This is an interesting thread; I'd like to see it carried further.
If, for example, PL/SQL were opened up - or more likely, if there was a PL/SQL clone - and let's
say at that point, porting it to other databases became viable, would you use it? Or do feel it is too "tied in" with simple SQL?
I see only one member (see "Who We Are") in the software business - Sun Microsystems
Where are the Linux companies? Where is Red Hat, Caldera, VA Linux, Ximian and Eazel? Where's IBM and Compaq? Where's FSF, for christ's sake?
Help these people out; give this coalition some balls!
I know, I know - IBM and Compaq wish they can help out but they can't. They don't have the balls to ruffle His Billness' feathers. His Billness might get angry and have a temper tantrum.
Let me know if I'm reading this wrong, but
The real telling figure is not the drop in percentage of paid downloads, but in the number of downloads.
74,373 is 70% of 106,247.
172,004 is 75% of 229,338.
Therefore, more than half the people who downloaded part 1 did not bother with part 2.
Of course, the reality isn't so black and white, but close enough.
Judgment should be witheld until the real picture comes into focus, when the book is finished and the final tally is disclosed. Only then I think it is useful to ask, was this project worth it? Let's compare Mr. King's profits-versus-costs with those of his previous works published traditionally.
Should be shared between Judge Jackson and Prosecutor David Boies, who did STELLAR work exposing the defense witnesses as the lying crooks that they are.
It won't happen like this - I know of course you're being facetious with a grain of truth - what I mean is, it won't be simple; choosing a side won't be simple.
* The technology in question will be much more sophisticated than most laypeople can understand.
* The history will be fuzzy. Who applied when? When was it issued? When was the OpenSource version published? etc.
* Dan Rather won't be reporting it. Big Media is owned by Big Corporation who owns Big (dubious) Patent Portfolio. Therefore, positive publicity, if any at all, for the little guy will be harder to come by. Besides, President Clinton's Stupid Cigar Tricks (patent pending) is more important.
Perhaps I'm generalizing too much, but, hey, I'm cynincal.
"If your product has serious commercial value to you or IBM, there's a chance they'll use a patent to stop distribution of your product, but that's in the commercial realm where nasty behavior can be expected."
But what if your product is free - beer *and* speech? Correct me if I'm mistaken - this is a real issue between AT&T and Bruce Perens (Electric Fence?). The problem is- you can't get blood from a stone, but you can put an honest hacker through hell to protect your profits.
1. Why is it Ok for Microsoft to add and subtract from the Java *standard, but it's not Ok for any Windows reseller to add or subtract from the Windows *standard?
*I realize the use of the word 'standard' is on shaky ground, but in this case, there's a clear double-standard here (no pun intended).
2. Why do you promote 'paperless' business, yet Dean Schmalansee testified that Microsoft's accounting is done on paper?
A lot of great responses and quite a few interesting suggestions I never bumped into in my own travels. Thanks to all of you!
You're all wonderful! Let's hold hands and sing......
Sorry, I was getting carried away. Ok, I got some things to say - I just didn't want to put all of it in my original post.
First a rant: No, the product wasn't from Micro$fot. However, I do hold them indirectly responsible. By pushing NT in everyone's face, and spreading this poor excuse for a development environment - Point-&-Click, Drag-&-Drop - and every vendor perpetuating this mind-set, now everyone's life has to be miserable.
The PHBs are impressed when a marketing droid shows a demo on his 550 Pentium III laptop, running their product on NT, and of course it's native to NT, and the database it talks to is on the same laptop, and the table has 10 rows. Great. I have to use this damn mutant version running under Solaris on a 143MHz sparc, and talk to a database with million-row tables, 1,000 miles away!
And now some further explanation: the project I worked on was not really an OLAP app, rather an ad-hoc query front-end. The vendor claims this is an OLAP tool, but that's like saying DOSSHELL is a GUI. Now we are evaluating real OLAP pro- ducts. So far, the landscape doesn't look good. And I won't be thrilled with the higher-ups if they again "standardize" on one square-peg product that we have to squeeze into a round hole.
Ok, let me answer a few things- SamBeckett says: The only reasonable solution to this lad's problem would be to develop his own system."
Of course! I wish I could convince the decision-makers. They're looking for a simplistic, one-size-fits-all solution. News Flash: There ain't none! Here's something useful I found, looks very good. However, the bulk of the information they provide requires an expensive subscription. But you pay for not only information but also consulting service. I only wish those upstairs would also see the value.
http://www.olapreport.com
And here's a quote from http://www.olapreport.com/How_not_to_buy.htm
"The process of product selection can be tedious and expensive, so it is very tempting to try and pick a single preferred product set that will be used not just for the immediate project, but will become the official or unofficial standard for subsequent projects for years to come. However, this rarely works and can be dangerous."
This makes perfect sense to me. Nevertheless, I'm afraid we're going down that over-trodden road to Hell.
I have three questions-
Cistron?: www.cistron.com -> www.cistron.nl, all in Dutch. Is there an English version? Or am I looking in the wrong place?
Holos? : www.holos.com? Unfortunately, this website has nothing going on - looks like they're refurbishing. A search at Seagate for holos pro- duces nothing.
Such a clueless one, who thinks hotmail is the *only* free-web-mail service, will not understand "telnet" and "pop3". Recommend an alternative free mail site. I recommend linuxstart.com. Simpler, less cluttered. *And* it's not owned by Microsoft (or any other publically traded corporation) How about that!!
1. Leave the country permanently. Then publish & GPL the idea. or 2. Disclose a bogus idea that doesn't work. Then wait until the dust settles and produce your real idea.
The masses are slowly getting it, but too slow for my taste.
"Users that have customized Linux to run their apps must also maintain and support it, which requires staffing."
Windoze does not require staffing? And huge wastes of precious time to baby-sit?
"Given Windows' dominating presence..., combined with healthcare's traditional conservatism regarding new technologies, Linux is a long way from mainstream."
Doesn't NT mean "New Technology"? Isn't Windoze 98 new technology? And W2k, what about that? Is it Ok to rush out to migrate to this crap but Linux - I don't know, that's "new technology"...
"The days of having enormously expensive, proprietary systems is going away because the information is now in everyone's hands."
I'm glad to see more people are beginning to view "proprietary" as a dirty word.
Slashdot Mirror
This is an interesting thread; I'd like to see it carried further.
If, for example, PL/SQL were opened up - or more likely, if there was a PL/SQL clone - and let's
say at that point, porting it to other databases became viable, would you use it? Or do feel it is too "tied in" with simple SQL?
I see only one member (see "Who We Are") in the software business - Sun Microsystems
Where are the Linux companies? Where is Red Hat, Caldera, VA Linux, Ximian and Eazel? Where's IBM and Compaq? Where's FSF, for christ's sake?
Help these people out; give this coalition some balls!
I know, I know - IBM and Compaq wish they can help out but they can't. They don't have the balls to ruffle His Billness' feathers. His Billness might get angry and have a temper tantrum.
Let me know if I'm reading this wrong, but
The real telling figure is not the drop in percentage of paid downloads, but in the number of downloads.
74,373 is 70% of 106,247.
172,004 is 75% of 229,338.
Therefore, more than half the people who downloaded part 1 did not bother with part 2.
Of course, the reality isn't so black and white, but close enough.
Judgment should be witheld until the real picture comes into focus, when the book is finished and the final tally is disclosed. Only then I think it is useful to ask, was this project worth it? Let's compare Mr. King's profits-versus-costs with those of his previous works published traditionally.
Should be shared between Judge Jackson and Prosecutor David Boies,
who did STELLAR work exposing the defense witnesses as the lying
crooks that they are.
It won't happen like this - I know of course you're being facetious with a
grain of truth - what I mean is, it won't be simple; choosing a side won't
be simple.
* The technology in question will be much more sophisticated than most laypeople
can understand.
* The history will be fuzzy. Who applied when? When was it issued? When was
the OpenSource version published? etc.
* Dan Rather won't be reporting it. Big Media is owned by Big Corporation who
owns Big (dubious) Patent Portfolio. Therefore, positive publicity, if any at
all, for the little guy will be harder to come by. Besides, President Clinton's
Stupid Cigar Tricks (patent pending) is more important.
Perhaps I'm generalizing too much, but, hey, I'm cynincal.
"If your product has serious commercial value to you or IBM, there's a chance
they'll use a patent to stop distribution of your product, but that's in the
commercial realm where nasty behavior can be expected."
But what if your product is free - beer *and* speech? Correct me if I'm
mistaken - this is a real issue between AT&T and Bruce Perens (Electric Fence?).
The problem is- you can't get blood from a stone, but you can put an honest
hacker through hell to protect your profits.
Mr. Gates,
1. Why is it Ok for Microsoft to add and subtract from the Java *standard,
but it's not Ok for any Windows reseller to add or subtract from the
Windows *standard?
*I realize the use of the word 'standard' is on shaky ground,
but in this case, there's a clear double-standard here (no pun intended).
2. Why do you promote 'paperless' business, yet Dean Schmalansee
testified that Microsoft's accounting is done on paper?
A lot of great responses and quite a few interesting suggestions I never bumped
into in my own travels. Thanks to all of you!
You're all wonderful!
Let's hold hands and sing......
Sorry, I was getting carried away.
Ok, I got some things to say - I just didn't want to put all of it in my
original post.
First a rant: No, the product wasn't from Micro$fot. However, I do hold them
indirectly responsible. By pushing NT in everyone's face, and spreading this
poor excuse for a development environment - Point-&-Click, Drag-&-Drop -
and every vendor perpetuating this mind-set, now everyone's life has to be
miserable.
The PHBs are impressed when a marketing droid shows a demo on his 550 Pentium III
laptop, running their product on NT, and of course it's native to NT, and the
database it talks to is on the same laptop, and the table has 10 rows. Great.
I have to use this damn mutant version running under Solaris on a 143MHz sparc,
and talk to a database with million-row tables, 1,000 miles away!
And now some further explanation: the project I worked on was not really an OLAP
app, rather an ad-hoc query front-end. The vendor claims this is an OLAP tool,
but that's like saying DOSSHELL is a GUI. Now we are evaluating real OLAP pro-
ducts. So far, the landscape doesn't look good. And I won't be thrilled with the
higher-ups if they again "standardize" on one square-peg product that we have to
squeeze into a round hole.
Ok, let me answer a few things-
SamBeckett says: The only reasonable solution to this lad's problem would be to
develop his own system."
Of course! I wish I could convince the decision-makers. They're looking for a
simplistic, one-size-fits-all solution. News Flash: There ain't none!
Here's something useful I found, looks very good. However, the bulk of the
information they provide requires an expensive subscription. But you pay for not
only information but also consulting service. I only wish those upstairs would
also see the value.
http://www.olapreport.com
And here's a quote from http://www.olapreport.com/How_not_to_buy.htm
"The process of product selection can be tedious and expensive, so it is
very tempting to try and pick a single preferred product set that will be
used not just for the immediate project, but will become the official or
unofficial standard for subsequent projects for years to come. However,
this rarely works and can be dangerous."
This makes perfect sense to me. Nevertheless, I'm afraid we're going down that
over-trodden road to Hell.
I have three questions-
Cistron?: www.cistron.com -> www.cistron.nl, all in Dutch. Is there an English
version? Or am I looking in the wrong place?
Holos? : www.holos.com? Unfortunately, this website has nothing going on -
looks like they're refurbishing. A search at Seagate for holos pro-
duces nothing.
What (or who) are Livingston and Merit?
Again,thanks for all this amazing feedback!
Such a clueless one, who thinks hotmail is the *only* free-web-mail service, will not understand "telnet" and "pop3". Recommend an alternative free mail site. I recommend linuxstart.com. Simpler, less cluttered. *And* it's not owned by Microsoft (or any other publically traded corporation) How about that!!
Was this report made public? Why did the Boeing
execs reject it - do they give a detailed explanation?
as well as the currently snowballing way of things, has already proven him sadly mistaken.
End of story.
1. Leave the country permanently. Then publish & GPL the idea.
or
2. Disclose a bogus idea that doesn't work. Then wait until the dust settles and produce your real idea.
No?
That's all?????!!!!!!
For Windows AND MS Works???
Something tells me the OEMs will try to let this blow over by throwing a few bones.
I think Rick Moranis is more suited.
The masses are slowly getting it, but too slow for my taste.
"Users that have customized Linux to run their apps must also maintain and support it, which requires staffing."
Windoze does not require staffing? And huge wastes of precious time to baby-sit?
"Given Windows' dominating presence..., combined with healthcare's traditional conservatism
regarding new technologies, Linux is a long way from mainstream."
Doesn't NT mean "New Technology"? Isn't Windoze 98 new technology?
And W2k, what about that? Is it Ok to rush out to migrate to this crap
but Linux - I don't know, that's "new technology"...
"The days of having enormously expensive, proprietary systems
is going away because the information is now in everyone's hands."
I'm glad to see more people are beginning to view "proprietary" as a dirty word.