Say no to corporate monopoly - Do not use Microsft products!

Hi all

.

I would like to discuss a small issue but in my mind, a significant one. It is one thing that you can do to put a (small) hole in the corporate machinery.

If you are reading this forum then you are using a computer , statistically speaking there is a 95% chance that you are doing so using a Microsoft system. What is wrong with that ?

Well ,several things. For once , MS is a big corporation and a monopoly at that. It has got to this position through good marketing and luck, but it is keeping this position using different means like threats and lawsuits. To increase its monopoly it has recently started incorporating digital rights management (DRM) into its products. The implications of DRM are many , but the most prominent is that DRM makes sure music stays in the hands of corporate and big record companies.

Putting music aside , MS monopoly has much more dire consequences for the poor. As Microsoft products are the standard in the business these days , people are expected to use its propriety format in most interactions. If someone sends you a written document you will expect it to be in a .doc format right? a music file , in .wma or .mp3 format (mp3 is a proprietary format endorsed by MS but owned by someone else) . Most people never even heard of the open doc format (.odt) or the music ogg format. This and other factor forces poor people and people in the 3rd world to use MS products , which they cannot afford. They therefore have two choices , not use computers or get a pirated version ,which goes further to stigmatise them as criminals.

MS comes out with new products every few years , as a user you need to pay for any upgrade . There are several reasons why you would want to upgrade. First is that MS stops support for its old products (like Win98) which leaves you open to viruses. Second , many new programmes do not run on old versions and MS doesn't seem to put much effort into backward compatibility. MS keeps introducing new formats , for example the new Office suite will introduce the xdoc format which only runs on Office2007 . When this becomes standard ,it will force all users to purchase Office2007.

The problem with upgrading, aside for being expensive, is that MS makes its hardware demands higher with every product ,this means that if you want to upgrade , you need to upgrade your hardware . Hardware that would support the new Vista is just ridiculously expensive and for what ? the 3D interface?

Well, some operation systems can run a much more complex 3D interface with ¼ the RAM ,they do it for free ,upgrade is free and there are no viruses.

So here is the good news – there is an alternative!

(Apple is kind of an alternative but I don't include it cause it's expensive, proprietary and supports DRM , though at least its virus free and looks cool).

There are several free and open source operating systems available for downloading on the internet. Many of them are written communally on-line and are totally free. This includes free software as well. The most famous is Linux. It is a diverse OS which runs on some of the world's supercomputers and on mobile phones as well. Since it is free and open source ,anyone is allowed to change it and redistribute it ,that's why there are so many kinds of Linux (also called 'distros'). Linux can do almost everything that the new Windows Vista will do ,and quite a lot that Vista cannot. And all on your average hardware.

Since there are so many Linux distros, it is really up to the individual to chose which one is suitable for him/her. Linux is highly flexible and allows the user to change and adjust it to the smallest part. It does ,however, require some adjustment and effort. There is a learning curve , but nothing that the ordinary computer user can't tackle. Remember if you give in to laziness and comfort – the system wins!

A few good distros that come to mind are Ubuntu and Blag . Ubuntu has very good on-line support by literally thousands of volunteers , its philosophy is interesting ,somewhat hippyish . Blag's support is not as good , it is an activist disro with a more punk like attitude , you will need to invest a little more time if you choose Blag. You can check all the possibilities on distrowatch.com .




If you are interested in switching from corporate Windows to Linux here are some tips :

1. There is a learning curve , be patient
   
2. You can find answers to most of your problems on Linux forums (like Ubuntu forums
   
   
3. It's best to dual boot at first (= run a computer with both Linux and Windows , instructions on how to do that with Ubuntu are here)
   
4. Most Windows games don't work on Linux, if you are a gamer , the best you can do is get a Nintendo or something
   
5. As hardware companies write their hardware drivers specifically for Microsoft , Linux hackers have to rewrite them using reverse engineering. This means that it's possible that some of your hardware will not work with Linux , post in internet forums before you install or run a Linux live CD ( an OS that runs through the Cdrom without changing your system) to check it.
   

With Linux you get freedom , more flexibility and security . You also put a small dent in MS's monopoly. Try it for yourself

If you have any questions/ remarks ,I would love to hear




Mai

 

Linux spam?

*boggle*

 

all forgetting of course thats fine and dandy in the world of theory and cloud cuckoo land but in the real world about 80 or 90% of the worlds businesses run off MS servers and users in businesses dont really want to retrain their staff to use another OS so really we're stuck with it until someone can come up with a plan to make business users spend more money on training than on operating systems - also then you have the problem that uni's and schools will have to decide "ah sod it - MS - big global giant - nah lets train these kids to use unix or linux - that'll be a good idea because then when industry is cryin out for people trained in MS we can say - its all fer your own good"

get real !!! industry likes MS it may cost on the OS itself but it sure saves on the training bill. Its not so much the fact that the OS is crap its the cost in real terms that count - £3000 ($6000) for a weeks training per person with linux compared to an operating system like XP that the user is familiar with that costs £90

Somehow I think youre dreaming

At best Linux will be used in industry for serverware not clientware but even then youre looking at incompatibility issues so some companies deal only with one OS genre - eg MS or linux - not a mixed environment - mixed environment happen and theyre cheaper but only if everything you use is compatible

 

Sentient
you are right about the business sector
i was however talking about Linux as a desktop for private use
yes ,it's a dream
but i thought people in this forum are about changing aspects of reality that they do not like, you have post about globalisation , environment etc..
maybe i misjudged the forum's vibe

its very easy to say "dream on" ,"factories will always pollute the environment" , "minorities will always be treated badly ", "i dont care" and so on...

i just offered my point of view. if you think corporate monopolies and IT monoculture are a good thing then we are in a disagreement

wish you all the best just the same


peace

mai

 

DRM is so easy to crack though.... the only thing I wouldn't want to do with a windows computer is use it to make movies.

and you really don't have to purchase anything if you look hard enough.

 

actually most servers run off of some form of posix (Solaris, BSD, Linux, HP-UX, AIX, etc). anyone ever tried MySpace? yeah, Microsoft servers suck. and... anyone ever had a Virus... yeah Microsoft desktops suck.

i prefer quality and speed (BSD, Linux).

there are three factors in Operating Systems:
1. Easy 2. Fast 3. Secure
^pick any two but not all three.

___________________________________

i think my problem is that i grew up on half Macintosh and half Microsoft. i learned whats bad and whats ugly. then i found linux.

 

Yeah hey chalk another one up for Linux. Penguins rule and butterfly's drool. Ubuntu is not perfect but hey who is? My son is a gamer. He is playing Linux games more than his Nintendo or Playstation ones these days. I had trouble installing Edgy on his very old computer. I tried Xubuntu and Ubuntu and it would not work. So then I downloaded the alternate CD's and we went with Xubuntu and it works. His monitor goes a little crazy when it boots but then the screen comes up and runs just fine. Haven't figured out a fix for it yet but it works in the meantime. It did not do it under Dapper. But XP worked worse than anything. That was what was installed on it when he got it.

As far as viruses go in Linux. Yes they exist. And yes I got at least two. I caught one with clamav and my box was still going crazy. So, I just backuped my personal data and reinstalled.

It was my fucking fault. I forgot to start the firewall when I booted up the DSL box. It is a simple firewall Firestarter which is in the repositories. It works. As long as you actually keep it running. My bad. Not the OS.

Cricket loves her Tux. Too bad he ain't flesh and blood and my species.

Peace to all!!!!

 

Is it supporting the monopoly when you don't pay for your MS stuff?

 

yes
for example , web designers use IE as their standard because everybody uses it (though its inferior to Firefox or Opera in many aspects)
if you use a pirated office you still enforce the .doc standard

at the moment MS monopoly is extreme , even people who can't afford it and don't want it , still use it.

there are more fake XP user than Linux users

 

Let Bill generate as much money as possible.


Philanthropy is also important to Gates. He and his wife, Melinda, have endowed a foundation with more than $28.8 billion (as of January 2005) to support philanthropic initiatives in the areas of global health and learning, with the hope that in the 21st century, advances in these critical areas will be available for all people. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has committed more than $3.6 billion to organizations working in global health; more than $2 billion to improve learning opportunities, including the Gates Library Initiative to bring computers, Internet Access and training to public libraries in low-income communities in the United States and Canada; more than $477 million to community projects in the Pacific Northwest; and more than $488 million to special projects and annual giving campaigns.

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/exec/billg/bio.mspx

http://www.gatesfoundation.org/default.htm
http://www.gmsp.org/(afdihjnthvzkoafmwlfkjb45)/default.aspx

 

if i was the richest person in the world, every school kid in the world would have a computer.

its too bad that bill refused that ^ offer and they just used Ubuntu on the $100 laptops for 3rd world school children.

 

as much as i respect mr gates contributions i still believe that MS's monopoly is harmful for everyone



poor countries and communities need infrastructure and technology more than money, imagine a city in a developing country that wants to computerise its services ,can it afford MS licensing prices and support , can it afford the upgrades ?

open source projects like Linux, Apache or Firefox not only give them a good free solution but also share the knowledge with them . Also unlike in the west , in developing countries training is quite cost effective

sadly because Windows is the standard and due to Microsoft's pressure (for example it's recent pressure on Malaysia to abandon implementation of open source projects) many still go for Windows , though often buy a small amount of licences and use pirated versions for the rest (like many places in China) .This causes political problems where the US pressures them (quite legitimately, I suppose) to respect intellectual rights ,and punishes them if the dont .



The open source movement in itself is a unique phenomenon in the capitalist world , thousand of people all working for a better product for absolutely no reward at all but the satisfaction of creation



Think about it

 

You may have a point. I don't doubt that.

I was being a tad flippant. Boycoting MS solves nothing .It will not be implemented world wide. They [Bill and his wife] have given a awful lot of money to good causes and foundations. Something 'open source' individualy or collectively can't claim to have done imho.

 

mai,

Can you install Ubuntu over Windows XP?

 

Can you install Ubuntu over Windows XP?

Yes
you can install Linux over everything almost

If you want to wipe XP and clean install Ubuntu - nothing is more simple
download the Ubuntu iso
burn it unto a CD (make sure you burn it 'as image')
boot from CD
follow the instructions on the screen

but if you are not familiar with Linux i would recommend ,at first install Linux alongside Windows in a dualboot
This will allow you to get used to a new system and you will be able to switch back to Windows if you need

more detailed info
HERE



Though ,slightly more difficult , the dualboot is best at first


Ubuntu can be downloaded from here
(better chose the 6.06 version , more stable)

 

opensource is built by a community. rich and poor ppl have donated.

it is essentially a collaboration of works designed for everyone, for free. what more could we ask of anything. opensource is a perfect world. its a utopia.

 

Mai,

Thank you.

 

If your car behaved like Windows:

1. For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash, twice a day.

2. Every time they repainted the lines in the road, you would have to buy a new car.

3. Occasionally, your car would die on the freeway for no reason. You would have to pull to the side of the road, close all of the windows, shut off the car, restart it, and reopen the windows before you could continue. For some reason you would simply accept this.

4. Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to reinstall the engine.

5. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable, five times as fast and twice as easy to drive – but would run on only five percent of the roads.

6. The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would all be replaced by a single “This Car Has Performed An Illegal Operation” warning light.

7. The airbag system would ask “Are you sure?” before deploying.

8. Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key and grabbed hold of the radio antenna.

9. Every time a new car was introduced car buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.

10. You’d have to press the “Start” button to turn the engine off.

.

 

True enough but youre talking about hosting servers etc and corporate servers I was talking about small to medium sized businesses where budget is an issue - and yep I disagree that most servers run some kind of unix I think the market share may be for sservers somewhere around 54% microsoft - It was the last time I looked into it just under a year ago and those are UK figures -
As a server Linux / Unix is great - nothing wrong with it but in my experience these managers at companies understand MS is the big giant so they go with them and they think free means "not up to scratch" - Also companies have bought into the officeware that comes with MS so they want Blackberry Servers and Outlook Web Access integrated into a MS exchange - and if thats what they want then people like Blackberry should have made Linux integrated servers but nah they integrate with MS exchange - I tell em we can do all that except the blackberry stuff with Linux but its a game of keepin up with the Joneses sometimes and so company-a has blackberry so company-b has to have it just so they dont look out of place - they look hi-tech etc

Car crashes are usually down to bad driving - so are computer crashes down to people who know jack about operating a computer -
the amount of times people visit dodgy sites and give their email address away - I sometimes feel like punching users on the nose when I keep telling them not to visit dodgy sites and they do it and break my networks etc or get viruses on their computers. Actually car crashes and computer crashes are about people not knowing their arse from their elbow

 

:computer: i agree.

I've never had a problem with microsost applications. It just seems they keep the core perimiters on how their products work but just 're-tool'.