G4
one: How can an operating system with those virtues, the open-source Linux, remain confined to a tiny minority of desktop and laptop computers at home?
N
Linux may run TiVo video recorders and live inside Android phones, in addition to running much of the Internet’s servers, but it still lags on home PCs.
Will that change anytime soon? A new version of a consumer-oriented edition of Linux, Ubuntu (
ubuntu.com), offers hope for Linux optimists but leaves room for doubters, too.
Ubuntu 10.04, nicknamed “Lucid Lynx,” comes from London-based Canonical, but like other open-source releases, it benefits from other programmers who have improved its source code. As for those names, Canonical christens its versions after the year and month of their delivery as well as an alphabetical series of animals (the release I tested last year was Ubuntu 9.10, “Karmic Koala”). The word “Ubuntu,” in turn, comes from South Africa’s Zulu and Xhosa languages and, Canonical says, means “humanity to others.” Installing Ubuntu 10.04, shipped in late April, starts with a large download you either burn to a CD or DVD or, if you’re installing it on computer without a disc drive, copy to a USB flash drive using extra software. You can also use an Ubuntu disc as a “LiveCD,” booting the computer off it without touching your data — a smart way to protect your online banking. I installed 10.04 on a months-
old Sony Vaio laptop running Windows 7, then put its netbook edition on a 2008-vintage Dell laptop set up with Windows XP. I’ve spent more time waiting for Windows to ingest last month’s bug fixes: Within 30 minutes, Ubuntu’s installer had partitioned each laptop’s hard drive to park Linux alongside Windows and then rebooted into the new software. On the Dell, the Ubuntu installer also copied over such Windows settings as the desktop background and
Business
o Windows viruses. Free. Any questions? Of course. Start with this
ROB PEGORARO
Fast Forward
Mozilla Firefox bookmarks. Ubuntu’s desktop interface shouldn’t look too foreign to Windows regulars. Its Start- menu equivalent resides at the screen’s top-left corner instead of the bottom left, but otherwise there’s little to get you lost. Its netbook edition is another
matter, in a good way. Instead of cramming an unmodified desktop interface on a small screen — see, for instance, Microsoft’s disappointing Windows 7 Starter Edition— it presents folders and programs as large icons grouped in palettes that vaguely resemble an iPhone’s home screen. Ubuntu, like most Linux versions, includes many free software titles of varying quality: Firefox; the cluttered but Microsoft-compatible OpenOffice; a simple, iTunes- esque music player, Rhythmbox; an e-mail/calendar/contacts combination, Evolution, as bloated and sluggish as Microsoft Outlook; and so on. The 10.04 release adds a social-media widget that lets you follow Twitter and Facebook conversations in the same window and an Ubuntu One Web service that, after too much fiddling, synchronized notes and some other files among the two laptops. You can edit or add to that collection in the Ubuntu
KLMNO
Linux takes another step toward the mainstream (and the price is still right)
Software Center program, an analogue of Apple’s App Store or Google’s Android Market that offers similar, click-to-install ease.
Ubuntu does not, however, include the junk that’s standard issue on new Windows PCs, such as expiring trial versions or pushy security utilities. Neither can it run any Windows viruses, trojans, spyware or worms. But Ubuntu also leaves out
two things Windows users rightly expect: built-in support for common media file formats and all their computer’s parts. The first time you click on an
MP3 file or view a page featuring Adobe Flash content, Ubuntu will offer to add software to play those closed formats. That wasn’t a huge obstacle, aside from a guilt-trip dialogue box’s warnings about possible copyright violations, but adding DVD playback to the Sony required repeat trips to the Linux command-line interface. Attempting to listen to a DVD on the Sony, however, was a pointless exercise: Ubuntu didn’t recognize its sound card. Yes, you might have far less working hardware on a PC if you undertook the destructive “custom install” needed to migrate from Windows XP to Windows 7. But it remains infuriating, not least when more complicated components (such as the Sony’s webcam) function fine in Linux.
Researching the sound-card
issue brought out an unpleasant aspect of Linux: The things that aren’t easy are often intimidating and difficult.
Compared with Windows XP
and 7, Ubuntu 10.04 booted up and shut down much faster. But
SUNDAY, MAY 30, 2010
UBUNTU.COM
it needed more time to sleep and wake up and fell far short in battery life. With the screen kept on, two Web pages refreshing themselves and a music library playing, the Dell ran for two hours and 25 minutes in Linux, 23 minutes less than in XP. In the same test, the Sony lasted just
under three hours in Ubuntu — but ran for another 80 minutes in Win 7. Four years ago, I wrote of Ubuntu 6.06 that, “You need to be a little bit of a hobbyist. But you don’t have to be a masochist.” Although the new release requires less tinkering,
especially on older PCs, it’s still not for everyone. Then again, when was that
ever the case with Windows?
robp@washpost.com
Living with technology, or trying to? Read more at voices.
washingtonpost.com/fasterforward.
To avoid losing information on your smartphone during a software update, use a third-party backup tool
Q: I’ve got a software update for my Android phone, but it says it will wipe out all of my data. How do I keep my text messages and call log?
A: Google’s smartphone
operating system doesn’t always allow an in-place upgrade, as users of some older Android phones have recently discovered after carriers released software upgrades for their devices. To
avoid losing all your phone’s information, you’ll need to use a third-party backup tool. I tried RerWare’s MyBackup. It
can save contacts, call logs, bookmarks, text and picture messages, and such system settings as the keyboard auto-correct dictionary, but only preserves application-specific settings for 19 programs. After installing my phone’s Android update, I downloaded
the trial version again, then had it reload my applications and those settings. Although I still had to redo some preferences, it still saved a lot of time. The new version of Android
that Google introduced May 20 will finally provide built-in backup services. But you’ll need to get through another backup- and-restore cycle on your own first.
I have WebRoot’s SpySweeper. Is it safe to add Microsoft’s Security Essentials?
Microsoft’s free anti-virus
program won’t insist that you remove other anti-virus or anti-spyware programs, but it’s a good idea to do so — at best, you’ll have two programs warning you about the same download, and at worst you’ll
have system conflicts. Of those two, I would keep the Microsoft program and boot WebRoot’s.
Rob Pegoraro attempts to untangle computing conundrums and errant electronics each week. Send questions to The Washington Post, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071 or
robp@washpost.com. Visit
voices.washingtonpost.com/
fasterforward for his Faster Forward blog.
looks like the patient who devel- oped an asymptomatic form of cancer without realizing how sick he is. Such behavior usually results from excessive confi- dence in one’s body’s past per- formance, mixed with a state of permanent denial and a deep sense of superiority, all aided by a complacent environment. The digital graveyard is filled with the carcasses of utterly con- fident people who all shared this sense of invincibility. The music industry and, to some extent, the news business built large mau- soleums for themselves. Today, the advertising industry is work- ing on its own funeral monu- ment. Before performing media on-
Why is digital advertising so lousy? Industry is too smug to innovate.
I
true.
by Frederic Filloux
s advertising the next casu- alty of the ongoing digital tsu- nami? For now, advertising
First, I’m in the same boat as
cology tests and discussing pos- sible treatments, let me describe which soapbox I’m standing on. Each time I raise the issue of ad- vertising trailing behind the digital train, I get two responses: Media execs nod sagely and later explain how they intend to pro- gressively circumvent the ad food-chain. Advertising people breezily dismiss my remarks: “Anyway, you don’t like us.” Un-
many of my friends in the news media: A significant part of my income, past and future, rides on advertising. Therefore, my prag- matic self-interest is to see digital advertising thrive. Let’s face it. On digi- tal media, advertising hasn’t delivered. In the news business, we have a rule of thumb: An electronic reader brings 15 to 20 times less in ad- vertising revenue than a print reader does. I’ll stop short of saying this dire state of affairs is attributable only to advertising. Between inadequate interfaces, poor marketing and the certain- ty that, just by itself, intellectual superiority entitles it to success, media carry their share of re- sponsibility. But for the most part, the advertising community missed the digital target. Digital advertising stinks. Both on the Web and on mobile. There are two main reasons.
No. 1: Poor design.
Where is the creative talent?
Not in digital, that’s only too clear. Look, most banners, sky- scrapers, sliders, pop-ups, you name it, merely act as repellents to readers. They end up as fod- der for ad-blocking systems. Un-
The Big Money is a financial news and analysis Web site from the Slate Group.
fortunately, these defense mech- anisms are thriving. A Google query for “ad block” yields 1.25 million pages that send you to dozens of browser add-ons. On Firefox, AdBlockPlus is the most used extension, with more than 80 million downloads and more than 10 million active users. The same goes for Chrome, whose ad- blocking extension is downloaded at a rate of 100,000 times a week and now has more than 1 million users. For Internet Explorer, there are simply too many add- ons to count. I spotted this comment in an
excellent Guardian ad-blocking story:
I work for a digital advertis- ing agency. Along with micro- sites, iPhone apps and long-form digital content, I make banners. Loads of them. And I use Adblock Plus. I also advise my friends and colleagues to use it too. This is because most advertising, on- line or otherwise, is utter crap. And banners contain some of the worst of the crap. Flickering, squirming, buzzing crap.
Another sign of the ad-design failure is Apple’s decision. Not only does Apple enter the mo- bile-ad business as a sales house, but Jobs’s company will also de-
sign ads, for a hefty $50,000 to $100,000 fee. Apple’s message is that the profession needs to re- boot advertising graphical stan- dards. How strange to see a tech- nology company giving lectures on design to the very people who prided themselves for their cre- ative brilliance.
No. 2: Badly sold, badly
bought.
Digital advertising high-tech
products sold and bought in the most low-tech way. One after the other, most technology aspects of the advertising business have slipped out of the hands of those who were supposed to own them: ad serving, data manage- ment, behavioral targeting, ana- lytics — all are now controlled by engineering-driven companies. In the process, the added val- ue of media buying outlets has shrunk to a bare minimum, in which a bunch of twentysome- things are negotiating discounts with their counterparts in me- dia. That’s the exact opposite of yield management. Everyone laments that Goo- gle, the ultimate geek machine, has absorbed a large part of the digital advertising business, but that’s just the logical conse- quence of an inability to invest in technical talent. Three trends should cause the advertising community to stop
IRS wants a cut of sales on eBay, Craigslist
IRS from G1
“With this background, she has a wider range of knowledge of tax issues than do members of the general public,” he said. Despite the circumstances, hers is a timely tale. As online commerce grows, it is drawing in- creased attention from tax collec- tors. Beginning next year, a new law “requires the gross amount of payment card and third-party network transactions to be re- ported annually to participating merchants and the IRS,” accord- ing to an IRS summary. For their 2011 tax returns, “taxpayers who annually sell more than $20,000 worth of goods and have more than 200 electronic transactions” will receive a new IRS form, known as 1099-K, reporting the proceeds, said a spokesman for H&R Block, the nation’s largest tax preparation company. Those tax issues shouldn’t be a
concern for people who sell just a few small items online for less than they paid for them. As the IRS points out, income from auc- tions that resemble a garage or yard sale “generally” isn’t re- quired to be reported. But if an online garage sale turns into a business with recurring sales and purchases of items for resale, “it may be considered an online auc- tion business.” And the complex- ities can be manifold. The idea behind the law is sim- ple: Research shows taxpayers do a much better job of reporting taxable income when they know the IRS is receiving information about their transactions. With an estimated $290 billion tax gap, the difference between what is collected and what the IRS thinks is owed, it is politically easier to raise additional revenue from people who haven’t paid their fair share than by raising taxes.
“Time and time again, we have seen that better information re- porting helps the system by en- suring that everyone pays what they owe,” IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman said late last year. “The new law gives us an impor- tant new tool for closing the tax gap and also provides business taxpayers better documentation to compute and report their in- come and expenses.”
Although nobody knows pre- cisely how much the new law will bring in, or how much it will cost to enforce, congressional staffers have estimated it will make only a very small dent in the total tax gap.
According to the Tax Court, Orellana was involved in more than 7,000 eBay transactions be- tween 2000 and 2005, although the case dealt only with 2004 and 2005. She said she was just taking things in her home and garage and selling them in what amount-
ed to an “online garage sale” and testified that she didn’t under- stand why the IRS persistently asked for proof of her costs and expenses. To be sure, the judge said the
court might not expect someone to keep records for “a few small items sold on eBay.” But in view of the large number of transactions in 2004 and 2005, “she should have realized that her activity might be subject to question.” (The decision can’t be reviewed by another court because the case was heard under a special tax code provision for smaller cases.) Eric Smith, an IRS spokesman, declined to comment on the case or on whether Orellana is still em- ployed by the agency. Orellana, identified only as a California tax- payer, couldn’t be reached. The basic tax issues in this case apply not only to Internet com- merce but also to other areas, such as garage sales and classified
and think hard about its future.
The technology dimension of the business will intensify.
Competence and imagination will tend to be in the hands of small companies. As they al- ready do, the biggest and the smartest ad outlets will want to acquire such talent pools. But they will face tech companies ready for a bidding war; see what happened in the mobile ad sector with the AdMob’s acquisi- tion by Google and Quattro Wireless’ takeover by Apple — with the subsequent launch of iAd.
Media will have a strategic interest in boosting their CRM.
They’ll invest in developing this crucial asset for their digital properties.
Media will tend to move up the ad production chain by hav- ing their own creative teams, working more closely with big
advertisers. On that matter, Ap- ple could give an interesting pitch: “We are the media, we spent time and money designing a good interface; we don’t want our work ruined by substandard advertising; let’s work directly with brands and concoct great campaigns that will benefit us, the advertiser, and the reader.” This could become a broader trend, spreading to other media, such as broadcast radio, neglect-
ads, H&R Block officials said. The IRS issued a fact sheet in 2007 summarizing the key issues, such as whether those activities repre- sent casual sales, a hobby or a business. “The intent and frequency of the sales determine the taxability, not just the dollar amount,” said Amy McAnarney, executive direc- tor of H&R Block’s Tax Institute. “Some of these sellers may un- wittingly be operating businesses, which could trigger tax conse- quences.”
H&R Block officials pointed
out that many “casual sales” of household goods aren’t report- able because the seller receives less than the cost, resulting in a nondeductible personal loss. If something is sold for a gain, that personal gain is reportable, H&R Block said. As the IRS puts it: “A person must report a gain from a sale whether he or she operates a business or not. A reportable gain is the income above the original cost or basis of the item. These gains may be business income or capital gains.”
ed by today’s ad creatives. Does this lead to the extinc- tion of big advertising shops? Certainly not. First, there is the inertia factor; these companies remain quite wealthy, thanks to decades of solid rainmaking. Second, agencies still enjoy prof- itable strongholds in which their value-added is undisputed, such as outdoor, display, television and print — and the associated media and strategic planning. Third, they have no shortage of good managers able to organize a turnaround . . . in due course. It is hard to reform a fat-cat
culture — from heavy margins, captive clients, cozy cronyism — to a more agile one in which technology and innovation drive the business. In this very respect, advertis- ing and news media converge: Both have been late in hiring de- velopers who understand the specifics of their business. Be- cause of their intrinsic vulner- abilities, the media have been the first to take a hit. If advertis- ing wants to avoid a Jivaro-like downsizing, it needs to listen to the clock: It’s ticking away.
Frederic Filloux is the editor of the Monday Note, where this first appeared, and a contributor to
Slate.fr.
—The Big Money
There can be gray areas, such
as figuring out the difference be- tween what constitutes a “hobby” and a “business,” an issue so com- plex that it leads to Tax Court cases. H&R Block said a typical hobbyist is someone who “sells items occasionally without intent to make a profit.” But if sales be- come “regular activities done to make a profit,” it might be consid- ered a business. Someone with a hobby has to report all income generated from sales and can de- duct all related expenses, but not more than the total profit. With a business, the rules are more complex and worth consult- ing a tax pro, unless you have deeply immersed yourself in the fine print. For a genuine business, you may be entitled to deduct cer- tain business expenses. Unlike a hobby, a business can have an op- erating loss (where costs exceed revenue), the H&R Block spokes- man said. The IRS has posted “tax tips for online auction sellers,” to help taxpayers figure out where they stand.
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