Steve Balmer is the biggest piece of crap

Steve Balmer article


I want to start off by saying where does he get off saying Linux infringes on their innovation? I guess when you are the competing product you have to do something but outright lies probably isn't going to win any fans. Lets break this down, from the beginning Microsoft has either stole other peoples innovation or purchased it out right. I could only spend days reciting all the companies they have acquire to get their "innovation" or ripped of from. If it were possible for the makers of Unix to sue Microsoft they would win due to the TCP/IP stack "borrowed" from it. But thats not even the point this kind of rhetoric is pointless because if Microsoft actually had something they wouldn't partner with the company to make their financial gain they would sue and win. That is where they are at a loss. Microsoft cannot prove on one piece of code that it infringes on Microsoft's "intellectual property". If Mr. Balmer was to read this i would say one thing, Prove It! Hell Mr. Balmer the code is open and your staff cannot prove it. Sounds to me if i had that easy of a job proving it i would go ahead and sue a few people. I think big old microsoft is finally realizing that you cant control one hundred percent of the market forever. Eventually someone will come along with a better less expensive product. You either improve your product, make your product less expensive or get out of the way. Not to mention that when i install my OS at home I don't have to go through the hassle of registering it with you when I feel like re-installing it because I bought new hardware or have problems that warrant it. If i only had a pie to throw in your face! Mr. Balmer acts as if his company is the only ones to think of anything innovative. Well boo hoo you didn't think someone might be smarter than the people you hire.

Rants VS Reviews

Recently I saw someone had posted a rant of Slackware 11 on OSNews from a fellow that rants on his personal web site for his friends to see. Since when did Linux nerds get so uppity about their favorite distros. While I disagree on some of his points I still use Slackware and like Slackware. However since when did someones opinion deserve such ridiculed banter. For what ever reason you like Linux or what ever distro is your favorite we are in this together. I might post that I dislike something and someone is bound to disagree but please keep it civil. Don't dismiss the intelligence of the author because you disagree. In my book that makes you unintelligent. Ultimately a rant is an opinion of the author to be cherished because of the freedoms we are afforded in life to like or dislike something. In a review things are different a review should be a fair and balanced look at whatever it is you are reviewing. The main reason why is that someone ultimately is going to take stock in what you write and will make a decision based on that. A lot of Linux reviewers often write to many glowing articles about distros they write about. i only wish they would take a more hard lined look and possible post the problems they had so that users would feel so alienated when the distro has problems on thier system.

Fedora Core 6

When I downloaded the DVD I didn't have my hopes up about anything good coming of Fedora Core 6. I had tried Fedora Core 4 for my wifes notebook and was sadly disappointed. it was slow and not very stable. Since then I have ignored Fedora. I installed it on VMWare Server. Some of the multimedia features didn't work out of the box. But the GUI is nice even though I absolutely don't like GNOME. One feature I did like was the auto correcting X config. I started playing with X Server to see if I could trick it into displaying on two monitors, once it discovered I messed up the configuration it reverted back with first asking if I wanted to. I was rather surprised of the results it seems 6 is more polished than previous releases. Still probably not the best distro around but its getting better.

Conclusion

I would recommend this for anyone who is wanting to try it. If you are an already happy user of fedora core it might even be worth the upgrade.

TUX Magazine

I subscribe to an online magazine called TUX which basically comes as a PDF in my eMail. After being a subscriber since its inception I read it often. However they are now changing the way they do things. I got this email in my inbox today;

Dear TUX Subscriber,

NOTE: This is a corrected copy of a previously sent e-mail.

This week you'll notice a change in TUX. It will move from being a
free digital magazine to a paid one. Your current complimentary
subscription will be extended for 12 issues (expiring after the
July 2007 issue). That being said, this is just a note to let you
know what's happening -- there's nothing at all you need to do
today. Your free subscription will continue to be delivered to you
as you had originally requested.

When your subscription does expire, we will send you a notice
offerring you an opportunity to renew at our paid rate of just
$9.95/12 issues. In addition, since you've been a long-time (and
apprecited!) loyal subscriber, we'll make certain to offer you a
very special gift if you do decide to renew at that time. Again
though, there's nothing for you to do today. Your free subscription
to TUX will continue through July 2007.

We started TUX in 2004 because we felt strongly it was a needed
publication within the Linux community (many of our Linux Journal
readers would write in asking for exactly this, and truthfully, many
of our own staff members wanted to learn more about their Linux
desktops also). We invested revenues from our other publication,
Linux Journal, to make it possible. We've seen it as a labor of
love. Today, however, 15 issues later, we need to turn TUX into a
self-supporting publication and that's why we are asking for our
readers' help.

We promise to put more heart and effort into TUX with this
conversion. In the coming months, you can expect several new topics
and article series introduced by TUX Editor Kevin Shockey.

Please let us know how we can make TUX better for you. We strongly
encourage your feedback and suggestions; please send to
info@tuxmagazine.com.

From all of us at TUX Magazine, we sincerely thank you.

Adobe and Flash Player for Linux

This is a bit of a gripe post. Adobe has yet to update its versions of Flashplayer for Linux. The most current version available is 7.0. the current version available for windows is 8.0. while I am ok with Adobe not updating the Flash Program that creates flash programs its not ok that they lag behind on the development of their player. So far we are being forced to wait till version 10 until a player is available for Linux. With more users leaving windows for Linux or OS X it becomes more apparent that those architectures should be considered too. OS X does currently have a player for version 8 of flash so what is the deal? Being that my primary PC at home is a Linux PC I cannot see how its possible for Adobe to delay any longer with more users like me switching to Linux everyday. All I can say is shame on adobe for not keeping its user-base in mind when making decisions.

OpenSuse 10.1

I recently downloaded Suse 10.1 for a spin on my laptop. I was impressed by this distro. Installation was a snap. I was able to install some programs off the extra disk using Yast. This distro is quite stable. It is a bit slow on older hardware. The machine I installed it on is a Sony Vaio I bought some six years ago. The processor is a 650 mhz so it wasn't that surprising that Suse wasn't zippy. The GUI works Just fine and I was able to autoboot a CD which I am not able to do without some configuring in Slackware. Using GRUB is always a bit different to me because I am more familiar with lilo. It does give a prettier interface than what lilo can give you. I would recommend Suse 10.1 to any who wish to try Linux out for the first time. Though I think you would be better to try it on a desktop so that you don't have any issues with hardware incompatibility. Installing on a laptop is daunting for a first time user. Out of the box there are somethings missing but with a little help and some work on your part you can have those things worked out in no time. For starters MPlayer would have to be installed to get video playback to work. It does come with some default players but on web pages those players might not work to play streaming video. Mp3 support would be offered under LAME. On the extras Disk there is java, Flash player 7 and a couple of other useful programs you need to install.


next for me to try is SimplyMepis 6...

Kernel Stability Discussion 2.4 vs 2.6

Kernel Version 2.6.17.1 was released this week. I use 2.6.13 on a Slackware machine for my personal Gaming and internet machine. A debate got started over stability in kernel 2.4 vs 2.6 where i felt that 2.6 was just as stable. This debate was ofcourse in a forum. Opinions differed as widely as they always do in a forum. Some explaining that 2.4 is in a maintenance cycle and 2.6 is in rapid development so that contributes to the stability of the new kernels. However in a practicle sense I feel 2.6 is stable enough for my own usage. Many Distros feel the same way and bundle thiers with the 2.6. Others though like i mentioned one being Slackware keeps itself on an older kernel for issues of stability. Debian "stable" is another that does this. Well i have come across distros that chose to stay further back. One in particular uses the 2.2 kernel. Now granted this is not a commonly used distro but an obscure one. Distrobutions should feel free to choose what ever kernel they want. That is one of the glorious things about Linux is the diversity in choices. You are free to choose what every options you want in a distro. Even when a distro doesnt meet your needs you can either customize it, build it from scratch or choose another that does. Linux from Scratch is one of those projects that shows you how. I always advise against developing another distro but creating your own personal distro from scratch I am in favor of. Just dont feel the need to release yet another distro. I will bring this all back around and say that its possible in all distrobutions to upgrade the kernel to a newer release so there is nothing to stop you from unfurling your wings. I feel for most average users 2.4 and 2.6 kernels are just as stable as each other on a standard basis. I think this was the concencious among all in the discussion over which they choose. I still plan on upgrading my core packages to 11 from the 10.2 version i currently run. I will of course still run a 2.6 kernel. I think my disatisfaction in Slackware is more inconvienence of having to go through so much trouble of installing the 2.6 kernel and upgrading the 2.4 packages (modules, alsa, etc) to the 2.6 kernel packages. I think that Pat would make things easier on us if in his installer if you choose a 2.6 kernel that it installs everything you need for the 2.6 kernel even if 2.4 is still default. I think it would help smooth the transition between kernel versions when it comes time for Pat to do so.

Changed format

Felt like changing my format. I would like to post stuff from now on about linux distros and the news relating to it.

For starters I will talk of Slackware. I have been reading through changelogs to find information about the 11 release coming in the future. One of my biggest dissapointments in the reading was that the 2.6 kernel will not be the default kernel. Instead the 2.4 kernel is going to continue to be the default. With no disrespect to Pat i think 2.6 is ready for Slack primetime. That is only my opinion folks. I do understand his hesitance however its time for the move. I did agree with his move to remove GNOME from the releases because of the same reasons however i will add one, its just ugly. GNOME I thought lagged behind in its visual apeal.

For Pat, Congratulations on your new daughter its a wonderful thing to welcome her into the world. I am a little slow on the news since it did happen in december of 2005 however the sentiment remains the same.

Just so everyone knows SimplyMepis 6.0 is scheduled for June 18th. I hope to experiment with this one on my notebook. I have heard good things about this distro. i have tried it on the Live CD premise but nothing more. Slax was another i tried that helped me actually move to the 2.6 kernel on my slackware install.

DRM in linux

I have heard statements by certain IT "experts" stating that linux is not a mature product because it does not include DRM. This will never happen for one reason the main group involved in writing this technology is Microsoft. Why would you expect them to give that away to other operating systems that compete directly with them. This is why DRM is dangerous. it gives companies like microsoft a foothold to force others out of business. Not to mention DRM technologies dont really prevent copyright theft because as long as there is encryption there is a hacker who is interested in breaking it. DRM also prevents a concept called fair use which allows you as a consumer to copy DVD's Music and such to new media for personal usage. For example if you wish to copy that favorite music CD to make a backup of an original, because i assure you a CD will wear out, that is perfectly within your rights. In an over zealous attempt to stop people from copying music from file sharing sites they take away the simple freedoms of consumers that legally purchased thier CD from doing with the CD what is within thier legal rights to do. One day i hope to live in a society that is free and unincumbered by corporate america, until that day i have to read stories referencing Steve Ballmer and his idiotic statements about linux. Mind you Ballmer has probably never seen linux or know much about what it even is. Ballmer, please only say good things about windows and when questioned about linux say 'i have no experience with linux so i cannot fully answer that question correctly!'