Arthur Fuller
fuller.artful at gmail.com
Tue Dec 10 18:14:53 CST 2013
I agree. A few months back I scored a serious laptop for, by CDN standards, peanuts (i5 chip, 8GB RAM, 1TB hard disk, USB 3.0, and a gorgeous monitor. I was tempted to set it up as dual-boot but chickened out and instead it runs Ubuntu and Mint and whatever in VirtualBox VMs, but with 8GB of RAM, the VMs run quicker than my ancient 4GB dual-boot. And I'm almost always running the fancy laptop in that configuration, and I love it. My only point is that you and I know what we're doing, and my mom and your neighbour haven't a clue. To phrase it another way, this explains the triumph of the tablet and smart phone over the traditional PC. You and I can agree that it is far better to develop an Android app on a PC and then deploy it, but by then their eyes are glazed and they're reaching for the TV remote or the Bailey's bottle and are content to fall gently asleep. Smart phones and tablets are leading the charge, in dollars and consumption and user-demands. Yes, yes, yes, Android is built on Linux and blablabla, let's leave the techies to discuss, I just want The Simpsons on my phone. Etc. Speaking of The Simpsons, I recently saw a couple of new episodes that almost made me fall out of my chair laughing. Those people defy the law of TV gravity. How old is that series? 20+ years at a casual guess. And it just doesn't grow stale! How do they do it? It's a mystery. But they do it. It stays hilarious and pointed and the graphics just get better and better. I'm in awe of what they do. They're better than Steve Jobs. And speaking of whom, I've grown a whole new respect for Ashton Kucher. I thought he was splendid as Jobs. This has veered into OT territory, I fear. So I'll come up with a question to bring it back into this realm: I've been having a few problems with implementing advanced ribbons in Access 2007+. Anyone on this list an expert on this? Specifically, I want to validate/invalidate all the controls on a given ribbon, depending on a condition. I.e. If Condition is True, validate this, that and the other control's condition False. Etc. I'm guessing that the ribbon controls and in fact the collection of ribbons are Collections, and I could walk them with a For Each construct, but I'm a tad out of my depth here. Working on it with test-code, but unsure of every move I make. Whew. We're back on topic. On Tue, Dec 10, 2013 at 6:47 PM, Hans-Christian Andersen < hans.andersen at phulse.com> wrote: > Hm, granted, I do not run Linux as a desktop on a daily basis, but I’m > pretty sure that on Ubuntu and OpenSuse (and others) usually the newly > installed software goes into the application menu. I guess, if the package > maintainer is careless, that may not happen. That’s a quality assurance > issue, for sure. > > - Hans > > > > On Dec 10, 2013, at 3:44 PM, Arthur Fuller <fuller.artful at gmail.com> > wrote: > > > Don't get me wrong, Hans. I can deal with the various distros and have > the > > scars to prove it. I meant my mother and your grandfather and their ilk. > It > > just pisses me off that following an installation of just about anything > on > > just about any Linux, none if any automatically create a symlink or > > shortcut etc. on their menu systems or start-bar, leaving the average > user > > with the mystified question, "Ok, but where is it?" > > > > You and I and many people on this list know how to handle this, but > unless > > my mom and your grandfather also know, my point stands, IMO. > > > > A. > > > > > > On Tue, Dec 10, 2013 at 6:21 PM, Hans-Christian Andersen < > > hans.andersen at phulse.com> wrote: > > > >> > >> I wouldn’t classify that as an issue with Linux, but with MySQL (or > >> whatever software it is you have frustrations with). You wouldn’t blame > the > >> OS for the software that was designed not to be user-friendly, right? > >> > >> The same can be true for Windows as well. The 3 step process (backup, > >> uninstall, reinstall) for Windows works in same cases, but, in my > >> experience, it often doesn’t because you have additional layers of > >> complexity under the hood (ie. the registry, dll’s, local settings, > etc). > >> Poorly designed Windows software can end up (and often do) requiring a > >> longer process to fix the software. > >> > >> Saying that, most Linux distros were not designed for IT people of the > >> Windows flavour, who prefer a GUI over the command line. Some of them > are > >> though. You might want to take a look at OpenSuse, for instance. It is > more > >> user-friendly with lots of GUI tools to help you administer your server > and > >> software. > >> > >> Personally, I don’t like that. In my opinion, the command line (bash, > zsh, > >> etc) trumps a GUI any day (which, I’m guessing, is why Microsoft > introduced > >> Powershell, because they saw that need). > >> > >> - Hans > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> On Dec 10, 2013, at 2:22 PM, Arthur Fuller <fuller.artful at gmail.com> > >> wrote: > >> > >>> The following link describes how to uninstall and then re-install a > >>> corrupted version of MySQL 5.x on Linux. > >>> > >>> http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/linux-completely-reinstall-mysql-server/ > >>> > >>> Compare that to the Windows 3-step: > >>> 1. Back up the data directory. > >>> 2. Un-install the program. > >>> 3. Install the program > >>> > >>> Or even worse, the 1-click recovery, as in Office or SQL Server or > >> numerous > >>> other programs: > >>> 1. Repair. > >>> > >>> This article is an excellent summary of why Windows continues to win > the > >>> battle for the desktop. As soon as something goes wrong, the Linux user > >> is > >>> off into the frightening world of the command line -- and not once, not > >>> twice, but several times. > >>> > >>> The very least that vendors could do is add an icon to the desktop or > the > >>> menu. But apparently, that is stooping too low. As long as that > situation > >>> persists, Linux will never win the desktop, despite the admirable > efforts > >>> of the Ubuntu and Mint etc. boys. They are writing for the Highest > Common > >>> Denominator. Bill and Steve chose instead to write for the Lowest > Common > >>> Denominator. > >>> > >>> I run them side by side almost always, and can see obvious advantages > to > >>> Linux, when everything goes well, but even then, could the vendors not > >>> possibly supply an addition to the desktop that leads to > >> Uninstall/Repair? > >>> Talk about Shooting Yourself in the Foot! Maybe the real hurdle to > >> surmount > >>> is their collective refusal to recognize that Windows and Apple make it > >> so > >>> much simpler? > >>> -- > >>> Arthur > >>> _______________________________________________ > >>> dba-Tech mailing list > >>> dba-Tech at databaseadvisors.com > >>> http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/dba-tech > >>> Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com > >> > >> > >> _______________________________________________ > >> dba-Tech mailing list > >> dba-Tech at databaseadvisors.com > >> http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/dba-tech > >> Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com > >> > > > > > > > > -- > > Arthur > > _______________________________________________ > > dba-Tech mailing list > > dba-Tech at databaseadvisors.com > > http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/dba-tech > > Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com > > > _______________________________________________ > dba-Tech mailing list > dba-Tech at databaseadvisors.com > http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/dba-tech > Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com > -- Arthur