Your OS choice is stupid...

[Dave X10]

....I did use a double negative; "I do not dislike Americans"... but I guess you probably can´t grasp that since your mom and dad never taught you that.

I do understand the use of double negatives... there was a trailer park in my school district. I just wanted you to clairify YOUR use. So.. was that a yes?

I´m starting to wonder if you are off your meds, and I´m almost positive that these friends you speak of are of the imaginary variety.

Nice to hear (read) your keeping meds in mind. Don't worry about me.. weights a bit high... but I am good otherwise. But glad your remembering meds.

 

[samgreco]

Alright. Here goes...

I will preface this by saying that I have that I have done everything right. The way I was "supposed to" all my life. I have worked non-stop since, I kid you not, 10 years old. I invested in 401ks and my home. I HAD a reasonable savings account. I was a good little American.

But now...

My wife has been out of out of work after losing her job for 1 1/2 years. After winning the battle for unemployment insurance, we get that pittance for a little while. Then there is her health insurance. Since I am self-employed, I do not have group insurance. For some very minor reasons, including a vitamin deficiency, she was turned down for individual coverage. So now no one will look at her. She's the healthiest person I know. So she has the state's emergency coverage now. Costs 3 times what I am paying. With stupidly high deductables.

My business just turned 3 years old. A little over a year ago I was just about to take my first paycheck when everything crashed. All of my customers decided to pull back because of the economy. I still have not taken a paycheck. The business is barely paying for my health insurance and what we need to actually do business. It's just me. Thankfully I didn't have any employees to let go.

So, our life savings is gone. Our 401ks are hanging by a thread and we may have to sell our house if we can. If we can't....

So tell me WHY I should give a rat's pituty about ANY American corporation? When HP decided that higher profits and CEO salary was more important than American jobs and started shipping all of their jobs to China. In 2008 their CEO made some $42 million. That's after most of the jobs here vanished. If that CEO had taken a $10 Million salary, the remaining $32 Mil could have created 640 $50k a year jobs. And he'd still have $10 mil a year to live on. A huge sacrifice I'm sure.

I have A TON MORE examples just like that one.

So tell me why I should be happy with American Mega-Corporations again?

And please note again, I am a small business person. I believe in working hard for my money. I believe in individual responsibility .

But when greed gets into the blood stream of the system, those with the money at the top control it all. And that's where we are.

And there's room for Microsoft and Linux in the world.

And why is it OK and American for Microsoft to take down a corporation but not for Linux to try and take down Microsoft? Back in the day when Lotus 123 ruled the spreadsheet roost, the folks in the halls of Microsoft used to say that DOS ain't done until Lotus don't run. That's good fair competition....

 

[scriptx]

...
So tell me WHY I should give a rat's pituty about ANY American corporation? When HP decided that higher profits and CEO salary was more important than American jobs and started shipping all of their jobs to China. In 2008 their CEO made some $42 million. That's after most of the jobs here vanished. If that CEO had taken a $10 Million salary, the remaining $32 Mil could have created 640 $50k a year jobs. And he'd still have $10 mil a year to live on. A huge sacrifice I'm sure.
...

You shouldn't and nobody else should as well.

...
For some very minor reasons, including a vitamin deficiency, she was turned down for individual coverage. So now no one will look at her. She's the healthiest person I know. So she has the state's emergency coverage now. Costs 3 times what I am paying. With stupidly high deductables.
...

Our companies group rate has gone up in the 11% to 25% range every year for the last 6 years even though we have low utilization rates. We are forced to reduce coverage to contain costs and all the while, insurance companies have shown "record" profits for almost every one of those six years. In other words, it isn't just HP, your insurance issue is also a result of corporate greed...

 

[Dave X10]

... So tell me WHY I should give a rat's pituty about ANY American corporation?

I never said you should. I don't think you should.

All I've stated is that these things are under attack. As I would guess is your [record] company. As [it is] the same "software should be free" crowd is the same "music should be free to download" and the "why can't we all share our DVD's and video games" crowd. Without an open honest citizenry and government... it will all go to crap. We are seeing that is action now.

All groups have a criminal element within them... ALL GROUPS. When we fail to limit the size and scope of criminal activity within our group(s)... the group will fail to function. It is my belief... that the "software should be free" folks... are often the "I hurt my back, pay me for life" folks.

I think the true believers (socialist and hackers) have already resorted to calling me names... and making fun of my spelling.

I once refereed to myself as a computer hobbyist. I built my own PC's (I still miss the computer shows) and yes.. I played with Linux. Long before that I owned a VIC-20 and wrote my own basic software. I know Linux is now the software for servers and... is still maybe the last chance at enjoying PC's as a hobby. I have nothing against Linux, socialist, or 14 year old boys playing with PC's in the bedroom or basement.

What I originally posted (see below) is simple and has.. by the posts in this thread (I think) been proved correct.

I hate those posts that start out with something.. generally like "I can't believe BLANK can't run on Linux".

What originally sounds like a gripe about Home Automation Software.... is usually (and quickly) exposed as anti-Microsoft. America is hated by many as the great evil. Most of those people who hate Americans are forgien... but some are born and raised in the USA. Computers, the Internet, and Microsoft are as symbolic of the USA as our flag is... for most non-Americans. I truly believe most anti-windows posts... are in actuality just anti-American rants.

These "Linux posts"... (on this forum and others like it) are more often than not.. merely a defacement... a spray painted mark, a TAG marking up otherwise productive, polite, reasoned, and helpful posts.

 

[123]

There was a documentary made several years ago called "The Corporation". Since corporations are legal entities (buy/sell property, right to free expression, etc) the documentary asks, what kind of 'person' is a corporation? Based on corporate behaviour, it is a clinical psychopath. Not too surprising.
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0120-03.htm

Have a look at the eye-opening "The Cost of Care" in the January 2010 edition of NatGeo. Psychopaths at work.

 

[123]

It is my belief... that the "software should be free" folks... are often the "I hurt my back, pay me for life" folks....

Dave X10,
Outstanding! Now you sound like a corporation!

 

[Lagerhead]

. . . what kind of 'person' is a corporation? Based on corporate behaviour, it is a clinical psychopath. Not too surprising.

What is surprising is that, whatever contempt and suspicion is due a "corporation," all the more contempt and suspicion is due governments of all kinds. The reason is that government, being a human institution, has all of the flaws of a corporation, and none of the controls (e.g. competition, economic risk, risk of business failure, etc.). Further, while we can choose to do business, or not, with a corporation, government is always a monopoly. Government alone has compelling enforcement power alone has the keys to the prisons.

It is astonishing that this simple fact is not more widely recognized. And if being a "democratic" government is somehow a saving factor ("democracies always act in the best interest of the people" - right), well, just consider recent U.S. history.

 

[samgreco]

What is surprising is that, whatever contempt and suspicion is due a "corporation," all the more contempt and suspicion is due governments of all kinds. The reason is that government, being a human institution, has all of the flaws of a corporation, and none of the controls (e.g. competition, economic risk, risk of business failure, etc.). Further, while we can choose to do business, or not, with a corporation, government is always a monopoly. Government alone has compelling enforcement power alone has the keys to the prisons.

It is astonishing that this simple fact is not more widely recognized. And if being a "democratic" government is somehow a saving factor ("democracies always act in the best interest of the people" - right), well, just consider recent U.S. history.

And there it is. IF we had real discussions of the issues in this country instead of talking about birth certificates and death panels, we might be able to learn something and vote for people that were decent.

Take the corporate money out of elections and we may get somewhere. When you look at the amount money being spent to elect our government and where it comes from, it's no wonder NOTHING is done in OUR interest.

 

[electron]

This thread is rather confusing (some of the posts sound awful/hateful, but I haven't read all posts yet). However, I am counting on you guys to keep this thread civil

 

[Quixote_1]

This thread is rather confusing (some of the posts sound awful/hateful, but I haven't read all posts yet). However, I am counting on you guys to keep this thread civil

Don't worry, Dan. Just feeding the trolls a little. It is the holidays, after all.

 

[elcano]

As a typical American business person I use whatever OS help me growth my business. Like all humans, I have my preferences, but I do my best effort to not let them to interfere in my business strategy. After all, my partner would not let me neither.

This means, in 95% of the cases Windows is the client and Linux is the server. However, for the last 2 years I have been using an OSX laptop about 25% of my time to make sure that I stay up-to-date in the latest technology.

That said, I appreciate Google's effort of creating technology with not much vendor lock-in (I can take the standards-based or otherwise documented format data and go elsewhere whenever I want). In the same sense, I have learned to be wary of falling in Microsoft's and Apple's attempts of locking me into their technology. Having the option of more than one source for your business solutions is not just good Strategic Sourcing practice. It is also common sense. Notice that this is also one of the major reasons for using Linux. I cannot think how protecting my business in this way can be anti-american.

I could not also understand how a Fortune 500 company like RedHat is anti-american. Or how could Novell's Suse, or Oracle's Ubreakable Linux, or IBM's Linux-based mainframes be it neither. Or how could any of the non-Windows web-based companies like Facebook or eBay (that have allowed so many people to reach the american dream of having their own business) be. Or how the National Laboratories using Linux supercomputers to support strategic nuclear, weather or economic research for our country could be tagged that way. This is a new economy. And we have to stop bashing the telephone for taking the jobs of the telegraphers. Look how IBM is not complaining anymore about the death of the typewriter! Actually, Microsoft has recently grown up to the new reality too. You just need to visit their new WebsiteSpark site (that my company is using too), and click on the GetWebApp link. If you are not Rip Van Winkle you will recognize many of the applications listed there. And a quick Google Bing search will let you know that all of them are open-source applications. Would that make Microsoft anti-american?

As they say, you cannot teach new tricks to an old dog (and I sincerely think that this is the core of the problem), but here is an article about serious uses of Linux. I wrote it with the hope of fostering the next Steve Wozniak among the readers (sorry guys, I keep the next Bill Gates title for myself - even that I'm too late already!). Notice that the article is targeted to young people, as a big share of the readers of that blog are high school and early college students interested in developing a career in technology. It is obvious that I never expected old dogs to be receptive to my advise - so you might certainly disagree with it.

My ideal OS would be a transparent OS, non-relevant in other ways that speed, stability and security. So, I would choose the OS based on speed, stability and security only. It would be almost a commodity. It would follow open standards in a way that would left me move all my data to any other OS without impact. It would also be able to run any application written in an open language. So I would not be forced to use a different OS just because that is it was the developer happened to have (some CEO that I know fears this freedom more than any other thing in the world, and this fear to fair competition is in my book very anti-american). It would be supported by a business partner that would lock-me-in by the quality of their service - not by using technology tricks and closed source. I would have freedom to move over to the next best competitor (like in free America), but I will not want to do it, because I would be happy with them. And BTW, even with all that freedom, just like RedHat Enterprise Linux and Windows Server, it would not be free.

In what level of the Americanism scale would this ideal OS fall? I hope not to offend anybody by asking too much of a good thing. Will it even happen? I think that not in my lifespan. In the meantime, many jobs will be saved by free and open source software just as Apple was saved (in part, obviously) by the reapplication of the free Unix-based BSD. I certainly enjoy my FOSS derived iPhone.

 

[Neurorad]

My cat's breath smells like cat food.

I was psyched when my first PC was upgraded to 32K.

Though I never got the disc drive upgrade - was stuck with the cassette tape drive. CompuServe rocked.

you insult someone's OS, it's like insulting their kids

 

[Lagerhead]

As a typical American business person I use whatever OS help me growth my business. . . [long post remainder snipped]

Elcano has so much good and rational thinking here that there is almost nothing to add.

As I see it, elcano illustrates many of the elements of "Americanism" in the context of trade --
- Enlightened, informed self-interest on the part of buyers
- Vendors paying attention to their customers and delivering the desired goods and services, or not, at their peril
- A free marketplace in which both buyers and sellers are able to succeed and -- equally important if often forgoten -- are free to fail
- All supported by a government as a referee only

Notice that in this model an American corporation (whether for-profit or non-profit) succeeds only if it has the best of what I need at a price I judge equal to the value. Notice also that if enough consumers express informed and enlightened self-interest, the "best" (usually) products will come to dominate. This happens ordinarily without simultaneously destroying the "next best" product(s). Notice also that this is a vast system in constant flux, so that today's "best" will not necessarly be tomorrow "best." No government internvention needed, though they in government can hardly help themselves.

The CEO of a past employer of mine, who had his head on straight, once told me his personal priorities, namely --
- My family
- Myself
- My company
- My country
-- combined always with the highest standards of ethical behavior.

Amen.

 

[troymt]

*Linux is certainly stable and I root (pardon the pun) for it to gain market share everyday. To be fair, I have wanted to throw some laptops threw the window trying to get wireless to work through.

Bashing M$ is too easy. So I will skip the obvious issues. Windows 7 is great. Even the biggest hater has to admit M$ got it right with 7.


Apple products are shining, well designed and Steve knows how to take others ideas and make them mainstream.

BUT I LOATHE Apple with an unhealthy hatred.

I hate the Patagonia wearing, latte drinking, novel writing "blogger" hipster that follows the Church of Jobs as he recites scripture from the burning bush of MT Cupertino. The sheer smugness of a typical Apple user makes me want to choke a puppy.

The verbal orgy, that one is typically blessed with, upon meeting a devote follower of Jobs could successfully replace water boarding by the CIA. In fact ... if Gitmo had a field trip to an Apple store I have no doubt Bin Laden would already be in custody.

Apple can do no wrong. The Woodstock-esque love fest the media has with all things Apple is just sad. I suspect most Apple users were not breast feed long enough or at all.

So yes.. Apple gaining share only makes other products better through competition and for that I am thankful....

But at what cost, I ask? Think of the children.



pS...My first computer was a vic-20.

 

[felixrosbergen]

All I have to say is that Vista has been nothing but trouble for me and i just installed W7 on the same machine. It was the smoothest install of an OS so far in my experience and it's been working well for 2 days so far.

For my HA server i was using win2k3 which was stable for over a year but have now switched to XP for other reasons.