The Government of Canada has been lukewarm to FLOSS. A recent RFI could be a change. Parts of the RFI are very awkward, like lumping FLOSS in with NO CHARGE LICENSED SOFTWARE. How awkward is that? I suggested, in my submission, that they split their universe into Free and non-Free because that makes sense. No-charge licences for non-free software like IE can be loaded with security and anti-competitive burdens that FLOSS does not impose. I proposed that the Government of Canada prefer FLOSS rather than look upon it as something to be very cautious about. Why fear openness? Here is my submission:
rfi_floss_gc
Robert Pogson
One man. Closing, all the windows.
The distinction you propose is valid. I just wonder if FLOSS will ever be able to catch up with the paid for software in the audio and video media creation field. I wonder about things like recording a live musical performance and writing a book with voice recognition. Maybe it already has and I don’t know it. I have made my living on the back of the MS monster. I started after getting my MCSE in 99 by learning W2K - registry and all - on it’s initial release as part of a wininstall team moving hundreds of apps from 98 to W2K for a large pharmaceutical company. I’ve dipped my toes into Linux a number of times over the years but I’ve never had enough time to really add it into my expertise. I believe we here in the US are in for more of an economic shock than we have yet experienced and FLOSS may be able to help. I am interested in a dialog to gain understanding. Thanks.
Hollywood already uses a lot of GNU/Linux in their production so there is no difficulty for GNU/Linux technically. The problem, as you suggest, is that many apps that are popular/useful in various niches are locked-in to that other OS by using M$’s APIs. They are not portable software.
I too, used to use that other OS without question because it was there, but I knew I could make software that did not freeze/crash/run out of resources and the more I used that other OS the more I realized it was a flawed design. I hated having to feel lucky to use an OS. Today, M$’s product has improved to near the level of reliability I first experienced with GNU/Linux 8 years ago. I wonder how long it will take M$ to catch up in areas other than stability, like package management, respecting open standards instead of trying to force proprietary standards on the world, and competing on price and performance. I still find it hard to believe that the USA with a reputation for insisting on vigorous competition tolerates a monoculture in operating systems. Diverse operating systems with compatibility with open standards is a much better route.
The Canadian government is making some progress, I hope. They are a huge employer. I would like to see them use GNU/Linux on the desktop as well as on the server.
Well, I tried to install Deban 4 on a Latitude D630 today. Install semed well until it said that the package selection part of the install failed. I tried it again (at it’s suggestion) and it seemed to go through ok. Then after reboot it said it could not start x server. Looking at the logs it says that it can’t find a screen. My test with Windows 7 went a little further than this. It successfully installed the built in NVIDIA Quadro NVS 135M but BSODed when I put it in the docking station with a NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200. This is why I’m still on XP - Vista, Ubuntu, Window 7 and now my first try of Debian all seem to flub somewhere with NVIDIA. I am hooked on using 4 monitors at a time on the same system and XP is all I have found that can do it with stability (that is up until I get 30 plus tabs of IE 7 open - then it starts to give me DOS). I had high hopes but that’s all the time I have for today.
Nvidia has been problematic for GNU/Linux. Perhaps soon, GNU/Linux will be problematic for Nvidia.
The fanciest display setup I ever did was six simultaneous users on one GNU/Linux box. I used the Groovix scripts to set it up. They used Nvidia cards.
When I have trouble with a video card, I usually opt for the vesa driver which give the basic functionality I need.
HP, and Lenovo give better support for GNU/Linux drivers than Dell unless Dell ships GNU/Linux on a particular model.
This reminds me of trying to get a modem to work on Suse back in the mid 90’s. It would be nice if things progressed to the point where hardware driver issues were no longer an issue.
My latest machine is on a new motherboard and I am using kernel 2.6.18. The on-board video does not drive properly at 24 bits. It is not a problem because I use it as a GNU/Linux terminal server and access it from the thin clients which have a driver. GNU/Linux is so flexible. There is almost always a work-around for the rare glitches. I am downloading Lenny to play in a virtual machine. I expect few glitches.
Folks who buy GNU/Linux pre-installed should have very few problems except installing new hardware. On the netbooks that rarely happens except by USB and they can always do what they need by transferring files to anothe machine so it is not a real barrier.