The prevalence of such readily available IDEs today is only something that I could dream about years ago. I am an old guy in terms of this. Our family got their first PC relatively late in the "PC Game". But even then, the only languages that were available were BASIC and PASCAL (and PASCAL was pirated). No one had heard of such a thing as C or FORTRAN. I wanted to create "cool" computer apps like similar applications you could for DOS (forget Apple, let's start small at that time). Yet, no one I knew could steer me in the right direction to do that. Sure, there was PASCAL in my highschool and I took it, but the applications developed were NOT real stand-alone apps-they had to be run in the compiler in the development environment itself.
When I went to college, I got a Mac-the worst decision of my young life. I could not do anything technical with it--and there was not a Mac store around to guide me to the tools I needed. In the end, the computer that was to help me in college, to aid me in my studies sat around and collected dust because I did not have the tools needed to use it! It was only two years after I graduated from college that my estranged father told me about Code Warrior--which sold for $500-$1000!!!! What about the PC Market? Borland, Microsoft, all of the IDEs had hefty prices associated with them.
I guess what I am trying to say is: free IDEs-good. I wish that would have been available to me when I was in school--it would have enhanced my education and provided me with a better environment of success.
I think most people would agree with me that most of Google's apps were discovered via "tribal knowledge". That's how I discovered Google to at the start. To me, until recently, I never heard of most of the applications Google offered. This is one the areas that I think Google really dropped the ball. Maybe this "word of mouth" tradition is what they really want. Who knows. If that is Google's intention, it's good to see that it has backfired on them somewhat.
Linux "...on the verge of a desktop breakthrough?..." Surprise, surprise! Same thing different day! While I do believe in and use Linux, I don't think that it can alone topple the Microsoft giant (not anytime soon). I don't know how many times I see reports about how "...Linux is this close to breaking into the mainstream desktop environment!..." and yet never quite doing it. This whole thing is as elusive as Hydrogen fusion (not even the "cold" kind). To me, Microsoft is just too big and powerful. Like we haven't heard all of this before and will for at least the next 5-years!!
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The prevalence of such readily available IDEs today is only something that I could dream about years ago. I am an old guy in terms of this. Our family got their first PC relatively late in the "PC Game". But even then, the only languages that were available were BASIC and PASCAL (and PASCAL was pirated). No one had heard of such a thing as C or FORTRAN. I wanted to create "cool" computer apps like similar applications you could for DOS (forget Apple, let's start small at that time). Yet, no one I knew could steer me in the right direction to do that. Sure, there was PASCAL in my highschool and I took it, but the applications developed were NOT real stand-alone apps-they had to be run in the compiler in the development environment itself. When I went to college, I got a Mac-the worst decision of my young life. I could not do anything technical with it--and there was not a Mac store around to guide me to the tools I needed. In the end, the computer that was to help me in college, to aid me in my studies sat around and collected dust because I did not have the tools needed to use it! It was only two years after I graduated from college that my estranged father told me about Code Warrior--which sold for $500-$1000!!!! What about the PC Market? Borland, Microsoft, all of the IDEs had hefty prices associated with them. I guess what I am trying to say is: free IDEs-good. I wish that would have been available to me when I was in school--it would have enhanced my education and provided me with a better environment of success.
I think most people would agree with me that most of Google's apps were discovered via "tribal knowledge". That's how I discovered Google to at the start. To me, until recently, I never heard of most of the applications Google offered. This is one the areas that I think Google really dropped the ball. Maybe this "word of mouth" tradition is what they really want. Who knows. If that is Google's intention, it's good to see that it has backfired on them somewhat.
Linux "...on the verge of a desktop breakthrough?..." Surprise, surprise! Same thing different day! While I do believe in and use Linux, I don't think that it can alone topple the Microsoft giant (not anytime soon). I don't know how many times I see reports about how "...Linux is this close to breaking into the mainstream desktop environment!..." and yet never quite doing it. This whole thing is as elusive as Hydrogen fusion (not even the "cold" kind). To me, Microsoft is just too big and powerful. Like we haven't heard all of this before and will for at least the next 5-years!!