handyfloss

I read (via Kriptópolis) that Microsoft has partially corrected a bug that caused the batteries of some laptops to run out too fast. However, if we are to believe the source of the new (The Register), MS only fixed one of the three causes of power drain.

Only MS could make an OS that affected hardware adversely… Sad.

There was a time when Windows users would say there weren’t games that run under Linux.

There was a time when Windows users would say that Linux was technically inferior.

Later they would end up accepting that it was indeed technically superior, but that it would not catch on people because it was difficult to install and use.

Now, with distros like SUSE or Ubuntu, which are easier to install than Windows, they resort to saying that Windows does and will reign in the desktop, because they have had years of development, whereas Linux “consists on sucky black terminals with fosforescent text”.

OK, check about XGL on Linux. Both Linux and Windows (Vista) are able to move and resize windows with transparencies, shades, and elasticity effects… now, you can read here (Spanish), how a guy opened 17 simultaneous High Definition videos with transparencies and real time shades on his Linux Box, while Windows would barely cope with one or two. Check the videos in that page, and think again about Linux and his “sucky black terminals”.

Reading FayerWayer, I found a reference to a comparison between these three OSs made by someone called Jasjeet Sekhon. As with any benchmark, it is only valid for the context it applies to, so take it cautiously, and read the original story for more details.

The benchmarks used by Jasjeet Sekhon are two calculations with some software called R Project for Statistical Computing. The results are good for Linux (of course), and bad for… OSX!! Yes, madams et monsieurs, even Windows beats MacOSX.

Today I’ve overheard a short conversation two workmates have had in front of me. One of them told the other: “Can you get me a [pirated] copy of Windows, plus Nero, plus OpenOffice…? I need them because this weekend I’m going to some friends’ and they want me to install Windows on their laptop.”

This made me wonder… Isn’t Windows for dummies? Isn’t it straightforward? Isn’t it easy to find, cheap to pay for and fool-proof to install? What the hell do my workmate’s friends need her for? Ahhh!, now I get it: Windows is easy because there’s always someone who will install/fix/troubleshoot it for you. My workmate could install Linux for them just as well!

Second thought: Windows has a lot of software available… yeah, right! But you need third party software like Nero or OpenOffice (BTW, at least my workmate didn’t ask for MS Office), often times pirated. Hell!, with Linux (e.g. Debian) you download a complete OS, hassle-free and legally, you burn it into a CD, and you have burning software to substitute Nero (e.g. K3B), e-mail client to substitute Outlook (e.g. Thunderbird, KMail), ofimatic soft to substitute MS Office (e.g. OpenOffice, KOffice, Abiword, Gnumeric)… everything. And installable with a click.

Linux is EASIER.

I read in El País that the next MS browser, IE7, will sport a couple of new features, namely tabbed browsing and RSS support.

I knew of the lack of tabbed browsing in that poor excuse of a browser that IE6 is, but… they didn’t have RSS?. What kind of sh*t is this? IE6 users have to open another program to read RSS feeds? That’s pathetic, man!

Firefox and all the Open Source browser lot surely have had them (both tabs and RSS) for a long time!

Go, MS “innovation”, go!!

Some days ago I was dismayed (although not really surprised) to come across some “Technical requirements” for accessing a service in the Spanish Ministerio de Administraciones Públicas, specifically the online service to track the state of the tramitation of permission of stay for a foreign colleage.

This “requirements” where the dreaded MS Windows/IE combo, and thus it prompted me to write the complaint e-mail quoted below.

To my surprise, they have answered, today. They just say that they sent my complaint to the Subdirección General de Tecnología de la Información y Comunicaciones, so they might or might not do something, but that’s a start!

My e-mail:

Estimados servidores del ciudadano,

Constato con asombro e indignación que en su página web, al menos en la sección de extranjería (link), mencionan como “Requisitos técnicos” para acceder a sus servicios, cito textualmente:

# Sistema operativo Windows 98 o superior
# Internet Explorer 5.5(SP2) o superior

¿Cómo puede aceptarse que un organismo público, pagado con nuestros impuestos, tenga como requisito para su acceso un sistema operativo de pago, propiedad de una compañía privada extranjera? ¿Acaso el Ministerio distribuye gratuitamente licencias de Windows, para hacerlo accesible a quien no lo tenga? ¿O acaso todo potencial usuario de su página web debe hacer frente al desembolso requerido para obtener una?

Les recuerdo que existen alternativas a Windows, algunas de ellas LIBRES, GRATUITAS y PÚBLICAS, como BSD o Linux. Yo soy un usuario de este último S.O., y creo que como ciudadano, votante y pagador de impuestos, me merezco que den soporte no sólo a dicha plataforma, sino a todas.

Si su página es conforme a los estándares de Internet, en cuanto a formato (HTML, CSS, Java etc.), no deberían tener ningún problema en ser accesibles desde ningún sistema operativo ni con ningún navegador.

Sinceramente,

Iñaki Silanes