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Comment Re:No way (Score 1) 517

The guys at MS are professional engineers--they may have different philosophies or coding styles or project priorities than you do, but they're not slowing things down in order to make you buy the next product.

That's right--they're professionals who are coding what they get told to code.

And you might not like MS, but they haven't been a disreputable company for decades.

I must have missed that. My Bing-fu is a bit weak at the moment--perhaps you can post a link to a news article or something showing me when they started being reputable?

Comment Re:Answer (Score 1) 383

Pretty much. My only real concern with a preloaded Linux install is that they'll probably pick a distro that I don't use, and if they've done any specific extra work to make their own packages, and there won't be packages for my distro available.

Even still, could be worse, at least there's a chance that more enterprising people than myself will build packages for my distro.

Comment Re:Holy Cow (Score 5, Interesting) 219

We just replaced an X301 with a Thinkpad Yoga 12.5" back in December. Honestly, if they would shrink the fairly large bezel around the screen but otherwise keep the feature set the same it would appeal. I can't deny that I like the keyboard on the X301 better than on the Thinkpad Yoga, and I certainly like the more modular nature of the X301 so that memory and storage can be replaced, as compared to how much of the Yoga is soldered-on.

The biggest thing that could help the X301 replacement would be price. They've got experience with Netbook form factors, and with tablet and convertible tablet form factors, so if they can keep the price down along with the weight then it could be a good choice if they can also keep it durable.

Comment Re: Running kismet on a laptop (Score 2) 152

I suspect that the FCC will eventually have to step-in. One of the Part 15 rules is about not interfering, and clearly that's not working out so well. I can imagine a day when power levels have to be so low that an AP is basically only good for the room that it's in, or that's the default programming on an AP even if the end user might be able to raise it, and then the process to raise it would require bringing it up in steps, so that the user is encouraged to keep testing as they keep raising the level, so that they stop when they find enough power.

Comment Re:Answer (Score 3, Interesting) 383

I want Linux on a laptop. The bulk of my work involves connecting at the command-line to other systems, sometimes through SSH, sometimes through serial. I like that the same command-line interface for initiating these connections is also the command line interface through which I can manipulate files in the filesystem, edit files through text editors, and manipulate files through command-line utilities.

While usually I can do my work from the office, sometimes I have to work in the field too. It's much easier to have one computer doing that work than it is to have one at the office, one out in the field, and one at home. Unfortunately the newest batch of portable computers, the convertible tablets, don't work well with X-Windows. This means having to have a separate computer at the office to connect into in order to work out of if I want access to everything that is helpful.

I've played with OSX-based laptops, I find the GUI clunky when it comes to working with multiple terminal windows, as Apple has taken the approach of using Apple-Tab to switch between applications, rather than switch between windows. It's more awkward than it should be to switch between multiple terminal sessions quickly. It also doesn't help that Apple has removed important keys from the keyboard, like pgup/pgdn, home/end, back-tab as shift of tab, and the distinction between backspace and delete, so a lot of the keys and combinations that I use effectively aren't available to me on the Mac.

Comment Re:How did you avoid a cult of personality? (Score 1) 383

I've ever heard of Guido-something or Allan Day, and Linux's mascot as a penguin, as an amimal that Linus Torvalds happens to like, has gotten fanbois salivating at the zoo near their enclosure.

Mr. Torvalds has a bit of a cult of personality around him, even if he doesn't participate with it much or contribute to it.

Comment Critical software to the use of Linux (Score 5, Interesting) 383

Mr. Torvalds,

For many uses of Linux such as on the desktop, other software beyond the kernel and the base GNU tools are required. What other projects would you like to see given priority, and what would you like to see implemented or improved?

Admittedly I thought most about X-Windows when asking this question; but I don't doubt that other daemons or systems can be just as important to the user experience.

Thank you for your efforts all these years.

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