if groups in the MA govt. start complaining that they are losing documents, having problems with maintaining multiple versions of the documents, etc., then this effort will be known as the biggest boondogle in history.
and anybody who recommends this path in the future will be sharply reminded of this failure.
So you are saying that they should do nothing -- just maintain the status quo because they might fail or someone might criticize them?
Yes MS OSs have issues with viruses and other security holes but if the MAC OS or *nix was the huge commonly used OS it would have the same problems so please get of the MS bashing bandwagon.
You know, I've heard this hogwash from the MS camp many times, so let's just examine it for a minute, shall we?
Usually when someone drags out this tired old argument, they are referring to the number of *desktop* machines. I'll grant that the vast
majority of desktops run Windows. Anyone would be a fool to argue otherwise. However, what value do these machines represent to the
cracker other than spam & DDOS zombies? Why would anyone want to crack Joe Sixpack's PC to steal one credit card number when there are
commercial sites out there with thousands of accounts? I'll tell you why: Because it's too hard for the average script kiddie to do. Consider this:
According to Netcraft, Apache runs aproximately 70%
of all web sites. This number has been fairly consistant for several years, so we will assume the number is reasonably accurate.
Next, if we look here we see that without exception,
ALL of the Apache sites holding the top uptimes are running on some flavor of Unix -- mostly *BSD with a few running Solaris or Linux. IIS obviously
only runs on Windows and the table (at least at the time of this writing) has only a single Windows site in the top 50. Personally,
I believe that the majority of sites that run Apache also run *nix, but to make the MS crowd happy lets assume the whole web is 50/50 -- half *nix and half Windows. According to Netcraft's September 2005 survey, the web currently has something like 71,723,098 web sites. Using
our assumed 50/50 ratio, that means that there are over 35,000,000 *nix machines hooked up to the Internet and
serving up web pages. Now, you expect me to believe that 35,000,000 machines isn't a large enough target to attract the virus & worm
writers? Especially since a great many of those machines are big, fat jucy businesses targets? I don't think so.
The simple truth, whether or not *you* are too ignorant/cocky/stuborn to admit, is that Windows is targeted not because it's so ubiquitous, but because it's so easy to crack.
The effect of high taxes means that while crude oil prices might double, prices at the pump have only gone up by about 10%. In the U.S. with low taxes the prices have skyrocketed which will have a much bigger economic impact.
Don't kid yourself. If the European governments reduce the fuel taxes to offset the increase in oil prices, you too will feel the pain as those governments are forced to cut back programs in order to offset the decrease in tax revenues. There ain't no free lunch.
When you are 18, you think the sun shines out of your ass. As you get older, you will eventually come to the realization that the burning sensation you are feeling is really caused by something else.
What Mr. Tanenbaum failed to acknowledge, however, is that the time it takes to *restore* those tapes once they have arrived could well exceed the time it took to transport them. A station wagon full of backup tapes sitting in the parking lot is pretty useless.
Plus (this is the main point imo) not everyone will access the databases via your application.
What about people who want to link straight up via their PDA, via some embedded tech on the factory floor, via an email gateway, via any method in the future that you don't want to have to include in planning now.
Which is why web services and "service oriented architecture" (SOA) are such hot topics right now. Rather than writing stored procs (which are, IMHO, hard to read and very difficult to debug), I've been building all my business logic in Java and exposing functionality as web services using JBoss and Apache Axis. The UI can then be built in anything that can consume web services. Calling a web service from PHP is a breeze (not to mention the fact that developing something with PHP is *much* quicker that with JSP's since you don't have that agonizing compile/package/deploy cycle every time you make a change to a page). Also, it makes the UI almost disposable -- you can scrape it off and replace it without worrying about re-implementing complex business rules. It's a great way to integrate multiple business systems which may not only use different databases, but also different database vendors and/or OS and/or hardware platforms (like your "embedded tech on the factory floor" example)
Let's face it, open source software doesn't seem to employ very many people.
No, open source software doesn't seem to directly employ very many people. In other words, it is not so good for those companies that are in the business of selling shrink wrapped software. It is, however a wonderful thing for the vast majority of developers: those involved in corporate development and specialized vertical market applications. Every dollar not syphoned out of the corporate I.T. budget and shipped off to Redmond to pay for nothing but software infrastructure is another dollar that can be used to pay a developer (hopefully a local one) to build the thing the company really wants: the applications that run the business. Linux, Perl, PHP, mySQL, Postgres, JBoss, Apache and all of the other highly successful OSS projects are not all that useful just by themselves -- they are, after all, just plumbing. The money, Mr. Coward, is in putting them to work.
"We hates them, the nasty Linuxies!", hissed Darllum. "They STOLE the precious from us. Evil Linuxies! We hates them!"
"But Linuxies helps us!", he wimpered. "They gives us nice IPO...they gives us Kernel Personality. SAMBA is our friend!"
"We don't have any friends!", he spat, eyes glowing with hatred and fury. "Evil, tricksie Linuxies! They STOLE it! We HATES them!"
"OK, Sam", sighed Frodo, "I've changed my mind. You can kill him now."
Actually, I think it is more likely that the Slashdot crowd knows him mainly as "Mr. Conductor" from Thomas the Tank Engine. (Personally, I think Ringo did a better job, though)
I was wondering that myself, especially after reading this quote from the article:
The association notes an anonymous report of technicians telling one school that a "catastrophic failure" had occurred while processing its records. When school officials asked what had caused the error, and what "catastrophic" meant, the technicians said they didn't know.
The about:mozilla has been the same (IIRC) since pre-1.0. However, Netscape 4.7 was different:
And the beast shall come forth surrounded by a roiling cloud of vengeance. The house of the
unbelievers shall be razed and they shall be scorched to the earth. Their tags shall blink until
the end of days.
Slashdot Mirror
So you are saying that they should do nothing -- just maintain the status quo because they might fail or someone might criticize them?
You know, I've heard this hogwash from the MS camp many times, so let's just examine it for a minute, shall we?
Usually when someone drags out this tired old argument, they are referring to the number of *desktop* machines. I'll grant that the vast majority of desktops run Windows. Anyone would be a fool to argue otherwise. However, what value do these machines represent to the cracker other than spam & DDOS zombies? Why would anyone want to crack Joe Sixpack's PC to steal one credit card number when there are commercial sites out there with thousands of accounts? I'll tell you why: Because it's too hard for the average script kiddie to do. Consider this:
According to Netcraft, Apache runs aproximately 70% of all web sites. This number has been fairly consistant for several years, so we will assume the number is reasonably accurate. Next, if we look here we see that without exception, ALL of the Apache sites holding the top uptimes are running on some flavor of Unix -- mostly *BSD with a few running Solaris or Linux. IIS obviously only runs on Windows and the table (at least at the time of this writing) has only a single Windows site in the top 50. Personally, I believe that the majority of sites that run Apache also run *nix, but to make the MS crowd happy lets assume the whole web is 50/50 -- half *nix and half Windows. According to Netcraft's September 2005 survey, the web currently has something like 71,723,098 web sites. Using our assumed 50/50 ratio, that means that there are over 35,000,000 *nix machines hooked up to the Internet and serving up web pages. Now, you expect me to believe that 35,000,000 machines isn't a large enough target to attract the virus & worm writers? Especially since a great many of those machines are big, fat jucy businesses targets? I don't think so.
The simple truth, whether or not *you* are too ignorant/cocky/stuborn to admit, is that Windows is targeted not because it's so ubiquitous, but because it's so easy to crack.
You misspelled "chutzpah"
When you are 18, you think the sun shines out of your ass. As you get older, you will eventually come to the realization that the burning sensation you are feeling is really caused by something else.
Oh really? Maybe you should tell that to Ernie Ball. I'm sure that little tiff with the BSA was all just a big misunderstanding.
What Mr. Tanenbaum failed to acknowledge, however, is that the time it takes to *restore* those tapes once they have arrived could well exceed the time it took to transport them. A station wagon full of backup tapes sitting in the parking lot is pretty useless.
Which is why web services and "service oriented architecture" (SOA) are such hot topics right now. Rather than writing stored procs (which are, IMHO, hard to read and very difficult to debug), I've been building all my business logic in Java and exposing functionality as web services using JBoss and Apache Axis. The UI can then be built in anything that can consume web services. Calling a web service from PHP is a breeze (not to mention the fact that developing something with PHP is *much* quicker that with JSP's since you don't have that agonizing compile/package/deploy cycle every time you make a change to a page). Also, it makes the UI almost disposable -- you can scrape it off and replace it without worrying about re-implementing complex business rules. It's a great way to integrate multiple business systems which may not only use different databases, but also different database vendors and/or OS and/or hardware platforms (like your "embedded tech on the factory floor" example)
Somewhere on the path to Mordor....
"We hates them, the nasty Linuxies!", hissed Darllum. "They STOLE the precious from us. Evil Linuxies! We hates them!"
"But Linuxies helps us!", he wimpered. "They gives us nice IPO...they gives us Kernel Personality. SAMBA is our friend!"
"We don't have any friends!", he spat, eyes glowing with hatred and fury. "Evil, tricksie Linuxies! They STOLE it! We HATES them!"
"OK, Sam", sighed Frodo, "I've changed my mind. You can kill him now."
Actually, I think it is more likely that the Slashdot crowd knows him mainly as "Mr. Conductor" from Thomas the Tank Engine. (Personally, I think Ringo did a better job, though)
The about:mozilla has been the same (IIRC) since pre-1.0. However, Netscape 4.7 was different:
And the beast shall come forth surrounded by a roiling cloud of vengeance. The house of the unbelievers shall be razed and they shall be scorched to the earth. Their tags shall blink until the end of days.
from The Book of Mozilla, 12:10
Anybody else notice how much he looks like Keith Richards? Swear to God, hang a tele around the guy's neck and make him sing "Happy".
...but my ISP DOS'es me more than any script kiddie could ever hope to.
"Send more Chuck Berry"
Did anyone else notice that the "Association for Competitive Technology" lists Microsoft Corporation as one of its members? Can you say "astroturf"?