1Poor Nathan, stuck between a 'rock' and a 'hard place'! I hope you can work it out with the ceo's and managers! Oh, I run linux...except for w95 box for some ham radio stuff! This machine doesn't have windoze on it and it is the MAIN machine! IF I could get those pesky ham radio programs to work... Ed/ke7feg --- Nathan England wrote: > > Craig, > I appreciate your input and I agree with you. But > back to reality... > My corporation is interested in saving money from > the licenses, but as far as > what the licenses entail, they request that I make > the best decision based on > what the company needs. Of course I agree with the > open license vs. > proprietary. But the company heads know linux isn't > there on the desktop yet, > because that is what they read in their ceo mags. > Meanwhile we all know it > works just fine. I don't know how many people on > this list actually use > linux, let alone use it full time. I think there are > only a couple of us that > are 100% linux all the time. Proves a point that > even the linux groups still > use windows, so how am I to convince ceo's based on > facts like that? > > They look at it and say, ok, it does the basics that > we want. But you know, > that new Vista sure is pretty! > > So I can throw AIGLX on and say, yeah, but look! > Linux is just as pretty, and > even a little faster! > Who cares about eye candy? Truth be told, they see > it can do it and think it > is as advanced as Vista or even XP. They have no > clue that it took Vista 5 > years to get Aero right, and it's still wrong, > meanwhile Beryl has been going > less than a year and it rocks! > > So, while I agree with your points that open > licensing and source is much > better in just about every case, corporate heads > don't always see that, > especially when they don't see how to make money off > something that is given > away. Nonetheless I work for a government branch, so > we're not making money > off this, but still, they want to know they are > moving forward in technology, > not backwards, and the mags they read don't always > give the best light on > Linux because you can't run MS Office on it. > > nathan > > > On Tuesday 14 November 2006 09:42, you wrote: > > On Tue, 2006-11-14 at 09:12 -0700, Nathan England > wrote: > > > Hello All, > > > > > > I'm looking for a machine with a new video card. > I haven't had much luck > > > with a few of the older Radeon based cards, and > I love the nVidia cards, > > > however, the machine I am purchasing only has an > ATI Radeon X600SE. > > > > > > I'm not going to play games, and this is a Linux > only box, however, I > > > would like to play with AIGLX and all the new > fancy eye candy. > > > > > > How do you like the performance of the newish > ATI cards and how well do > > > they work? The ones I've used recently just > seemed really flaky, > > > especially compared to the nVidia cards and my > personal favorite the > > > Intel i915 based cards. > > > > > > Any information you can offer will be greatly > appreciated. I'm not going > > > to impress anyone with the gaming ability of > this machine, but the eye > > > candy will convince upper management that Linux > will be better suited in > > > the future than XP... lol > > > It's funny how the eye candy wins things out > like this... > > > > ---- > > I think that it's an ugly trap to get sucked into. > > > > To obtain performance, you undoubtedly have to use > the proprietary > > binary code from those vendors instead of using > the open source drivers. > > > > It seems to me that the clinching the deal between > open source versus > > proprietary is simply that - the source of the > programs themselves. > > > > The 'eye candy' as you put it, doesn't have > anything to do with the > > important issues such as... > > > > - Software Licensing...the need to obtain and > maintain licensing records > > with proprietary systems with complicated End User > License Agreements, > > complicated licensing requirements (see > Microsoft's License 6) versus > > the simplicity of GPL copyleft. > > > > - Software sourcing...open source versus single > point requirement. Open > > source doesn't wait for single source to > acknowledge problem and deliver > > solution. > > > > - Data storage formats...open document formats > versus proprietary, > > undocumented formats (see http://oasis-open.org) - > Even the common > > Microsoft formats of XLS/DOC/PPT are going the way > of the dinosaur and > > are being replaced by a new and hopelessly overly > impenetrable XML > > format which not surprisingly, gives Microsoft > more control over your > > data. Suggest that you obtain the schema > definitions for both Open > > Office formats and Microsoft Office formats. > > > > - Future...if you research the > installation/maintenance costs for Vista > > and related Office applications, you will > undoubtedly find a lot of > > resistance to the high cost, high system demands > for Microsoft's next > > step. > > > > One of the most interesting things about Microsoft > is their ability to > > pivot on their own standards and simply discard > them. I just read a > > fairly good analysis of their new 'Zune' player in > > tidbits...http://db.tidbits.com/issue/855 which > discusses how their Zune > > doesn't use their 'PlaysForSure' technology. I > can't think of a clearer > > statement by Microsoft saying...buy our DRM > strategies and you will find > > yourself abandoned as soon as we come up with our > next great product. > > > > Craig > > -- > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Nathan England > PaysonLinux User Group > nathan@paysonlinux.org > http://www.paysonlinux.org/ > > Software Development > Website Development > Linux Administration > --------------------------------------------------- > PLUG-discuss mailing list - > PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change you mail > settings: > http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss > *****/////*****/////***** Ed Culbertson/ke7feg Remember Katrina? For several days, only hams could get out, and talk to others dependably. No Morse Code required for Technician class licensee's. Interested? http://www.arrl.org/ Long live Knoppix, and Puppy Live Linux cd's. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Sponsored Link $420k for $1,399/mo. Think You Pay Too Much For Your Mortgage? Find Out! www.LowerMyBills.com/lre --------------------------------------------------- PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change you mail settings: http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss