I'd argue that use FOSS brings the Wealth Closer to home. Instead of Boosting the wealth of M$ and the like, you can quite easily find support companies locally or hire staff to do it.
We're looking at an Intranet/Portal solution and one of the analysts described what the breakdown is for say a Sharepoint solution. About AU$90,000 in software/hardware before you even start paying someone to set it up customise it. Which will cost another AU$30-$40,000. So out of $150,000 you'd walk away with pocket change. Imagine what you could have customised using zope, slash, apache, mysql, etc
I thought this may interest you, I know it's an old post. But my boss showed me this just today, Ubuntu Studio It's the answer to your audio/video editing problems. It will be a learning curve, but that's not unusual for any professional tool, as I haven't found one that 'My Grandmother' could use...:P
From the Site:
Our aim is to assemble suites of applications aimed at creative people. Suites including the best open-source applications available.
For instance, Ardour 2 - A multitrack recorder/editor geared toward people familiar with Pro-Tools.
Graphic design and modeling applications including The GIMP, Inkscape and Blender. Along with plugins like dcraw to help with RAW camera files and wacom-tools for people with Wacom drawing tablets.
PiTiVi, Kino, Cinepaint are included for video creation. We hope to provide a creative environment to people as well as give a spotlight to some amazing open-source applications.
Hmm let me see... And MS Partners (read: locks in) with Hardware Manufactures to allow them to be "Certified" Vista compatible and still can't get it right. Microsoft also require to be able to see the spec completely before they'll certify.
If Linux Dev's had that the speed of which things could be supported even faster. As it stands, they do a fantastic job and for the most part without spec sheets or anything of the sort to go by.
Yes Shared calenders that work! Outlook _with_ exchange does all sorts of sharing, but it's an absolute abortion. I guess I was spoilt with Groupwise, because it did it so much better.
Understand that completely, I'm a gamer myself. I was supposed to comment about games in my last post. It's the only reason I keep windows around on my Gaming rig. Mainly due to life commitments, sometimes I just want to chill and kill some zombies! I do run games quite happily under wine though and No I didn't tweak wine to do it. In 'ubuntu, apt-get install wine' (can be done quite easily from the package manager, but I'm a command line junkie and for me it's quicker!). Insert the cd, double click the installer and bob's your uncle. The primary reason I use Ubuntu is because there I things I want to tweak to get the max out of, being sysadmin, but when it comes to my desktop OS, I just want it to get out of my way and let me do my thing (be it work and/or play).
I am aware of Professional Audio editors that use Linux as their primary machines, not experienced personally, but my boss showed me a heap of neat tools and I must say I was impressed. You can do some awesome stuff with Jack-D as well from what I recall. http://www.osnews.com/story/1511
Have used Sony DVD Architect before, didn't like Vegas though. Depends what your doing with that. http://heroinewarrior.com/cinelerra.php3 looks interesting.
Back to my point, your initial statement is still incorrect, you have deep ingrained Windows requirements, that happens, till you have the time/willingness to learn new apps (or the Proprietary apps you need release linux versions) that's how it'll be and you will continue to fork out the $$ for the privilege, but you are not a Grandmother, nor are your requirements that of the average user. The average user will get a long quite well and will find for the most part your average Desktop aimed Distro to cater for their every need.
If you are quite happy to stay on the tread mill or don't have the time to change, that is your choice. If you want to explore what's out there, you have to be prepared to research and find the best tool for the job.
Have you actually tried it? If you can't stand the alternative OSS appz or cross platform released apps, then wine is your answer. I'd impressed and a little scared at actually how well it works (yes it will quite happily run trojans) and if it's MS Office/Outlook you can't live without than Crossover office is your answer.
Tell me again, what was it that you depend on that only runs on windows?
For the love of god, please tell me the last time your average Grandmother/father could install a new printer, new piece of software, new OS with out calling their geek grandson for help? *crikets* Yeah thought so. I think a lot of people expect GNU/Linux to do it all for them. I believe it's expected to be everything and do everything for everyone. MS isn't expected to, so by that theory, Windows isn't ready for your Grandma (or anyone) either.
If the 63 year old Warehouse guy at work can get it installed and running in dual boot configuration and actually prefers Ubuntu to Windows (without my help) and has Children, who have their own children (making him a grandfather), but he's not ready to use it? Hell most of my friends (yes I have them) are not geeks, and they come over and use my machines, they can get on the net and do their thing and the only thing they usually query is that the interface is a little different, why's that? I explain what it is, a little about open source (not getting to heavy, otherwise glazing of eyes occurs) and they are usually quite interested in it.
I do agree there are things that need polish, and that's the wonderful thing about open source, it will get the polish and you won't have sell a kidney to get it. They have their motivation, Open Source want to get better. MS already have your money, SP1 was released to try and motivate the businesses who are waiting, to get back on the MS money making treadmill.
Indeed, the Apple ][e is what accelerated my Interest in computers. Gaming did start on an old Hitachi we had, but it was Apple that gave me the spark. Writing games and playing Text adventures... Oh the memories... Now get off my lawn!
The ability to take a life in cold blood and the want to save a life are two completely different sides of the coin. The preservation of life is a strong urge in the majority of civilisation, where as statistically the ability to kill a fellow human is not. Soldiers go through much _real_ training to overcome this and there is research to suggest that even still Soldiers have trouble pulling the trigger. Interesting documentary on the phenomena, wish I could remember what it was called! Aside from that bleeding control and elevation are the basics of first aid, of which all people should learn!
Because they instantly recognised as an IBM that way, A business can pick up an IBM and know that what comes with it is Quality, Reliability and Great support. Pricey yes, but that's only initially. The money they save IT departments in support costs way outweighs any initial costs.
* Disclaimer: Use mainly IBM/Lenovo Thinkpads at current workplace, but notebook Technician for years now including many other brands.
IME medium and upwards sized firms are used to a certain way of working and if anything doesn't fit the model, it has zero chance of being used.
1. Is it secure? TICK
2. Does it work in our environment? TICK
3. Do they have guaranteed response times on support calls? CROSS
OK, forget that one. Next? I'm assuming you've never tried to get something sorted in IE? Being in an IT Dept. of a Medium sized firm, the list is actually for IE. I can always find plenty of info for FF, traipse around a couple of forums, theirs your info!
I so desperately want to roll Firefox out at our workplace, but there are damn government and bank websites that are critical to business that are only programmed to work in IE. It irritates me no end, because I know that I would have less mess to clean up because of IE and free up more time for developing/planning/implementing new technology. Fortunately we have seen many problems caused by IE7, so we can at least block that for the time being.
Can still be installed manually, but at least I can request their manager give them a good slap on the wrists for reducing productivity and wrongly accusing the IT Dept. for it.
Don't forget the "Broadband from as low as $14.97". Try explaining to your non-geek friends how this plan is bad and that they need to spend $40 a month to get anything slightly decent. You get ignored, they hook themselves up on a 24Mth pan (to get the first 3 months half price) and realise that $60 a month doesn't even get you remotely close to what the $40 plan from some other provider gives you and you don't have to be on a 2 year contract of which they can up the price any time they choose!!!!
This company (which is a monopoly in Australia) is the biggest reason why we only have "Fraudband" in Australia. They almost got a signed deal behind closed doors to "Expand" their network at the cost of Australian tax payers.
I could rant all day about this company and how much I hate the way they operate. They are up their with Microsoft and Sony.
Have you ever called their support number? If you can get past the 'voice recognition' (I use that term very loosely!) and survive a 30-120 minute wait on hold to be told that their is a problem at your end, guided through re-setting up your modem, finding out that putting the same settings in for the 3rd time doesn't fix the problem, then several hours later it turns out to be a routing problem at their end or they 'accidentally' unplugged your line!
I do get quite angry with their support line, it takes quite a lot to get through their monkey brains that a little adsl modem is rather simple and once the settings are correct, short of modem failure... they just fucking work! If a reboot doesn't solve the problem, it's not at my god damned end! I have gone so far as to tell my friends/family that if they choose bigpond as a provider I will not help them when their internet dies. They chose to go against my advice, they can bloody well deal with it!(It may seem harsh, but 100's of hours of my life have been wasted by that fucking useless company).
Microwave Ovens interfere with wireless too! Consumer grade wireless, being 802.11b/g/n all run on the open 2.4Ghz range. Cordless phones, as I said Microwaves, Wireless cameras etc. all take advantage of this range. If you are wondering why microwaves interfere, it's because 2.45 Ghz is about the frequency that can excite water particles and they do leak to some extent and enough to interfere with your wireless devices. Some personal unofficial testing I have done have shown up to 20% signal degradation within 3 metres of the microwave and access point. Considering I have seen access points placed next to or on top of microwaves, I do tend to get a good chuckle when people complain about signal strength after my advice to move the access point away from the microwave.
If you want a stable wireless setup use 802.11a, there are plenty of channels to choose from (50 or there abouts) and it is much less crowded then the 2.4Ghz range, so their should far less interference.
Slashdot Mirror
I'd argue that use FOSS brings the Wealth Closer to home. Instead of Boosting the wealth of M$ and the like, you can quite easily find support companies locally or hire staff to do it.
We're looking at an Intranet/Portal solution and one of the analysts described what the breakdown is for say a Sharepoint solution. About AU$90,000 in software/hardware before you even start paying someone to set it up customise it. Which will cost another AU$30-$40,000. So out of $150,000 you'd walk away with pocket change. Imagine what you could have customised using zope, slash, apache, mysql, etc
I thought this may interest you, I know it's an old post. But my boss showed me this just today, Ubuntu Studio It's the answer to your audio/video editing problems. It will be a learning curve, but that's not unusual for any professional tool, as I haven't found one that 'My Grandmother' could use... :P
From the Site:
Our aim is to assemble suites of applications aimed at creative people. Suites including the best open-source applications available.
For instance, Ardour 2 - A multitrack recorder/editor geared toward people familiar with Pro-Tools.
Graphic design and modeling applications including The GIMP, Inkscape and Blender. Along with plugins like dcraw to help with RAW camera files and wacom-tools for people with Wacom drawing tablets.
PiTiVi, Kino, Cinepaint are included for video creation. We hope to provide a creative environment to people as well as give a spotlight to some amazing open-source applications.
Let the creativity fly...
Why? What's the point, it can't do X. Recylced microatx... PIII with more.... Why??
Because wii can!
This whole thinking for everybody is getting hard, have enough trouble thinking for one!
Koala's are not bears, but you outta be careful of the drop bears!
Hmm let me see... And MS Partners (read: locks in) with Hardware Manufactures to allow them to be "Certified" Vista compatible and still can't get it right. Microsoft also require to be able to see the spec completely before they'll certify.
If Linux Dev's had that the speed of which things could be supported even faster. As it stands, they do a fantastic job and for the most part without spec sheets or anything of the sort to go by.
Yes Shared calenders that work! Outlook _with_ exchange does all sorts of sharing, but it's an absolute abortion. I guess I was spoilt with Groupwise, because it did it so much better.
The rate petrol costs are rising here in Australia, that'll become feasible in a year or 2
Understand that completely, I'm a gamer myself. I was supposed to comment about games in my last post. It's the only reason I keep windows around on my Gaming rig. Mainly due to life commitments, sometimes I just want to chill and kill some zombies! I do run games quite happily under wine though and No I didn't tweak wine to do it. In 'ubuntu, apt-get install wine' (can be done quite easily from the package manager, but I'm a command line junkie and for me it's quicker!). Insert the cd, double click the installer and bob's your uncle. The primary reason I use Ubuntu is because there I things I want to tweak to get the max out of, being sysadmin, but when it comes to my desktop OS, I just want it to get out of my way and let me do my thing (be it work and/or play).
I am aware of Professional Audio editors that use Linux as their primary machines, not experienced personally, but my boss showed me a heap of neat tools and I must say I was impressed. You can do some awesome stuff with Jack-D as well from what I recall. http://www.osnews.com/story/1511
Have used Sony DVD Architect before, didn't like Vegas though. Depends what your doing with that. http://heroinewarrior.com/cinelerra.php3 looks interesting.
This website may also come in handy http://www.linuxalt.com/
Back to my point, your initial statement is still incorrect, you have deep ingrained Windows requirements, that happens, till you have the time/willingness to learn new apps (or the Proprietary apps you need release linux versions) that's how it'll be and you will continue to fork out the $$ for the privilege, but you are not a Grandmother, nor are your requirements that of the average user. The average user will get a long quite well and will find for the most part your average Desktop aimed Distro to cater for their every need.
If you are quite happy to stay on the tread mill or don't have the time to change, that is your choice. If you want to explore what's out there, you have to be prepared to research and find the best tool for the job.
Have you actually tried it? If you can't stand the alternative OSS appz or cross platform released apps, then wine is your answer. I'd impressed and a little scared at actually how well it works (yes it will quite happily run trojans) and if it's MS Office/Outlook you can't live without than Crossover office is your answer.
Tell me again, what was it that you depend on that only runs on windows?
For the love of god, please tell me the last time your average Grandmother/father could install a new printer, new piece of software, new OS with out calling their geek grandson for help? *crikets* Yeah thought so. I think a lot of people expect GNU/Linux to do it all for them. I believe it's expected to be everything and do everything for everyone. MS isn't expected to, so by that theory, Windows isn't ready for your Grandma (or anyone) either.
If the 63 year old Warehouse guy at work can get it installed and running in dual boot configuration and actually prefers Ubuntu to Windows (without my help) and has Children, who have their own children (making him a grandfather), but he's not ready to use it? Hell most of my friends (yes I have them) are not geeks, and they come over and use my machines, they can get on the net and do their thing and the only thing they usually query is that the interface is a little different, why's that? I explain what it is, a little about open source (not getting to heavy, otherwise glazing of eyes occurs) and they are usually quite interested in it. I do agree there are things that need polish, and that's the wonderful thing about open source, it will get the polish and you won't have sell a kidney to get it. They have their motivation, Open Source want to get better. MS already have your money, SP1 was released to try and motivate the businesses who are waiting, to get back on the MS money making treadmill.
Indeed, the Apple ][e is what accelerated my Interest in computers. Gaming did start on an old Hitachi we had, but it was Apple that gave me the spark. Writing games and playing Text adventures... Oh the memories... Now get off my lawn!
The ability to take a life in cold blood and the want to save a life are two completely different sides of the coin. The preservation of life is a strong urge in the majority of civilisation, where as statistically the ability to kill a fellow human is not. Soldiers go through much _real_ training to overcome this and there is research to suggest that even still Soldiers have trouble pulling the trigger. Interesting documentary on the phenomena, wish I could remember what it was called! Aside from that bleeding control and elevation are the basics of first aid, of which all people should learn!
Because they instantly recognised as an IBM that way, A business can pick up an IBM and know that what comes with it is Quality, Reliability and Great support. Pricey yes, but that's only initially. The money they save IT departments in support costs way outweighs any initial costs.
* Disclaimer: Use mainly IBM/Lenovo Thinkpads at current workplace, but notebook Technician for years now including many other brands.
1. Is it secure? TICK
2. Does it work in our environment? TICK
3. Do they have guaranteed response times on support calls? CROSS
OK, forget that one. Next? I'm assuming you've never tried to get something sorted in IE? Being in an IT Dept. of a Medium sized firm, the list is actually for IE. I can always find plenty of info for FF, traipse around a couple of forums, theirs your info! I so desperately want to roll Firefox out at our workplace, but there are damn government and bank websites that are critical to business that are only programmed to work in IE. It irritates me no end, because I know that I would have less mess to clean up because of IE and free up more time for developing/planning/implementing new technology. Fortunately we have seen many problems caused by IE7, so we can at least block that for the time being.
Can still be installed manually, but at least I can request their manager give them a good slap on the wrists for reducing productivity and wrongly accusing the IT Dept. for it.
Finally an lcd that can take some of Jeremy's antics!
Don't forget the "Broadband from as low as $14.97". Try explaining to your non-geek friends how this plan is bad and that they need to spend $40 a month to get anything slightly decent. You get ignored, they hook themselves up on a 24Mth pan (to get the first 3 months half price) and realise that $60 a month doesn't even get you remotely close to what the $40 plan from some other provider gives you and you don't have to be on a 2 year contract of which they can up the price any time they choose!!!!
This company (which is a monopoly in Australia) is the biggest reason why we only have "Fraudband" in Australia. They almost got a signed deal behind closed doors to "Expand" their network at the cost of Australian tax payers.
I could rant all day about this company and how much I hate the way they operate. They are up their with Microsoft and Sony.
Have you ever called their support number? If you can get past the 'voice recognition' (I use that term very loosely!) and survive a 30-120 minute wait on hold to be told that their is a problem at your end, guided through re-setting up your modem, finding out that putting the same settings in for the 3rd time doesn't fix the problem, then several hours later it turns out to be a routing problem at their end or they 'accidentally' unplugged your line!
I do get quite angry with their support line, it takes quite a lot to get through their monkey brains that a little adsl modem is rather simple and once the settings are correct, short of modem failure... they just fucking work! If a reboot doesn't solve the problem, it's not at my god damned end! I have gone so far as to tell my friends/family that if they choose bigpond as a provider I will not help them when their internet dies. They chose to go against my advice, they can bloody well deal with it!(It may seem harsh, but 100's of hours of my life have been wasted by that fucking useless company).
Microwave Ovens interfere with wireless too! Consumer grade wireless, being 802.11b/g/n all run on the open 2.4Ghz range. Cordless phones, as I said Microwaves, Wireless cameras etc. all take advantage of this range. If you are wondering why microwaves interfere, it's because 2.45 Ghz is about the frequency that can excite water particles and they do leak to some extent and enough to interfere with your wireless devices. Some personal unofficial testing I have done have shown up to 20% signal degradation within 3 metres of the microwave and access point. Considering I have seen access points placed next to or on top of microwaves, I do tend to get a good chuckle when people complain about signal strength after my advice to move the access point away from the microwave.
If you want a stable wireless setup use 802.11a, there are plenty of channels to choose from (50 or there abouts) and it is much less crowded then the 2.4Ghz range, so their should far less interference.
I heard it in on the radio driving to work before I read it on Slashdot!
Scangrade: *Spits out papers* Some infidel did not use a Number 2 Pencil!!
*Hand Wave*
Hosed not brick