As an Oracle DBA, at a small company, we're constantly looking for less expensive SOLID alternatives to our traditional Oracle/Solaris approach to the back end.
When I say solid, I mean is able to handle very large files (excess of 50GB per datafile), has stored procedures and trigger infrastructure (a traditional MySQL weak point, and the main reason we've passed on it so far), an integrated backup system a la netbackup/RMAN, and prefereably a back end compiled scripting solution a la PL/SQL.
This looks like a sorta kinda solution to the last (PL/SQL alternative), but I'm curious to know about the rest, and also how it performs. Ideally for us, we'd also like to see better clustering and large system support examples in the real world before we embarked onto this particular voyage with.. say a production ERP system.
Are we talking about a good replacement for Access or for DB2 here?
This has to be some kind of ideological statement by this guy. 10M is nothing, for gods sakes, he pays ALL of his Seattle Supersonics more than that every year, so it can't be the money.
Whatever his investment amount is, its good to see both noteriety and cash flow in to private space programs. Maybe we can set a trend where rich geeks get sick of waiting, and goto space on our own. If you think about it, it's kinda the way we (as in geeks as a whole) tend to act anyway (when we're at our best that is).
I forget who said it, but someone quoted that every good program begins as an itch that needs to be scratched by the programmer... maybe this one's his?
That a government agency needs marketing and promotional materials? Maybe the x-prize or the Chinese advancements will finally get people back into the 'space' mindset again. We've kind of lost the forward thinking momentum of the first shuttle and moon mission launches where EVERYTHING in America stopped to watch it happen.
Re:What's interesting is the difference in culture
on
Paid to Play Video Games
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
Witty slam, but is it true?
I'd so no. To clarify, everquest and games like it (MMORPGS) require a great deal of time to get anywhere (I'll give you that), but the true skill of playing is more an exercise in social organization and strategy (what I presume you are alluding to.. as in Warcraft/starcraft which seem to prevail on the korean circuit atm). By strategy, I mean the ability to progress beyond where the average gamer can go, gamers I might add that many times are able to and do sink as much time as powergamers into achieving success yet still never get to the would-be endgame for any particular expansion.
For instance, on our Everquest server (rodcet nife), there is approximately ONE plane of time enabled guild. They are there when many people are not because of solid tactics in engaging in specific encounters (oober mobs if you will), while other guilds who spend as much or more time playing catch up cannot seem to ever completely...well catch up. In truth, Everquest is so damn competitive that often times the GMs are called in to settle disputes about camp rights/training/etc.
But, let me return to the topic at hand a bit. To say that a warcraft match between two human players is any harder or easier than an encounter between a guild in everquest and an epic mob (creature) is simply wrong. That's why it's a game people play constantly in order to be able to compete in. If it was as easy as you seem to think it is, everyone would be at the top, while most are not...
Lets look at it this way, how about I say that warcraft sux as a strategy game because all the players have to live within the rules of the game the programmers created. Human opponents aside, you have to play within the realm of strategies created by the development team, so technically every move is predicatable at some level. For that matter, what about chess?
The difference with everquest is minute at best. RTS fans who may think that such rpgs have to do with roleplaying may be a tad shocked to discover said endgame is much more like a cooperative version of warcraft than anything else. Strategy and tacitcs are in fact closely guarded guild secrets in many cases, and may involve up to 60 people working in synchronicity over time in their 'roles' as classes to accomplish whatever the goal is.
I, personally, play warcraft as well, and I like the game, its just not my thing. Oh and btw, we have MANY Korean guilds (openly, as in recruit members only in their own time zone) on our server, so to say its purely an American fetish is a bit on the unjustifiably elitist fringe eh?
I post infrequently, but do follow up on the posts I make, so I'll wait for your response.
Actually I kind of agree with you, thus the 'I haven't bought anything via ebay/similar' part of the post. However, I HAVE noticed that some of the eastern guilds/players buy alternate accounts as a matter of course anymore.
In other words, I've met people online from places like Korea and Japan who think nothing at all of buying a second account (cleric anyone) in order to more quickly progress. This begs another interesting point, which is that I've noticed that Eastern players tend to play harder/more competitively in the name of STYLE. Being cool is eessential to many players online, as it is in real life.
BTW - just to clarify what I mean by mixed cultures in my original post, It seems like the American approach to gaming is entrepenurial (sell MY stuff) as apposed to the Eastern style of gaming (corporate sposership/advancement as an organized group). This is most clearly evident in Lineage, which has failed to pick up in the states probably due to the VERY structured organizations, where it is absolutely critical to play as a cog in the system to advance (siege warfare). Americans are very 'me' oriented, and our patience wears thin in large groups very quickly. AMAZINGLY quickly actually, as anyone who has played in a raid guild can attest. Anyone who argues that there's no skill to everquest or any other raid-based game has never tried to organize 30 wanna-be cool players (and their INCREDIBLY large virtual egos) into accomplishing something WITHOUT the benefit of speech...
Anyway, off my side note, I propose that for the above reason, game items are indeed worth real value (dollars) in the same way the DKNY brand is worth real dollars. You can wear wranglers, but for 15$ more you can be 31337.
-chitlenz
What's interesting is the difference in cultures
on
Paid to Play Video Games
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
I play everquest, pretty much at a competitive level , that is I've been playing for 4 years and have multiple high lvl characters. In the time I've been online, I've watched public opinion of 'ebaying' go from being loathed, to accepted, to welcomed (by the players). I never bought or sold virtual items over ebay, BUT, I know several players who have to great success. In fact the guy that owns monkly business (a game information site) is reputed to turn 7-figures through his player auction store that sells in game money for real world money. I also seem to rememeber some sweatshop named blacksun entertainment that was farming out the 'work' of playing everquest to china, where they had like 30 employees that farmed items all day long for sale.
What I find interesting is the different approach the koreans have to the western 'under the table' idea. The korean channels broacast Lineage, warcraft, starcraft, and several other types of games on multiple tv channels with full commentary. I don't know, but I'd bet that online auctions of lineage crap are known and accepted as well. It seems like here we still believe that games are for kids, and that the resale of virtual items or profiting from gaming is some kind of taboo. What's funny is that this is the classic setup for something that's destined to be 'cool' and accepted in the future (starts as a taboo).
I'm betting that its only a matter of time before this becomes the norm in the US as well. I know it seems alien, but most folx who have played the high end (or aspired too) of these games knows that it CAN be entertaining to watch how people setup strategies and outthink the environments. The next generation of Blizzard game (world of Warcraft) has the potential to bridge this gap between the us and the koreans quite quickly, and I'll be interested to see if these 'odd' parts of their culture don't become more common here as well.
1. Hard Disk speed is important! Take a deep breath, and think about how long it takes to load all the 4 layer textures you use playing modern games. Those do NOT store completely in RAM and have to be loaded dynamically. I have celebrated the wide adoption of 10k rpm SATA since it came available, as it removes the 'stutter' of turning corners when you use high res textures and anti-aliasing in 3d.
2. Older Nvidia cards are NOT Dx9 compliant, which will limit their long-term viability. Contrary to the tone of the post, high end gamers are not generally fools and are more up to date on hardware purchases than most folk. Theres a *reason* why the ATI 9800pro is heavily purchased. I know this because I benchmark my purchases to make sure I get the intended result, not from idle speculation...
3. AMD processors have a long history of problems with certain game vendors, most notably Sony/Verant. I personally use an AMD procesor, and love them, but the Intel and AMD architecture are not 100% interchangable, and unless the maker of your favorite game allows for that, your milage may vary.
4. 1GB of ram is WAY too small to cache all the textures of the newer games. WAY WAY too small. Ask Tim Sweeny why he's so hot on 64-bit architecture, and you'll find it's mostly the RAM ceiling.
5. Headphones get uncomfortable after awhile to me. I went with the klipsch promedia system and have enjoyed it for over 3 years now. This is coming from a trance DJ who has 2 seperate sets of Professional quality studio 'phones to try as well.
6. Under 20ms refresh LCDs *OWN* CRTs for both brightness and color representation. If ur seein jaggies, it prolly because you bought an nvidia card... (see above).
Performance is absolutely relative to the end user. If all you play is Tetris, whatever is fine. This article presumes ur aiming for the UT2003 or War3 quality games, and would want to have Hl2 and Doom3 run well on it. I personally am attracted to the mmorpgs like everquest that require spending a LOT of time (12 hrs at at ime sometimes) with your gear, so to me, the 5k I've dumped into my rig is worth it. That said, I absolutely read up on the various chipsets (the Nivdia Nforce3 MB chipset seems to be hot right now) and video card chipsets (ATI for the time being) and try to combine and benchmark all of it to assure that I feel as immersed as possible in the games I play. For me, TV is just boring, so as my primary form of entertainment the investment is worth it.
Just roll your own? I'm using enlightenment (still) on RH8 and have had no trouble at all. In fact, the antialiased fonts make it look pretty damn nice. =)
The true joy of linux is the infinite customizability of all the distributions (with a little work). I for one learned a ton from this process over the years.
Oracle has published a toolkit and several white papers about this technology. It is NOT just for games, and I've been watching this evolve along with their (Oracle's, not the globus project's)RAC technology as a cost efffective way to replace more our more expensive SUN hardware when we outgrow it. In particular, the idea of dispersing large ERP and data warehousing queries to perhaps several groups of inexpensive internal clusters (read: on our LAN) is very appealing, since you could in theory offset new hardware purchases by sharing time between systems. For those interested in perhaps theoretical distributed database applications (for the moment), Oracle has a site here:
http://otn.oracle.com/products/oracle9i/grid_com pu ting/content.html
How much of what you learned in high school have you carried with you into Post College days? Into your career? Be realistic.
I was one of the VERY few folks fortunate enough to actually have a mini-computer at my high school in the 80's. The fact that I was introduced to Unix without all the scary BS that the media presents about steep learning curves and other such tripe has helped considerably. The child user will NOT be restrained by learning the more complex model of computing before learning windows. With the pace of computing being what it is, I would say that the unwashed, undereducated masses that *gasp* learned Unix instead of Windows would indeed be far better off for the experience, since the unix model has a tendency to be much more applicable to the real world 5 years from now. As it stands, learning windows 200x gains you nothing, since the 'Experience' will change in 2 years anyway, and the programming model along with it.
This is an observation gleaned from watching several major employers grope their way back to Unix after disasterous ERP/large package attempts on Win2000/SQL Server. Ask any consultant, Windows rules! (heh, at 400$ an hour for cleanup fees).
Oh and BTW, knowing how to use excel does not mean you can do anything meaningful with it. I've seen way to many MBA assholes who are 'excel wizards' but have no idea how a business runs. Pretty graphs and powerpoint presentations do not a business make. Down there, wayyy down in the core of most systems, you'll usually find Unix systems. I know this, it's my job.
My gripe here is if folx were faced with actually having to learn anything along the way, everyone's life would be easier. IT gets better users, Management gets... better users. Technology gets easier to implement, etc.
On the other hand, the problem of who will teach it is a bit more questionable...
Our Oracle 8.1.7.2 instances running on Solaris 7 to Oracle 9i running on Linux. Our biggest problem so far is vendor related, as our ERP (Peoplesoft) climbed into bed with Microsoft some years ago and basically has just ignored the Linux market for an apps port:(
Anyway, we're shopping replacements for our 3500's and we've found that bang for the buck, Linux for Databases is the way to go. Most of these servers are one-task anyway, and Oracle runs like a champ so far. There are some issues with Glibc that require some manipulation of libraries to get around if you want to use any other dist. than SUSE tho, which sux. That said, we're testing with mandrake 8.1 and it runs fine (post patch).
AVAILABLE - Slightly frazzled security Admin seeks Immediate Position after undertaking imposssible task at unnamed Redmond, WA. employer. Canned due to circumstances beyond control. Will take any offer not relating to windows. Added Plus - Able to interpret arcane source code for popular and possible unintentially Open Source Operating System (you hear that Larry E.?). Used to long hours and sleepless nights, anything's a change for the better. Looking for stock options (in a company that's still gonna be worth something in a month).
I think that CNN needs to lay off the sensationalism and provide more relevant facts. This sounds a little odd IMHO, as media streams are not technically executable binaries, but are instead associated with executables. Unless M$ started putting activeX garbage into mediaplayer, I don't see how that's doable. Sounds like either CNN or this would be security firm is trumpeting themselves a bit much, and I'm sure we'll hear about day - saving when the attacks never come. Geez what weenies.
Unfortunately, unlike a game, corporate abuse is all too real for most of us. I've been able to find a niche in a mid sized company that I feel really appreciates my skills and talents, but I've worked my way through a Govt. subcontractor and an unnamed large overnight delivery company to get here =P Those 2 were some of the best and worst experiences I've had professionally. Underpaid and overworked, surrounded by manager/puppet types with all kinds of bizarre value systems and perversions, our shining moments as programmers were when we got that one piece of code to run right, or were able to claim victory over the evil router bank (hehe). I disagree Jon, magic does exist in minds of the folks that do the job. Our perception of the network is as visual and vivid as most people's reality is. We don't watch TV, we don't like the Spice Girls, we recognize corporatism and Marketing for what it is, and most of all we stick together. It's a kind of unspoken battle line between an ignorant, but abusive, executive class who refuses to accept technology as anything other than a tool, and an obsessive technical staff in today's would be mega-corporations. When you eliminate the creative elements from programming, you wind up with crap, and nobody wants that right? The bloated, controlling, bulky type of thinking that creates the market for garbage like ERP's is destined to be the downfall of these guys, at least we can hope.
Diablo is gonna be a great game, as all Blizzard's games are, and of course they're gonna make a mint =), BUT it's not really doing much to forward the technology of gaming. I've been watching the evolution on Neverwinter Nights for awhile now, and I have to say that Bioware is doing some revolutionary stuff over and above what everyone else is. The biggest Gee Whiz feature of their new system is the Toolkit/Editor that'll allow all you D & D fans to recreate that perfect dungeon from your childhood. I say Bout time. Gaming shifted awhile back from linear, single shot experiences into long-term Unreal and Quake community type of user supported products with full mods. Much like linux, a creative department consisting of a huge user base is far superior to any single or team of artists. By providing the ability for added user-created content, they're prolonging the life and value of the game considerably. Very cool for those on a budget. Plus, they've announced full support for linux, which is an unusual step for a company making PC games. Hopefully, they mean full support at the same time as the Windows release, and not a year later, but hey, we'll take what we can get right? Check it out here:
RAD tools are sorely lacking in the Linux environment and, contrary to the GCC evangelists opinions, are really needed for success in business. Delphi on windows is REALLY strong, and I'm looking forward to being able to develop utilities with the same ease for X windows. I'm a DBA, and I need the ability to be able to throw together quick and disposable apps to fulfill a single purpose. Perl is fun and all, but sometimes things simply call for a compiled binary. I'm hoping that they will include the database interface objects in this release to give me that ability (and to have a good argument for dumping my Windows 2000 desktop =P). Anyone know if any kinda db libraries are going to be included in the release? It'd be kinda cool to whip up a MySQL/Oracle/insert your favortie Linux database tool here Enterprise manager for X.
Slashdot Mirror
Maybe this is the problem
e pi cs/photoshop/01-09-04-space/Bimston.jpg
http://images.somethingawful.com/inserts/articl
As an Oracle DBA, at a small company, we're constantly looking for less expensive SOLID alternatives to our traditional Oracle/Solaris approach to the back end.
...
When I say solid, I mean is able to handle very large files (excess of 50GB per datafile), has stored procedures and trigger infrastructure (a traditional MySQL weak point, and the main reason we've passed on it so far), an integrated backup system a la netbackup/RMAN, and prefereably a back end compiled scripting solution a la PL/SQL.
This looks like a sorta kinda solution to the last (PL/SQL alternative), but I'm curious to know about the rest, and also how it performs. Ideally for us, we'd also like to see better clustering and large system support examples in the real world before we embarked onto this particular voyage with.. say a production ERP system.
Are we talking about a good replacement for Access or for DB2 here?
Enquiring minds want to know
-chitlenz
This has to be some kind of ideological statement by this guy. 10M is nothing, for gods sakes, he pays ALL of his Seattle Supersonics more than that every year, so it can't be the money.
Whatever his investment amount is, its good to see both noteriety and cash flow in to private space programs. Maybe we can set a trend where rich geeks get sick of waiting, and goto space on our own. If you think about it, it's kinda the way we (as in geeks as a whole) tend to act anyway (when we're at our best that is).
I forget who said it, but someone quoted that every good program begins as an itch that needs to be scratched by the programmer... maybe this one's his?
-chitlenz
That a government agency needs marketing and promotional materials? Maybe the x-prize or the Chinese advancements will finally get people back into the 'space' mindset again. We've kind of lost the forward thinking momentum of the first shuttle and moon mission launches where EVERYTHING in America stopped to watch it happen.
Witty slam, but is it true?
...well catch up. In truth, Everquest is so damn competitive that often times the GMs are called in to settle disputes about camp rights/training/etc.
I'd so no. To clarify, everquest and games like it (MMORPGS) require a great deal of time to get anywhere (I'll give you that), but the true skill of playing is more an exercise in social organization and strategy (what I presume you are alluding to.. as in Warcraft/starcraft which seem to prevail on the korean circuit atm). By strategy, I mean the ability to progress beyond where the average gamer can go, gamers I might add that many times are able to and do sink as much time as powergamers into achieving success yet still never get to the would-be endgame for any particular expansion.
For instance, on our Everquest server (rodcet nife), there is approximately ONE plane of time enabled guild. They are there when many people are not because of solid tactics in engaging in specific encounters (oober mobs if you will), while other guilds who spend as much or more time playing catch up cannot seem to ever completely
But, let me return to the topic at hand a bit. To say that a warcraft match between two human players is any harder or easier than an encounter between a guild in everquest and an epic mob (creature) is simply wrong. That's why it's a game people play constantly in order to be able to compete in. If it was as easy as you seem to think it is, everyone would be at the top, while most are not...
Lets look at it this way, how about I say that warcraft sux as a strategy game because all the players have to live within the rules of the game the programmers created. Human opponents aside, you have to play within the realm of strategies created by the development team, so technically every move is predicatable at some level. For that matter, what about chess?
The difference with everquest is minute at best. RTS fans who may think that such rpgs have to do with roleplaying may be a tad shocked to discover said endgame is much more like a cooperative version of warcraft than anything else. Strategy and tacitcs are in fact closely guarded guild secrets in many cases, and may involve up to 60 people working in synchronicity over time in their 'roles' as classes to accomplish whatever the goal is.
I, personally, play warcraft as well, and I like the game, its just not my thing. Oh and btw, we have MANY Korean guilds (openly, as in recruit members only in their own time zone) on our server, so to say its purely an American fetish is a bit on the unjustifiably elitist fringe eh?
I post infrequently, but do follow up on the posts I make, so I'll wait for your response.
Regards - Chitlenz
Actually I kind of agree with you, thus the 'I haven't bought anything via ebay/similar' part of the post. However, I HAVE noticed that some of the eastern guilds/players buy alternate accounts as a matter of course anymore.
In other words, I've met people online from places like Korea and Japan who think nothing at all of buying a second account (cleric anyone) in order to more quickly progress. This begs another interesting point, which is that I've noticed that Eastern players tend to play harder/more competitively in the name of STYLE. Being cool is eessential to many players online, as it is in real life.
BTW - just to clarify what I mean by mixed cultures in my original post, It seems like the American approach to gaming is entrepenurial (sell MY stuff) as apposed to the Eastern style of gaming (corporate sposership/advancement as an organized group). This is most clearly evident in Lineage, which has failed to pick up in the states probably due to the VERY structured organizations, where it is absolutely critical to play as a cog in the system to advance (siege warfare). Americans are very 'me' oriented, and our patience wears thin in large groups very quickly. AMAZINGLY quickly actually, as anyone who has played in a raid guild can attest. Anyone who argues that there's no skill to everquest or any other raid-based game has never tried to organize 30 wanna-be cool players (and their INCREDIBLY large virtual egos) into accomplishing something WITHOUT the benefit of speech...
Anyway, off my side note, I propose that for the above reason, game items are indeed worth real value (dollars) in the same way the DKNY brand is worth real dollars. You can wear wranglers, but for 15$ more you can be 31337.
-chitlenz
I play everquest, pretty much at a competitive level , that is I've been playing for 4 years and have multiple high lvl characters. In the time I've been online, I've watched public opinion of 'ebaying' go from being loathed, to accepted, to welcomed (by the players). I never bought or sold virtual items over ebay, BUT, I know several players who have to great success. In fact the guy that owns monkly business (a game information site) is reputed to turn 7-figures through his player auction store that sells in game money for real world money. I also seem to rememeber some sweatshop named blacksun entertainment that was farming out the 'work' of playing everquest to china, where they had like 30 employees that farmed items all day long for sale.
What I find interesting is the different approach the koreans have to the western 'under the table' idea. The korean channels broacast Lineage, warcraft, starcraft, and several other types of games on multiple tv channels with full commentary. I don't know, but I'd bet that online auctions of lineage crap are known and accepted as well. It seems like here we still believe that games are for kids, and that the resale of virtual items or profiting from gaming is some kind of taboo. What's funny is that this is the classic setup for something that's destined to be 'cool' and accepted in the future (starts as a taboo).
I'm betting that its only a matter of time before this becomes the norm in the US as well. I know it seems alien, but most folx who have played the high end (or aspired too) of these games knows that it CAN be entertaining to watch how people setup strategies and outthink the environments. The next generation of Blizzard game (world of Warcraft) has the potential to bridge this gap between the us and the koreans quite quickly, and I'll be interested to see if these 'odd' parts of their culture don't become more common here as well.
see you online - chitlenz
Bingo!
Plus with 30$ worth of cooling and a free d/l of tweak3d, that 9700 is a 9800 anyway...
-chitlenz
1. Hard Disk speed is important! Take a deep breath, and think about how long it takes to load all the 4 layer textures you use playing modern games. Those do NOT store completely in RAM and have to be loaded dynamically. I have celebrated the wide adoption of 10k rpm SATA since it came available, as it removes the 'stutter' of turning corners when you use high res textures and anti-aliasing in 3d.
2. Older Nvidia cards are NOT Dx9 compliant, which will limit their long-term viability. Contrary to the tone of the post, high end gamers are not generally fools and are more up to date on hardware purchases than most folk. Theres a *reason* why the ATI 9800pro is heavily purchased. I know this because I benchmark my purchases to make sure I get the intended result, not from idle speculation...
3. AMD processors have a long history of problems with certain game vendors, most notably Sony/Verant. I personally use an AMD procesor, and love them, but the Intel and AMD architecture are not 100% interchangable, and unless the maker of your favorite game allows for that, your milage may vary.
4. 1GB of ram is WAY too small to cache all the textures of the newer games. WAY WAY too small. Ask Tim Sweeny why he's so hot on 64-bit architecture, and you'll find it's mostly the RAM ceiling.
5. Headphones get uncomfortable after awhile to me. I went with the klipsch promedia system and have enjoyed it for over 3 years now. This is coming from a trance DJ who has 2 seperate sets of Professional quality studio 'phones to try as well.
6. Under 20ms refresh LCDs *OWN* CRTs for both brightness and color representation. If ur seein jaggies, it prolly because you bought an nvidia card... (see above).
Performance is absolutely relative to the end user. If all you play is Tetris, whatever is fine. This article presumes ur aiming for the UT2003 or War3 quality games, and would want to have Hl2 and Doom3 run well on it. I personally am attracted to the mmorpgs like everquest that require spending a LOT of time (12 hrs at at ime sometimes) with your gear, so to me, the 5k I've dumped into my rig is worth it. That said, I absolutely read up on the various chipsets (the Nivdia Nforce3 MB chipset seems to be hot right now) and video card chipsets (ATI for the time being) and try to combine and benchmark all of it to assure that I feel as immersed as possible in the games I play. For me, TV is just boring, so as my primary form of entertainment the investment is worth it.
-chitlenz
Just roll your own? I'm using enlightenment (still) on RH8 and have had no trouble at all. In fact, the antialiased fonts make it look pretty damn nice. =)
The true joy of linux is the infinite customizability of all the distributions (with a little work). I for one learned a ton from this process over the years.
Just a thought for those that dislike Blue Curve.
Oracle has published a toolkit and several white papers about this technology. It is NOT just for games, and I've been watching this evolve along with their (Oracle's, not the globus project's)RAC technology as a cost efffective way to replace more our more expensive SUN hardware when we outgrow it. In particular, the idea of dispersing large ERP and data warehousing queries to perhaps several groups of inexpensive internal clusters (read: on our LAN) is very appealing, since you could in theory offset new hardware purchases by sharing time between systems. For those interested in perhaps theoretical distributed database applications (for the moment), Oracle has a site here:
m pu ting/content.html
http://otn.oracle.com/products/oracle9i/grid_co
How much of what you learned in high school have you carried with you into Post College days? Into your career? Be realistic.
I was one of the VERY few folks fortunate enough to actually have a mini-computer at my high school in the 80's. The fact that I was introduced to Unix without all the scary BS that the media presents about steep learning curves and other such tripe has helped considerably. The child user will NOT be restrained by learning the more complex model of computing before learning windows. With the pace of computing being what it is, I would say that the unwashed, undereducated masses that *gasp* learned Unix instead of Windows would indeed be far better off for the experience, since the unix model has a tendency to be much more applicable to the real world 5 years from now. As it stands, learning windows 200x gains you nothing, since the 'Experience' will change in 2 years anyway, and the programming model along with it.
This is an observation gleaned from watching several major employers grope their way back to Unix after disasterous ERP/large package attempts on Win2000/SQL Server. Ask any consultant, Windows rules! (heh, at 400$ an hour for cleanup fees).
Oh and BTW, knowing how to use excel does not mean you can do anything meaningful with it. I've seen way to many MBA assholes who are 'excel wizards' but have no idea how a business runs. Pretty graphs and powerpoint presentations do not a business make. Down there, wayyy down in the core of most systems, you'll usually find Unix systems. I know this, it's my job.
My gripe here is if folx were faced with actually having to learn anything along the way, everyone's life would be easier. IT gets better users, Management gets... better users. Technology gets easier to implement, etc.
On the other hand, the problem of who will teach it is a bit more questionable...
Chitlenz
Our Oracle 8.1.7.2 instances running on Solaris 7 to Oracle 9i running on Linux. Our biggest problem so far is vendor related, as our ERP (Peoplesoft) climbed into bed with Microsoft some years ago and basically has just ignored the Linux market for an apps port :(
Anyway, we're shopping replacements for our 3500's and we've found that bang for the buck, Linux for Databases is the way to go. Most of these servers are one-task anyway, and Oracle runs like a champ so far. There are some issues with Glibc that require some manipulation of libraries to get around if you want to use any other dist. than SUSE tho, which sux. That said, we're testing with mandrake 8.1 and it runs fine (post patch).
AVAILABLE - Slightly frazzled security Admin seeks Immediate Position after undertaking imposssible task at unnamed Redmond, WA. employer. Canned due to circumstances beyond control. Will take any offer not relating to windows. Added Plus - Able to interpret arcane source code for popular and possible unintentially Open Source Operating System (you hear that Larry E.?). Used to long hours and sleepless nights, anything's a change for the better. Looking for stock options (in a company that's still gonna be worth something in a month).
I think that CNN needs to lay off the sensationalism and provide more relevant facts. This sounds a little odd IMHO, as media streams are not technically executable binaries, but are instead associated with executables. Unless M$ started putting activeX garbage into mediaplayer, I don't see how that's doable. Sounds like either CNN or this would be security firm is trumpeting themselves a bit much, and I'm sure we'll hear about day - saving when the attacks never come. Geez what weenies.
Unfortunately, unlike a game, corporate abuse is all too real for most of us. I've been able to find a niche in a mid sized company that I feel really appreciates my skills and talents, but I've worked my way through a Govt. subcontractor and an unnamed large overnight delivery company to get here =P Those 2 were some of the best and worst experiences I've had professionally. Underpaid and overworked, surrounded by manager/puppet types with all kinds of bizarre value systems and perversions, our shining moments as programmers were when we got that one piece of code to run right, or were able to claim victory over the evil router bank (hehe). I disagree Jon, magic does exist in minds of the folks that do the job. Our perception of the network is as visual and vivid as most people's reality is. We don't watch TV, we don't like the Spice Girls, we recognize corporatism and Marketing for what it is, and most of all we stick together. It's a kind of unspoken battle line between an ignorant, but abusive, executive class who refuses to accept technology as anything other than a tool, and an obsessive technical staff in today's would be mega-corporations. When you eliminate the creative elements from programming, you wind up with crap, and nobody wants that right? The bloated, controlling, bulky type of thinking that creates the market for garbage like ERP's is destined to be the downfall of these guys, at least we can hope.
Diablo is gonna be a great game, as all Blizzard's games are, and of course they're gonna make a mint =), BUT it's not really doing much to forward the technology of gaming. I've been watching the evolution on Neverwinter Nights for awhile now, and I have to say that Bioware is doing some revolutionary stuff over and above what everyone else is. The biggest Gee Whiz feature of their new system is the Toolkit/Editor that'll allow all you D & D fans to recreate that perfect dungeon from your childhood. I say Bout time. Gaming shifted awhile back from linear, single shot experiences into long-term Unreal and Quake community type of user supported products with full mods. Much like linux, a creative department consisting of a huge user base is far superior to any single or team of artists. By providing the ability for added user-created content, they're prolonging the life and value of the game considerably. Very cool for those on a budget. Plus, they've announced full support for linux, which is an unusual step for a company making PC games. Hopefully, they mean full support at the same time as the Windows release, and not a year later, but hey, we'll take what we can get right? Check it out here:
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http://www.dailyradar.com/features/game_feature
RAD tools are sorely lacking in the Linux environment and, contrary to the GCC evangelists opinions, are really needed for success in business. Delphi on windows is REALLY strong, and I'm looking forward to being able to develop utilities with the same ease for X windows. I'm a DBA, and I need the ability to be able to throw together quick and disposable apps to fulfill a single purpose. Perl is fun and all, but sometimes things simply call for a compiled binary. I'm hoping that they will include the database interface objects in this release to give me that ability (and to have a good argument for dumping my Windows 2000 desktop =P). Anyone know if any kinda db libraries are going to be included in the release? It'd be kinda cool to whip up a MySQL/Oracle/insert your favortie Linux database tool here Enterprise manager for X.