| Archive for NEEPS North East Eco-friendly People's Site |
| niceguyrichy |
Google Launches Internet BrowserRead more : BBC
interesting to see what this is gonna be like. prob take a wee while for it show its full potential. have to be damn good to drag me away from Opera though. |
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| wildgarlic |
Yeah... interesting stuff but I LOVE Flock - will give it a whirl though, because I just can't help myself and I want to have a nosy 
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| Martin |
being a longtime user of Firefox, I feel the same, BUT this is aimed at Windoze users, and has the clout of Google behind it - they may have the sheer power to get it accepted by the great mass of 'doze users, which Firefox and Opera have never managed........if it helps wrest the near monopoly of IE from them, then it's gotta be good! 
Google are no fools - if that gets taken up, I can see their next move being to release their own version of Linux, which they are already using in-house - then we'll see some fireworks! (mostly distress flares from Microsoft as they slowly sink)
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| niceguyrichy |
lol keep dreaming mate, never gonna happen. M$ have far too much of a stranglehold to be sunk by even Google. |
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| Martin |
betcha 50p they'll be well on the slide in 5 years, a has-been in 10!
There's no getting away from it - they've already seen the writing on the wall from many directions, hence their bullying attempted take over of Yahoo - the success of the Asus EEE, and all the clones now hitting the market (fitted with Linux OS '), the large-scale non-takeup of the execrable Vista by the business sector, the useability of the newer releases of Linux, like Ubuntu, their total inability to get a foothold in the 'net market now dominated by Google................ give it a few years, they'll rank about where IBM is now....(nowhere!) |
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| Martin |
look at it this way - (dreaming for a while) - if there was a FREE operating system that didn't crash, didn't freeze, was virtually invulnerable to viruses and other internet nasties, came with free software that was constantly updated, and enabled computers designed for bloatware to triple their operating speeds.............oh, I forgot, it exists - it's called Ubuntu!
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| niceguyrichy |
Linux hasn't exactly been a secret, and it hasn't exactly taken over the market the last ten years , so what's changed? not much is the answer.
M$ are going nowhere anytime soon, despite linux & Apple fanboi's greatest wishes. 
(btw, I hate them as much as the next man, but I'm just saying....) |
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| Martin |
I think what's changing is that increasing numbers of people (like me) are increasingly discontent with the Microsoft offerings, and are willing to try the now far more "user friendly" Linux offerings - admittedly, it's as yet only a few percent (ever tried buying a laptop in a mainstream outlet WITHOUT Vista?), and people mistakenly think they have to be "geeks" to use it!
BUT, give the widespread acceptance of mini laptops running Linux, and the possibility of a really good free browser from Google (who loathe Microsoft), it is only a small step to see Google in a year or two offering a "click here, it's all automatic" easy migration to their "own" Linux OS
Betcha another 50p!
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| IainC |
I don't doubt that eventually Google will come out with a cut down OS that works well on mini laptops, etc but I can't see business going down that road anymore than I can see all businesses junking Windows machines for Apple Macs. Theres been a lot of people b*tchin' about Vista, there always is whenever a new OS comes out from MS. Once the patches, etc have been applied it's generally fairly rock solid from then on in (barring dodgy 3rd party stuff that gets installed on it). There's always been a "load" of people dis-satisfied with MS, and they've all had the option of Linux, Unix, Mac (which is just another *nix clone). MS still have a HUGE margin in terms of OS %age in the global market. I can't see them going under in the next 10 years like you claim. I'd bet that other than the name of the latest OS, there won't be a huge amount of difference between the %ages of the MS offering Vs the *nix offerings. Possible few % extra using some *nix offering but I doubt we'd ever even see a 50-50 split (with MS on one side and EVERYONE ELSE on the other). Funnily enough, I use Vista and everything just works. |
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| Martin |
Google is running on Linux (a simply ginormous business!)...............just give it time! - 50p still up for grabs!
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| lachlanandmarcus |
mmm Im a Vista fan too, I was v sceptical (laptop came with it when I bought it having had to give work laptop back when I left!) but I have to be honest and say Ive got no complaints.
Im just wondering at what size Google becomes the new Microsoft in all but name? 
BTW Im not sceptical about competitor products or freeware, I refused to buy MS office and instead use Openoffice which is fantastic and was free dwnload, and have had no probs with that either.
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| IainC |
Yeah, one business out of how many? Most back end systems will use a Unix system, not a Linux system so Linux will only ever be used as a desktop replacement. The cheapest and easiest way for a business to put a simple desktop on someones desktop is to go back to a thin client instead of any other desktop OS's, but they don't, they continue to supply everyone with a windows desktop as it's what they all understand and use elsewhere. It's not to say that they couldn't also do the same things with an Apple or a Linux machine, but they know if there are any issues/bugs with a windows machine that it will be easy to find someone who knows how to sort it. How many holes are in the linux distro you use, don't claim 0 because NOTHING have ever been written that didn't have a bug/hole somewhere. In a lot of cases the bugs/viruses aren't there for some OS's because who wants to write a virus that only potentially affects a couple of thousand people, when you can write one that could potentially affect millions and millions of people worldwide. |
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| Martin |
It's something incredibly complex - it's not just little me that thinks Windoze days are numbered - many clued-up pundits reckon it's just a matter of time......it is now eminently possibly to run a business using free software - witness the excellence of "Open Office" - it's good run on Windoze, it's even better on Linux.........the whole shape and form of things is changing - it wouldn't be a case of Google becoming the "new microsoft", because the software will be free - it's open source, designed by, of and for the people........Google have shown you don't NEED to charge for software to make gobbets of money - Microsoft is essentially a mammoth taking it's time to die - the world has moved on - it's made a few crap attempts at shape shifting, but it's essentially a behemoth in it's last days.........
Why PAY for a twenty year old burglar and vandal prone Lada, when you can have a totally secure, and superior in all ways Bentley for free?
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| lachlanandmarcus |
My former employer (biggest bank in the world) was trialling thin client PCs -I was in the pilot in 2007 so there may be some hope! |
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| IainC |
Funny... I seem to remember that exact argument being talked about years ago... still hasn't happened 
Yup, they just plague you with adverts instead, oh and only ever release software in BETA flavours for AGES before they ever (if ever) convert it to a proper "live" program... means they get out of all support issues 'cos "it's a beta product".
TBH, every OS is only as secure as the carbon unit... which has always and will always be the main problem with computers. What would you do with your linux machine if it crashed due to a dodgy HDD, how easy is it to then get your data from and how easy is it to find someone to help you out with it? I'm all for someone recommending someone use something else, etc but you always come across as a complete "fanboi" about Linux. Like I've said before, I've used it in the past, will more than likely use it again in the future but I'm not about to claim that MS will be extinct anytime soon. |
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| Martin |
Open Office, The Gimp, Ubuntu - adverts? - nary a one!
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| wildgarlic |
Ok - I wasn't feeling good and couldn't sleep so I got up at 5am and was playing about online and decided that I'd give the old google chrome browser a go. It's ok but it's not much different from some of the others, in fact it seems to have some features from quite a few different browsers.
I don't like it enough for it to take the place of flock or firefox though. You know what - all these 'free versus paid' arguments don't really wash because if someone really wants something for free, what's to stop them getting a 'copy' - thus it's free anyway. |
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| Martin |
free versus paid? - firstly, paid software is becoming increasingly difficult to "pirate", and if the "revenue stream" to Microsoft dries up because everyone decides to buy a Dell with Ubuntu installed rather than Vista, they're stuffed! 8)
The other rather nice side point is that with all the nice people writing really good free software, the third world can benefit too.......
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| IainC |
Well, the other week I installed Ubuntu on an old machine in the office just to have a play with it.
First impressions... took a bit longer to install than I thought it should have, had to use the safe gfx option to get it to actually install at all, despite it then running at a decent resolution. Seemed okay. The remote desktop option is IMO quicker than MS's own remote desktop option (connecting to a w2k3 server). General use seemed okay but not really had a chance to do a lot of work with it. Needs better driver options for printers, etc though. Of the couple of networked printers in the office it looked like it setup okay but when you went to print on it it spewed out huge numbers of pages of crap (or would have done had I not killed the job on the printer). All in all though it seems an okay OS to chuck on an old PoS machine if all you wanted to do was browsing the net, etc. Might be a slightly different thing connecting digital cameras, printers, etc though depending on the driver support for it. For a kids machine then it's probably ideal. |
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| IainC |
Also, back on topic, I've started to use Chrome as my main browser to get a better feel for it. It's definitely quicker on some forums, etc than IE7. Have found a few things that it doesn't like though from a "corporate" side. Sharepoint sites work slightly differently with it, although they do still work (just a getting used to it thing I guess) but it really doesn't get on with our antispam device... when you try and browse thru' the different screens of it you get punted back to the home page.
Guess these things will all get sorted as time goes on though ('cos it'll probably always be a beat product )
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| Martin |
Two points, firstly, read an article over the weekend that pointed out that Chrome is exactly what I predicted - a way of changing how people work, rather having a programme on their own computer, to using things like "Google docs" online - the browser essentially being the only software they need..............
Secondly, and far more worryingly, having retrieved my wife's laptop that's got XP from my daughter, I gave "Chrome" a twirl - it was faster than Firefox, but crashed several times - IT decides which websites are "safe" according to IT's standards (rather like bloody Vista) - including my own site........after much rootling, I work out it's because I've used an "older" version of the E107 cms, and it automatically brands the site as "unsafe" because similar installs have been used for "exploits"......it appears that I can "appeal" to the great Google god to have it removed............but it may take several months............ 
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| IainC |
Yeah, it does decide on something being unsafe, but my only instance of that was when I used chrome to check out a site that I'd found virus infested under IE7. My AV was killing the virus but under IE I was punted onto another site (like poker, etc).
To start with chrome didn't have the required plugin to be affected so I was able to continue okay, then after a short while it started blocking the page with the "un-safe" page. IIRC you can bypass it and carry onto the page you want. So at least it warns you that there is the possibility of an issue. Can't double check that though 'cos the forum that was infected with the trojan virus has been sorted now. Not had it do anything like that before/since on anything else. |