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News Microsoft worried over Linux ULPCs

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by CardJoe, 12 May 2008.

  1. CardJoe

    CardJoe Freelance Journalist

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  2. Shielder

    Shielder Live long & prosper!

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    Why is anyone surprised by this? Every time a competing technology appears, MS try to either a) buy it, b) kill it with litigation or c) embrace the technology, extend the technology with their own proprietary extensions and then quickly drop support from all future MS products...

    Andy
     
  3. banshee256

    banshee256 What's a Dremel?

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    I've always had a beef with Linux on two fronts: Audio/Video Codecs' and games. The primary function of my PC at the moment is to entertain me. That means watching videos, listening to music and playing games. Now, even on Ubuntu that's not an easy feat. I hate the media players in Linux, especially VLC and only very few games play natively in Linux. Acutally, I can only think of 2 games right now: Unreal Tournament and Neverwinter Nights. That's not a lot.

    But having Linux on a laptop, or a file-storage server for that matter, would be jolly good. Mostly because it's free and secondly because there are millions of guides to help you install and configure it for just those situations. Brilliant. So yes, I'll take the (cheaper) Linux laptop and let XP rot in a dungeon full of spikes and maggots.
     
  4. steveo_mcg

    steveo_mcg What's a Dremel?

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    Its been a while since i had any problems with players or codecs but then thats what mplayer is for.

    Can't say i'm surprised at ms its exactly the same rubbish they do to any tech control or kill. Admittedly much like any other large company its just that ms position is much stronger than most.
     
  5. Glider

    Glider /dev/null

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    Well, there are thousands of media players around, XMMS is Winamp alike... If you like the top of the cream, go AmaroK, and be amazed...

    And Quake... and a lot more if you look into it. But then again, don't blame the Linux community for it, blame the game devs... Look at Introvision, great games with native support...

    Not only is it good, it's even better, faster,...
     
  6. Naberius

    Naberius What's a Dremel?

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    Is it me or is Microsoft limiting these laptops in two ways, firstly by actual hardware limitations, and then by the fact that XP is not going to run as smooth as the linux distributions they are currently using.
     
  7. banshee256

    banshee256 What's a Dremel?

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    True, but, back when I fooled around with Linux, VLC was the only player, that would play any and all of my videos. From AVI to WMV and further on to RealMedia-thingies and with everything else in between.

    Again, true... The developers won't make games for Linux, until a sizable portion of the market uses Linux, but they won't change their OS until more games show up for it. The question is who has the brass to make the first move.

    Agreed, when it runs, it's better and can be made 100% compatible with your Windows machines. And I have a Dual Xeon 2 GHz machine waiting to be converted into a glorified external harddrive...
     
  8. Glider

    Glider /dev/null

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    Well, if you look at FUN games instead of *my-FPS-has-a-framrate-of-a-gazillion-but-all-I-have-to-do-all-day-is-run-and-shoot* (wow, that was actually hard to type) then Linux has his share of games too... And even then, Cube2, Nequiz,... All great FPS's...

    What? Better use an old P3 600MHz for a fileserver and use that server for something better...
     
  9. Faulk_Wulf

    Faulk_Wulf Internet Addict

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    http://www.bit-tech.net/gaming/2007/04/09/Linux_has_game/1

    (Not trying to be an ass. ;) )

    In all fairness to Microsoft. This is just business. They did it in a dumb way by putting in the hardware restrictions and thus alienating alot of potential buyers. (And the fact that it has to be XP kind of proves how bloated Vista is. Ubuntu has as much flash and more function then Vista as far as I can tell, and it runs on these machines.) But despite this gimped attempt it is still just business. They saw a market, they went for that market.
     
  10. Jordan Wise

    Jordan Wise Baby called to see the boss...

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    wow, theres some serious multi-quoting going on in here. I too would like it if linux had devs supporting it, but that'll take ages. In the mean time i might try and get a decent n64 emulator for my Eee
     
  11. banshee256

    banshee256 What's a Dremel?

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    Heh, my computer can barely manage 30 fps, no matter what game a play, so that's not really an issue. What is an issue though, is that there are more games available for Windows, than for Linux.

    Well, I have a Dual Xeon lying around, but not a P3 600 Mhz. Overkill? Sure, but you use what you have at your disposal.
     
  12. steveo_mcg

    steveo_mcg What's a Dremel?

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    Punt the Xeons kit and buy a P3, or i'll swap you for one ;)
     
  13. Glider

    Glider /dev/null

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    Fixed that one for you ;) There are plenty of OSS games around, but there isn't as much fuss about them...
    I'll trade you, I have a spare P3 666MHz (you even get the 66MHz for free:thumb:) lying around :D
    EDIT: Damn, beaten to it... 2nd dibs tough ;)
     
  14. banshee256

    banshee256 What's a Dremel?

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    Well, thank you for the generous deals I'm being offered here, but I think I'll keep it for myself, thank you very much ;)

    PS: Point me in the direction of a decent Games for Linux review site and I'll see what I can do about throwing Vista in the same dungeon as XP.
     
  15. Tomm

    Tomm I also ride trials :¬)

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    MS is trying to bully their way out of this one with price cuts instead of actually creating a superior product. Linux seems like the best solution for these laptops but there's still room for a Windows version that does more, has more compatibility and is familiar to Windows users.
     
  16. Glider

    Glider /dev/null

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    Well, I'm not an avid gamer (most people don't consider a MUD to be a game), but *cough*
     
  17. Cptn-Inafinus

    Cptn-Inafinus Minimodder

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    God, every-one is out in force today trying to undermine my confidence in them!

    Nvidia, Microsoft. Who next?!
     
  18. steveo_mcg

    steveo_mcg What's a Dremel?

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    You had confidence in either of them to start with? You must be new here :D
     
  19. DXR_13KE

    DXR_13KE BananaModder

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    banshee256, have you seen http://www.transgaming.com/ ?

    Glider, that P3 looks like its from hell!

    and as for linux on an ultra portable.... HELL YEAH!!!
     
  20. Glider

    Glider /dev/null

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    That P3 is perfect, low power, yet more then powerfull enough. All the filesharing and media playing I throw at it don't even get the CPU to go above 50%
     
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