This afternoon, as I was watching over the front desk at work, I had no alterrnative but to use an operating system called Microsoft Windows. It did not have a good browser installed. I once installed Firefox on it, yet somebody insisted on removing that ‘spyware’. In that browser that ended up using, my site looked corrupted at times. There were no tabs either and when opening a context menu over a link, I lacked the ability to use key bindings, which would open a link in a new window. The experience was a very frustrating one. I felt imprisoned for that long time period, namely half an hour.

Most annoyingly, at the top of my Web log, I noticed Google AdSense advertisements, which usually get blocked in my Firefox installations owing to some nifty CSS. The advert I got served in my own site occupied two AdSense slots that clearly stated:

Linux versus Windows

Windows performs better than Linux according to independent studies

Guess where the link pointed? It pointed to Microsoft’s Get the Facts Campaign. I took no screenshot as the process is rather laborious under windows: print screen, paste in paint.exe, crop, then save.

Let me clarify a few facts:

• AdSense is Google
• Google is competing with Microsoft whether they admit that or not
• Google uses Linux only and runs Linux servers
• AdSense should preferably be kind to my visitors, not drive them away
• AdSense should reflect on site content, not oppose it
• Visitors seek the truth. Look again at the link above

Now, why would Google have my site point to that garbage? Can it not sense the Microsoft bashing that is contained heavily in a decent proportion of the pages? Are they trying to make me, as their client, promote false propaganda that feeds the same lies which I strongly oppose and detest? If Microsoft are allowed to infiltrate, by the means of money (verging the notion of “bribery”), a site like mine, then how can their deceitful campaign ever reach an end? Linux bashing on my own turf?

My writings are rather blunt and honest. I feel rather disappointed and filled with mixed feelings about AdSense, which can be outrageous at times, although not voluntarily so.

APSKAT from COLA (nntp://Comp.Os.Linux.Advocacy) composed a very hilarious essay, which I was granted permission to duplicate. If you use Linux/Mac and possess fundamental knowledge of Windows, you will probably find the following hilarious.

Dear Abby…

Help! My computer is sick!!!

It really is, it’s got to be something serious!

Before, when I ran Windows, my computer never overstressed itself. It knew the importance of frequent breaks and had no problem letting me know when it was tired or just didn’t feel like doing anything. It took naps when it wanted, rebooted often and never did more than its share. It was always crying out for attention when it wanted it, it made me feel like I was special and truly needed for its survival. I used to shower it with expensive anti-malware programs and security software, frequent scandisks and defrags, cleaned it up often to keep it running happily along. I made sure I kept it safe from all the bugs and nasties running rampant out in the cruel world. I took it to the shop ever so often so it could be groomed and tuned up. Everything was fine!

It all started when I installed this “Linux” on it. Now, my computer just works all the time, it never takes a break! It just keeps on going and going like it was a machine! It never asks for a reboot like it used to all the time, it never rests. I’m really concerned for it, it’s like a constant workaholic, always ready to do something else, no matter how massive the task is – stuff that it wouldn’t even think of doing before! It’s downright scary I tell you! I’m really afraid that it’s going to hurt itself, but it never seems to mind at all.

Before, it was constantly crying out for attention and care. Now, it never asks for anything, it’s like it’s some sort of automaton just waiting for the next task to complete. It doesn’t slow down, it doesn’t reboot, it doesn’t require the loving care and attention it used to demand all the time. It doesn’t even succumb the to malware and nasties that used to be its major phobia. It’s like it doesn’t even care about them anymore, and it refuses to even run the anti-virus I paid so much for. It takes care of itself as if it were self-sufficient and only needs me to give it stuff to do!

It doesn’t even want all of the expensive gift software I bought for it, it comes with all of its own programs and they are all workaholics too! They do all the stuff the expensive software I bought even better and faster, but it didn’t cost me anything. I didn’t even have to go out and download them, they came with this new Linux thing.

Please, I’m begging you..what’s wrong with my dear computer? What happened to the cuddly, bloated, expensive powderpuff it used to be, and who is this sleek powerful workhorse of a beast in front of me? Please help me, I’m so confused!

Signed

  CompuConcerned

Related item: Reasons to Use Linux

DE.ORG has announced the availability of a gallery containing previews of KDE 3.5 alpha. Only yesterday, OSDir.com published a comprehensive from-start-to-finish gallery of SuSE Linux version 10, beta 3. A wide variety of window managers is shown in action; even the installation process.

More of state-of-the-art KDE screenshots:

• KDE Plasma
• KDE-Tiger Intersection

OVELL, makers of SuSE Linux, predict that Windows Vista will be the catalyst for many to migrate to Linux. This was argued explicitly last month in the light of outrageous hardware requirements, as well as the lack of features.

CEO of Novell, Jack Messman, was implicitly referring to issues such as the inability to uninstall all browsers from Windows, unlike, for instance, games and entertainment components. Internet Explorer, after all, is forged into the operating system.

Messman claimed that certain features of Office allowed employees to waste time at work by making it easy for them to browse non-work-related sites.

…

Do you really want to pay for all the excess functionality in Windows that distracts your employees and reduces their productivity?

A few details on the release date are sure to confuse prospective users that still remain in the dark.

According to a recent report from Windows IT Pro, Windows Vista is due to ship on Dec. 7, 2006. However Microsoft has refused to confirm or deny the reports and continues to claim simply that Windows Vista will ship in the second half of next year.

Related items from the farther past:

• XP + New Colours = Longhorn (Vista)
• Longhorn (Vista): A Trainwreck?

When I first set up this site, which is administered using cPanel, I was blocked access to a terminal (AKA shell, console, command-line) and denied telnet/SSH access by the Web host. By default, most hosts do likewise, depriving site owners from excessive flexibility in hope that security will not be jeopardised and sites will rarely ‘break’. Nonethess, I found a terminal workaround, which I would like to share.

Run command as a cron job (widget/icon shown above). Have it scheduled to run a minute later with output to get sent by E-mail (default option) or saved to a file, e.g.

du -all >~/output_file

output_file, which gets created in your home directory, should then contain text that otherwise will have appeared in a terminal. Likewise, virtually anything including installations can be carried out. System administrators would become distressed if this practice became commonplace. In essence, this is the same as having a terminal-based interface, albeit it is slower and unresponsive.

Example cron job in cPanel – periodic mySQL backups (click image for full-sized equivalent)

Debian on a Compaq. Compaq were
acquired by HP and Ubuntu is based on Debian Linux.

NE of the key challenges that Linux has faced lately was its inability to get shipped by giant hardware distributors. A milestone can now be marked as Hewlett Packard begins to sell Ubuntu Linux, pre-installed on both desktops and laptops.

HP’s Sean Owen-Jones… said the company would shortly be releasing desktop and notebook PCs running Ubuntu Linux. The NX6110 notebook would be available shortly with Ubuntu and a desktop PC would also be available.

…

[HP's] Schulz said that HP’s entire email infrastructure… is run on Linux and delivers in the region of three terrabytes [sic] of mail annually.

Next up: Dell Computers.

Why you might ask?

Rather recently, Michael Dell asked Steve Job (of Apple) if he could take advantage of Mac OS X, which is now compatible with x86 architectures. Mac OS X , which is Linux-based (see correction in comment), can easily be incorporated into a massive stock of Dell machines. Tiger, being the most recent version of Mac OS, is taking some niches by storm already, security and eye candy being a major pro.

More importantly, as I pointed out 2 months ago, Michael Dell gave $100,000,000 to RedHat Linux out of his own pocket while Fujitsu opted for SuSE Linux and server support services.

To spice up this discussion, a Gartner Group study concluded that mainstream use of open source in IT environments may be just 5 years away. What a glorious turn of events.

Your eyes do not mislead you. This is Linux.

DE-LOOK.ORG is already including some themes for KDE version 4, which I impatiently anticipate. Shown above is Black Halloween, a Mac OS X-like theme.

The theme loosely relates to a previous item on Mac OS X-like themes for KDE (notice the clean shadow casting). While on the subject of Apple themes, my Jaguar-reminiscent Firefox theme is shown below and is available for download/installation. I believe it will remain compatible with Mozilla Firefox 1.5 (I am yet to test it tonight), which is now in release candidate phase!

Mac OS X theme for Firefox