The point is, many developers just do what they're told or give unrealistic estimates. This gives managers little trust in what actually is possible and lead to stupid promises to customers.
I didn't see any benchmarks against Apache or thttpd in the article - I saw boa benchmarked with ab and zb. Looks interesting enough to try out, although I still haven't even bothered putting in thttpd to serve graphics yet, so I probably won't ever get around to boa after all.:/
Already wrote before - I'm at home writing this, not at work. When I'm at work, I have work to do, and don't usually have much time to mess around compiling stuff like that.
It was my assumption that people wanted Linux to be more accepted as a general use desktop. This is what I've been attempting to do for the past few months - use it pretty much 'stock' with as few compilations of things as possible (partially due to time constraints, partially as a test of the viability of Linux distros as general use desktops).
People I would recommend Linux to have no idea at all how to go compiling extra stuff. They DO know how to download and install a Win32 exe file. If there's an RPM someone can download and install via a GUI RPM installer, that is close enough, so I've been attempting to restrict myself to that route as much as possible.
I've gone thru various Mandrake and RH installs - been with RH7.3 and 8 almost solid for 3 months. Overall it's pretty good, but there are still many instances where it'd be nicer to just install a package with a single command instead of download/untar/configure/make/make install.
It may help (thanks) but simply points up the problem that this stuff STILL has a helluva long way to go before there's widespread adoption of Linux distros as desktop machines for the mass market. Yeah, I've gone thru the trouble of putting in the freshrpms stuff (easy enough now - used to be a pain). But I have the kernel sources on CD too - just can't find it. But the fact that I need them to do something as basic as get DECENT VIDEO SUPPORT for a popular card is bothersome.
Who's that incompetent? And if users can't figure out:./configure make make install
then there are fine rpm-based distributions.
Hrm - I've had my RH8 desktop for a few weeks now. I can't get NVidia drivers for it. They don't make RH8 drivers specifically, and the source requires that I have megs of kernel source on my drive. Yes, I could put it on, but haven't the time right now. Oh, wouldn't it be great for a binary version of a program IN ADDITION TO SOURCE CODE, so that those of us more interested in being productive than 'freedom' could just get work done?
Furthermore, the view that there is no tech support for open source seems to be based on an incorrect perception. On several occasions, I've gotten help from the actual authors of software I wanted to install. Try that with Windows.
When was the last time you actually had trouble INSTALLING a Windows package? Given the thousands of Win32 shareware packages, you'd think there'd be hundreds or thousands of uninstallable packages, given Win95, 98, 98se, ME, 2k, XP, etc., yet most everything just installs and works, regardless of version. Libraries it needs are generally bundled (yes, that's a good thing - the fact that they don't install to their own directories isn't the smartest, but it's certainly EASIER than stopping an install to go grab 3 extra libraries).
Finally, the best reason for setting up granny with a Linux box is that you don't have to give her root access.
Isn't this part of the mantra of open source proponents? Maybe not exactly, but there are many people here who probably devote hundreds of hours per year to coding open source projects, from useful to useless. But if cousin Sam asks how to rip a disc to MP3 on WinXP? Suddenly the 'free' attitude stops?
It's OK, but what's so fascinating about it? Honestly, I don't get it. I get the archive's idea - I use it myself. I just don't understand what was so 'fascinating' about the interview...
Nonsense, the decision to hire someone has a lot more to do with than what software they're famaliar with.
COMPLETELY dependant on the HR person in companies big enough to have those, which I think the original poster probably had in mind.
I know that sounds crazy to some geeks, but if you're doing hiring based soley on whether Jane knows Outlook, Notes, Pine or just Hotmail then your company is in deeper trouble than any commercial software package can fix.
Most companies ARE in deep trouble when it comes to effectively dealing with technology.
Your post also ignores the fact that most office software can be learned in an afternoon and the user can be brought up to the level of intermediate user if not expert in a couple weeks of real use.
HR people don't care. Many don't know much themselves about the ins and outs of computers, and generally don't assume anyone else can learn past what they know.
I tried using a headhunter agency once to find me a job. I didn't have 'CGI' on my resume, just Perl and Python and PHP and a few others. He said I wouldn't get hired anywhere. I took 30 seconds to explain that CGI was effectively shorthand for someone who knew Perl or something like that. Didn't get an interview, didn't get called back, never returned calls, etc. I'd insulted him by showing him up, even though I was trying to help him more effectively do his job, which was keeping up with technological buzzwords.
Hell, if you could get your hands on a piece of software that made you 25% more efficient at doing your job (of course this is in absolutely no way implying that office does this, this is just a generalzation), wouldn't you sink an extra $500 to acquire it? In a heartbeat you would.
whatever. I dont see a difference. OO and Abiword do just as much as MS Word
Abiword didn't (as of my last download a few months back) even support tables. If all you're using Abiword for is to type text in and maybe do a search/replace, yes. For just about anyone else who uses a word processor, formatting with tables will be a requirement at some point during the time they expect to use it.
Obviously, Knoppix isn't really Linux if it does stuff for you automatically. As we all know, the only reason to use Linux is to have something to kill hours or days with while configuring arcane text files with no *understandable* documentation. By having this system just boot up and work, they've taken away the "Linuxness" of Linux itself. This is just a pale imitation of the Real Thing(tm).
BTW, given the horrible experience that is websphere's installer, perhaps Sun should sue IBM for the negative image IBM gives to Java. Seriously. If Sun sued MS over MS trying to improve the speed of Java (yes, I know there were some other issues involved, but MS JVM was definitely faster than other things out at the time) then surely there's a case against IBM for making a truly crappy java experience. ??
BTW, just becuase websphere's install is shit(and I second that opinion), doesn't mean its impossible to write good repsonsive Swing GUIs.
Perhaps, but WHY is it such an uphill battle? Why is the default that everyone puts out crap? Why are there only one or two things people can point to to say 'see here - java really doesn't suck'?
There's something completely backwards about a company and a technology that seem to go out of the way to push poor performance. You have to *REALLY* understand fairly complex underlying system internals to figure out how to decent GUI apps. Obviously none of the code generating tools out there do it.
Oh wait. Java == Sun (like it or not). Sun == hardware company. Java being slow means people will be more inclined to need faster/newer hardware, which means more Sun sales. Honestly, if this isn't a conflict of interest, I'm not sure what is.
I distinctly remember job hunting in late 95, and I saw an ad in the paper that wanted someone with 5 years Java experience. I wish to goodness I'd kept that newspaper section.:)
Maybe a good skill to learn would be making good java user interfaces. Emphasis on good. If someone made a good, fast java gui toolkit which was cross platform, people might use it more, which would help java's long term security.
I just retried the websphere installer - done in java - and I couldn't believe how utter crap it was. This from a company which is supposedly supportive of java, and is behind linux, and has more money than most of eastern europe combined.
That's what most people think of when they hear the word 'java'. Slow, clunky interfaces. Could only get websphere installed on one machine here, and even then it was still horrifically slow, reinforcing java's 'slowness'. Whoops - sorry, that machine was 'only' 600 mhz with 512 megs. I guess we need real 'enterprise' machines to get moderate performance, right?
If java is to have long term viability, it needs to run faster on commodity hardware, otherwise it will remain a marginal player which increasingly only the elite few will be able to afford to run in production environments.
OK - not really like it, but if they start letting people leave comments, it'll be like thirdvoice (man, I feel OLD in internet time and thirdvoice wasn't even all that long ago!)
Re:You mean like the open directory project?
on
Altavista Renewed
·
· Score: 2
Not quite - it's sort of moderation, but the quality of the moderation varies, is filtered through just a few people, and isn't terribly 'real time'. I'm not suggesting things should be instantaneous, but trying to have stuff added/deleted from dmoz is often a more lengthy process than getting into many other search engines. And if you piss off an editor, you're hosed.
Slashdot Mirror
This doesn't work. No answers, but anyone trying to follow these instructions, as useful as they look, don't bother - they don't work. :(
The point is, many developers just do what they're told or give unrealistic estimates. This gives managers little trust in what actually is possible and lead to stupid promises to customers.
:)
No, the stupid promises always come first.
I didn't see any benchmarks against Apache or thttpd in the article - I saw boa benchmarked with ab and zb. Looks interesting enough to try out, although I still haven't even bothered putting in thttpd to serve graphics yet, so I probably won't ever get around to boa after all. :/
Already wrote before - I'm at home writing this, not at work. When I'm at work, I have work to do, and don't usually have much time to mess around compiling stuff like that.
It was my assumption that people wanted Linux to be more accepted as a general use desktop. This is what I've been attempting to do for the past few months - use it pretty much 'stock' with as few compilations of things as possible (partially due to time constraints, partially as a test of the viability of Linux distros as general use desktops).
People I would recommend Linux to have no idea at all how to go compiling extra stuff. They DO know how to download and install a Win32 exe file. If there's an RPM someone can download and install via a GUI RPM installer, that is close enough, so I've been attempting to restrict myself to that route as much as possible.
I've gone thru various Mandrake and RH installs - been with RH7.3 and 8 almost solid for 3 months. Overall it's pretty good, but there are still many instances where it'd be nicer to just install a package with a single command instead of download/untar/configure/make/make install.
I'm at home not at my desktop machine at the office. We don't all live and work on the same machine.
It may help (thanks) but simply points up the problem that this stuff STILL has a helluva long way to go before there's widespread adoption of Linux distros as desktop machines for the mass market. Yeah, I've gone thru the trouble of putting in the freshrpms stuff (easy enough now - used to be a pain). But I have the kernel sources on CD too - just can't find it. But the fact that I need them to do something as basic as get DECENT VIDEO SUPPORT for a popular card is bothersome.
Who's that incompetent? And if users can't figure out: ./configure
make
make install
then there are fine rpm-based distributions.
Hrm - I've had my RH8 desktop for a few weeks now. I can't get NVidia drivers for it. They don't make RH8 drivers specifically, and the source requires that I have megs of kernel source on my drive. Yes, I could put it on, but haven't the time right now. Oh, wouldn't it be great for a binary version of a program IN ADDITION TO SOURCE CODE, so that those of us more interested in being productive than 'freedom' could just get work done?
Furthermore, the view that there is no tech support for open source seems to be based on an incorrect perception. On several occasions, I've gotten help from the actual authors of software I wanted to install. Try that with Windows.
When was the last time you actually had trouble INSTALLING a Windows package? Given the thousands of Win32 shareware packages, you'd think there'd be hundreds or thousands of uninstallable packages, given Win95, 98, 98se, ME, 2k, XP, etc., yet most everything just installs and works, regardless of version. Libraries it needs are generally bundled (yes, that's a good thing - the fact that they don't install to their own directories isn't the smartest, but it's certainly EASIER than stopping an install to go grab 3 extra libraries).
Finally, the best reason for setting up granny with a Linux box is that you don't have to give her root access.
Unless she wants to install an RPM package.
Isn't this part of the mantra of open source proponents? Maybe not exactly, but there are many people here who probably devote hundreds of hours per year to coding open source projects, from useful to useless. But if cousin Sam asks how to rip a disc to MP3 on WinXP? Suddenly the 'free' attitude stops?
So, you'd not censor that person's use of the internet, you'd just not allow them to do certain things with it. Hrm..
It's OK, but what's so fascinating about it? Honestly, I don't get it. I get the archive's idea - I use it myself. I just don't understand what was so 'fascinating' about the interview...
... and I receive zero spam
...
Once I receive spam on one of the addresses...
I also advertise the email address widely
So, you receive no spam, but when you do receive spam, you edit procmail. Which is it?
Also, you widely advertise your email address, but you don't actually use your email address, but made-up aliases. Which is it?
You're simply masking the problem, and going thru a moderate amount of gyrations (which most average joe 'net users won't/can't go through) to do so.
Nonsense, the decision to hire someone has a lot more to do with than what software they're famaliar with.
COMPLETELY dependant on the HR person in companies big enough to have those, which I think the original poster probably had in mind.
I know that sounds crazy to some geeks, but if you're doing hiring based soley on whether Jane knows Outlook, Notes, Pine or just Hotmail then your company is in deeper trouble than any commercial software package can fix.
Most companies ARE in deep trouble when it comes to effectively dealing with technology.
Your post also ignores the fact that most office software can be learned in an afternoon and the user can be brought up to the level of intermediate user if not expert in a couple weeks of real use.
HR people don't care. Many don't know much themselves about the ins and outs of computers, and generally don't assume anyone else can learn past what they know.
I tried using a headhunter agency once to find me a job. I didn't have 'CGI' on my resume, just Perl and Python and PHP and a few others. He said I wouldn't get hired anywhere. I took 30 seconds to explain that CGI was effectively shorthand for someone who knew Perl or something like that. Didn't get an interview, didn't get called back, never returned calls, etc. I'd insulted him by showing him up, even though I was trying to help him more effectively do his job, which was keeping up with technological buzzwords.
Hell, if you could get your hands on a piece of software that made you 25% more efficient at doing your job (of course this is in absolutely no way implying that office does this, this is just a generalzation), wouldn't you sink an extra $500 to acquire it? In a heartbeat you would.
Not if I only made $500/year.
* better word processing
whatever. I dont see a difference. OO and Abiword do just as much as MS Word
Abiword didn't (as of my last download a few months back) even support tables. If all you're using Abiword for is to type text in and maybe do a search/replace, yes. For just about anyone else who uses a word processor, formatting with tables will be a requirement at some point during the time they expect to use it.
SYS 48192
Obviously, Knoppix isn't really Linux if it does stuff for you automatically. As we all know, the only reason to use Linux is to have something to kill hours or days with while configuring arcane text files with no *understandable* documentation. By having this system just boot up and work, they've taken away the "Linuxness" of Linux itself. This is just a pale imitation of the Real Thing(tm).
It's not ROM if it can be overwritten. PROM or EPROM maybe, but not ROM.
I can't draw a straight line with it.
BTW, given the horrible experience that is websphere's installer, perhaps Sun should sue IBM for the negative image IBM gives to Java. Seriously. If Sun sued MS over MS trying to improve the speed of Java (yes, I know there were some other issues involved, but MS JVM was definitely faster than other things out at the time) then surely there's a case against IBM for making a truly crappy java experience. ??
BTW, just becuase websphere's install is shit(and I second that opinion), doesn't mean its impossible to write good repsonsive Swing GUIs.
Perhaps, but WHY is it such an uphill battle? Why is the default that everyone puts out crap? Why are there only one or two things people can point to to say 'see here - java really doesn't suck'?
There's something completely backwards about a company and a technology that seem to go out of the way to push poor performance. You have to *REALLY* understand fairly complex underlying system internals to figure out how to decent GUI apps. Obviously none of the code generating tools out there do it.
Oh wait. Java == Sun (like it or not). Sun == hardware company. Java being slow means people will be more inclined to need faster/newer hardware, which means more Sun sales. Honestly, if this isn't a conflict of interest, I'm not sure what is.
I distinctly remember job hunting in late 95, and I saw an ad in the paper that wanted someone with 5 years Java experience. I wish to goodness I'd kept that newspaper section. :)
Maybe a good skill to learn would be making good java user interfaces. Emphasis on good. If someone made a good, fast java gui toolkit which was cross platform, people might use it more, which would help java's long term security.
I just retried the websphere installer - done in java - and I couldn't believe how utter crap it was. This from a company which is supposedly supportive of java, and is behind linux, and has more money than most of eastern europe combined.
That's what most people think of when they hear the word 'java'. Slow, clunky interfaces. Could only get websphere installed on one machine here, and even then it was still horrifically slow, reinforcing java's 'slowness'. Whoops - sorry, that machine was 'only' 600 mhz with 512 megs. I guess we need real 'enterprise' machines to get moderate performance, right?
If java is to have long term viability, it needs to run faster on commodity hardware, otherwise it will remain a marginal player which increasingly only the elite few will be able to afford to run in production environments.
If Saddam Hussein donated some millions to the starving kids in Africa
Yes
OK - not really like it, but if they start letting people leave comments, it'll be like thirdvoice (man, I feel OLD in internet time and thirdvoice wasn't even all that long ago!)
Not quite - it's sort of moderation, but the quality of the moderation varies, is filtered through just a few people, and isn't terribly 'real time'. I'm not suggesting things should be instantaneous, but trying to have stuff added/deleted from dmoz is often a more lengthy process than getting into many other search engines. And if you piss off an editor, you're hosed.