"Often cast as the peacemaker in free software disputes, Bruce Perens is on the warpath. When we caught up with him, he wasn't in a mood to be charitable to Novell. On Friday the Utah company, which markets the SuSE Linux distribution, revealed that it was entering into a partnership with Microsoft. Redmond would pay Novell an undisclosed sum in return for Novell recognizing Microsoft's intellectual property claims. Novell received a 'Covenant' promising that it wouldn't be sued by Microsoft."It's a case of 'Damn the people who write the software'", he told us. "Novell is in a desperate position - it has a smaller share of the market than Debian,"" he told The Register. Update: Novell responds to community's questions: here, here and here. Update 2: Havoc Pennington's take.
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Member since:2005-11-11
//Besides, I don't think you're going to get very far saying 20,000 free apps when Windows ALSO has tons of homebrew free (and even Free) software out there.//
There is no resource available for Windows that gives people access to 20,000 free applications all via the one common searchable interface, and all guaranteed to contain no malware.
There is nothing comparable in the Windows "application ecosystem" to rival this. Nothing comes even close.
If you go searching for "free applications" for Windows on the web, not only will you encounter a horribly haphazard "interface", but after installing just a few you are bound to end up with adware at the least, if not far worse malware.
Read my lips. 20,000 packages for Ubuntu Linux, all installable via the same interface, all searchable in the one place with descriptions, and all guaranteed to be add free and malware free, and all available at zero cost.
The Windows "ecosystem" for applications isn't a patch on this.
Member since:2006-04-21
I'll suspend the "War on Windows" >/sarcasm< for a moment and point out that quantity isn't superior to quality, and even if it were, isn't the (no doubt estimated) total number of Windows apps supposed to be in the 300,000 range? And if, as I suspect is likely, there were more apps around for DOS in its heyday, that would mean DOS is a better OS than Windows! There aren't that many people around who would make that claim today!
Besides, where Windows currently wins is in apps that are end-user, desktop, or vertical-applications (as I believe they're called - is that the same as bespoke?)
Currently a lot of the Linux apps I can get my hands on are as good, better-quality, or better value for money than the equivalent Windows apps; but that isn't true for the needs of every user.
Member since:2006-06-01
There is no resource available for Windows that gives people access to 20,000 free applications all via the one common searchable interface, and all guaranteed to contain no malware.
Who cares if you have access to 5,123 eMacs clones, or 5,254 desktop managers?
DOwnload.com or Tucows.com have more than 20,000 applications each.
You know, free software isn't new. In the early days of the web you had to go to Strouds to keep up with all the new apps. Thats was something like 1992/1993.
OSS; The cult that thinks it invented "freedom".
Member since:2005-08-28
Oh, in terms of package manager and ease of availability.
Then yes, Linux is much better. I was just pointing out that 20,000 free apps in and of itself isn't a convincing argument.
And some on each side are inevitably bound to be redundant/shoddy... and on the Windows side, no longer available or working. Having someone in charge of packaging the software for your version cuts down on that.
"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:
2005-08-28
Who seriously installs all 20,000 Ubuntu apps on their system? Besides, I don't think you're going to get very far saying 20,000 free apps when Windows ALSO has tons of homebrew free (and even Free) software out there. How much do they do? Well... probably a lot more than I think.