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Today the corperations are trying to dicate your use and control of the digital life.
Micrsoft can join in but they should put their operating system under their most restrictive Shared Source license (where people can redistribute it but only read the code) to regain the public's trust and gain revenue from their SOA and online models. They should lessen their use of DRM as it doesn't do anything but provide headaches for people and create backdoor malware attacks that even Vista can't solve; because there is a malware industry that interests Microsoft as well. (Windows Genuaine Advantage that has malwared computers that even have a 'legal' copy of Windows OS.
Meanwhile back in the real world, I note that such systems overwhelmingly run on Windows. e.g. 'Windows for Warships' as used by the US Navy. Not to mention that British and American Polaris Nuclear submarines use Windows for their commnd and control systems.
Meanwhile back in the real world, I note that such systems overwhelmingly run on Windows. e.g. 'Windows for Warships' as used by the US Navy. Not to mention that British and American Polaris Nuclear submarines use Windows for their commnd and control systems.
Whatever medial job you have (if you have one) pays you money to deliver on your intellectual property or services. IBM, HP, Unbuntu, and others make money from selling services and custom solutions. In your cloudy world, should they do that for free too?
I work for the best company in the world, Microsoft, and I am thankful to work at a company that allows me to generate income to feed me, and my family, and to provide many more with jobs.
Nothing is ever for free, you pay for Linux up front, or for any services. I have tried this distro in a Virtual PC environment, and certainly noticed how Ubuntu charges for support as well. (http://www.ubuntu.com/support/paid). Should this be free too?
Feel free to pick your favorite, but think before you write again. Think how cool it would be if what you based your career on will be offered for free.
Not very cool, huh?
Lets just make money free too...:)
I write apps for Windows(mostly), Linux and OS X..Why would I waste my time writing these apps for nothing? So I can live in a Van down by the river? There will always be a need for paid software..Its a huge part of the global economy.
I'm sorry, did I miss the bit where the USS Enterprise stopped being A WORK OF FICTION!!!?
Jeez...
not about Open source, I was stunned at the hipocrisy and self
servingness of it.
Ballmer certainly has to represent his company, but inan nstance
like this isn't there some kind of collaboration they could do.
This country is dirt poor.
project and completely free? We don't want
double standards, do we?
I?m sorry, folks, but this isn?t generic vs. brand-name prescription drugs. While I applaud Ubuntu for having quite possibly the best version of Linux out there, it?s still a highly unreliable and flippant operating system. When I say unreliable I mean just that: most applications that a person would actually want to use aren?t readily available on the Linux operating system.
What?s available? Internet browsing and email programs? Office suites for word processing and spreadsheets? All available on a more universally sound and compatible operating system that?s currently powering the majority of the planet. I?m far from the biggest MS fan out there, but it just doesn?t make a lick of sense to me teaching kids to use a system that doesn?t prepare them for the real world just because it?s a minor inconvenience
Teach them to use Linux now and they?ll pay for it when they have to relearn Windows later on. Seriously?this is like teaching kids Chinese because they?ll be teaching in Japan. Perhaps the efforts would be better lobbying Gates and company (who?re on a much large charity binge lately?) then using the poverty class to push either an anti Capitalist agenda or become some bizarre standard-bearer of Open Source at the expense of ?poor? children.
Don?t they still test in-development drugs in Africa, too?
New trends come. Yes things change. And preparing students for the future can mean to teach the alternative too. Kids might actually learn computing from mobile phones if you look at how these are becoming smart.
There's less Windows on mobile phones than there is on the PC. Encourage Linux and Mac OS in schools, and even other operating systems. Let Kids experiment. At the end the best one will win. Computing skill are not "Windows skill".
New trends come. Yes things change. And preparing students for the future can mean to teach the alternative too. Kids might actually learn computing from mobile phones if you look at how these are becoming smart.
There's less Windows on mobile phones than there is on the PC. Encourage Linux and Mac OS in schools, and even other operating systems. Let Kids experiment. At the end the best one will win. Computing skill are not "Windows skill".
For someone beginning to learn how to use a computer MS's "Windoze" is pretty confusing.
Ubuntu is easy to figure out and so much easier in some respects to pick up, compared to MS's Windows system.
Ubuntu has made it easy for a previous windows user to find there way around, and the community support is great.
If you like your particular version of windows crashing or being riddled with spyware, malware viruses and just being to slow to surf the web, then keep your wallet open.
And what apps do you need to run that can't be run in linux?
For the most part everything an average or experienced user requires..and I mean everything, has just a good if not better counterpart in linux!
Apt-get makes it simple to load and go..
Your metaphor's don't cut it.
To paraphrase..
wake up and smell the coffee!
I just want to say this up-front. I am NOT anti-Linux, nor am I Pro-Microsoft. But after all the googly-eyes people online have made about Linux and its ?benefits? I want to comment a little bit. This is in response to teaching Linux vs. Microsoft.
Linux is free. Free of course meaning price vs. time. Say what you will about MS?s operating system, but it?s built for compatibility and ease of use. That is, just about every single product you?ll buy that says ?Windows? in the store or online WILL work to varying degrees of success. 99.9% of companies have free driver packages freely available on their product websites provided you don?t have an install CD or Windows didn?t automatically detect the product.
Linux doesn?t fair so well. Depending on the version and distribution working, good luck with compatibility. That (and I?ll say a bit more below) heaven forbid you don?t know anything about consoles or programming. Installing packages, RPMs, etc? the Linux compatibility world is absolutely unstable and unreliable.
?and what about programming? A good programmer doesn?t make a good designer, and considering Linux is ?designed? by programmer?s this isn?t anywhere as apparent as it is with the Linux programming ?necessity?. A good, stable operating system shouldn?t require the user to know how to program or add ?code? just to get a simple application working.
There?s dozens of different Linux distributions, and some charge while others don?t. Each package could be extremely similar or completely different than any other, so good luck finding the ?right? one for you.
And of the open-source community in general? It?s nice that certain products are ?free? for the downloading and usage?but that really takes away from the general fact of what open-source really is: copycat. While certain programs like Mozilla work well (in that they address real problems such as security, seemingly ignored by Microsoft), most remains clones of work that others got paid to create and manufacture.
Programs like Open Office or GIMP are nice enough, but that doesn?t change the fact that they were engineered to work (for the most part) like MS Office or Adobe Programs. It?s nice that they?re free?but in my opinion they take creative and commercial efforts by the originators and let would-be pirates feel better about themselves.
I just want to say this up-front. I am NOT anti-Linux, nor am I Pro-Microsoft. But after all the googly-eyes people online have made about Linux and its ?benefits? I want to comment a little bit. This is in response to teaching Linux vs. Microsoft.
Linux is free. Free of course meaning price vs. time. Say what you will about MS?s operating system, but it?s built for compatibility and ease of use. That is, just about every single product you?ll buy that says ?Windows? in the store or online WILL work to varying degrees of success. 99.9% of companies have free driver packages freely available on their product websites provided you don?t have an install CD or Windows didn?t automatically detect the product.
Linux doesn?t fair so well. Depending on the version and distribution working, good luck with compatibility. That (and I?ll say a bit more below) heaven forbid you don?t know anything about consoles or programming. Installing packages, RPMs, etc? the Linux compatibility world is absolutely unstable and unreliable.
?and what about programming? A good programmer doesn?t make a good designer, and considering Linux is ?designed? by programmer?s this isn?t anywhere as apparent as it is with the Linux programming ?necessity?. A good, stable operating system shouldn?t require the user to know how to program or add ?code? just to get a simple application working.
There?s dozens of different Linux distributions, and some charge while others don?t. Each package could be extremely similar or completely different than any other, so good luck finding the ?right? one for you.
And of the open-source community in general? It?s nice that certain products are ?free? for the downloading and usage?but that really takes away from the general fact of what open-source really is: copycat. While certain programs like Mozilla work well (in that they address real problems such as security, seemingly ignored by Microsoft), most remains clones of work that others got paid to create and manufacture.
Programs like Open Office or GIMP are nice enough, but that doesn?t change the fact that they were engineered to work (for the most part) like MS Office or Adobe Programs. It?s nice that they?re free?but in my opinion they take creative and commercial efforts by the originators and let would-be pirates feel better about themselves.
That statement shows a mis-understanding of Linux. Since Linux is at much lower level. Talk about distributions like SUSE and Ubuntu. Mac OS X also has a low level open source. How about that?
There's nothing wrong with beginnings and it's good that things can change. Microsoft only puts in an effort when they see a threat. And if you've been following the IT industry you would have know about it.
Let Open Source and Apple be sucessful. It's all good!
Ubuntu doesnt use RPM's. You might want to check those pesky things called facts before posting a rant on something you have never tried.
"Programs like Open Office or GIMP are nice enough, but that doesn?t change the fact that they were engineered to work (for the most part) like MS Office or Adobe Programs. It?s nice that they?re free?but in my opinion they take creative and commercial efforts by the originators and let would-be pirates feel better about themselves."
Well then Microsoft are pirates, Ms office is based on past office suites. Adobe is based on previous graphics applications.
Just becasue someone makes a program to do something close doesnt make them a pirate. No code from one is in the other. The Gimp and Open Office are not copies.
All modern distros can install from RPM's automatically. It is easier then windows.
Driver support in linux is far better then windows out of the box.
Few to no major open source projects are distro specific. There are some minor helper programs like EasyUbuntu but so what? As for matching with the kernel, you can have as many kernels as you need, but this is not required for most open source projects that are being updated. But it is very nice to know that if you have an old program, you can drop in an older kernel and use that program. Try that in windows.
That you call open source "copycat" shows that you don't have a clue. What is Office? Copycat. What is DirectX? copycat. WMP, IE, even Vista? All copycats. Microsoft has never had an original idea, ever.
You may claim you are not pro-Microsoft, but you are in this respect. MS encourages ignorance, and you proudly flout yours.
Microsoft is built for compatibility or is compatibility built for Microsoft? Depends on which side of Monopoly you are looking at.
I've installed and got my Linux up and running without consoles or programming.
You're defeinately pro-Microsoft because you still think of installing as going to a vendor's website, downloading the .exe and double-clicking on it (heaven forbid if your mouse died on you at some point).
"Depending on the version and distribution working, good luck with compatibility. That (and I?ll say a bit more below) heaven forbid you don?t know anything about consoles or programming. Installing packages, RPMs, etc? the Linux compatibility world is absolutely unstable and unreliable."
Most distros have their own package management system and many do not need you to go into a terminal window to run it.
In Ubuntu, you want Firefox, you click the Synaptic menu choice in the main menu (just like opening a program in Windows), check the checkbox next to the program name (and it has a handy search feature too) and click "apply"... done.
You want Thunderbird, you click the checkbox (in the same program) next to the program name and click "apply"... done.
You want Kino (for digital vide editing), TuxPaint (a painting program for kids) and MySQL (a powerful database) you click the checkboxes next to any of those programs' names and click "apply"... done.
A new version of a program comes out and you didn't hear about it? You go into the same program as before and click "update". Click "Mark All Updates" and guess what you do next... click "Apply" and now your system is up-to-date.
This should be done every once-in-a-while, kinda like installing security patches in Windows.
A security patch comes out for ANY of the programs you've installed on your system? Just update your system and you're good to run!
Did something happen recently? Yes.
Was information and updates quickly pushed out to fix it? Yes.
Did a WGA spyware program get installed as a "critical update"? No.
Do you have to keep validating that you have a legal copy of something you bought? No.
Do you have to tell "big-brother" when you've re-installed the OS because of some hardware change (after a certain number of times)? No.
"but that really takes away from the general fact of what open-source really is: copycat"
"but in my opinion they take creative and commercial efforts by the originators and let would-be pirates feel better about themselves."
X copies from Y copies from Z... you'd think there are no more original ideas anymore! Where does building a program from scratch constitute as "pirates"? Then that means we're all "pirates" of Nature because 99% of original ideas came from observing and copying Nature!
Even MSFT software is only 5% of the total cost of ownership when you look at Administration payroll, training, hardware, technical support, and ongoing updates.
The true advantages with open source are flexibility and communal ownership, which will make it the dominant distribution model going forward.
Part of the problem is you get these younger college kids and others who never had to be *responsible* for a budget for a business. All they see is the price tag on the software box, and dont understand that 'cost' is far more than just price tag. It includes all the time and effort that goes into supporting the environment.
When you're young and in college you're broke. But you have all the time in the world to futz around with Linux, tweaking it, finding the right drivers, and messing around with each new 0.91a beta build that comes out.
When you run a business you dont have time for all that, but you do have the cash. Installing Windows for the desktop is a much more practical and cost effective solution in the end. $600 for XP and Office is NOT a big expense compared the the salary you'd have to pay an IT guy to get and maintain linux boxes in the office. $300 or whatever for MS Office is NOT a big expense compared to the loss in productivity you'd endure if you made your employees use OpenOffice instead.
1) No native Linux driver for my Buffalo wireless card. I had to obtain the Windows drivers config files (2 in particular) and run them through the NDIS Wrapper. Once I had the card working, I had to find a wireless client and install it. I was then able to connect to my home wireless network. Unfortunatly, when I took my laptop to some wireless hotspots, the wireless card died every time I booted up Ubuntu. I finally figured out that I had to remove my home-based wireless settings from the card properties and just let the wireless client manage them.
2)Java install. Way too complicated and too much work to install Java. As I was installing it, I made the mistake of hitting the Enter key instead of "yes" on the license agreement. That caused a broken dependency tree because 2 of the 3 Java components had gotten installed, but not the primary one. More time spent to undo and then redo things.
3)Acrobat printer. Good news: Free PDF printer program. Bad news: Trying to install it on computer #1 broke the Ubuntu Application Installer. After much online searching and trying things I was able to fix the broken application installer database. After that, the PDF printer still did not work. I had to pull some program files off of computer #2 and copy them to computer #1 to get the PDF writer working. No idea why it did not install itself properly.
4) Event log. Way too hard to find where the event logs are stored and read them. You need to find a 3rd party log viewer to make things easier.
5) Some applets on computer #1 no longer would launch. After fiddling around I could get them to launch by changing the applet launcher proper from ksudo (or some such) to sudo. Have no idea how this got broken.
6) Hibernate mode on computer #2 (laptop) no longer works. It worked originally. Maybe the CPU speed/performance applet killed it, I don't know. I have no time to track down this problem. For now, I just do a full shutdown instead of using hibernate.
I could go on, but you get the point. Bottom line is that it takes a lot of work to get to a productive Ubuntu installation. God help you if you make a mistake and mess up something. Plan on making frequent image type backups of your Ubuntu OS partition so you can recover if need be. Plan on it taking 3 to 4 times as much effort to track down a program and get it installed and working as it will on Windows or Mac. But it will be free though.
It's name is African.
There is a great program for Ubuntu called EasyUbuntu, it takes care of a lot of the problem installs in Ubuntu. Google for it.
I am calling Mr. Shuttleworth out.
Mr. Shuttleworth, if you REALLY want Linux to succeed you have to be willing to listen. Is Ubuntu just a millionaire's toy or are you REALLY serious about making Ubuntu a desktop rival of Microsoft?
I know what Linux needs to succeed. Without it, Linux will never leave its niche. With it, Linux could overtake Microsoft on the desktop in less than 5 years.
If you want to know what you are missing, and will really listen, let me know.
Yeah right, troll.
Microsoft Vista is still a mess
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=34268
His organization has shown no interest in finding out why ALL Linux distros have failed to challenge Microsoft on the desktop. And, he has adopted the same failed policies in the mission statements of Ubuntu.
Ubuntu will be no more than another flash in the pan Linux distro. It will be adopted by niche groups but never will it challenge Microsoft's desktop dominance.
It has a long way to go. Its installer is idiotic, almost as stupid as a Windows installer. Its permissions setup seems too odd, and the fact only one account and password is created during the install. There is a reason why root and user accounts are seperate. But at least admin functions still require the password, although it is the same password you logged in with.
Ubuntu doesn't mount windows partitions by default, and while very simple to fix, this gives Ubuntu a black mark. Of course Windows can't see linux partitions but I regard that as a gift. Would you want a dirty *****(windows) poking around your privates(linux files)?
I don't have a lot of time to go over most of my complaints, needless to say Ubuntu is off my system and I am happily back in SuSE. While not perfect, it is far easier to use and configure then Ubuntu. SuSE 10.1 is truly polished, but still has a few issues. Vista can't come close to it in regards to ease of use, feature, configurability, and of course security.
Despite what many clueless folks here like to spout, all the major software programs for linux, and most of the minor ones work regardless of distro and even desktop(ie KDE, Gnome, etc). The only thing I can think of that I can't get to work in one of them is SuperKaramba(gnome) which hurts gnome, IMO. As the gdesklets kinda suck. Other then that I can easily, and with no configuration run KDE apps in Gnome, and vice versa.
It is pretty decent, but not there yet. What is disheartening is that many linux newbies are trying this unpolished distro. While it partly shows the potential of Linux, it doesn't realize it. At least the little program called EasyUbuntu solves some of the issues, but sadly this is not part of the install, and you have to get it at a third party website. By the next 2 major updates(probably in 12-15 months(OSS moves much, much faster then MS and most other proprietary software), it should be very solid and fulfill its promise of easy use.
Until then, stick to a proper distro like SuSE 10.1.
Linux and OSS is the future.
You can basically walk up to any Windows computer, boot Ubuntu from a CDROM (or USB memory stick), run it from memory, then mount a Windows partition. Using either Ubuntu or Explore2Fs, you can not only open files but also copy them to portable media. So much for OS security.
I fianly left when wine couldnt see a cdrom because they messed over the hal. No more /media/cdrom now its /media/cd's name and it changes each cd. There is still an unanswerd bug of mine on bugzilla from 5 months ago.
- Ubuntu works well for me
- by bluemist9999 September 13, 2006 1:27 PM PDT
- I use it as my primary Linux OS --- I've tried it on older PCs, 7 year old Thinkpads and newer Toshiba and Dell laptops. In all of these cases, the OS installs and just works.
- Like this Reply to this comment
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(69 Comments)This is in comparison to Redhat Fedora Core 4 which required 4 CDs and still doesn't work on some of the laptops.
I also like the Debian packing scheme---I select what I need installed and the package program downloads and installs what I need.
I feel the new 6.0 version has a much better installer (it is a GUI install from the Live CD) than the 5.x versions (which had a text-based install).
But, to each his/her own. Windows also works well for me, although I do find XP Pro feels slower and more bloated. I haven't tried Vista and won't consider it until I upgrade my PC significantly.