Firefox on Linux

So, I recently updated to Fedora 10 on both of my boxes. I tried one first and then the other. The second one was my server. It runs aMule, bittorrent and my web server. A) Fedora didn't work. B) some simple things like VIM didn't work. I cussed at it and cussed at it. Then it hit me that I hadn't updated all the repo files under YUM. Once I updated the repo files and got my install versions all meshed with each other, things started working.

It is a pain in the ass to keep machines up to date. If you update one thing it might break another. There is a group of people out there trying the updates before they go live. Shit still blows up. I'm the first to admit it is not easy. The distros expect to be taken seriously these days. They need to act like serious contenders.

I shouldn't complain. The distro I use is free. It is quality stuff. Some of the choices made in Fedora 10 make me worry that they are going down the Microsoft path of hiding things that make some people uncomfortable. For example, when you boot Linux, you get a nice list of things working or not working as they activate. It is a great way to catch trouble as it is happening during boot. Fedora 10 hides it by default. You have to dig through a bunch of settings to get it back. Microsoft is famous for hiding really important stuff to keep people in the dark so they do not know how to properly complain. That might get the trouble fixed and God knows, we don't want that when you make money fixing said problems.

I wonder how many software companies are moving their entire catalogue to the rent it online model. Google opened the doors a while back. I've heard of others through the years. Microsoft is throwing their hand in the ring with Office Live. Of course, it does not work when you are on Linux.

To use Microsoft Office Live, your computer must meet one of the following requirements: Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 or 7, running on Microsoft Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 or Windows Vista. You can download Internet Explorer from the Windows Internet Explorer page.   Mozilla Firefox running on Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, or Mac OS X 10.2.x and later. You can download Firefox from the Firefox download page. Microsoft

Surely Sun, the inventors of Java, cannot be far behind. They put a fortune in to OpenOffice and StarOffice which are frightfully close to one another. If Microsoft can put something online that is not compatible with Linux, perhaps Sun could put something that looks exactly the same up that is not compatible with windows. That would be funny.

Google Docs do 90% or so of what I need. I'm not looking to compose literature. I need to keep some information online. I've been through this before. Lets see, my beefs were no templates and ... what else. Oh, something pissed me off. Google Docs gets me down the road and lets me access a bunch of crap online that I would not otherwise have when I needed it.

You can already get to Google Docs from your G1. You will be able to get to your Microsoft Live from an iPhone soon. If you play games on a game machine hooked to your HD TV, what do you need a computer for anyway? You don't. I have a creeping feeling that no one will need a computer in the near future. I just hope there is some law that says I have to be aloud to take my data from one vendor to the other. I remember how stingy Phone companies were with my phone numbers. Soon it will be everything. They will charge a grand a gigabyte to transfer. And, why not? You are stuck paying it because there is no way to hack the system on a closed network like those phones. Not that I know of anyway.

God Help us all.