Reminds me of voting.

Story: Windows 10 doesn't matter to the future of Linux Total Replies: 26
Author Content
Bob_Robertson

Oct 03, 2014
10:55 AM EDT
How to keep your people docile and coming back for more?

Promise them that, really, the next version will be so much better.

Just like voting, people are less likely to revolt if they believe in those they will vote for next time.
mrider

Oct 03, 2014
11:08 AM EDT
Without naming any names, there are plenty of OSS projects that are guilty of the same technique. :)
seatex

Oct 03, 2014
1:12 PM EDT
I saw a video of an MS project leader showing Windows 10 and asking for free workers (public) to download, beta test and provide free work for MS. Like MS is an open source community now too? Anyone who does free beta testing and bug submissions for MS is a tool. And after these tools provide their free labor, do they even get a free copy for their work?
Bob_Robertson

Oct 03, 2014
1:16 PM EDT
Seatex,

Win95 used the same process. There were millions of beta testers providing feedback, writing drivers, and so on. I happened to work at just such a company at the time.

And no, no free copy. Which is fine, because it didn't even have TCP/IP.

The version that shipped 6 months after launch, with TCP/IP, was better to have anyway.
gus3

Oct 03, 2014
1:26 PM EDT
Early development of Windows 95 assumed that NetBIOS/SMB were "trending upward." Commercializing the Internet killed that assumption, early enough in the lifetime of Win95 that M$ were able to adapt it without making rubbish of it.
seatex

Oct 03, 2014
1:29 PM EDT
Hey, Bob. I forgot to add that your analogy to voting is spot on!
Bob_Robertson

Oct 03, 2014
1:30 PM EDT
SHHHH! Don't noise that around, it might be misconstrued as "political".
seatex

Oct 03, 2014
1:35 PM EDT
> SHHHH! Don't noise that around, it might be misconstrued as "political".

Hard to avoid that subject though, as it is present in every open source community as well - to one degree or another.
jdixon

Oct 03, 2014
2:43 PM EDT
"If voting made any difference they wouldn't let us do it." -- attributed to Mark Twain.

"If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal." -- Emma Goldman

Bob is in good company. :)
seatex

Oct 03, 2014
2:49 PM EDT
Here's one for you guys. Sometimes a tie happens, and you end up with this mess.
Bob_Robertson

Oct 03, 2014
3:18 PM EDT
Gads, Seatex, what a mess!
seatex

Oct 03, 2014
3:39 PM EDT
Is it that MS can't fully admit defeat with tiles, or is it that they are afraid of losing all those customers who paid extra for touch screens on their desktops and laptops?
the_doctor

Oct 03, 2014
6:46 PM EDT
Ah! But it is voting.

Consumers vote with their pocketbooks...

Windows 8 Market Share Headed Back Towards Single Digits

No need for a recount here.
BernardSwiss

Oct 03, 2014
7:17 PM EDT
Ahhhh.... just like regular* voting -- you can't actually vote for what you want, and are stuck deciding which choice will be least disappointing or will lead to the least objectionable outcome.

.

*) at least, the way the voting system is structured in North American
the_doctor

Oct 03, 2014
11:21 PM EDT
Don't be ridiculous. America has finest politicians money can buy! ;)
jdixon

Oct 04, 2014
9:52 AM EDT
> Don't be ridiculous. America has finest politicians money can buy! ;)

You know the definition of an honest politician, don't you? A honest politician is one who stays bought.
JaseP

Oct 05, 2014
2:32 AM EDT
Quoting: Gads, Seatex, what a mess!


It's better than Windows 8.1,... which I'm forced to use as part of my Comp. Sci. degree program that I'm enrolled in... On 8.1, that Start screen, Partridge Family bus looking mess that's on the right side of that menu is the whole screen ...
cmost

Oct 05, 2014
9:31 AM EDT
You guys do realize that you don't have to have any live tiles on the Start menu don't you?
cr

Oct 05, 2014
10:22 AM EDT
> You guys do realize that you don't have to have any live tiles on the Start menu don't you?

No Pointcast Network on the start menu? How primitive!
seatex

Oct 05, 2014
6:19 PM EDT
> You guys do realize that you don't have to have any live tiles on the Start menu don't you?

Well, that's good to know. For times when I'll have to fix other people's Windows 10 computers. At least Windows 8.1 has opened a lot of peoples' minds to Linux. I made the switch after Vista, personally.

I've also downgraded a LOT of people from Windows 8.1 to Windows 7, if they can't leave Windows for whatever reason.
Bob_Robertson

Oct 06, 2014
11:27 AM EDT
My Mom's breakpoint was Vista as well.

The only problem she's having is that every once in a while the audio gets muted. I'm sure it's one of the custom buttons on her laptop that's doing it, being pushed accidentally, but it's still annoying. There are some things for which being obfuscated from the user's immediate control is a good thing.

Fortunately, the "show all audio controls" or whatever it is by right-clicking on the XFCE Mixer icon provides the controls that are being muted. Sigh. I wonder if there is a way to lock those controls so that nothing can be muted, and the only thing that can be changed is "Master Volume"?
gus3

Oct 06, 2014
1:09 PM EDT
"Breakpoint"? She was running Vista in a debugger?

That debugger had its work cut out for it.
cmost

Oct 06, 2014
6:12 PM EDT
My breakpoint was Windows XP's controversial product activation feature. I made the leap to Linux more than 10 years ago and am now quite skillful at administering Linux systems.
BernardSwiss

Oct 06, 2014
6:32 PM EDT
That (Product Activation) was mine, too -- on top of the quality/security issues,and other abuses, being treated that way wasn't something I was willing to pay more for than I would spend for a better graphics card.

(Though I was already using Linux when XP came out -- the writing was already on the wall, in giant, florescent, Day-Glo Red lettering.)
JaseP

Oct 07, 2014
12:49 AM EDT
My leap was before product activation,... It was (not MS itself, but Intuit) when Quickbooks wanted me to buy a new version for $200 in order to link with current tax software, when I had just purchased the previous version for that amount the year before... Then MS started "threatening" with marketplace talk of the "product activation" thing and future plans of "subscriptions." That was enough to do me in... That was 2001... (and I had dabbled with Linux as early as 1999).

Oh, and BernardSwiss, the lettering on the wall wasn't Red,... is was Green,... and it wasn't letters, per se, but dollar signs...
BernardSwiss

Oct 07, 2014
2:08 AM EDT
@JaseP

I stand corrected.
Bob_Robertson

Oct 07, 2014
9:22 AM EDT
I actually liked Win95. Although I had used Linux since 1995, I used Win95 for laptop, games, and the rest. Linux was on the server.

When Win95 finally died, in 2000, I erased Windows and only touched it again for work, and a little game play on the ex's system because Zoo Tychoon is pretty cool.

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