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When Should We Ditch Our Platform?

Posted by kdawson on from the future-shock dept.

odoketa writes "My organization recently had to replace our Web developer. It took us an extremely long time to find someone with the necessary skill set. I don't know if this is because of the platform we are running (which I will leave nameless), or simply because the fates conspiring against us. It's easy to assume that languages or platforms are popular based on buzz, but the rubber hits the road when you have to hire someone to maintain that code. How are folks out there determining when you've backed the wrong horse, and getting back on track?"

35 of 622 comments (clear)

  1. Solution by TheSpoom · · Score: 5, Funny

    Stop using FORTRAN. It really wasn't built for the web, you know.

    --
    It's better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it.
    - E. Debs
    1. Re:Solution by lexarius · · Score: 5, Funny

      You'll change your mind after you see FORTRAN on Rails.

    2. Re:Solution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      FORTRAN runs in Ruts, not on Rails, don't forget.

    3. Re:Solution by sirgoran · · Score: 2, Funny

      Damn!
      And here I was thinking that COBOL on Rails would be released first.

      Looks like I backed the wrong horse again!

      Man, I am going to be SOOO fired for this...

      --
      Carpe Scrotum - The only way to deal with your competition.
    4. Re:Solution by hullabalucination · · Score: 3, Funny

      Stop using FORTRAN. It really wasn't built for the web, you know.

      Oh, haven't you heard? HTML tables are out; layouts based on Hollerith fields are in.

    5. Re:Solution by greg1104 · · Score: 2, Funny

      FRAILS? That sounds about right.

    6. Re:Solution by Just+Some+Guy · · Score: 2, Funny

      You're joking, but sometimes it's for real. Care to try PL/SQL for that instead?

      I walked into a job interview and saw a book, "Web Development with Visual RPG". I got up and left.

      --
      Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
  2. Which platform? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    How do you expect Slashdot readers to tell you whether to ditch your platform unless they know whether it is Microsoft or not?

    1. Re:Which platform? by blincoln · · Score: 4, Funny

      Is the site Java based? Dump that trash, because only bitches use Java.

      I didn't know Lil Jon worked in the tech industry. I suddenly feel the need to crunk-enable all of my servers.

      --
      "...always new atoms but always doing the same dance, remembering what the dance was yesterday." -Richard Feynman
    2. Re:Which platform? by mooingyak · · Score: 2, Funny

      If your chosen platform [snip] is unpronounceable.

      This reason. I like this reason. Is good reason.

      --
      William of Ockham had no beard. The most likely explanation is that it was chewed off by squirrels every morning.
    3. Re:Which platform? by powerlord · · Score: 4, Funny

      I wear KDEs shoes. Don't all Linux users?


      Only the Dyslexic ones.
      --
      This space for rent. All reasonable inquiries will be entertained at proprietors discretion.
    4. Re:Which platform? by jimijon · · Score: 2, Funny
      I can only say one thing WebObjects! WebObjects with WOLips on Eclipse and Wonder blows everything away.... everything. It is a very, very, exciting time to be a WebObjects developer again. Before I was just kicking out the code and the solutions while the JSF, etc, guys where still going blind with XML. True components, true Eclipse, it just Rocks!!!!


      It really does.

      --
      Mind | Body | Spirit | Cash
    5. Re:Which platform? by Tablizer · · Score: 4, Funny

      My hatred of Java has nothing to do with speed. The platform has become a giant morass of 'enterprisey' 'solutions' that create more need for more 'solutions'. And all Java 'solutions' must somehow involve XML, because it's standard, and enterprisey.

      Java is a gift from the Job Gods to make up for the offshoring by creating new specialists such as GUI architects, Object-Relational-Mapper Admins, XML Configuration Admins, I/O library figure-outers, etc. etc. etc.

      I'm applying for Hello World Architect by showing on my resume it can be done in under 30 Java classes.

      (Yeah, it's flamebait, but venting's therapy.)

      --
      Table-ized A.I.
  3. But that would obsolete our hardware! by EmbeddedJanitor · · Score: 4, Funny

    Fortran works better than anything else on punch cards.

    --
    Engineering is the art of compromise.
  4. Based on my complete lack of experience... by PresidentEnder · · Score: 2, Funny

    Right now seems like the perfect time to get yourselves a new platform, preferably something easy to maintain.

    --
    I used to carry a bottle of whiskey for snake bite. And two snakes. -Nefarious Wheel
  5. Binary is better by sjwest · · Score: 4, Funny

    we train monkeys to shout 1's and 0's at computers. The Monkeys are happy.

    1. Re:Binary is better by sm62704 · · Score: 2, Funny

      We train monkeys to Write fiction.

      In COBOL. Using Hollerith cards because keyboards are for pussies.

      Am I done yet? Can I go home now?

      --
      mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
  6. Immediately by z-j-y · · Score: 5, Funny

    And I recommend Ruby on Rails. Its developer community has been growing exponentially, from 5 guys in 2006 to 10 guys in 2007. If you are extra conservative, you can try Groovy on Rails. It's just like Java, but better.

  7. hmmm by circletimessquare · · Score: 2, Funny

    i highlighted "When Should We Ditch Our Platform?" but IntelliSense doesn't have any suggestions

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  8. Re:measure the hype by Kingrames · · Score: 4, Funny

    "I've found that the more a manufacturer hypes a product the more likely it is to be a flash in the pan...
    --
    When is the last time you hadn't thrown your vote away? Ron Paul even if its write-in!"

    The Irony is... overwhelming.

    --
    If you can read this, I forgot to post anonymously.
  9. My first clue is usually... by penguinstorm · · Score: 3, Funny

    when Microsoft "embraces" the platform.

    --
    Skot Nelson music is my saviour / i was maimed by rock and roll
  10. Re:Two of Each by orclevegam · · Score: 2, Funny

    Of course, that can get costly, but, when you work for the government... ... you should save time and shoot yourself now. Oh wait, did you fill out the right form for that?
    --
    Curiosity was framed, Ignorance killed the cat.
  11. Re:Sometimes, you can't ditch soon enough by Reverend528 · · Score: 2, Funny

    The developers convinced the management that they needed to use some god-awful platform? It's like you're working in some evil alternate universe!

    --
    Badass Resumes
  12. Re:Finding good web developers is hard. by sigxcpu · · Score: 3, Funny

    Pick me! I weigh less!

    - think of an add "wanted: lean, mean programmers, that are worth their weight in gold"
    - We pick the small ones, they cost less.

    --
    As of Postgres v6.2, time travel is no longer supported.
  13. Easy answer. by Colin+Smith · · Score: 4, Funny

    He wants to know, generically, how you decide that what you're using is the wrong choice. Well, that's simple. It's when you are more than two standard deviations away from the mean.
    --
    Deleted
  14. Re:Sometimes, you can't ditch soon enough by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Or for Oracle/Peoplesoft

  15. ha ha by mkcmkc · · Score: 4, Funny
    You think you're joking, but you haven't lived until you've helped someone deploy their Java-on-AS/400-based webserver (itself a front-end to their RPG-based database).

    (And no, AS/400 is not the name of an obscure Linux distro, and RPG does not mean "role playing game" or even "rocket propelled grenade"--it's much worse than that...)

    :-(

    --
    "Not an actor, but he plays one on TV."
    1. Re:ha ha by sumdumass · · Score: 2, Funny

      That's probably a good idea anyways. Maybe some of us would think about asking "who's bright idea this was" when we have to do it. Of course that might get us fired when they answer us.

      Speaking of redneck equivalents and "hay yall watch this" moments, I had a neighbor who was smart enough to put an old althon thunder bird based computer in his car, over clock it, and then complain about all the heat the fans pushed from under the dash and onto his legs. So he took some foam and cardboard and wrapped the heatsink to force the air outside the car or to the passenger side or something.

      I bumped into him at a grocery store and he wanted to show me his fix so so we purchased our stuff and went outside to see the fire department raping his car and flushing it out with hundreds of gallons of water. I guess he left the computer running when he went in and the heat sink got hot enough to smolder the foam which released a bunch of black smoke. Someone called 911 and the fire department broke the windows out to get to the fire and put it out. But because the foam was encased around the heat sink, it wouldn't stop smoking until they opened the hood of the car with an axe and snipped the battery cables.

      It may not sound all that funny or weird but I know this guy knew better. He didn't even account for fresh air to get in to cool the thing, it would have just recycled the previous hot air. And the look on his face watching the fire department slam a pick axe through the hood repeatedly to get access and cut the battery cables was something else. He almost got arrested by the cop who was keeping people away but couldn't understand the frightened rambling of "that's my car". It appears he forgot how to speak for about 20 minutes after first seeing this happen.

      After all was said and done, the only things that exhibited signs of burning or fire was the tube he made for the processor heat. His insurance company totaled the car and didn't give him enough to replace it. It was a bad week for him.

  16. Let's play GUESS THAT PLATFORM! My guess is... by JoshDM · · Score: 2, Funny

    Cold Fusion.

  17. As soon as I heard this... by Weaselmancer · · Score: 3, Funny

    ..but the rubber hits the road when you have to hire someone to maintain that code...

    Soon as I heard this I envisioned pointy hair.

    --
    Weaselmancer
    rediculous.
  18. The road ahead by lennier · · Score: 3, Funny

    The rubber hits the road when you back the wrong buzzing horse off a running platform that's not on the right track, and have to ditch it.

    I love business metaphors.

    --
    You are not a brain: http://books.google.com/books?id=2oV61CeDx-YC
  19. Re:Holy negativity pal by swillden · · Score: 2, Funny

    you instead degenerated steadily into technical inchoherence so that by the end of your post I have no idea what you're talking about anymore.

    You know, the rest of your post would have been somewhat reasonable, but this part ruined it all. There was absolutely nothing in the GP post that should have posed the slightest difficulty for a competent system administrator to understand.

    I'm going to choose to believe you were exaggerating for effect.

    --
    Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
  20. WWGGD? by cyberfunkr · · Score: 3, Funny

    Roll a d20 and consult the correct chart.

  21. Let management/HR tell you that by patio11 · · Score: 2, Funny

    "We should do the next project in Rails."
    "Nonsense, we only have one engineer who knows Rails and would need ten."
    "Hire them."
    "Nonsense, they make 20% more than you do."
    "I guess I should be doing Rails elsewhere, then."

    --
    Help poke pirates in the eyepatch, arr.
  22. Re:System/36? Newbie! I used a System/34 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    bzzt! Illegal use of "more good".