When Will Michael Dell Eat His Words?
Tuesday, April 01, 2008 - 09:10 AM
When Steve Jobs came back to Apple in 1997 Michael Dell was asked what he would do to save Apple if it were him. His reply?
"What would I do? I’d shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders."
Well, today it’s being reported that Apple has gained 21% of the consumer computer market, and Dell is closing plants and laying people off in order to help the company stay afloat.
I really can’t gloat about this though, knowing that 900 people are losing their jobs, and that that’s just part of the 8,800 total jobs that Dell plans to shed. Ouch.
Gruber, FTW!
Thursday, March 20, 2008 - 11:11 AM
(Sorry for the internet cliché in the title.)
I took issue with Kahney perpetuating the whole iTunes/iPod tie-in myth.
Gruber rips the whole article to shreds.
Why You SHOULDN’T Try Linux
Thursday, March 13, 2008 - 10:58 AM
Okay, I know I’m probably going to get flamed for this, but let’s give it a try anyway.
Linux is not ready for prime time on the desktop.
There, I said it. And now that I have, please don’t flood my comments with your ridiculous arguments for Linux, believe me, I’ve heard them all before. And I will turn off commenting if this becomes an issue. (And, if you are down-right rude to me, I will delete your comments. This is my house, play nice or go home!)
Let me just start by saying I’ve got nothing against Linux. Linux is great in the enterprise (especially on the back end). Linux may be a great operating system for computer geeks, but it is not built for the average user, no matter how much Linux advocates claim it is. Linux advocates have a real hard time separating average users from themselves and their Linux-loving friends. (I’m guessing that not too many of them have had to support users professionally.)
Here is another article trying to make a case for average people to try/use Linux. Ugh. Where to start.?
First off, yes Windows sucks. Windows is abysmal when it comes to security. So, I agree with the author there. Linux is by far a better operating system. But, that doesn’t mean Linux is a great replacement for Windows on the desktop, especially for "average" people.
Okay, let’s move on to debunking this B.S., shall we?
The article tries to make the claim that the many, many choices offered by Linux is a plus.
Since not everyone has the same idea of a good system, there are a few hundred distros out there, each having its niche–though often many distros share a niche.
Again, this is great for geeks, but not so much for the average person. I mean, people complain at how many versions of Vista there are! Are you really going to turn around and claim that "a few hundred distros" is a good thing for the average person? Seriously? For people who don’t know anything about computers, it’s just confusing and daunting. If Linux wants to be taken seriously as a desktop operating system, the choices need to be more limiting. The average user is not going to want to figure out which one, of "a few hundred distros", is going to be right for them.
The author tries to build reasons why the average person should try Linux, giving her own reason as an example:
For me, the main reason to switch was to try something new. I wanted to know what else was out there besides Windows
That’s great, for you. Geeks like to try new things, the average user does not. Again, you’re confusing yourself with a typical user. NOTE TO ALL LINUX ADVOCATES: YOU ARE NOT A TYPICAL USER!
Next up, "it’s free". Well, yes, it is. And that’s great. But that also means that it comes with no support. Again, this is fine for all of the people out there advocating Linux, but not for typical users. If you want to set up your friends and family on Linux, that’s great. They have you call when they need help, and I know that you’re happy to help them (just like I’m happy to help the people I’ve gotten to switch to OSX). But, the average person does not have you to help them.
And don’t get started on that whole "there’s tons of Linux forums on the ‘net that people can get help from" argument. That’s just B.S., plain and simple. Sure, there are help forums out there, but guess what, they’re filled with Linux geeks. First off, few "average" computer users are going to be able to find these forums in the first place, but if they do, the "help" they get will be anything but helpful. While you all may love to set up Linux for your friends and families, and support them, there’s nothing you hate more than a newb coming into your forums and asking stupid questions. The answers these people get will mostly likely be over their heads, or the person answering will assume that the user knows more than they do (since they are using Linux after all), or will be downright condescending.
The next argument is "You’re Free". The argument here being, basically, that since it’s Open Source you’re free to do whatever you want to it. Sure. Do I even need to address this as it relates to the average person? Just because Linux geeks can go in and tinker with it does not mean that the average user is going to be able to. But, wait! The author says:
Even if you can’t code, if there’s something you want changed, there’s probably a 12 year old down the street who could make the changes for you.
Again, I’ve gotta go with sure there is. If you want to be that person for your friends and family, that’s great. It does not mean that this applies to the average user.
The next argument: "It’s Secure". Okay, I’ve got no problems here with this one. Linux is more secure than Windows. However, it’s not any more secure than OS X. (And, honestly, a properly configured Windows box behind a firewall is more than secure enough.)
Last up, "It’s Easy". Alright, here’s where we really get into the real B.S. Linux is not easy, not by a long shot. It may seem easy for the Linux advocates out there, but (and how many times do I have to say this) that doesn’t apply to the average user. Again, if you want to set up your friends and family on Linux so that they have a nice, functional system, and then support them and answer their questions, that’s just fine. But, do not expect the average person to be able to do this on their own.
My mom’s been using Linux ... since Thanksgiving 2006. I set it up for her, showed her where Firefox was, told her she could find whatever she needs in the Applications Menu,… By New Year, she was bragging to her friends about how much faster and easier this Linux thing was than Windows. Wow. And they said only a geek could figure out Linux.
"I set it up for her...", followed by "And they said only a geek could figure out Linux." Wow. Just, wow! Do you not see the contradiction in these two statements? Really? I’ve got news for you: your mom didn’t "figure out Linux" - you did. You set it up for her and the showed her how to use it.
What happens when your mom wants to load pictures from her new digital camera to the computer? Does she figure that out, or call you? What happens when she buys a new printer? Does she set that up herself, or call you?
This is really where we get into the meat of Linux not being ready for the desktop for average users. Most average users can do these things in Windows, and certainly in OS X. But Linux? No freakin’ way.
I am far beyond what you would consider an "average user". I’ve been working with computers for nearly 20 years (not counting the Coleco Adam that I had as a kid, which I used for programming in Basic and Logo). I’ve worked with PCs when Windows was really just an GUI app running in DOS, and not an actual OS unto itself. I’ve had to set the IRQs and memory addresses on NICs using jumpers, and then manually configuring the driver with those settings, and then wash/rinse/repeat to find a combination that actually worked. I’ve worked with Novell (since 3.11), nearly every version of Windows, and Macintosh dating back to System 7 (and been certified in several versions of all of those systems). I am a professional computer support engineer.
I mention this all because, while I have nothing against Linux, as a seasoned computer tech (and not an average user) I find Linux to be too much work to bother with. The last time I tried Linux (Fedora 5, for those of you who care), I spent all weekend trying to get the wireless adapter to work. All weekend! The adapter that was in the laptop I was doing this on didn’t have Linux drivers - not in the distro, and not available anywhere else. After wading through all of the ever-so-helpful Fedora and Linux forums, I finally found a way (which was incredibly kludgy, btw) to force Linux to use the Windows drivers. Even having the answer, to actually do this was by no means an easy task. Again, I wasted an entire weekend doing this. And even when it did "work", the system would lock up if encryption was enabled. It connected great if I left the wireless router wide open, but any WEP or WPA, and BAM!, the system would completely freeze (hard re-boot freeze we’re talkin’ here) when it tried to connect. (So much for Linux being "secure" in this case.)
It’s only slightly ironic that the first time I tried Linux (probably about 10 years ago) I couldn’t get the ethernet card working, and just gave up.
I just want to sum all of this up with a point that I think I’ve already made more than a few times in this needlessly long rant, and that is this: Just because Linux is better than Windows for you, that does not make it better for the average person. And, if you really want to get people off Windows (as well you should), might I suggest OS X? Again, just because OS X isn’t right for you, that doesn’t mean it’s not the right choice for average users coming from Windows.
Linux is a great OS, and hopefully one day it will be ready for the desktop (which, by the way, won’t happen until there’s only one desktop distro of Linux). Until then, stop telling people that Linux is a great choice for them, because for the vast majority of people, it simply isn’t.
Now it’s Time
Thursday, March 06, 2008 - 12:54 PM
Now it’s time to get an iPhone. (Okay, I may wait until it’s 3G, but still...)
Today Apple announced full Exchange support & push email on the iPhone. Full Exchange support.
Of course, this is one of those things that many people predicted way back when the iPhone was first announced (seems so long ago, doesn’t it?), but that didn’t stop the tech news pundits from decrying the iPhone for not having these features.
Just like the SDK. The tech pundits decried the lack of an "official" way to bring 3rd party apps (non-web apps) to the iPhone, completely ignore the fact that it was pretty much a given from the start that Apple would do this.
Of course Apple intended to add these features, but it was more important to bring the thing to market in the first place.
(Oh, and on the whole no "Flash" issue? Flash sucks! It always has and always will. Just because so many websites rely on it now, doesn’t make it suck any less. Hell, I had some bad Flash on a website lock my whole computer just yesterday. I had to hard boot to recover. Do you really want that crap on your phone?)
Graphing Calculator Story
Thursday, February 28, 2008 - 09:19 AM
It may not seem like it to most people, but sometimes the history of computing is filled with incredible and entertaining stories, particularly when it comes to Apple. This is an example of that; the story of a couple of engineers doing whatever it takes to finish a piece of software they weren’t supposed to be working on in the first place:
Don’t worry, it’s not filled with a bunch of geek-speak and technical jargon. It’s a fascinating read for anyone, even if you are not technically inclined or have no interest in the history of Apple. Basically, it’s about two guys who were working as contractors on a project at Apple that got canceled, but decided to keep showing up covertly to finish their part of the project.
One week we were evading security, the next week Apple is rising to our defense.
For those of you who are in tune with the history of computing, it’s a great insight into the mind set of the environment at Apple at the time that they were able pull this off. I was thinking while reading this that this kind of thing would never happen at Microsoft. At the end of the story the author (Ron Avitzur) makes that point with this little joke:
We wanted to release a Windows version as part of Windows 98, but sadly, Microsoft has effective building security.
Enjoy!