Linux Foundation Calls for 'Respect for Microsoft' 486
kripkenstein writes "Jim Zemlin (executive director for the Linux Foundation) gave a talk at LinuxWorld saying that the open source community should stop poking fun at Microsoft. From the VNU article: 'Open source vendors have to recognize that Windows is here to stay and that together with Microsoft it will form a duopoly in the market for operating systems. This also requires that the Linux community respects Microsoft rather than ridicule it. "There are some things that Windows does pretty well," Zemlin said. Microsoft for instance has excelled in marketing the operating system, and has a good track record in fending off competition.'"
I thought OS X Linux (Score:2, Informative)
Re:I thought OS X Linux (Score:5, Insightful)
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Nicely used reference.
Re:I thought OS X Linux (Score:4, Funny)
Boyfriend asks girlfriend to suck his cock. Girlfriend says she won't because then he won't respect her. Boyfriend promises to respect her and take her out for a big dinner at expensive restaraunt if she does. She sucks his cock, and later they go out for dinner. The waiter arrives and the boyfriend orders for both. He orders lobster for himself, and for her: "...and bring us a steak for the cocksucker here. She loves to eat meat."
Zemlin is a cocksucker. Microsoft is his meal ticket.
Gates is the Chief of Grief. (Score:3, Insightful)
He's another computer professional with zero social experience. People don't like Microsoft because Microsoft is abusive. For example:
Embrace, Extend, Extinguish" or
"The whole world is our beta tester" or
"We can release sloppy, sloppy code because we have a virtual monopoly" or
"Security vulnerabilities make us money because many people with infected computers buy new computers, and therefore buy another copy of
Re:Gates is the Chief of Grief. (Score:5, Insightful)
This is called "pointless forking" and "not invented here syndrome" in the open source world. Feh, big deal.
The whole world is our beta tester
Google does this. Apple does this. Every open source project ever released does this.
We can release sloppy, sloppy code because we have a virtual monopoly
The open source version of this is "you have no right to complain because you got it for free" and "you got the source code so fix it yourself". Also, Microsoft doesn't have a monopoly on anything at this point in time. Also, there are plenty of other non-monopolists who release poorly-made products.
Security vulnerabilities make us money...
This is just FUD. Show me any proof that this is how Microsoft reasons. Furthermore, it's pathetic to blame Microsoft because people are stupid. Oblig. car analogy: For years, Mercedes cars have had problems with premature body rust. Would you consider this a scheme to get people to buy new cars more often?
When you partner with Microsoft, you are partnering with someone who will be partly an enemy if that makes more money.
This is mostly true for all companies. It's about making money, not being cozy friends with everybody.
Heeeeere's Godwin! (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:I thought OS X Linux (Score:4, Insightful)
The provision of "general use" is unecessary. A platform is a platform.
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And he has a point as well -- OS-X has never been seriously positioned as a server OS like AIX, HP-UX, etc. It's not realistic to expect Apple to become a major server OS player with the machines they sell right now.
Even on the desktop - Apples market share might be increasing but it's very hard to see them go past 10 or 20% of the market. You can argue both ways about whether t
Re:I thought OS X Linux (Score:4, Informative)
In what world? Perhaps you have some sort of strange unspoken defintion of "real" the rest of us aren't using? OSX isn't an operating system at all. The operating system is Darwin (its kernel to be technical) and the distribution that is based on that operating system is OSX. Linux is a real and complete operating system and there are many distributions based on it. Windows is both an operating system and a distribution.
'Dissing it as "not a real OS" or "not available for general use" is an exaggeration at best, or really just a troll.'
I wouldn't really go around saying it isn't a real OS (technical distinctions aside) but 'not available for general use' certainly applies. Most of us define general use for an operating system as 'general use on commodity hardware'.
'Also, your argument about licensing out the Mac OS has been shot down so many times I won't even bother to get into it.'
It's been discussed anyway. I'm pretty sure the only ones who walk away feeling it was shut down were those who felt that way from the get go.
'you seem woefully... biased in general. OS-X is... arguably the best desktop operating system'
Perhaps you should consider yourself before saying others are biased. OSX being the best desktop operating system is something that MOST informed individuals would dispute (I don't give my own opinion because its beside the point).
Like it or not, not everyone who makes a negative comment about MacOS, Mac's, or Apple is a troll and this is an open forum where people are entitled to think OSX, Linux, or Windows sucks. If you are modding people down simply because they think your pet system sucks you are abusing moderation privs. In fact, if you (or anyone) are modding people down for any reason you are probably using the moderation system incorrectly. Moderation is primarily intended for modding up worthwhile comments, not censoring comments you feel unworthy.
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John Siracusa recently wrote an interesting bit [arstechnica.com] about why this is so. His basic thesis is Apple has not made headway in the Enterprise because it focuses all its effort
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CW: Microsoft has recently claimed that free software and some e-mail programs violate 235 of its patents. But Microsoft also said it won't sue for now. Is this the start of a new legal nightmare?
... Open source is a model for how to do things, and I happen to believe that it's just a much better way to do things and that open source will take over not because of any battle, but simply because better ways of doing things eventually just replace the inferior things.
Torvalds: I personally think it's mainly another shot in the FUD [fear, uncertainty and doubt] war. MS has a really hard time competing on technical merit, and they traditionally have instead tried to compete on price, but that obviously doesn't work either, not against open source. So they'll continue to bundle packages and live off the inertia of the marketplace, but they want to feed that inertia with FUD.
CW: Do you think you and the open-source software community are prepared for this battle?
Torvalds: I don't actually see it as a battle. I do my thing because I think it's interesting and worth doing, and I'm not in it because of any anti-MS issues. I've used a few MS products over the years, but I've never had a strong antipathy against them. Microsoft simply isn't interesting to me.
And the whole open source thing is not an anti-MS movement either.
[my emphasis]
Bottom line is that ones energies are much better focused on creating a great product, and not fighting a battle. Personally, I think the firebrands and the rabid dogs on either side of the MS/FSF debate just get off on the emotional charge of being outraged or are manipulating others with it. You see this sort of stuff a lot in politics. (Oh, and, what's the last program RMS wrote and how long
Uh-huh. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Uh-huh. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Uh-huh. (Score:4, Insightful)
I got my boss to switch to open source for a lot of things that way.
Re:Uh-huh. (Score:5, Insightful)
Thanks (Score:4, Funny)
It's nice to know at least one person here on /. respects me.
Sorry, I couldn't help myself!
Re:Uh-huh. (Score:5, Insightful)
I respect the power of physics when I walk down the stairs. It doesn't make me an uncle tom.
The Linux community needs a "come to jesus" meeting, where we recognize the strength of worthy adversaries and study their moves, not dismiss them as unworthy of study. They most certainly are worthy of respect and study! They dominate the market! Dismiss that at your own demise.
Re:Uh-huh. (Score:4, Insightful)
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Re:Uh-huh. (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Uh-huh. (Score:4, Interesting)
Not just that. (Score:5, Insightful)
And that anyone using Linux (unless specially licensed) owes Microsoft some money.
And for Microsoft's continuing attempts to kill / marginalize the ODF standard.
Yes, Microsoft deserves your respect and not your disgust. So says an executive from a company that has purchased a "partnership" with Microsoft.
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Yeah, and we should also give respect to the mafia for fending off the competition with their protection rackets. Let's also give respect to George Bush for fending off that nasty constitution...
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"There are some things that Windows does pretty well," Zemlin said. "Microsoft for instance has excelled in marketing the operating system, and has a good track record in fending off competition.'"
Neither marketing nor "fending off competition" has a thing to do with Windows. Windows the product sucks. Microsoft the corporation has used illegal mea
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I would neither call that particular corporate entity very moral, nor would I call its primary products very good on the whole. The former sentiment is backed by repeated anti-competetive behavior and self-serving lies, the latter is frequently shown by the existence of superior products on the market.
How are my views fundamentalist, might I ask?
Ok, yes, they do know what they are doing, and they're very good at selling their products. I m
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Re:Uh-huh. (Score:4, Insightful)
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I think I'll wait until they
That is all..
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Apple chose a closed hardware and software platform that sells at a fixed price through a limited number of outlets. At any given moment, there will be a half dozen or so Macs to choose from on the market, and, if none of them quite fits your needs, well, tough luck. Microsoft liked the look of the IBM PC's modular design, and negotiated a deal
Respect? For M$? (Score:3, Informative)
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I like that one. Really. ;-)
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Yeah. That didn't work in Kindergarten, and it doesn't work now.
From TFA: "Open source vendors have to recognise that Windows is here to stay and that together with Microsoft it will form a duopoly in the market for operating systems."
Um, what abour Mac OS X? You know, that "other" OS with a higher market share than Linux?
So MS does marketting, Linux does software? (Score:4, Insightful)
So what he's saying is that Linux excels at being good software, while Microsoft only excel at marketing practices? Sounds like a double-edged compliment to Microsoft to me!
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"By the way if anyone here is in advertising or marketing... kill yourself. No, no, no it's just a little thought. I'm just trying to plant seeds. Maybe one day, they'll take root - I don't know. You try, you do what you can. Kill yourself. Seriously though, if you are, do. Aaah, no really, there's no rationalisation for what you do and you are Satan's little helpers, Okay - kill yourself - seriously. You are the ruiner of all things good, seriously. No this is not a joke, you're
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But if by marketing you just mean the crap that's on TV intermixed with the shows, well, fair enough.
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He's got a point, and soon after I will be removing my last "windows" install that matters. My research laptop will go from dual boot windows to single boot linux. Hell Linux has had less issues on it (HP Pav Dv5k).
It will be preference. Access and control over your own machine, or surrender it all to groupthink and continue to pay for microsoft's legal expenses. I say
Microsoft is so... 1998 (Score:3, Insightful)
MS has lost it's way ( as documented in Joel's "How Microsoft Lost the API War" ) and with applications moving more towards the web as a platform, things don't look to improve.
Jim
RunFatBoy ( http://www.runfatboy.net/ [runfatboy.net] ) - Exercise for the rest of us.
Old Idea, Some Quotes to Reinforce (Score:5, Insightful)
Poking fun at them is only a sign of overconfidence as Luke once said to Darth Vadar & Emperor Palpatine
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Should I get you a copy of Bartlett's for your birthday? I mean there's got to be someone else who said "pride goeth before a fall," right?
--
Toro
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High minded thinking indeed. But I'm more suited to hurl insults at M$ from the safety of my Gentoo machine in my mother's basement.
Sarcasm (Score:4, Insightful)
Saying all Microsoft has ever done well is marketing and fending off competition is setting an example for not ridiculing them? I believe he's just being sarcastic.
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Doesn't Zemlin have any idea how Microsoft got its good track record fending off the competition?
rd
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In addition, when he said Microsoft was 'good' at fending off the competition, I thought he was making a subtle understatement joke - because saying Microsoft is 'good' at fending off the competition is about like saying Al Capone was 'good' at running a business.
Is this a joke? (Score:2, Troll)
Dear Mr Zemlin,
You don't have to market a product that sits at 95%+ market share.
All you have to do is continue the dirty tricks (legal and otherwise) that got it there, and keep it there. I don't respect criminals, thugs and liars, and I think you should resign for suggesting that the open source community should do so.
Yours sincerely
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No thanks (Score:5, Insightful)
Marketing Strategy (Score:4, Interesting)
Server & desktop - different levels of ridicul (Score:2)
"There are some things Windows does pretty well" (Score:2)
Thos are not things Windows does well. Those are things Microsoft's marketing and legal arms do well. So, if I want to sell something, or crush people who are selling something that competes with what I'm selling, great, Microsoft is the place to be. On the other hand, if I want to, you know, run my computer, I want a good operating system, not a good salesman.
Microsoft decline (Score:2)
Microsoft is desperate to branch out into other markets and in doing so their core products suffer.
People arent prepared to pay hundreds of dollars for Office anymore.
Their planning and project management for Vista was seriously flawed and the product has n
Uh huh... (Score:5, Insightful)
No matter how important a role some group plays towards making something else important work, the nature of humans and comedy are going to have everyone and everything important to everyone mocked constantly. And no matter how bad that paints a picture of the large groups who mock other groups as part of that process - people are going to be mocking eachother as long as mental associations can be made.
The message behind this suggestion seems to be more a message to "act more professional people, you're making us look like bozos". Yes... it's nice to imagine sometimes that a loose community of groups and individuals didn't have to act exactly like the kind of human grouping it is. But we are humans, and Windows IS fun to make fun of, and most of us say that as Windows users.
Yes, Windows has contributed much for everyday users of computers - it has made many things possible that may not have been possible otherwise, and it will continue to be the best path towards many kinds of progress for the everyday use of computers going forward for the immediately foreseeable future... but it's still contains an endless variety of deep flaws that both mock the underlying nature (DRM motivations, artificially segmenting functionality for legal/marketing needs) of the software, and the human nature that lies behind these things, and our reaction to them.
Ryan Fenton
not the tech (Score:5, Insightful)
The reasons I ridicule MS... (Score:2)
Ridicule? No. Respect? No. (Score:2)
I do not really care to ridicule this corporation, although they can be ridiculed for many things. However, I do not respect the company, because of their methods to screw over everyone that is not them. Respect is earned, not demanded. I have no reason to respect the technological side of their products either, as I don't really think that without them the field of computing would have been worse off. Quite the contrary,
I had to check my calendar (Score:2)
Reading the title on this I had to check my calendar since I got the impression this might be the first day of the first full month of spring. But no, it is still the hot dog days of summer.
Respect is earnt. (Score:2, Informative)
I'll start respecting Microsoft.... (Score:4, Insightful)
Sorry no can do (Score:2)
If i had stopped poking fun, the alternative would be to strangle whatever microsoft representatives i could find. Id rather poke fun.
Some things Windows does pretty well ... (Score:2, Flamebait)
... like keeping me from controlling the computer I own, bought, and paid for (and built with my very own hands and tools from a few boards and parts).
Makes good sense to me (Score:5, Insightful)
He's absolutely right on other points as well. If Linux rises to desktop prominence, against a competitor that has a 95% market share on the desktop (a practical monopoly), then the next logical step must be a duopoly, and it is doubtful that Microsoft will ever "go away." They will likely change the way they do business, like IBM did. Perhaps they will produce their own "open source" products, and then the Linux/FOSS community had better be ready for it, because they certainly won't be free software.
Expect it.
They've already proven the first axiom of business. Courts are the slowest moving thing on the planet. Business decisions will always outpace court decisions. That's how they got away with their illegal actions to slaughter STAC and Netscape. It didn't matter by the time the courts had decided. That's how Microsoft managed to pen a patent agreement with Novell, who won the MS-funded patent case against SCO, before the SCO case was even over. Did anyone notice that?
They're moving faster than anyone can litigate. Being right is not good enough here. You have to be right, clever, and decisive. If you can be ethical too, good for you, but ethical doesn't tend to work against an unethical opponent. Try winning a fair fight against a guy who is willing to kick you in the crotch and throw sand in your face some time.
Developers had better keep a careful eye on this gorilla, or you're going to end up working for him. Respect the gorilla.
--
Toro
Translation: (Score:2, Funny)
Paging Dr. Freud? (Score:2)
So on the subject of "what MSWindows does well," the best examples he can come up with are:
How's that different from the critics saying that:
He wants them to change their tune, so since t
I wonder (Score:2)
And - yess, it's all success.....
two kinds of respect (Score:2)
There are two kinds of respect at play here: respect for their abilities, and respect for the intentions.
I would argue that they are deserving of some of the first kind of respect. Not necessarily respect for their technical abilities in most areas (although they've done a few worthwhile technical things), but their overall ability to sell stuff and make a product successful. Whether their methods are good or not, there have been lots of other companies with big monopolies who sat on their ass and los
Commentator asks rebels to respect the empire (Score:2)
the sooner the rebels can learn to live with the empire and not to fight against it.
You know I was just thinking this? (Score:2)
This sounds funny, but really the only way computers are going to get better is if we praise and are critical of the best and worst of ALL offerings. Not just sticking to whatever platform we happen to check our mail on at the time.
I use every one (except for Sun, but my current job doesn't require it), and I have to be honest, they all have strengths and weaknesses that
The same Jim Zemlin??? (Score:4, Interesting)
Can you say "Big chunk of Microsoft change in Zemlins pocket"? I can.http://www.businessweek.com/technology/conten
Respect? (Score:2)
excelled in marketing (Score:2)
There are reasons... (Score:5, Insightful)
One should respect MS as a relationship with MS could be compared to a relationship with any other vendor.
A typical non-OSS user won't exactly be enchanted if they see the OSS community treating another company like degenerates. They don't know the difference between MS and any other company, all they see is OSS devs/users treating a company like crap. If you take a one-sided view, that makes OSS devs/users look bad. That's probably the only view they'll be taking since they haven't worshipped at the church of FLOSS.
If you look at the civil rights movement, Martin Luther King encouraged all to be non-violent, not carry weapons, and not give any excuse for others to even mistake them for wanting to possibly even slightly exhibit any negative behaviour or thoughts. That's to take any power away from the enemy, as they can't say anything if there's nothing for them to point out.
Another reason is that truth can come from anywhere, and a good argument will stand no matter who makes it. If we simply expect everything out of MS to be garbage, then we will also miss any jewels, and that's just hurting ourselves.
Anyway look. Bottom line is to be better than MS, we can't let ourselves go by saying "Oh, well, MS fucks up, we can too, just not as bad." That's pretty asinine. Nope. To be better than MS, we have to actually be better than them, not stoop just as low as them.
I'll stop laughing at Microsoft... (Score:2)
The hard facts are: and the conclusion is.... (Score:2)
Second to that, they are a legal firm, to determine what move to make next that the price of getting caught is less than what they will gain.
Third, they are machine that intentionally destroys and/or absorbs competition by the means of which their legal firm has determined is profitable and their marketing can promote.
If there is any innovation at all it falls nothing better than forth place of importance to Microsoft.
Bill Gates got his start by porting BA
If that's what it takes, count me out (Score:2)
Microsoft for instance has excelled in marketing the operating system, and has a good track record in fending off competition.
Sorry, I'm not going to play that game. Microsoft is interesting as a case example, but not a role model.
...
I demand 100% source for the computer system that I depend on so I can fix bugs and also as a system that a dying company or product line can never take away from me. I learned my lesson from the AT&T Unix PC (which could have been a DOS killer, but as plenty of people have told me - AT&T couldn't market eternal life) and strip(1) on that system. Never more
I personally do not care what th
diversity (Score:2)
We're definitely not in a duopoly OS world.
Yes, actually you people should... (Score:2)
I rarely meet someone of the opposite polarity (software speaking).
Linux does not satisfy every need. Microsoft does do some things better. Much better. And the same for Linux too.
It's like yin and fucking yang - each side should compliment and respect the other, even if diametrically opposed.
In a word: no. (Score:4, Insightful)
As long as they claim to have the most secure operating system ever: No.
As long as they count one defect against Linux multiple times in comparisons: No.
As long as they treat paying customers like criminals: No.
As long as their software comes without a warranty and they use a lack of a Linux warranty as a reason to not use OSS: No.
As long as they do not count "maintenance windows" as part of downtime in their uptime/availability comparisons: No.
As long as their marketing literature is based on lies/FUD rather than facts: No.
As long as their 2007 "3D desktop"'s features barely matches that of what OS X could do in 2003: No. Want a proper 3D desktop? Check out XGL and Beryl on Linux, 3D Desktop on OS X.
I think we'll be making fun of Microsoft for years to come, as long as they keep up their FUD and they keep promoting minor cosmetic changes, DRM, and annoying features like [CANCEL] [CONTINUE] as innovations.
Why LinuxWorld is no fun (Score:3, Insightful)
Who is Jim Zemlin? (Score:3, Insightful)
According to this mailing list post [freestandards.org], he's a marketing guy. Since when do we listen to marketing guys on slashdot now? Did I miss the memo or what?
why? (Score:3, Insightful)
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Have you ever used XP or 2000? It's not "shitty". It's certainly not the best thing ever, but it sure as fuck beats using Linux for a desktop machine. Please note that I ran Linux as my only OS from 1997 through 2002 and then went back and haven't returned.
Vista was a mistake (much like 3.11 or ME) but they have made some OSs that are quite solid, work just fine for the majority of users, and are deployed (tactics or not) on 100s
Re:Wait, what? (Score:4, Insightful)
It may not be shitty in an absolute sense, but given the amount of money and time that have been spent on it, shitty it still is. If our industry was composed of several large operating system companies rather than one behemoth and a dozen hanging on by their fingernails we would be much much better off. Microsoft didn't get where they are primarily by the strength of their technology offerings but by other less ethical means. Bait and switch, kickbacks, embrace and extinguish, buyout and extinguish and numerous similar gimmickry do more to describe the company than any feature set, or heaven forbid "innovation" that they are responsible for. They are where they are for little other reason than the federal government (followed by the states) eventually standardized on their products forcing a chain reaction of most companies to do likewise.
If they made any other product than software (which still possesses a mysterious legal immunity) they would have been sued out of business by now.
Given the amount of time and money they have had to spend on it, it would be a miracle if they hadn't achieve some degree of stability by now, as it is, it is a miracle that they have achieved as little as they have.
Glad you are enjoying your Microsoft experience again. I switched to Linux in the late 90's too and have seen no reason to go back. Linux is marginally harder to install, but the "thrill" of re-installing operating systems wore off for me while I was still a Windows user. Maybe you actually look forward to each "new" release.
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I've used both 2000 and XP. I still wince whenever I have to use someone else's computer and they use Windows, because I can't do even half of the stuff I can on a *nix box.
It doesn't even come close to Linux for anything.
Please note that I dual-booted Linux since 2001 and have been using it exclusiv
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I guess I wasn't clear enough. I last used Linux as my only OS on the desktop in 2002. I still run Linux (and have since 1997) as a server OS but it has made no improvements (in fact, the "desktop" software for X is even more bloated, slow, and horrifying than it was in 2002) since I left it which is why it rema
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Have you ever used XP or 2000? It's not "shitty". It's certainly not the best thing ever, but it sure as fuck beats using Linux for a desktop machine. Please note that I ran Linux as my only OS from 1997 through 2002 and then went back and haven't returned.
Myself, I use XP at my day job and Linux at home. The home computer has been a Linux desktop for the last 2-3 years. Overall I find Linux to be a more pleasant experience for my purposes; it's less prone to mystery errors, the documentation is better, and the system is often more responsive even on slower hardware than my work machine.
That's not to say that XP isn't a fine, decent piece of software, but it hardly blows Linux out of the water. It may be better depending on what you want to use the machin
How much MONEY have they sunk into it? (Score:4, Insightful)
Yes they are. Here's why:
#1. The registry. It's too fucking brittle AND it is constantly open by Windows AND it is not automatically replicated X times over Y days so you can recover when it does break. And it will, eventually, break.
#2. Which is why Microsoft shops advocate the "Wipe & Reload" method of "support". It broke, don't spend time trying to fix it. Fixing it is not an option. Wipe it and reload the "base image" that your shop uses. Sure it will take 30 - 60 minutes, but even if you have to do that for a dozen machines a week, it's still faster than finding the real problems.
#3. Viruses, trojans & worms. At least with Linux I can boot from a "Live CD" and chroot the local hard drive and check it / edit it to remove problems. WITHOUT losing all the data that the user has saved to it (see #2 above).
#4. No packaging system (see Debian & Ubuntu). And don't start going on about how you can make a "package" in Windows. That just shows you don't know what you're talking about. In Windows ANY app can replace ANY file when you install it. Under a real package management system, each file is owned by one AND ONLY ONE package. That file is NOT replaced unless you upgrade/remove the package that owns it. (or choose "force" and know that you're probably fucking up your system)
Some of the end-users prefer Windows. That's fine. It's personal choice. But it's still a "shitty" operating system based upon "shitty" decisions.
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gconf is, basically, a registry. Yes, a better one, but it's still doing the same job in much the same way.
This is because it's easy. Fixing something requires diagnosing what went wrong in the first place. Frequently for simple machines, it's simply not worth doing --- the amount of effort involved is vastly greater than there would be in flattening the sy
You must not use Linux. (Score:3, Informative)
It is A registry. But I can boot a Linux box WITHOUT it. And one I can boot it, I can fix it.
BULLSHIT. I'm typing this on a machine that's been upgraded, online, to Gutsy Gibbon all the way from Hoary Hedgehog. (Hoary - Breezy - D
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> automatically replicated X times over Y days so you can recover when it does break.
Google ERUNT. But you are absolutely right if you ask "WHY DID SOMETHING LIKE THIS NOT COME WITH THE SYSTEM???"
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Where as when I use my PC (Ubuntu) it runs nicely, effectively and it very rarely acts up (only issue I have is with the mouse over sound files playing and getting stuck in a loop I can't make STFU without a reboot). It feels more stable and does a lot more things out of the
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Yes. In fact, I'm responsible for system management for a number of them.
I'll happily accept that XP and 2000 are miles ahead of '9x.
The main problems I have are:
1. Their lack of respect for established, published standards. Linux and Mac OS X can both
Re:Wait, what? (Score:5, Insightful)
I've been saying this forever. (Score:4, Insightful)
Sun Tzu was right though, you can either wean yourself off the enemy and create your own destiny, or you can destroy Darth Vader and take his place at the Emperor's side. Either you choose a side, or you don't play their game. Most Linux geeks have chosen a side, and will eventually find themselves in Darth Vader's shoes. It is inevitable when one takes the path of confrontation. One monster must be created to oppose the existing one, unless the wise man fends off the monster and lets it die of its own irrelevance.
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However, most of what Microsoft has "contributed" comes from two poisoned buckets:
The Give: APIs, DRM systems, file formats and other ideas floated in order to prevent / erect barriers to competition.
The Take: FAT, NTFS, SMB, and other protocols and conventions that the world has standardized upon (or hopes to), all of which involve patent risk.
All companies exist to