Is the Linux picture wrong?

People get roasted in religious wars, and I try to avoid them. I think the existence of linux is really important for the IT industry, and I personally use Linux servers for a couple of sites. However, sometimes the rhetoric overtakes reality. For many ordinary users, Microsoft Windows and the products that run on it are just what they are looking for. It's now emerging that Brazil may sell lots of Linux desktops (the Government is concerned about an economy dependent on windows), but over 90% those machines end up running Windows within a very short time.


Brazil: An emerging market faces challenges - CNET News.com

A big part of this has been a government-backed "PC for all" program that subsidizes the interest rate for some models, though only those with Linux qualify.

"They do not accept Microsoft," Clarke said.

That said, some estimates show as many as 18 or 19 out of every 20 machines sold with Linux ultimately are converted to some form of Windows.

"There was a retailer in one of the countries that sold their systems with Linux," said Gartner analyst Luis Anavitarte. "They made a survey of clients within the first 30 days; 95 percent were already on Windows."

You will find global PC makers such as Hewlett-Packard and Dell, though the country also has some homegrown brands, most notably Positivo. Among the less well-known brands is Itautec, actually an offshoot of a leading Brazilian bank. According to Wikipedia, it was Itautec that was the first PC maker in Brazil to sell Windows 3.1 preinstalled and localized in Portuguese

Get all your Internet Memes in one Hit

And now for something completely different .........

a fun little parody quickly traversing all the recent internet 'memes' set to a rocking version of 'we didn't start the fire'. I'm not too old for this .. this is what keeps us young!

Technorati Tags: Internet memes, humour, internet

Keep your iPhone secure with 4 clicks

Gizmodo have just described a security hole in the current iPhone system, and what to do about it. Fortunately securing the phone just takes 4 clicks.

Huge Security Flaw In IPhone 2.0.2: Huge iPhone Security Flaw Puts All Private Information at Risk

There's a huge security problem in the latest iPhone 2.0.2: if you have your JesusPhone password protected, using a very simple trick gives anyone full access to your cellphone private information in Mail, SMS, Contacts, and even Safari. The two-step trick is even simpler to the one used in the past to gain access to the phone to install unlocking cards or jailbreak. Fortunately, there's a way to avoid this obvious security breach until Apple fixes it.

The Importance of Dark humour

A wonderfully reassuring post from Readers Digest for the IT person facing the occasional bit of stress argues that dark humour is a critical tool for coping. The article also discusses the importance of 'self-affirming' jokes versus 'self deprecating' in terms of health and cancer survival.

Every day of my life, I thank God for dark humor. I subscribe
wholeheartedly to this idea, first put forth by Woody Allen: "Life is
full of misery, loneliness, and suffering--and it's all over much too
soon."


What is it about humans that makes us want to laugh when logically we
should cry? Well, for one thing, dark humor is a form of bravery.