"Linux, y'a moins bien mais c'est plus cher !"
"Linux, there is less but it's more expensive !"

Linux est mauvais.

Mais oui! "L'experience des Fenetres", c'est bon!

Urg, I forget what 'fenetre' means...

*looks it up on a pocket 5-language translator*

Ooh... I get it! Haha :)

Do you think its possible that they fuse Windows and Linux together to make the ultimate OS ever? Since alot of people rather Linux, and alot of people rather Windows, wouldnt it be smart to combine their strong points into one operating system? Not to mention how much money both companies would get out of the deal. Who here thinks that is a good idea?

It probably wouldn't work... besides, Linux is made by malevolent Microsoft-haters. They wouldn't work well together ;-)

But they might. Remember, money makes the world go round.

And if it doesnt work, lets have all of the programmers who have an account at ticalc.org work together and make it on their own. We'd all make millions!!!

And then some spy from Microsoft would take our program, and sell it as their own. Then we'd rebel against Microsoft, overthrow Bill Gates, and steal all his money and then...sorry, kinda go off topic there. But really, the first post in this string was off topic. Sorry.

Fusing Linux and M$. Good idea. but you are a bit slow on the take up. That is what wine is trying really hard to do.
The best features of windows is being able to run all your current software. So all that is needed is the compatability layer.

Mandrake is easy to install (easier than win98) And can easily be set to initially work like M$ until you are used to it.

And it is easy to create a distro that can be installed with no thought - look at Knoppix, shove the CD in and you don't even need to give it your name.

So, M$ should get on and write it's own version of wine for linux, it will be the death of the OS but that should have been allowed to find it's corner long ago. MS should concentrate on creating good user software and games. It wouldn't hurt them that much. And they can easily charge a small fortune for the comatability layer for linux.

And 'all people who program for / use linux are M$ haters, and won't touch anything by M$' is not true. Most of us don't like the company but if they turn out some good software a good many Linux users would be happy to use it. The other belief that Linux users refuse to pay for software is also trash. If it is worth it, most of us would pay for it. We generally understand the value of good software. If there is a free alternative that is worthy competition, well most would use the free.

Linux is not a company, or part of a company, it is an OS (well actuall a kernel but wth) that is created and maintained by an open community.

"If it is worth it, most of us would pay for it."

Yes, but I would expect to get all of the rights I deserve with how much MS charges for its software. You know, rights like being able to change a program to fit my needs or being able to sell copies of it (or just give them away) to friends and family. Remember, this is the reason Free Software is generally very robust and long-term viable.

Basically, I really don't care how much software costs (up to a point, of course); I care mostly about those freedoms. That's how Linux and other Free Software is really free. Do you think MS would really sell Free Software?

So it seems to be that the big complaint that the MS-haters have is that MS software is, for the most part, not open-source.

I know of an MS program that is completely open-source...

QBASIC NIBBLES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But seriously, not having those "freedoms" really isn't that bad... I think maybe changing a program to fit your own needs is okay, but then, you could see their code and maybe copy it into another program. They like to keep their code private, and for a good reason. "Giving copies away to friends or family" is producing illegal copies of it and giving them the software, so that they don't have to pay for it. While that is a good bargain for the friends and family, it's also illegal (it's similar to the FBI warning you see on every VHS movie).

And of course, if you're tired of all the closed-source software, you could just relax and play nibbles.

wow, last time any of my ideas got this much attention was when...wait, never. I'm the boring one.

Why, with a name like Preston Chaderton.. what did you expect?

Your name isn't any better...

You think my First and Last name are odd, add my middle name to it: Preston Pierce Chaderton. Pierce as in Pierce my ear to have an earring! Now its an extremely odd name!

Blame it on your parents ;-)

But hey, his name is big_dick_bob, so it's not like his is any better than yours ;-)

What is Linux, and what are Linux servers?, if you don't mind me asking.

I have always heard of them but never really have known what exactly they are...

Linux is what people commonly call GNU/Linux. We computer literate are just laz...

Linux is a kernel (what controls and runs the system) GNU is a system that fits neatly around the Linux kernel. And as I have said it is not uncommon for eople to call this combination just Linux instead of its correct title GNU/Linux.

Both are ultimately based on Unix. Unix being a real operating system <Flame war begins>.

Both Linux and Unix are noted for their power and stability, also Linux is very flexible and you can do most of what you want with it in the field of configuring to your taste.

A Linux server is just a server that uses Linux (a server is a computer that 'serves' other computer on a network.) Linux is popular for webservers because there is little worry about compatibility with the webservers, the most commonly used scripting language used (for dynamic pages - like what you are reading) is Perl, originally for Unix, but runs on ANY system. So as long as your site doesn't use ASP (the M$ rip off of perl on the net) you can use mostly any server you want.

A Linux server is just a server that uses Linux (a server is a computer
that 'serves' other computer on a network.) Linux is popular for
webservers because there is little worry about compatibility with the
webservers, the most commonly used scripting language used (for dynamic
pages - like what you are reading) is Perl, originally for Unix, but
runs on ANY system. So as long as your site doesn't use ASP (the M$ rip
off of perl on the net) you can use mostly any server you want.

Oh, the most important bit of GNU/Linux is it's hsitory. GNU was written
by a hacker, Richard Stallman, who believes that software should be free
- the average person writes it for personal pleasure anyway. And Linux
was written by a tudent / research staff at uni (not sure which), Linus
Torvalds, and he didn't seem to have much interest in selling this
amature piece of work.
So the two chaps somehow got together and decided that they pieces of
work should be put together, and as one believes strongly that software
should be free, and, I assume, the other believes more or less the same,
the OS was put on the net for people to download.
The reason why it grow so quickly is because anyone can program it and
submit stuff towards the Linux community, and there are then a few large
corperations, Suse, Redhat etc, and groups of people (Debian etc) who
bundle all this software into distros that are easy to install.

And that is more or less it. visit http://www.linux.org/
for more info.


Sorry to drag on a bit, but it should answer your question,. If you could be bothered to read it. I just can't believe it had to take two posts.

Well, to say that RMS and Linus agree on the philosophy is a bit of a stretch.

Linus doesn't believe in the Free Software philosophy quite as strictly as RMS (I don't think anyone but RMS does).

BTW, Linus was a university student who needed to access his Unix account from home, but Minix (a crippled Unix clone) didn't have a terminal emulator, so Linus wrote a terminal emulator on the bare metal of his 386. He added features and soon it resembled an operating system, so then he decided to finish it. (I think Linus said that Linux is the Emacs of terminal emulators).

Linus and RMS never got together in the early years of Linux (actually, Linus attended a speech RMS gave about Free Software some years before he started writing Linux, and that's why he chose to license it under the GPL).

Linus found the GNU system (GCC and other utilities) online and ported it to run on his system, Linux. (He called it "Linux" on his computer but changed it to "Freax" on an FTP site someone let him use; the FTP operator changed it back to Linux, though.) He showed other people online his OS, and eventually it spread around the world to become what it is now.

That's the history of Linux as I know it (I read both RMS's biography ("Free as in Freedom") and Linus's autobiography ("Just For Fun")). You should read them some time and you'll understand the different personalities of those two people.

Cheers, I was always unsure just how they got together (the systems not the people). Now I know and I don't need to be so washy about it in the future.