Path: csiph.com!x330-a1.tempe.blueboxinc.net!newsfeed.hal-mli.net!feeder3.hal-mli.net!newsfeed.hal-mli.net!feeder1.hal-mli.net!aioe.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Schmidt Newsgroups: comp.lang.basic.visual.misc Subject: Re: The Beep Function. Date: Sun, 15 Jan 2012 17:39:10 +0100 Organization: Aioe.org NNTP Server Lines: 89 Message-ID: References: <491f49f4-a678-4420-b0e4-935b398adc7b@a40g2000vbu.googlegroups.com> <7b72a5b5-5662-4632-b3b9-9f45a985c9fd@z12g2000yqm.googlegroups.com> <7a47f23c-fede-4d93-b47b-e27a16513308@n30g2000yqd.googlegroups.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: mNhQXq/wkW9rBb0W9E/8HA.user.speranza.aioe.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Complaints-To: abuse@aioe.org User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:10.0) Gecko/20120111 Thunderbird/10.0 X-Notice: Filtered by postfilter v. 0.8.2 Xref: x330-a1.tempe.blueboxinc.net comp.lang.basic.visual.misc:670 Am 15.01.2012 12:39, schrieb Peter Nolan: > My beef is simple. I'm deeply upset by what DaveO calls the MS eco > system and so annoyed that Bill Gates has a stranglehold on PC > software. If Windoows was solid I wouldn't feel so bad but it's not > and while errors are corrected in each new upgrade the new versions > are full of new errors in the new features that are being added on > and so on it goes forever meaning we the public never get a good OS. Define "good OS"... ;-) An OS is responsible, to allow the interaction of different hardware-parts over a software- layer, which does make usage of these hardware- parts and devices easier in the "Userland-layer" (the layer, where "normal Programs run on" finally). This is achieved over more or less "standardized" APIs, which talk finally (under the covers) to "driver-software", which in turn is managed by "the kernel" of the OS. Such a mechanism, being entirely free of any errors is a goal, which will never be accomplished, I think. Mostly due to the fact, that many drivers are not even known to the current OS or kernel at the time of an OS-release. There is a constant stream of new (pluggable) devices (and their new drivers), which an released OS needs to be able to "consume and understand" - be it a new graphics-card on PCI-e or a new USB-device. Pluggable, new devices is (and was) always the beauty of a PC - it was open to a whole lot of additional hardware-extensions (with the just mentioned caveats, in case the drivers were not error-free, or were hitting a so far unknown quirk in the communication with the kernel). The "Apple-machines" (at least the early ones - the new ones are also open for extensions over FireWire or USB, etc.) always had the advantage of a "more calculatable Hardware-Universe" on which they were build, and thus somewhat "more reliable and stable". > This is just wrong and there is nothing we can do. I'd say, your above sentence is "just wrong" too... ;-) If you are into "we, the public" - and - "we need to do something about it" ... well, there's tens of thousands of developers, who thought the same (already decades ago). The result is "free software" at all levels: At the OS-Level (Linux, OpenBSD, FreeBSD, etc.) At the Userland-Level (FireFox, OpenOffice, MySQL, Python, etc.) So it is entirely your choice, what you will use on your PCs hardware (you are not "condemned" to sail within the "MS-software-universe"). > Governments could do a lot but Gates has many Republican friends... Since you wrote in plural ("Governments") - I don't quite see, what it has to do with "Republican friends"... ;-) There are many governments (Brazil, Russia, China, etc.) who have put the use of more OpenSource-software on their agendas, and encourage its usage (in favour of the MS-stack). Also there's a whole load of new devices (tablets and phones for example), which already do use an adapted Linux-kernel (Android, MeeGo, HPs WebOS), to run their software-stack on top of it. So, this part of your "rant" (the "political side" - in the sense of "we are tied forever to the MS-OS") is not very well founded - since you are free, to use alternatives immediately, it's only a download and a CD-Iso-burn away... As for the technical side of your rant (a missing "completely error-free OS") - that's something we could talk about - and although not reachable, there's surely things which could be done, to make an OS less error-prone, perhaps starting with "loosing fat again" (in terms of complexity, introducing the KISS-principle anew). Olaf