Linux-Advocacy Digest #798, Volume #25 Fri, 24 Mar 00 20:13:07 EST
Contents:
Re: Let's blow this Linux Scam Wide Open!! (R.E.Ballard ( Rex Ballard ))
LETS MAKE GAMES!!!!!!!!! ("Mickel")
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From: R.E.Ballard ( Rex Ballard ) <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Let's blow this Linux Scam Wide Open!!
Date: Sat, 25 Mar 2000 00:51:03 GMT
In article <89pp8f$dgc$[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
proculous <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Benchmarks?
>
> Where are they? Not some stupid German Linux magazine that nobody
> reads, but some verafiable benchmarks? Any out there?
I have reviewed contracts between Microsoft and Softronics, Dow Jones,
McGraw-Hill, U.S. Clearing, Computer Sciences Corporation and
Prudential Insurance company for "strategic partnership" agreements.
I can only talk about them now because I was previously covered by
nondisclosure agreements (the waiting periods have just passed).
Each contract had specific clauses which forbade any public
disclosures without Microsoft's prior written approval.
This specifically included benchmarks, comparisons to other
competitor products, public disclosure of bugs, and public
disclosure of algorythms, standards, or other technical
information. This umbrella was intended to suppress any
press releases that would be unfavorable to Microsoft. Dow
Jones even had to kill several reviews because they showed
preferences for competitor products. Eventually, the story
was "sterilized" and published in a for that made Microsoft
appear to be the superior product.
> Total support for current hardware?
>
> Not half assed we can make it work support but real support?
> DVD, Scanners, Printers (not Flintstone models or Po$tcript$ models).
Microsoft exerts a great deal of control in the DVD standards process,
the USB standards process, the PCI standards process, and the TWAIN
standards process. Furthermore, it is nearly impossible to create
a functional and effective driver without direct support from
Microsoft.
Developers must abide by Microsoft's wishes and abstain
from public support of Linux or Microsoft will retailate. Measures
taken have incuded exclusion from the CD-ROM distribution, inclusion
of drivers known to be disfunctional in the CD-ROM distribution, and
even alteration of routines called by drivers that make the peripheral
disfunctional. One of the best examples of this is the LinkSys
drivers. Shortly after LinkSys put "Linux Compatible" (they use
the NE2000 driver and include the best settings for Linux) on the
box, the Linksys driver included on the CD-ROM ceased to work.
Linksys now requires that you use either a downloaded driver or
the driver provided on the floppy to get a functional system.
Microsoft's End User License Agreement also expressly forbids
any form of "Reverse Engineering" - this includes the use of
"clean room" tactics in which one developer creates code without
seeing any code or documentation, and a tester familiar with the
code and documentation reports bugs back to the coder. This
was the technology used to create the Phoenix BIOS and the AMI
BIOS that broke the IBM compatibility issue. It also meant that
OEMs could run Microsoft software without paying royalties to IBM.
Microsoft is acutely aware of this technology, and prosecutes
vigourously. This has been a major impediment in the WINE project.
> Multimedia?
>
> Non-existant unless RealPlayer
> "insert 3 versions ago player here" counts.
Actually the latest versions of RealPlayer are available. In
addition, Linux has other MP3, MPEG, and MPEG-II decoders. Linux
even has DVD capability, but it requires the use of DeCSS which
Microsoft is trying to keep out of Linux distributions by pushing
the MPAA and DVD-CSS organizations to prosecute through civil suits.
It appears that Microsoft Affiliated forces began marketing DeCSS
as a piracy tool instead of a driver. The MPAA is now attempting
to "prosecute the rifle maker for murders committed by hoods using
stolen rifles". DeCSS was never intended as a piracy tool, was
intended specifically to allow the display of DVD video on Linux
machines.
> So IBM is behind Linux? Of course they are.
This is correct. IBM now considers Linux it's primary server
OS on the Netfinity platform and other server platforms. This
doesn't mean they've abandoned Microsoft entirely, they have
simply refused to accept terms that would exclude Linux.
IBM is still working out it's workstation strategy. Companies
like Dell and IBM are taking the tack of defining a new "appliance
computer" which happens to be Linux powered, rather than putting
Linux on it's standard PC systems. Part of this is because they
can build a Linux machine for less than a Win2K machine, with less
confusion than a WinCE machine. With multiple vendors willing to
offer very generous terms, and third party applications also
seeking market share taken by Microsoft, the OEMs can create a
smaller, cheaper, standardized machine based on fire-ware, SCSI,
and very low-cost infrastructure.
> They are asking their employees to tie rubber
> bands back together while the executives get rich.
And Bill Gates has wallowed in poverty so that his employees and
contractors - who often worked 80 hour weeks - could reap the benefits
of their efforts. Employees who got stock options in February of
last year are delighted with where there stock was until rumors of
a settlement began circulating.
> A no cost OS is exactly what the rich pig execs want.
Actually, Linux isn't entirely free. IBM needs distributor support
and has created incentives for companies who provide that support.
Companies like Red Hat, SuSE, Caldera, and TurboLinux have done
a very good job of making sure that each release works well. Perhaps
not always 100% bug free, but well enough that it only takes minor
tweaks to fix.
> Try http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/ibmunion
> http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/ibmpension
IBM has had to walk a fine line between their "Classic" pension
plan designed for the people who were hired out of high school
and have stayed with the company for up to 30 years, and the
modern 401K plans and bonus programs used to attract and keep
top talent who often change jobs an average of 18 to 24 months.
> to find out how happy IBM folks are these days.
IBM is a really big company, with skill sets ranging from forklift
drivers in the wharehouse to Global Services consultants who fly
around the world on 2 hours notice. Some of them are very upset,
others are quite happy.
> While the press rumbles with major vendors supporting
> Linux, the truth is that the support is skin deep if that.
> Try calling tech support and mentioning Linux and
> see how far you get.
Keep in mind that Linux support contracts are generally a revenue
item and that Linux users aren't directed through the traditional
channels. Again, IBM's primary support of Linux at the moment seems
to be in the server arena. This doesn't mean that IBM is or is not
working on a workstation (I couldn't tell you even if I knew). This
information is based on publicly available information such as press
releases - not confidential IBM sources.
> Hint: Listen for laughing while you get put on hold.
I recently received a catalog which included Linux powered laptops
from Dell, IBM, Compaq, and HP, among others. They even offered
you your choice of Linux distributions. I was personally quite
interested in the Thinkpad 600E.
> Compare feature for feature with the Windows version
> and see how they compare.
Linux versions don't use Winmodems, they have 50x CD-ROMs instead
of DVDs (though SuSE does offer a version on DVD that is unencrypted).
The SuSE 6.3 distribution I bought last night came on 6 CD-ROMS, and
all but the last was full. They even have enough programs and
features to fill a 6 gig drive if you really want all the bells and
whistles. I think that included uncompressed source code.
> Problem is you Linux Nuts are so used
> to using inferior software that
> requires an MSEE to operate that
> you don't know the difference.
I will have to give Microsoft Windows one point in it's favor.
Microsfot makes it very easy to LEARN to use their applications.
The helps, pop-up helps, wizards, and templates make it very easy
to learn to push the right buttons in the right order to make it
look like you know what you're doing.
You can look like a DBA without knowing a thing about normalization,
SQL syntax, or even the proper rules for naming a field. And you
won't find out how ignorant you are until somone decide to use this
for 2000 people. By the time the folks who are accountable for
databases get finished fuming and howling, you can forget being
taken seriously as a database person.
You can look like a project manager by getting Microsfot Project.
And when your project is 800% over budget because you don't have
a clue of how to manage scope, partition work, manage milestones,
and manage breakdowns, you won't be managing projects.
You can even look like a programmer by getting Visual Basic. You
can create spiffy looking screens and create a great "smoke and
mirrors" demonstration, but when your static globals result in
deadlocks and race conditions, and your form doesn't enforce the
business rules and workflow requirements, you won't be programming.
You can even look like a good business manager by getting Excel,
Powerpoint, and Word. And when you have raised a billion in equity
and have gone 3 years without a profitable quarter because you can't
stop spending more than your revenues, you won't be managing
businesses.
Thank goodness that most companies look for more than just good
"Microsoft Skills" or we'd have high school drop-outs practicing
medicine (on WebMD). Good accountants know how to manage a
double-entry system with or without excel. Database administrators
know how to create queries in SQL and possibly other languages.
Programmers know how to program using a text editor and a makefile.
Most can even read the assembler code the compiler generates.
What's interesting is that the people who really know what they
are doing consider the nice friendly teaching tools of Microsoft
to be an impediment. When they want to trim the fat off a query,
normalize a database, or reorganize domains, they don't like to
be held up by a graphical interface that insists on being coddled
through dozens or even hundreds of window frames.
> Pathetic is the answer.
Pathetic is when a PC that runs almost 1000 times faster than
the VAX 11/780, and amost 50 times faster than a 3090/400J mainframe
can choke over the input of a single user.
True, memory is cheap, mips (or bips) are cheap, and drives are cheap.
Microsoft figures that if they need 1 billion instructions per second,
1/4 gigabyte of RAM, and 40 gigabytes of hard drive, along with
read-only storage at 14 gigabytes/disk, with no means of back-up
and no means of hard media storage, that they will somehow capture
the last 2 million BMW driving yuppies who have never purchased a
computer. Actually, they just assume that the 200 million yuppies
will somehow make their old computers disappear and replace them
with new Microsoft Windows 2000 capable computers.
Of course, the EPA frowns on people who take computers and monitors
loaded with lead, phosphorous, arsenic, mercury, and other toxic
materials and just throw them in the dumpster. This creates a great
opportunity for those who buy and sell used computers, especially
those who sell them overseas.
Meanwhile, there are those who think that with Linux capable of
running quite comfortably on 200 mips 32 meg 2 gig machines, that
there it would be really easy to create a very cheap Linux box for
a few hundred dollars that could be sold very cheaply, under $300
per box. Furthermore, at this price, people could simply stack
itty-bitty-boxes together when they wanted more storage, speed,
and peripherals. A relatively cheap laptop could be connected
to Cobalt Qubes via a simple ethernet hub. You might even buy
a new Qube every month or two. If you don't like cubic shapes,
you can get them the size of the Gideon Bible.
Just think, you could have 3-5 linux boxes per user, and you
could have another 3-5 per family. Add to this the fact that
Linux is supported by distributors in 4 countries and supports
over 30 languages and you have a global potential. It could
go as high as two billion people and over 20 billion units.
If you watch the UNIX market, it's not uncommon to simply use
the systems additively. Rather than junking an old box, you
simply move the console to the fastest box and use the older
boxes as databases, file servers, and peripheral servers.
> Linux is a pure scam brought forth
> by the folks at the major Linux
> vendors in order to boost the IPO
> so that a select few could get rich.
There are many forces driving the Linux market, there are
a few companies that have decided to surf the tidal wave.
The last time we saw this kind of growth was during the Internet.
There were companies like Yahoo, Lycos, and Infoseek that started
out as little more than a couple of UNIX boxes in someone's closet.
Red Hat spent almost 5 years operating on a shoestring, turning
out modest profits, until last year, it held it's annual LinuxExpo
at the local college. In the 1998 show, the big money was still
quite scarce. In the 1999 show, the major manufacturers were there
and showing product. In the IDG Linux Expo in San Jose, the floor
was huge and filled with hundreds of vendors, many of whom had been
shut out of the Windows market. The New York show was at the Javits
Center and attracted nearly 1000 vendors and merchants and thousands
of consultants, along with the bevy of folks from Wall Street, Madison
Avenue, and Silicon Alley.
> When Linux dies a dismal death, and it will very soon,
> they will still be driving their Vett's and you will
> still be using an operating system
> hacked together by a bunch of nuts who report to no one.
You haven't been noticing the complex network of contracts and
support agreements, have you? Ironically, Linus' decision NOT
to join a particular distributor and to go with chip maker transmeta
actually increased the amount of support. Had Linus chosen to go
to Red Hat, or Caldera, we might have ended up with a Linux Monopoly
to compete with the Microsoft Monopoly.
Probably the one guy laughing his way to the bank is Ray Noorda. He
was the one who left Novell when his board accepted an agreement
to keep UNIX out of the Workstation market if Microsoft kept NT
out of the server market. The agreement lasted 30 days before it
became obvious that Microsoft had designed NT as a server from the
start. But by the time they realized that they had been
double-crossed, the Workstation developer staff had been released,
(most of whom moved to the Linux market), and Noorda had transferred
his stock holdings into venture capital to back Caldera, he also
hired the best UNIX people to work with Caldera.
Ironically, Noorda didn't push Caldera during the "IPO Fever", but
instead pushed the offering during a period when there would be
less "push money" to drive the price up 3000%.
> When the virii code appears in all of
> the back doors that will be or
> have been inserted in linux you
> will pay the price.
You don't understand Linux very well do you? Even when there
are Linux viruses, and there have been a few, the damage is
limited to that user's account. Every Linux distribution warns
users not to use Linux on the internet while logged in as root.
Windows NT provides some of the same type of security when
users are not given Administrator priviledge. The problem is
that users can SU or SUDO.
The UNIX community has been dealing with trojan horses, viruses,
hackers, and other malicious behavior since the early 1970s, when
students would start to play "core wars". The most dramatic example
was the "Internet Virus" that exploited a back-door. It was supposed
to be a mapping function, but a bug which caused the program to sleep
1000 microseconds instead of 1000 seconds caused the virus to take out
several thousand computers. Since that time, UNIX design has been
much more defensive.
There are fundamental differences between Microsoft platforms and
UNIX/Linux platforms. Many of the best features of UNIX have been
integrated as you trace the evolution from Windows 3.1 to Windows 95,
to Windows NT 4.0, to Windows 2000. Many of these concepts have
resultend in versions of Windows that are more reliable and more
secure.
The one key distinction between Linux and Windows is that Windows is
still based on trust of Application Programmer Interfaces with no
knowledge of protocols, algorythms, and other critical information.
When an ActiveX control comes into your IE 5.0 browser, only the
programmer - not even Microsoft - knows what you got. And only
the signature authority knows anything about the author. Furthermore,
even the signature authority doesn't know for sure that the signature
is still valid. Previous horror stories have included ActiveX controls
coming from fictional characters (Donald Duck, Minnie Mouse, Dick
Tracy), historical figures (Benjamin Franklin,...), dead people, or
even using information culled from stolen wallets.
Unfortunately, there are limits to the liability assumed by the
signature authorities and none of them are indemnified by a major
insurance provider or underwriter.
Linux, on the other hand, is based on an infrastructure that is
based on Open Source code, published standards, and published
formats. Yes, you can buy proprietary software (often included
with the distribution) and you can add proprietary drivers, but
there are safeguards in the infrastructure that help reduce the
risk, mitigate the damage, help identify the perpetrator.
> Good Luck
>
> Proculous....
Your style reminds me of "S"
> Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
> Before you buy.
>
--
Rex Ballard - Open Source Advocate, Internet
I/T Architect, MIS Director
http://www.open4success.com
Linux - 60 million satisfied users worldwide
and growing at over 1%/week!
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
------------------------------
From: "Mickel" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: LETS MAKE GAMES!!!!!!!!!
Date: Sat, 25 Mar 2000 01:02:45 GMT
WE MUST MAKE GAMES!!!!!!! Is what i am stressing. With linux getting more
user friendly by the day we need to capture the brand new audiences of linux
and sweep them off there feet even more. There are plenty of resources about
the web most of which are free that i have found. Such as 3d engines and
audio engines, excellant graphics programs and animation programs, even the
program that made the Toy Story® characters come to life.
I am looking to make games of any types Rpg's, 3d shooters, strategies,
race car games the list goes on.
WE CAN DO ANYTHING!! We need a bunch of developers to kickstart this
project and earn a nice side pocket of money at the same time the "prime"
developers will gather a stake in the business equal to that of their input.
Ofcourse the games will be relativly cheap per release. They will be highly
competitive games in terms of graphics, style and Sound FX etc. These games
are no little projects. Myself and whoever wants to be well known in the
linux world will establish the masterful Linux OS as the mainstream gamers
platform. IT WILL BE BIG!!!
I believe there are enough fellow computer nerds (developers, graphic
artists, designers, story writers or anyone of use) to bring this project to
be a major company in the soon to be mainstream, Linux OS.
I think to myself that in the world of windows, companies like Blizzard®
and IDsoftware® made the big bucks in the up and coming OS of the 80's,
early 90's of course i am talking about MS Windows®. With companies such as
these the competion is very fierce and is very hard for small gaming
companies to crack on to the lucrative market.
With Linux taking a very rapid stamp on the computer market we may as well
get our "foot in the door" first and establish our position as the major
gaming company of Linux.
All that said and done if u are interested in making games and you think
you have something to offer a newly forming company then email me with your
ideas and possible positions of developement, artistry or any other
positions i mentioned.
Thankyou and goodnight.
The way to enlightenment is Linux:)
email me: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Be quick to send!
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