theclay

It seems to me that Linux usage is growing nicely, just not in the traditional setting. Everyone assumed that for Linux to catch on, it would have to hit the desktop first, but that view now seems backwards.

Linux is now on the phones that people are buying. It's on the thin clients that serve up their favorite websites. And at the elite end of technology, a variant Unix sold by Apple is directly challenging Microsoft's hold over the desktop. Apple has made a Unix-based OS trendy.

And for the first time that I can remember since the mid 80's, regular people are buying computers not loaded with Windows. That seemed unthinkable just a few years ago, but again, Apple made it not just possible but cool.

It takes time for the general public to switch to new technology, but it is happening. Ubuntu and Mint Linux look pretty competitive now and are situated to provide a nice alternative for people looking for affordable OS X.

Linux will continue to gain traction on the desktop. It just may be that the desktop gets adopted last.

How is the periodic table not in there?

<i>You could very well say he's the raison d'être of Apple as we know it.</i>

No. That has to be Jobs. Even back in the days of Apple I and Apple II, it seems like Jobs made Apple the company, even if it was Woz spearheading Apple the computer. Did Woz even work on anything at Apple beyond the Apple II series? (I don't know, but I don't think so)

However, I don't know if this makes Woz any less qualified than anyone else on the planet to comment on cell phones. He certainly strikes me as more qualified than most.

How do we distinguish Dépaysement from alienated?

Gemütlichkeit sounds a lot like fellowship to me.

Sounds to me like the "spam" you are complaining about is a communications service for your friends. No lawsuit there, unless every email you get from your friends but didn't ask for is also considered spam.

Would an invite to gmail by a friend be considered spam?

Nor is this "data scrapping[sic]" you mention anything of the sort if your friends deliberately requested, or passively acquiesced, to Facebook reading their address books.

Finally! The Chrome team seems to be making every good decision out there.

PDF's are everywhere, but browser support--especially in Chrome--has been crap.

There are light-weight versions of ubuntu available. And if that doesn't work, you can go to even lighter linux distros like Puppy Linux that load everything to ram and run like lightning.

Bottom line: you're good to go

God! I can hardly stand to read the digitizor website from all the crap they have jacked up and hyperlinked for advertising.

I'm on Chrome. Is there a feature that lets you get control of that mess?

Edit: I apologize for the off-topic posting, but the linked website is a good example of what readers of Hacker News seem to have tricks for handling.

Most people could care less about more applications...

Virtually all of the computer users that I know limit their use to an office application and a web browser on top of Windows. That's it. The web browser gives them everything they really need. I wonder how many computer owners could even tell you if they have 32-bit or 64-bit or how the two differ. Probably the same percentage that can tell you detailed specs about their car engines. Virtually none.

The only computer specs that matter anymore --exempting programmers-- are weight and battery life. A few hardcore gamers still care, but they're in the minority, even for video gamers. XBox anyone?

And just as important--Apple's customers have demonstrated time and again that they will follow wherever Apple leads.

One of the article's contentions is that the vast majority of users are satisfied with Windows and Microsoft programs as they are right now. Most of those programs are 32-bit.

By extension, if they are satisfied with 32-bit programs and don't feel a need to switch, then they won't miss 64-bit architectures.

I've always wondered about this quote. What, exactly, accounts for the differences here? What is it about that architecture that was so much better than modern architectures?

It all depends on when you start counting. Python 3 was released December of 2008. That's brand new.