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Computer choice
,----[ Quote ]
| In forcing Microsoft to offer easy access
| to competitive web browsers (Report, 2
| March), the EU authorities seem to have
| "strained at a gnat and swallowed a
| camel". What about the operating system,
| the program every computer has to have in
| order to run? I happen to prefer to use
| the Ubuntu Linux operating system, but
| when I buy a computer I am forced to buy
| with it a Microsoft operating system. I
| never use it, but there is no system to
| reimburse the money that Microsoft has
| obtained from me for nothing. Why? Why
| should I not be given a choice of systems
| when I first turn on my new PC, paying for
| the one I choose if it isn't (like Ubuntu)
| free? An investigation of the process by
| which this monopolistic situation is
| sustained would be very interesting. I'd
| be very surprised if it was proved to
| involve activity even remotely reminiscent
| of free competition in an open
| marketplace.
`----
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/mar/06/computer-choice-microsoft-windows-linux
Editor's Note: Windows is Easier, Just Like Stabbing Your Own Eyeballs is Easier
,----[ Quote ]
| My fattest Linux system is Ubuntu Studio
| with all the bells and whistles. A little
| over 6 GB, and that includes OpenOffice,
| Abiword, Gimp, Tuxpaint, Audacity, Ardour,
| JACK, Hydrogen, and bunch of other audio
| production software, a bunch of games,
| multiple Web browsers, FTP, instant
| messaging, email, text editors, a huge set
| of networking tools, KDE, GNOME, Fluxbox,
| IceWM, Digikam, a complete build
| environment, file managers, spreadsheets,
| partition editors, cloning tools,
| astronomy programs, and on and on, I think
| you get the idea. It's a feast.
`----
http://www.linuxtoday.com/news/2010030600635PS
Recent:
Doing the Microsoft Shuffle: Algorithm Fail in Browser Ballot
,----[ Quote ]
| The story first hit in last week on the
| Slovakian tech site DSL.sk. Since I am not
| linguistically equipped to follow the
| Slovakian tech scene, I didnât hear about the
| story until it was brought up in English on
| TechCrunch. The gist of these reports is
| this: DSL.sk did a test of the âballotâ
| screen at www.browserchoice.eu, used in
| Microsoft Windows 7 to prompt the user to
| install a browser. It was a Microsoft
| concession to the EU, to provide a randomized
| ballot screen for users to select a browser.
| However, the DSL.sk test suggested that the
| ordering of the browsers was far from random.
|
| But this wasnât a simple case of Internet
| Explorer showing up more in the first
| position. The non-randomness was pronounced,
| but more complicated. For example, Chrome
| was more likely to show up in one of the
| first 3 positions. And Internet Explorer
| showed up 50% of the time in the last
| position. This has lead to various theories,
| made on the likely mistaken theory that this
| is an intentional non-randomness. Does
| Microsoft have secret research showing that
| the 5th position is actually chosen more
| often? Is the Internet Explorer random
| number generator not random? There were also
| comments asserting that the tests proved
| nothing, and the results were just chance,
| and others saying that the results are
| expected to be non-random because computers
| can only make pseudo-random numbers, not
| genuinely random numbers.
`----
http://www.robweir.com/blog/2010/02/microsoft-random-browser-ballot.html
How Random Is Microsoftâs Random Browser Choice Screen In Europe?
,----[ Quote ]
| More than once out of every four hits, the
| page would show Google Chrome on the far
| left, and Internet Explorer would only make
| it to the first spot in 13,8% of page loads
| (scoring well below all four other
| browsers). In fact, in over 50% of all page
| hits, Internet Explorer would come out to
| the far right spot of the five browser
| choices shown on the screen.
`----
http://techcrunch.com/2010/02/22/microsoft-ballot-screen/
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