Where's Mandriva?
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| tracyanne Aug 06, 2008 6:47 PM EDT |
Why are they missing? I notice that they are all anglophone companies, does everyone in America have something against the French? |
| dumper4311 Aug 06, 2008 8:05 PM EDT |
well, probably not everyone. I guess. :) Actually, french or otherwise, I do like mandriva. |
| Scott_Ruecker Aug 07, 2008 8:01 AM EDT |
I have nothing against the French, I am just glad I don't live there. As bad as some may say that the American government tells us how to live, the French government is a thousand times worse, they tax food they think is bad for you at a higher tax rate, just for example. Just who decided it was bad, it wasn't the average Frenchmen, that's for sure. I have met many fine people from France, and most of them can't stand their government either..sounds like most Americans I know.. :-) The problem between America and France is, that we are more alike than we will ever admit to and the history and futures of our countries are intertwined in such a way as to never quite be free of each other. |
| rijelkentaurus Aug 07, 2008 8:15 AM EDT |
Taxing bad food is a wonderful idea, or totally eliminate government-supplied healthcare for illnesses related to being fat...hey, pay somewhere for what that Big Mac is costing me! ;p And Mandriva is too cool for IBM. As good as it is (and it is totally wonderful, and 2009.0 promises to be even better than 2008.1 is), I would expect more and more hardware vendors (not necessarily the "top-tier" guys) to start selling it. It would, IMO, make a much better choice for Dell to put on their machines than Ubuntu. |
| Steven_Rosenber Aug 07, 2008 9:11 AM EDT |
I'd move to France yesterday ... |
| DiBosco Aug 07, 2008 9:24 AM EDT |
Funny that, I have nothing against the Americans, I am just glad I don't live there! ;-) There is a flip side to what you say about the French government taxing heavily and taxing things like bad food: they have a second-to-none health service, incredible high speed train system that can get you to the Rhône from Paris in three hours, motorways that are almost never clogged up and they look after their industry (something I wish our spineless and capitalist-at-all-cost bloody governments would copy). Having said that, the current government is lead by a right nasty piece of right-wing work! I think you are partially right, Scott, people from the world over moan about their government, but in my extensive travels throughout France I have met many who don't moan about it. I think the French government's stance in many things (for example not getting involved in the war against oil shortages, er, war in Iraq being one of them) is admirable. We (in the UK) also have a love/hate relationship and have been involved in wars over the years, but I think it's terribly sad to even want to be "free" of another country and its differing cultures. I think any and every country has wonderful and interesting aspects as well as negative ones. However, the reason I use, and always have done, Mandriva has nothing to do with its origins! It's just an excellent distribution. |
| NoDough Aug 07, 2008 12:15 PM EDT |
>> ...government-supplied healthcare... [shudder]! |
| Sander_Marechal Aug 07, 2008 12:58 PM EDT |
NoDough: You may shudder... but French healthcare is one of the best in the world. One of the worst things about France is actually the food. The entire world is always revving up about French Haute Cuisine but in most restaurants, the food is plain terrible. Worse that the UK actually (and that's pretty bad food-wise). |
| tracyanne Aug 07, 2008 1:15 PM EDT |
Quoting:NoDough: You may shudder... but French healthcare is one of the best in the world. Australia's was pretty damn good until the previous government finally got it's way (or was that the Insurance industry?), and did what they always wanted, and copied the American Health care system, and privatised it. Now we have a two tier system very similar to the American one where, if you can afford health insurance (and the premiums just keep on going up) you get reasonable to good health care, and everyone else gets what is now a poor second class public Healthcare, that has slowly been defunded, while the money that used to go there has been diverted to propping up the health Insurance industry. It used to be the other way around, and anyone, regardless of income got the best healthcare possible. |
| tuxchick Aug 07, 2008 1:24 PM EDT |
Sick people should just take a one-way walk into the snow. At night. In a dignified fashion. I have spoken. |
| azerthoth Aug 07, 2008 1:38 PM EDT |
Careful TC, say that too often and they'll take away your membership card. ;) |
| TxtEdMacs Aug 07, 2008 1:47 PM EDT |
Regarding "Sick people ... " Easy for you to say, I imagine. Where do you live? Tuscon? Most people there don't believe snow exists. I remember in North Florida I saw these large "dust" particles swirling in the cold wind. Snow never ... or it's at the top of mountains hundred miles distant. So what happened to you, you began your hike and regained your health long before you came with in sight of snow. So you returned home healthy, albeit with a darker tan. As I said easy for you to say. [What's this night business? Are the roads that empty you can hike at night safely towards the mountains or is it just to avoid getting sun burn?] |
| DiBosco Aug 07, 2008 3:40 PM EDT |
Quoting: Worse that the UK actually (and that's pretty bad food-wise). I feel the need to have a rant and defend my country's cuisine! This is a discussion I have with my European colleagues a lot. Having been quite a few countries round Europe, I would say that the food in the UK is generally the most varied and amongst the best available. I think the problem for tourists is that they often don't know where to go and so often go somewhere touristy and crap. We have a great mixture of foods from all over the world as well as more tradition foods in the UK now and some fantastic chefs and restaurants. I think the stereotype of British food being bland meat and two veg is thirty years out of date and I have to say it irks me that we still have this reputation. I travel a lot through Europe with my job and have found the food in Spain, Portugal, Czech Republic, Norway and The Netherlands to be a real let down compared to what we get here and Germany is probably the worst. Italy is probably the best and France, if you know where to go, can be superb, but I have also had my fare share of rubbish there. When I go to the Netherlands to see the in-laws I usually have good experiences when I eat out, because they know where to go. Difference being with other countries you are taking pot luck with where you end up. I also think that there is a difference in what the Dutch and the British like, because some of the day-to-day food that is eaten in the Netherlands that my wife craves when she goes back I find horrible! If you ever come to Manchester, I'll take you out for dinner seven nights in a row, we'll go for different food each time and it will be excellent, I'll guarantee. Plus we have the best beer in the world, only the Belgians come close to the variety in styles and flavours, whereas most people have this lazy idea that we drink warm insipid beer. Nothing could be further from the truth. Ah, I feel better for that! :D |
| azerthoth Aug 07, 2008 4:10 PM EDT |
I think Douglas Adams said it best "The british pay penance for their sins through their food" However on the beer, much better by and large than the stuff the large american (and non american now) brewries call beer. Historically beers that ryhme with spiller or buttwiser were considered "womens" beers as they were flavorless and nearly bodiless. In other words, the beer didnt let you KNOW you were drinking a beer, it only hinted at it. A friend of mine from Prague asked me once: "Whats the difference between american beer and a canoe?" Having no idea what he was talking about I took the bait and got this for a response. "There is no difference, they are both near water." |
| NoDough Aug 07, 2008 5:20 PM EDT |
>> NoDough: You may shudder... but French healthcare is one of the best in the world. Yes, it is. But the U.S. is more likely to end up with something like the Canadian health care system. [double-shudder] >> Now we have a two tier system... The French system is a two-tier system. The government runs the first tier. (That's the tier that's racking up tens of billions of euros in debt every year.) The second tier is private. Co-pays are 30-40% and getting higher. Employees pay an immediate payroll tax of nearly 19% just for the health care system and there are indirect taxes for it as well. They still don't pay nearly as much as Americans, but the taxes and fees continue to rise to attempt to cover the increasing debt. Edit: For clarification, only 3.5% is deducted from the employee's pay. The rest is paid by the employer on behalf of the employee. But, for the time being, it _is_ one of the best health care systems in the world. >> Historically beers that ryhme with spiller or buttwiser were considered "womens" beers as they were flavorless and nearly bodiless. Well, that only alienated half the population. I thought you could do better. ;-) |
| azerthoth Aug 07, 2008 5:30 PM EDT |
NoDough, don't blame me, that is what they were refered to as. Historical accuracy sometimes means political correctness is a lost cause. Then again, political correctness, when applied out of context, forces the loss of actual meaning. |
| Sander_Marechal Aug 07, 2008 10:46 PM EDT |
Quoting:France, if you know where to go, can be superb, but I have also had my fare share of rubbish there. When I'm on vacation I always try to go to restaurants where I see lots of locals eating and I avoid the really touristy places. In my experience, the problem in France is that the places where good food is served are the really expensive restaurants. If you go to a normal, affordable restaurant then 9 out of 10 times it's pretty bad. Quoting:When I go to the Netherlands to see the in-laws I usually have good experiences when I eat out, because they know where to go. I've been to Londen a few times and was taken out to diner by people who live there and know the city well, so it's not like I ended up at one of those touristy places you speak of. I still had a bad experience. Not as bad as the touristy places (hotel kitchens especially are bad) but it wasn't great either. And Londen being London it was quite expensive to boot. Quoting:I also think that there is a difference in what the Dutch and the British like, because some of the day-to-day food that is eaten in the Netherlands that my wife craves when she goes back I find horrible! You mean hutspot, zuurkool, boerenkoolstamp, snert and that kind of stuff? I love that stuff :-) But part of loving that food is probably the tradition and nostalgia in The Netherlands. Snert tastes a whole lot better when the mere smell reminds you of your childhood, when you would go out skating on the pond all day long in the winter -- and when you came home all frozen and bruised, your mom would have snert ready :-) Quoting:If you ever come to Manchester, I'll take you out for dinner seven nights in a row, we'll go for different food each time and it will be excellent, I'll guarantee. I'll hold you to that the next time i'm in the UK. Quoting:Plus we have the best beer in the world, only the Belgians come close to the variety in styles and flavours, whereas most people have this lazy idea that we drink warm insipid beer. Nothing could be further from the truth. Still, I see it served quite a lot in the UK. It's not warm, but they always pour them really carefully and fill the pints to the brim, making sure there's little or no foam on top. In the Netherlands we have a saying that says a beer should have two finger-widths of foam on top. But anyway, don't flat out The Netherlands or Germany in the beer department. It really depends on the kind of beer you're in to. Belgium has a vast arsenal of blonds, doubles and triples but the king of regular "pilsner" beer is Germany IMHO, closely followed by The Netherlands. The best thing about German beer is the "Reinheitsgebot" they have. It ensures there are no additives in the beer, which means you can drink it all night long and not have a hangover the next morning :-) English beer isn't bad either but you can keep your Guinness. That's just vile stuff. The trick for me with English beer when I'm in the UK is to order normal sized (to me) glasses instead of pints. Something like 0.25 liter. A pint is just too big for me. By the time I almost finished a pint, the beer isn't cold enough anymore. |
| tracyanne Aug 07, 2008 11:54 PM EDT |
Quoting:Plus we have the best beer in the world Ahem... Australia has the best beer. But you have to come here to get it, we only export the rubbish. |
| DiBosco Aug 08, 2008 1:10 AM EDT |
Yes, Sander, some of the foods you talk about are exactly the sort of things that are not exactly to my taste! ;-) I do think often it's what people's palates are used to. I do also, realise that beer is down to taste. If you like what we call lager in the UK, then Germany produces some good stuff. What amuses me is how the Germans often boast about the range of beers they have and all the local producers that exist, not realising that in a country much smaller, we have as many producers and a *vast* range in styles and flavours where as the Germans essentially make lagers that all taste pretty similar and the occasional Dunkel beers and Weiss beers (shudder!) I am well aware of Belgium beers having been there a few times and I do think they make excellent and varied stuff. I especially love beers like Westmalle Double, Rochefort 10 etc. In the Netherlands even Grolsch make a couple of nice beers like the Canon and, I think it's called, Bock beer plus the La Trappe stuff isn't bad. I agree that Guiness is foul stuff and I find it hard to believe it's nothing but proof that advertising and marketing is very effective. Tthis is an Irish drink, not British, btw! ;-) On the subject of heads, this is a north/south thing in the UK. Up north we have beautiful, thick, creamy heads on our beer and you know you'vew had a well poured pint when the head has clung to the glass all the way down. We [hand] pull our beer through sparklers which aerate the beer without filling it with foul nitrogen or making it horribly gassy with carbon dioxide. Yes, there is a large degree of making sure the beer is filled to the top as we want to make sure we get a full measure, but you'll have a lovely head on your ale in the north! When youmention you have to have a half rather than a pint, otherwise it's too warm by the time you get to the bottom I am guessing you're drinking lager. The lager we brew in the UK is rank. Tasteless, vapid, gassy stuff that caters for people who just want to drink soimething that's so cold you can't actually taste anything. Traceyanne mentions how they export rubbish and she's right; we have Forster's and 4X brewed under licence over here and along with the likes of "native" British lager like Carling it is a pale imitation of what the Germans and the Czechs do well. When I have visitors to Manchester, it never ceases to amaze me how many people appreciate the beer. Americans seem especially receptive and in fact I was very pleasantly surprised when I went to dc and New York in 2005 at how many really nice ales are over there from microbreweries. My Dutch brother in law loves me dragging him round the real ale pubs when he's over! :~) Traceyanne, I can't comment on the beer you have at home, as I have never been to Australia (I plan to get over one year to see us humiliated in the Ashes!) If Victoria bitter is anything to go by though, you can keep it! ;-) |
| tracyanne Aug 08, 2008 4:18 AM EDT |
Quoting: If Victoria bitter is anything to go by though, you can keep it! ;-) Foul vile stuff, I much prefer Tooheys New, or at least I did when I was drinker. |
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