Posts by azaks

Re: "They'll be back."

I'll help out with your questions Bob.

1. can the "windows only" applications be re-written for *LESS* *MONEY* than completely revamping everyone with Win-10-nic boxen?

Your suggesting that they ask all of their vendors to learn how to port their app to Linux, implement it, and then pay for ongoing custom support arrangements as the sole customer? And then repeat this for all vendors? The polite answer is "no", the probable one is to laugh you out of the room.

2. just how CRITICAL is "that particular application" anyway? In other words, can the same job be done with SOMETHING ELSE?

Maybe the should just change the business of government to suit the software they have?

Your questions suggest the usual fantastical thinking by many in OSS where the software is the end rather than the means to it.

Re: Sales

>> maybe Micro-shaft is slipping some deuch-bucks to the right bureaucrats to get their 'hooks' into the gummint computer systems

Always someone else's fault isn't it? Next it will be that the users are too stupid to appreciate what they had. Or that "Micro-shaft" had paid them to make a fuss and get it thrown out. Looks like you've been listening to that ginger lunatic that you seem to admire for too long...

Re: Surface?

>> Surface? It's a niche between basic tablets and real laptops and PCs. More style than substance.

I have a surface book - feels very much like a real laptop to me (or a tablet on the rare occasion I am so inclined).

which one have you got? Yeah... didn't think so.

Re: Your looking at the market wrong

Couldn't agree more.

I cant understand why the people who are supposed to be following state of our industry cant see beyond a single metric. The PC is ubiquitous - no longer shiny or sexy, but not going anywhere.

Anyone can sit in front of a Linux desktop distro, browse the web, view their media etc. Just as most people could use a new tablet, phone, smart tv etc. without any help.

The problem is when things go wrong, or you want to venture off the reservation (install new devices, new software, change config etc.)

All of the Linux GUI tools I have seen are a thin veneer on top of an alien world that is completely incomprehensible to a non-experienced user. So while you crow that nan is rocking her bingo numbers on Mint with that wicked gleam in her eye, she is really just a web user that happens to be using a Linux device that you set up and maintain for her :-)

Re: Damage is done

>> Why is it that not even Valve can convince the major developers or publishers to support Linux?

Simple economics? No profit-motivated company is going to spend money targeting a tiny sliver of the market, unless they can charge a hefty premium (and I doubt Linux gamers are going to be prepared to pay $1000 per game). Why do you expect a company to lose money on the work it produces?

Re: Damage is done

which has absolutely nothing to do with this topic.

all it does is expose your rabid, anything-but-microsoft fanaticism

Re: Non Functioning Touchpad?

>> Yes the mainstream press ignores it.

Either that or they realize that MS probably didn't make the touchpad, and rather than bitching about the OS, the solution is probably as simple as getting a driver from the hardware vendors web site

Re: if my primary school maths serves me correctly...

your right - everyone upgraded when they finally pulled support for XP. oh hang on a sec...

Re: Damage is done

wow - strong words (I particularly liked "swan dive into the dirt of irrelevance" - were your hands shaking as you typed that?)

what about those numbers? All the numbers I see is micrsoft losing share in 1 os and gaining it in another - there is no appreciable migration to apple or Linux. But don't let that stop you...

Re: All this talk of Apple "not admitting the truth" and yet..

I think you might be missing the point here

>> You have to be a member of a media organisation Apple works with.

If I were cynical, I would call this a total corruption of the process for disseminating impartial information. When a vendor gushes about their product, grains of salt are liberally applied - when a respected and supposedly impartial non-affiliate does the same, it carries far more weight. Cherry-picking media orgs by how much smoke they blow up Apple's arse and calling it "impartial" is just another shining example of how the company operates. Great for the bottom line too - next-to-free advertising for the cost of a few bits of shiny.

Re: They can't win.

>> They chose short-term money instead.

And got lots of it, Lots and lots of it.

Doesn't hurt to occasionally remind yourself that most software is written in the hope of a financial return, not the utopia of creating stuff in your spare time for others to use without payment. Capitalism and all that...

Re: Don't care!

Its ironic though, innit?

People who proudly claim that they don't use w10 showing up time and time again to comment on it to people that do. And telling them over and over again how bad their experience must be, when it isn't.

Your a bit like the annoying, overly-flamboyant drunk at the bar. One part of me wants to give them a swift punch to the face to make the world a better place. Another part feels pity, and wants to take them aside for a quiet word to help them save the little dignity they have left. But the greater part of me just wants them to fuck off, and go and bore someone else. A bit like you lot ;-)

Re: why the constant fixation on start menu, settings, icons etc?

The style criticism I get - not having a consistent look and feel bothers some more than others. Tiles may bother people if they obsess over neatly organized, cascading start menu items instead of using the more efficient alternatives.

But give me an example of something where you cant find a setting that used to be available in win7/8. Maybe there are, but I cant remember any.

(in fact the stupidest UI decision of any OS ever was putting the shutdown menu under "settings" in win8 - I actually had to use google to find that!)

Re: MS is still fundamentally stupid...

>> Windows Update... What the hell is it doing? Why does it need such vast amounts of time? How about a different algorithm based on date stamps. Could be done in three seconds.

MS is, fundamentally, stupid. And they don't seem to even realize it.

You don't know whats its doing, but whatever the hell its doing, it isn't fast enough for your liking - therefore MS is fundamentally stupid. Thanks for your wonderful insights (and your sense of irony :-)

>> As a result of that one machine loaded with Redmond's insecure garbage, I spend my spare moments wondering what gaping security hole will next be discovered by a teenager with an IQ 2sd above normal (and 3sd above the average Microsludge security-layer coder)

Given your superior intellect, you should probably spend less time "wondering" and more time finding these gaping holes and claiming the lucrative bounties on offer. Let us know how you get on ;-)

Re: crowdsourced - by ARROGANT FANBOIS

There are limits to crowd-sourcing Bob.

For example, when crowd-sourcing the design of a new boat, the LOTS of VERY vocal 'insiders' that suggest that building a helicopter instead may be perceived as unconstructive little fucktards, and removed from further input. Crowd-sourcing doesn't mean building what everyone in the crowd wants, otherwise nothing would ever get built.

I'm also guessing by the way you cant write a single post without writing things like "micro-shaft" may have granted you admission to the "unconstructive little fucktard" category quicker than most.

Just food for thought.

Re: Great Table

Yes, yes Richard. There is actually over a billion Linux desktop users - they are just too smart and too discrete to be noticed. Not smart enough to outwit you though, you old fox...