Development Platform.

[Kintaro]

http://www.netsplit.com/2008/08/11/development-platform/

I was going to quote the article but I got one of those Internal Server Errors because Apache still hasn't been fixed (gotta love free software!)

[Aloone_Jonez]

How do you know it's Apache and not the same retarded bug that fucked up when I mentioned pedophiles and little girls?

Anyway, I believe th iPhone is useless unless it's unlocked.

[Kintaro]

It is the same retarded bug, and it's either Apache (open source), PHP (open source), or SMF (open source). Most likely by the type of error, it's something incredibly odd with Apache.

Anyway, I believe th iPhone is useless unless it's unlocked.

I believe Linux is useless. Always.

[Refalm]

I believe PHP 5 is the cause of that bug. I have SMF on my other server, but it doesn't produce the error, and it runs on PHP 4. Whatever.

I believe Ubuntu in particular is doing a great job at distributing its distro only on CD-ROM.
Not because of space, or time to download an ISO (although its a plus), but because they offer you only one application for every feature most of the time. I remember Mandriva only available on DVD, and had not only Konqueror installed as default browser, but a few others as well, just to offer choice. Apart from Konqueror actually being user-unfriendly, simply looking for Internet in the menu would offer choices that boggles your mind when you're a first on Linux. My aunt that lives on the country side doesn't want choice, she wants the web.

But even in Ubuntu, there is choice. So... you want Windows Media Player movies to work? Have fun making a choice between totem-mozilla-plugin, mplayer-plugin, xine-backend, vlc-mozilla, etc. If that even gave me some thought, imagine what that must be like for the avarage user.
Linus Torvalds recently complained that Gnome offered too little configurability. With that kind of attitude, Linux is a few more years away from becomming ready for the desktop, and it's beginning to make some progress in actually getting it installed on laptops.

[Kintaro]

It shouldn't be hard to choose for newbs who just use totem surely?

[Calum]

linux will never be "ready for the desktop" in the sense that it will be watertight for windoids.

This is because windoids are stupid. Their operating systems have educated them all to fuck away from sensible and logical computer use.

Linux systems spend an incredible amount of resource trying to emulate the contorted and convoluted rubbish that windows has made everybody get used to. That's the main reason why there's so many rough edges and things that windoids can't quite figure out.

The secondary reason is that with all this extra configurability (which linux users often want to hold onto, for historical/social reasons) it's easy for a windoid to fuck everything up purely by not knowing their arse from their elbow. Computers are not toasters. Sorry, but if you're going to fuck up a computer, don't blame the computer, or its system.

On the other hand there's an army of people who know they will fuck up a computer as soon as look at it, and that's the gap in the market. MS Windows can't fill this gap, or linux would be dead in the water already as a replacement concept for MS Windows, so all linux vendors need to do is fucking release a distro that isn't full of ifs and buts and which doesn't take weeks to set up to your favourite specifications.

ubuntu's not there, fedora's not there, mandriva's not there...

We've been having this discussion for years and years and years. Why has this not happened by now? Possibly because linux vendors are all geeks, more interested in pushing that envelope than actually making something that will actually compete with MS Windows.

Apple have been doing a better job of this for years than any linux distro, and they are fighting an uphill battle with price, linux doesn't have this problem, quite the opposite. If it made the effort, it could be "ready for the desktop" in a matter of months.

[Refalm]

It shouldn't be hard to choose for newbs who just use totem surely?

My neece: "What's Totem? I like Indians too, "

I believe you're forgetting that she doesn't give a shit what the program is called.
She clicked on an AVI, and a movie started to play.

[Calum]

vlc's better anyway. or mplayer. none of them play *everything* properly.

and that's the geek factor. Make it damn well work and then make it simpler and easier to use. THEN distribute it.

[Refalm]

On the other hand there's an army of people who know they will fuck up a computer as soon as look at it, and that's the gap in the market. MS Windows can't fill this gap, or linux would be dead in the water already as a replacement concept for MS Windows, so all linux vendors need to do is fucking release a distro that isn't full of ifs and buts and which doesn't take weeks to set up to your favourite specifications.

ubuntu's not there, fedora's not there, mandriva's not there...

Maybe they should get a Mac, your description of this persona fits their target:
http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=4Tq7yykR-DM

And what about this one? I installed it on my laptop recently, and they're coming close:
http://www.linuxmint.com/
It's taking Ubuntu's efforts to make Linux not suck even further. It's basically an improved Ubuntu. It's easier to use, has non-free codecs installed by default, has a Vista-style main menu, and it has a theme that isn't ugly as fuck.

[Kintaro]

mplayer is a fucking joke. On a widescreen, mplayer will happily stretch the whole picture out of aspect ratio if its 4:3, and vise-versa if it's a 16:9 video and your monitor is 4:3. It has been this way for YEARS.

[Calum]

that's a problem i didn't generally get with mplayer when i was using it (under fedora), are you sure this isn't some configuration issue?


on the other hand, shouldn't it be configured properly out of the box if it's supposed to be windoid proof? I take it Windows Mediocre Player doesn't have issues like this then?

[Refalm]

that's a problem i didn't generally get with mplayer when i was using it (under fedora), are you sure this isn't some configuration issue?


on the other hand, shouldn't it be configured properly out of the box if it's supposed to be windoid proof? I take it Windows Mediocre Player doesn't have issues like this then?

Not with a proper codec pack. For IT work a few years earlier, I actually got Windows Media Player to support Ogg Vorbis, XVid, MP4, M4A, etc.
Which was nice, because my colleagues had an "accidental" unsecured Windows server (unmanaged MS-FTP and MS-SQL does the trick), so FXP people would upload DVD's like crazy on it.