Posts by Sput

Ubuntu man challenges open source to out-pretty Apple

@Peter R

> People want a CD in the box with the stuff they just bought, one you chuck into your pc and it installs.

You know what, Peter, I'm a person last time I checked and I really, really don't. I hate the CDs I find with the gadgets I buy. I bought a gadget, I didn't want any software.

I don't want to use their poxy, bug-riddled, slow, clunky, badly designed software which continually directs me to their web "portal" (read online shop).

If I get a camera I want to click & drag the photos off it so I can do what I want with them. Same with a camcorder. And, pardon the pun, for Pete's sake I don't want "special software" which allows me to load MY music on to MY mp3 player. I've got the songs on my PC already. I want to plug in the MP3 player, click & drag them across, unplug it, job done. Oh, and it better play oggs (but no-one calls them ogg players!)

They can take their lock-in software CDs and stuff 'em.

Microsoft pledges to fight Vista 'myths'

@William and @Aetyr

William, you know, I get the impression you’re a little annoyed at something.

“What a crock of ….. etc etc”

Translation: I realise at last that my argument was lost ages ago. I shall now resort to insults.

I think you need a lie down mate.

You got me right on one point though, I am a Linux user who doesn’t have a girlfriend. I have a lovely wife, and a daughter too. Which is the real reason (Aetyr) I don’t play games; that’s what I was clumsily referring to when I said “I’m a grown up”. My apologies if I offended gamers. Between wife & daughter It’s a miracle if I get more than 10 minutes at a stretch on the PC, so games aren’t an option. In the past though I was known to get lost in “Doom 3”. And thank you “J”, I did mean Ubuntu 8.04, I stand corrected.

To get back to the point, in a desperate attempt to get this post back on-topic, if MS had put out a decent OS in the first place, there would be no “myths” to dispel. I will give Microsoft credit as the company which put a PC on everyone’s desk in the first place. But they’ve got a bit of a whiff about them now.

@AC (it’s about critical mass). That’s nothing. My mam knitted me this jumper.

It's just not necessary

Here’s what I do with my PC.

I browse the web, send/receive emails, write/edit documents (all formats), pdfs.

It’s the server for my Squeezbox, piping music to my kitchen.

I scan my old photographs, edit them & spruce them up, and upload them to my Flickr/Picasa accounts.

I record music from my dusty cassette collection, edit it, process it, and burn it on to CD.

I don’t play games. I’m a grown up (you may have guessed this much!)

There’s probably a few other things too, but that’s the bulk of it.

My PC is an old Compaq Presario P4, 768M memory. All I’ve ever done to it was add an extra hard drive (to house my CD collection).

I do all this under Linux. I am doing this for ZERO cost, go on, count it, add it all up, it costs ZERO. Never had a virus or spyware. I recently upgraded to the latest version of Ubuntu, 8.10, (yes, for free) and you know what? I didn’t need to upgrade my hardware. It just worked, and goes like a rocket. And it looks beautiful, and yes, I have wobbly windows, rotating cube etc etc.

And you know what else? I never have to recompile anything. Ever. I don’t do it. I wouldn’t want to. I don’t need to. Got that? No recompiling.

Now, you guys tell me, how good life would be for me on THIS PC if I switched to Vista. I’m listening….

PS "the new OS has new features and needs more resources to run. What the HELL is wrong with that?" Well, gee Simon, because it's expensive and it shouldn't be necessary. I've never needed a hardware upgrade to get new bells & whistles with Linux. That's what programming is for, isn't it?