Lawson Of Japan To Install 15,000 Linux Terminals 200
debreuil writes: "A Reuters article reports a leading Japanese convenience store chain will install more than 15,000 IBM computers running Linux to allow for Web access in stores, in the largest commercial use of Linux to date. Great onigiri there too..." IBM, who sold the machines, is happy as can be, of course.
2.4-fold increase? (Score:5)
2.4, eh? Coincidence? I think not
Anyone know... (Score:2)
Japan is cool (Score:3)
And the fact these boxes use Linux, for cost, stability, customisabilty, or for 'coolness' (all for all of the above) is just sweet. One question comes to mind - is IBM in bed with a Linux distro, have IBM make thw 'distro' up themselves, or are IBM in this for hardware only? With Japan being the homeland of TurboLinux they'd seem obvious, but then don't IBM and Red Hat have something between them?
All well, it's just one more place when Linux is going mainstream....
No, really? (Score:3)
This is awful!!! A company that's happy because they made a major sale!!! Arrgghh, evil corporations. Oh wait, they run Linux. Oops, good boy.
CooL! (Score:1)
One question I have is about tech support. Does it cost more/less to maintain Linux on a desktop in a corportation than Windows? Then I think of the following:
- few, if no, virus problems
- no e-mail scripting problems
- disk quota support, vs. Win9X and Me
- Security.. User cannot do just what he wants
I figure with the right people and the right installation, these companies can save major bucks bu running Linux!
when = where (Score:1)
where looks a bit better.... sorry about that, and any other mistakes of mine....
Re:Anyone know... (Score:1)
Or what browser?
Way offtopic, but.. (Score:1)
If you want to do an interview, how about posting a story with your questions, and allow people to answer it? You can always go into the up, close and personal later on.
onigiri? (Score:1)
Genetically modified origami?
Nick...
Not Linux Workstations (Score:5)
Re:CooL! (Score:1)
It just occured to me... (Score:3)
Jobs for many (Score:1)
Re:Attention all (Score:1)
If this isn't a troll, though, I would certainly be interested...
Re:Anyone know... (Score:1)
Re:It just occured to me... (Score:1)
Re:Not Linux Workstations (Score:3)
Re:Attention all (Score:1)
Just what do you plan to do with this research?
Would this just be helping some government organization find new and interesting ways to restrict my online activities?
Are you planning on compiling this research into a book and selling it back to the online community?
OT: Great onigiri there too... (Score:1)
Roberto
If this works... (Score:3)
IBM rep: "Our Machines include free software which you can change to meet your needs. There is also a ton of free sofware at freshmeat.net. If you need support there are many companies that will provide it for a small fee or you can hire a kid from college to be your sysop."
Re:Attention all (Score:1)
...it may also be a good topic for sociology.. in the Digital Era, trust went back to the old days. For example, post your intentions on the website of your university, and so on.
And don't use @yahoo.com, it's not so reliable
have fun
k
Re:OT: Great onigiri there too... (Score:1)
Re:CooL! (Score:1)
For me I'd go for the additional expense of higher skill requirements. You can offset this against massively reduced license costs.
There's something funny about those stats... (Score:3)
According to that article the server market for this year in Japan is expected to be:
That leaves only 13% for all of Unix and Novell combined. Surely that can't be right.
Re:Japan is cool (Score:1)
If you can consider a Sony-owned proprietary format cool, especially with Sony's imperial and extortionate licensing practices. I find that in Japan, utility is often overlooked by the consumer in favour of sheer "ugh that's twee" factor.
Lawsons! (Score:1)
IBM is happy because they are getting paid in Lawson's chip dip.
Re:Attention all (Score:1)
Re:onigiri? (Score:1)
Re:hi (Score:1)
Re:No, really? (Score:1)
Nope, I'm afraid we still don't get it. Perhaps you could run it past us again for the benefit of people like JurriAlt137n and myself.
Re:Japan is cool (Score:1)
My main thing against Sony is the PSX (and now the PSX2), and the piece of crap that it is...
But then, I'm a biased hardcore Nintendo freak from way back, so that might be a contributing factor....
Distant Threat... (Score:1)
Is that anything like the "sound of distant thunder"?
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hmm no e-mail scripting problems... (Score:1)
In context scripting security under Linux is a doddle to nail down compared to the nightmare of Microsoft spawned Active X controls and ASP scripts, but there is still a risk, its justt an order of magnitude lower
My point is most scripting languages have the facility to be insecure under Linux mainly due to people forgetting the golden rule:-
Never trust any data incoming from the user
E-Mail scripting problems are unlikely under Linux only if you code defensively preventing access to the shell, and disallowing users the facility to open a pipe to another process and generally only allowing them to input a predefined list of characters.
I wonder (Score:1)
Re:CooL! (Score:1)
But who am I talking to? I'm wasting time on Slashdot again.. Go tell your neighbour and be cause for the next 15,000..
Do a %s/Linux/FreeBSD/g if you like to.
Re:CooL! (Score:1)
Linux does have it's own share of problems, but stability is not one of them. Yeah, I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but at this date, what with the MS hacker-attack, why would any company choose Windows unless they already had bought the licensing agreement from the Evil One himself?
Oh yeah, and of course IBM is happy. That's 15,000 machines they don't have to worry about sitting and gathering dust somewhere. I have to wonder: If the seller of the computers had been Dell or Gateway, would it have seemed as newsworthy as it was with IBM? (Sorry, I still have this mental image of IBM as a big old dinosaur being outpaced by Dell, Gateway, et al.)
Kierthos
A bit misunderstood... (Score:1)
Gee, where does the GPL state that? I'm not a programmer, do I have to pay for my use? Oh well.
Re:If this works... (Score:1)
Hate to burst your bubble, but you aren't thinking like a typical business manager. Anyone who's been around for a while knows that "free" doesn't necessarily equate to "inexpensive". Sure, I can hire a kid fresh out of college to be my sysop, but he's still likely to be asking for $60,000USD/year, and how can I know he won't simply create a horrible mess of my business, and then leave when some other company offers him twice the salary?
It's not just the PHB's that feel more comfortable paying a healthy chunk of change to guarantee consistent, experienced, timely technical support. In the long run, I think your argument is valid, but you'll still have a hard time selling it to your typical IT exec.
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Re:Linux (Score:1)
Unix *doesn't work* on the desktop.
Example: I installed IIS.
first: If you don't think about what you're doing, you will never be a good admin.
second: You are talking about linux not working for the desktop and then you are talking about installing IIS. HUH! IIS is a server application, not a desktop one.
Re:CooL! (Score:1)
But the users are not satisfied with the tools/CDE available on HPUX, and situation is still open. I tried to suggest Linux, but they don't want to make their users pioneers.
With w2k as a huge improvment over NT on managment side and on the other side GNOME/KDE/Openoffice usability improvment looks competition is getting really tough.
Well... (Score:1)
I'd be interested in the feedback they will give after they are up and running.
So pleaze Hemos come back with info after some time, don't let it die...
Thanks in advance.
Re:There's something funny about those stats... (Score:1)
"Any mistakes in the ISAPI dll are likely to invalidate the entire operating system."
The other MS quote involving NT servers is:
"We recomend that NT servers are rebooted weekly to prevent memory leak issues"
Now do you really wan to use NT for yuor web server now? I think this servey is either flawed, quoted out of context or has been based sample that is too small.
Re:Anyone know... (Score:1)
Lusers not allowed! (Score:3)
Yeah, that's right, for programmers only! All the rest of you, that'll be $100 per copy. And don't think you can get away with just buying one and copying it for all of your friends, the GPL only applies to programmers, dammit!
Seriously, that's really bizarre. Did the author simply misspeak, or did he honestly believe that only programmers could obtain free copies of Linux? Either way, when you think about it, that's really a pretty egregeous error, and will probably help support in many people's minds the myth that only prgrammers can use Linux (not that they won't get the most out of it, but others can use it too :)
A bold but smart move (Score:1)
Hiring of competent IS people.. which equates to better pay.. You cant just hire a MCSE flunkie and hope for the best. (Although Linux certification isn't much better. Asking questions about applications like squid that are not in any base linux install. but g;lossing over important things like ifconfig, route, X configuration,etc...)
So rolling out Linux in a corperation or enterprise is easy, it just takes a CIO with guts, and a IS department that has 1/2 a brain.
Both of wich are rare and difficult to find nowdays.
Re:Anyone know... (Score:1)
But sources close to the deal said Red Hat (Nasdaq: RHAT) Linux will be the Linux distribution that will be pre-loaded on Lawson's servers.
Alas, I work for the competition (Mandrake) so I'm not officially allowed to be ecstatic at the news... this is good news for Linux overall.
Re:Anyone know... (Score:1)
Re:Japan is cool (Score:1)
Prime example (Score:1)
Dont even try to tell me that Win anything is easier than the current linux distros. How about Microsloths NET command? that's a convoluted mess.
Get a Grip Timmy (Score:1)
Now here's a troll if I ever saw one, but nevertheless, I'll bite...
OK Timmy, you admit that you've only installed Linux once, and it was a long time ago. This qualifies you as a Linux Guru(TM)? Methinks you were just too lazy to take a couple of minutes to learn a new and different technology (as opposed to letting Brother Bill lead you along by the nose).
HO! HO! HO! Now you've got me rolling on the floor!! You, my dear, are so utterly clueless it makes me scream. Single machine OS? Have you ever actually used any UNIX variants? Have you, perhaps, heard of NFS? Novell? Do you know how to run an X display? Perhaps you have never had to do a telnet or remote login?Ah... Enough for one post. My one suggestion to you is to get out of your little MS box and try going somewhere new today...
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Re:Linux (Score:1)
Linux is great for nerds - nerdy people love to create scripts that do
for i in thingy do grep z|ss|xargs|find -ss -z -* -t "hh" less
to achieve the same thing they'd do on Windows with a GUI.
The arcaneness is the appeal.
But for anyone else....
And another thing:
stability:
It is a myth that Windows is less stable.
Maybe Windows + GUI + IIS +++ is less stable than
Linux Kernel + Apache
but that's just because the Linux way only has a few hundred lines of code and there's nothing to go wrong.
But comparing GUI to GUI, Windows pisses all over Linux.
To give an example of my own Linux experiences, my *text editor* crashed. I mean goddamn it the text editor.
And when I tried to configure it by right clicking, the links didn't work. When I went into the Control Center instead, that crashed when I clicked on the wrong thing. Microsoft, by comparison, get accused of producing unstable product when one program crashes under heavy load (and the irony is, it isn't use Microsoft software - it's probably Netscape!). You would no way getting the control panel in Windows crashing because you clicked on the wrong thing.
And when I tried to use the office software (something called Abiword), it said when I tried to do a list 'sorry this hasn't been written yet. Please edit xxxx.cpp'. And the spreadsheet, it let me create a graph (that didn't look as good as Excel, but they forgot to finish it, so when I went to edit it with the 'Graph Wizard' the whole program crashed.
And all the import and export filters were fucked - creating unusable HTML and worthless
And not to mention the fact every program had a different UI. For example, when I wanted to view a movie I had to use this damn ugly and inconsistent with every other program piece of software, which seemed to have its UI built from scratch, meaning it was completely different from every other app on the system.
Not to mention the fact that the whole thing looked like shit because of the damn ugly fonts. Not much good for AOL is it?
Neither, of course, would you get the whole X server crashing out the command prompt, as I got with Linux.
Basically *all* Linux has is a goofy command line, which by definition will only ever impress nerds and hackers.
What to learn from this post: (Score:3)
OK, we may finally come to the end of linux 'zealotism' where people desperately bash MS at every opportunity. Go look at zdnet postings and you will se a flock of newly emerging windows zealots who make the linux zealots look like fair weather fans.
The point is, never say this about MS products. The MS admin base is growing more vocally upset with linux and has begun large scale bashing. Let this happen. Adopt a come and see attitude towards linux, be evangelical like a buddhist, that is, only answer questions for as long as interest is shown. Underhype the OS, and people will arrive at their own conclusions, which will be correct. (notice I dont say what those conclusions are)
People are not THAT dumb. They usually turn against zealot-like rage. Compute with a smile on your linux or BSD box, and people will come and see. Those people will install linux or BSD if and when it and they are ready for each other, and not before.
Notice in this post, the poster explains how easy win2k is. The new win2k user who has difficulties will turn to disbelief quickly. If you say linux is hard to install, the user may or may not be pleasantly surprised. If you say linux has far less software than windows, the user may or may not be pleasantly surprised. If you say linux is not necessarily the most stable or fast thing around, the user may be pleasantly surprised. The user will not, however, be disillusioned.
I ran NT4 until it ate my FAT. I switched to linux expecting it to eat ext2. It never did. I still use linux.
On heals of Bill's letter, no less! (Score:1)
I really have nothing thrilling or insightful to add, except this comes on the heals of Bill's letter bitchslapping all of open source and the people pitching it.
I have alway said "Use Linux if it makes sense to you, if not use a Mac or Windows, or what ever makes you productive."
Here is a company which has done just that. They are using what make sense for them, and it's Linux. That is gratifiying. I have had a small role in Linux's past (very small), but I was using it to run my company in 1994 (an ISP). I am really glad to see it working for others.
People of open source love to party. One more Linux adoption is as good as reason as any. We are not pressured and thus enjoy a good time. Bill did not see this in his letter, scolding us for celebrating our 5 percent. I say celebrate!
I've read about Bill's past, as a single dimentsional person skilled in manipulation and a coding session or two. So, not partying for Bill, even when he is on top. What a loser.
Have fun, party. Use Linux or don't. Don't be sore if all of the people happy to use Linux, debug it, code it, or just cheering for it, party the night away. We might just have the secret of how to live a good life, something Bill does not have.
+15,000 more Linux boxes out there. Is that more or less than TiVO? I don't know, but still I'll drink a beer or many more at the bar, rasing each glass to a Pengiun named Tux, a kid name Linus, and to the rest of us "Long live us! Long live the good times!"
Re:Lusers not allowed! (Score:1)
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The unfair treatment I have received (Score:1)
It's a pretty cowardly thing to do - rather than trying to rebutt my legitimate criticisms of Linux, you just mark them down.
But the fact is, they are totally accurate. Using Linux as a *desktop* machine (and I don't mean a nerd's desktop) for *ordinary people* to use doesn't make any sense.
Perhaps if you can show my criticism are unfounded, *then* these moderations might be justified (but even then I don't think so, since Slashdot is about debate - you don't get moderated down for being wrong (rather, it seems, for disagreeing with the cozy opinions of those stuck in the Linux ghetto and wetting themselves every time someone installs a Linux machine)).
Re:CooL! (Score:1)
Re:There's something funny about those stats... (Score:2)
And if you've got is a very big gun, do some troubleshooting. My monitor is broken!! BLAM Yep, that's broken allright. Unfortunately, calling me to fix it voided your warranty. Have a nice day...
Re:There's something funny about those stats... (Score:1)
Re:CooL! (Score:2)
To be kept running? Please explain.
In my experience it takes more knowledge to set up, but all you have to do to keep it running is leave it alone...
"Free your mind and your ass will follow"
Price Savings (Score:1)
I was also kind of freaked out by the name of the company...
Lawson "aardWolf" Culver
You know what they say... (Score:2)
Re:There's something funny about those stats... (Score:1)
I don't know. Using NT for a NT server sounds pretty logical to me. Using NT for a Linuxserver, that might be bad.
Re:If this works... (Score:3)
This assumes, of course, that the IT exec has had good experience with Microsoft support, and poor experience with IBM support. After all, you can bet the farm that the reason that the machines in question are IBMs was so that Lawson's could get IBM support.
In the end, I think that any IT exec with two neurons to rub together is going to come to the realization that Microsoft support is basically worthless. IBM's Linux support couldn't possibly be worse, and could very well be substantially better. At the very least it is less expensive. And while IBM is always a safe bet for your support needs, you could theoretically shop around for another vendor if their support was poor. Purchase your OS from Microsoft, and only Microsoft knows how to fix it.
Besides, with the money you saved from purchasing MS's OS you can shop around for superior in house support. After all, you won't ever be paying for software upgrades.
Linux is finally at the point where companies are openly adopting it over Windows. You can bet that this decision was made by an IT Exec, and not some long haired programmers. For new systems Linux makes a ton of sense. It's stable, inexpensive, and it's chock full of developer tools. In these sorts of situations it makes a ton of sense.
Re:IBM's biggest problem (Score:1)
I take it that you don't know what the I stands for then?
Re:Japan is cool (Score:2)
Re:A bold but smart move (Score:2)
You have to sign a NDA to take it, but basically, most of the grade is based on "hands-on" installation and troubleshooting. Like: "here is box that's seriously broken, we won't tell you what's broken, and all we'll give you is a boot disk, fix it and fix it fast!"
Eventhough I've been using Linux for years, I felt quite challenged by it.
I agree that MCSEs are completely useless though. We have a few at work, and all they're good for is spewing microsoft propaganda/PR crap. Amusingly, I am still the one that maintains the windows network (NT and 2000).
Just my $0.02
Re:CooL! (Score:1)
"Bill Gates" was right (Score:2)
Re:IBM's biggest problem (Score:2)
"aaah, you so fuh-nee!"
No, that press release comes after the one saying that the proper pronunciation of "American" is "eye-soh-lay-shun-ist ih-dee-ut". Setting aside, for now, the truly juvenille and mean-spirited nature of your little dig at cultures other than your own, I question exactly how expanding one's market to equal more than just the United States causes people to flee that product.
Take Linux, for example. Funny thing about Linux is, it's written largely by a man living in a little place called Finland. Not only do people not make snide, stupid jokes about having to pronounce it "Lee-nux-a-hur-de-hur-de-hur", it seems to be doing quite well in pretty much any market you look to, despite being marketed mostly on an international basis.
In any case, claiming that a company lost favor because of an increased focus on international marketing and sales is among the most sophomoric business analyses as one could make. It's akin to saying that atheists/ethnic minorities/Harry Potter books/homosexuals/etc. are destroying the Moral Fiber Of America: it's simplistic idiot-mongering at it's finest. Businesses do not rise or fall on one criteria alone.
Yay! (Score:2)
Re:CooL! (Score:2)
Yes, I see what you mean... it is impossible to convince users to log out every time they leave their workstation unattended. Someone will fsck it up eventually.
"Free your mind and your ass will follow"
Vine? (Score:2)
Turbolinux [turbolinux.co.jp] is also very popular.
Yeah. (Score:2)
Not yet anyway.
Re:Japan is cool (Score:2)
Just try to order computer parts or software sometime. Yeesh.
Web browser? (Score:2)
Which browser will they be using? (Score:3)
I use Linux myself, but the rather poorly web browsing experience on it tempts me to get VMWare just so that I can use a web browser that doesn't crash and supports modern standards.
Re:onigiri? (Score:2)
Re:If this works... (Score:2)
US Customer: See ya!
Japanese companies spend their money on competent staff.
American companies spend their money on support contracts and lawsuits.
Re:There's something funny about those stats... (Score:2)
So the reality may very well be that 75% of all new servers have Linux installed. The numbers in the article indicate operating systems *purchased*. So the 7% Linux figure in the article are the folks who bought a boxed Linux distribution in the store.
Re:I wonder (Score:2)
I hear it collapsed under the weight of it's own ego.
LOL (Score:2)
20,000 linux terminals to be installed in the UK (Score:2)
Which, I guess, means that that is the biggest install of Linux, rather than in Japan.
Is it any coincidence that Tesco is supposedly also the largest online grocery retailer in the world? Erm, probably...
...j
Re:There's something funny about those stats... (Score:2)
The console-tools package, together with an appropriate console font, does the job fine. the Unicode Transformation Format (utf-8) means that all these extra characters cause minimal disruption to programs who only want to use ASCII.
Whether or not the console is a suitable place for a monoglot Japanese speaker to live I do not know. But displaying the fonts is not a problem.
Re:CooL! (Score:2)
However Linux dosn't require anyone to "keep it running", whereas Windows does....
Re:If this works... (Score:2)
US Customer: That sounds great! We'll take a thousand.
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Re:Japan is not cool (Score:2)
Bleacch. No thanks; I'll take the US or even Europe any day.
Re:If this works... (Score:2)
American companies spend their money on support contracts and lawsuits/
Have you actually read an EULA? They won't even warrant that the media is going to be good for more than a year. You would have no more luck going up against Microsoft because Windows NT downtime cost you sales than you would going up against IBM and Red Hat. You have no one to sue if mass-market software misbehaves.
Re:Off-topic! (Score:2)
As far as IBM is concerned, the only loyal customers they have remaining are the gullible corporations and foreign buyers who just don't know any better. They don't see IBM's hypocrisy (making CPU designs for Apple even though they started the PC standard way back in 1981, pushing free Linux even though they're still pimping their "worth its weight in gold" AIX, et cetera). I won't be surprised to see IBM die a quiet death of obsolescence; the only thing holding IBM away from the flames is their server design, and even that's being outshined by other companies.
Chill out. (Score:2)
Where in that quote did the writer use the word "only"?
Geez.
Linux story != orgasm (Score:2)
Re:Get a Grip Timmy (Score:2)
Bellsouth didn't do Linux support for their ADSL, so when the engineer came to install it (and yes, this was early on when they sent real trained people), I had booted into Windows.
It took him a good ten minutes of uninstalling, rebooting, and installing drivers to get Windows to be on-line with the external modem. Of course, he noticed I had linux during all those reboots.
He asked me: "Do you use Linux?". I said "Yup". He said... "Okay... watch this".
We then booted into Linux, which found the connection, and smoothly accessed the internet without a hitch, and with no configuration whatsoever.
So, you have your story, I have mine. I long since "reclaimed" the disk space that was used by windows. It's now my /home partition. Nice and roomy.
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Evan
Re:What to learn from this post (Score:2)
Currently, Linux intrudes on two major markets and communities - the commercial UNIX world, and the NT world. As advancements in GUI environments and basic usability come along, Linux will also begin to intrude on Windows desktop OS's. It'll probably also move in on the embedded market, but I'll ignore that for now, because, like DBA's and web surfers, embedded OS users usually don't care about the OS as long as it does the job.
Anti-Linux zealotry isn't likely to come from commercial UNIX users. While Linux may represent a threat to traditional UNIX vendors which are slow to adopt Linux as a core OS technology (SUN), it is an opportunity for others (SGI, IBM). More importantly, at the individual level the overlap between Linux and UNIX users is large. To anyone familiar with multiple commercial UNIX distributions, the similarities of UNIX and Linux are greater than the differences. Current UNIX users adapt easily to Linux, and consequently do not view Linux as a threat.
Windows users, on the other hand, have more adapting to do - new applications and interfaces spawn resistance even within the Windows world. "Windows Professionals" - NT administrators and other IT staff - have even more to learn before adapting to Linux, as the adminstrative tools are completely different and are based on concepts completely foreign to them. Consequently, Linux represents a basic threat to them. If Linux is deployed where they work, they will have to adapt or become useless.
An important factor to consider is one of the great things Linux (and UNIX) has going for it - reduced administrative cost. With UNIX and Linux, fewer people are required to run more systems. This is especially true when the people doing it have a higher skill level. With Windows, a certain number or people are required to perform a given number of tasks on a given number of systems. With Linux and UNIX, the number of people required to do the same thing is inversely proportional to skill of the people doing it, up to the point at which the number of people remains constant for any number of systems.
If *nix usage and marketshare continues to grow, this means that the IT workforce will shrink as productivity increases. A smaller number of people with greater skill will be accomplishing what the current workforce is doing. Because the current UNIX worker base will most easily adapt to the transition, this meanss that they can look forward to continues employment in even higher paying jobs. Meanwhile, the current "Windows Professionals" will be stuck working in a field with shrinking job counts and a lower barrier to entry, with correspondingly lower wages.
So think about the *real* implications of this article, and other like it, to a Windows Admin. "Distant Thunder" doesn't even cover it - more like the corporate bean counter grinding the company axe in the cubicle next door.
The resistance to Linux will grow as Linux's threat becomes more apparent and tangible. As Linux's market share increase, and Windows' shrinks, the number of Anti-Linux and Pro-MS zealots will increase in number, but and become much more vocal. Posts like this will become more common and more virulent. It was like this when the Amiga faded - Amiga zealots become louder and more fanatical as they became increasingly desperate.
Get used to it. It's the price of victory, but it won't last forever.
Re:This is necessary because of NTT (Score:2)
People already access the "useful" part of the internet over their cellphones. They are not interested in having a huge PC at home and surfing huge american style websites.
The Japanese have skipped a technology here, and are working on the next, because what you think is state of the art isnt attractive enough. Its only dumb dotcom fever advertising in the US that makes people think they're missing out on something insanely great. The reality is its insanely boring.
Buy a PC, spend 20 minutes with the sites you heard about, then use it for GAMES or PORN.
Both of which are far more available and in far more quality in Japan on GAME CONSOLES or ON THE WAY TO AND FROM FROM WORK.
Take a look at any Japanese hobbyist magazine and compare the detail, and sheer quantity of quality information and then compare that to an american website on the same subject, or an american magazine.
Japanese use the Internet now for micro amounts of information exactly where you want them
NTT charges a lot for fixed lines, sure, but nobody cares, they buy cellphones for extra lines instead.. for higher speed web access than dialup, Japanese has affordable ISDN at flat rates.. for higher still, 3G wireless is up next for them. Nobody in Japan is moaning about wanting to get onto the net to see whats new on yahoo.
Re:Off-topic! (Score:2)
Actually, that was it. I'm afraid I didn't catch the reference; in reading your post, however, you might see how one could take issue with the statement if they had never seen the commercial, or not remembered it from nearly ten years ago. My apologies if offense was taken where none was intended.
I maintain that the expansion of IBM into global markets isn't their downfall, though. Globalization is almost always a Good Thing for a company, and even in those cases where a company declines, the globalization is rarely the culprit for the fall. (Now, poor management of the changes needed to go global is another thing, but that's management, not the international marketplace and marketing.)
Re:There's something funny about those stats... (Score:2)
Yep, that's right, double-byte is how they do it. chdrv does it by using svgalib, wheras console-tools can apparently do it in VGA text mode, according to the docs:
LOL! (Score:2)
I've printed this out and nailed it on the wall. :) You should have had +5 insightful. Ah well.. you know /. ... IF EXISTS (SELECT @iPostingID=PostingID FROM POSTINGS WHERE CONTENT LIKE %anti-linux%) BEGIN EXEC sp_DegradePosting @iPostingID END
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Re:WTF, I submitted this yesterday and it was deni (Score:2)
PC Price - performance comparision (Score:2)
The mac is, imo, equivalent to NT (the benefits are opposite, but the value is there) and basically won't cause you problems... and you won't need to pay someone (usually) to fix silly software problems.
But I advise anyone who is OR is trying to learn to be a geek to buy a PC. Because Mac hardware is too expensive. AFAIK, this is NOT price gouging on Apple's part. Compared to other PPC solutions, they're downright cheap (especially their cheap stuff) but they don't have the volume the PC world has, and everything just costs more.
Also, the right solution to a huge number of PCs is that when you ahve a software problem, you recopy an HD image. Meaning that the ease of untrained repair for the mac is a lost cause.
The other reason, of course, is because the terminals are WINBLOWS!, and only the server is linux. But it's a related point - Win w/ ME is cheaper, only it's much suckier and less stable. But if you actually are going to reinstall all the time (preferably from img) and you're not going to have YOUR files on there, it's a good value. Not as good as linux, which has the best of these worlds...
but for price, it's going to be linux on x86 for at least a few more years, maybe more.
Re:Web browser? (Score:2)
"the internet"
Re:A bold but smart move (Score:2)
Just my opinion though. No certification (or college degree for that matter) can guarantee the quality of the holder - but some are a lot better than others.