It is so wonderful to see that to you, all this stuff looks easy. If it is, which I, as a full-time DBA doubt severely, then please, please enlighten us with examples!
There are so much real open alternatives like subversion, arch and (my personal favourite) darcs - just to name a few. Why bother with bitkeeper?
Gosh, get a clue, will you! Or read the lkml archives. Linus chose bitkeeper precisely because all the alternatives you mention don't cut it.
This is exactlythe attitude that keeps holding open source back. It's not about whether the source is open or not, it is about choosing the right tool for the right job. More people should understand this...
With supercomputing powers now avaible to any country or group with a few readily available components, it is only a matter of time before these supercomputing powers may be used by a rogue state or radical group to cause havoc among electronic communications using methods like denial of service attacks, spyware, and crapflooding message boards.
You are SO informed! That is exactly what you can NOT use a supercomputer for! Supercomputers are used for scientific calculations. Sure you can use them to calculate the best rocket trajectory or how many people will be killed by a nuclear blast, but to be honest, I would be very surprised to see an Al-Qaeda super computing center, just because having and using it makes no sense to them. On the other hand, an Al-Qaeda Information Warfare center sounds quite possible, but you don't need a supercomputer for that.
As for being concerned about rogue states getting their hands on a supercomputer... that is what the US export regulations are for!
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You were doing okay until:
For as far as I can see, dear poster and dear citizen of the US: we here in Europe don't need and have never asked for your protection.
Um, does World War II ring any bells?
There is a huge difference between liberation and protection. Europe asked for help liberating western Europe, they never asked the US to stay here!
The ISO standard for the CLI will be of no use at all if Microsoft decides in a few years that an entirely new technology is better and relegates.Net to legacy (look at how it has treated Visual Basic 6 developers, for example).
Plus the fact that just the CLR was submitted for certification, not the all-importent windows.forms and web.forms libraries every windows developer uses...
Plus the fact that if you do not live in the windows world, there already is a well-established cross-platform language, with the associated runtime, called Java. Well supported by major vendors like IBM, who basically told Microsoft to shove.NET in a warm, dark hole.
The Linux software system, which is now a major competitor to Windows and other Microsoft products, and its source code are freely available to anyone under an open source license that guarantees that the data will always be shared.
And this is exactly the one reason the majority of the open source community overlooks and this is exactly why open source is so important to the world. This should be a prime motivation for using open source. This, and the use of open standards of course.
They're absolutely right. The major migrations in big corporations tend to be replacement of Solaris boxes, with I suppose HP and AIX getting a look in too.
I can tell you one thing... AIX running on a p690 is in a totally different league compared to linux running on the same hardware. Linux stability, scalability and especially I/O performance is nowhere near AIX performance on said hardware. It's the small to midrange Unix server market that gets a hit... but the high end servers are still Unix all the way. Linux doesn't even come close.
Building or buying a cluster is serious business. Talk to supercomputing experts. Issues involved are numerous. Just a short list:
what applications will this cluster run? Just the one you mentioned or will you be running ore than just that one?
Will you need a low-latency network (hint: you'll want one)? Will this be the current safe choice Myrinet or the up-and-coming Infiniband? This is again, application dependent.
Who will do the hardware support? Are you allowed to chainge disks and memory yourself or will the vendor do that for you?
Who will do the software support? Can you install software yourself? Think about kernel updates, driver updates for the low-latency network etc.
Do you have tools to manage the cluster? If not, who will supply them? Will you develop them in house? Pick them off the internet? Is the experience in house to use the tools?
will the hardware vendor deliver just boxes or a working configuration? The last thing you'll want is set 128 biosses yourself:-)
This list is nowhere near complete... there are so many issues involved in buying a cluster, you really need expert advice.
Talk to other sites who do the same thing as you want to do, who run the same kind of applications as you ant to run etc.
I more or less disagree with him on his treatment of the Windows adherence to the CC and Orange book standards.
Even though Windows 2000 is EAL 4+ certified, that doesn't mean it is a secure system. On the contrary, the protection profile Microsoft chose to use specifically states that the threats Win2k should guard against do not include either malicious outsiders or malicious users.
A more or less similar situation exists when we regard the C2 certification for Windows NT. That certification is obtained only when using a NT 4 system with several subsystems removed and no network access.
Both certifications sare the facts that a very specific hardware-software combination has been audited. This is so extreme that EAL 4+ is only valid for a Windows 2000 system with a very specific set of patches applied (SP2 and 1 patch IIRC). In other words, totally useless for any serious real-world application.
The Win32 threading and synchronisation models are ridiculously powerful compared to *nix, which is precisely what makes it so hard to port a lot of Win32-based software to other platforms.
Absolutely. Can you say CreateRemoteThread()?? Can you say global memory space? Indeed, ridiculously powerful to exploit for malicious software!
TCO is a Gartner invention, and they are very tight-lipped about what actually goes into TCO. Every other company has an other interpretation of what TCO is and what components it is made of. There is no scientific evidence given for the validity of TCO. In all the reports that I have read from Gartner, IDC, and all the other organisations, scientific evidence is sorely lacking, statistical principles are being ignored and the whole TCO use oozes pseudo-science.
One can argue that cost is the only (or best) metric to judge information systems. There is also the return on investment, which looks at the benefits of information systems.Given the strategic importance of information systems, one can argue the use of both metrics, or the invention of an even better one, is needed. Naturally this benchmark should be open and independently verifiable.
Some people actually just want to use the software to create, not tinker around with deboggers and compilers, learning how to do driver development under Linux.
Interesting though it may sound to develop your own drivers, I just want my machine to be usable as a music production tool, not as a tinker device in a perpetual state of change.
Actually you might find that either a much smaller Microsoft or no Microsoft at all will definitely hurt the US economy, due to the incredible and completely ridiculous amount of Microsoft stock available on the market.
While you can't blame the state of the economy solely on Microsoft, the drop in stock price from $90 to $25 did hurt several stock exchanges badly.
It would be interesting to use the ReactOS kernel sources, hook some decent file systems to the kernel and create a good, fully implemented posix subsystem.
This way we would have a system capable of running Windows applications _and_ Linux applications.... which would be very nice.
There is no need to import XML in a database in order to run SQL queries over it. You can run SQL queries over everything that is internally structured. Why do you think the S in SQl stands for Structured?
I used to run SQL queries on my inventory listings which were connected to CAD drawings... works like a charm.
It takes education to get people to switch. Show them Firefox is a good browser. I converted a friend of mine, by no other means than showing him the incredible amount of spyware on his machine, and explaining to him IE was the cause.
Then I installed Firefox for him, he was very impressed with the speed of Firefox, and he is a happy surfer now:-)
Life is good, and another person won over to using superior software.
No one in the Linux community is concerned with software tuning these days. Look at what Apple did to Mac OS X. I don't see anyone doing that with Linux.Look at Windows. I don't see anyone doing that either. Certainly no major distributions.
My job is UNIX administration. When I get at home, I want something that works, not something that somewhat works, when you do not ask anyhting too much out of the ordinary.
On top of that, using a non-Windows operating system (Mac OS X in my case) has made me far more reselient against worms, spam and virusses, thus increasing my happiness. Not to mention the superior Photoshop experience... Photoshop really was built with the MAC in mind... it blows Photoshop on Windows out of the water.
Everyone making, selling and running Windows should start taking his or her responsibility.
Microsoft should stop building useless "execute every executable code" features in Windows and Office (the main culpits). They should acknowledge the fact that their older products are hideaousky insecure, and should act to make those products more secure.
Microsoft should also take steps to provide update CD's for free to anyone who runs windows... illegal version or not.
Vendors of computer systems should start to sell you a completely patched, up to date system instead of a system loaded with a bare (thus very vulnerable) Windows XP on it. Microsoft should encourage the vendors to do so.
Users should educate themselves, or be educated. I am against governement interference, but this is one of the few cases where I am in favor of legislation requiring a mandatory computer driver's license, given the fact that computers are a part of almost everyone's life nowadays.
False arguments. At least the possibility for people to run other software in full compliance with the published standards (RFC's), thus providing full interoperability exists.
With windows, you do not get that choice... either you use what Microsoft provides you or you don't use it at all. There is no choice. On Unix, there is.
One of the major pro-oss arguments made within large military organisations is exactly this point. OSS may or may not be more secure, but at least with OSS everyone is at a level playing field with regards to the ability to audit source code.
You can hope the lightning won't strike, but beyond that any commercial lightning protection available will not save any electronic equipment from a lightning strike. Lightning is just way too fast for the electronics in the circuit to respond... litterally the electronics get burned before it can even think about overcurrent. Maybe, if you are really, really lucky, just your power supplies burn out.
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It is so wonderful to see that to you, all this stuff looks easy. If it is, which I, as a full-time DBA doubt severely, then please, please enlighten us with examples!
Gosh, get a clue, will you! Or read the lkml archives. Linus chose bitkeeper precisely because all the alternatives you mention don't cut it.
This is exactlythe attitude that keeps holding open source back. It's not about whether the source is open or not, it is about choosing the right tool for the right job. More people should understand this...
As for being concerned about rogue states getting their hands on a supercomputer... that is what the US export regulations are for!
You were doing okay until: For as far as I can see, dear poster and dear citizen of the US: we here in Europe don't need and have never asked for your protection. Um, does World War II ring any bells? There is a huge difference between liberation and protection. Europe asked for help liberating western Europe, they never asked the US to stay here!
... good thing I do all my work on a Mac.
Now all I need is that stupid CD-R tax to go away...
Plus the fact that just the CLR was submitted for certification, not the all-importent windows.forms and web.forms libraries every windows developer uses...
Plus the fact that if you do not live in the windows world, there already is a well-established cross-platform language, with the associated runtime, called Java. Well supported by major vendors like IBM, who basically told Microsoft to shove .NET in a warm, dark hole.
Besides, running two p690's, while attractive from an IBM sales point of view, is not exactly something we want to do.
And, on a side note, the "Linux is good for everything" attitude is exactly what is putting off so many people.
And this is exactly the one reason the majority of the open source community overlooks and this is exactly why open source is so important to the world. This should be a prime motivation for using open source. This, and the use of open standards of course.
They're absolutely right. The major migrations in big corporations tend to be replacement of Solaris boxes, with I suppose HP and AIX getting a look in too. I can tell you one thing... AIX running on a p690 is in a totally different league compared to linux running on the same hardware. Linux stability, scalability and especially I/O performance is nowhere near AIX performance on said hardware. It's the small to midrange Unix server market that gets a hit... but the high end servers are still Unix all the way. Linux doesn't even come close.
I can name you one...
On a p690, you can run 32 processor jobs on AIX. Linux on a p690 won't get you farther than 26 processor jobs before the box crumbles.
Building or buying a cluster is serious business. Talk to supercomputing experts. Issues involved are numerous. Just a short list:
This list is nowhere near complete... there are so many issues involved in buying a cluster, you really need expert advice.
Talk to other sites who do the same thing as you want to do, who run the same kind of applications as you ant to run etc.
I more or less disagree with him on his treatment of the Windows adherence to the CC and Orange book standards.
Even though Windows 2000 is EAL 4+ certified, that doesn't mean it is a secure system. On the contrary, the protection profile Microsoft chose to use specifically states that the threats Win2k should guard against do not include either malicious outsiders or malicious users.
A more or less similar situation exists when we regard the C2 certification for Windows NT. That certification is obtained only when using a NT 4 system with several subsystems removed and no network access.
Both certifications sare the facts that a very specific hardware-software combination has been audited. This is so extreme that EAL 4+ is only valid for a Windows 2000 system with a very specific set of patches applied (SP2 and 1 patch IIRC). In other words, totally useless for any serious real-world application.
Absolutely. Can you say CreateRemoteThread()?? Can you say global memory space? Indeed, ridiculously powerful to exploit for malicious software!
TCO is a Gartner invention, and they are very tight-lipped about what actually goes into TCO. Every other company has an other interpretation of what TCO is and what components it is made of. There is no scientific evidence given for the validity of TCO. In all the reports that I have read from Gartner, IDC, and all the other organisations, scientific evidence is sorely lacking, statistical principles are being ignored and the whole TCO use oozes pseudo-science.
One can argue that cost is the only (or best) metric to judge information systems. There is also the return on investment, which looks at the benefits of information systems.Given the strategic importance of information systems, one can argue the use of both metrics, or the invention of an even better one, is needed. Naturally this benchmark should be open and independently verifiable.
Some people actually just want to use the software to create, not tinker around with deboggers and compilers, learning how to do driver development under Linux.
Interesting though it may sound to develop your own drivers, I just want my machine to be usable as a music production tool, not as a tinker device in a perpetual state of change.
Actually you might find that either a much smaller Microsoft or no Microsoft at all will definitely hurt the US economy, due to the incredible and completely ridiculous amount of Microsoft stock available on the market.
While you can't blame the state of the economy solely on Microsoft, the drop in stock price from $90 to $25 did hurt several stock exchanges badly.
It would be interesting to use the ReactOS kernel sources, hook some decent file systems to the kernel and create a good, fully implemented posix subsystem.
This way we would have a system capable of running Windows applications _and_ Linux applications.... which would be very nice.
There is no need to import XML in a database in order to run SQL queries over it. You can run SQL queries over everything that is internally structured. Why do you think the S in SQl stands for Structured?
I used to run SQL queries on my inventory listings which were connected to CAD drawings... works like a charm.
It takes education to get people to switch. Show them Firefox is a good browser. I converted a friend of mine, by no other means than showing him the incredible amount of spyware on his machine, and explaining to him IE was the cause.
:-)
Then I installed Firefox for him, he was very impressed with the speed of Firefox, and he is a happy surfer now
Life is good, and another person won over to using superior software.
No one in the Linux community is concerned with software tuning these days. Look at what Apple did to Mac OS X. I don't see anyone doing that with Linux.Look at Windows. I don't see anyone doing that either. Certainly no major distributions.
On top of that, using a non-Windows operating system (Mac OS X in my case) has made me far more reselient against worms, spam and virusses, thus increasing my happiness. Not to mention the superior Photoshop experience... Photoshop really was built with the MAC in mind... it blows Photoshop on Windows out of the water.
Microsoft should stop building useless "execute every executable code" features in Windows and Office (the main culpits). They should acknowledge the fact that their older products are hideaousky insecure, and should act to make those products more secure. Microsoft should also take steps to provide update CD's for free to anyone who runs windows... illegal version or not.
Vendors of computer systems should start to sell you a completely patched, up to date system instead of a system loaded with a bare (thus very vulnerable) Windows XP on it. Microsoft should encourage the vendors to do so.
Users should educate themselves, or be educated. I am against governement interference, but this is one of the few cases where I am in favor of legislation requiring a mandatory computer driver's license, given the fact that computers are a part of almost everyone's life nowadays.
With windows, you do not get that choice... either you use what Microsoft provides you or you don't use it at all. There is no choice. On Unix, there is.
One of the major pro-oss arguments made within large military organisations is exactly this point. OSS may or may not be more secure, but at least with OSS everyone is at a level playing field with regards to the ability to audit source code.
You can hope the lightning won't strike, but beyond that any commercial lightning protection available will not save any electronic equipment from a lightning strike. Lightning is just way too fast for the electronics in the circuit to respond... litterally the electronics get burned before it can even think about overcurrent. Maybe, if you are really, really lucky, just your power supplies burn out.