4 ms·

a great article. the OS is a thing of the past. Our 4 year old Windows PC takes about 2-3 minutes to boot up and allow Firefox to browse. It's too long. I'm NOT

by weegee 18y ago

a great article. the OS is a thing of the past. Our 4 year old Windows PC takes about 2-3 minutes to boot up and allow Firefox to browse. It's too long. I'm NOT willing to re-load everything, that would take an entire DAY. My Mac takes half the time to boot. Interesting that they say Apple is the one to beat, I agree. Having an "instant-on" computer would be a great thing, even waking up my MacBook when I get home takes maybe 15-20 seconds to browse. But Windows is a dinosaur these days. It's just been drug into the ground and bled dry of it's useful life.

gaius 18y ago
Interesting that they say Apple is the one to beat Well, no, it's obvious really. OSX is ultimate proof that you can take Unix (BSD in this case) and put an interface on it that ESR's Aunt Tillie can use. The Linux community has invested squillions of hours in improving the desktop and given it away for free, and people would still rather spend $$$ on OSX. Why do you suppose that is?
- weegee 18y ago
  good question. maybe most people don't know what Linux is because they don't have a shiny music player. ;-)
- jodrellblank 18y ago
  They have collectively invested squillions of hours, but I question whether they have done so "improving" the desktop. My stock answer to this, and I am picking on them somewhat unfairly but it feels representative enough to make a point, is Linspire. "Come on baby, run Linspire" they sang at me. "We have photo organisers and music players" they advertised. And showed a picture of LSongs Media Player. http://media.linspire.com/mailers/mm/lsongs-shot.jpg http://media.linspire.com/mailers/mm/lsongs-shot.jpg Need I say more? Is anything else needed to tell you why people are willing to spend $$$ on OSX?
  - gaius 18y ago
    There is still at attitude among many self-professed geeks that people who can't write their own software should take whatever they're given and like it. After all, it's free, right? Such ingratitude! I think if there's hope for the Linux desktop it will come from Google, because they have a data-driven culture (and a pile of money). If they set up a usability lab and the statistics show that 79% of users completed their tasks 62% faster when the interface was like this then that's what they'll do, no-one will argue, they'll just get on with it.

by weegee 18y ago

gaius 18y ago

Interesting that they say Apple is the one to beat Well, no, it's obvious really. OSX is ultimate proof that you can take Unix (BSD in this case) and put an interface on it that ESR's Aunt Tillie can use. The Linux community has invested squillions of hours in improving the desktop and given it away for free, and people would still rather spend $$$ on OSX. Why do you suppose that is?

weegee 18y ago
good question. maybe most people don't know what Linux is because they don't have a shiny music player. ;-)
jodrellblank 18y ago
They have collectively invested squillions of hours, but I question whether they have done so "improving" the desktop. My stock answer to this, and I am picking on them somewhat unfairly but it feels representative enough to make a point, is Linspire. "Come on baby, run Linspire" they sang at me. "We have photo organisers and music players" they advertised. And showed a picture of LSongs Media Player. http://media.linspire.com/mailers/mm/lsongs-shot.jpg http://media.linspire.com/mailers/mm/lsongs-shot.jpg Need I say more? Is anything else needed to tell you why people are willing to spend $$$ on OSX?
- gaius 18y ago
  There is still at attitude among many self-professed geeks that people who can't write their own software should take whatever they're given and like it. After all, it's free, right? Such ingratitude! I think if there's hope for the Linux desktop it will come from Google, because they have a data-driven culture (and a pile of money). If they set up a usability lab and the statistics show that 79% of users completed their tasks 62% faster when the interface was like this then that's what they'll do, no-one will argue, they'll just get on with it.