Linux Going Mainstream 618
Gossi writes "The BBC is carrying an excellent overview of the growing use of Linux, by many different fields. The article says it all, really, and is probably something you should show your Boss."
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Linux Going Mainstream
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You had mail. Paul read it, so ask him what it said.
Linux going mainstream? (Score:5, Funny)
"Show your boss"? (Score:5, Funny)
Linux will be mainstream competition in a year. (Score:1, Funny)
I do that too (Score:5, Funny)
I do that too. They make quite a racket when I play them in the Kenwood. However, I've found that with 800 watt sub-woofers, anything can sound quite impressive.
Re:"Show your boss"? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Linux will be mainstream competition in a year. (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Linux going mainstream? (Score:5, Funny)
Join us.
Re:"Show your boss"? (Score:5, Funny)
Unless you're the assistant janitor, in which case he's both...
Michael Jackson (Score:2, Funny)
the real question is... (Score:5, Funny)
IBM commercial (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Government, yup (Score:5, Funny)
Oh, wait, no, they just want to spend that money on more beaurocrats and $1000 screwdrivers.
Ah, well.
Trust the BBC? (Score:3, Funny)
[if you dont know what I'm talking about, google for 'Hutton Report' or see BBC news main page
Baz
Re:Games.... (Score:5, Funny)
<...zzzzzzz> <snort> huh? wassup? oh, nuther 'doze fudster.. <yawn> $799 emac [apple.com] <snort> $1099 ibook [apple.com] ... grmbl ... fudspewers are boring ... <yAAAaawn> <zzzzzzz...>
Re:Should be obscure enough (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Linux going mainstream? (Score:1, Funny)
Re:PS2 (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Real world vs. fanboy fantasies (Score:2, Funny)
* File sharing. Windows has long been superior when it comes to making large amounts of files available to third parties. Even early versions of Windows automatically detected and made available all directories thanks to the built in
NetBIOS-powered file sharing support. But Microsoft has realized that this technology is inherently limited and has added even better file sharing support to its Windows XP operating system [toastytech.com]. Universal Plug and Play will [esecurityplanet.com]
make it possible to literally access any file, from any device! I think universal file sharing support needs to be built into the Linux kernel soon.
* Intelligent agents. With innovations like Clippy [slashdot.org], the talking paperclip and Microsoft Bob [windowsbeta.net], Microsoft has always tried to make life easier for its customers. With Outlook and Outlook Express [ximian.com], Microsoft has built a framework for developers to create even smarter agents. Especially popular agents include "Sircam", which automatically asks the users' friends for advice on files he is working on and the "Hybris" agent, which is a self-replicating copy of a humorous take on "Snow-White and the Seven Dwarves" (the real story!). [compedit.com]
Microsoft is working on expanding this P2P technology to its web servers [netscape.com]. This
project is still in the beta stage, thus the name "Code Red". The next versions will be called "Code Yellow" and "Code Green".
* Version numbers. Linux has real naming problems. What's the difference between a 2.4.19 and a 2.2.17 kernel anyway? And what's with those odd and even numbers? Microsoft has always had clear and sophisticated naming/versioning
policies. For example, Windows 95 [kde.org] was named Windows 95 because it was released
in 1995. Windows 98 [kde.org] was released three years later, and so on. Windows XP [apple.com]
brought a whole new "experience" to the user, therefore the name. I suggest that the next Linux kernel releases be called Linux 03, Linux 04, Linux 04.5 (OSR1), Linux 04.7B (OSR2 SP4 OEM), Linux 2005 and Linux VD (Valentine's Day edition).
Furthermore, remember how Microsoft named every upcoming version of Windows after some Egyptian city? Cairo, Chicago and so on. I think that the development kernels should be named after Spanish cities to celebrate Linux' Spanish origins. Linux Milano [alyssa.com] or Linux Rome [nero.com] anyone?
* Multi-User Support. This has always been one of Microsoft's strong sides, especially in the Windows 95/98 [kde.org] variants, where passwords were completely
unnecessary. Microsoft has made the right decision by not bothering the user with a distinction between "normal" and "root" users too much -- practice has shown that average users can be trusted to act responsibly and in full awareness of the potential consequences of their actions. After all, if your operating system doesn't trust you, why should you trust it? (To be fair, Linux is making some progress here with the Lindows distribution, where users are always running as root.)
With Windows XP, Microsoft has again improved multi-user support. Not only does Windows XP come with a large library of user pictures that are displayed on the login screen, su
Re:Linux going mainstream? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Do your part! (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Should be obscure enough (Score:4, Funny)
I think that's because Linux bits are lighter than *BSD, so Linux washes up on the shore all the time, whereas the heavier (but more correct) *BSD bits sink to the ocean floor.
Re: Games.... (Score:4, Funny)
You mean, no one has written Solitaire for Linux yet? What more does the average office worker need?
Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Linux going mainstream? (Score:5, Funny)
If I Only Had A Hurd (Score:1, Funny)
(The Wizard of Oz: If I Only Had...)
If the Hacker Gods beside me
I'd make fun of the internalsWould graciously abide me
And let my wish be heard:
That I would consider shaving
I might even start behaving
If I only had a Hurd
Of monolithic kernels
Old-fashioned and absurd
Since they don't put "Gnu" before it
I'd prefer to just ignore it
If I only had a Hurd
I could maybe have a relapse
And do some work on Emacs
To make a brave Gnu/Word
I would write some manifestos
Clad in flamewar-proof asbestos
If I only had a Hurd
----- :)
The text is in the public domain. No offense, honestly
Re:games is right (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Linux going mainstream? (Score:5, Funny)
"No, we shall all start using the HURD now."
Yeah, because joining a HURD is the first thing to do when trying to stand out from the crowd.
Re:Linux going mainstream? (Score:5, Funny)
Linus Torvalds: The man who started it all (Score:2, Funny)
From the article: "Linus Torvalds: The man who started it all".
There goes another reading that takes 1 year of life from Richard Stallman!! X-D
Re:Trust the BBC? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:kspread? Ew. (Score:4, Funny)
I must say I was also very disappointed by RH 7.5. This is probably one of the worst RH release I ever downloaded!
Re:Linux going mainstream? (Score:3, Funny)
Lets clarify then (Score:1, Funny)
show your boss? (Score:3, Funny)
If your boss doesn't know about Linux at this point he/she should be fired.
Comment removed (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Linux going mainstream? (Score:3, Funny)
Eeesh! Now you've got the first phrase of 'The hacker song' sung by R. Stallman going in my head. "Join Us Now and....."
Hey... wait... something's missing (Score:3, Funny)
Where is the obligatory Gentoo-freak? Everyone knows you can't mention the word "linux" without one jumping out to scream, "Use Gentoo, just like me!"
Re:Hey... wait... something's missing (Score:1, Funny)
Re:games is right (Score:3, Funny)
It's gratifying that so many people take time aways from their busy lives to defend corporations like this. People like you who pledge their allegience to a corporation and defend it are a rare and precious commodity these days. Most people seem to be advocating on behalf of some non profit, community, or a worthwhile cause but not you. No sir you are the fearless fighter for MS! The greatest company in the world!.
Screw it! (Score:5, Funny)
I'm just going to leak an ISO onto the net of RedHat, and change the name to:
"Windows 2005 (unreleased) [pirate] NO KEY NEEDED.iso"
Thousands of people "upgrade" to Linux, and everyone is perfectly happy. They will recieve a small error message when they try to play their games of old programs that they are incompatible with the new version of Windows, and should request a new version from the company (nothing new there, Windows upgrades always do that crap). Meanwhile it'll lead them to free equivalents.
Bingo. Linux takes over the world overnight. Companies are suddenly getting hundreds of thousands of requests to port their software to Linux, and many are happy using the free equivalents.
But wait for the government inquiry (Score:2, Funny)