And you think it is impossible to do? There are few posts here what links to circuitboards with open source software for automatic flight control.
Just look those videos http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G__WvTWeAGw and think how much you can do with a cheap RC planes (I call it cheap when it is not over 10 000 euros).
A normal glider with wingspan about a meter can do a over 115km flight alone. Of course it is totally random flight but capable flight very long distances. Then add such plane a two servos, GPS and battery and expand the wing span littlebit to carry extra weight and you have it.
BUT, if you want a true autopilot system, what meas it should have lasers range finders or at least a optical detection system like fighter jets have, you are not talking about small hand held devices anymore but full blown UAV's.
But with GPS and heightmap it could be possible to do a somekind, with safety height of 100-200 meters.
Does not..... As you do not need lots of electricity at all to fly over 100km ranges.
Example of JÄMI model what is just about 50 euros have done records (what I know) of 115km range and it has just 107cm wing span.
There are lots bigger ones like OH 2000 what has 178cm wing span and is capable to carry few hundred grams easily. So you can actually get a GPS, 3G, few cameras, auto control module, batteries and servos to that weight. And if neede, you can adjust the model to have even wider wing span if needed.
The mountains have great wings, what can be exactly benefit as those fly using warmer winds. The problem is just that if you want direct control for that 20km range, it will add a one second lag if wanted to use 2G/3G data connection (if available). Adding a electronic motor to that would give benefit in starting and some possible sudden problems where you need to make corrections without wind, but more weight and so on.
The bonus using just wind is weight and low size demand for battery.
Today a cheap 70 euros Android smartphone has almost everything what is needed, a camera, data connections, CPU, RAM, open source Linux operating system etc. So rip off all non-needed plastic, remove battery and join it to bigger battery. Add servos trough USB port and it is manageable. After all, only 2-3 servos are needed, depending what wings you want to control.
Well, so did my friends have those but I were only one who had girlfriends (not just one) and we were having fun together. Yes, we played, sometimes even with those home computers as well, but usually we "socialized". And there were no facebook or any other shit to ruin our lives. Everyone know everyone and where people was.
When I readed the topic, I just tought "Oh, someone invented Camera what can see light, AMAZING!" Of course I know it was only about ionizing radiation and not just anykind radiation like visible light.
Or how about keeping those F****** safety distances (X km/h = X meter from car front of you so if you drive 100km/h you stay 100m away from car front of you) and using those F****** signal lights 4-5 seconds BEFORE people turn or switch lines and not just 1 blink while their car has turned or they are over the line. And then limiting speed when visibility or road and tire friction is bad (wet road, snow on road, icy road, fog, black ice, sand on road etc) by 10-20km/h.
Just with those three very simple things and we could have 30-50% less accidents and deaths.
It isn't at all nice to see/hear almost every year that there are lots of accidents or those famous 100+ car crashes because everyone were driving 30-50 meter from each other at 80-100km/h speed and because blizzard visibility was just under 100m.
And why not to make the phone itself bigger a few millimeters? After all, making phone thick as 1.5 centimeters would give more than plenty of space to make almost twice of size battery, include better camera technology (longer focal point) and even have few dozen of standard and typical SIM cards if wanted.
Phone should be a communication device, not a status gizmo or virtual penis extension.
After all, phones are carried in pockets, purses or back packs and not in hands. If someone has so tight pants that there is no space for 1.5cm thick object, then she or he doesn't understand the reason for pockets to exist in pants.
I am sure that most people would be very happy to see 2-3 times longer battery life time when compromise is to make phone 5mm thicker to 1.5cm size. Many would love to take even a 2-3 cm thick smart phones if battery lifetime would go 5-6 times longer.
Reason why we really try to get thin smart phones is only about design hype "what works". And if user does not want to keep phone at their ear or hand when talking, they are free to get a hands-free.
And round corners are not patented but they are under design rights what everyone can get. The slide-to-unlock is stupid as it is like someone would have done a physical slide what needs to pull but this is just on screen. Should now someone sue Apple from making hardware version as software?
In contrary, Android is best for complex gaming engines as you can actually develop most outstanding engines what you can just code. But the problem is that not all smart phone users have the newest and best quad core smart phone.
Same situation is on PC, you can create awesome game engines but you can be 100% sure that only a few percent of gaming PC owners can run your engine.
It has always been so.
When comparing gaming markets between PC, Mac and Consoles, you can find only few things.
1. PC has best game technologies 2. Mac is behind PC because not all games are available and people don't usually buy a external GPU than what Apple integrates to Mac 3. Consoles are stable but have old hardware when compared to PC, but you can cheaply get a good device for one or two years until PC is gone few generations ahead for 3-4 years.
The development happens on PC side, like today if you buy a 100-200 dollar 3D card, 100 dollar CPU, 4-6 GB RAM, 50-70 dollar motherboard and 50 dollar chase you get awesome game PC (thinking you already own a HD display, keyboard and mouse) just for under 500 dollar.
Android is on same position, it just depends from developers if they go and code crap code or they demand too high hardware when thinking that most of people have just budget hardware. When looking those Battleheart developers games, they ain't such what would demand anything special from hardware.
Todays mobile programmers are usually newbies who do not know how to tweak and optimize their games to work well. That is one amazing things when thinking what a 20 year in business developer can achieve when they know all the tricks and they even understand that when you develop a game for smartphone, you do not need to push graphics what people expect from PC game what is played on 30" screen 30 inch from your face and player is kid who whines if FPS drops under 120.
None of the mobile phones are designed for gaming. You do not want to sit down somewhere playing hours. Even if you would sit in airplane for 12 hours you are bored to watch that small display. That is position where iPad comes and wins in tablets where you can actually have something better with 4:3 format screen and great batterylife.
Mobile games just should be to done for 5-10 minutes fun at time.
Yes, the controlled dept of field (DoF) is very important feature for photographers. As good camera has three elements controllable
1. Shutter speed (from bulb to 1/4000 at least) 2. Aperture (from widest to at least f22) 3. ISO (from 50-200 to at least 6400)
And then the depending features
1. Lenses from wide angle to tele (7-600mm) 2. Depending glass, but best is if aperture is at least 2.8 but preferred is 1.2-1.8 and this isn't just for shutter speed but for shallow DoF. 3. Fast cache memory so user can take quickly multiple shots.
No pocket or compact cameras offers those and smart phones (even thinkin N8 or 808) ain't even close needed features.
A extra bonus feature: A tilt+shift for both ends, a camera back and objective, and this demands camera is big format architecture camera.
I like the idea of Metro, I really do... but then when I even look preview videos from it or watch screenshots, I start feeling bad.
I want GUI what works with keyboard only, so that I can just quickly switch between information. That I can have different information resources same time up on one display next to each other.
Sorry, but even xmonad got these things done correctly when compared to metro.
I had vision 20 years ago that we would be using just information, not about toolbars, fancy and shiny buttons and so on. The vision was very much based to Unix and GUI of Xerox Star. That every data would be a file. Every device would be a file. User could just drag and drop or direct file to other file and get it done what ever wanted. Let the computer do the complex and daily tasks like user management or email address book management. And allow user just to write text with text editor and then direct that file to outbox and type names or tick them in list and send the email.
Windowmaker (NeXT) got many things right, but some things were terrible like how everything actually looked. The huge tiles side of screen was great idea and the simplicity even today. The good news is that Windowmaker development has continued now and I hope they do modernize its look but maintains it basic features.
I just wish that we would go back to information oriented systems, where data is pure text, image or video as much as possible. So we could just use old Unix programs to manage data in background while normal users get simple and nice GUI for that.
To send a email or document to friend, just drag it to outbox and send to friend and choose email, IM or even share a link to it.
I take cluster of pigeons carrying a small atomic bombs anytime. Problem is just to get them fly 100% to target instead somewhere else. And upkeep is nearly free, just seeds...:D
I wouldn't call ChromeOS as Thinclient OS as the same Linux operating system there is running as all popular Linux distributions and what is available for everyone from kernel.org.
Even that ChromeOS only offers to user a web browser (simplifying), it does not mean the operating system is for thinclients.
And even that web browser loads all "web apps" from network, it does not mean system is thinclient. Or otherwise I am typing this on thinclient what is really thin, as it is just 3.5cm thin and weights under 1Kg.
Now I think I have seen the funniest thing of decade (Damn! It is 2012 and decade is just at begin and last decade ended....).
1) Microsoft shows how they have still skills to start a good old FUD campaign http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4EbCkotKPU 2) Microsoft files antitrust complain for competitor to enter market where it does not have control
Everything has been better when trade unions existed and they had power and really were protecting labors rights. And that is socialism. But after the capitalism came, they have been hunted down or limited their power so corporations can rip everyone off as much as they want and because competition the products quality has gone down as well while amount of workers kept minimum.
In China, so many such strong trade unions did not exist. And same problem is on many other countries, so no wonder capitalistic corporations goes where they can hijack peoples rights and possibilities better.
Well, it is not about operating system (like NT or Linux) but configuration.
Everyone can on these days take a CyanogeMod supported tablet (or Smart Phone) and tailor the Android for it so that it has only a web browser application.
And I think it is not so difficult to make that browser application to replace the launcher application so it is always running.
I can understand wireless networking in centuries old buildings where there are no service tunnels for cables or any other 'hard to reach' locations. But otherwise I suggest to go for cable if just possible. It is more secure, faster and gives much less problems than wireless networking gives.
Yes, wireless can give nice comfort when sitting middle of room or just need to pull some data. But when you have 40+ students in one room and same AP is used by 120+ students easily, network really starts crawling and fast dropping clients off at worse case (network setup).
Is WiFi a health concern? I would say yes. But would I ban it from schools? I don't know. All what I can say is I would concern childrends and teens to spend 6+ hours a day few meters off from the AP (usually placed middle of the room on roof or other higher place on room) and when having few AP close each other, they really can start cooking those 'male balls' in next few decades... Who knows how bad thing they make in next 30-40 years.... But is it scary enough to ban that technology? No... but to limit? Yes.
They are still on same danger... but there is one catch what many does not understand.
Microsoft could do all kind software, as many or how well as they just want. But here is the catch.
They can not pre-install it to Windows or even distribute with Windows disk. But they can offer it trough their web sites as post-install method by the user choosing. Like what Microsoft does with Windows Live Essentials.
No one, can and say Microsoft could not made earlier a easier way to open a ISO files just with post install method by downloading it from microsoft.com (as long as Microsoft use same API's what are available for everyone else and not secret ones).
Microsoft could have done all kind fancy software, to be installed by post install method. But they never actually do it for now anything else than for Live Essentials.
But this new thing is that Microsoft knows it has a dominant market position on PC markets and it abuse it shamesly. Microsoft does not need to fight with others of popularity among PC users as over 99% of sold PC's comes preinstalled Windows (and you need to understand, PC is just a line of personal computers like Mac is line of personal computers).
If we want situation to change, every PC needs to come with empty storage device. And every storage device (HDD and SSD) needs to be empty when sold. So to PC user to get a Windows to their PC, they need to buy a PC and separated Windows disk and install it by themselfs or buy a service so someone would install Windows for them.
This would give a two benefits.
1) People would learn that they are free to use their older Windows license and not to pay again from Windows license 2) People would learn that there are alternativites for Windows, so Linux, FreeBSD and many other would get better change to be chosen by their features, not just by idealistic persons beliefs sotware needs to be open and free.
[quote]This part is especially fake sounding. Where did you find a windows tech who didn't know how to deal with an iso file?[/quote]
I would say... 1/3-2/3 of Windows tech persons don't even understand how to manage files well. All what they have learn and wanted is to click mouse here and there. And that is the reason why MS is bringing this ISO mounting to new windows, because it really needs to be much easier for Windows techs.
Same thing is with Microsoft (or new Linux fans) when Apple release new version of OS X or iOS. Apple does say that new feature is a new thing for _their_ users. But when they specifically mock Microsoft, they really mentions it, like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-2C2gb6ws8
There are group of amateurs and fans who check both sides (Microsoft and Apple) and build up a war between them without even understanding what and how Microsoft and Apple say things.
But, there is a point, if world largest companies comes up and say "We invented this" and such "invention" is known and in wide use in Open Source world, it is not wise to say so. Better thing is to say where the idea came, or at least check what others are doing and say "We added same feature what those users have enjoyed".
Yeah... too bad that Linux is just a operating system and so on it does not have anykind user interface, only a interface for other software.
Question is, what graphical user interface offers easy mounting (double click image to mount, double click again to umount) and it can be noticed there are many different kinds and some comes preinstalled in mainstream distributions to KDE and GNOME.
You don't need operating system mentioned at all when thinking about the needed user action to mount thing, as it is graphical subsystem job.
Well, one thing what I loved on ICS browser was in Menu > Request desktop version. As tapping it and you got always a full site instead question of mobile version or automatically a mobile version.
CyanogeMod is great modification of Android, but they really should primarily offer a vanilla version first and THEN separated packages for modifications like root, CM7 power widgets, CM7 theme and own custom apps.
Slashdot Mirror
And you think it is impossible to do?
There are few posts here what links to circuitboards with open source software for automatic flight control.
Just look those videos http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G__WvTWeAGw and think how much you can do with a cheap RC planes (I call it cheap when it is not over 10 000 euros).
A normal glider with wingspan about a meter can do a over 115km flight alone. Of course it is totally random flight but capable flight very long distances. Then add such plane a two servos, GPS and battery and expand the wing span littlebit to carry extra weight and you have it.
BUT, if you want a true autopilot system, what meas it should have lasers range finders or at least a optical detection system like fighter jets have, you are not talking about small hand held devices anymore but full blown UAV's.
But with GPS and heightmap it could be possible to do a somekind, with safety height of 100-200 meters.
You are so correct http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G__WvTWeAGw or not!
And of course there are this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgUoR_7gzzM what fits better to topic.
And it has max range 18.5 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G__WvTWeAGw
So no, it doesn't mean you are out of "cheap RC models" league.
No, it isn't cheap (50-100 euros) but it isn't expensive (10 000+ euros).
But I would ask, who would like to do that as autonomyous because it is fun to flight those things? :D
Does not..... As you do not need lots of electricity at all to fly over 100km ranges.
Example of JÄMI model what is just about 50 euros have done records (what I know) of 115km range and it has just 107cm wing span.
There are lots bigger ones like OH 2000 what has 178cm wing span and is capable to carry few hundred grams easily.
So you can actually get a GPS, 3G, few cameras, auto control module, batteries and servos to that weight. And if neede, you can adjust the model to have even wider wing span if needed.
The mountains have great wings, what can be exactly benefit as those fly using warmer winds. The problem is just that if you want direct control for that 20km range, it will add a one second lag if wanted to use 2G/3G data connection (if available). Adding a electronic motor to that would give benefit in starting and some possible sudden problems where you need to make corrections without wind, but more weight and so on.
The bonus using just wind is weight and low size demand for battery.
Today a cheap 70 euros Android smartphone has almost everything what is needed, a camera, data connections, CPU, RAM, open source Linux operating system etc. So rip off all non-needed plastic, remove battery and join it to bigger battery. Add servos trough USB port and it is manageable. After all, only 2-3 servos are needed, depending what wings you want to control.
This video was linked in Youtube about year ago. it is about RC flight near New York.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9cSxEqKQ78
Well, so did my friends have those but I were only one who had girlfriends (not just one) and we were having fun together. Yes, we played, sometimes even with those home computers as well, but usually we "socialized". And there were no facebook or any other shit to ruin our lives. Everyone know everyone and where people was.
When I readed the topic, I just tought "Oh, someone invented Camera what can see light, AMAZING!"
Of course I know it was only about ionizing radiation and not just anykind radiation like visible light.
Or how about keeping those F****** safety distances (X km/h = X meter from car front of you so if you drive 100km/h you stay 100m away from car front of you) and using those F****** signal lights 4-5 seconds BEFORE people turn or switch lines and not just 1 blink while their car has turned or they are over the line.
And then limiting speed when visibility or road and tire friction is bad (wet road, snow on road, icy road, fog, black ice, sand on road etc) by 10-20km/h.
Just with those three very simple things and we could have 30-50% less accidents and deaths.
It isn't at all nice to see/hear almost every year that there are lots of accidents or those famous 100+ car crashes because everyone were driving 30-50 meter from each other at 80-100km/h speed and because blizzard visibility was just under 100m.
And why not to make the phone itself bigger a few millimeters? After all, making phone thick as 1.5 centimeters would give more than plenty of space to make almost twice of size battery, include better camera technology (longer focal point) and even have few dozen of standard and typical SIM cards if wanted.
Phone should be a communication device, not a status gizmo or virtual penis extension.
After all, phones are carried in pockets, purses or back packs and not in hands. If someone has so tight pants that there is no space for 1.5cm thick object, then she or he doesn't understand the reason for pockets to exist in pants.
I am sure that most people would be very happy to see 2-3 times longer battery life time when compromise is to make phone 5mm thicker to 1.5cm size. Many would love to take even a 2-3 cm thick smart phones if battery lifetime would go 5-6 times longer.
Reason why we really try to get thin smart phones is only about design hype "what works". And if user does not want to keep phone at their ear or hand when talking, they are free to get a hands-free.
And round corners are not patented but they are under design rights what everyone can get. The slide-to-unlock is stupid as it is like someone would have done a physical slide what needs to pull but this is just on screen. Should now someone sue Apple from making hardware version as software?
In contrary, Android is best for complex gaming engines as you can actually develop most outstanding engines what you can just code. But the problem is that not all smart phone users have the newest and best quad core smart phone.
Same situation is on PC, you can create awesome game engines but you can be 100% sure that only a few percent of gaming PC owners can run your engine.
It has always been so.
When comparing gaming markets between PC, Mac and Consoles, you can find only few things.
1. PC has best game technologies
2. Mac is behind PC because not all games are available and people don't usually buy a external GPU than what Apple integrates to Mac
3. Consoles are stable but have old hardware when compared to PC, but you can cheaply get a good device for one or two years until PC is gone few generations ahead for 3-4 years.
The development happens on PC side, like today if you buy a 100-200 dollar 3D card, 100 dollar CPU, 4-6 GB RAM, 50-70 dollar motherboard and 50 dollar chase you get awesome game PC (thinking you already own a HD display, keyboard and mouse) just for under 500 dollar.
Android is on same position, it just depends from developers if they go and code crap code or they demand too high hardware when thinking that most of people have just budget hardware.
When looking those Battleheart developers games, they ain't such what would demand anything special from hardware.
Todays mobile programmers are usually newbies who do not know how to tweak and optimize their games to work well. That is one amazing things when thinking what a 20 year in business developer can achieve when they know all the tricks and they even understand that when you develop a game for smartphone, you do not need to push graphics what people expect from PC game what is played on 30" screen 30 inch from your face and player is kid who whines if FPS drops under 120.
None of the mobile phones are designed for gaming. You do not want to sit down somewhere playing hours. Even if you would sit in airplane for 12 hours you are bored to watch that small display. That is position where iPad comes and wins in tablets where you can actually have something better with 4:3 format screen and great batterylife.
Mobile games just should be to done for 5-10 minutes fun at time.
Yes, the controlled dept of field (DoF) is very important feature for photographers. As good camera has three elements controllable
1. Shutter speed (from bulb to 1/4000 at least)
2. Aperture (from widest to at least f22)
3. ISO (from 50-200 to at least 6400)
And then the depending features
1. Lenses from wide angle to tele (7-600mm)
2. Depending glass, but best is if aperture is at least 2.8 but preferred is 1.2-1.8 and this isn't just for shutter speed but for shallow DoF.
3. Fast cache memory so user can take quickly multiple shots.
No pocket or compact cameras offers those and smart phones (even thinkin N8 or 808) ain't even close needed features.
A extra bonus feature: A tilt+shift for both ends, a camera back and objective, and this demands camera is big format architecture camera.
As I said, it sounds nice, but when you start using, you want to rip your own head off.
I like the idea of Metro, I really do... but then when I even look preview videos from it or watch screenshots, I start feeling bad.
I want GUI what works with keyboard only, so that I can just quickly switch between information. That I can have different information resources same time up on one display next to each other.
Sorry, but even xmonad got these things done correctly when compared to metro.
I had vision 20 years ago that we would be using just information, not about toolbars, fancy and shiny buttons and so on.
The vision was very much based to Unix and GUI of Xerox Star. That every data would be a file. Every device would be a file. User could just drag and drop or direct file to other file and get it done what ever wanted. Let the computer do the complex and daily tasks like user management or email address book management. And allow user just to write text with text editor and then direct that file to outbox and type names or tick them in list and send the email.
Windowmaker (NeXT) got many things right, but some things were terrible like how everything actually looked.
The huge tiles side of screen was great idea and the simplicity even today. The good news is that Windowmaker development has continued now and I hope they do modernize its look but maintains it basic features.
I just wish that we would go back to information oriented systems, where data is pure text, image or video as much as possible. So we could just use old Unix programs to manage data in background while normal users get simple and nice GUI for that.
To send a email or document to friend, just drag it to outbox and send to friend and choose email, IM or even share a link to it.
I take cluster of pigeons carrying a small atomic bombs anytime. :D
Problem is just to get them fly 100% to target instead somewhere else.
And upkeep is nearly free, just seeds...
I wouldn't call ChromeOS as Thinclient OS as the same Linux operating system there is running as all popular Linux distributions and what is available for everyone from kernel.org.
Even that ChromeOS only offers to user a web browser (simplifying), it does not mean the operating system is for thinclients.
And even that web browser loads all "web apps" from network, it does not mean system is thinclient. Or otherwise I am typing this on thinclient what is really thin, as it is just 3.5cm thin and weights under 1Kg.
Now I think I have seen the funniest thing of decade (Damn! It is 2012 and decade is just at begin and last decade ended....).
1) Microsoft shows how they have still skills to start a good old FUD campaign http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4EbCkotKPU
2) Microsoft files antitrust complain for competitor to enter market where it does not have control
Everything has been better when trade unions existed and they had power and really were protecting labors rights.
And that is socialism. But after the capitalism came, they have been hunted down or limited their power so corporations can rip everyone off as much as they want and because competition the products quality has gone down as well while amount of workers kept minimum.
In China, so many such strong trade unions did not exist. And same problem is on many other countries, so no wonder capitalistic corporations goes where they can hijack peoples rights and possibilities better.
Well, it is not about operating system (like NT or Linux) but configuration.
Everyone can on these days take a CyanogeMod supported tablet (or Smart Phone) and tailor the Android for it so that it has only a web browser application.
And I think it is not so difficult to make that browser application to replace the launcher application so it is always running.
I can understand wireless networking in centuries old buildings where there are no service tunnels for cables or any other 'hard to reach' locations. But otherwise I suggest to go for cable if just possible. It is more secure, faster and gives much less problems than wireless networking gives.
Yes, wireless can give nice comfort when sitting middle of room or just need to pull some data. But when you have 40+ students in one room and same AP is used by 120+ students easily, network really starts crawling and fast dropping clients off at worse case (network setup).
Is WiFi a health concern? I would say yes. But would I ban it from schools? I don't know.
All what I can say is I would concern childrends and teens to spend 6+ hours a day few meters off from the AP (usually placed middle of the room on roof or other higher place on room) and when having few AP close each other, they really can start cooking those 'male balls' in next few decades... Who knows how bad thing they make in next 30-40 years....
But is it scary enough to ban that technology? No... but to limit? Yes.
They are still on same danger... but there is one catch what many does not understand.
Microsoft could do all kind software, as many or how well as they just want. But here is the catch.
They can not pre-install it to Windows or even distribute with Windows disk.
But they can offer it trough their web sites as post-install method by the user choosing. Like what Microsoft does with Windows Live Essentials.
No one, can and say Microsoft could not made earlier a easier way to open a ISO files just with post install method by downloading it from microsoft.com (as long as Microsoft use same API's what are available for everyone else and not secret ones).
Microsoft could have done all kind fancy software, to be installed by post install method. But they never actually do it for now anything else than for Live Essentials.
But this new thing is that Microsoft knows it has a dominant market position on PC markets and it abuse it shamesly.
Microsoft does not need to fight with others of popularity among PC users as over 99% of sold PC's comes preinstalled Windows (and you need to understand, PC is just a line of personal computers like Mac is line of personal computers).
If we want situation to change, every PC needs to come with empty storage device. And every storage device (HDD and SSD) needs to be empty when sold. So to PC user to get a Windows to their PC, they need to buy a PC and separated Windows disk and install it by themselfs or buy a service so someone would install Windows for them.
This would give a two benefits.
1) People would learn that they are free to use their older Windows license and not to pay again from Windows license
2) People would learn that there are alternativites for Windows, so Linux, FreeBSD and many other would get better change to be chosen by their features, not just by idealistic persons beliefs sotware needs to be open and free.
[quote]This part is especially fake sounding. Where did you find a windows tech who didn't know how to deal with an iso file?[/quote]
I would say... 1/3-2/3 of Windows tech persons don't even understand how to manage files well. All what they have learn and wanted is to click mouse here and there. And that is the reason why MS is bringing this ISO mounting to new windows, because it really needs to be much easier for Windows techs.
Same thing is with Microsoft (or new Linux fans) when Apple release new version of OS X or iOS. Apple does say that new feature is a new thing for _their_ users. But when they specifically mock Microsoft, they really mentions it, like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-2C2gb6ws8
There are group of amateurs and fans who check both sides (Microsoft and Apple) and build up a war between them without even understanding what and how Microsoft and Apple say things.
But, there is a point, if world largest companies comes up and say "We invented this" and such "invention" is known and in wide use in Open Source world, it is not wise to say so. Better thing is to say where the idea came, or at least check what others are doing and say "We added same feature what those users have enjoyed".
Yeah... too bad that Linux is just a operating system and so on it does not have anykind user interface, only a interface for other software.
Question is, what graphical user interface offers easy mounting (double click image to mount, double click again to umount) and it can be noticed there are many different kinds and some comes preinstalled in mainstream distributions to KDE and GNOME.
You don't need operating system mentioned at all when thinking about the needed user action to mount thing, as it is graphical subsystem job.
On Unix, everything is a file. Were it then a device or just data file.
Physical access is not needed so you can get a remote access to transfer a image or mount image from network location.
The only stopping force there is the root access.
Well, one thing what I loved on ICS browser was in Menu > Request desktop version. As tapping it and you got always a full site instead question of mobile version or automatically a mobile version.
CyanogeMod is great modification of Android, but they really should primarily offer a vanilla version first and THEN separated packages for modifications like root, CM7 power widgets, CM7 theme and own custom apps.