* Posts by Cavehomme

24 publicly visible posts • joined 15 Mar 2008

HP UK pulls Linux from all new netbooks

Cavehomme
IT Angle

Lazy

People are basically lazy and what the easiest option, the one of least resistance....unless there is big money to be made from something, then they make an effort.

Linux, much as I like it, only got a show on netbooks because of the initial cost differentials between the two 2 OSs plus a bit of curiosity is building up re Linux, especially since the vista disaster and its inability to tun on netbooks.

But unless someone can really provide a linux distribution that will not cause a massive % increase in returns and support costs and p!ssed off customers who expected to run some particular windows software on their machines, then linux ain't gonna take off in a big way (desite my personal preferences for it - I have "Ubuntu Studio", very nice, on the family PC plus XP for the kids games)

In this case I blame HP almost completely for not taking the time and effort to think this through properly, and implement it properly...plus the British public being so thick and bloody whinghing and suing that they deserve what they get.

And I don't think MS are evil, just bloody successful and protecting their business same as any other business of any size tries to protect its business interests.

Only if MS became a non-profit, or communist collective, would some people be happy, but then those same people want everything to be free whilst still having all the luxuries and tech available to support their high-carbon lives - kind of impossible unfortunately given human nature and the overwhelming capitalist system.

More to the point, why does anyone want a bloody netwook anyway when you can get a smartphone or ipod which is just as useful and far more portable. Life with a laptop (so no desktop needed), plus a smartphone keeps me nicely productive wherever I am, even when on the bog.

Novell dishes up OpenSUSE 11.1 details

Cavehomme
Thumb Up

I'm sorry, but I...CAN!

Frigging around with Linux to get business apps to work (that means MS) is a real pain in the arse, so much so that I stay with XP, much as I hate it.

Getting into bed with the enemy is a good idea, especially since so many versions of linux are still nowhere near enough for the business user...unless you count call centre monkeys. Other more evolved business being need to run Outlook, perhaps Project and Visio, and running under Wine is too difficult and flaky, also emulation on a light laptop is a non-starter for me.

Whether this relationship brings any such fruits to bear, I have no idea, but it is the only glimmer of hope....otherwise it is going to be regretably Windows 7 for me.

MS doesn't set world alight with Office Live Workspace

Cavehomme

Not good enough...

...but not too bad, apart from being horribly slow. Slowness forced me to stop using their Office Live product, also bagger all free storage space.

As for Google. Great for kids and students and other freetards, cr@p for other business use.

MS Office is not great, Lotus Smartsuite had the best idea a decade ago then completely lost the plot, great pity.

I still run my business with Office 2003, but suggest if you want an online suite, Zoho is very good and hard to beat in that sector.

IE8 beta 2 locks down some XP lovers

Cavehomme
Jobs Horns

linuXP

Yep, and my laptop got screwed by MS updates so I had no choice but to roll-back from IE8. Can you imagine the nightmare i had trying to work out what they hell was going on with IE !!!! 2 hours of hard labour and re-installs later....ba$tard$ or what? I should $ue them. Still, prettier and more workable than Ubuntu, for now. I just wish the the linux lot would get off their freetard soapbaxes and produce a real and easy competitor to MicroShaft XtraPissingaround. Why can't someone invent LinuXP for us busy business users???? Its what we need, no frigging, just familiarity but stable and productive.

Microsoft running on at least 220,000 servers

Cavehomme
IT Angle

Yawn

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Linux risks netbooks defeat to Microsoft

Cavehomme
Linux

My PC clueless wife loves Ubuntu

Well, not to be sexist in any way whatsoever, but my wife despite her relatively young years never somehow got to grips with PCs or using them. A few years ago she learned how to use Outlook Express, also firefox, then more recently Skype. She could never work out how to print things, save, etc etc. A fear of computing probably, for whatever reasons.

Well, after several problems with XP SP3 completely f**** things up on my network and making XP home and XP prfessional not play with each other (a bad attempt by Microshaft to get punters to upgrade to Vista), and decided to stop arsing around and set up a dual boot with Ubuntu 8.04 on it, as default.

Well it's like she suddenly discovered America. She loves the simplicity, logicality and aesthetics of Ubuntu. Whilst I hate brown, I must admit she is completely right, and more importantly for me to support Ubuntu my work is an ABSOLUTE minimum compared to frigging around endlessly with XP and all the crapware and so-called security packages (of which you need half a dozen to keep you reasonably secure).

Whilst Ubuntu is not brilliant, it certainly is massively competent, and is much easier than MS to work with and support for 80% of things. And that's what it really comes down to, the 80 / 20 rule. MS fails badly, Ubuntu wins clearly. 80% is all most people need, yet the arguemtn always focuses on the nerdy pointless 20% and some of you lot spend 80% of your time tossing around with that 20% crap.

Roll on Ubuntu. Still some way to go, but certainly getting there.

Cavehomme
Thumb Up

Linux Therapy - inspired, spot on!

Linux Therapy - inspired, spot on!

CERN: LHC to fire first proton-smash ray next month

Cavehomme
Pirate

Ou est mon velo?!

Pardonez-moi, I live just down the road from there. Wondered what ze f*** was happening when all ze cutlery went flying down ze road at supersonic speed when they were testing ze super cooled super magnets last week!

Funnily enough, my car went missing too - thought it was nicked by some retard immigrant kid - but now I reckon its perched on top of the magnet with my cutlery! I will go on my bike tomorrow and check it out.......f*** me, someone has nicked my bike as well, or....????!!!!

Looking forward to experiencing the "mini" black-holes next month. Should be great fun! Wey hey!!!! Beam me up Scottie - off this mad planet !

Mac users urged to ditch Safari

Cavehomme
IT Angle

Mac Off!

"Paris because even she wouldn't be dumb enough to update her paypal details from an email link."

Maybe, but she might not be a mac user! Most mac users seem to live in beautiful blissful ignorance of any security isues. That's how life really should be, and you techies should all make it like that for everyone.

But the trouble is that I reckon most Mac techies are so bloody arrogant and ignorant of anything non-arty that they could not even spot a phishing attack, hence no such feature in Safari, which also is a crap browser anyway.

Gov pulls plug on prison PlayStations

Cavehomme
Alert

Nicked

"The good news is that Joe Public won’t have to fund cons’ gaming sessions anymore. "

Yes they will, because Joe Public will have his PS stolen by one the jailbird's mates and handed over during visiting time and so will need to buy another one!

Ubuntu man challenges open source to out-pretty Apple

Cavehomme
Gates Halo

Mark Gates

Linux has its place, and I had great dreams of it replacing Win and Apple. I still use it occasionally.

Trouble is, a bunch of well meaning people but very nerdish, not succeeding commercially so they have to prove themselves with code to their peers. Its like a bloody bunch of school kids in a science lab. The result is interesting but mostly a bit of a mess.

Nothing wrong with a nerdish mess, but don't expect miracles or massively popular desktop software in a consumer, commercial world.

Shuttleworth is right, and I hope he can somehow succeed, with a miracle of course, especially as all the commies will try and shoot him down.

Bill, because whilst he promoted a not-that-good OS with horrendous security, he at least helped change the world by getting reasonable stuff on everyone's home. He made billions, and has the decency to give most of it back to the poor buggers who have no luck in life. Well done that man. May be Shuttleworth will be next.

EU tells UK to deal with Phorm - or else

Cavehomme
Stop

Thank Goodness for the EU!

Hail the EU, all is forgiven....well almost.

Shows how bad a state the UK is in if it needs t@$$ers like the EU to give a hard nudge like this.

Much as I do not like Labour, the Tories would be even worse and thrwoing away even more freedoms, a bit like Bush and his mob. As for Lib Dems, well "nice" idea, but the execution is would be well, a bit "nice" and ultimately useless and chaotic.

So there is no one capable of running UK Plc any more, and the EU are a Yugoslavia or CCCP waiting to disintegrate with a few million dead, so what to do?

Real democracy. Every town / county in the country to have randomly picked by computer a representative to serve them as an MP for 1 year.

Same computer picks the cabinet an Prime Minister :o)

Great idea, and I own the source code ! !!! :o) Open to offers.

Microsoft kicks Ubuntu update in the hardy herons

Cavehomme
Flame

Extraordinary FUD

What a load of do!!ocks this so-called news. MS are continuing to lose the battle now, full stop (or period if you are American). They are staffed a bunch of useless MBAs who know SFA about the real world. Let them play with their crappy eye candy. MS were awesome until 2002 but then then the parasitic to$$ers won and the rest is history. Uptime!? Ha bloody ha! More irrelevant than my curried farts are to global warming.

Icon - curried fart exploding.

Philips turned off by monitor business

Cavehomme
Pirate

The slide continues

Yet another European company is incapable of producing and successfully selling their own kit. It has been the same with this company for the past few years. Bl@@dy lazy all these companies, it is easier to do a deal with some revenue share rather than do all the hard work yourself. Europe will become an irrelevant producer of goods AND services within 10-20 years at this rate. Lazy MBA slobs.

Linspire CEO defends Xandros buy-out

Cavehomme
Paris Hilton

Eye Candy

I use both XP and Ubuntu but I think that Freespire / Linspire is actually a great interface for those Windows users who like their "eye candy" with girly pastel shades etc.

Good look to them with their merger. Xandros have some good business in the corporate sector, they might do pretty OK by incorporating Linspire's girly Windows interface.

As for other distributions, well geeks will always be geeks. Linux is frequently like buying a kit car or going some serious DIY in your house. Maybe Ubuntu is easier to use for sure, but it is like getting a cheap and ugly Asian car instead of having a BMW...albeit a BMW that frequently breaksdown, frequently gets nicked because of crap security, and costs an awful lot to run and service when things go wrong. Actually seems more like British Leyland than BMW.

Paris because she would appreciate the girly pastels of Linspire.

1,076 developers, 15 years, one open-source Wine

Cavehomme
Thumb Down

Still Wine-ing

I tried Wine 5 years ago, 4 years ago, 3 years ago, 2 years ago, 1 year ago, 0 years ago, and it still only is good for Office 97 and partly Office 2000.

So I gave up and started using Staroffice / Openoffice.

If any other IT project threatened to take 15 years it would have been canned countless years ago!

Admrable to see such endurance in one's spare time, but I could have cut my grass at least 480 times in that period.

Wish they would have put all their efforts into making OpenOffice better, and making a better Open Source equivalent to Outlook than Evolution.

OpenSUSE 11 a redemptive OS with a Mactastic shine

Cavehomme
Paris Hilton

Pretty OS

This is good news indeed.

I tried 10.3 and got stuck with RPM and all that cr@p. Obviously I had no time to read any manuals in my desperation to get off XP SP3 which had screwed up my home network completely!

Whilst I ended up with Ubuntu 7.10 (after downgrading from the un-ready 8.04), it really is, sorry to say, aimed at a bunch of computer newbies who have never seen the light of XP in Africa or wherever else they live, or are unfortuantely so poor that they run old kit and can't afford Windows - or the kit can't run a decent distribution of Linux. Cluncky ubuntu or what !!??

Now that Novell 11 is out, I look forward to it's ease of use for this 30-year-experienced-IT guru (really an idiot - me).

Otherwise I might just go for the very pretty Freespire and ignore their lack of decent extra apps via their cr@p and commercial CNR site.

As for Mandriva - its nearly as expensive as XP !!!

Paris, because I am sure she would like a pretty-looking free OS like Freespire so she can watch her videos in privacy - no danger of spyware grabbing them and uploading them to You Tube for the world to see. she can then spend the buks saved on Freespire by renting me as her Linux boy.

Gov claims 'password protection' OK for sensitive docs

Cavehomme
IT Angle

Blame their IT department

Yes Labour are muppets, but most of the lapses so far are concerning the Civil Service not the actual politicians, apart from this loss.

Same problem would exist if The Cons were governing as well.

All these politicking to$$ers are as clueless as each other, regardless of party. Cameron and his sidekicks are similarly inexperienced as Labour in the real world. Can you imagine Cameron really understand what is going on rather than blaberring any old bull cr@p about things? They are mostly all the same, with only a few precious exceptions.

As for the Civil Service, well what a bunch of time wasting lay abouts.

So, all these idiots need an IT department that can effectively manage their stupid liabilities.

They also need me in charge of the country to tell them what is what.

Google keeps killing penguins for money

Cavehomme
Paris Hilton

The evils of Google and Microsoft

What a load of whingers some of you are. If you are not denouncing MS for making a profit then you are denouncing Google.

There is begger all wrong about making a profit. Not hat I like these corporations particularly, but had it not been for MS then most of you would not be making a good living becuase the masses would not be using computers on anywhere near the present scale. Ms produces a lot of cr@p, but they have also done a lot of good, and at least evil Bill is paying his penance now by devoting much of his life to re-investing his billions to the poor sods of this world. Even the communists of this world done give a damn about their own people.

As for Google, of course they want people to use their services. No one is compelled to, lots of other search engines, but they offer what people want and make good money doing it. If they can save millions on their bottom lines by being more energy efficient then good look to them.

If their competitors want to do the same then they have to go and talk to bl@@dy Intel or AMD and not Google! Are you completely soft in the head or what!

Now then, morning rant over, off my soap box, time to do some real work rather than read these great pages :o)

Paris, because she is not free either.

Dell touts Windows XP to 2009 - and 'likely longer'

Cavehomme

Linux not yet ready

This is great news for a lot of business users. There is no other OS that comes close to reliability and supportability.

Yes MS are crap, but after 7 years of patches they finally have somethng decent, notwithstanding the SP3 screw ups. And yes, it is full of security issues, but nothing really that cannot be overcome by avoiding use of IE, activeX, even javascript and a few other tweaks.

I have played with Linux for quite a few years as a desktop end user but I still have not fully switched to it for daily business use. Even Ubuntu which is very good, is still not an easy transition for XP business users. Frigging about with Wine, Crossover or Win4Lin is not a good enough solution for most business users.

Until Linux behaves and offer apps that look and work very closely to XP then linux will only grow very slowly, and may even tail off whilst some of the herd decide instead to jump across to MacOSX rather than cluncky funcky nerdy Linux.

Paris, because she would surely not fu'n'ck with Linux

Firefox record breaker sets the date

Cavehomme
Linux

FF3 Broken

Great browser but I was gifted with FF3 beta after install Ubuntu 8.04. Screwed me up for a day with plugin incompatabilities.

I worry that FF and Linux supporters are like religious zealouts and can't think rationally any more. Who give a to$$ how many downloads happen on the first day! What we need is a great and WORKABLE browser for which ALL the popular plugins work from DAY ONE !!!!

Sure, it is better than IE, but it is in danger of becoming an uncontrolled pile of poo trying to be hip and keeping all the kids happy.

As a consequence of various issues I am actively testing Opera and now find it an excellent and stable product - massively better than IE and even FF, albeit without all these plugins. Pugins are also possibly an unnecessary security risk. I might just make finally make the full switch to Opera next month.

Microsoft chases satnav market

Cavehomme
Gates Horns

$@tn@v

Stand back World, Microsoft is innovating again!

What a bunch of to$$ers, they have no clue whatsoever beyond trying to monopolise markets. I used to respect them until about 2-3 years ago when all the various chickens came home to roost.

Where there is money, there is microsoft playing games, way behind any sense of innovation as known by other human beings.

The iPhone - yours for €1

Cavehomme
Thumb Down

iCrap

nuff said

Yahoo! leaves! London!

Cavehomme
Gates Halo

Losers

"Switzerland, despite its low taxation, is a very unpleasant place to live. Trust me, I spent more than a year there."

What is hell for some is heaven for others!

Very little crime, very high democracy, very good state schools, very good healthcare and other services, very nice scenery, very nice people, very nice cheese and chocolate, very high quality of local food and wine, very carefully managed immigration policy to ensure a match between demand and supply.

No it is not paradise and has its issues as well, but there are far more pluses than minuses.

And this comes from experience of living and working there far more than a measely 1 year.

Come on over Micro-hoo, you are welcome, and you will have a great time here!