November 2006 Archives
Ok, I have been biting my tongue for days now, trying to avoid comment on the MS/Novell announcements. I can't stand it any longer. This so reminds me of another scenario (SCO threatening its own customers) that I can't keep my mouth shut. I know it has nothing to do with my blogging category of "The Next Frontier," but as some of you know, a pesky lawsuit caused me a lot of heartburn during my UnitedLinux days, and thus I beg your indulgence.
I had a good time reviewing Ubuntu Linux version 6.10 (64-bit), a week or so ago.
As reviews go, the story produced a virtual flood of feedback, mostly from the Ubuntu community. Quite a few readers made entries in the talk backs. I also received about a dozen additional emails. The remarks ran the gamut, from “thanks, good article” to “why did you write this?”. I welcome any and all buzz from an article. People definitely are reading. That's good for LinuxToday.
I've been a little quiet of late, though please don't think it's anything personal. The truth is that on November 4 I relocated my family to Northern Indiana because my wife got a new job up here this summer. We had been apart since just before Labor Day, but finally the stars aligned and we were able to move into temporary housing while our home in Indianapolis awaits its sale.
As far as the computers go, the move went without incident, since they rode in the back of my car as opposed to the cargo area of the U-Haul. I'd had the cable guy out the day before we moved here, so the broadband was ready to go. Or, so I thought.
At the risk of your ensuing your wrath, I will admit it, I am a Windows user. Flame on. The reality is that I am not a geek, and have certain requirements that keep me on Windows. For example, at home I am burdened with a two-way satellite connection by Direcway--which does not support Linux. Please don't suggest I write a driver, I am more likely to climb the trees along my driveway and string the 440 yards of cable I need to connect to my local cable provider. Why not MAC? I am seriously considering it. Don't even think about me installing a server at home, in that regard, I am a card-carrying Luddite.
My previous blog entry generated a lot of responses. I really enjoyed that, and surely this was a surprise: I thought most people don't care nowadays. In fact, I don't care--I just tried to explain why Linux is better for me. And it's not over yet--this time I will tell you about my copy/paste experience in Linux and Windows.
On a daily basis, Linux Today gets submitted story contributions to stories that don't quite fit the editorial model of the site. Today was no exception, as I received a link to an interesting story from the BBC highlighting Microsoft's internal debate on whether to stop doing business with mainland China because of the continued abuses of human rights in that nation.
Since it didn't deal with Linux or open source, I didn't link to the story from LT. But it did get me to thinking... suppose Microsoft actually did decide to do the right thing and discontinue doing business with China? What would that mean for Linux? Perhaps a great deal--and possibly not all of it good.