Here is OSNews' review of Xandros Desktop Home Edition Premium version 4.0 (a mouthfull). Xandros Systems was so kind as to provide OSNews with the top of the line version of their product, which includes, among other things, complete copies of Versora Progression Desktop, CrossOver Office, and various non-Free drivers and utilities. Read on for the complete review.
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Member since:2006-04-21
There are two facets to this. Firstly, why should people have to "activate" a product they've already paid for? Would you accept Toshiba coming to your house to check whether you're only viewing legally-obtained DVD's on their player you just bought? Or Epson coming to "activate" your printer, or to check that you've not been printing off copies of "Pride and Prejudice"? No? I sure as hell wouldn't.
Secondly, why should customers trust companies who don't trust their customers? It's not as if they're whiter than white. In fact in their quest to "make money" they will do things that are unethical, immoral, and illegal, quite happily, and quite often. Check the recent news stories on Enron, Apple, HP and Microsoft for evidence.
Member since:2005-06-29
You'd have a point if we were talking Microsoft or Apple; they're HUGE multinationals to whom one more or less legal copy would mean fairly little.
Now, however, we are discussing a small company, one that falls into complete insignificance compared to Microsoft/Apple. Hence, they have every right to defend their probably smal revenue stream. Without this activation thing, it would be extremely easy to pirate Xandros and leech off of the work of others.
In fact, I am happy Xandros is doing whatever it takes to ensure revenue. They owe it to their shareholders as well as to their customers, because no revenue = end of company = you as customer are f--ked.
People should learn that NOT all companies are the same, and that there is more to think about than just yourself.
Member since:2005-11-20
I paid completely legitimate US currency for a product, and then activation is required to fully use this product in its intended way. No, I refuse. And I submit that your implication that I am a thief is uncalled for. Either accept that something I paid for should work fully, or I get my money back.
Member since:2005-04-01
"So in summary... Google has pulled the plug on support on a protocol they've helped popularize, after years of promising interoperability, for reasons that are dubious at best, and in a way that leaves people who don't jump to the new Hangouts app unable to talk to their contacts without any feedback that their IMs aren't getting through... And they've done that with no warning to anyone. I imagine there's a bunch of people out there wondering where some of their buddies have gone, or why their messages aren't getting responses, because this isn't documented anywhere." Google really messed this up. Such a dick move.
The Tizen Greek Community has some screenshots of a very recent build of Tizen running on a Samsung GT-i8800. It looks wholly unremarkable.Joint statement to The Next Web from Microsoft and Google: "Microsoft and YouTube are working together to update the new YouTube for Windows Phone app to enable compliance with YouTube's API terms of service, including enabling ads, in the coming weeks. Microsoft will replace the existing YouTube app in Windows Phone Store with the previous version during this time." Good to know these children stopped acting like little pricks. Can we have full Google support in Windows 8 now, please?
Yahoo is acquiring Tumblr, the microblogging and social networking website, for $1.1 billion USD. Tumblr offers little revenue but lots of eyeballs if Yahoo can monetarize them. Now Yahoo is bidding for Hulu, the streaming video service. After years of ineffective responses while Google, Facebook, and others took large chunks of the online advertising market, Yahoo is fighting back. Can Yahoo reignite the momentum it had at the turn of the century? What do you think?
"Sources have described iOS 7 as 'black, white, and flat all over'. This refers to the dropping of heavy textures and the addition of several new black and white user interface elements." I couldn't be happier.
"Ilja van Sprundel, a security researcher with IOActive, has discovered a large number of issues in the way various X client libraries handle the responses they receive from servers, and has worked with X.Org's security team to analyze, confirm, and fix these issues."
"Google is facing a new antitrust probe by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission into whether the company is using its leadership in the online display-advertising market to illegally curb competition, people familiar with the matter said." Sucks to be Google today, apparently."In the midst of the major press blitz surrounding its annual I/O Conference, Google dropped some unfortunate news about its instant messaging plans. In several places around the web, the company is replacing the existing 'Talk' platform with a new one called 'Hangouts' that sharply diminishes support for the open messaging protocol known as XMPP (or sometimes informally Jabber), and also removes the option to disable the archiving of all chat communications. These changes represent a switch from open protocols to proprietary ones, and a clear step backward for many users." That's why I always say: only suckers trust companies."The wave of departures is a sign of internal struggle, but amidst all the bad news, there is a glimmer of hope. According to an anonymous HTC executive cited by WSJ, the crucial HTC One is selling 'pretty good so far'. The executive revealed that HTC sold about five million One units since launch, a performance that is deemed encouraging. However, sales have been limited by the persisting supply issues that still plague the production of the HTC One." Finally some good news for HTC. Five million units amidst supply constraints is very impressive.
"Sony gave the PS4 50% more raw shader performance, plain and simple (768 SPs @ 800MHz vs. 1152 SPs & 800MHz). Unlike last generation, you don't need to be some sort of Jedi to extract the PS4's potential here. The Xbox One and PS4 architectures are quite similar, Sony just has more hardware under the hood. Weâll have to wait and see how this hardware delta gets exposed in games over time, but the gap is definitely there. The funny thing about game consoles is that itâs usually the lowest common denominator that determines the bulk of the experience across all platforms. On the plus side, the Xbox One should enjoy better power/thermal characteristics compared to the PlayStation 4. Even compared to the Xbox 360 we should see improvement in many use cases thanks to modern power management techniques." AnandTech does its usual in-depth thing.
Member since:
2005-04-01
This is really lame. Xandros is commercial software. If you think you're being tracked and refute that, fine. If your beef is with commercial software, you shouldn't have been using WinME. But if you don't like activation in general, then I submit that you're being suspicious -- are you a thief? Why is activation bad?
Either go for free software, or accept that people who sell legal commercial software have a right to protect their product.