Posts by The BigYin 3080 publicly visible posts • joined 25 Mar 2008
The seamless integration is cool, but that's just eye candy really.
The ability to run the images headless AND to have it's own RDP host is the cow's conkers.
The user license is also very liberal, and the community is great.
Just a shame the USB support is still a bit shaky.
Oh, and some MS products run like a dog (but that could be more the fault of MS than of VBox).
Have a hosted Linux show you 3d Compiz magic on a windows box is pretty trippy!
I wish I had the time to listen to/watch/play all the crap I can get perfectly legally. Want some music? Spotify is free (bar ads) and pretty good, or any internet radio station.
What to see film/TV prog? Might be on demand, might be on air (so just record it for watching later), might be cheap on DVD.
Want to play a game? There are seriously good games available as abandonware or FOSS.
Even books! Project Guttenburg.
I think this is what the major labels fear, a total collapse of their market. I, you, we simply don't need them. Content creators need not fear. marketing distribution etc. need not fear (although their jobs will certainly change). but major labels ripping off their talent and squeezing the customer for every penny they can get certainly need to fear.
So they lobby governments to pass laws that entrench their out-moded and dying business models and carry on shafting their customers even more.
I've not mentioned anything illegal - and I simply have no need to buy anything at full price or to even use illegal channels.
...check out the (public!) bug report?
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/light-themes/+bug/532633
Open Source generally encourages involvement and community. Even if a decision does not go your way, you will often find out how to configure things to suit your needs.
So rather than sit on the interwebs and whinge, why not actually do something?
Just a suggestion.
Per unit, (beyond right at the start when I was playing silly beggars) I have only upgraded the OS with the release cycles. So once every six months (I don't have to, of course; it was my choice). The system keeps itself up-to-date and only needs to reboot if the kernel gets updated.
This is much less hassle than Windows which needs to reboot after just about every update and which also moans, moans, moans, MOANS! if you do not retsart immediately.
You clearly have never run Ubuntu, let alone and modern Linux distro, so why not keep your ill-informed opinions to yourself.
Linux is not perfect, but it is arguable less imperfect than Windows.
The UK supports, nay, forces MS on users. It makes sure that MS products are given to schools (either free or at heavy discount). Laptops given to schools carry the MS infection with them.
People are taught how to make MS products do this or that, not how to use a computer.
Exams are set that can only be passed by using MS products.
So, in the UK at least, the government does not support F/OSS, has never supported F/OSS and probably never will.
That will explain why all their major IT projects have been such successes. Hmm.....
...but patent encumbered and you need a license if you are encoding for anything other than personal use. At least that is my understanding.
And sorry to burst your bubble, but OGG.Theora is inferior, it is based on tech that precedes H.264 by a good few years (OGG.Theora is base on On2's VP3 codec, they were at VP8 when Google bought them: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/02/20/google_nabs_on2/).
Why choose H.264? Hardware support, pure and simple. None exists for OGG (Theora or Vorbis) and there is plenty floating about for H.264 (and MP3). This makes the encoding/decoding a much easier proposition. Xiph simply isn't in a position to bargain for OGG Theora/Vorbis hardware support, and there is not point in using OGG as there is no hardware support. Chicken, meet egg.
It would be nice if OGG won (and even nicer if Google released VP8 under irrevocable license), I won't argue that. But I fear it won't happen. Vested interests, money and shafting the consumer once again are much more important to Google et al.
Smart meters aren't here (yet) in the UK but the poster is right, they will be able to control power consumption (switching off non-essential items when demand spikes to smooth out the load). That's before we even consider how long it will be before these meters get hacked and what (if any) recourse consumers have against incorrect billing.
The same mentality can be see again in the Labour (and Tory?) backed policy of having a remote system control the speed of your vehicle. This is what the Galileo satellite system is for.
This is the same mentality that is giving us mandatory ID cards, the DNA database and the CRB check idiocy (not so much the idea of a check, but the crazy way it has been implemented).
Tin foil hat maybe, doesn't make them wrong though.
DAB quality is crap.
DAB coverage is crap.
DAB sets costs more.
DAB takes more to manufacture.
DAB sets draw more power.
DAB means millions of (perfectly good) radios going to landfill.
I thought we were all mean to be saving the planet or something?
I wonder how many of our fearless leaders have shares in companies with DAB interests?
The only models they offered were cripple, not marketed and hidden on their website. MS probably told them to do that to so that they could continue to say that sales of Linux boxes weren't worth it.
But that wasn't really my point.
They should be compelled by law to offer a "no OS" option. What we have now is more like an MS led cartel.
As a consumer, it is not possible to by a PC from any of the major OEMs without buying Windows.
I know you might find a page or two should that, say, HP sell a SUSE laptop; but you can't actualy buy it.
Offering one crappy netbook (as Dell does) is not an option either.
It's time the EU looked into this and forced the OEMs, at the very least, to offer a no OS option.
"and everyone can do it."
You sure about that?
The Segway looks fun 'n all and the self-balancing tech is definitely cool. I can (maybe) see a use in warehouse etc, if it is more efficient than a buggy...but everywhere else? Don't see it. For those who can walk...get a good pair of shoes/boots and walk!
What is this Segbike like under hard braking? Think I stick to wheels front 'n rear ta muchly. Might interest the NABD though!
As the first post points out, even the "Super" key has that weird, squiggly squares symbol on it.
It's probably just some money men (who know diddly about computers) bought the rights to the name, bought a license to distribute and now have this "new" Commodore.
Maybe it will be a success, maybe it won't.
...a good for cooling. And. Err. Umm. Yeah.
One of these "PC in keyboard" things with some kind of wireless connection to a TV/monitor would be good. You could then hide that tower in the closet and have it do all the heavy-lifting (transcoding, broadcast recording, media serving etc).
I want more money so I can buy more toys...
Moan all you want, but we are just going to have to take ACTA up the wrong 'un.
Civil Servant: Minister, here is the first ACTA related bill for you to sign and make law.
MP: Some of this seems a bit off; a bit much.
CS: Negotiations went on for years minister. Everyone agrees.
MP: Oh, why wasn't I there?
CS: Secret negotiations minister.
MP: So who was there?
CS: The stakeholders minister and few representatives for the interested countries.
MP: "Stakeholders"? What, members of the public?
CS: No minister, the MAFIAA and other groups.
MP: So why do I have to sign this?
CS: It's all been agreed. The whole world agrees on it. if you don't sign it, we will never get an agreement like this again. You'll be against free trade. No one will trade with us.
MP: And what will it mean?
CS: Continued profits for the members of MAFIAA et al. But you can dress it up as "Less pirates selling porn to kiddies". The Daily Hate will love that.
MP: Won't there be public outcry?
CS: Not really, we'll do it bit by bit. Then in a few years we will just say the new ACTA bill simply harmonises and streamlines what we already have in place.
MP: Really can't see the public liking this.
CS: As you often say minister "Fuck the proles, show me the money". You will, of course be invited to all the upcoming ACTA conferences around the globe. First class travel, the works. I am sure you could be head of a few steering committees or the director of a consultancy related to this as well. You won't even have to declare it as an "interest"; I'll see to that.
MP: Jolly good! Where do I sign?
...even though I am registered with TPS. They are a total pain in the arse. And the bastards block their number too - that should be illegal for any company using auto-dialers. If I knew their number I could report it and request a block (at the offender's expense).
This fine is pointless as we all know it will not be applied and it is just to easy for these companies to avoid any censure (mostly because the have enough wonga to grease the right palms).
No apology forthcoming, there is still no link to a page where a consumer can buy a PC from a major OEM either naked or with a non-MS OS. I know there are landing pages for business customers, but they lead no where if you want to buy on-line.
Dell's singular offering does not count as a real choice in my book.
That leaves Joe Schmoe with no viable choice other than Windows (tech savvy users can always get what they want (either going to a niche retailer or DIY), but I am not thinking about them).
Don't misunderstand; I want to be proven wrong, I want people to have a choice, I want to issue that apology/thanks for getting a link.
It's not happened yet.
And yes, I have been looking too. I can find Linux systems from other sources, but again that is not what I am talking about. I am pretending to be the average consumer going to the "household names". When you do that it Windows or nothing.
Thanks for proving me right. Those links go no where. Yes, the first page shows SUSE for some notebooks. Now, click on the clink for one of them (say the 4710s), SUSE no longer an option. So then you select "All models". Still no SUSE.
I can't find the page where I can actually BUY this laptop.
AND this is appears to be a business device.
This is exactly what I was going on about - thank you again for helping me prove it.
I just did as you suggested - no results (beyond a few components).
http://tinyurl.com/ycblsmc
C'mon Steve 44, put your money where your mouth is and show me the hard links (UK site, consumer device, any Linux distro, direct from HP, Sony, Tosh, ANY major OEM).
Or I can only conclude you are in serious error with reality.
C'mon, so me the links. I ahve asked time and again on here for links to the ACTUAL PRODUCT and NO ONE can provide them
I know the HP is a lie, because I have tried. Yeah, you'll get Google results but they go no where, or they vanish into the quagmire of USA business account handling. Urgh. UK site, consumer device; prove it.
I would LOVE to be wrong.
"Its like buying a new car, then a week later asking them to take the seats back because you've decided you don't like the colour, and have found the ones you want at another dealer."
Another bad analogy. The problem in the consumer PC market is that all the seats are blue, for every major manufacturer. THERE IS NO REAL CHOICE! Dell offer NO REAL CHOICE (one shitty netbook does not count). Nor to HP, Toshiba, Sony etc.
I'll type this slowly so people can keep up.
There.
Is.
No.
Real.
Choice.
...let the consumer make it. Anyway, the burn in tests will be done from the "support" partition they image on to the drives. Only a complete moron would remove that as tech. support will want you to have gone through some tests to get error codes etc for hardware issues.
Still no need for the machine to be infected with a full Windows deployment.
...ONE crippled netbook. That's it. THAT IS NOT A CHOICE!
And it is the previous LTS.
When I can select (just about) ANY Dell product and choose a non-Windows OS as an option (with appropriate cost saving) then we will have choice. Until that time THERE IS NO REAL CHOICE.
Now kindly shut-up and stop astroturfing for MS.
Audi will have designed your mirrors and written a spec on how they should work. A contractor (or Audi) will then have made them, and the components that make them up. Same goes for every single piece of the car. Audi write the spec and either make the part, someone else makes the part or someone finds an off-the-shelf part that meets the spec.
This is not the same with PCs.
MS are demanding that you have their OS on any PC. Beyond a few very small players, you cannot buy a PC from an OEM without Windows. If I go from Dell to HP to Toshiba to Sony to Acer, I am forced to take Windows. In the car world if I hate Ford engines (say) I can buy Toyota and get a Toyota engine. You just cannot do this in the PC marketplace (business accounts are different, we're not talking about them). It is not possible to choose another vendor and body-swerve the MS Tax.
If you want to stick with the car analogy, consider the radio. There's usually a choice, heck BMW used to spec sans radio! That's the kind of choice we want and need in the PC marketplace.
You only get choice from the minor vendors (e.g Morgan in the car world). They can and will meet whatever spec you desire, but you may have to pay a higher price or suffer some inconvenience (less support, less locations, longer delivery time etc etc; not always the case though).
Dell are, IMHO, wrong not to offer the refund.
MS are IMHO wrong to force vendors to sell a PC with Windows, vendors should be allowed the "no OS".
People who bash others for wanting the FREEDOM TO CHOOSE are wrong.
The USA does not have the balls to step-up to this, so let's see the EU do what's right for consumers and ensure a fairer marketplace.
Cue the MS shills...
HTML, dotNet, Java etc; these are tools. When I hire a joiner, they do not charge me for their saws etc (well, not directly). They charge me for materials, but mostly they charge me for knowing how to use said materials, what materials and how to approach a piece of work.
That's what I pay for.
If a joiner said I needed to pay $n for a special saw because it was the only thing that would cut a certain material, I'd be off getting a new joiner!
It's a different (better?) way of thinking and working.
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