(no subject)

From:
Date: 08/26/02 

Date: Mon, 26 Aug 2002 02:13:57 -0400

>>>A poor Communist country tries to enhance Linux,
>>
>>Poor? I think you have them confused with Russia or Cuba.
>
>No, GDP per capita in China is about $3000, hardly that of a 'rich'
>nation. They are making great strides lately, though, and appear to be
>coming out of the dark age of communism.

I see what you mean now. Yes, much of the population is poor, but not
the Chinese government and state-run businesses.

But if they switched because they couldn't afford Windoze standards,
then why did Germany and Norway also switch? I know in the case of
Germany, they specifically mentioned security concerns as one reason.

>>It's much better than Windoze, it only lacks some of the usability
>>features and hardware support. All this can be added given time. With
>
>If it's missing vital features now, it's not by any stretch of the
>meaning better.

Features are added-on, they have nothing to do with the quality of the
core OS.

>MS probably have lots of things they plan to add to
>Windows in the meantime.

None of which will actually improve stability and performance. While
the Linux core is constantly being developed. With the big companies
jumping on the bandwagon, they will provide the added front ends and
usability features.

The ONLY thing Microsoft has going for it is it's ill-gotten market
dominance, and that will disappear soon. You know something is wrong
when a company spends $5 BILLION a year on R&D and manages to produce
Windoze! :^)

I dunno, I don't see how M$ is going to keep Windoze afloat. They need
to start fresh on a completely revised OS, the longer they delay, the
worse it will be for them. Windoze just isn't capable of adapting to
future requirements quickly enough. It keeps growing, but it never
gets fixed.

>OSs must be compared on the basis of their
>current state (haven't you be claiming that the failure of Linux in the
>marketplace is due to evil plots by MS - don'y feel that lack of
>"usability features" might just possibly have something to do with it?).

No, that wasn't me, I was mostly complaining about the technical
problems of Windoze, not Micro$oft's already well known illegal
business practices.

>>IBM, Sun, SGI, Corel and dozens of other big names moving behind Linux
>>it is inevitable that mainstream support is going to improve compared
>>to what we've seen so far.
>
>I think that was largely an artefact of the tech bubble, and we'll see
>the big fantasy projects dumped. Companies have rediscovered the crazy
>idea that investments should be made on the basis of a plausible future
>income stream.

I'm talking about the high-end server market, not the mainstream.
That's one thing that's going to continue to grow as multimedia
becomes more prevalent in every aspect of society. 3D graphics,
streaming media, communication/broadcasting, commerce, research, etc.
With apps built on Linux or any open OS you'll get no "surprises" like
you constantly get with M$.

>Something rather alien to the Linux ideology. [Except
>for those who hope to toil for comfortable lives in 'support'. The
>irony is that these proto-corporate drones, these maggots who want no
>more than to sap-suck for a lifetime in the bowels of some enormous
>corporation or government institution, think that they are free spirits
>opposed to the corporate state.]

I don't see Windoze solving this problem. Just as many techs needed,
and there are more breakdowns and break-ins.

I don't think it's just these sap-sucking maggots that want an open
OS, I think it is businesses who don't want M$ dictating terms to them
or spying on them.

>>Why has Microsoft chosen to make removing spyware
>>and unwanted bloat so difficult? I think everyone knows the answer to
>>that: so they can manipulate the market.
>
>I think you'll find that the "Do you want to register your downloads
>with the Bureau of Software Oversight" messages may indeed be more
>discreet on the Chinese version of Linux. After all, if there's not
>going to be a working 'No' button there's not much point in asking you,
>is there?

If the source code is going to continue to be available, how exactly
will they implement such things? If the source code won't be
available, then this is some sort of Microsoft-like sham and not
Linux.

>As for the rest of your rant, it's just the usual whining. If you don't
>want spyware, don't install spyware.

Oh really? Like it always identifies itself as spyware and gives you
the option to remove it? Want to tell me how to remove all the
references to Outlook Express, Messenger and WMP from Windoze using
standard procedure? Or how I can stop windoze from tracking every site
I visit, every program I install, my addressbook and passwords?

>If you think Windows is too big,
>install Linux or OS X (or BeOS or AmigaOS, or a Spectrum emulator, for
>all I care). They don't have to redesign Windows to suit your
>prejudices about how an OS should work.

Did I say they have to? I merely asked someone to explain why certain
"features" in Windoze were implemented, and why they are not optional
when they pose such a security threat and dramatically decrease system
stability. I have yet to hear a single legitimate reason why something
like the Registry functions the way it does, or even exists in Windoze
in the first place. Why application config and install data is kept
hidden (and even encrypted) from users, and why certain unecessary
added-on M$ applications are uninstallable.

Such anti-competitive practices are illegal in America, btw.