Re:"at least without hiring outside help" -
on
Magento Beginner's Guide
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· Score: 2, Informative
It might be a shameless plug, but Satchmo - http://www.satchmoproject.com is a completely open source option. It's not perfect (what software is) but I believe it is a much better alternative than most of the PHP based alternatives.
I am one of the core devs so I am biased but do feel compelled to chime in with an alternative to the PHP based solutions out there like Magento.
Well, take a look here - http://www.djangosites.org/ to see just a few sites developed in Django. Django itself is the killer app. It's a framework.
I'll shamelessly plug Satchmo - http://www.satchmoproject.com as a successful online ecommerce/shopping cart that compares very favorably to the PHP based ones.
Finding a good ecommerce package that's not written in PHP is a big pain. If you'd prefer to use Python and want to combine your store with CMS type functions you can use the Django framework along with Satchmo - http://www.satchmoproject.com
To be fair, I'm one of the developers but I figured I'd chime in with some alternatives if you don't like the current PHP-based offerings.
I work at a fairly large company with a bunch of Solaris workstations (for engineering) and MS-Windows on all the other desktops. I've found that people that work with Unix, be they admins or end users tend to "grok" and have no fear of using Open Source tools when appropriate.
I recently transitioned to a position where I now work with the NT admins. They're actually pretty good people, but Open Source is foreign to them. I tend to look for an open source solution first. They see what MS offfers, then go from there.
Anyway, I've started talking to one of the more savy admins about the benefits of Python as a scripting language. He's pretty excited and sees the huge benefits of it compared to VB and Winbatch.. (pretty easy sell actually).
Anyway, my point is, educating the decision makers in the trenches can help your cause.
It might not get Linux/Open Source on all the desktops, but get it in the mind of the power users and admins and you might be surprised how it spreads,
I agree there are a lot of concerns with this system, but one thing I haven't heard mentioned was the "distortion" of the sound. Audiophiles are pretty notorious for claiming that things like different digital cables affect sound quality, or that some exotic element makes better cables than another. As picky as they can be, what are they going to say about a system that is deliberately designed to mess with the quality of the music?
Something that hasn't been mentioned yet is that one of the biggest problems with hacking into a system is that once you do it, there's a good chance the enemy will know you did it and fix the holes. In a similar way, military planners have to decide whether it's better to blow up that communications link or leave it up because the enemy is talking across it. Sometimes it may be better to look at a computer and not actually do any damage. Or maybe put a backdoor in for a time when we really need it..... And yes, there are a lot of tricky legal hurdles. Yes, I think the biggest fear is that it opens the US infrastructure up for a lot of nastiness. Despite what many of you may believe, even the spookiest of spooks have a lot of legal guidelines they are "supposed" to follow. We need to get this cleared up because there's no point in having a weapon you're not prepared to use, well maybe nukes, but that's a whole different discussion.
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It might be a shameless plug, but Satchmo - http://www.satchmoproject.com is a completely open source option. It's not perfect (what software is) but I believe it is a much better alternative than most of the PHP based alternatives.
I am one of the core devs so I am biased but do feel compelled to chime in with an alternative to the PHP based solutions out there like Magento.
Well, take a look here - http://www.djangosites.org/ to see just a few sites developed in Django. Django itself is the killer app. It's a framework.
I'll shamelessly plug Satchmo - http://www.satchmoproject.com as a successful online ecommerce/shopping cart that compares very favorably to the PHP based ones.
Finding a good ecommerce package that's not written in PHP is a big pain. If you'd prefer to use Python and want to combine your store with CMS type functions you can use the Django framework along with Satchmo - http://www.satchmoproject.com
To be fair, I'm one of the developers but I figured I'd chime in with some alternatives if you don't like the current PHP-based offerings.
I work at a fairly large company with a bunch of Solaris workstations (for engineering) and MS-Windows on all the other desktops. I've found that people that work with Unix, be they admins or end users tend to "grok" and have no fear of using Open Source tools when appropriate.
I recently transitioned to a position where I now work with the NT admins. They're actually pretty good people, but Open Source is foreign to them. I tend to look for an open source solution first. They see what MS offfers, then go from there.
Anyway, I've started talking to one of the more savy admins about the benefits of Python as a scripting language. He's pretty excited and sees the huge benefits of it compared to VB and Winbatch.. (pretty easy sell actually).
Anyway, my point is, educating the decision makers in the trenches can help your cause.
It might not get Linux/Open Source on all the desktops, but get it in the mind of the power users and admins and you might be surprised how it spreads,
I agree there are a lot of concerns with this system, but one thing I haven't heard mentioned was the "distortion" of the sound. Audiophiles are pretty notorious for claiming that things like different digital cables affect sound quality, or that some exotic element makes better cables than another. As picky as they can be, what are they going to say about a system that is deliberately designed to mess with the quality of the music?
Something that hasn't been mentioned yet is that one of the biggest problems with hacking into a system is that once you do it, there's a good chance the enemy will know you did it and fix the holes. In a similar way, military planners have to decide whether it's better to blow up that communications link or leave it up because the enemy is talking across it. Sometimes it may be better to look at a computer and not actually do any damage. Or maybe put a backdoor in for a time when we really need it..... And yes, there are a lot of tricky legal hurdles. Yes, I think the biggest fear is that it opens the US infrastructure up for a lot of nastiness. Despite what many of you may believe, even the spookiest of spooks have a lot of legal guidelines they are "supposed" to follow. We need to get this cleared up because there's no point in having a weapon you're not prepared to use, well maybe nukes, but that's a whole different discussion.