[ltp] presentation to show linux

[Richard Neill]

r8scq7b02@sneakemail.com wrote:
> 
> Also mention drawback and _why_ they are drawbacks. Most drawbacks are _not_ 
> the fault of GNU/Linux and its developers. It is mostly due to laws, 
> restrictions placed by corporations and by producers of 
> software/hardware/etc.

Of course mplayer/vlc has one big advantage: it ignores region-coding on 
DVDs.

Here are/were the major problems from proprietary software:

Programs
--------

*  Real Audio:
           There's a closed-source player from Real, but mplayer handles
           everything fine.

*  Java:
          Was proprietary. Kaffe was almost a good alternative. But now
          Sun's Java is GPL.

* Acroread:
          Proprietary program available, but kpdf is now better.

* Flash:
         Still proprietary, unfortunately. But at least flash-9 works
         properly.

* Skype:
         Ugh. Horrid thing, but use sip:// (eg ekiga) instead.

* MS OFFice:
         OOorg is now perfectly good enough and compatible. Cross-over
        office is also available if you really must run MS office under
        Linux.

Drivers
-------

* Nvidia
       Proprietary, but at least it works.

* ATI
      Proprietary, and unstable. [I wish my T60p weren't crippled by
      a FireGL 5200 - I'd rather have practically anything else.]

* Some wireless drivers
     Not too bad - most drivers now have proper free drivers; some still
     use ndiswrapper, but at least you can buy a card which has working
     support.


Web Services
------------

Itunes?  But then, it's generally better value to buy the CD and rip it 
yourself.



HTH,

Richard



P.S. It's fair to say that, with a little help for installation, Linux 
is now not just better for geeks, but it's flat-out better in almost 
every way than windows. My great aunt finds KDE easier than a Mac.