If you knew anything about the business, you wouldn't say that.
Microsoft's search strategy is long-term. Giving up a sizable profit for now (I strongly doubt that they're losing money on it, but the numbers tell you their overhead pretty clearly) gives them:
-Yahoo's search engineers, who will move to Microsoft -A company with experience in ad sales and portal development -Over twice the market share
This is a long-term run at Google, not something to keep Slashbots entertained for the next week or so.
Yeah, Mono apps are so hard to write to be both command-line and GUI-accessible!
Oh, wait, they're not.
Yeah, Mono is such a monoculture! It doesn't have support for a dozen different languages, perhaps more!
Oh, wait, it does.
(And it can use Qt too; that's my GUI toolkit of choice in it.)
I understand that you're a Schestowitz-sucking little troll on the same level as Mark Fink, but let's actually have a little bit of honesty here, hmm, fucktard?
I know, and I generally turn it on if I ever have to deal with a Linux X session for any length of time, but it doesn't look as nice as ClearType or OS X's font rendering. You say I can tweak it, and I say "but it should just work out of the box."
Font rendering is a real shitshow on Linux (spacing issues, kerning, all sorts of crap everyone else solved years ago), but it is (very slowly) improving.
Organising the start menu by software manufacturer name is user centric?
No; this is why I said that Windows doesn't do it all the time. However, as another poster noted, the start menu now has a search bar (not as flexible as Quicksilver or GNOME-Do, but good enough for exactly what it's for). Hit the Windows key, type "firefox", hit enter.
The control panel has been shuffled around, but mostly because they added new features. It, too, has a search bar. I don't bother hunting up icons; I just go to the search bar and type "programs" and hit enter, and Add/Remove Programs comes up, etc.
You make some good points. I like the command line, but only for quick-and-dirty stuff that I don't have to screw with regularly. However, normal end-user software should not have "thousands of paths". Ever. If you do, you are either dealing with very specialized software and people can just suck it up and deal with it, or your design is shit.
YaST is generally a good option, the problem is just that it runs on SuSE.
The closest thing to a standard GUI app platform (especially a cross-platform one) is Mono. It's not perfect--I like MonoDevelop (and NetBeans, for that matter) a hell of a lot more than Xcode, though not as much as VS--but their interface designers have gotten a lot better and it's gotten leaps and bounds easier to deal with.
Of course, half-human morons like Mark Fink (Slashdot's very own twitter) and Roy Schestowitz piss and moan about Mono despite it being the only tool of its kind (hint: Java isn't). It's kind of pathetic.
The font issues are really, really noticeably bad in Linux these days. ClearType is patented, but I'd hope that GNOME or KDE could come up with something better than "durp, fuzz some gray in there!".
"Driver support qq"? Damn, I guess the nonfunctional sound on my Dell Studio 15 and the nonfunctional wireless on my Thinkpad R52 are just my imagination!
Who cares if it's standard? It still doesn't require a command line in Windows.
A good operating system is discoverable and user-centric. At the moment, the desktop environments available for Linux are somewhat discoverable (but the second you drop to the command line, you've thrown discoverability out the window) and process-centric* rather than user-centric. Windows is not perfect at either task (OS X is much better), but Linux is really, really bad at it.
*: Process-centric operations don't focus on what the user wants to do, they focus on what the computer needs to do to accomplish the task. Frame everything around the user or you'll lose them.
And? You still said a magnificently stupid thing: that someone needs a "new career" if all they can work with are black-box systems. That's preposterous. There's not really anything you can do in an analog circuit that I can't do in Live, Reason, or Audacity.
I've used it. It is the closest thing to non-VSTfail, but I had trouble installing it and had to go dick around for a while until it decided to cooperate. The other problem is ReWire. I'm reasonably sure LMMS can't ReWire.
And to be honest, after using Ableton and Reason, something like LMMS is just lacking. The interface is kind of crap, and while it'd be usable if I didn't already own far more intuitive tools, I do.
3ms latency is certainly fine, believe me! I'd kill to have that, on Windows or on Linux. I did uninstall pulseaudio, though, in favor of ALSA, and the best I got was 60ms. Maybe it's an issue with my hardware and the Linux drivers; I don't know. But as it stands, no dice.
Thanks for the thought, though, it might help somebody with more cooperative hardware!
It's not that we don't understand it. It's not that we can't do it. It's that you shouldn't fucking have to do it to use a computer.
My first PC ran XENIX. I've had Linux machines since 2000. I know Linux. I reject it on the desktop because while I'm OK with fucking about on a server to get the exact results I want, the desktop is precisely where "just fucking work" is critical.
He's a hardcore sample junkie. It's debatable whether you call that music.
Seriously, listen to his stuff. Linux is a good choice for him, because most of his stuff is sample+effect. Not a lot of instrumentation or such, softsynths, etc.
GuitarPort is absolute shit (hint: if it came from Line6, it's crap), but there are really very good amp sims out there. AmpliTube comes to mind as a really high-quality amp-to-mike simulator, and can be configured to work with MIDI pedals (which requires buying MIDI pedals, but you can just reassign those pedals to new effects without buying 'em).
For studio recording, though, I'd much rather real hardware.
Kim Cascone is largely a sample junkie. There's very little instrumentation or sequencing involved--the sort of stuff that Linux DAWs still aren't very good at.
Slashdot Mirror
Oh, and keep in mind that this lets them tie in and monetize Flickr (huge), Del.icio.us (also huge), and Yahoo's other services.
If you knew anything about the business, you wouldn't say that.
Microsoft's search strategy is long-term. Giving up a sizable profit for now (I strongly doubt that they're losing money on it, but the numbers tell you their overhead pretty clearly) gives them:
-Yahoo's search engineers, who will move to Microsoft
-A company with experience in ad sales and portal development
-Over twice the market share
This is a long-term run at Google, not something to keep Slashbots entertained for the next week or so.
Yeah, Mono apps are so hard to write to be both command-line and GUI-accessible!
Oh, wait, they're not.
Yeah, Mono is such a monoculture! It doesn't have support for a dozen different languages, perhaps more!
Oh, wait, it does.
(And it can use Qt too; that's my GUI toolkit of choice in it.)
I understand that you're a Schestowitz-sucking little troll on the same level as Mark Fink, but let's actually have a little bit of honesty here, hmm, fucktard?
I know, and I generally turn it on if I ever have to deal with a Linux X session for any length of time, but it doesn't look as nice as ClearType or OS X's font rendering. You say I can tweak it, and I say "but it should just work out of the box."
Font rendering is a real shitshow on Linux (spacing issues, kerning, all sorts of crap everyone else solved years ago), but it is (very slowly) improving.
Organising the start menu by software manufacturer name is user centric?
No; this is why I said that Windows doesn't do it all the time. However, as another poster noted, the start menu now has a search bar (not as flexible as Quicksilver or GNOME-Do, but good enough for exactly what it's for). Hit the Windows key, type "firefox", hit enter.
The control panel has been shuffled around, but mostly because they added new features. It, too, has a search bar. I don't bother hunting up icons; I just go to the search bar and type "programs" and hit enter, and Add/Remove Programs comes up, etc.
You make some good points. I like the command line, but only for quick-and-dirty stuff that I don't have to screw with regularly. However, normal end-user software should not have "thousands of paths". Ever. If you do, you are either dealing with very specialized software and people can just suck it up and deal with it, or your design is shit.
YaST is generally a good option, the problem is just that it runs on SuSE.
There are times when Windows doesn't "just work." But here's the thing: there are a hell of a lot fewer times than with Linux.
OS X is the best of the lot, but I can't afford a Mac.
Hint: you just replied to a fellow freetard.
The closest thing to a standard GUI app platform (especially a cross-platform one) is Mono. It's not perfect--I like MonoDevelop (and NetBeans, for that matter) a hell of a lot more than Xcode, though not as much as VS--but their interface designers have gotten a lot better and it's gotten leaps and bounds easier to deal with.
Of course, half-human morons like Mark Fink (Slashdot's very own twitter) and Roy Schestowitz piss and moan about Mono despite it being the only tool of its kind (hint: Java isn't). It's kind of pathetic.
The font issues are really, really noticeably bad in Linux these days. ClearType is patented, but I'd hope that GNOME or KDE could come up with something better than "durp, fuzz some gray in there!".
"Driver support qq"? Damn, I guess the nonfunctional sound on my Dell Studio 15 and the nonfunctional wireless on my Thinkpad R52 are just my imagination!
Who cares if it's standard? It still doesn't require a command line in Windows.
A good operating system is discoverable and user-centric. At the moment, the desktop environments available for Linux are somewhat discoverable (but the second you drop to the command line, you've thrown discoverability out the window) and process-centric* rather than user-centric. Windows is not perfect at either task (OS X is much better), but Linux is really, really bad at it.
*: Process-centric operations don't focus on what the user wants to do, they focus on what the computer needs to do to accomplish the task. Frame everything around the user or you'll lose them.
And? You still said a magnificently stupid thing: that someone needs a "new career" if all they can work with are black-box systems. That's preposterous. There's not really anything you can do in an analog circuit that I can't do in Live, Reason, or Audacity.
You're a little dim, aren't you? He said he's tired of dealing with the shit, not that he struggles with doing it.
I gave up on trying to use Linux as a desktop about a year ago. It's just not worth it for me.
I'm not a normal user. That doesn't mean I want to dick around with things that should just be done .
You know what I do? I boot Windows. I open Ableton and go to preferences. I click a dropdown box and select ASIO. I'm done.
I've used it. It is the closest thing to non-VSTfail, but I had trouble installing it and had to go dick around for a while until it decided to cooperate. The other problem is ReWire. I'm reasonably sure LMMS can't ReWire.
And to be honest, after using Ableton and Reason, something like LMMS is just lacking. The interface is kind of crap, and while it'd be usable if I didn't already own far more intuitive tools, I do.
3ms latency is certainly fine, believe me! I'd kill to have that, on Windows or on Linux. I did uninstall pulseaudio, though, in favor of ALSA, and the best I got was 60ms. Maybe it's an issue with my hardware and the Linux drivers; I don't know. But as it stands, no dice.
Thanks for the thought, though, it might help somebody with more cooperative hardware!
Dell doesn't lose money on their sub-$500 PCs.
It's not that we don't understand it. It's not that we can't do it. It's that you shouldn't fucking have to do it to use a computer.
My first PC ran XENIX. I've had Linux machines since 2000. I know Linux. I reject it on the desktop because while I'm OK with fucking about on a server to get the exact results I want, the desktop is precisely where "just fucking work" is critical.
Why would it be the developers' fault that they don't support an OS with a microscopic user base?
All the users are on OS X and Windows. If you want them to come to Linux, you must be better than OS X and Windows and market the hell out of it.
He's a hardcore sample junkie. It's debatable whether you call that music.
Seriously, listen to his stuff. Linux is a good choice for him, because most of his stuff is sample+effect. Not a lot of instrumentation or such, softsynths, etc.
GuitarPort is absolute shit (hint: if it came from Line6, it's crap), but there are really very good amp sims out there. AmpliTube comes to mind as a really high-quality amp-to-mike simulator, and can be configured to work with MIDI pedals (which requires buying MIDI pedals, but you can just reassign those pedals to new effects without buying 'em).
For studio recording, though, I'd much rather real hardware.
Kim Cascone is largely a sample junkie. There's very little instrumentation or sequencing involved--the sort of stuff that Linux DAWs still aren't very good at.
Reason and Ableton Live are a wonderful combination.