Posted on 11/13/2006 1:51:43 PM PST by bigdcaldavis
I am a MS user and my training and much of my profession is in MS products, and I'm also pretty good with economics. You left out two main classes of people: those who have followed Microsoft's predatory history and those who dislike Microsoft products out of experience.
I think MS is a fine product and very responsive to the needs of government
Microsoft isn't a product.
IBM/LINUX were so wonderful (and open source as well), the marketplace would have long ago responded by rewarding these competitors.
On the desktop, Microsoft's dominance is obvious -- they rode in on IBM's push to the desktop computer and were smart enough to keep the rights to the OS. Once Compaq reverse-engineered the BIOS and clones were massively produced, IBM's dominant position was heavily diluted, but almost every computer still shipped with Microsoft's OS.
Doesn't that distro turn you into a commie? ;)
Shhhhh. Don't tell him it's an Etch-a-Sketch.
That's not a good thing. Or at least may not be. Have you checked to see if it got turned off in the BIOS? Also, even without the light, your OS may still be aware of it. Try that lspci command and check for anything that looks like wireless or 'broadcom'.
Regards, Ivan
ha!
One of the problems is that people always only look at the hardware specs. You specifically discounted OS X, which is a major reason to go with a Mac, especially with the GPU-accelerated libraries that free your CPU for other tasks (effectively giving you a faster CPU). You also discounted the tons of useful software that comes with a Mac.
Also, did you consider size as a factor in this deal?
If you're happy with your Dell, that's great. But you did pay for Windows in that Dell and got very little software-wise.
No. Actually the poster in question is our resident troll who does nothing on this entire forum except try to dump on open source stuff. If you take the troll seriously, you'll get sucked into wasting hours of your time while he runs around in circles.
It is there fore safe to say that it take a whole lot more time and knowledge to install and run Linux than your regular Joe Six pack installing and running Windows OS!
That depends. If you'd never spent any serious amount of time with a computer, they'd probably be about the same these days. If you are used to doing things in the single-threaded manner that MS-Windows uses, you'll probably not use the full power of Linux immediately because you'd probably not be aware of how much there is there to make it look and work the way you want it to instead of the way someone else (like Microsoft) wants it to look and work.
Most of the basic GUI stuff are pretty easy for MS-Windows users to work with.
If you want to learn some of the more advanced stuff, you can spend a lot of time working with it, but that's entirely up to you. I installed FC4 on my mother in law's laptop, and it pretty much just works for her. OTOH, if you want to learn how to make sed, awk, and grep work their magic for you, yeah, it's not as simple as just turning the computer on.
Have you checked out his new wireless notebook? He can't get the Internet working on it, though...
http://www.amazon.com/Wireless-Notebook-3-HP-Perforated-Subject/dp/B000GAU3OW
GE, you may want to know that well set-up networks give very few of the administrators full rights to everything. As a matter of principle, smart security people keep the number of those with full-boat privileges to an absolute minimum. Other admins will have rights to deal with what they normally deal with.
Regards, Ivan
What's Microsoft's big weakness in the PC industry? Server operating systems, which is why you do see Linux or BSD variants showing signs of competitive life, but why Mac (a client-focused OS) is little more than a niche.
On the other hand, Microsoft does have a large installed based of server software (backoffice apps like Exchange, et. al.)
So maybe, just maybe, this deal is intended to start migrating Microsoft away from developing server operating systems, and to focus more on software, client/workstation OS, and other consumer appliances (media PC, gaming, portables, etc.), especially if they don't see Linux as a workstation threat. (Which, at the moment, looks like a safe bet.)
Yes. His defense of Christians takes a backseat to his hatred of OSS. Then, even Christians become just another commie to him. Sad.
I once had a friend who couldn't get the integrated wireless in his laptop to work. Knowing how these things go from experience, I started from the bottom and asked him to confirm that his laptop actually had integrated wireless. It didn't.
You have to see what OS X Server can do these days. Remember, it is basically BSD with a bunch of tools on top.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
Why, because you can pop in a wireless card and it will work? Or, you can go commando and spend half of your time on message boards asking people how to get your card to work.
I personally love it for the geek factor, but get real. If you are trying to run a business in the real world, nobody can compete with MS. If they could, they would be gaining ground.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
Like Apple?
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