Wolvix-2.0.0beta2
Review of 2.0.0 Beta 2 - Slackware based Linux distro.
This distro was brought to my attention in the BN IRC room, and whilst my distro hopping machine had difficulties with it (its a little anti social at the moment) I gave it a run on one of the many machines dotted around my house and found myself very surprised (pleasantly) by the results. Its a Slackware based distro, and in these days of MONO uncertainty and the ever growing popularity of about 4 or 5 of the “big name” distro’s, its nice to break out of the mold and take a look at a lesser known option (sans MONO I hasten to add).
INSTALLATION/LIVE CD
I hope this is not taken the wrong way when I say that the installation process is very Ubuntu’ish, meaning very simple and straight forward. There’s a rather off putting message (for any users who may not have much experience with Linux) although I can see where they are coming from. As I will explain, I don’t think Wolvix is for the brand new user, and in my opinion these users are always better catered for with Mint, Ubuntu, Mandriva, et al. The Live CD comes in at around a 680mb ISO which can be downloaded via bit torrent (which personally I would recommend, firstly because the d/l speeds of the other options were poor and secondly because I am helping seed it at the moment!)
Wolvix in action. The default backdrop has been replaced with a more colourful one to reflect my mood today. A great distro if you have been using Linux for a while and are comfortable with the command line.
FEATURES
The default DE for Wolvix is Xfce 4.6.0 and what a great choice that is, I am rapidly becoming a fan. For fear of starting a series of angry emails, I can’t warm to KDE. Whilst KDE does everything it says on the tin and is pleasant to look at, its just far too Vistaesque for my liking and for that and a reason I cannot put my finger on, I just don’t feel fully in control of my distro under KDE. Thats going off topic though since Xfce 4.6.0 is whats being talked about here, is very similar to Gnome in looks, with a reduced dock at the bottom and is far faster operation.
Whilst I always state that I’m not a fan of flashy visuals and “bling”, it had to be said that the default desktop theme(s) are very attractive. Simple, bold and clean I especially like the Wolf howling at the moon backdrop. These backdrops are not the usual ultra high resolution. memory sucking images that we see with some of the bigger name distros, so it appears that even in looks, the ethos of providing you with as fast a system as possible is at the forefront of what Wolvix hopes to achieve.
Out of the box compat was very good and although Nvidia drivers needed to be installed as first port of call, this is par for the course on most distro’s anyway.
Wolvix again, simple clean and a great distro!
SOFTWARE
Personally, its nice to see AbiWord included as default. Whilst I like OpenOffice and believe its a great piece of software, I have no need for any of the other supporting packages. My distro installation always involves the removal of OpenOffice to replace with Abiword, so that to the creators of Wolvix, thats one less job. The version included is the latest (2.6.8) and the new features of which can be found on the Abiword homepage. To give an example of the speed of this distro, the LiveCD barely even gave you a chance to read the logo window of Abiword prior to the program loading that’s forgetting the speed once the distro is installed to your HD.
Web browsing is via Firefox 3.0.8 which was released 27th March 2009. Whilst this is not the current version, its certainly stable and offers the same Firefox experience that I am sure I do not need to describe to you for the purposes of this review.
Other packages of note include Python, Gnumeric, GIMP and quite a comprehensive out of the box collection that should cover your main tasks. Thunderbird is in control of email duties here, running a 2009 version (2.0.0.21), its a great all in one (RSS/email/Newsgroups) and really removes the need for any other mail package. I have heard from others that RSS is slow within Thunderbird compared to that of Claws, but personally I have had no issues and have yet to test Claws as an alternative.
Software is handled by the package manager slapt-get in terminal or by a GUI (gslap) on the DE
CONCLUSIONS
With every distro I have installed, there always follows a removing of software (for differing reasons, mainly duplication and personal choice) There are some more guilty than others. I always remark that the worst offender in my opinion would be #!CBL (Crunchbang Linux) A few things strike me as strange (although this is probably due to trying to please everyone) Liferea and Thunderbird? Is Liferea just duplication? Great package but I’m not sure of its value in addition to Thunderbird. Xchat and IRSSI? obviously one provides a GUI the other runs from the command line, but I would suggest that the Wolvix creators choose a path and stick with it to avoid duplication (Personally I think IRSSI is far better)
My big issue was no Binaries newsgroup grabber, the absense of Transmission (although I will give Deluge a run).
With Wolvix being a Slackware derived product and the absence of the Ubuntu “hand holding” I cannot recommend it for a Linux user with only a small amount of experience (contrary to the implication on the site that is can be) However, for the seasoned Linux user it excels and I’ve been looking for a reason to switch my main Gentoo distro. Wolvix is such a reason and I think I will be very happy with it. The packages on offer are a mish mash of experienced and new user although I’d suggest that if this distro is aimed towards the more experienced, some of these packages are really not required.
*Note – There is no issue with Gentoo, merely that I enjoy distro hopping and have to have a good reason to do it on my main rig.
I don’t think Wolvix would stand up as a newcomers distro (nor does it seek to be) when you hold it up to products such as Ubuntu/Fedora/Mandriva et al and I don’t think Xfce DE will be an attractive enough option for people when they are coming from Windows and looking towards KDE. Thats no bad thing by the way, and Wolvix for me sits very comfortably in a more seasoned Linux users hands.
It is very obvious that much work has gone into Wolvix, my expectations of a perfectly packaged distro are not unreasonable but a little selfish, and since this was the only issue I had with the distro, its of no matter since removal of unused packages takes no time at all.
As with any new installation there are a few teething troubles that need to be ironed out, that for me is half the fun of a Slackware distro and the issues I came across were very minor.
The first problem I found was with the mouse wheel, which although recognised refused to work as a scroll. This issue is now resolved. Next issue I had was that the master volume was not found on the dock (its in the multimedia menu) due to its default setting being low (and my speakers being set on low for fear of nieghbour complaints) I spent around 1/2 hour trying to work out why the sound wasnt working. Too much to ask to put it on the dock? The only other issue of note was Wolvix’s refusal to allow me to set the keyboard to UK permanently, and it insisted on switching back to US.
Those issues caused very little trouble.
When talking about the speed of this distro, “Punchy” is the best way to describe it. It these type of distro’s that people should be supporting in any way they can. Aesthetically, what with its fancy site and logos, Ubuntu is about 10 years ahead and Wolvix is no competition, however “under the hood” where it matters and I’d say on my test machine Wolvix outperforms any of the mainstream distros noticeably. Projects like Wolvix are where the exciting things are happening and I wholly recommend anyone who is familiar with Linux to give this speedy, tight and highly functional distro a try.
You can visit the Wolvix homepage here: http://wolvix.org/ although the beta 2 is available on LinuxTracker here.
Goblin – bytes4free@googlemail.com
BT not deploying Phorm?
It being reported that ISP BT is no longer considering Phorm at the present time. It is being reported that Phorm shares were down 46.13% on Monday afternoon.
Phorm (for those that dont know and should) is a service where users browser activity is monitored so that a more directed advertising experience is delivered.
There is a interesting article here. which whilst is unsubstantiated (IMO) in its declaration of which ISP’s deploy Phorm, we see our favorite Virgin Media pop up again, with its anti-piracy stance on one hand and very fast speeds on the other. Remember the issue of binaries? Virgin Media never did clear up with Openbytes if they offer thier customers access to alt.binaries as part of their package. (I would appreciate someone confirming this)
Phorm has had alot of press regarding privacy concerns, however the issue I have with it is more that I am seen as a target for people to sell me things. This to me is what is ruining the internet, as soon as comercial takes an interest (IMO) it gets ruined. Look at the amount of strange Twitter accounts who are advertising products. We saw this years ago with IRC and spambots (although there are still some committed dedicated IRC spammers out there)
When will services like Phorm understand, if I want to buy something it will be because of friend recommendation or my own research, not an advert that pops up on a screen and says “You must buy me now, great offer”
Allegedly Phorm has had legal advice to send out letters/email of those it considered as slurring its name (I have personally yet to confirm or deny this) so the message to Phorm from me is, please feel free to try it with Openbytes (if the allegations are true). I look forward to hearing from you.
I like many other bloggers I’ve read would leave my ISP if it had anything to do with Phorm or a similar product and I believe Phorm is one subject that Openbytes is very guilty of ignoring.
You can visit the Phorm site yourself: http://www.phorm.com/ and decide if you think it a good idea.
The BBC article can be found here.
Goblin – bytes4free@googlemail.com
Microsoftmas come early?
This is allegedly one of the laptops that was sent out to bloggers. How much is your integrity worth?
I would hope its simply a coincidence that after the FTC announced it may be looking at the gifting and paying of bloggers, I find one very happy puppy who doesnt mind leting us know about some gifts he has received.
Have a read of this blog: http://vasudevg.blogspot.com/2009/07/thank-you-gift-from-windows-7-starter.html
Here the recipient seems very happy with his Windows 7 notepad and ball game. A little thank you gift from Microsoft? I’m sure, but the next part of his post makes for disturbing reading (IMO):
“But the big one, which I had received from Windows 7 team, a couple of months back is yet to be posted about. Will blog about it soon 
“
Which makes you wonder how much of this persons opinion has been based on “the big one” to date?
In the past I’ve covered the blogger who recieved a laptop from Microsoft, and breaking from the norm (since I havent seen many similar disclosures) he was more than happy to mention it. You can read that blog here:
http://laughingsquid.com/microsoft-sent-a-free-laptop-with-windows-vista/
Heres another user who recieved an offer of one and decided to disclose it:
So lets for a minute forget about Microsoft. What do you think the average computer blogger would do with a free gift. Would they a/ Post honest held views about the companies products or b/ Post favorably about the company out of gratitude and the hope that more gifts would be forthcomming? I will leave you to decide which you think is more likely.
Here, the concept of Microsoft giving away free laptops is covered: http://www.istartedsomething.com/20061227/microsoft-free-ferrari/ and the author comments:
“But if you write about Microsoft, they might even give you one for free. Is it ethical? Probably not. Is it worth something to hard-working sweat and tears bloggers? Hell yeah.”
Having said that, there are others who appear to have the same opinion as me, David Flynn said at the time:
“Any blogger with pretensions of being considered an independent voice and a ‘professional’ in their field or even their attitude, not to mention a sense of ethics, should be returning this ‘gift’ laptop to Microsoft.”
Now what are you thinking about that glowing praise a blogger is showering on Microsoft? Its not rocket science, the enticement of something for nothing and the hope that you may get more is a very tempting offer is it not?
In my opinion, this practice has got to stop and if the FTC can do something about this in the US then that is a start. When I exposed the Optionetics imposter (who was trying to promote Microsoft Stock) I was offered a token of their thanks which I refused (you can confirm that with them, you have my permission for full disclosure) I don’t post here for any other reason than honest held belief in what I say. I am not interested in gifts/payments/offers and if I received any I would refuse and then highlight them here. If you notice, I have no adverts on my site (a pet hate of mine) and I don’t believe in trying to sell you anything.
That, in my opinion is what a blog should be about, people should be able to trust that the opinions expressed are that of a user who has similar needs and expectations as themselves. It should not be a means for proprietary firms to pimp their products under the guise of an honest opinion, no matter who that proprietary company is.
Goblin – bytes4free@googlemail.com
A facebook of Ballmer? & KISS audition
After the revelations in the press regarding the MI5 boss whose wife managed to make his family snaps as well known as a James Bond movie, I thought it would be interesting (and a little fun) to present a montage if you will of pictures Ive found floating around the net. Its only fitting with the impending release of Windows 7 that we pay tribute to the CEO of Microsoft (Steve Ballmer) and take a trip down memory lane. This weekend has been far to serious not to end on a lighter note (what with censorship issues on other blogs and vulgarity been thrown at this site)
DISCLAIMER:
To prevent anyone on the FTC hitlist claiming that this is some sort of slur campaign against Microsoft and/or Steve Ballmer, its not. These images can be found simply by doing a Google search for “Ballmer Frankenstien”
In order to keep any silly allegations at bay, it must also be stressed that these images are not really Steve Ballmer (except for the one where he appears (IMO) to be doing his KISS impression), its unfortunate that (IMO) there are many pictures of frankenstien that happen to look like him. But Mr Ballmer (IMO) is a man of many tallents and I’ve also found a couple of pictures where he’s doing a very good impression of a singer from the band Kiss.
That being said, on with the merryment!
Mr Ballmer asking Bill Gates when it will be his turn to run Microsoft.
Ah yes, prior to Darth Ballmer running Microsoft, its boss was a chap you may have heard of….Bill Gates (we will be looking at his facebook next time we have a too serious weekend)
Mr Ballmer & Frankenstein after its revealed that some users think Vista is a bit of a pig....
A frightening similarity don’t you think?
Mr Ballmer in one of his more serious moments.....you had better hide the chairs.
Yes, Mr Ballmer and chairs allegedly don’t make a good combination especially when he’s copped the hump.
Mr Ballmer after he's just heard the news about the London Stock Exchange
But never let it be said that Mr Ballmer doesn’t have other talents, below we see him auditioning for a singing position in the band KISS.
Mr Ballmer appears to be going the extra mile. He's putting his heart and soul into his best KISS impression he can manage.
Mr Ballmer has a new song for them too……”God gave Windows Vista to you..” and the lyrics have been leaked!
God gave Windows Vista to you, gave Windows Vista to you
Put it on the drive of everyone
Do you know what you want? you dont know for sure
Vista doesnt work right, you cant find a cure
And youre gettin less than what youre payin for
You dont have money or a fancy car
And youre tired of wishin on a falling star
You gotta put your faith in the loud P.R
Chorus:
God gave Windows Vista to you, gave Windows Vista to you
Gave Windows Vista to everyone (oh yeah)
God gave Windows Vista to you, gave Windows Vista to you
Put it on the drive of everyone
Now listen
If you wanna be a singer, or play guitar
Man, you gotta sweat or you wont get far
Cause its never too late to work nine-to-five
You can take a stand, or you can compromise
You can work real hard or just fantasize
But you dont start livin till you realize – I gotta tell ya!
God gave Windows Vista to you, gave Windows Vista to you
Gave Windows Vista to everyone
God Windows Vista to you, gave Windows Vista to you
I know Vista sometimes can get tough! and I know Vista sometimes can be a drag!
But people, we have been given a gift, we have been given an Operating System..
And that OS’s name is… Windows Vista!
You get the idea…..It was the best I could come up with at short notice… So as not to be disrespectful to the mighty band KISS, who I don’t really think would want the Vista song. Here is the original in its entirity:
Have a good monday. I’ll be back to more serious issues next week.
Goblin – bytes4free@googlemail.com
The silence of the shills?
We have met a couple here haven't we? People with a paid/bribed opinion....Is time up for "he who cannot be named"? doubtful but the FTC may have an impact on some of our bigger "free gift" hunters out there.
No its not the name of a new movie, nor does it signify that the Microsoft faithful has stopped with their ever increasing desperate tactics (IMO). No its a piece of news which astroturfers may find worrying (that and seeing their cashcow being eaten by FOSS)
The FTC is allegedly planning to crackdown on bloggers/posters who recieve gifts/freebies for promoting products. Its a practice we have highlighted here before and one in my opinion that completely destroys the faith in “honest held belief” in the writings of many bloggers.
Ever read something praising a proprietary product where it has no resembelance to your experience? Its these type of posts which, because of the actions of certain proprietary firms means that when talking about proprietary software/products there is always a question of doubt in an honest held belief. (IMO)
The practice though is commonplace here (that being word of mouth marketing) one such company who can create a marketing buzz for you (as mentioned in the CNET article) http://izea.com/ and its worth keeping in mind when you see a person praising a product. What are their motives for doing so?
You can read the excellent CNET article here http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10269962-38.html
“The rules could be quite strict, even extending to the practice of affiliate links–for example, a music blogger who links to a song on Amazon MP3 or iTunes that earns an affiliate commission in the process.”
So why does it matter? Well appart from the free speech on the Net not being so free (IMO) it highlights why Twitter and similar social networking sites have been ruined by companies looking to push their products onto you. I remember many years ago when IRC was the target of numerous spambots and in recent times even the newsgroups have been hit less in favor of Twitter et al.
So what can you do? I make a point of boycotting any product that tries to push itself onto me, that may be by a company on Twitter pretending to be a normal user or it may be a site that is dressed up as a personal blog when in reality its a PR stage for proprietary products.
Going back to the FTC, I presume the only people who need to be concerned are going to be the US resident shills, however it does make you wonder that if the FTC is going after this practice, it must be pretty commonplace. I do think though that the world of Bloggers is far too big to effectively police, although the FTC could concentrate on the larger, more popular names and have an impact. For companies who rely on this practice, they could be quite embarrassed if it is made a requirement that you must disclose.
Next time someone tries to tell you a proprietary solution is great, take a step back and challenge it. Chances are its not the only option for you and who knows what “gifts” the person saying it has received?
And to end of a lighter note, here is an example of a “dodgy” comment by allegedly an average user on Twitter (by the way, if the writer of this is thinking of removing it from their Twitter, I already have a screendump, which will be shown in due course):
“Looking at some family pics of MJ, I can see he was a PC user, too bad he didn’t live to see Windows 7″
Answers on a postcard with the name of this legendary MS faithful poster! and I think the coment shows that there are no depths too low for the MS faithful.
Goblin – bytes4free@googlemail.com
Windows 7..deja vu edition?
We all love a good BSOD. Remember the pre Vista PR? Could Windows 7 be the deja-vu edition?
I am a little sad that time of writing it appears the previous run of articles seems to have come to an end. Since the outlandish claims had started (from a self claimed Red Hat dev!), I found it had become rather amusing. Whilst the comments are left open, we do have to move on.
Today I am looking at a very good article by Ina Fried and you can read that here.
Ive been very vocal about the issues I have had with Vista. For me Vista is the reason why I went from dual booting at home, to a complete removal of Microsoft products. I have also been challenged when I make the remark Vista 7 (in respect of the impending 7 release) but would like you to consider Microsoft’s position of “if it doesn’t work in Vista it probably wont work in 7″ (or words to that effect) I would also like users to consider XPM in 7 and suggest that 7 (or Vista 7) has more of a resembalance in terms of its core code to Vista than it does to XP.
To me though that should not be a point of challenge. If, as the the MS faithful repeatedly tell me “there is nothing wrong with Vista” then they should champion the fact that 7 building upon what they claim is a great product.
Although, readers with more than a passing interest in the OS they are running know, the story is not quite as simple as that.
Lets take a trip back to 2007 and examine this article, entitled “No end in sight for Vista’s long goodbye” here. now, does this suggest to you that Vista has been a great success or infact people wanted rid of Vista as far back as 2007?
Lets look at another more recent example from here. This was written in 2008 and is in regards to “Angry Vista users vent over SP1 driver issues” Strange isnt it that the MS faithful like to claim that Linux has the exact same issues?
How about this article from August 2008 “Vista’s Security Rendered Completely Useless By New Exploit”
Now lets move on again, this time to 2009, where the release of SP2 has brought with it a new article, you can read that here. This is an article to help Vista users sort out network issues and again since the MS faithful like to claim that Linux has “issues” it seems strange that a “mainstream” OS released on the back of the popular (and now mature) XP that the Windows platform has to have posts like this. If MS supporters are going to claim Linux is “not simple” why then after all this time does the Microsoft offering still seem to have problems?
Before anyone gives the reason of “new technology” as being a cause, let me stress that these examples are not a claim of incompetance on behalf of Microsoft, but more that no matter what OS you choose, you can have difficulties. Whilst there are many claims made about alternatives to Microsoft product (being that they are not as good) its worth noting that a “good package” is something that is suitable for you and since many alternatives cost nothing to use, is there any harm in trying them for yourself?
CONCLUSIONS
The purpose of this article is to highlight a few points, firstly, the PR that Vista received pre-release from the MS faithful was, IMO very much the same as we see today for 7. Regardless of what people try to claim, I think its a given that Vista did not receive the reception that Microsoft would have liked. There are many more examples than I could post here and the aim was simply to highlight the ones that have similarities to the claims the MS faithful make about Linux and alternatives. An interesting search of “Microsoft blames” is one I’d recommend everyone try in Google.
Windows 7 I believe shares more in common with Vista than it does with XP, and whilst it may well be a “polished Vista” we have to consider that not only are we in the middle of a recession, but IMO the dynamics of the “average user” have shifted. I don’t believe the average user is now prepared to remain quiet about issues with software, I think the average user is more willing to consider alternatives and I also think the home PC’s role is changing. I’ve voiced my opinions on Windows as a gaming platform in light of the massive popularity of games consoles. I’ve also suggested that for most users the requirements they have of a home PC can quite easily be catered for by FOSS and without the need of proprietary solutions and I’ve also suggested in the past that the “hobby” of computing is returning, and that Linux with its customizable and open system allows that hobby to flourish.
Conversely I’ve also said that mass migration is bad. To me Linux is a great platform since it strikes a happy balance between being accesable for the new user willing to learn a new way of working and a more “seasoned veterans” love of “tinkering”. IMO Windows tries to please everyone and in doing so has become a bloated product which has an ethos of “one click solutions” for “one click solutions”. In my humble opinion history will show that Vista was the biggest mistake of Microsoft’s and I believe that Vista is the main reason why alternatives are even being considered at all. I’ve said before that unlike some FOSS supporters, I actually understand and agree with the need for proprietary solutions, however when those proprietary solutions have FOSS offerings that are, IMO better, then really one must question the value of them.
To finish on a lighter note, lets have a look at a “happy” Vista customer who is going to show you how to install Windows Vista in 2 minutes. Funny that the problems experience by this chap are the same ones that the MS faithful claim about Linux time and time again.
Will Windows 7 be a “deja-vu edition” of Vista? Time will tell. But with articles like “London Stock Exchange to abandon failed Windows platform” that can be read here. One has to wonder how much damage has already been done to the Windows brand, regardless of what 7 turns out to be.
Goblin – bytes4free@googlemail.com
A visit from Mr Hussain!
Mr Hussains site is very popular (according to him) Everybody loves Mr Hussain and his lazy XP comment. Don't be too critical of him though, remember his blog is a page rank 5....?
Before reading I have to advise you that Mr Hussain has no issues with using vulgar language. I decided not to # out the obsenity purely because I think it better shows the type of person Mr Hussain is. I will let you decide.
Mr Hussain has finally visited my blog! Apparently I have too much time on my hands, but then so does Mr Hussain who has kindly responded with this lengthy tirade on one of my articles. Unfortunately AKISMET had marked it as spam (unmoderated comments here Mr Hussain, but certain IP’s are regarded by AKISMET as spam when they contain vulgarity like yours)
Unlike Mr Hussain I don’t believe in deleting and I did think Mr Hussain deserved an article all of his own and especially since AKISMET blocked it. So here readers in its entirity are the musings of Mr Hussain:
Mr Goblin.
My blog is a Page Rank 5 blog. It gets way way more traffic than you ever get on YOUR so called blog that only spreads FUD. I suggest you keep me out of your discussions and try to face the realities of life. You make the most comments on your pathetic blog, no one else does. You belong to the group of people that call Windows 7, ‘Vista 7′. Nice. You guys are in denial. And I wont question that, it’s your wish, your choice. Stay with it, stop trying to shub it down other’s throats.
You don’t even have ‘readers’. I do. Try googling how to get a Page Rank 5 blog, or 8000 page views per day. I bet you can’t achieve that. Never, specially with your attitude.
The way you make up lies about the so called ‘readers’ of my blog, that didn’t comment on my post but mailed you? Are you out of your mind? Could you make up any bigger lies than that? LOL.
If I had to fall to your shitty level, to come face to face with YOUR potty face and potty mind ( yea go tell your mom i called you shitty ), I would have also made up some fake emails like that.
You are just trying to get cheap publicity. Waisybabu isn’t my friend, but you even made up that lie just because he is my Twitter contact. You stalked my friend Manan, and later denied it. Googled him up eh? You must have found out lots about me too. Care to post about that too?
I’ve used A LOT more open source software than you have so far in your life, I’m REALLY sure about that, as I am a software engineering student myself. But a person like you who supports FOSS, but goes to work on .Net in the morning? That’s your belief? Your faith? Right! Hypocrisy is why Linux never made an impact on the desktop.
And yes, with your lying comments and ridiculous attitude, I did the right thing to blacklist you. That is MY BELIEF, to blacklist a person like you who just argues for the sake of argument, where as no one else does. Great job. I can see you succeeding in life very well. NOT.
To sum it up, you are a :
Stalker.
Liar.
Spread FUD.
Hypocrite.
So lets look at Mr Hussains little tirade closer.
“My blog is a Page Rank 5 blog” LOL There you go all you lazy and ignorant non 7 upgraders he’s a page rank 5….?!?! Mr Hussain, you don’t need to justify your site, readers can see by the amount of comments you get what a page rank 5 is worth (what is that by the way?)
I presume by FUD you meant the bit where I challenged your comment of XP users being lazy and ignorant? Maybe you can elaborate what FUD I have spread?
“I suggest you keep me out of your discussions and try to face the realities of life.”
What realities would they be? Please elaborate. I’m sure you would like me to keep you out of my discussions however whats the problem? according to your next comment I dont have any readers. (Except for you of course)
“You don’t even have ‘readers’. I do.”
What? You’ve read it, theres one. So have some of your Twitter friends (by the way one of whom says he agrees with me check out the other article here!) and I’ve had one or two other hits as well. If what you say is true, why are you posting here at all?
“I’ve used A LOT more open source software than you have so far in your life, I’m REALLY sure about that, as I am a software engineering student myself.”
Mr Hussain, before we continue, how old are you? You are sounding like a child trying to make claims that are better than another in a school playground. You are a software engineering student? Marvelous. Come back when you make a living from it, then we can compare experience. Mr Hussain, your “blog” and promotion of Microsoft products does not suggest to me that you’ve used any open source software at all. But thats my opinion, unlike you I won’t make claims without proof.
“Hypocrisy is why Linux never made an impact on the desktop.”
Spoken like a true software engineer!?!?!? Mr Hussain, are you aware what much of the net runs on? or how about the various Government bodies who have moved to Linux. What about the increase in use on the desktop? A few years ago it was a very different picture. This however is off topic, I challenged you over the lazy XP users comment and one of your defenders was very quick to point out that Linux was nothing to do with the discussion. Do the research and then come back, it may stop you looking silly.
Or maybe you would like to explain why/how hyprocracy has anything to do with Linux. Mr Hussain (as you can see) has answered nothing. He can’t. Is he a “software engineer student”, it doesnt matter, he certainly claims to be a page 5 rank blog or whatever (very impressive I’m sure)
Mr Hussain seems to think my posting on his site is stalking that may be the reason why hardly anyone posts there?
You have made accusations i.e “Liar,stalker, spread fud” I would robustly deny these claims.
I put it to you that what you have typed is libel, all you’ve done is call names, why not come back and give examples of your name calling? If you can’t/wont then I ask you to retract those statements. I will robustly challenge any libel aimed at me, but I doubt you would dare defend your position in a court, would you? I could go on with highlighting your post, but to be honest, it speaks for itself and I find your flippant disregard for decency when talking about views on software, odious.
Mr Hussain, finally, I called you a potty mouth and it appears AKISMET agrees with me. Because of your foul language it held the comment in “spam” and I only noticed by chance. In future can you please refrain, then your posts will show immediately. I have set AKISMET on its most “open” setting and unfortunately I cannot stop it from identifying the language you choose to use as being spam.
It certainly saves you waiting to see your “comments” published.
EDIT*
Maybe while we are on the subject of liars, how about you tell me how I stalked your “friend” Manan? I only responded to him on your blog, and it was him who posted here. Maybe you can elaborate? I know you won’t be able to, and the reason why I called Manan a liar is for the same reason why you have shown yourself to be one. I didn’t stalk him and wasn’t prepared to talk to him further until he posted here (since you were busy deleting posts off your site)
Goblin – bytes4free@googlemail.com
A response to Manan
Since Mr Hussain has taken to deleting posts he doesnt like (and notice how since he has prevented me from commenting his own comments have dried up) Manan gave a response to me that I think its only polite if I answer. Since Mr Hussain has a censoring system (and Im a little loathed to create interest in his posts again) I will print Manan’s post here and comment.
This is not the “ripping apart” that was promised, so please dont be disapointed:
Manan Reply:
June 28th, 2009 at 11:56 pm
Yes, I’ve worked my way to your blog (& read your post before I made my comments here) but you see, I can’t be adding RSS feeds for a post that I’m expecting some time in the future, since I’ve subscribed to this comment stream if you were to post a link here I would get the notification, a solution I find to be rather intelligent. 
Let’s keep Linux out of this since you want to, and since you raised the question of my age, lets go a little more down memory lane & come to XP’s launch. Microsoft was written off by the tech community only 6 years later to have you defending your right to use XP.
I still haven’t read a comment where anyone has tried to make a case that 7 isn’t a worthy upgrade, all I’ve been reading is that XP is “good enough”. You haven’t tried 7 to know what you’re missing or what you’re not. Which makes the point Imran’s talked about, people are being lazy to even try out something new & would be happy with what they have, something that can be attributed to ignorance as well. So in all this banter you’ve actually been giving Imran concrete proof of what he’s trying to say.
Ok, firstly thanks for enlightening us about your RSS habits. I personally use Thunderbird for an all in one solution, I wonder what you use?
Quote “Let’s keep Linux out of this since you want to, and since you raised the question of my age, lets go a little more down memory lane & come to XP’s launch. Microsoft was written off by the tech community only 6 years later to have you defending your right to use XP.”
Thanks, since my original visit to Mr Hussains site was nothing to do with Linux, that is appreciated. Is this a remembering competition? If so I go back considerably further than XP. Infact if you had read my post you would see I champion WB1.3 (AmigaOS) which is considerably older than XP. I go back even further, but thats off topic and not what you are responding to. Lets make one thing clear. I do not use Microsoft products at home. At work I have no choice being caught in the .net. At work we use a combination of XP/Vista (although the later is a rarerity) I am not defending anyone’s “right to use XP” per say, I am defending peoples freedom of choice to use the package they feel comfortable with and not be called lazy or ignorant for doing so.
Thankfully Mr Hussain tried to be as insulting to me as well, so hopefully there will be no XP users who are offended by the rubbish he spouted.
Quote “I still haven’t read a comment where anyone has tried to make a case that 7 isn’t a worthy upgrade”
Except for a issues individuals report on forums (which are personal to them) neither have I. I think the wording should be “necessary upgrade” and goes back to the question that even Microsoft employees cant answer properly (even here) which is:
What advantages does Windows 7 offer that cannot be achieved either natively or via third party software on XP?
Thats an important question and one that needs answering, especially when Microsoft have a massive userbase (IMO) of people happy with XP.
Quote “all I’ve been reading is that XP is “good enough””
And thats bad because? Certainly from opinion I’ve read users dont want Vista, so if they are happy with XP, whats the problem?
If a user is going to have to pay money to upgrade to 7 and they either can’t afford (or dont want to) whats wrong with staying with something thats good enough?
Quote “You haven’t tried 7 to know what you’re missing or what you’re not.”
You don’t know that for sure, you are simply saying it for effect. For all you know I could be a “troll” like Mr Hussain says and I could be the biggest Windows fanboy on the net who just likes creating arguments. Fact is you dont know. Ask first.
For the record I have not used Windows 7, as since I did experience the pre-release Vista and its subsequent release on the shelves, I have no faith that the package which is knocking around the net now is what will be representative of the final version. Notice I havent sought to cheapen 7, Ive simply asked for the advantages for a happy XP user. I will be purchasing 7 when it hits the shelves and will give my opinion. You cannot champion something which has not had a shelf release (IMO) I would not chamption the faster boottimes of Ubuntu 9.04 until I had downloaded the final version. I did not comment on the beta, it would not be fair.
As it happens 9.04 was (IMO) not such a great upgrade since the increase in boottime was no quicker than #!CBL (and that was based on 8.10). (IMO)
Quote “people are being lazy to even try out something new & would be happy with what they have”
and this was my point about it being silly. If people are happy leave them alone. By your theory then, even though you are a happy Windows user, you should try AROS, FREEBSD, MAC and LINUX simply to make sure you are not missing out. The point of upgrade/change is when you hit upon a problem or issues that you believe an upgraded/new OS will provide. If you are getting what you want from whatever you use, why bother? Vista hardly got the mass migration MS wanted, did it? I’d suggest since nothing terrible happened to the XP users who either downgraded Vista or stuck with XP then the same is true now.
Here’s where you mention the new DX and Windows 7 (I presume) if you care to see what gamers are saying (and I’m not one so cant comment) I think you will find 7 is not really on their list of must haves. Add to that the piracy issue and the dominance of the console as a gaming platform, I’d suggest that the last bastion of salvation for Windows as an OS is being eroded away by the console market.
Quote “So in all this banter you’ve actually been giving Imran concrete proof of what he’s trying to say”
Sure I have. I sincerely hope what few readers he has agree (although looking at his comment section it appears already some dont) A Gentoo user supporting a baseless 7 claim? Thats a new one, maybe you could better explain?
I sincerely hope you avoid the vulgarity of Mr Hussain. You have raised points which should be answered and topics that should be debated. Rest assured, even if I dont like your posts, your comments will always be shown here.
*EDIT*
While we are waiting for Manan to respond, I wonder if he could also clear up if this user: http://ubuntuforums.org/member.php?u=437544 (who appears to have difficulties with the simplest of distros) is the same person? He popped up on the Ubuntu forums for a short period, and just like the simplistic experiences where Manan disputes most mainstream press (in relation to him thinking IE 8 is the best browser) it appears that the user on Ubuntu forums, has difficulty getting to grips with anything that does not have the Microsoft logo on it. Why then does he use Utorrent (as per his twitter account)?
Goblin – bytes4free@googlemail.com
WINE 1.1.24 – Lastest build tested.
Want Windows compat on your Linux distro? Try Wine, the latest build (1.1.24) is looked at here.
We’ve covered WINE before, and in the age where even Microsoft appears to acknoledge the importance of XP mode in 7, it seems only fair that we cover what XP (and other Windows versions) binaries can be run within Linux.
Firstly, for anyone that doesnt know, there WINE is a package that offers a replacement Windows API for Linux users. In short it allows Windows binaries to run in Linux. Theres a massive database of Windows packages already working, and in cases that I have tested, performance was better through Wine on Linux than it was through native Windows. An excellent example would be World of Warcraft.
Looking at the latest build (1.1.24):
- Support for freedesktop file associations. - Support for exception handling on 64-bit. - Improved ARB shaders. - Fixes for the FBO mode. - Many listview improvements.
and you can download it from the official site here: http://www.winehq.org
Wine running WinUAE a Windows Amiga emulator. A testiment to the work put into Wine by its dev team.
The latest build is very stable (IMO) I always find the best way to test a Windows binary is via an emulator of some description and in this case I used WinUAE to see not only how it handled the GFX of a Windows binary, but also the added processor load of realtime emulation. The results were as expected, frame rate was steady (and way in excess of the original Amiga) and no GFX glitches were experienced (nor sfx) I also believe the new build is slightly faster, since when testing the RSI Megademo I seem to be getting about a 5% speed increase on the same machine.
The Wine project has been going for a long time. Users who want to upgrade their OS to Windows 7 and like the idea of XP mode, should note that firstly XP mode is available only in the more expensive versions (apparently) and it allegedly does not offer DirectX support. Wine on the other hand has great support for software (check the home page for your favorite title) it won’t cost you anything, and its worth considering to try if as an unhappy Vista customer you are looking for an upgrade to your OS.
As I said before (even with Mr Hussain’s silliness) stick with the OS you are happiest with. If thats XP fine. If its not, what harm is there to shop around first? especially if that “shopping around” is not going to cost you anything to do.
Goblin – bytes4free@googlemail.com
