Tim, You asked what would be needed in textbooks that isn't already provided. The main thing I see lacking is a structured problem/answer set for each topic discussed. Often professors don't have the time to make good homework for each chapter so they refer to the textbook, textbooks which get updated often. A good perl book with programming problems designed by Larry would be a great learning guide, and since the problems would need to change every couple of semesters you would automatically have some push to keep the books up to date. A side effect is that students won't be so quick to return books for the measly refund at the end of the semester if the textbook they learned from is also the defacto open source quide to perl. I don't think non-students would mind a few lesson pages at the end of each chapter either, we've all become used to the read a chapter do the problems way of learning (For good or bad).
Well here is another sob story for you. I got into the origional Conditional offer and was all set with a limit on the CO of $25. According to all posted material I SHOULD have been fine. At 10:53 EDT I got a message telling me I had to re-do the offer but at that time the new CO was already closed. I had just confirmed my offer yesterday at noon and was not given ANY indication that there would be a problem. Furthermore, After waiting on hold for 10 min. I was just hung up on without even a 'Hello' now the queue says I hvae 15 minutes before I can talk to someone there. I don't see how E*TRADE can avoid litigation on this screw up. Thousands of people must have been screwed out of this chance. -SOTTEK
Most of the time I see cost savings in terms of how much can I save by not moving to NT from a costly Unix. It is more difficult when you can't use the 40K per box savings argument. One place I see as a major savings is in applications support. I currently support 400+ Design tools on several Unix platforms, my peers who are supporting similar tools on NT are not even close. NT likes things to be local, it likes things to make registry changes instead of environment vars, it likes dll's in places they shouldn't be and most applications refuse to be a 'Network only' install. The more applications and the more people you support the worse the problem gets. I can install a Unix tool for 1 person or 1000 at the same cost. NT tools that want to touch the registry require overhead for EVERY customer.
RedHat has done more good than bad. They have provided the credibility that is needed to get linux into mainstream IT. hey have also done a lot by supporting projects like GNOME. We shoudn't worry about RedHat becoming a monolith and here is why...
Read back a few stories today about EGCS. This is proof that the open source community will put the support behind products that meet our needs. GCC has been great for a long time but it was time to move to a new compiler design. The community moved and without bloodshed the new gcc took over the controls. If redhat ever stops meeting our needs someone else will take over.
More importantly is that RedHat knows this, they have no intention of providing anything but what we need. If you think there are design issues with RedHat then let them know. Write a HELPFUL message and have your friends write letters too. We can drive RedHat as much as any outside company.
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Tim,
You asked what would be needed in textbooks that
isn't already provided. The main thing I see
lacking is a structured problem/answer set for
each topic discussed. Often professors don't have
the time to make good homework for each chapter so
they refer to the textbook, textbooks which get
updated often. A good perl book with programming
problems designed by Larry would be a great
learning guide, and since the problems would need
to change every couple of semesters you would
automatically have some push to keep the books up
to date.
A side effect is that students won't be so quick
to return books for the measly refund at the end
of the semester if the textbook they learned from
is also the defacto open source quide to perl. I
don't think non-students would mind a few lesson
pages at the end of each chapter either, we've all
become used to the read a chapter do the problems
way of learning (For good or bad).
Well here is another sob story for you. I got
into the origional Conditional offer and was all
set with a limit on the CO of $25. According to
all posted material I SHOULD have been fine. At
10:53 EDT I got a message telling me I had to
re-do the offer but at that time the new CO was
already closed. I had just confirmed my offer
yesterday at noon and was not given ANY indication
that there would be a problem.
Furthermore, After waiting on hold for 10 min.
I was just hung up on without even a 'Hello' now
the queue says I hvae 15 minutes before I can talk
to someone there. I don't see how E*TRADE can
avoid litigation on this screw up. Thousands of
people must have been screwed out of this chance.
-SOTTEK
This is interesting,
Most of the time I see cost savings in terms of
how much can I save by not moving to NT from a
costly Unix. It is more difficult when you can't
use the 40K per box savings argument. One place I
see as a major savings is in applications support.
I currently support 400+ Design tools on several
Unix platforms, my peers who are supporting
similar tools on NT are not even close. NT likes
things to be local, it likes things to make
registry changes instead of environment vars, it
likes dll's in places they shouldn't be and most
applications refuse to be a 'Network only'
install. The more applications and the more people
you support the worse the problem gets. I can
install a Unix tool for 1 person or 1000 at the
same cost. NT tools that want to touch the
registry require overhead for EVERY customer.
-SOTTEK
RedHat has done more good than bad. They have
provided the credibility that is needed to get
linux into mainstream IT. hey have also done a lot
by supporting projects like GNOME. We shoudn't
worry about RedHat becoming a monolith and here is
why...
Read back a few stories today about EGCS. This is
proof that the open source community will put the
support behind products that meet our needs. GCC
has been great for a long time but it was time to
move to a new compiler design. The community moved
and without bloodshed the new gcc took over the
controls. If redhat ever stops meeting our needs
someone else will take over.
More importantly is that RedHat knows this, they
have no intention of providing anything but what
we need. If you think there are design issues with
RedHat then let them know. Write a HELPFUL message
and have your friends write letters too. We can
drive RedHat as much as any outside company.
-SOTTEK