Windows Nearly Ready For Desktop Use 670
wallykeyster writes "NewsForge (ed: a Slashdot sister site) has an interesting review of Windows XP Home, written from the perspective of a longtime Linux user (ed: Editor roblimo). The article clearly is intended to be somewhat humorous while making a point to the 'Linux isn't ready for the desktop' crowd. The reviewer does a fair job of pointing out the strengths of Windows along with the weaknesses that would be apparent to someone trying to make the switch from Linux." From the article: "Windows XP can't be considered consumer-ready until it has driver support for common LCD monitors during its installation and bootup procedure, especially if those monitors are easily and routinely recognized by popular Linux distributions. It's possible that the monitor manufacturers aren't willing to give Microsoft and other proprietary operating system companies the information they need to create appropriate drivers and that the manufacturers, not Microsoft, deserve the blame for this problem."
Longtooth will solve these problems... (Score:5, Funny)
Sources whom I consider accurate have told me that despite Microsoft's claims that Longtooth will be released by 2006 or 2007, the planned release date is actually late in 2019. Microsoft's secret goals for this version are:
Microsoft will accomplish these goals through a variety of changes. First, Longtooth will no longer be based on the Windows NT design philosophy, as were Windows 2000 and XP. Instead, Microsoft will release MS-DOS 9.0 2003, a 64-bit multithreaded DOS written in VisualBASIC.Net, and Windows Longtooth will run on top of that. Also, Longtooth will contain more code changes than any previous version of Windows, both in the number of changed source lines of code (SLOCs) and in the percentage of the total Windows codebase changed. Tremendous numbers of new features are being implemented in completely new code.
More importantly, Microsoft employees are combing through the codebase, in a relentless search for code that is mature, stabilized, and proven. This search has proved difficult, but when found, such code will be marked for reimplementation. I'm told that most of this code will be reimplemented in VisualBASIC.NET, even if the prior version was written in another language, such as C or C++. Programmers making the new VisualBasic.NET code are not allowed to look at the code that already exists, so that fixes to known issues will not be known until well after the software is deployed to millions of users.
The reason for these changes is simple: Study after study conducted by Microsoft has proven that security through obscurity is the only way to go, especially in an operating system deployed to millions of users, with many instances running mission critical applications in finance, industry, government, and other sectors. Microsoft has identified that viruses, worms, spam, spyware, adware, malware, hackers, and phreakers are able to compromise Windows security because vulnerabilities in the code are known. By changing much of the codebase, especially the stablest and most proven parts, Microsoft will thwart the efforts of malicious programmers, as it will take time for them to find the new vulnerabilities in the unknown code.
To meet Microsoft's first goal of reducing the user's perception of the complexity of Windows, Microsoft will integrate a new technology, dubbed Microsoft Windows User Simplicity And Security Manager 2003, into Longtooth. This technology will hide all configuration settings from the user. All settings will be completely automatic, and the user will have no need to know or care what is under the hood. In reality, Longtooth will be the most complex version of Windows yet, with thousands of configuration settings controlling nearly every function of the operating system. The settings will be produced by discovery algorithms designed to automatically set a "sane" configuration. Since there will be no interface to modify any setting, the user will have no choice in his configuration, thus simplifying the user's perception of the system's complexity.
To meet the second goal of increased security, these settings will be scattered throughout the OS, its components, and in other areas of the file system. For example, Microsoft knows that viruses, worms, spam, spyware, adware, malware, hackers, and phreakers are interested in moving the icons on user desktops without the user's permission, so settings controlling the number and size of icons appearing on the desktop will be scattered throughout parts of the registry, batch files, .ini files, web bookmarks, in the Windows kernel, in the file allocation table, in th
Re:Longtooth will solve these problems... (Score:2)
Damn, I knew that Hyper Terminal exploit was going to bite me in the ass!
Re:Longtooth will solve these problems... (Score:5, Interesting)
In many ways this post was really good, really funny and spot on... but I keep wondering when we'll will grok the fact that the things we find important (fine control, infinitely flexible features, elegant abstraction, cool frameworks) are astonishingly unimportant and even intimidating to the most of the world's technology users.
I really have no love for MS but at the same time, from a techno-secularist perspective, can you fault them for at least trying to give *the people* what they want and need? Is Linux giving the people what they really want and need? Is Apple? Are you?
Oh yeah, I almost forgot... no one except geeks gives two sh*ts about what language any software is written in. But they do want it to be safe. And they defintely need it to work.
Frankly, I wish we'd stop being so damn smug about all this. And I wish we'd stop deluding oursleves into believeing that somehow the cool, geeky-tweeky OSs are the same ones that users want to buy and, subsequently, actually use.
Re:Longtooth will solve these problems... (Score:5, Insightful)
And I wish we'd stop deluding oursleves into believeing that somehow the cool, geeky-tweeky OSs are the same ones that users want to buy and, subsequently, actually use.
Funny thing is, so called "power users" influence the buying habits of the masses. It is just like the perfume companies that market to the trendy 30 year olds with power suits because other women imitate them. People consult any nerds they know before making the big step of buying a computer hoping for some inside tips.
The people who make purchasing descisions for large companies are also computer nerds. You can see this in the slow adoption of desktop linux in large corps and government.
Really though, you just need to take a pill, the guy was just posting some grade A nerd humor.
Re:Longtooth will solve these problems... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Longtooth will solve these problems... (Score:5, Informative)
In addition, they have a cool tool which will add a file to your windows cd image (which you then burn) toauto-answer all of the questions asked during install.
thank you (Score:3)
Wouldnt call it news worthy but it made me smile
amusing but... (Score:5, Insightful)
examples:
Base Cost (as compared to Linux)
CD-Key
Expense of Additional Applications
Re:amusing but... (Score:2)
2. The point remains. It takes up a godawful amount of hard disk space, costs more, and you get inferior software. So what exactly are you paying for?
Re:amusing but... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:amusing but... (Score:2)
And how's that different than Linux? (Score:5, Interesting)
So I get Fedora installed. It comes up, and recognises my card correctly and we go. However the interface is a little sluggish when it comes to refreshes. I run a GL app and discover it's using software rendering which is very slow, and low quality. So I again go to ATi's site and download the drivers, ATi does have Linux drivers as well as Windows. Then begins my quest:
The drivers are RPM, so I tell them to install, no dice, conflicts with Mesa. Removing that proves to completely hose X. Ok so leave Mesa there, force the ATi installation. X comes up and it looks like it's using the ATi driver, but still no acceleration. Dig around on the net, turns out you have to run a script to make them work. Ok, run script, no dice, can't find something. Consult with Linux guy, says the error means they need kernel headers, maybe source too. K, thought those were there, I told it to install all the dev stuff. Whatever, get kernel source, recompile kernel, and now headers are there. Try script again, no dice. More digging turns up reference to drivers being for 2.6.10 not 2.6.11 but try these patches. Patch files, run script, success. Then run next script, no dice, won't install the module. Linux guy looks at it, not sure why. Decide to just try 2.6.10 since I have something else that likes that anyhow, there's actually an apt package (no not yum, apt, apparantly you can get that for Fedora) that is supposed to make it work all nice and easy with that. Try that, it goes and installs successfully. Reboot and.... reports the kernel module is incompatible on bootup.
And that's where it stands until I go back to work next week.
I'm failing to see the big advantage here. While it looks like Mesa is a more complete implementation of GL than comes with Windows, it's still software so the quality is horrible and it;s so slow that it's totally unusable for professional work, or even gaming.
Now in Windows the problem was a simple fix. Download a driver, click install. Everything else was handled and it works superbly. In Linux, I've gone through quite a lengthy process and it STILL doesn't work. I'm sure I'll solve the problem on Tuesday, however I can gaurentee a non-techie would have given up long ago.
Re:And how's that different than Linux? (Score:5, Informative)
If you don't already have a kernel
1) emerge gentoo-sources
2) genkernel
3) emerge ati-drivers
4) opengl-update ati
5) fglrxconfig , follow the directions, if you can't or don't want to understand it, then go buy a mac or use winxp.
6) restart X (no reboot required), ctrl+alt+backspace will do just fine
Re:Unacceptable (Score:4, Insightful)
I would also say that the hardware manufacturer should support the desktop OS that their users choose as well. It is NOT the responsibility of the OS developers to make 3d drivers when it is in fact IMPOSSIBLE to make them. They have made a pretty decent 2D driver, but that's because they have the specs for that part of the video card. ATI is the only company that can make 3d drivers for any OS for their cards, until they release more specs. (Tinfoil hat theory:) I wonder how much money MS pays ATI to not make good drivers for Linux? It IS possible to make high quality and easy to install (relatively speaking) binary 3d drivers for linux. The Nvidia drivers kick ass, and they install by running a script (the drivers are IN the script, neat). Although, you need to close X, and then change one line in your xorg.conf file.
In SUSE Linux, you just need to run the online update, it gives you the option to fetch the nvidia driver (no ati driver), now when you choose your video card in the SUSE configuration program (YaST) it will choose the 3d driver. It can't get easier, it's easier than Windows!
I wish more distros would give you the option to download binary drivers for both ATI and Nvidia. I believe Ubuntu and Gentoo also make it REALLY easy to install the nvidia and ati drivers.
Re:And how's that different than Linux? (Score:4, Insightful)
1) Package managers on Linux have perfectly good installers. Distribution tailored for non-techie like Mandriva commercial PowerPacks include the packages necessary to auto-install NVidia or ATI drivers. And NVidia did not have to write an installer, they used an old one created by a game company.
2) Your problem is in the "almost" all 2000 drivers work as is in XP. In Linux, ALL drivers coming with the kernel that worked in 2.6.10 works in 2.6.11. If you were not biased, you would know that the NVidia kernel driver is NOT SUPPORTED by kernel developers, it SAYS IT LOUD when you load it, and this is NO fault of Linux developers, it is caused by the choice of licencing of NVidia. That is also why free distro can't include the driver out of the box, same for ATI and Java and
3) And that is why every time there is a problem in Windows, people like you come whining that it is caused by bad drivers ? When I used Windows, the NVidia certified drivers were utter crap, only the non certified ones coming from NVidia were good. Please ! Even the certified SCSI driver blue screened XP, and it was a known problem in Windows problems base (which is HUGE).
4) I wonder what is this nonsense you're talking about. Learn what is XOrg compared to XFree before saying such nonsense. And everyone mattering in Linux world has already switched to XOrg.
I can tell you that the peopke I switched to Linux are unable to install any NVidia driver on Windows, they stay with crappy Windows ones.
Re:And how's that different than Linux? (Score:3, Insightful)
That's because current implementation of X makes X server have a part in device management, which is both incorrect (device management should be kernel's problem, not user mode app's) and inefficient. The correct way to do this
oh, and another thing before XP's ready (Score:5, Insightful)
Great article! On more than one level:
On the other hand, I'd like to make my own contribution as to one of the most ongoing and glaring "needs fixing" of XP....
I think one thing that will eventually make Windows XP for HOME (or PRO) ready for the desktop is fixing the START button. I'm still trying to explain to some of the people I have to support "LOGOFF" and "TURN OFF COMPUTER" are accessed by clicking the START button. It's hard to explain to them why when even I don't get it.
Re:oh, and another thing before XP's ready (Score:5, Funny)
Re:oh, and another thing before XP's ready (Score:5, Funny)
Trash to eject disk (Score:2)
They've fixed this one already. On a modern Mac, when you drag a disk or disk image, the trash icon turns into an eject icon.
Re:oh, and another thing before XP's ready (Score:2)
The Mac used to do this, which I agree was stupid, but OSX has the trash can turn into an eject icon when you drag an ejectable volume.
Re:oh, and another thing before XP's ready (Score:2)
Re:oh, and another thing before XP's ready (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:oh, and another thing before XP's ready (Score:2)
But, assuming I did, and should know derivation...., it doesn't change the experience for the people I support who are just trying to get along with their computers as best they can.... It doesn't help when the paradigm is that bizarre.
Re:oh, and another thing before XP's ready (Score:5, Funny)
1996 called, they want their whining back. if these people haven't figured out where these things are by now perhaps they shouldn't be using computers.
Re:oh, and another thing before XP's ready (Score:4, Insightful)
Lots of people have already been introduced to windows, and they eventually get to know the gestures needed to do the tasks.
The point if that the letters on the widgets don't help.
I use a Gnome desktop.
It has two buttons at the top of the screen (the actual top, not near-the-top, so you don't have to learn to aim accurately with your mouse to hit them).
One is labeled "Aplicaciones" ("apps" in spanish) and the other next to it, "Acciones" ("actions" in spanish).
People who use my computer have no trouble using it, even if they haven't even seen a gnome desktop before. I have no task bar, and my buttons are on top, but as they are the only widgets (other than desktop "Navegador Web Firefox", and home directory icons) that call your attention, it's not difficult to figure out what you need to click.
Windows, at first, is just too hard as a metaphor fr a desktop, if you don't already know how to use Windows, of course.
Re:oh, and another thing before XP's ready (Score:5, Funny)
Tell me about it. There was this other operating system I once used where to uninstall a program, you used apt-get
It's hard to explain to them when even I don't get it!
apt-get remove something. How nuts.
Re:oh, and another thing before XP's ready (Score:3, Informative)
You really should be using dpkg --purge instead of apt-get to remove programs that you're actually trying to remove.
The difference is that by default apt-get will remove files included in the package in a manner equivalent to dpkg --remove. However, as with dpkg --remove, it will not remove configuration files, and can thus leave some cruft behind on your system.
Debian kicks ass in part because you can keep a system clean for years without unneeded effort. Using "remove" where you really
But that's a non-useful solution (Score:4, Insightful)
They are both examples of things that are confusing, but only trivially so. When people harp on things like that, usually means they got nothin'.
It's a valid point of discussion if you are talking about things that could be improved in a UI, nothing wrong with that. All UIs have room for improvement. However it's stupid when you try a "My platform is better than your platform" pissing match with something like that because it's easy to find a similarity on your platform.
Ya, perhaps start isn't the best name for the button, or perhaps shutdown should be elsewhere, but it's not a big deal, and certianly not something Linux can't complatin it does. Try explaining to someone how something sounding as vicious as kill can be used to restart things, with a cryptic flag like -HUP, but also can kill things without mercy with the -9 option. You can almost see the question mark over their heads.
Fix the start button? Fix the on/off button!! (Score:4, Informative)
Sometimes I press the off switch and some asshat program pops up a window and says that it won't terminate until I move the mouse to some little point on the window and click it. I can't do that because I've already turned the monitor off. I come back hours later and the fucking machine is still ON!
When I press the OFF switch, I want the stupid machine to turn off. Turn Off Now. No windows, no prompts, no "Are you sure?", no nothing...just turn the fuck off.
Linux is the worst PC operating system in this regard. Press the off key and the system reacts like you're trying to shut down the Defense Department. Page after page of scrolling lines indicating that this and that mickey-mouse section of the OS is exiting. Who gives a fuck? Just turn off! Now!
Turning the PC on is just as bad. It has to load 100 million bytes of code that haven't changed during the last 1000 times that I turned the stupid thing on. Here I have a 128 Megabyte Flash Disk about the size of my little toe and costing $17. So why the fuck can't I have all the OS on the Flash drive? So that it will go on at the moment that I flip the ON switch! C'mon guys, we're not booting from floppies anymore! It's time to leave the 1980's PC mentality!
Turn off and on when the user changes the state of the off/on switch. Such a truly revolutionary and mind-boggling concept!
Of course someone will point out that after months of study, research, experimentation, and trial compiling, (and hours of waiting and staring at the monitor), I could configure the system to do something resembling instant off/on when the switch gets pressed.
So why the fuck is this not the fucking default state of the machine! C'mon, guys, the ENIAC days are gone. This thing on your desk is an appliance. And like all appliances, it should go off and on when you hit the off/on switch!
Re:Fix the start button? Fix the on/off button!! (Score:2)
Re:Fix the start button? Fix the on/off button!! (Score:2)
Under Power Schemes: a dropdown for presets that changes the dropdowns for the times after which various things will shut off.
Under Advanced: "Always show icon on the taskbar" and "Prompt for password when computer resumes from standby". For power button, a dropdown for "when I press the power button on my computer", which is set to "shut down", but there's nothing indicating unconditional shut
Re:Fix the start button? Fix the on/off button!! (Score:2)
Re:Fix the start button? Fix the on/off button!! (Score:3, Informative)
I have never seen a program that asks if you are sure if you want to hibernate or tries to stop the process. I've hibernated while games were running without any problems.
Go to the power options control panel (type powercfg.cpl into the Run box). In the Hibernate tab, check "Enable hibernation". Click apply. Then on the Advanced tab, wher
Re:Fix the start button? Fix the on/off button!! (Score:3, Funny)
Sometimes I turn off the ignition and some hasshat motorist flips a finger and says I'll get a ticket if I don't pull over to the shoulder of the freeway. I can't do that because I've already bailed out of the car. I wake up hours later and the fucking cops are still THERE!
When I turn OFF the ignition switch, I want the stupid car to be parked. Be parked now. No driving home, no opening my garage door, no complaints
Re:oh, and another thing before XP's ready (Score:2)
If by rock solid, you mean completely full of spin. You must be easily manipulated.
Re:oh, and another thing before XP's ready (Score:2)
Is it really that hard to understand that you're STARTing the shutdown or logout procedures?
Re:oh, and another thing before XP's ready (Score:2)
Re:oh, and another thing before XP's ready (Score:3, Insightful)
1995 called. No, they don't want their joke back, because it's been beaten to death. They're just asking that you please give it a decent burial.
Re:oh, and another thing before XP's ready (Score:2)
Is it just me... (Score:2, Insightful)
At this point, I wish there were a viable third option. I guess osX counts as a third option, but still... I just want something to break the monotony. Where is a OS/2 Warp upgrade when you need one?
Either way, I fear it has become impossible for
Maybe I'm wrong... *shrug*
Re:Is it just me... (Score:3, Interesting)
How do you 'guess' OSX is a third option?
I wouldn't consider it 3rd, I don't value OSX so much. Even though I have G5.
Grab anyone off the street, and 10x more people will know what 'Macintosh' is as opposed to 'Linux'
Not in our coutry, apple just hasn't got the popularity here.
(even better, try a distro-guess the number that will recognize 'Debian' as opposed to 'Apple')
While Debian is OS distro, Apple is not. Apple is computer company. I think that valid description would b
Re:Is it just me... (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Is it just me... (Score:2)
Let me guess - you are either in an American four year college or live on the west coast of America. That's where people know Macintosh.
I live in Davis, CA, but I also know what it's like elsewhere. There are pockets where Apple is very popular, but it is still the wankel engine in a world of pistons... and most people don't even know how to open their hood.
--
Evan
Microsoft replies (Score:5, Insightful)
Linux nearly ready for server use.
asdf (Score:3, Insightful)
You can't return commercial software. You would have to call Microsoft and pay $35/call (or is it $35/minute?)
About time (Score:2)
monitor data (Score:2, Interesting)
SCNR
Re:monitor data (Score:3, Informative)
Points to the big Myth about Linux (Score:2)
Given that it is quite easy to buy a PC with Linux pre-installed, why should difficulty to installing Linux be an issue if it apparently not an issue t
on the contrary (Score:3, Insightful)
As far as just about every PC user is concerned.
Re:on the contrary (Score:2)
Don't you think the article would be even half this funny if Windows would be below 20% marketshare?
A bit unfair (Score:3, Insightful)
On my IBM Thinkpad and home brewed PC, everything worked straight out the box, apart from the TV card (which didn't work in Linux at all!).
I have had nothing but trouble configuring X for graphics - this is a bit of a cheap shot and the author should know better.
Re:A bit unfair (Score:3, Insightful)
I really wanted a linux laptop, but I couldn't find anything affordable, powerful and complete (meaning it has drivers to support everything the laptop has).
Do
Re:A bit unfair (Score:2, Interesting)
Easiest to buy preinstalled:
Re:A bit unfair (Score:3, Insightful)
OK, I'll byte. In the last ten years I've had three laptops, a TI Extensa, a Sony Vaio, and an HP/Compaq, all running Linux. The only problem I had was getting the modem to run in the Vaio.
Ooops, sorry, I didn't mean to feed the trolls...
Non compatible hardware (Score:2, Interesting)
1) Adaptec SlimSCSI APA-1460A PCMCIA card will make the computer reboot
2) Genius ColorPage HR-2 scanner, ditto
3) JVC camcorder, I don't have the part number because my cousin borrowed it, ditto
People have told me that these things don't work because of "broken device drivers", but I don't want detailed technical analyses, I want them to "just work", like they do with Linux.
Re:Non compatible hardware (Score:2)
Funny thing is, it used to work on XP, on that machine no less. Linux uses it happily.
I hate windows, (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:I hate windows, (Score:3, Funny)
When i got to this part i thought that it's a myth that slashdot geeks don't get laid and Linux does have a sexual magnet effect after all, but then i continued to read on.
Ironic, and still serious (Score:5, Insightful)
And I don't want to start another flamewar about what the best desktop for Linux is...
Re:Ironic, and still serious (Score:3, Insightful)
Windows' system is even messier. Not only are there twenty different installers out there who all behave differently, virtually all uninstallers are somewhat incompetent, leaving registry settings and config files all over your system.
I think that installing and uninstalling stuff under Linux generally is easier - although nowhere near OS X w
monitor driver (Score:5, Insightful)
It bugs me when mundane devices need drivers.
Like keyboards and monitors.
What's next, my power supply will need a driver?
Re:monitor driver (Score:4, Interesting)
FIFTEEN HUNDRED FUCKING MEGABYTES.
TO SQUIRT INK ONTO A PAGE.
And OSDN masturbation continues.. (Score:2)
A Slashdot Editor writes an 'article' for NewsForge, which is then linked to from Slashdot by a submitter. Maybe if they put half the effort into Editing Slashdot that they do writing 'articles' for other people, the quality of the site would improve substantially.
As for the article itself, one piece of hardware doesn't perform correctly with the myriad of drives available and we're supposed to gush heartily about it? I think not.
Re:And OSDN masturbation continues.. (Score:2)
have you ever heard the phrase "tongue in cheek" ?
how about "chill out" ?
or maybe "what goes around comes around" ?
Nothing like dusting off an old classic! (Score:2)
It's time for Windows on the Desktop
Posted by special contributor Richard Keiichi Yamauchi, Jr.
Some of you might be thinking, why? Well, I think it's about time. MCSE's, VB Programmers, and techies have been using Windows for years, and I think it's about time Windows moves to the desktop for ordinary people.
We've heard it year after year after year: "This is the year Windows is for the masses on the desktop." Well, then another version comes out and still "Joe Longkne
You laugh, but, (Score:3, Interesting)
About 2.5 years ago I installed Suse 9.0 on my son's PC and he hauled it 900 miles away up to college.
Since then, it has crashed several times during power failures and became so badly corrupted that it was unusable. Not to mention, 9.0 is soooo old now..
My son is no computer prodigy and was left without a working PC. He was unable to find a single person in his school or area that could help him fix the problems and I can't just drive up 900+ miles to reinstall Suse.
His only option left was to install XP. There are plenty of XP "hotshots" around. So, he bought a student discounted version at the campus bookstore and his friend set about to install it for him.
Onboard nic = not recognized.
Onboard audio = not recognized.
Nvidia video card = not recognized.
One thing he forgot to take with him, the mobo and video drivers discs (which were NOT needed for Linux).
So, for the past two weeks he's sat around with no internet and no sound and shitty video while I tore the house apart looking for the discs.
I finally found them and overnighted them to him.
What I want to know now is, how/where is he going to get the program M$ word which is REQUIRED by his school? ALL of his classes distribute word files and require homework to be turned in in word format and powerpoint.
Is the college going to provide him with a free copy of these programs? (they should, at $8k a semester!) I hope so because I sure as hell ain't gonna pay for it.
And now he is open to all the problems the winders people constantly suffer.. His first year there, the entire campus became a huge petri dish, EVERY computer on campus was infected, except his Suse machine. No longer will he enjoy that exclusive privilege..
Journalistic integrity? (Score:3, Interesting)
Windows will be ready for the desktop when ... (Score:3, Informative)
I stay away from Windows as much as possible. If I had to use Windows more I'm sure I would have a longer list.
Re:Windows will be ready for the desktop when ... (Score:3, Insightful)
For me, Windows won't be desktop-ready until they come pre-installed and operational as part of the base operating system. Sure I could spend a lot of time tweaking and tuning "my" system to make the user interface more comfortable for me to use. But the moment I have to sit at somebody else's PC, if all that stuff just disappears, then what's the point? I might as well just run li
Read an article about Longhorn in the recent Ct (Score:3, Interesting)
Just one word DRM everywhere.
Microsoft took one step away from their original Palladium plans developers wise, you wont have to pay a huge amount of money to get the permission to program for (for now it is still open), but due to the demands of the Content industry, they introduced an entire secure layer which is basically encrypted from the hardware (harddisk etc...) back to the transmission into the digital output, it never really leaves the encryption state, with the possibility to lock the affected box remotely out. What happens is, that they bascially made a vault for the content providers, which will be enabled in longhorn. Remember parts of the technology already is in place. SATA has extensions for encryption on hardware level, same goes for DVI ouput, with the TCPA you will have a crypto chip on every box as well with the private key stored on the chip. You wont get the stuff you are used to instantly taken away, but I think the turning point will be with the move to BlueRay or whatever HDTV next gen DVD will be, then the users will start to scream, but too late, as much as they are mentally bound to it. Linux and other systems probably wont give them an alternative as well, since the players there will follow the same strict rules if they will exist at all and the remote lockout can affect the hardware (consumer hardware as well, but just blacklisting certain keys in future DVD replacements.
Those who now long and rave for longhorn should think twice, they will have the severe problem that they will get it. Xaml, total onslaught on the W3C after Microsoft successfully torpedoed the W3C into oblivion by not supporting their standards and lying on their fat asses for 8 years. Replacement technology for PDF in place, which in the long run also will become Windows only. Trivial patent grabbing left and right just in case we want to sue the competition into oblivion, and having DRMed the system left and right without informing the users (dont expect the journalists except a few mags writing about those things, most of them are either ignorant about TCPA, NGSCP (Palladium) or on the payroll of Microsoft)
When Palladium comes out, in the beginning it wont make that much of a difference to the end user, everything will work perfectly, but then extended services will be pushed in and the end user will slowly be fed with DRM hell (try this nice HDTV movie, WMx of course, that is another onslaught area, of trying to take over the movie codec protocolls and getting rid of the pesky mpeg consortium), you wanna save it do it... You wanna give it away oops... sorry man, you can move to alternatives if you want, but then you will loose your already bought 20-30 movies. A few years later... no more buying man, just renting.
Viruses/Worms (Score:3, Interesting)
I like the fact that he's realistic; if you keep XP SP2 autoupdated, run Windows Update every now and again and keep the Firewall up it's actually very easy to avoid viruses and worms unless you have a habit of retardedly clicking everything people show you.
Re:Drivers? (Score:3, Insightful)
It should be noted that X.org balks particularly well on these too, and the
framebuffer drivers don't even check to see if a mode is available before
blindly switching to it.
Parody is one thing, but.. this isn't parody, it's just sniping.
Re:Hmmmm (Score:5, Insightful)
I wonder if that was the point? By the standards that the ``Linux isn't ready for the desktop'' crowd apply to Linux, Windows isn't ready for the desktop, either.
I haven't tried to install OSX, so I can say that no OS that I am familiar with is ``ready for the desktop'' by those standards.
Roblimo just took the standard ``Linux isn't ready for the desktop'' article, replaced Linux with Windows and visa versa, and threw in a couple of very accurate slams at Windows weak points.
Good parody, based on truth. That's why it was funny.
Re:Hmmmm (Score:2)
Re:Hmmmm (Score:3, Interesting)
And that has nothing to do with Windows being the dominant operating system for the last 10+ years does it... And thereby something that the home users are familiar with, having at least seen it from 3.1 to 95 to 98.
A much better experiment would be to find people who have NEVER used computers in ANY form or OS. Give them a configured Windows machine, and a configur
Re:Hmmmm (Score:2)
Re:Hmmmm (Score:5, Interesting)
> a configured Windows machine, and a configured Linux machine. THEN see which one gets used more.
> Now that would actually be a USEFUL study.
And it's been done. And GNU/Linux won. And it was something like RedHat 7.3 with Gnome 1.4.
Hopefully somebody still has that story, as I've long since lost the link
Re:Hmmmm (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Hmmmm (Score:3, Insightful)
My sister won't touch anything that doesn't look like MS Office however.
Re:Hmmmm (Score:3, Insightful)
On a modern linux distro I c
Re:Hmmmm (Score:2)
Funny, when I set my parents up with a new Red Hat Linux 6.1 box (back in the day) next to their Windows 95 system, they ended up using the Linux box almost excl
Re:Driver issues (Score:2, Insightful)
Maybe it's Microtek that's not ready for your desktop.
Re:Driver issues (Score:3, Insightful)
Hopefully that will change one day. In the mean time, the more people who take a couple of minutes to Google for Linux driver support before making each hardware purchase, the more market pressure will be put on the vendors to
Re:Hmmmm (Score:2)
Of course if you assume that these users have prior experience with Windows, they would probably choose Windows, but then the comparison is useless.
Re:Hmmmm (Score:2)
I think if both are properly installed on the hardware
If it's donated hardware, then there's still a chance that no GNU/Linux driver exists because the manufacturer refuses to cooperate.
Of course if you assume that these users have prior experience with Windows, they would probably choose Windows, but then the comparison is useless.
Assuming that users have prior Windows experience nowadays is like assuming TRUE. Show me a significant population of users not familiar with Microsoft Windows, and I'l
Re:Hmmmm (Score:2)
Re:Hmmmm (Score:2)
I found that the tools needed to give the Microsoft Explorer Web browser included with Windows XP some of the same modern features that are standard in the Firefox Web browser that comes with SimplyMEPIS are pay-for add-ons
I've not encountered any pay-for add-ons for IE like that myself, but I've certainly seen free ones about, such as Maxathon, or even Firefox for Windows, but I guess the author isn't awar
Re:-1 Troll. (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Posting from a Windows XP workstation. (Score:2)
Are you hungry or something? You know freudian slips do happen...
Re:Ug, roblimo (Score:2)
Re:OOOOHHH PLEASE!!!! (Score:2)
Hmmm (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:OOOOHHH PLEASE!!!! (Score:2)
I'm surprised you've had so many problems. Well, I'm not surprised about Slackware (haven't used it in awhile), but the rest have been very good about setting things up for you. However, I'm QUITE sure there's at least a copy of fdisk with slakware. If you're looking to resize an already made partition, you might have more work ahead o
Re:Igh. (Score:2, Funny)
For the average Windows desktop user, what is "eth0" and "eth1" supposed to mean? For folks with multiple built in ethernet ports and only one connected, this is a hassle trying to figure out which port has the cable hooked to it.
You're right, on my Windows box, I have a "NVIDIA nForce Networking Adaptor" and a "Marvell Yukon Gigabit Network Adaptor." That way, I can tell which port is which.
Or, rather, I can't, and you're an idiot.
I won't even touch installing software not already included with a di
Re:Although... (Score:3, Interesting)
Good point.
- Reliable DVD playing support (Including menus)
xine is reliable (including menus) for me on all my dvds, though I do wish it had less of a crappy interface.
- Better sound quality as there's no need to resample
Come again? Although I've tried many times to switch over to Linux completely, the above have kept me using Windows, especially since there is no 64-bit Cedega (AFAIK) and there doesn't seem to be any benefit to setting up a 32-bit chroot over simpl
Re:Dumb (Score:2)
Same here, at least since I switched back from Linux to Windows a few years back after the X windowing system decided to restart itself randomly numerous times a day.
And the majority of software I have is either free (as in beer and/or speech), included with my laptop's configuration, or commercially available in which case if I feel the software to be worthwhile paying for I will purchase it - if not, I will use a free/
Re:Skewed article (Score:3, Insightful)
This is either very funny or totally totally out of here. There are no rightful places in the market. There's just the market.
Re:Absolutely! (Score:3, Informative)
Here you go [codeproject.com]
I was a bit mistaken - it doesn't directly incorporate the C shell into the explorer, but rather the normal command prompt. But if you have the Windows SfU installed, the basic C shell functionality is available from the windows command prompt. So it understands the basic GNU tools, you can use pipes, redirections, perl (if installed - I use the ActiveState perl), sed, grep... basically all you need.