Re:complaining about things that are not broken
on
Linux Needs More Haters
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· Score: 0, Flamebait
I'd install Linux and try it out, but I'm sure as hell not putting it on my desktop where I keep all my valuable data, and my portable happens to be a tablet which has approximately 0 Linux support. I still find it dubious that:
1) Linux distros can switch resolution on-the-fly without rebooting, when a couple years ago this would have been entirely unheard of. X11 hasn't changed that much. 2) There's a *keyboard shortcut* for it. WTF? Is this something people need to do every 10 minutes or something?
You think laptops are bad, try a tablet PC. In another 4-5 years, the Linux community might start figuring out that these things exist, but I'm not holding my breath.
The funny thing is that Apple OS X has better tablet support, and they don't even *make* a tablet.
Package Managers only take open source apps. And installing software outside of the package manager can screw up your system. That's a major way Linux is currently alienating commercial development; even if you could buy the Photoshop CD, you can't install it without screwing up your packages.
1. Vision. You can't have a bunch of haphazard crap floating around in a bunch of different distros and expect it to be adopted by people who have to have accountability.
Linux does have vision. It basically sums to: "take a look at what Microsoft's doing in their next OS, then rush to complete something before they do." At least, that's where the search indexing, the improved sound manager (complete with built-in application mixer, just like Vista!) and VPU-accelerated windowing system's vision came from.
What Linux needs is its *own* vision. You don't see Apple just taking every idea Microsoft announces. (And yes, there's overlap; Apple recognizes the value of search indexing and 3D accelerated windows, but you can bet Apple didn't rely on Microsoft to make the decision to implement them.)
Resolution changes very well on my system, I just press CTRL-ALT-minus or CTRL-ALT-plus,also programs do that without problems. I haven't yet found the need to change the color depth on the fly, nor do I think that Windows can do that... can it?
I believe the grandparent meant monitor resolution, not magnification. (It sounds like you're describing magnification, correct me if I'm wrong.) My experience is the same as his; I connected my laptop to a projector, and the project spazzes out because it doesn't like my laptop's widescreen resolution. The fix in XP or Vista takes like 3 seconds, but in Linux I had to reboot to get it to work.
Windows has been able to change monitor resolution and color depth since 98 for sure. (Perhaps 95; I can't remember if 95 asked you to reboot or not.) Macintosh has been able to since version 7. (Contemporary with Windows 95.) Linux is a decade behind in this area, at the moment.
for example, the linux kernel itself is orders of magnitude faster than the vista kernel for a number of important tasks.
That's not an example, that's a ludicrously-vague statement:
Slashdot is the best forum software ever. For example, I type words into it.
See? It just doesn't work. You have to give an actual example after saying "for example."
you shouldn't be getting random crashes in ubuntu. that's a sign that something's wrong. if you're hardware is supported and you don't play around with configuration files, ubuntu should just run.
From my experience, it wasn't Ubuntu itself that crashed, but many of the applications that shipped with it by default. Last time I tried it, there were several that wouldn't run at all.
for internet telephoning i tend to use openwengo. it works okay. seeing as i've never used skype, i couldn't give you a comparison.
That's great, but you need to be able to call people who use Skype, otherwise what's the point?
Well, I perfectly well understand that developers get busy, and that (some of) the projects are run by volunteers, etc.
My only gripe is that they asked me to contribute to the project by entering bugs. I do so, and nobody even reads them. If nobody has the time to read bugs, don't ask for bugs. Close the bug tracker with an appropriate message. That's all I want.
They could spent 9 months learning the code, the build instructions, how it all fits together, creating their patch, testing their patch, submitting the patch, then hoping and praying that the project accepts the patch--
Or they could put in a bug report than the project maintainer can fix in 5 minutes, since he's already done all that work.
Which one sounds more efficient?
Of course, the real problem is that (most) open source projects don't read their bug trackers, even if the public is putting in bugs. I estimate around 75% of the time the bug never even gets assigned. This is after expressly asking users to submit bugs when they encounter them. I've given up, and I'm sure I'm not alone on this.
Except, of course, that Ace is replaced by other Rimmers from parallel universes, not by his son. And when the Rimmer we know and love became Ace, that was probably the end of the chain, as by that point he was a hard-light hologram -- pretty much impossible to kill.
Damnit, don't force me to be geeky.
The Parallel-Rimmer that passed the torch to the Red Dwarf-Rimmer was clearly a hard-light hologram, and he died from a bullet wound. They say in the episode that it penetrated his hard-light and struck the light-bee inside, damaging it. When he opens his jacket, the light-bee is clearly malfunctioning, spewing random streams of light out from the bullet-hole.
In any case, Legion never said hard-light holograms were indestructible, he said "practically indestructible". He probably didn't anticipate being shot at, he was probably referring to thinks like stubbing your toe.
None of them are all that great. Do Google Apps do everything Office does? No, clearly not. But frankly, I think Office is overrated. Granted, my copy is a couple of years old, but I just don't have much use for it. I open most things in OpenOffice, but even then, I'm converting a lot of it to text. I find all office suites ponderous and bloated, more by feature creep than any particular flaw in coding. Send me text, and I'll put it in Scribus or LaTeX.
Ok; and since everybody in the universe is identical to you, that must be Microsoft will be going bankrupt any minute now. Any minute... now. Any minute...... now! Hm.
I think it may be because my Internet connection isn't just plain "not available", but instead it's a wifi with a weak signal which comes in and out. Nevertheless, every time I tried to access documents while offline, I saw nothing but:
Also, I did not deserve the troll moderation above as I said the exactly the same sentiments as others in this thread here and here that are marked insightful and informative.
1 - Registry bloat. No other OS keeps app settings and preferences in what really amounts of a gigantic text file. Many apps do NOT remove registry entries correctly (or fully) when uninstalled. Inevitably this file will bloat, bloat, bloat, bloat until it takes forever just to get anything out of it.
All OSes keep app settings and preferences in "what amounts to giant text files." (Slight rephrasing of what you said.) In most OSes, they actually are giant text files. Of course, the Windows Registry is a binary file, not a text file-- so it if "amounts to a giant text file," so does everything else on the system.
Many apps do NOT remove registry entries correctly (or fully) when uninstalled.
And many OS X and Linux apps are coded wrong, too. That says what about Windows? Nothing.
Inevitably this file will bloat, bloat, bloat, bloat until it takes forever just to get anything out of it.
Hyperbole, but I'm not sure exactly what you're complaining about. This XP install is over 3 years old, and I fairly frequently install and uninstall software, and it doesn't take "forever" to read the Registry. I don't know what you define as "forever," but my practical experience tells me you're wrong on this point.
2 - System folder bloat. No package manager in Windows, yet things insist on storing dependencies in a shared manner. This is pain, since *nobody* dares remove any library from your system upon uninstall because nobody is sure if anyone else needs it.
First of all, uninstallers *do* ask if you want to remove potentially shared libraries. If it doesn't, it's a poorly-written uninstaller. Which (again) says nothing about Windows itself; Microsoft provides MSI installers that work.
As you install/uninstall things from your system, this folder will bloat, bloat, bloat. It's incredible how much larger a Windows install can get just 1 year after a fresh reformat.
So what? It doesn't hurt your system performance, and it's not like other OSes are any different. Are you comparing Windows to some theoretical magical OS where these problems don't exist? (Since the article is about OS X, OS X apps are very fond of not having any uninstallers, and not only will they leave behind libraries, they'll load behind "gigantic text files" as well when you throw them in the trash. Gasp, alarm, surprise!)
As a heavy dev who's always trying new tools, the constant install/uninstall cycle takes its toll VERY VERY quickly in Windows, whereas in OS X and Linux the system remains squeaky clean.
I'm a developer (not a heavy one, I try to watch my weight!) who's always trying new tools, and I have no problems with this 3-year-old XP install. I won't pretend I don't have DLL bloat or registry bloat, but the simple fact is that neither of those things affects the performance of the system in any way, shape or form-- so I don't care. Neither should you.
"Squeeky clean" seems to be some psychological problem you have. Who gives a shit if there's a 14k DLL no apps are using? It's not causing you physical pain or anything, is it?
Oh, and did I mention that I need admin privileges to do ANYTHING? I can't even install a flash plugin for *myself* without needing full admin privileges to the system. This is lazy programming, and Windows is full of it.
No, Windows isn't. You're talking about Flash, which is developed by Adobe and *surprise!* isn't actually a component of Windows. Bzzt, nice try.
If I were a sysadmin I'd be tearing my hair out.
Maybe you need to be less OCD about having "squeeky clean" computers?
McDonalds, Hard Rock Cafe, Starbucks and shopping malls survive and propagate because people like them and shop there. Not all people obviously; for example, you don't. But enough people that those businesses are successful and spread.
There's not some evil plot, there's just millions of people who like ordering a Big Mac going there day after day.
If you don't like a Cinnabon, create your own chain that does better than them. I've always wondered why most countries that complain about US companies don't have their own companies spreading to the US-- surely France has home grown chains, right? How come none are in Seattle? How come Starbucks, founded in Seattle, is in Paris and not the other way 'round?
Cuba is similar - Give 'em YouTube, uncensored Google, porn, Wikipedia, streaming reality TV and show 'em the stuff that a lot of people in the world enjoy (for whatever reasons). It'll do a lot more good than what we've tried so far...
The government would just turn the embargo around and do it the other way, North Korea-style.
I have no sympathy if they were dumb enough to not hire a lawyer to look over the contract. You signed it, you deal with it.
Not to say I agree with this legal change, but to say "well the contracts suck!" as an argument; whose fault is it the contracts suck? BOTH SIDES have to sign it.
The exact same thing happened when XP came out in the first place, Padawan, with the exception that the big push was to stay with Windows 2000 forever. Now, after a few years, XP is the "good" product, and Vista is the "bad" one. I'm sure when Windows 7 comes out, people will gripe and say "where can I buy a computer with Vista?"
including the brilliant James Pitt-Payne, who singlehandedly has been keeping the turn of the 20th century popular piano music alive through this newsgroup.
If he's so great, how come nobody's yet made a website for him?
iPod (Zune in my case) and radio aren't mutually-exclusive. I like listening to morning talk shows, then listening to MP3s later on. The nice thing about the Zune is that it has a radio receiver, so I only need to carry around one widget to use both. (Stupidly, it won't record from the radio. That would have been a nice added feature.)
The point isn't that it's a printer driver, the point is that it's "a hardware device." Change the word "printer" to "wifi network USB dongle" and try it again. Or "SATA controller." Or whatever you like.
You're ignoring the forest (the *point* of the post*) for the trees (the specific example given.)
I judge whether to download and try a program based on its version number. I know from experience that a version number less than about 0.8 is probably not worth my time.
The problem is that some open source projects use their own version numbering scheme that would make 0.8 a polished, finished product-- and there's no way to know that!
IE6 is unsupported and deprecated by Microsoft. You can set your discussion system to "Classic" style, but it's unrealistic at this point to expect *any* (newly-developed) web site to support IE6.
Tell your employers to get a clue, that's the best solution. IE7 works better in every way, and can still run all your crappy ActiveX stuff you're using IE6 for.
Slashdot Mirror
I'd install Linux and try it out, but I'm sure as hell not putting it on my desktop where I keep all my valuable data, and my portable happens to be a tablet which has approximately 0 Linux support. I still find it dubious that:
1) Linux distros can switch resolution on-the-fly without rebooting, when a couple years ago this would have been entirely unheard of. X11 hasn't changed that much.
2) There's a *keyboard shortcut* for it. WTF? Is this something people need to do every 10 minutes or something?
You think laptops are bad, try a tablet PC. In another 4-5 years, the Linux community might start figuring out that these things exist, but I'm not holding my breath.
The funny thing is that Apple OS X has better tablet support, and they don't even *make* a tablet.
Package Managers only take open source apps. And installing software outside of the package manager can screw up your system. That's a major way Linux is currently alienating commercial development; even if you could buy the Photoshop CD, you can't install it without screwing up your packages.
1. Vision. You can't have a bunch of haphazard crap floating around in a bunch of different distros and expect it to be adopted by people who have to have accountability.
Linux does have vision. It basically sums to: "take a look at what Microsoft's doing in their next OS, then rush to complete something before they do." At least, that's where the search indexing, the improved sound manager (complete with built-in application mixer, just like Vista!) and VPU-accelerated windowing system's vision came from.
What Linux needs is its *own* vision. You don't see Apple just taking every idea Microsoft announces. (And yes, there's overlap; Apple recognizes the value of search indexing and 3D accelerated windows, but you can bet Apple didn't rely on Microsoft to make the decision to implement them.)
Resolution changes very well on my system, I just press CTRL-ALT-minus or CTRL-ALT-plus,also programs do that without problems. I haven't yet found the need to change the color depth on the fly, nor do I think that Windows can do that... can it?
I believe the grandparent meant monitor resolution, not magnification. (It sounds like you're describing magnification, correct me if I'm wrong.) My experience is the same as his; I connected my laptop to a projector, and the project spazzes out because it doesn't like my laptop's widescreen resolution. The fix in XP or Vista takes like 3 seconds, but in Linux I had to reboot to get it to work.
Windows has been able to change monitor resolution and color depth since 98 for sure. (Perhaps 95; I can't remember if 95 asked you to reboot or not.) Macintosh has been able to since version 7. (Contemporary with Windows 95.) Linux is a decade behind in this area, at the moment.
for example, the linux kernel itself is orders of magnitude faster than the vista kernel for a number of important tasks.
That's not an example, that's a ludicrously-vague statement:
Slashdot is the best forum software ever. For example, I type words into it.
See? It just doesn't work. You have to give an actual example after saying "for example."
you shouldn't be getting random crashes in ubuntu. that's a sign that something's wrong. if you're hardware is supported and you don't play around with configuration files, ubuntu should just run.
From my experience, it wasn't Ubuntu itself that crashed, but many of the applications that shipped with it by default. Last time I tried it, there were several that wouldn't run at all.
for internet telephoning i tend to use openwengo. it works okay. seeing as i've never used skype, i couldn't give you a comparison.
That's great, but you need to be able to call people who use Skype, otherwise what's the point?
Well, I perfectly well understand that developers get busy, and that (some of) the projects are run by volunteers, etc.
My only gripe is that they asked me to contribute to the project by entering bugs. I do so, and nobody even reads them. If nobody has the time to read bugs, don't ask for bugs. Close the bug tracker with an appropriate message. That's all I want.
They could spent 9 months learning the code, the build instructions, how it all fits together, creating their patch, testing their patch, submitting the patch, then hoping and praying that the project accepts the patch--
Or they could put in a bug report than the project maintainer can fix in 5 minutes, since he's already done all that work.
Which one sounds more efficient?
Of course, the real problem is that (most) open source projects don't read their bug trackers, even if the public is putting in bugs. I estimate around 75% of the time the bug never even gets assigned. This is after expressly asking users to submit bugs when they encounter them. I've given up, and I'm sure I'm not alone on this.
I learned C on good ol' Mac OS 7. All the textbooks and guides there were in very verbose (possibly PASCAL-based) format:
if( IAtePancakes)
{
DoSomeStuff();
}
else
{
GoEatPancakes( RIGHTNOW );
}
It's nailed into my brain so that I write almost all my code that way now, even JS. Everyone else hates it, says there's too much whitespsce.
Except, of course, that Ace is replaced by other Rimmers from parallel universes, not by his son. And when the Rimmer we know and love became Ace, that was probably the end of the chain, as by that point he was a hard-light hologram -- pretty much impossible to kill.
Damnit, don't force me to be geeky.
The Parallel-Rimmer that passed the torch to the Red Dwarf-Rimmer was clearly a hard-light hologram, and he died from a bullet wound. They say in the episode that it penetrated his hard-light and struck the light-bee inside, damaging it. When he opens his jacket, the light-bee is clearly malfunctioning, spewing random streams of light out from the bullet-hole.
In any case, Legion never said hard-light holograms were indestructible, he said "practically indestructible". He probably didn't anticipate being shot at, he was probably referring to thinks like stubbing your toe.
None of them are all that great. Do Google Apps do everything Office does? No, clearly not. But frankly, I think Office is overrated. Granted, my copy is a couple of years old, but I just don't have much use for it. I open most things in OpenOffice, but even then, I'm converting a lot of it to text. I find all office suites ponderous and bloated, more by feature creep than any particular flaw in coding. Send me text, and I'll put it in Scribus or LaTeX.
Ok; and since everybody in the universe is identical to you, that must be Microsoft will be going bankrupt any minute now. Any minute... now. Any minute... ... now! Hm.
I've yet to have Google Gears work properly once.
I think it may be because my Internet connection isn't just plain "not available", but instead it's a wifi with a weak signal which comes in and out. Nevertheless, every time I tried to access documents while offline, I saw nothing but:
http://blakeyrat.com/2008/05/27/google-docs-offline-is-a-great-idea-too-bad-it-never-f-ing-works/
Also, I did not deserve the troll moderation above as I said the exactly the same sentiments as others in this thread here and here that are marked insightful and informative.
So... you want Redundant instead?
1 - Registry bloat. No other OS keeps app settings and preferences in what really amounts of a gigantic text file. Many apps do NOT remove registry entries correctly (or fully) when uninstalled. Inevitably this file will bloat, bloat, bloat, bloat until it takes forever just to get anything out of it.
All OSes keep app settings and preferences in "what amounts to giant text files." (Slight rephrasing of what you said.) In most OSes, they actually are giant text files. Of course, the Windows Registry is a binary file, not a text file-- so it if "amounts to a giant text file," so does everything else on the system.
Many apps do NOT remove registry entries correctly (or fully) when uninstalled.
And many OS X and Linux apps are coded wrong, too. That says what about Windows? Nothing.
Inevitably this file will bloat, bloat, bloat, bloat until it takes forever just to get anything out of it.
Hyperbole, but I'm not sure exactly what you're complaining about. This XP install is over 3 years old, and I fairly frequently install and uninstall software, and it doesn't take "forever" to read the Registry. I don't know what you define as "forever," but my practical experience tells me you're wrong on this point.
2 - System folder bloat. No package manager in Windows, yet things insist on storing dependencies in a shared manner. This is pain, since *nobody* dares remove any library from your system upon uninstall because nobody is sure if anyone else needs it.
First of all, uninstallers *do* ask if you want to remove potentially shared libraries. If it doesn't, it's a poorly-written uninstaller. Which (again) says nothing about Windows itself; Microsoft provides MSI installers that work.
As you install/uninstall things from your system, this folder will bloat, bloat, bloat. It's incredible how much larger a Windows install can get just 1 year after a fresh reformat.
So what? It doesn't hurt your system performance, and it's not like other OSes are any different. Are you comparing Windows to some theoretical magical OS where these problems don't exist? (Since the article is about OS X, OS X apps are very fond of not having any uninstallers, and not only will they leave behind libraries, they'll load behind "gigantic text files" as well when you throw them in the trash. Gasp, alarm, surprise!)
As a heavy dev who's always trying new tools, the constant install/uninstall cycle takes its toll VERY VERY quickly in Windows, whereas in OS X and Linux the system remains squeaky clean.
I'm a developer (not a heavy one, I try to watch my weight!) who's always trying new tools, and I have no problems with this 3-year-old XP install. I won't pretend I don't have DLL bloat or registry bloat, but the simple fact is that neither of those things affects the performance of the system in any way, shape or form-- so I don't care. Neither should you.
"Squeeky clean" seems to be some psychological problem you have. Who gives a shit if there's a 14k DLL no apps are using? It's not causing you physical pain or anything, is it?
Oh, and did I mention that I need admin privileges to do ANYTHING? I can't even install a flash plugin for *myself* without needing full admin privileges to the system. This is lazy programming, and Windows is full of it.
No, Windows isn't. You're talking about Flash, which is developed by Adobe and *surprise!* isn't actually a component of Windows. Bzzt, nice try.
If I were a sysadmin I'd be tearing my hair out.
Maybe you need to be less OCD about having "squeeky clean" computers?
Whoa, what's this you're saying? You mean... taking a stand is HARD?! Harder than just following the status quo!? Gasp!
Look, they can suck it up. They signed the deal, the can't tear-up about it. Period.
McDonalds, Hard Rock Cafe, Starbucks and shopping malls survive and propagate because people like them and shop there. Not all people obviously; for example, you don't. But enough people that those businesses are successful and spread.
There's not some evil plot, there's just millions of people who like ordering a Big Mac going there day after day.
If you don't like a Cinnabon, create your own chain that does better than them. I've always wondered why most countries that complain about US companies don't have their own companies spreading to the US-- surely France has home grown chains, right? How come none are in Seattle? How come Starbucks, founded in Seattle, is in Paris and not the other way 'round?
NT
Cuba is similar - Give 'em YouTube, uncensored Google, porn, Wikipedia, streaming reality TV and show 'em the stuff that a lot of people in the world enjoy (for whatever reasons). It'll do a lot more good than what we've tried so far...
The government would just turn the embargo around and do it the other way, North Korea-style.
I have no sympathy if they were dumb enough to not hire a lawyer to look over the contract. You signed it, you deal with it.
Not to say I agree with this legal change, but to say "well the contracts suck!" as an argument; whose fault is it the contracts suck? BOTH SIDES have to sign it.
The exact same thing happened when XP came out in the first place, Padawan, with the exception that the big push was to stay with Windows 2000 forever. Now, after a few years, XP is the "good" product, and Vista is the "bad" one. I'm sure when Windows 7 comes out, people will gripe and say "where can I buy a computer with Vista?"
It's the circle of life.
Flamebait, I know, but...
including the brilliant James Pitt-Payne, who singlehandedly has been keeping the turn of the 20th century popular piano music alive through this newsgroup.
If he's so great, how come nobody's yet made a website for him?
iPod (Zune in my case) and radio aren't mutually-exclusive. I like listening to morning talk shows, then listening to MP3s later on. The nice thing about the Zune is that it has a radio receiver, so I only need to carry around one widget to use both. (Stupidly, it won't record from the radio. That would have been a nice added feature.)
You're purposefully being dense.
The point isn't that it's a printer driver, the point is that it's "a hardware device." Change the word "printer" to "wifi network USB dongle" and try it again. Or "SATA controller." Or whatever you like.
You're ignoring the forest (the *point* of the post*) for the trees (the specific example given.)
I judge whether to download and try a program based on its version number. I know from experience that a version number less than about 0.8 is probably not worth my time.
The problem is that some open source projects use their own version numbering scheme that would make 0.8 a polished, finished product-- and there's no way to know that!
IE6 is unsupported and deprecated by Microsoft. You can set your discussion system to "Classic" style, but it's unrealistic at this point to expect *any* (newly-developed) web site to support IE6.
Tell your employers to get a clue, that's the best solution. IE7 works better in every way, and can still run all your crappy ActiveX stuff you're using IE6 for.