I read your reply and thought for a moment what "Terrorists Win" sounded like in CS pre Source and having remembered it I now have a endless loop of AWP shot being fired and then "Terrorists Win."
Precisely what about IE6 work the way it's supposed to? The plethora of rendering issues aside, it is by far one of the most unstable pieces of software I've ever used. And unless you dig very deep into the Windows processes and force it to run in its own process, it crashes your desktop when it goes down.
That may be true, but I know that most users who are not tech savvy will relaunch a broken app repeatedly and just live with it thinking that is just the way it is.
Yes these are real basic end users - as an IT manager I know of droves of our clients who still have IE6, XP Sp2 or older and ask us if we can still get Office2K3 since they are lost with the new interface.
I usually sit leaned back in my office chair with my laptop on my lap and a mouse is a waste for me.
A touchpad is also more intuitive to me, the best option that gives me all the advantages of a touchscreen and a mouse.
And those ultra tiny portable mice drive me up the walls, and besides I spend most of my day writing mails and tooling through logs on the command line... no mouse needed for vi, grep or tail thanks a lot.
If you stand on the shoreline here in South Africa you will find shore bound winds in the morning as the coast heats up, and sea bound winds in the evening as the shore cools down.
And this is long before/after the sun has risen/set.
In Capetown in the windy season the SouthEaster blows basically 24/7.
On service there are two aspects to it - Perception, and actual help service.
A visible apparently reliable presence in the public eye as far as after sales service goes will go a long way to bolster confidence in Linux as a viable alternative.
(I say "apparenlty reliable" because to the average public appearances are important - there needs to be more substance than just the appearance of course)
And then there is the actual help service - some (mostly older) users need to hear a human voice on the line that patiently walks them through a tricky problem on their desktop.
I think the year of the Linux Desktop has passed already.
Everybody thinks that the "Year of the Linux Desktop" will be some huge event where Microsoft goes bankrupt, MacOS is hit by a MalWare storm and Linux desktops are sold more commonly than Windows Desktops.
A single event like this is a pipe-dream. The year of the Linux desktop was the start of the revolution. There was no huge event to mark it, but we have now what "Year of the Linux Desktop" pundits predicted years ago.
Linux desktop machines sold alongside Windows Machines, Linux Laptops sold by at least one top 3 Online vendor, an area where Linux competes on an equal footing with Windows products (netbooks) and common adoption of Linux desktops by large corporations and government agencies.
In fact, we have more - MANDATED adoption of Linux or other OSS desktops.
The thing is, now the real work starts. We are out of the shadows, having stepped from relative obscurity into the public eye - and now we are being watched closely. The OSS community needs to provide more than a killer desktop OS, we have several to choose from. We now need to provide the finer things that our competition has a leg up on:
1. Good Marketing. Say what you will, the Microsoft Marketing machine is one of the best there is, OSS needs to match that somehow.
2. Good service. Things will go wrong with any Operating System, who is there to assist our clients? Do we have a "0860 CA LL MS" number that the user of his chosen environment can contact in time of need?
There are obviously more, but that is all I want to do as far as ranting goes...
I used 4.1 for a while, and I must admit I seem to have missed where the panel resizing happens. Since I have no active KDE4 install at the moment I cannot check it out.
There is no denying the prettiness of KDE4.
I agree KDE4 is evolving rapidly, and I hope it will at least reach the heights of KDE3.
Like most linux geeks I have run a variety of Window Managers. My favourites (with reasons) are:
1. Gnome.
The only good reason I give here is that I am very familiar with it. I like the feel, and I enjoy the lack of fuss it allows me to do my housekeeping. I run it without Compiz these days, and the built in compositing does enough for me (basically "true" transparency and some nice shadow/launch effects) I like that I can make window borders and panels (toolbars to you Windows folk) as small as possible to maximise my screen real estate.
2. XFCE
I like the clean feel and quick response. It has theme customization options second to none, and is compatible with most gnome and KDE applications. Takes a while to get used to, but you don't even really need a panel, you can work the whole computer from your right-click menu.
3. KDE3
I used it extensively in the past, but it feels cluttered. It has some nice customization options. I especially like the unique desktop background for every workspace, and the cycling of desktop backgrounds is awesome. It is good for people moving on from windows, the problem with it though is that it is too complicated.
4. Metisse.
At first glance it looks identical to gnome. The real treat is when you start fooling around with windows. Rotation and 3d really gets new meaning. It is a bit useless for office drones though, who would read documents upside down or in reverse? The positive on this is that it has many possibilities for implementation in future computer interfaces such as table-top computers and so on.
5. Enlightenment.
I really enjoyed my time spent using enlightenment, but it was a bit buggy and still needed some work. It has some novel ideas, such as the desktops stacked on top of each other like a stack of papers. With a little work this will become an awesome desktop environment to work in.
6. KDE4.
Yep, bottom of my list.
I used it, and tried to like it, but just couldn't feel at home. The lates releases are awesome, and I believe that this is a real desktop for the future. A few gripes I had included buggy plasmoid implementation, and the huge and chunky panel (taskbar.) I am fond of tiny taskbars, and why in KDE4 I cannot make it slimmer as in gnome, kde3 and xfce I do not know. The built-in compositing effects (transparency is cool...) is nice, but I generally do without. In fact, KDE4 and Vista Aero feels TOO similar to me, as if the two teams had a bet among each other who could create the best interface when measured along some very strict guidelines.
So there you have it, my list of favourite desktop environments.
Microsoft compatibility is a misleading term as well. It is "Linux Compatibility With Microsoft Products."
Microsoft is not compatible with anything else but rather new microsoft products by design.
Linux, by design, is compatible with almost anything that it needs to interact with on a network. While this causes there to be proprietary code in your distro in some cases, it opens the door to actually using Linux.
The thing is, even if you are able to convert your whole company to Linux, companies do not operate in isolation, and hence the rep with his Linux empowered laptop will eventually have to go and do a presentation at a Windows shop, and hence compatibility will enable you to make the move to Linux with confidence.
Crusty! Man! When I saw your reply in my mailbox I just HAD to check!
How are you?
The 'gab is back online btw...
How's the Mazda? My car is in the shop, and I got invited to a training session for our local Porsche cup, gonna get a few laps around our local F1 track in a classic Porsche!
Slashdot Mirror
You just HAD to throw a car analogy in there didn't you.
And then you just HAD to go and make it an 80's car analogy.
Uncouth Hick.
A positive movement in the force am I feeling... but lurking in the shadows the Sith are... Surprises I sense in IE8... dark times ahead...
Dang.
I read your reply and thought for a moment what "Terrorists Win" sounded like in CS pre Source and having remembered it I now have a endless loop of AWP shot being fired and then "Terrorists Win."
Good Times...
Precisely what about IE6 work the way it's supposed to? The plethora of rendering issues aside, it is by far one of the most unstable pieces of software I've ever used. And unless you dig very deep into the Windows processes and force it to run in its own process, it crashes your desktop when it goes down.
That may be true, but I know that most users who are not tech savvy will relaunch a broken app repeatedly and just live with it thinking that is just the way it is.
Yes these are real basic end users - as an IT manager I know of droves of our clients who still have IE6, XP Sp2 or older and ask us if we can still get Office2K3 since they are lost with the new interface.
Familiarity weighs heavily for end-users.
My best laptop mouse is the built in touchpad.
I usually sit leaned back in my office chair with my laptop on my lap and a mouse is a waste for me.
A touchpad is also more intuitive to me, the best option that gives me all the advantages of a touchscreen and a mouse.
And those ultra tiny portable mice drive me up the walls, and besides I spend most of my day writing mails and tooling through logs on the command line... no mouse needed for vi, grep or tail thanks a lot.
You are overestimating the amount of zune users out there...
Depends on where you are.
If you stand on the shoreline here in South Africa you will find shore bound winds in the morning as the coast heats up, and sea bound winds in the evening as the shore cools down.
And this is long before/after the sun has risen/set.
In Capetown in the windy season the SouthEaster blows basically 24/7.
I remember that flywheels were considered for electric cars as well.
Some of the issues I remember off hand were:
1. Specialized materials needed to build flywheels that are small, yet heavy enough to keep spinning for a long enough time after being "charged"
2. Getting the energy IN the flywheels in the first place - it takes more energy to get them spinning than what you draw from them.
3. Given the high velocities - what will happen when they fly apart? Also, the gyroscopic effects they generate while spinning.
4. The heavy mounts needed to safely position them negated any advantages through increased weight.
I don't know if any of these apply to stationary flywheels built into power plants though...
You haven't been reading these replies much, have you?
That is exactly what is happening, right now.
Hang around bubba, you are looking at community in action, and the best part is non linux users are contribute as well.
Neat, isn't it?
I quite like this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBUgEx_91BU
I actually quite like that Idea.
On marketing I could not agree more.
On service there are two aspects to it - Perception, and actual help service.
A visible apparently reliable presence in the public eye as far as after sales service goes will go a long way to bolster confidence in Linux as a viable alternative.
(I say "apparenlty reliable" because to the average public appearances are important - there needs to be more substance than just the appearance of course)
And then there is the actual help service - some (mostly older) users need to hear a human voice on the line that patiently walks them through a tricky problem on their desktop.
Exactly.
I think the year of the Linux Desktop has passed already.
Everybody thinks that the "Year of the Linux Desktop" will be some huge event where Microsoft goes bankrupt, MacOS is hit by a MalWare storm and Linux desktops are sold more commonly than Windows Desktops.
A single event like this is a pipe-dream. The year of the Linux desktop was the start of the revolution. There was no huge event to mark it, but we have now what "Year of the Linux Desktop" pundits predicted years ago.
Linux desktop machines sold alongside Windows Machines, Linux Laptops sold by at least one top 3 Online vendor, an area where Linux competes on an equal footing with Windows products (netbooks) and common adoption of Linux desktops by large corporations and government agencies.
In fact, we have more - MANDATED adoption of Linux or other OSS desktops.
The thing is, now the real work starts. We are out of the shadows, having stepped from relative obscurity into the public eye - and now we are being watched closely. The OSS community needs to provide more than a killer desktop OS, we have several to choose from. We now need to provide the finer things that our competition has a leg up on:
1. Good Marketing. Say what you will, the Microsoft Marketing machine is one of the best there is, OSS needs to match that somehow.
2. Good service. Things will go wrong with any Operating System, who is there to assist our clients? Do we have a "0860 CA LL MS" number that the user of his chosen environment can contact in time of need?
There are obviously more, but that is all I want to do as far as ranting goes...
I used 4.1 for a while, and I must admit I seem to have missed where the panel resizing happens. Since I have no active KDE4 install at the moment I cannot check it out.
There is no denying the prettiness of KDE4.
I agree KDE4 is evolving rapidly, and I hope it will at least reach the heights of KDE3.
Like most linux geeks I have run a variety of Window Managers. My favourites (with reasons) are:
1. Gnome.
The only good reason I give here is that I am very familiar with it. I like the feel, and I enjoy the lack of fuss it allows me to do my housekeeping. I run it without Compiz these days, and the built in compositing does enough for me (basically "true" transparency and some nice shadow/launch effects) I like that I can make window borders and panels (toolbars to you Windows folk) as small as possible to maximise my screen real estate.
2. XFCE
I like the clean feel and quick response. It has theme customization options second to none, and is compatible with most gnome and KDE applications. Takes a while to get used to, but you don't even really need a panel, you can work the whole computer from your right-click menu.
3. KDE3
I used it extensively in the past, but it feels cluttered. It has some nice customization options. I especially like the unique desktop background for every workspace, and the cycling of desktop backgrounds is awesome. It is good for people moving on from windows, the problem with it though is that it is too complicated.
4. Metisse.
At first glance it looks identical to gnome. The real treat is when you start fooling around with windows. Rotation and 3d really gets new meaning. It is a bit useless for office drones though, who would read documents upside down or in reverse? The positive on this is that it has many possibilities for implementation in future computer interfaces such as table-top computers and so on.
5. Enlightenment.
I really enjoyed my time spent using enlightenment, but it was a bit buggy and still needed some work. It has some novel ideas, such as the desktops stacked on top of each other like a stack of papers. With a little work this will become an awesome desktop environment to work in.
6. KDE4.
Yep, bottom of my list.
I used it, and tried to like it, but just couldn't feel at home. The lates releases are awesome, and I believe that this is a real desktop for the future. A few gripes I had included buggy plasmoid implementation, and the huge and chunky panel (taskbar.) I am fond of tiny taskbars, and why in KDE4 I cannot make it slimmer as in gnome, kde3 and xfce I do not know. The built-in compositing effects (transparency is cool...) is nice, but I generally do without. In fact, KDE4 and Vista Aero feels TOO similar to me, as if the two teams had a bet among each other who could create the best interface when measured along some very strict guidelines.
So there you have it, my list of favourite desktop environments.
Exactly.
Microsoft compatibility is a misleading term as well. It is "Linux Compatibility With Microsoft Products."
Microsoft is not compatible with anything else but rather new microsoft products by design.
Linux, by design, is compatible with almost anything that it needs to interact with on a network. While this causes there to be proprietary code in your distro in some cases, it opens the door to actually using Linux.
The thing is, even if you are able to convert your whole company to Linux, companies do not operate in isolation, and hence the rep with his Linux empowered laptop will eventually have to go and do a presentation at a Windows shop, and hence compatibility will enable you to make the move to Linux with confidence.
Crusty! Man! When I saw your reply in my mailbox I just HAD to check!
How are you?
The 'gab is back online btw...
How's the Mazda? My car is in the shop, and I got invited to a training session for our local Porsche cup, gonna get a few laps around our local F1 track in a classic Porsche!
Chat soon!
>:-( is a smiley flipping the bird. I could not fit an arm and the other fingers in there.
Does this ruling apply worldwide?
If so, I am now a emoticon pirate. You will probably be able to get some at piratebay soon.
:-*
my
(_|_)
>:-(
JUST DO IT!
Heh.
I tried both in that post and virii seemed so... sophisticated.
Imagine that, a geek with aspirations to being sophisticated.
And then he gets it wrong...
Linux for YOU!
Ugh - I forgot to differentiate between crash and thrash. You are correct.
Point is that a virus is code, and code can do nasty things.
I am gonna replace a nooby here at work's localhost with this. Ah office fun...