One of the many advantages of Linux that receives insufficient attention is software packaging and the software repositories provided by the various distros. AppStore is somewhat a copy of this. Not only is there mountains of software available for free, installable by mouse click but the packaging system insures that software dependencies are met and the machine is kept in good order. But the real kicker is that updates,patches, and new releases for just about everything installed on the machine are made available in a timely fashion and for free. It is super easy to keep your machine(s) up to date and for no cost. This is a significant contribution to system security as security vulnerabilities are plugged fairly quickly. Furthermore software updates very, very rarely require a system reboot. If you make things this easy users will keep their machines up to date. Windows is not anywhere close in this department, and is one reason it will continue to be less secure than Linux. Of course there is some time delay in getting software updates into the repositories from the upstream developers. If you really want bleeding edge you have the freedom to do that too by installing straight from development web sites.
That's quite true and it is free through some banks, mutual funds, etc. (I think Vanguard has it.). Probably you can pay a fee and do it via the Intuit website also. There are Linux programs for very simple returns, 1040 EZ , etc. People filing complex returns that may take many hours to complete usually prefer to do them off line, however, and have unlimited access to the software. That is certainly my case.
You can download Chrome and have 2 browsers: 2 icons on your desktop. The only thing I use IE for any longer is Microsoft update. Better yet, pull out an old computer and put Ubuntu on it. Not for trading, but for surfing, word processing and email. You will realize that pcâs are becoming generic commodities.
That has nothing to do with Linux. I have done my tax returns online on the Intuit website for a number of years on Windows. And mine are moderately complex (stocks, investments and real estate stuff), but you can do it online and have complete unlimited access to the software. You just log in and out whenever, but you can stay on for long sessions and do other stuff on other screens/programs whenever you want. JJacksET4
Sorry to dig this up from way earlier in the thread but I'd like to get others opinion on Oracle's plans for Sun and their products. First of all, having a good deal of experience with both Oracle and Sun I have to say I completely disagree with Solaris on the desktop ever gaining any kind of market share. Solaris is a server operating system, and at this point the only reason to really run it is if you have SPARC hardware, which it performs really well on. I also like some of the directions they are going with Solaris 10, especially ZFS. But if you are running x86 boxes your choices are basically Windows Server or some flavor of linux like Red Hat enterprise (this is from an enterprise IT perspective, obviously at home you can be a lot more flexible with the choices). What I think Oracle is after here, based on their other acquisitions is offering themselves as a total enterprise solution, along the lines of IBM, where they can offer you everything from the hardware up. I guess the comparison now falls along the lines of IBM Hardware/AIX/DB2/WebSphere versus Sun/Solaris/Oracle DB/WebLogic. I don't think they (oracle) have the capability or desire to compete against IBM's mainframe business but instead want to consolidate market share in the medium to large enterprise setting. In fact I think Oracle just announced a box that is pre-loaded and configured (they claim) with their middleware stack and can be popped right into a data center. What they still need to do, in my opinion is clean up their product line and remove some of the overlapping products, right now trying to navigate their website and figure out what product is for what business need is pretty confusing. The other angle I see here is they have now acquired MySQL just as the latest versions have finally become more of a fully featured database, I see them either sabotaging its development, forcing it to fork back out to the open source or using it as some kind of promotional software for the full oracle database.
Agree that Solaris or Open Solaris is not going to make it big on the desktop. Linux has too much momentum and better support for more hardware and devices. It also has a way bigger online community which is where you go it you need help. There is also a new Linux filesystem (BRTFS ?) in the works that will be comparable to Z. The idea of a single OS spanning everything from phones, nettops to super computers is appealing, and Linux is really the only one that fits this bill. Who knows what Oracle is going to do with MySQL, but if it's not something worthwhile, no doubt ultimately somebody else will pick it up and run with it. There is far too much MySQL out there in the real world for it to become an orphan. Java is another issue with SUN/Oracle, though I can't see Oracle neglecting that.
WELL AFTER MICROSOFT forced me to switch from windows xp to that crappy vista .................couldnt happen to a nicer company
Thanks, that is good to know about. I wonder, is there any time limit on accessing the software? I think i'll try that this year. Presumably the software will work just as though it was running on your own computer.
ok, I know IBM and MSFT a little bit...I worked for both. IBM in my humble opinion was always concerned with quality, first and foremost...their laptops were the BEST (too bad they sold it off) but they made quality stuff and still do (for the most part)....MSFT is not so....they are happy to be mediocre. While they HAD a monopoly they could get away with it.....it is all QA..... Remeber the unseen and unspoken value of "good will", IBM is a class company and MSFT could have been.....