Favorite Files

No favorite files added yet

Recent Posts

1. 
   Review - RealPlayer for Linux

   7.0 Beta 2 (May 23, 2000)

   Quite liked it. It's nice to see Real is actually doing a proper Linux standard port - ie, packages rather than dodgy tarballs. GTK or QT would be nice too, but I guess Real like their own interface. It's also a neat tie in with their Realserver / Redhat bundle.
   
   What's bad; I want a version eight. I want to save anything to my hard disk, I want Real, Quicktime and WMA codecs in the one product, I want KDE and GNOME icons within the RPM.
   I want the ****er to get into the new millenium. Linux [or Redhat at least] has Truetype fonts. Real should use them.
   
   And I see no reason to support Glibc 2.0. Nobody else does and it holds the product back.
   
   It still seems amazingly obvious that Quicktime seems to have the best video encoder on the market. I wish Apple would keep up with Real.

2. Comment - US Officially Asks for Microsoft Breakup

   7.0 Beta 2 (Apr 29, 2000 - 11:42 PM)

   Yes, Windows without the desktop update sucks. But that's has nothing to do with a web browser. Drag and drop on the start menu, and having folders automatically expand when you hold a file over them, are great things. But they have nothing to do with web browsing - they're just trying to get a better verison of drag and drop. They could have easily done this without including a web browser, but they did because it motivates you. If you use Opera or Mozilla and never even touch IE, you'd still want install the desktop update for the drag and drop functions.
   
   Andbody that starts making gross generalizations about users of ANY operating system is pathetic. Linux `zealots'? Windows weenies? get real people. They all have advanatges, and they all suck in their own unique way.

3. Comment - Microsoft Demonstrates Whistler

   7.0 Beta 2 (Apr 26, 2000 - 8:41 PM)

   I think you're pretty much nailed it the head...I might add...
   
   * A spellchecker for online forms larger than a certain size in IE [like this one]
   * A better Internet Connection Wizard, like the one in Redhat 6.1. All you need is a phone
   * One word. *OpenGL* It's more popular than Direct3D. Microsoft, deal with it. Put it in Windows and make our livess easier.
   * Windows Update should update drivers as well
   
   Mike

4. Comment - VA Linux to Sell Linux Desktops

   7.0 Beta 2 (Apr 13, 2000 - 7:02 PM)

   I used to attend betanews fairly frequently about a year ago and quite liked the site. I used Windows exclusively at the tiume and didn't like Linux because, then, it lacked the level of user firendliness I would have expected. Back a year later, the new efront layout is much better, but the quality of some of the posts -eg, `Some Links for Our Linux Friends' is amazingly poor.
   
   Posting `Some Links for Our Linux Friends' is rather pathetic. Yes, of course there are unreasonable people in the Linux community. Why label them all like that, and be unreasonable yourself? It's really rather childish. This is a discussion forum, not a soapbox, so why not say that in your opinion, you don't think Linux has the user friendliness you think other operating systems have [you needn't compare it to Windows - MacOS is generally the most highly regarded in this respect]. And be specific. What specifically about Linux do you not like? If you try Linux and have serious concerns, there's people around who will actually address them. If you flame, even in a reactive manner, you will be ignored.
   
   Telling people you think one has to spend the majority of their time in a command-line would indicate that you haven't perhaps been paying attention to the more recent Linux distributions. I used StarOffice, Acrobat Reader, Linzip, GIMP, Quake, Heretic II, and pretty much everything else one wopuld expect and I can assure you I haven't touched a command line for months now.
   
   Keep in mind Linux development is extremely fast paced. Ease of use and user friendliness come in leaps and bounds. Announcing loudly to the world that your tried Redhat 5.2 and now know Linux will never make it on the desktop is like saying you looked at Windows 2.0 and think Windows will never do the same.
   
   Linux has its issues. But your opnions are way out of date. Give somebody completely new to computers, with a standard IBM or Dell desktop machine, a copy of Windows 2000 and a copy of Redhat 6.2. See what's easier for them to install. One requires three reboots, and spends a large chunk of it's time in 50-character commandline mode. The other boots straight to an excellent looking GUI and installs in around ten mouse clicks, and has a big picture of a RedHat in the background.
   
   Sure, complain about Linux. Complain that your GeForce doesn't have any drivers, or that you'd like mozilla to have more autocomplete functions, or that the games come out too late, etc. They're all legitimate concerns. Use it and form your own opinions, not Microsofts. Many of the claims at the MS Myths site are simply factually incorrect [eg, that ordianary users can't have Administrative privilieges under Linux]. This is plain wrong and quite obviously so. By referencing it, and not bothering to check the facts, you harm both the Windows and Linux communities and knock about fifty IQ points off the general level of Betanews discussion.
   
   Mike MacCana
   MCSE, NT and Linux Systems Administrator

5. Comment - Windows 2000, Hits 1 Million Mark

   7.0 Beta 2 (Mar 15, 2000 - 4:14 AM)

   I'm a Linux user for one and a half years, a Windows user for seven, a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer, a Windows Consultant, and Win2K beta tester for three years [since it was NT5].
   
   Have you ever installed Linux before? You just put in the CD and reboot (on a clean install). It starts automatically. The amazing part is that you can format format to Ext2 with just the Redhat 6.1 CD! Plus I get to delete and create partitions all from the CD! Plus, I get an automatic multi-boot menu(if I had more OSs of course)!
   
   Of course, don't get me wrong. Cobbling together utilities to get a flavor of Linux installed and running might be superior,
   I don't think it is. That's why the most poular Linux distribution these days install more easily than any version of Windows. Unlike your Wn2K install, I rebooted once, not three times. Unlike your Win2K install, I got into a GUI straight away, rather than going through 50 character DOS screens. Unlike your Win2K install, it took me fifteen minutes rather than half an hour. Unlike Win2K, Linux does not have frequent root/administrator exploits.
   
   RH 6.1 comes with plug and play on boot that works brilliantly, and there are more Linux drivers out there now than Win2K ones [eg, Adaptec, 3DFX, Matrox, Creative, etc]. Unlike your Win2K plug and play, Linux doesn't ahve to reboot for any driver installation.
   
   but I'm not sure since this Microsoft idea of "ease of use" and
   "PnP" seems so fantastical, hehe.
   That's an MS idea? Gee, I belive Macintosh / Xerox / Atari / Amiga had guis at least a decade before MS did. Win2K doesn't have drag and drop from anywhere to anywhere support yet, Apple does [and yes, Linux [KDE] is a little behind Windows on that one]. PnP was an industry standard developed by a committee which included representatives of Microsoft and a little over seventy other companies.
   
   You can configure very client and server task of RRedhat 6.1 by clicking KPanel - Redhat - System - Linuxconf. None of the changes you make require reboots. None of the software you install requires reboots.
   
   Grow up.