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I'm sorry: I trust no company with all of my data. That's why I don't use Google docs or Microsoft's current document offering. And now they want to store all of my data? I, for one, will gladly continue using Linux.

Every time I hear about the great research that MS does I think about how great it is that they are putting their money into these IT projects. Then I stop and think "wait a minute, will this only work on Windows?"
Well it seems obvious to me that a display technology should not be impacted by an OS but then my more synical nature takes over and asks if there is SOMEHOW a way that they could make this a Windows only thing.
Well is it possible?

And, of course, there is only one operating system to use if you are dependent on Microsoft apps like Outlook, Word, and Excel.

Mac OS X?

Windows really doesn't belong here. Nor most places in a data center.

From Microsoft's attempts at documenting their file formats and interfaces I can say that Microsoft does not work to specifications or standards. They make the code work then make the working code the standard. That is bad practice and leads to, as all can see, bloated, undocumented and overly large interfaces.

I believe the biggest change for Microsoft, whether or not they embrace openness, is to work to a specification driven development rather than a code driven development system. Spend the timing working on the specification and interfaces, get a workable interface and security model then implement it.

1. It could get much worse
2. It could get worse
3. It could stay the same
4. It could get better
5. It could get much better

I'm one of the biggest GPL zealots around here, and RMS is high on my list of respected people, but come on. There are whole medical labs dedicated to fighting TB and AIDS in southern Africa that wouldn't exist without the Bill&Melinda foundation. How is that hurting anything?

Bizzeh writes "A complete overhaul of the way in which people navigate the internet has been given the go-ahead in Paris. The net's regulator, Icann, voted unanimously to relax the strict rules on so-called "top-level" domain names, such as .com or .uk. The decision means that companies could turn brands into web addresses, while individuals could use their names. A second proposal, to introduce domain names written in scripts, such as Asian and Arabic, was also approved. It seems we have just had the vote that has killed the internet, and the web."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7475986.stm

Bizzeh writes "we have all heard of the term supercomputer, but what exactly qualifies as a supercomputer? are there any specifications laid out to denote what is and is not a supercomputer. since it seems to me, based on the GPU "supercomputer" that anyone can build one of these machines with almost no money (compared to the millions paid for roadrunner), but does it actually qualify as a supercomputer?"

I also tried this.

Hardy Heron maxes out the CPU for tasks XP handles with less muscle. The MP3 player skips if you open a new firefox tab. Nice!

Gnome freezes every 3 hours at best.

After fighting with "restricted" drivers for a week, I gave up running dual monitors. This is of course a "driver" issue and therefore the fault of capitalism...at least that's what I garner from all the forums. Oh and I should RTFM.

The wireless card stops running after 2 hours. Ubuntu makes a fine server, but geeze does it suck cocks as a desktop.

I find Linux more capable on the Desktop than Microsoft. There are often times when MS's (using XP) internal burning software is inadequate - like burning images. I don't know if it's fixed yet, but for a long time XP just would not burn an image with its built in software and you had to use something like Nero. Never had a problem burning an image running any linux distro. Same with mounting .iso right from the harddrive as a cd-rom. It usually required some pay-for software (Alcohol 120%) in Windows, while a 2 minute search yield a few command lines to do it in Ubuntu. I know I'd rather save the money.

A typical mainstream Linux distro is ready. It's often superior in many ways to MS, as MS seems to deliberately makes their OS do almost nothing useful beyond the basics it seems (or was it that Monopoly ruling that caused this?) It's now just 3rd party apps for most people. Web Browsing has reversed itself (there are enough people who wouldn't switch from Firefox due to plug-ins they can't get in IE).

On the Corporate Level, solution providers are slow to change if they're an MS only shop. I even know the university/college level has problems. Blackboard and other such garbage.

I suspect the oncoming economic shitstorm may finally get corporations to really tighten their belts and that company-wide OS licenses may just not fit in the budget anymore looking ahead 5 years in some places. I just hope the current/next generation of purchase managers learns from the past and looks to do away with vendor lock-in in so many areas as much as possible.

Bizzeh writes "today, google has just hit 7000mb of storage space for emails. has anyone gotten anything close to this yet?"
http://www.bizzeh.com/

Bizzeh writes "the bbc has a report on a 20-year-old ethnic Russian man being the first person to be convicted for taking part in a "cyber war" against Estonia"
http://www.killallthehumans.co.uk/

Bizzeh writes "their are one or to ways that i know of to access HFS+ (Mac OS) partitions in windows (e.g. MacDrive, HFSExplorer), but in general, they are terrible. are their any GOOD file system drivers for HFS+ for windows (2k/xp/vista), prefairably free ones?"
http://www.bizzeh.com/

ptorrone writes "Looking to give gifts this year that are open source? Here's MAKE Magazines "Open Source Hardware" gift guide. Open source 3D printers, TV-turn-off devices, iPod chargers, music players, Wi-Fi companions, educational electronic kits and more. Each of the kits, projects and open source hardware gifts in this guide represents more than just a holiday gift, it's a change to support this nascent open hardware movement."