Dell, but they weren't excellent until I grabbed fresh drivers and the restore CD and did a clean install. I easily got a 10-15% performance boost on one of them, which I found kind of shocking. OEMs make money pre-loading some of this stuff, so I see their need/desire for it, but they really do need to be more selective. And how about just giving me the applications on a CD and letting me chose, would save me a lot of time.
Actually bothering to read the things you quote never hurts. All of those descriptors were in reference to the HARDWARE that will inevitably be designed around Microsoft's asinine specifications, regardless of whether you actually use/own DRMed content or Windows OS at all. Now you are just making stuff up; recent test from PCWorld, CNET and anyone who was in the BETA pretty much shows this. Any decent single core or dual core PC from the last couple years will provide a performance experience equal to XP in the vast majority of task.
that these companies have had plenty of time to have new versions ready for Vista, this is truly a case of application vendors sandbagging their own customers. And why would anyone act surprised that corporations aren't jumping on Vista, no I.T. staffer worth their salary runs a new OS on release month for production, why would Vista (and XP or 2000 or Linux or Solaris, etc...) change this?
several nice gifts over the last couple years for BETA testing Live Messenger and OneCare. When you compare my contribution and gifts on a scale versus the work some of these bloggers have done, I don't really see the issue. I know we have to hate everything MS does (and I'm as guilt as anyone around here sometimes), but this doesn't really seem all that evil to me.
I work at a large small company that is now a subsidiary of a large multi-national; we are about 40% Windows/60% *nix on the back end (while they are near 100% Windows with a handful of exceptions). All of us admins here are big fans of OSS solutions but have to write extensive justifications and documentation for every Linux solution we want to use, far more than when we use a commercial Windows package. Within days of this announcement our PHBs were stating that using an MS blessed distro would make our lives much easier in the future. Another meeting today and it appears the purchasing monkeys have been directed to see what exactly Novell is offering up. So clearly this FUD has reached it's intended audience.
Say what you will, the MS FUD/PR machine is a well tuned beast...
as I am a pretty open Apple supporter, but after having messed with a Zune at the mall I can say it isn't all bad. And we all know the MS formula of floating something tha sucks and refining it until people actually like it. Apple had best be vigilent and bring something new to the iPod line by next Xmas; some defectors will pop up just because they hate Apple or want to be different.
Agreed to a point, but how much bandwidth can they really dedicate to each new release.
2. Not spam you with adverts for games
You can turn this off in options.
3. Consume less disk space
STEAM itself isn't that big, the games are.
4. Allow you to trade games / sell your account
Why? Most games have a license that precludes this, STEAM just has an enforcement mechanism built in.
5. not be a prequisite to playing a game
Kind of the whole point of STEAM.
6. not hog memory
Come on now, how much memory does STEAM really eat?
7. be less ugly -eg blend in to native widgets
Agreed.
8. be ported to *nix
Why? Porting is expensive, requires support and *nix doesn't have the marketshare to make it worth while. I'd love some Half Life2 under OS X, but I understand why they don't bother.
9. not use internet explorer
Who cares?
10. not download so much shit
Doesn't download anything you don't request.
Have you actually used STEAM or are you just repeating stuff you have read elsewhere?
I guess the reason it is a big sticking point for me is because Fedora has managed to get it right (with Beryl as a default for supported cards) and not include the proprietary stuff. Like you said, there is more than one way to do this, why not do it in a technically and philosophically correct manner? Help improve the current state of binary driver installs, but don't load them by default.
I've been an avid Ubuntu user since Breezy and really like the distro and was enamored with Mark's persona early on. Most of his public statements seemed to really back up the Philosophy section of the Ubuntu web site as well, so like many Ubuntu users I felt pretty secure I had made a good choice. But lately I have grown a little concerned with some behavior...
-Recent announcements that closed source drivers would be default installed in Feisty Fawn is a concern for me, this is truly the edge of the slippery slope in some respects.
-The debacle with the art team and Edgy Eft (somewhat explained but I felt maybe a little too much of the SABDFL side was employed, similar to the proprietary drivers in Feisty)
-Now the open letter to OpenSUSE devs, that depending on how you read it might come across as a little disengenuous?
I can't say I'm totally turned off on Ubuntu, and the beauty of Linux is that there is always a distro to scratch your itch, but I am now waiting to see how Mark and Co handle the next few weeks/months to follow up with some of this behavior. I'm not jumping off any cliffs and I am definitely not assuming the worst about all of these things, but they do give me reason to pause.
For the first time in a while I'm distro shopping again, have to see how my laptop likes Fedora Core 6 one of these days. Or maybe things will play out and I"ll be handing out Feisty Fawn CDs to friends, time will tell...
not technical enough and the other dept members know it. More than a couple of them are willing to lie to him and it is getting tougher to dig our group out of the holes these liars create. The real shame is that we have already lost one good admin who couldn't tolerate it any longer. So the answer is pretty clear, and decent tech manager has to be at least a semi-decent tech.
Since the bits are essentially the same I shouldn't have to pay a premium for my geeky torture, simple as that. Of course Vista will be a huge seller, when it's the only OS sold on PCs virtually everywhere it really can't fail. But that doesn't make it good or worth using.
I've been in the BETA since February, thanks for trying to distract people from the issue though. I work in corporate IT so it is tough to ignore Windows, that doesn't mean I have to actively support what MS does.
I keep asking why Novell would make any deal with MS? How many times have MS stuck it in them? MS managed to marginalize Sun (as they slowly killed themselves off internally as well) so I see why they took the money and ran, but Novell almost appeared on the rebound? A couple guys from Novell spoke at the 2005 Ohio LinuxFest about converting the whole company to Linux and seemed to be True Believers. Why make a deal with the devil when you are finally getting some stuff right?
You are completely missing my point; I don't steal software as I don't need to do so, there is almost always a good OSS option to provide what I need. WGA is not an inconvenience to me, it is an insult. If I endure product activation I really don't need my OS checking up on my every few days to see if the copy of I paid for has somehow, mysteriously become a "pirated" copy. Don't confuse me with a whining pirate, my concerns relate to privacy and the frequently evolving nature of MS EULAs.
And stop apologizing for WGA, it is an awful concept at best.
Just because WGA is transparent does not mean it is "right"; product activation ought to be enough. And I hardly call explaining my reasoning "whining"; what is the point of a discussion thread in the first place?
I should preface this with the statement that I mostly use OS X and Linux for just about everything, but I usually take an extra box and slap the latest version of Windows on it just to maintain some knowledge for customers. But this might be the first version of Windows (yes, I endured ME) that won't get that treatment...
-Even more aggressive Windows Genuine Advantage snooping/phoning home. I haven't bothered to pirate your OS yet, if I pass initial activation you can get off my ass. I know my ass is close to m wallet so I see your motives.
-Exceedingly aggressive DRM built into WMP11. Just a thought, consider the consumer and not your media conglomerate buddies at mega-corp once in a while. You tell me to trust you with my digital life but you won't trust me?
-You insist that I am too dumb to run my PC; far too many processes are hidden/poorly explained or locked out of my control. Now you tell me I'm not smart enough to handle virtualization?
I've never been one to believe MS is some kind of innovation power house, but Vista disappoints on almost every level. I've never entirely trusted a Windows OS, but now my OS doesn't trust me. Linux makes a pretty adequate desktop these days and for those who want a totally trouble free experience OS X is still far more consumer friendly than Vista. True that iTunes does present some DRM issues, but they aren't that hard to subvert and the vast majority of files generated on/by OS X and associated applications are widely supported formats. It will be easy to recommend alternatives for the next couple years...
I dunno' about any Linux boom, there has been a nice progression over the years but hardly a boom on the desktop side. Users like yourself probably aren't really that common, but I do agree that group is important (and well served even without Suse/Novell). There are enough distros to serve every part of the Linux market and there is little reason to feel excluded because Red Hat and Suse are more focussed on the corporate market. For that matter, Red Hat still supports the consumer market pretty well via Fedora and there are enough desktop distros to fill almost every niche.
While not an entirely invalid statement, don't forget that a good portion of the/. community is made up of sys admins and coders. So while the sentiments you mention are likely valid for a small group, they hardly reflect the vast majority of/.ers.
is slightly better performance, initial feedback on the ribbon has been almost universally negative and there is no reason for other devs to rush to mediocrity. This is truly nothing more than an attempt at viral marketing.
Slashdot Mirror
If you really thought that was all Windows Server 2003 was, you are confused.
I fat fingered the title, should be I OWN 2 excellent systems from Dell...
Dell, but they weren't excellent until I grabbed fresh drivers and the restore CD and did a clean install. I easily got a 10-15% performance boost on one of them, which I found kind of shocking. OEMs make money pre-loading some of this stuff, so I see their need/desire for it, but they really do need to be more selective. And how about just giving me the applications on a CD and letting me chose, would save me a lot of time.
the "damned if you do, damned if you don't" theory. And a chance for the anti-corporate kids in moms basement to write eloquent post today.
a huge furnace that burns large piles of money, explaining the ever increasing fee structure.
You should stop spreading FUD.
that these companies have had plenty of time to have new versions ready for Vista, this is truly a case of application vendors sandbagging their own customers. And why would anyone act surprised that corporations aren't jumping on Vista, no I.T. staffer worth their salary runs a new OS on release month for production, why would Vista (and XP or 2000 or Linux or Solaris, etc...) change this?
several nice gifts over the last couple years for BETA testing Live Messenger and OneCare. When you compare my contribution and gifts on a scale versus the work some of these bloggers have done, I don't really see the issue. I know we have to hate everything MS does (and I'm as guilt as anyone around here sometimes), but this doesn't really seem all that evil to me.
I work at a large small company that is now a subsidiary of a large multi-national; we are about 40% Windows/60% *nix on the back end (while they are near 100% Windows with a handful of exceptions). All of us admins here are big fans of OSS solutions but have to write extensive justifications and documentation for every Linux solution we want to use, far more than when we use a commercial Windows package. Within days of this announcement our PHBs were stating that using an MS blessed distro would make our lives much easier in the future. Another meeting today and it appears the purchasing monkeys have been directed to see what exactly Novell is offering up. So clearly this FUD has reached it's intended audience. Say what you will, the MS FUD/PR machine is a well tuned beast...
as I am a pretty open Apple supporter, but after having messed with a Zune at the mall I can say it isn't all bad. And we all know the MS formula of floating something tha sucks and refining it until people actually like it. Apple had best be vigilent and bring something new to the iPod line by next Xmas; some defectors will pop up just because they hate Apple or want to be different.
Agreed to a point, but how much bandwidth can they really dedicate to each new release.
2. Not spam you with adverts for games
You can turn this off in options.
3. Consume less disk space
STEAM itself isn't that big, the games are.
4. Allow you to trade games / sell your account
Why? Most games have a license that precludes this, STEAM just has an enforcement mechanism built in.
5. not be a prequisite to playing a game
Kind of the whole point of STEAM.
6. not hog memory
Come on now, how much memory does STEAM really eat?
7. be less ugly -eg blend in to native widgets
Agreed.
8. be ported to *nix
Why? Porting is expensive, requires support and *nix doesn't have the marketshare to make it worth while. I'd love some Half Life2 under OS X, but I understand why they don't bother.
9. not use internet explorer
Who cares?
10. not download so much shit
Doesn't download anything you don't request.
Have you actually used STEAM or are you just repeating stuff you have read elsewhere?
anyone took seriously would convert to Linux this would be meaningful...
Andy is pretty much a full on Apple advocate so I can't take his review to seriously.
I guess the reason it is a big sticking point for me is because Fedora has managed to get it right (with Beryl as a default for supported cards) and not include the proprietary stuff. Like you said, there is more than one way to do this, why not do it in a technically and philosophically correct manner? Help improve the current state of binary driver installs, but don't load them by default.
-Recent announcements that closed source drivers would be default installed in Feisty Fawn is a concern for me, this is truly the edge of the slippery slope in some respects.
-The debacle with the art team and Edgy Eft (somewhat explained but I felt maybe a little too much of the SABDFL side was employed, similar to the proprietary drivers in Feisty)
-Now the open letter to OpenSUSE devs, that depending on how you read it might come across as a little disengenuous?
I can't say I'm totally turned off on Ubuntu, and the beauty of Linux is that there is always a distro to scratch your itch, but I am now waiting to see how Mark and Co handle the next few weeks/months to follow up with some of this behavior. I'm not jumping off any cliffs and I am definitely not assuming the worst about all of these things, but they do give me reason to pause.
For the first time in a while I'm distro shopping again, have to see how my laptop likes Fedora Core 6 one of these days. Or maybe things will play out and I"ll be handing out Feisty Fawn CDs to friends, time will tell...
not technical enough and the other dept members know it. More than a couple of them are willing to lie to him and it is getting tougher to dig our group out of the holes these liars create. The real shame is that we have already lost one good admin who couldn't tolerate it any longer. So the answer is pretty clear, and decent tech manager has to be at least a semi-decent tech.
Since the bits are essentially the same I shouldn't have to pay a premium for my geeky torture, simple as that. Of course Vista will be a huge seller, when it's the only OS sold on PCs virtually everywhere it really can't fail. But that doesn't make it good or worth using.
I've been in the BETA since February, thanks for trying to distract people from the issue though. I work in corporate IT so it is tough to ignore Windows, that doesn't mean I have to actively support what MS does.
I keep asking why Novell would make any deal with MS? How many times have MS stuck it in them? MS managed to marginalize Sun (as they slowly killed themselves off internally as well) so I see why they took the money and ran, but Novell almost appeared on the rebound? A couple guys from Novell spoke at the 2005 Ohio LinuxFest about converting the whole company to Linux and seemed to be True Believers. Why make a deal with the devil when you are finally getting some stuff right?
And stop apologizing for WGA, it is an awful concept at best.
Just because WGA is transparent does not mean it is "right"; product activation ought to be enough. And I hardly call explaining my reasoning "whining"; what is the point of a discussion thread in the first place?
-Even more aggressive Windows Genuine Advantage snooping/phoning home. I haven't bothered to pirate your OS yet, if I pass initial activation you can get off my ass. I know my ass is close to m wallet so I see your motives.
-Exceedingly aggressive DRM built into WMP11. Just a thought, consider the consumer and not your media conglomerate buddies at mega-corp once in a while. You tell me to trust you with my digital life but you won't trust me?
-You insist that I am too dumb to run my PC; far too many processes are hidden/poorly explained or locked out of my control. Now you tell me I'm not smart enough to handle virtualization?
I've never been one to believe MS is some kind of innovation power house, but Vista disappoints on almost every level. I've never entirely trusted a Windows OS, but now my OS doesn't trust me. Linux makes a pretty adequate desktop these days and for those who want a totally trouble free experience OS X is still far more consumer friendly than Vista. True that iTunes does present some DRM issues, but they aren't that hard to subvert and the vast majority of files generated on/by OS X and associated applications are widely supported formats. It will be easy to recommend alternatives for the next couple years...
I dunno' about any Linux boom, there has been a nice progression over the years but hardly a boom on the desktop side. Users like yourself probably aren't really that common, but I do agree that group is important (and well served even without Suse/Novell). There are enough distros to serve every part of the Linux market and there is little reason to feel excluded because Red Hat and Suse are more focussed on the corporate market. For that matter, Red Hat still supports the consumer market pretty well via Fedora and there are enough desktop distros to fill almost every niche.
While not an entirely invalid statement, don't forget that a good portion of the /. community is made up of sys admins and coders. So while the sentiments you mention are likely valid for a small group, they hardly reflect the vast majority of /.ers.
is slightly better performance, initial feedback on the ribbon has been almost universally negative and there is no reason for other devs to rush to mediocrity. This is truly nothing more than an attempt at viral marketing.