There are alternatives to Oracle, but none that I'm aware of are FOSS. If you actually need Oracle (and a lot of people using it don't), then Firebird simply isn't an alternative
Actually there is a Firebird based project called Fryacle that was built to be compatible enough with Oracle to run Oracle Apps.
A company called Janus Software built it so that they could run something called "Compiere".
I beg to differ, the original story pointed to by this slashdot artical tells of a couple of fairly (relative) cheap means of mass producing diamonds as well as giving them just about any shape possible, from one of the methods. Thus giving us almost unlimited possibilites for uses in computing and other applications.
Maybe as the technology for growing diamonds becomes more precise and readily available, more usable quanities of this dense graphite material could be produced.
... what are hte main differences between Mozilla and Firebird and why do they seem to be advocating one of their products over another?
If you are asking about the difference between the current Mozilla Browser and Mozilla Firebird Browser then it's basically a directional change. Read the Mozilla Road Map to see why this is being done.
The difference between Mozilla, in gerneral, and Firebird is that one is a web browser and one is a RDBMS.
And the Mozilla crowd said people wouldn't confuse the two....
I also tried submitting an artical on/. yesterday or the day before. My artical got rejected. As my writing skills lack polish I just assumed that it wasn't clear enough for the editors.
Why would people who don't know a lot about computers be using a DBMS anyway?
That's just the thing though, They wouldn't know what a DBMS is. As far as they would be concerned it would be just another part of the name, like Mozilla.
I develop a lot of applications using the Firebird DB and I can just see someone who isn't paying attention downloading the Mozilla Firebird package and finding a Firebird entry in their Add/Remove Programs list and uninstalling the database engine or client tools. For alot of non-techie people the computer is a very visual tool. They go by what they see listed or shown on their screen.
Well, that depends... I for one have no intention of using a program where the developers and supporters resort to spamming and flooding other projects with derogatory comments. It shows a great level of immaturity.
And you've never contaced a company or orgaization to show your displeaure over something? The Firebird DB community is attempting to stand up for what they believe in. So in doing so you brand them jerks and dismiss them. Great. So their knee jerk reaction has now forced your knee jerk reaction to dismiss them out of hand.
If you take the time to follow the entire situation up till now, you would probably see that a number of us jerks tried using the open existing channels of communitation with the Mozilla people. We were told flat out that nobody could possibly mistake a browser for a database and that we should stop whining. We had no choice but to try and raise the awareness of our displeasure with the rest of the Mozilla project leaders.
I, for one, know a lot of people, who don't know alot about computers, who could very easily confuse Mozilla Firebird for the Firebird DBMS. They would see the word Firebird and assume that it was the one they were looking for. You can't tell me that you don't know anyone could do the same.
Having read most of the comments up to now, it seems that most of the independants have run into this and have adjusted their pricing accordingly. I personally have a hard time doing that, how I was raised I guess.
Wouldn't it be better for software developers in general, instead of charging an exaggerated price to be taken seriously, that we have some way of being certified and from that have an implied guarentee of quality?
The way I see it, it would have to be a voluntary type of certification but if passed then clients could be given a certain level of expected quality. Think about other professions these days, like Engineering for example. Just graduating from school doesn't make you a Professional Enginer, you have to do a few years of grunt work and write further exams to be considered qualified.
Wouldn't this type of thing help for software developers?
As a developer from before the mainstream acceptance of Windows, I did a lot of stuff with DOS mainly using Turbo Pascal and later on Assembler. A few of my favorites were(are):
PC Interrupts (Brown, Kyle)
Structured Assembler Language for IBM Microcomputers (Kindred)
Later with Windows my development love affair with Borlands Delphi got me hooked on the following:
Delphi Component Design (Thorpe)
Developing Custom Delphi 3 Components (Konopka)
Now with Borlands 3rd release of Kylix I'm sure I'll soon find more books about it that I'll find deeply interesting.
Actually I told a lie...I do have one very well used copy of The UNIX Operating System 3rd Ed. (Christian, Richter) that I truly love.
Slashdot Mirror
There are alternatives to Oracle, but none that I'm aware of are FOSS. If you actually need Oracle (and a lot of people using it don't), then Firebird simply isn't an alternative
Actually there is a Firebird based project called Fryacle that was built to be compatible enough with Oracle to run Oracle Apps.
A company called Janus Software built it so that they could run something called "Compiere".
Go to their website http://www.janus-software.com/fb_fyracle.html to see more information about their "Oracle Mode Firebird" project.
Python, Pascal, most any VM based language could fall prey to this...
Since when is Pascal a VM based language?
In my world Pascal and other languages like C/C++ are compiled languages.
I beg to differ, the original story pointed to by this slashdot artical tells of a couple of fairly (relative) cheap means of mass producing diamonds as well as giving them just about any shape possible, from one of the methods. Thus giving us almost unlimited possibilites for uses in computing and other applications.
Maybe as the technology for growing diamonds becomes more precise and readily available, more usable quanities of this dense graphite material could be produced.
... what are hte main differences between Mozilla and Firebird and why do they seem to be advocating one of their products over another?
If you are asking about the difference between the current Mozilla Browser and Mozilla Firebird Browser then it's basically a directional change.
Read the Mozilla Road Map to see why this is being done.
The difference between Mozilla, in gerneral, and Firebird is that one is a web browser and one is a RDBMS.
And the Mozilla crowd said people wouldn't confuse the two....
And this idiot is going to have installed a high-end RDBMS? I doubt it.
Have you ever installed Firebird? It's almost as easy as Mozilla is. Doesn't take brains to click OK, does it?
And how do you know I'm an idiot? I've never told you.
but your next step should have been to contact the press and community sites
/. yesterday or the day before. My artical got rejected. As my writing skills lack polish I just assumed that it wasn't clear enough for the editors.
We did, check out LinuxWorld Australia and news.com.
I also tried submitting an artical on
Why would people who don't know a lot about computers be using a DBMS anyway?
That's just the thing though, They wouldn't know what a DBMS is. As far as they would be concerned it would be just another part of the name, like Mozilla.
I develop a lot of applications using the Firebird DB and I can just see someone who isn't paying attention downloading the Mozilla Firebird package and finding a Firebird entry in their Add/Remove Programs list and uninstalling the database engine or client tools. For alot of non-techie people the computer is a very visual tool. They go by what they see listed or shown on their screen.
Well, that depends... I for one have no intention of using a program where the developers and supporters resort to spamming and flooding other projects with derogatory comments. It shows a great level of immaturity.
And you've never contaced a company or orgaization to show your displeaure over something? The Firebird DB community is attempting to stand up for what they believe in. So in doing so you brand them jerks and dismiss them. Great. So their knee jerk reaction has now forced your knee jerk reaction to dismiss them out of hand.
If you take the time to follow the entire situation up till now, you would probably see that a number of us jerks tried using the open existing channels of communitation with the Mozilla people. We were told flat out that nobody could possibly mistake a browser for a database and that we should stop whining. We had no choice but to try and raise the awareness of our displeasure with the rest of the Mozilla project leaders.
I, for one, know a lot of people, who don't know alot about computers, who could very easily confuse Mozilla Firebird for the Firebird DBMS. They would see the word Firebird and assume that it was the one they were looking for. You can't tell me that you don't know anyone could do the same.
Having read most of the comments up to now, it seems that most of the independants have run into this and have adjusted their pricing accordingly. I personally have a hard time doing that, how I was raised I guess.
Wouldn't it be better for software developers in general, instead of charging an exaggerated price to be taken seriously, that we have some way of being certified and from that have an implied guarentee of quality?
The way I see it, it would have to be a voluntary type of certification but if passed then clients could be given a certain level of expected quality. Think about other professions these days, like Engineering for example. Just graduating from school doesn't make you a Professional Enginer, you have to do a few years of grunt work and write further exams to be considered qualified.
Wouldn't this type of thing help for software developers?
PC Interrupts (Brown, Kyle)
Structured Assembler Language for IBM Microcomputers (Kindred)
Later with Windows my development love affair with Borlands Delphi got me hooked on the following:
Delphi Component Design (Thorpe)
Developing Custom Delphi 3 Components (Konopka)
Now with Borlands 3rd release of Kylix I'm sure I'll soon find more books about it that I'll find deeply interesting.
Actually I told a lie...I do have one very well used copy of The UNIX Operating System 3rd Ed. (Christian, Richter) that I truly love.