What is Digg?48 Comments
- chrono13, on 10/12/2007, -1/+49"No amount of eye candy is going to fix the driver issues. Ubuntu needs better support for Nvidia/ATI, WiFi, and overall video codecs."
I know the average user doesn't care why, they just want it to work. But it almost sounds like you think they can.
They can't. It would be illegal. THAT is how tight these corporates have all this crap tied up.
Image formats, music formats, "standard" formats, drivers, and basic software functions (sorting by artist then by album) all tied up tighter than you can imagine.
I can't wait until the first company strikes (Microsoft vs. Red Hat?) with a massive software patent litigation. Then IBM would sue Microsoft, Microsoft would sue IBM, Red Hat would sue Sony, Sony would sue Apple, Apple would sue Creative, and then... maybe then, software patents would be seen as what they are.
You can't patent an idea or basic principles. Unless it's software.
You can't patent an entire industry to avoid ALL competition. Unless it's software.
You can't patent a basic function of math. Unless it's software.
You can't patent much of what normally falls under copyright. Unless it's software.
You can't patent what has decades or more of prior art. Unless it's software.
The patent system in the USA is incredibly bad. Software patents are even worse because they are allowed to violate almost every basic patent rule - and they fail to accomplish any of what patents are designed to achieve.
""If people had understood how patents would be granted when most of today's ideas were invented and had taken out patents, the industry would be at a complete standstill today."
-Bill Gates. 1991
So what happens, lets say, in 15 years... lets say, in the future year of 2006, when all those things ARE patented? That's right. It is at a standstill.
Ubuntu can't make those massive advances that you are calling for. They can't be incompatible. They aren't allowed to "just work". Competition has been illegalized.
You won't hear Bill complain about that now.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_patent_debate - chrono13, on 10/12/2007, -8/+34Eye candy is very important. I like Linux a lot, and I have it on one of my machines, but it is so frustrating to find one distro that does one thing really well, and totally fails at another.
Now, I know and have defended the idea of multiple distro's, because that is basis for choice and freedom of choice in Linux. But why does one distro have fantastic hardware support, and the others take a year to catch up. It's all free code.
If I were to roll a distro, it would be by user vote, discussion and extensive open planning. What do we want, what is possible, and what is possible in this release. Want a good theme for the distro? Surf kde-look.org or gnome-look.org and take the top ten downloads top ten rated, clear them GPL wise (talk to the author, have users confirm that they are not "borrowed") and have a vote. Hell - include the top 3 in the distro.
I can install Linux, and go to kde-look.org and get a substantially better looking icon set and theme. I know consistency and preference enter into it, but it seems like these leading distro's are failing to utilize anything other than developers. Have no-money contests. Have a user-voted and moderated contest for the sounds, themes, etc.
Why isn't Debians Popularity Contest being used more extensively? If we know what the majority of users are adding *after* install (such as replacing terrible media players in Ubuntu) then why not consider changing them in the first place to increase the overall satisfaction and usability of the distro?
A good example would be the Mozilla Foundation (MoFo) hiring a thrid party company to design a theme for Firefox 2.0, that quite frankly isn't that different from 1.5, and is terrible compared to some of the leading themes available at Mozilla's own theme page.
Why couldn't they talk to the artist about using their works? Give them credit in the Firefox credits, and I bet they would be OK with it. Push the idea to the fans and users - "Hey, does using Noia for the theme sound like a good idea? Vote and post your comments. Also - is there anything "borrowed" that might conflict with releasing it as the default theme?"
And Novell... heh. Didn't even consider its user base when they make such massive decisions. I like Mark, and all he has done for Linux... but him and his team are still trying to captain the ships, rather than help smaller, yet just as significant, contributions make it into these projects.
They have a vision of what their project should be - the users and fans be damned. - splintax, on 10/12/2007, -2/+25My understanding of the video codecs problem is that most decoders for common video codecs are non-free.
Therefore, they're not included in the default Ubuntu distribution. Packages like Automatix automate the installation of these things though. - rbvmusic, on 10/12/2007, -2/+21Looks like they're going to try to up the eye candy in this release to compete with vista and leopard. Sounds exciting.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -12/+20No amount of eye candy is going to fix the driver issues. Ubuntu needs better support for Nvidia/ATI, WiFi, and overall video codecs.
- exsst, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8Not necessarily, it tells you the exact dates, what they focus on and some additional info.
- Endemoniada, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Yeah, because hitting the wiki and running one or two apt-get's takes "plenty of effort"...
They can't include those codecs, because it is illegal. As in against the law. There's nothing they can do until the companies start releasing free codecs (won't happen, there's no money in it). It's not the Ubuntu team being "cheap" or "lazy". Their hands are bound.
For now, there are TWO scripts that install every codec you could ever want with the minimal amount of effort, and installing them by hand never takes more than a couple of minutes (10 second to type the command, a couple of minutes for the downloading).
I don't really see you being lazy as a reason for the Ubuntu team to put their necks on the line for you. Appreciate what they do, because they're doing it for free. - Hydraulix, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8"tl;dr" = Too Long; Didn't Read
http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/index.php/TL;DR - oobuntu, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7As someone who installed beryl over the weekend, i can testify the eye candy is here!
Would be nice to see those cool icons and beryl becoming an optional extra in the install process sometime soon though, rather than rummaging through various wiki and ubuntuforums - TritonX, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Find an article explaining why gentoo is good and post it, it may make the frontpage. I sure would be interested by it.
- MattGrover, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Isn't the whole point in Digg, that the users decide what's important to them and thus the front page represents the stories that most people find most interesting?
What makes a story "more important"?? and to whom? Apparently (at the time of posting this) 203 people found this story interesting, thus important, should they not have been allowed to digg it?? :/ - cheech_sp, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Ubuntu is nice to me.
Borat is funny.
Why make fun? - exsst, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7The article says they are focusing on hardware support.
It's best to read the article before you comment on it. - spafbnerf, on 10/12/2007, -6/+11Buried (lame). Article is very sparse on information, tells us nothing new, less than articles which have already hit the frontpage.
- keeperofkeys, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6As someone who is about to move to Ubuntu (from XP) this was useful info to me :-P
- DarkRappey, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6If there is one good thing that came from the posting of this article it is chrono13's comment. That is what people need to/should read to understand what is going on behind Linux.
- chrono13, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6"chrono13 = tl;dr."
What?
Yes, you are right. My first post was to point out that the users and the fans create awesome add-ons , icons, themes, sounds, and other works that are largely ignored. They could get the permission from the artist, and enlist the help of fans to help them scan/clear the work of any possible legal issues.
gDesklets for Gnome, the Borealis sound theme, wallpapers, themes, cursors, icons and everything else that Mac users rave about (the "small touches") already exist for Linux - it just isn't easy because no one has stepped forward and successfully invovled the community (think digg or spreadfirefox) in any significant way. Not everyone can write code, but everyone can contribute... even if the contribution is only a vote or a point of view. - Saoshyant, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4@chrono13
It's for those reasons that people should support the use of free formats like Vorbis, Theora, Speex, FLAC, etc in our everyday. Instead, most people talk about freedom, but then go back to listen to their MP3s. - schestowitz, on 10/12/2007, -9/+12> "try to up the eye candy in this release"
No need. Start simple and expand. Customisation is what Linux is all about. Eye candy will only bring some 'sheep' and discourage the 'less is more' mantra. Look at how many sites have gone bloated and lost readership. - bitbytebit, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3@ryebrye
Heh I have installed Gentoo about 4 times on 3 computers and each time I swear to god that I never will again. Compiler orgy is a GREAT description :)
One installation took 16 hours on an AMD k2!
So what distro do you like? - czer323, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Yes yes, why you point at Borat? Borat has make no harm to you. The Ubuntu, eh... It is good, yes? I install codecs and Borat movie works good.
- arizonagroove, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Is it just me or is the first sentence of that article not a coherent?
"In addition to Ubuntu 6-months stable releases and the next version of ubuntu is Ubuntu 7.04 (Feisty Fawn)." - mancat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2If you can get it working, then submit a fix yourself.
- Invid, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2One more time...
Install Automatix2 at http://www.getautomatix.com/ for a "so easy your Mom could do it" installer for the most common codecs. Even the installation instructions are "cut and paste" easy if you can read and follow directions.
You can literally do it without using the keyboard except for when it prompts you for your password. - shuffle2, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"continuously updated" means that every single gentoo install is the same, once you emerge -uD world. I suggest you do your own research.
Gentoo doesn't need to be on the news, it's already the most used linux for servers, and pretty far up there in the desktop scene.
If you want to check out how awesome gentoo is for desktops, try out the sabayon liveCD (it is gentoo with "overlays", a term that means something like a repository). You won't be disappointed! - stmiller, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2The current ubuntu discs DO NOT boot on PPC G5 machines. There is a lack of thermal support. This bug has been open for the last TWO ubuntu releases, but the kernel team could care less. I emailed one of the kernel team lead members about the problem who replied back saying, 'eh- that only effects those imacs.' Wrong.
It shows that he could care less, unfortunately. He said it would perhaps 'be fixed by Feitsy.'
So until then, Fedora, Gentoo, Suse, etc. all boot fine from disc on G5s. But not ubuntu, unless you recompile your own kernel with thermal support, or force the thermal modules to load. - stmiller, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I have; it's on the bug report. The ubuntu kernel team member refuses to put in the change into the official kernel. He says it will wait until feisty, perhaps.
- czer323, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@yoink23, Actually, I do let out a little "wahoo!" everytime I get new updates on my Ubuntu Edgy install. ;)
- iGern, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"Ubuntu is nice to me.
Borat is funny.
Why make fun"
Wo wo we woa!
High Five! - mancat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Saoshyant,
That's nice but it will NEVER happen. Major media formats need support out of the box. - yoink23, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Have you ever tried ubuntu? It is continually updated as well thru a little thing called apt-get (maybe you've heard of it). And ubuntu fanboys don't say "yay! we have updated packages" either. Plus, ubuntu takes less than an hour to install.
- Wyzard, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2"Is it just me or is the first sentence of that article not a coherent?"
Is it just me or is the first sentence of your comment not a coherent? :-P
(You're right, though.) - stmiller, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1This particular kernel team member has and uses a PM G5 as his machine. He HAS one. So that is not the problem. The kernel team doesn't see PPC G5 as priority, is the problem. Oh well.
- bitbytebit, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@yoink23
Yeah I have the ubuntu live disk, havn't installed it directly yet but I problably will if I can get my wireless adapter supported.
I've liked debian in the past (potato) and the apt-get system, so yeah Ill problably like Ubuntu tu :) - chrono13, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"Patents can be and are frequently overturned in court with proper evidence."
Free software can have all the evidence it wants, it still can't afford, financially to fight these court. And they certainly can't be ignored and a patented idea included in the code, because I have seen my fair share of judges making decisions ba$ed on $omething other than fact$ or ju$tice. - mastercheif, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1http://duggmirror.com
- frouse, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Part of the problem is that the developers need to have G5 PPC machines to test it on. If they don't have the hardware they can't test it works and that it is stable.
- kingrayray, on 10/12/2007, -4/+4@exsst: Yeah, but everybody knows Ubuntu releases every six months. Don't they? And the other dates, those are really only relevant to developers and early beta testers. I don't think this falls under "headline news" :P
- foreplay, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3I would love to see ubuntu ship with at least an open source mp3 and xvid codec as the bare minimum. The system is not even usable as a home pc without putting in plenty of effort into setting it up. plenty of distro's are willing to run the risk of including these so why cant ubuntu if it really wants to be a viable desktop.
loads of eyecandy would be nice as well so looking forward to the next version. - LycoLoco, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2Sounds like they're going to give you a porn star with this release. Feisty Fawn? I'm honestly surprised there isn't someone out there named that in the porn industry.
- JQP123, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0@chrono13
"You can't patent ..."
In the US, you can patent anything. Spend enough time and money jumping through all the proper hoops and the patent office will issue you a piece of paper. However, that piece of paper is worthless if you don't have the necessary time and money to defend what is written on it. Even if do, there is still no guarantee of any value. Patents can be and are frequently overturned in court with proper evidence. - Bonzodog, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Zenwalk Linux all the way :D
It's Slackware on the edge.
http://www.zenwalk.org - iGern, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2chrono13 = tl;dr.
Summed up:
Linux is good. I like it. Let's have more user-designed stuff in the official distro. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1YAY now they may polish off emerald theme, i dont know about anybody else but i dont find themes good enough for daily use.
Everything else in beryl is working great.
They may even speed up the upstart and that is one other thing i am looking forward too.
And KDE4 :)
And what about stuff like virtual folders in Vista, a much tighter Beagle/Nautilus//Konqueror.
i can go on and on. :) - gortiswatching, on 10/12/2007, -5/+2If someone is attracted to linux because they like the gui and eye candy, they are going to be in a world of hurt. Linux community should not encourage dangling keys in front of babies so much as protecting the versatility of the linux environment. I absolutely hate Ubuntu, loaded it for the first time last week out of boredom. It is like a play pen with soft squishy toys inside. If you are disappointed with distros for not providing you a way to watch a Borat screener, you should not be using linux in the first place. If you want linux to do something install slackware, debian, gentoo, or some other power distro. If you like eye candy buy a mac.
- shuffle2, on 10/12/2007, -10/+4Buried as lame; all these Ubuntu posts are ridiculous. If people are interested in Ubuntu's roadmap, they would go check it out themselves.
p.s.- my distro (gentoo) is _always_ up to date. That's just how it works. And you don't see myself or other users of continuously-updated distros saying "yay! we got updated packages! Let's post it on digg!" - RyeBrye, on 10/12/2007, -10/+1Ubuntu = Linux for the hapless retard
Gentoo = Linux for someone who likes to watch their compiler have an orgy every time they want to install something
Fedora = Linux for people who's friends use Fedora and tell them to install it
SuSe = Linux for people too dumb to download linux for free
- davefretty, on 10/12/2007, -13/+2Ubuntu Ubuntu Ubuntu Ubuntu Ubuntu Ubuntu Ubuntu
It's my main OS but I don't like all these dugg articles by fan boys all the time. Sure it's a great distro but there are more important articles that should make the front page.
Guess I'm gonna get dug down now.
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