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LinuxWorld Preview
jlttb writes "LinuxWorld gets under way this week in New York City, and CRN has some extensive preview coverage this morning, including a look at Raptor, IBM's first Linux mainframe, and other IBM and Compaq Linux servers to be announced at the show. A second feature takes a look at the growth of the Linux services channel, from industry heavyweights like IBM, Compaq, Red Hat and Caldera, to smaller 'mom and pop' Microsoft and Novell shops that are re-focusing on Linux. Finally, the magazine looks at how Microsoft and Sun are each fighting back against the gains made by Linux in corporate America." I still haven't packed yet, but I'm looking forward
to the show.
Gentlemen, the time has come for a serious discussion on whether or not to continue using C for serious programming projects. As I will explain, I feel that C needs to be retired, much the same way that Fortran, Cobol and Perl have been. Furthermore, allow me to be so bold as to suggest a superior replacement to this outdated language.
To give you a little background on this subject, I was recently asked to develop a client/server project on a Unix platform for a Fortune 500 company. While I've never coded in C before I have coded in VB for fifteen years, and in Java for over ten, I was stunned to see how poorly C fared compared to these two, more low-level languages.
C's biggest difficulty, as we all know, is the fact that it is by far one of the slowest languages in existance, especially when compared to more modern languages such as Java. Although the reasons for this are varied, the main reasons seems to be the way C requires a programmer to laboriously work with chunks of memory.
Requiring a programmer to manipulate blocks of memory is a tedious way to program. This was satisfactory back in the early days of coding, but then again, so were punchcards. By using what are called "pointers" a C programmer is basically requiring the computer to do three sets of work rather than one. The first time requires the computer to duplicate whatever is stored in the memory space "pointed to" by the pointer. The second time requires it to perform the needed operation on this space. Finally the computer must delete the duplicate set and set the values of the original accordingly.
Clearly this is a horrendous use of resources and the chief reason why C is so slow. When one looks at a more modern (and a more serious) programming language like Java or, even better, Visual Basic, that lacks such archaic coding styles, one will also note a serious speed increase over C.
So what does this mean for the programming community? I think clearly that C needs to be abandonded. There are two candidates that would be a suitable replacement for it. Those are Java and Visual Basic.
Having programmed in both for many years, I believe that VB has the edge. Not only is it slightly faster than Java its also much easier to code in. I found C to be confusing, frightening and intimidating with its non-GUI-based coding style. Furthermore, I like to see the source code of the projects I work with. Java's source seems to be under the monopolistic thumb of Sun much the way that GCC is obscured from us by the marketing people at the FSF. Microsoft's "shared source" under which Visual Basic is released definately seems to be the most fair and reasonable of all the licenses in existance, with none of the harsh restrictions of the BSD license. It also lacks the GPLs requirement that anything coded with its tools becomes property of the FSF.
I hope to see a switch to VB very soon. I've already spoken with various luminaries in the *nix coding world and most are eager to begin to transition. Having just gotten off the phone with Mr. Alan Cox, I can say that he is quite thrilled with the speed increases that will occur when the Linux kernel is completely rewritten in Visual Basic. Richard Stallman plans to support this, and hopes that the great Swede himself, Linus Torvaldis, won't object to renaming Linux to VB/Linux. Although not a C coder himself, I'm told that Slashdot's very own Admiral Taco will support this on his web site.
Thank you for your time. Happy coding.
Egg Troll
Yesterday, during one of the football playoffs, I saw an IBM commercial. In the background was a guy in a Tux suit...
Best Slashdot Co
Linux World? That's a little ambitious, isn't it?
LinuxCity is more realistic. Or maybe they could stretch it to LinuxState at the max...
------
Today's Top Deals
Anyone there doing live video or something??
:(
Anyone have a link to some play-by-play action??
My boss would not let me attend
really cool to see Linux making strides in the mainframe department. I guess after that, the desktop is the next frontier.
Esse quam vederi.
Flipped it over to see a nice big Sun logo! : )
I wonder what could be done to encroach more on theMS market, given the recent stumbles by MS in the market (perpetual license rental, etc.)
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
There were at least 4 unique commercials with this theme, the best one was when the team "management" paid a consultant 5 million and all he ended up doing was explaining what a triangle was, it reminds me of a friend I have who works at Accenture..
I spent a good 30 mins last night searching around for where I could download these commercials, but I had no success. Does anyone know where to find these? I know IBM had the codernaut commericials available for download.
10 years? Yeah, right. Can we say "Me too! Me too!" Compaq would have a hard time finding a clue if it were superglued to its collective face. Any company that would buy the alpha just to watch it die does not deserve any respect.
morons.
~Sean
Wired has a preview too. Check it out here
2. The all-too-familiar reports about how "corporate" the show has become.
3. The all-too-familiar reports about attendence being lower, but still impressive.
4. Lots of evidence that Linux is continuuing to do well in the embedded space, as well as servers (see #1 above).
5. Not so much as a hint that Linux is making any real inroads into the desktop market. This will not change, thanks to the utter indifference to that segment shown by IBM, RH, and some (but not all) other major players.
Comment on article and I get this:
/Components/TalkBack/tb-post.asp, line 92 :P
Microsoft VBScript runtime error '800a0006'
Overflow: 'Cint'
Maybe somebody there should consider Linux
Well, I'm already in Florence(read: bumfuck egypt), New Jersey staying with friends. I'm taking the train up to the city tomorrow morning, check into my hotel, grab my boxen, get to my booth, set it up, and hook up my machines tomorrow. I wonder if they'll actually have network access early this year. Last year january, they didn't have network live (in the .org pavillion) till wednesday.
.org pavillion after hours. That just pissed me off. They cut the power at like EXACTLY 6pm. I was hosting one of my websites off of it, and lost everything when I lost the partition my MySQL databases were on. .ORG pavillion exhibitors, be warned, they might do this again. This year I'm using ext3, so hopefully if they pull the power, my shit won't be lost.
:)
I'm also hoping they don't go weasel again like they did in SFO last august and turn off the power to the
Also, if you're exhibiting, don't leave your laptops, or anything else that can be easily stolen, in your booth. My and hadess's laptops got stolen. The depressing thing is that the last picture of his laptop (an ibook, you know, the toilet seat-looking ones) was taken by myself after the IBM party. I feel really bad that the laptop got stolen too. I almost feel as though it's my fault. The thing is, is that they rummaged THROUGH the booth and took it. My laptop was in the little cabinet thing inside the booth, so they must have been there a while. I just can't believe that security was so lax that they'd let someone like that just walk in and out with them. It's quite depressing.
This year I'm taking no chances though. I'm bringing locks for everything, I'm going to be taking my computers back to my hotel with me every night, and I'm definitely NOT going to be leaving ANYTHING in my booth. I guess I just had too much trust in their staff.
BTW, I am going to be setting up a wireless access point in my booth. If you need wireless networking, set your ESSID to "tux0r". I'll happily share my bw with anyone who wants it.
I can't think of anything else to really say, other than stop by my booth (BOFH International, booth #7, way in the back, right side, by mandrakesoft) and say hi.
-- John
Yeah, they should use an OpenSource solution, much like Slashdot. We all know that Slashdot never gets MySQL errors, either!
Seriously, though, its not so much the manufacturer of the backend, its the skill of the programmer. In this case it looks like the programmer didn't quality check his code enough.
Last night I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas I'll never know.
I hope this year Raster gives the audience a good overview of E17. All he talked about was evas. I was n't that impressed with the demo...Matt
That remindes me...does anyone know if IBM (or others) have anything special planned Re: superbowl commercials and Linux?
Anyway, if there are any rumors, let 'em fly now! I wants to know if there is any reason for me to watch, other than to see New England's defeat.
The big issue is an increasing antipathy to Microsoft's licensing and upgrade practices
Finally, someone in the press admitted that Microsoft's licensing practices make a difference. It seems that as Microsoft has gotten increasingly draconian with their licensing schemes, corporations have began to look beyond Microsoft to open source software. Once corporate America has a taste of open source, they'll never go back to proprietary software. If this trend continues, there will come a time when a VP suggesting that the company buy an OS will get laughed out of the boardroom. Which, of course, can only be good for all of us.
The society for a thought-free internet welcomes you.
I went to the first NYC LinuxWorld two years ago, and had a great time. There were tons of great people there, tons of interesting and respectable companies. I had a ton of fun just hanging out with people that had previously only been an email address - truly an affecting experience.
But last year was very different. The focus wasn't people, the focus was on startups. "Linux" companies that had little to no clue, just trying to cash in on year-old hype. The big guns used it as an excuse to glam up their trade booths and loose their down-to-earth technical aspects. SGI's XFS team were the only people willing to have a serious technical discussion with me. Wading through so much marketing bullshit really blew. Wandering over to the "dot org pavillion" showed a tremendous downsizing of support for important community projects. While they previously recieved a good chunk of floor space in which to present things, they'd been reduced to vacant and tiny cubes.
LinuxWorld seems to have become little more than commercial interests trying to pry money out of the community, without remembering *why* they have a product to expo.
Dr. Shwaglove!
or How I Learned to Stop Caring And Fill My Backpack With As Much Linux Propoganda That It Can Hold!!!
-
ITS-FUCKING-RUDE-YOU-INSENSITIVE-SON-OF-A-BITCH
I suppose it is nicer than the nested blockquotes, though. ah well, i guess it's not really that important. Important Stuff: Please try to keep posts on topic. Try to reply to other people comments instead of starting new threads. Read other people's messages before posting your own to avoid simply duplicating what has already been said. Use a clear subject that describes what your message is about. Offtopic, Inflammatory, Inappropriate, Illegal, or Offensive comments might be moderated. (You can read everything, even moderated posts, by adjusting your threshold on the User Preferences Page) Problems regarding accounts or comment posting should be sent to CowboyNeal.I have seent the light and they light is grey. Follow the path, it knows not color.
My #1 LinuxWorld Prediction:
CmdrTaco will make appearances at the OSDN booth, acting like he is some sort of celebrity, waiting for the hot linux babes to scream, "Oh CmdrTaco, please tell us over and over how many hits Slashdot gets in a day!"
-gerbik
so many references to "micro$oft and sun facing the new threat of linux ..." isn't ms the only one really facing a "threat"? solaris is good for some things, linux is good for others (both are happy on those new sunfires!) and together they make a pretty solid scalable world. perhaps we need -openworld- where ms is not invited unless they have a few APIs you can write to for free ...
when it rains, it gets real soggy. when it pours, i'm under the tap just _waiting_ for the joy
Harsh words are not of the Path, Prismatic.
Sun has been threatening to phase out solaris for the intel platform for years. It was uncertain if solaris 8 would be released for the intel platform. While it does seem true that linux's gains have been coming at the expense of other unixes, I doubt this is the reason for sun pulling solaris support for the intel platform. Anyway doesn't this just more ground to linux anyway?
Bynari Insight Server and Caldera Volution aim at this space but I'm uncertain about their reliability. iPlanet also do but Solaris is always going to be their priority platform.
It seems to me that this is geared more towards Linux server solutions instead of actually addressing the one main component linux needs to succeed - the desktop. The article fails to discuss anything else besides unveiling servers. Since we've already established that linux can be a server-based OS, let's work on THE CONSUMER! Tux has forgotten the end user.
Ahh. I see the zealousy of linux has hit you hard, my friend.
I'm sick of being modded down just because I don't think Microsoft is the Evil Empire (tm)
by michael on Friday January 04, @06:49AM (Score:4, Informative) (#2784730)
(User #4716 Info) mailto:michael@@slashdot.org [ Neutral ]
Slash 2.2.2 was just released (actually, the friend/foe stuff has been live for some time, though hidden because the icons weren't on comments). Slash 2.3 is likely to be released before Linuxworld (end of January).
OK -- Linuxworld is beginning and ...
Seastead this.
Huh. 1 hr to flaimbait.
Linux Sucks Windows Roolz! Just look at the market share for Windows on the desktop system for proof you bunch of blind rats!
Don't you zealots feel like yer beating a dead horse? If someone can give me hard evidence and a compelling reason Linux is better (other than MS is the Evil Empire (tm)) I might actually agree, but it's a hobbyists OS meant for tinkering. Linux is a goddamned toy!
Mod this up to +5 Insightful, you dumbass zealot moderators!
Slashdot. News for Zealots, Stuff that matters (if you're a linux zealot!)
Legitimate question: what the heck is a channel? I keep reading different sales magazines, and just like the linked article they use the term "sales channel" without explanation. I think I can grok it from context, but I'd be grateful if someone could fill me in here...
Carousel is a lie!
Only two real distribution out there Mandrake-Linux or SUSE.
the rest are not up to the challenge on the tool for newbie side or even having any tool at all in some case and some even claim That having less is better
And no I dont mean they are the best Linux out there they are just in a league of there own and they have the goal to help everyone may it be on the desktop or server or laptop (notenook)
I wish IBM and the other would lend them the Army of hardware they deserve for the really great product they put out
At this time Linux is equipped like the Canadien army
IBM ( taken as example of how they shoot themself the same way they did with OS/2
http://www-1.ibm.com/linux/
http://commerce.www.ibm.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce/C
Operating system provided
Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional
Microsoft Windows XP Professional
If they where really interested in having linux on the desktop they would offer to any distribution there hardware at real cost + 5% profit.
Jacques Cartier did not say I will wait until the new road to India is discovered to go there
Bill Gates did not say I will wait until someone as prooved that windows can be installed on everything to go after the market
Why do the Hardware maker do not do what they say they will do
And even more important why does the Linux Distribution let them do it
There is not more real Linux hardware offer then 2 years ago , there is less
What will the network look like at LinuxWorld? Does anyone know what type of proxy they will have for internet access? I want to see what kind of work I will be able to get done there during the calm at the conference.
RTNz
LOL this guy's obviously never had to run anything serious on a MS server OS, and out up with the huge $$$ running costs, "windows knows" best attitiude ~"if you can't see it in the GUI config tools - you don't need to know" or just the sheer inflexibilty of it all.
:P Linux is even easy to configure these days - with Webmin, I can even get NT admins to do some :P
:)
Nobody's being overzealous in this thread - although it does happen - but then what are you if not an MS zealot with that outburst??
I don't hate MS - but as a system architect and network admin for many years, I know the value of LInux to me - theres so much maturity in the tools, and so much flexibility - it all works out of the box - you don't need to go buy anything else - it pretty much handles any server task as is (I'm using RedHat 7.2 right now), and it stays up!!
Next to Redhat, MS server OS's are the ones that look like they were designed by Fisher Price - for years 3-6
hehe it;s MS who's been beating the very lame looking NT/2000/XP horse for years now - they keep attaching extra legs and it seems to move, and even looks a bit like a horse, but underneath theres the carcass of something smelly from about 1992
All I can say to you - is "just try it" If you do have a server application to run - try it on Linux.
Right now I'm installing Oracle9i on RedHat 7.2 on a Dell 6450 - the OS installed in 15 minutes - try that with XP/2000! I have all the networking tools you could ever need, and I know it will be more reliable than the same thing on NT.
Linux Sucks Windows Roolz! Just look at the market share for Windows on the desktop system for proof you bunch of blind rats!
Ford have a higher market share than Ferrari. But I know which car I would prefer. Market share has never been a measure of how good any product is.
perl -e 'print $i=pack(c5, (41*2), sqrt(7056), (unpack(c,H)-2), oct(115), 10);'
I'm at LinuxWorld now and compared to the previous
years, which I also attended, the attendance is
just abysmal.
Never confuse distro X with Linux. Go over to the Linux From Scratch page- Linux can be very small indeed when custom tailored to its' environment. When the distros try to be 'one solution for everyone' they are guaranteed - proven thanks to Microsoft - that bloat will inevitably ensue.
As a counterpoint- I don't want to argue *BSD versus Linux - nor KDE versus GNOME - nor EMACS versus Vi. Can't we realize that these differences empower us- indeed, challenge us- to find the 'most superior' solution? After all, without a struggle, there can be no change.
Do you like Japanese imports?
YHBT YHL HAND
Score 3 Funny!?!? That's a little bit ambitios isn't it? How about modding this down as a troll where it should be.
all the links have ".asp". i can't read this.
"Asking me about Linux is like asking the Pope about the existence of God"
Linus Torvalds
Um, but this board costs close to $4000. It would be cheaper to buy a full fledged mac and strip out all the componants. Terrasoft also sells PPC computers, but not stand-alone mother boards. They will build you a cusomized board though.
Yes, Office users probably range from 5%-20% of Office's functionality. Unfortunately, outside of the 5% common stuff, the other portions that people use are different.
If you are throwing together high school papers, you don't need word. However, for a corporate environment, they are powerful.
Look, if you don't need Office, you don't buy Office. MS Works exists, and it is similar in capability to Apple's AppleWorks and most of the "Free" office suites.
The problem is the people that push these apps. Take Excel. If you just did some graphing in high school chem, you may be satisfied with Gnumetric. Have you ever seen a real finance guru with Excel? They churn out really complex items. What does this mean for the rest of the corporation? If I want to view their spreadsheets, I need Excel. Therefore, anyone in the Enterprise that needs to work with these spreadsheets needs excel.
Now it doesn't matter that 90% of the Enterprise doesn't need Excel's features for their work, another 20% may work with the finance people that are cranking out excel.
Now we have Access. Access is a silly app, but it is damned convenient for basic databases. Sure, I can crank out an impressive web GUI and build a real database on PostgreSQL, but if a small department wants something without clearing it by IT, Access gets them up and running quickly.
Powerpoint?
Powerpoint sucks, everyone who uses it knows that it sucks.
Name a competitor that sucks less. (Please, I've been looking for a better product, I can't find one). However, if you need a quick presentation, it gets the job done. It's easy to use, and everyone either HAS Powerpoint (from Office) or can get the free viewer (which you can send them). It is a quick way to send ideas including graphical explanations.
Word is extremely flexible. Most people in the organization don't need it. However, a handful likely push Word to its limits. They build the templates and otherwise utilize its features. Now, if the rest of the company is using Word, they can leverage these creations. No Word? No luck.
Sure, VBA isn't useful for most users. If your IT department found a use for it, then they'll crank stuff out. I've been at clients that really use VBA, and many that never use it.
If you guys spent 10% of the time in various IT rooms at real companies instead of listening to other Linux-heads on Slashdot you'd understand Linux's deficiencies on the desktop.
For a home computer, Linux is adequate. For a corporate environment, most need more.
Ya know, for all Outlook's security problems, the group scheduling and other features when combined with Exchange are REALLY powerful.
Alex
All this hype is reminding me of lawyers chasing
after too few ambulances. Do we really need all
this hyp?
Since when is VB considered an actual programming language?
~Aero
I like Linux. It is the best. I think that everybody should use Linux.
Euh... well this might sound like a plug, but I think it is interesting to see that Computer Associates is embrassing Linux. This company is mostly a mainframe software company (4th largest software maker) ... anyways, they are launching a bunch of new applications for Linux, (well most of them are ports from their Unix versions...) but hey.. this is one big step in the corporate world for Linux. Well I know big blue is all over it, but looks like CA is throwing everything but the kitchen sink at it.
Will there be another episode of Geeks In Space?
Please......
Pretty Please.............
(this line added to counter lameness filter....erk)
(as is this one)
(please Lord, make the filter go away)
(*sob*, i just wanted to get a +5, Funny, can't you just let me post?)