platform in itself. It's become kind of a joke among some of us there. "Excel would make a great Operating System if only it had a decent spreadsheet."
Some of our macros can take upwards of twenty minutes to run.
I suppose they could use OpenOffice-server, and I've considered playing around with it, but it seems like too much unnecessary overhead. Right now I think I'm gonna give JExcelAPI a whirl as soon as I get a break in between projects.
Installing Adobe AIR? They are going to have you gksudo or something for the install.
What about MS Office 2015 Suse Edition? They are going to have you gksudo for the install.
Now I understand what you mean. This is not news.
But then again, if you cracked open all the electronics sitting in the garages of your average town you might come across a small mountain of TTL chips.
Maybe.
Again, thanks for saving me 10 minutes.
I am relatively experienced with computers, but there are boatloads of people on here that could blow me out of the water. I have no amazing skills. And with that said, I can confidently say that Linux has "been ready for the desktop" for years.
Don't think I'm evangelizing, though. I'm of the opinion that things are fine the way they are now. I don't see how mass adoption of Linux would result in a net gain for ME.
The first thing you need to do is let X know about your keyboards and mice. Then create multiple layouts (all this done in xorg.conf). Then edit your login manager config file (works for both kdm and gdm) so that it starts multiple instances of itself using the specified X layouts.
Below is the entry I added to kdmrc for my dual layout config:
[X-:1-Core]
AllowNullPasswd=true
AllowShutdown=All
NoPassEnable=false
NoPassUsers=
ServerArgsLocal=-nolisten tcp -config
ServerCmd=/usr/bin/X -br
It's important to note that I while I did succeed in getting two X sessions running, and I was able to switch between them with alt-f7/alt-f8, I could not display both at the same time. Apparently you need a seperate video card for each session to pull this off successfully.
In that case the whole argument would be moot, because you don't have the free will to make the decision to disobey god in the first place.
-- Carl Sagan
I think Linux pre-installed might actually have a chance. The major distros are prettier than Windows, and they "just work." The above average computer user might be realizing that if you don't play video games, you just don't need Windows and all the headaches that come with it.
No kidding. That comment invalidates everything he said previously (as if there were anything of significance in any of the blurbs). Give me a friken break! I wasn't born yesterday.
Perhaps it was Triumph of the Nerds? I think I remember Andy Hertzfeld holding it up. I'm not sure where you could possibly buy it, but there are torrents out there.
I would say that you have been lucky. In the past ten years, I've had four HD's crash, and I'm not rich (ie, I don't buy a lot of computer stuff, or even stuff in general). Thats four HD's out of maybe eight. Am I hard on my HD's? Not really, except maybe for the past four years that I've been running Gentoo (but that's only one drive). Just recently I had a 4.5 year old Western Digital die on me. This was a drive that I ran Windows on for maybe a year, then it just became an archive drive that was often read from, but rarely written to.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't HP offer Suse to it's customers? I have an HP TC4200 tablet/laptop that I bought specifically because all it's hardware was known to work with Linux, and I could have sworn that I read about Suse being available for it from the factory. I bought it used (I never buy new) so it wasn't really an issue for me, hence the fuzzy memory.
http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/West/07/22/crime.dog.re ut/
Not that I support what he did, but we are almost there already...
I agree with you; people driving in the "fast" lane really piss me off. But I would just like to say that you are in the wrong too. Maybe you are just using slang, but there is no such thing as a "fast" lane! There is a PASSING lane, that's it. If you are not passing anyone, you have no business being in the passing lane. No matter what your speed. And that is, what I believe, to be the crux of the problem. For some reason people think that the left most lane is the "fast" lane, and since they don't want to think of themselves as slow, they MUST be in the "fast" lane.
I was in the same boat as you. There are tons of books available online, but sitting at my desktop and reading a book on the monitor just isn't an option for me (or my back). That's why I got a tablet PC. I needed a laptop anyway, so I picked up one of those HP TC4200. Now when I want to read, I just flip the screen around and laydown on my bed, or sit in my lazy boy, etc. Of course, I do prefer paper books, but with the amount that I read it's just too expensive to buy them. And it's hard to find stuff at the library if you don't already know what you are looking for. Even if you do know what you want, whether they have it at your particular library is a different matter.
No one was hurt, so whats the big deal? If anything, this is a good thing, because PayPal has to fix their building and the bomber gets satisfaction. Both sides get what they deserve. Next stop, the phone company...
Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo - what a great game. very addictive. I remember this one time, I brought it over to my friends house and he had some stimulants (which shall go unnamed). We played for a while and then I left to go to class, he was high as a kite. I came back about 3 hours later and he had beaten every challenge and gotten all the bonus stuff. It was the first time he'd ever played. X-COM - Easily one of the top 5 games of all time. I still have the original CD, but I haven't dared install it for years. Once I start, I literally can't pull myself away from it until I've won.
I completely agree with you that people who are unfamiliar with Gentoo, are largely ignorant of what it's like to actually run a Gentoo system. CFLAGS? I don't really run any fancy CFLAGS. USE flags? If a program can benefit from a certain use flag, I add it. It's Portage and the Gentoo toolset that really makes Gentoo a joy to work with. I am always hearing people complain about how hard it is to install, and how it always breaks. I always ask myself, "What the hell are they doing"? I have been running the same Gentoo install for at least 3.5 years now on my desktop. I play games, surf the internet, write papers, download stuff on it. It also acts as my wireless router, MythTV machine, and file/ftp server. I emerge -uD world at least once a week and encountering a problem is a rarity. I just don't get it. How can everyone be having such a devil of a time maintaining just a basic Gentoo "surf the internet" computer, when I've had such an easy time for so long?
If I was planning to protest and got wind of them planning to use these weapons on me, I would bring a gun.
No one is saying that we evolved from apes that exist right now. The theory is that we shared a common ancestor. "If birds evolved from reptiles, then why are there still reptiles"?
It's pure speculation. But they are in the business of selling software. Their entire business model revolves around software as a commodity.