Steve Ballmer downbeat on M$

[danf63]

Hey, did anyone read about this?  I saw it in a newspaper today, so I can't link to it.

Dan

[krissel]

There's this.

[sandbox]

ah, now their going to attempt to appear to be customer friendly because Linux is winning. I read just recently that Germany switched to Linux for their government operations, where they once used MS exclusively.

Governments
Government agencies in the US, China, Germany, Norway, and many other countries, all use Linux and Open Source. Some have adopted it as the standard, because of its ensured security and inherent stability.

http://www.lugod.org/presentations/ca4h/who_uses.html

[krissel]

One of the things that drives me nuts is the various pronounciations of Linux. Many pronounce it with a long i (eye) but most with a short i (if). Even the main Linux site seems to condone the short i sound.

But here you can listen to Linus Torvalds pronounce his name and the software. To my ears it sounds like a  long e sound. As in eeeeek.

 

[Paddy]

Hmm...sounded more like a short "i" than a long "e" to me. His name on the other hand seems more of a long "e" sound. Subtle, but there to my ears. One thing is clear - it ISN'T a long "i"!! I think we've all been brainwashed by Charlie Brown and (long "i") Linus!!

A whole bunch of schools in Portland, OR are using LINUX:

http://www.k12ltsp.org/press_freedom_day.html

And who can blame them, when they're faced with M$ bullying!

Schools Cry Bully Over Microsoft Licensing Fees

Our school district has opted to put mostly Macs in our new High School - both wired and wireless rolling labs. Our committment to the Mac platform at the elementary level remains as strong as ever - my sons' school just got their rolling labs of iBooks about a month ago and the kids LOVE them.

I told everyone who would listen, about the Portland audit, when it still looked like the HS would be all-PC. I reminded them ad nauseum about viruses and security...but in the end, I'm happy to say that the Macs and OS X sold themselves (with help from our local sales rep and a new HS in western MA who were able to show our tech people how well it all works).

When you consider the damage virii like the Bugbear virus can do - even my husband's company, Analog Devices was being inundated with it on Friday, with no recourse available immediately - it makes a Mac or LINUX machine look pretty good! When you've already got a bunch of PC's, LINUX is a cheap solution!

[danf63]

Don't you need people who really know what they're doing if you're going to install Linux?  I'm hardly a M$ fan, but the M$ solution seems a lot more feasible than Linux.

Dan

[tacit]

"Don't you need people who really know what they're doing if you're going to install Linux?"

Pnce upon a time, yes. In fact, as recently as four years ago, getting Linux to install on unusual hardware configurations could take a seasoned Unix expert a day or so worth of work.

However, the people resonsible for the major Linux distributions have awakened to that fact, and done a lot of work to change the way things used to be. Red Hat and Debian Linux now feature well-polished installers about on par with the Windows installer, and one Linux distribution--Lindows--actually takes less time and effort to install than Windows does!

Installing a complete Linux server system is still more involved, of course. But that's true of any operating system--installing Windows 2000 Advanced Server or MacOS X Server takes longer and requires greater knowledge than installing Windows or MacOS does.