p2pnet - rss feed: Microsoft hands-on Linux lab
p2pnet.net News:- Bill and the Boyz surprised a lot of people at the annual Microsoft worldwide partner show on the weekend by featuring a hands-on lab that, “allowed attendees to play with a range of Linux desktop software”.
Linux and Open Source: Understanding the Competitive Challenge was run by Don Johnson, an electrical engineer from Techstream Inc, says eWeek, going on that the lab, “let attendees, many of whom were not familiar with Linux, experiment with KDE (K Desktop Environment) as well as see the Apache Web server in action.
“In addition, Johnson, who has been a system administrator and is familiar with both Microsoft and open-source solutions, gave them an overview of some Linux concepts and what he believed were the key tradeoffs between Windows and Linux.”
However, says eWeek, “it was clear that his bias lay firmly on the Windows side for the most part”.
And he, “highlighted the difference in emphasis between the two operating systems: Windows, which focuses on integration; and Linux, which is flexible and modular”.
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See:-
eWeek - Microsoft Surprises with Linux ‘Hands-On Lab’, July 10, 2005
July 11th, 2005 at 5:59 pm
I am really beginning to like linux. It’s cost varies, from free if you send a request to Ubuntu they will send the cd’s free of charge to your front door step, to Red Hat and other distro’s that charge upwards of around $179 for a single copy.
However I have seen updates come rather fast in the short time I have been on linux. Mostly, once you get used to how things are put out, there is so much out there to be had that it just takes the internet and a bit of time to get.
Better, a free spell-checker with the internet browser, spyware and malware doesn’t like it very much. It’s a breeze to install and for the average user it is as simple as windoze to use. While they do things their own way, so does windoze. I have discovered no major differences in the way the computer responds other than linux can take an old machine and make it purr again.
Linux comes without mp3 support and without divx support. Those are patented items. However that is not to say you can’t play them but you will have to make the changes in the software yourself. Any search can tell you how.
For myself, I spent years learning windoze and in the end I could not plug up the holes in the security myself. It is inherent in the OS and it will remain that way for corporate and business reasons and the private user will suffer for the business needs that bring in the bucks. Rather, I would have an OS that I can tinker with, do what I want to do to it, and not have to worry about it. Linux fills that bill very well.
July 11th, 2005 at 11:49 pm
I wrote a reply to a related article in CNet News.com:
http://www.digital-copyright.ca/node/view/977
That Don Johnson got most things backwards isn’t surprising, especially when talking about the complexity issue where the modularity of FLOSS has a huge advantage in dealing with complexity than the integration of “software manufacturing”.
The other two issues have nothing to do with Microsoft or Linux, but the difference between the incumbent with an installed base and the innovator. The innovator will always have a disadvantage moving people from “the way things used to be” than people keeping with what they perceive to be the status-quo. The same thing with device drivers where some hardware vendors develop drivers for the incumbent, but not for the innovator who is left to do the work themselves.
The problem that Microsoft has is that while they may have many smart people working for them, there is likely a 10-to-1 ratio of FLOSS developers to Microsoft developers, putting Microsoft at a huge long-term disadvantage that will become quite apparent to even the most extreme skeptic within the next few years.
July 11th, 2005 at 11:53 pm
If you find it upsetting that these are not included with every operating system, then write a letter to your representative. In the USA software patent were created by the courts, and in Canada they were created by government bureaucrats at the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO).
Parliaments need to weigh in on this area of policy and erradicate software patents entirely. If they don’t already realize that software patents stiffle rather than provide incentives for innovation all they need to do is some economic studies and the obvious truth will be known.
BLOG on Information/Mental process patents:
http://www.digital-copyright.ca/taxonomy/view/or/360