Linux Format forums

by **ggsinclair** » Tue Jul 26, 2005 8:07 am

Take a look at this link re Windows Vista.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4516269.stm

It has annoyed me - the BBC reporters need a Linux/ Apple training session me thinks!

Gordon

by **M-Saunders** » Tue Jul 26, 2005 8:50 am

My head exploded when the author said OpenOffice.org was efficient...

Mike

by **A-Wing** » Tue Jul 26, 2005 4:23 pm

Well I have put a comment in, highly doubt they will publish it though

by **ggsinclair** » Tue Jul 26, 2005 8:08 pm

How many of us do you think would need to comment for them to publish it?

by **A-Wing** » Tue Jul 26, 2005 8:19 pm

Its the BBC, for an impartial company they are the most biased entity I have seen after MicroShaft. I highly doubt even if 1000 of us mailed them they would even read it.

by **andychannelle** » Tue Jul 26, 2005 9:21 pm

I've sent quite a few comments to the BBC and, in general, they have a pretty good record of response. And reading the piece I think it's fairly balanced. It mentions that Linux has a long way to go in terms of desktop penetration (quoting Stuart Cohen); OpenOffice is a viable alternative to Office, though an attitude change is needed among 'bosses' so it becomes acceptable; Firefox is a better, more secure browser that IE; and Microsoft's strategy to 'beat' Linux is to sow 'doubt' about the ability of the open source community to maintain security.

It rehashes the 'you need to be computer literate to use Linux on a PC' but then that's what has to be expected from mainstream journalism. I would say on whole, that this sort of coverage is a win for Linux: not only does it highlight its viability, it also increases people's exposure to the OS and the possibility of alternative. 150,000 people might read that story, 10,000 of them may download FireFox or OO.o as a result, a couple a thousand might investigate Linux...

by **andychannelle** » Tue Jul 26, 2005 9:21 pm

...Oh, and buy a copy of Linux Format!

by **M0PHP** » Tue Jul 26, 2005 11:48 pm

In-direct advertising from the beeb... that's what OS needs

by **nordle** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 8:32 pm

Seemed a reasonable article to me, although I must admit to scanning rather than reading, a couple of things stood out:

>>Yes, Linux is powering more and more corporate servers, but so is Microsoft's server software.

All the numbers I've seen tend to show, that yes, MS are increasing their numbers in the server market, but only really taking them from Unix. Linux on the other hand is increasing its server presence, by taking numbers from Unix AND MS too.

>>Microsoft executives, meanwhile, are trying their best to diss open source software, with its volunteer developers and 'general public license' copyright.
Such software, Bill Gates tells customers, might not be "interoperable" and could be more expensive to run than Windows "if you look at the entire software stack".

Firstly, sincce when does the BBC use the word "diss" in an article

Secondly, with this quote from Bill, is he actively promoting vendor lockin?

>>And "do you really want to have your security issues discussed by the Linux developer community on a public bulletin board," queries Alistair Baker of Microsoft UK.

C'mon guys, security through obscurity has been proven not to work, and secondly are you seriously suggesting that people DONT talk about MS security flaws on public forums?
Also, a public forum may increase the speed at which something gets solved due to increased pressure, or increased exposure to others who do know who to fix something.

>>>With the likes of IBM backing Linux, such assertions may be questionable.

Good on you BBC

by **bigbee** » Thu Jul 28, 2005 7:03 pm

Such software, Bill Gates tells customers, might not be "interoperable" and could be more expensive to run than Windows "if you look at the entire software stack".

Really? I have about 3 different distro's running here at my homenetwork and all are running and they all are working together nicely.

Eeh.. and about security issues... by discussing them in a public way, the only "problem" is they get solved instead of having to wait for a windows update patch...

The thing what bothered me the most: Is it me or does Bill gains-loses about 50 lbs on the different pics?

ps:" And it takes a fairly computer-literate user to install and maintain the open source operating system on a personal computer"
thx for the complement, but based on my experiences of this forum, there "may" be a lot of newB getting the taste of userfriendly linuxes

by **davecs** » Thu Jul 28, 2005 10:54 pm

The only "technical" problem with Linux is "certain" hardware. Modern user-friendly distros such as PCLinuxOS and Mepis are easier to install than Windows.

Let's face it, Windows wins at present because it is usually pre-installed. Anyone who could not install PCLOS could not install Windows. And that's probably most computer users.

by **hairymunky** » Sat Jul 30, 2005 7:06 pm

>>>And it takes a fairly computer-literate user to install and maintain the open source operating system on a personal computer.<<<

Doh! Don't you just boot the PC from the DVD, let the installer auto-partition the drive, choose what you want (ie Desktop, Server, Workstation etc), click "Next"... go for a cuppa/beer (or 2) (or 3) ( or ...), come back half an hour later, enter usernames/passwords, reboot, login and play

???
At least thats how it usually goes for me, for a basic linux setup (apart from nVidia drivers etc)
And assuming your not logged in as Root, you cant do any serious damage..can you????

Think I'll go on strike and not pay my telly license, the buggers!!!

by **bigbee** » Sat Jul 30, 2005 9:35 pm

hairymunky wrote:Doh! Don't you just boot the PC from the DVD, let the installer auto-partition the drive, choose what you want (ie Desktop, Server, Workstation etc), click "Next"... go for a cuppa/beer (or 2) (or 3) ( or ...), come back half an hour later, enter usernames/passwords, reboot, login and play ???

You forgot to mention hitting the enter button several times in non-grapphical installers :shock:

You are right about the beers, although it often leaves me with a password that's hard to remember ;-)

by **jer1ch0** » Sat Jul 30, 2005 10:48 pm

>>>His promise: Longhorn, the next version of the Windows operating system, will make malicious software (malware) that gets onto computers without the users' knowledge "a thing of the past".<<<

I thought we already had this with Linux. And I don't for one minute believe that Longhorn will rid the world of malware/spyware/virus.