I read a few of these posts by zealots for "this" language or "that" language. There is a right tool for every job, and in many cases, more than one tool that will do the job. The questions to ask yourself it which languages meet the your criteria: * Do you want another language as a marketable skill? * Do you want to write and sell iOS apps? * Do you want cross-platform functionality? * What functionality is that? Is it single code-base native GUI on multiple platforms? Do you want to write games, communications, accounting programs, robotics, web apps? *... etc. For every language you entertain there'll be a bunch of zealots espousing it's virtues and an equal group of naysayers panning it. A programming language is a syntax, but also in today's world it is dependent on a massive class library (functions in 'C'-speak). There is a mental "mindset" around each language also that once you "get" it, the language will make more sense and be more powerful and natural for you. Coming from 'C' (either Kernihan & Ritchie or ANSI) your biggest transition is going to be to the Object-oriented paradigm. I say learn more than one language so that you have a basis for comparison. And make one of those languages a "scripted" or "interpreted" language - something that you don't have to compile to test as you learn. Ruby and Python come to mind but there are plenty of others. Once you get your head around objects, then look at the compiled languages. Moving to C++ or Objective-C will be pretty familiar because of your 'C' background - but not trivial. The same way Basic programmers can write a 'Basic' program in the 'C' syntax (which is a horrible program) you can write a 'C' program in C++ or Objective-C or C# or Java, with an equally horrible result. Once you get your head around the whole idea of Object-oriented programming, you have to learn the massive, and I mean MASSIVE class libraries of.NET for C# to be useful. The same goes for Java - you have to learn the massive class libraries in order to leverage those environments. Even interpreted languages like Ruby, Python, Perl et al have modules or libraries that you will need rather than "roll your own". With 'C', the joke was that you have to "sire your own user community" - but the "modern" languages (read "newer than 'C') come with classes/functions/tools to do almost anything imaginable today - all you need to do is learn which class/method/function does what. I've started programming computers 40 years ago;-) and I still code today (amongst other things), in many languages, because I like something about each of the languages. It isn't an "either or" thing - for some projects.NET might be a better fit as long as you only want to code for Windows. For another project, Ruby, SCALA, Java, whatever. (NOTE: For all the purists jumping up and down right now, the C# language doesn't run only on Windows platforms, but it is so tightly linked with the.NET environment and dependant on the CLR that it's not terribly useful in a non-Windows environment. Yeah, I hear the LINUX zealots shouting "mono" at me, but really...) Learn more than one, and at least one interpreted, scripted object-oriented language. I add "scripted" because your could argue that that any language that has a runtime or JVM could be "interpreted". You asked our advice - well, that's mine:-) FWIW I was a straight 'C' programmer for many, many years and made the difficult transition to objects and all the other paradigms. It was well worth it.
Seriously dudes, its much simpler than that. Birds fly in a 'V' formation because they "poop in flight". Unless you want to be covered in excrement you learn to fly a little offset from the bird in front of you so that you don't get smeared with the "exhaust". Makes it really hard to see where you're flying. Even birds can figure that much out.
All the religious fervor for various languages notwithstanding we need to consider what's best for this 11-year old. At 11, he/she is not passionate about compilers or interpreters. The main interest here is to be able to command a computer to do his/her bidding - without a lot of aggravation or a heavily front-loaded learning curve. What the individual wants and needs is instant gratification, mental challenge to stretch the mind, self esteem by self educating in a skill that is still revered and respected and finally, a marketable skill. Given these criteria there are many viable choices. I am a self taught software developer with a career spanning 30 years. I'm also an employer - I screen, recruit and hire a lot of programmers. So rule out any compiled language. This teenager would be well served to learn either or both of Ruby or Python. I'd probably go with Python first because of the large pool of expertise, material, tutorials, ease of learning. It teaches good habits, has some decent GUI toolkit integration and performance is pretty good. A little way into the Python foray I would advise him/her to learn Ruby. Ruby will instill some outstanding programming paradigms and habits. And Rails/Scaffolding etc. will make it possible for this youngster to quickly deliver a sophisticated web site. Time to satisfaction (and therefore encouragement, reward and motivation) will be short with this approach and both Python and Ruby are amongst the most highly paid skill sets on the market right now..NET/C# are in high demand now also, but have a much steeper learning curve. Go with Python and then Ruby. You will have fun, learn to program well and have marketable skills and a great foundation for furthering your computer programming career. If you lose interest during the Python/Ruby phase, then programming likely isn't for you. Unless you want to write device drivers (like me) - then learn 'C':-). The Operating System of choice matters little for this purpose - whatever you're most comfortable with. Good luck with your endeavor.
If you know either Java or.NET you can easily find a job making good money coding today. I am always hiring top talent and right now for the.NET and Java skill set there are currently FOUR jobs to every ONE candidate looking for work. My company has four openings right now in Orlando, FL.. Sell what people want to buy - right now that's.NET, Java, SQL, Oracle. You'll be fine - I know plenty of software developers over 50 and none of them is currently unemployed. After a decade of managment I recently re-entered the software developer market. I quickly found work with C/C++, and learned Python and Ruby in a couple of weeks. Go for it!
There are many considerations when making such a decision. I've worked at Amazon.com, Fiserv, RedHat and other companies using everything from Assembly to Ruby and have the benefit of hands on experience in most of the languages if not all the frameworks. Cost (license/implement/train/maintain), Company Culture, Development Effort (time to market), Limitations vs. Features/Extensibility, Skilled practitioner pool size, Longevity, Scalability, Open Source vs. Closed, Operating Platform etc. are all considerations. Having worked in many different environments I would tell you that Ruby on Rails is phenomenal for maintainable code with a very quick time to market, but it doesn't scale worth squat. Not even with mod-phusion etc. It has architectural limitations. Python is pretty good but it's not specifically web-centric and you have to write more code that's a little less maintainable, but performance is better. Java seems to be the 800 pound gorilla *but* you have write a lot of code making time to market a little less attractive from that standpoint. Then there's.NET and the Microsoft stack - good for time to market and even performance if you're looking to do all "standard" stuff - If you try to do anything special/esoteric you're going to be in for a long haul. Make a list of all your platform selection criteria, then prioritize them. Then evaluate the platforms based on that list and you'll have your answer.
You are never too old to learn a new programming language. Any language. What happens with age, especially as you rack up an impressive list of languages, toolkits, development tools, libraries, IDE's, editors, compilers, operating environments in which you have some proficiency, you lose your enthusiasm, motivation and drive to learn "yet another language/toolkit/whatever" that will one day soon be irrelevant to the marketplace. It is such a wasted effort to learn yet another one when you know that effort will be all for naught. But do it anyway - it'll keep your brain sharp and bolster your self-esteem. And besides, some of the new languages are cool for doing certain things.
Having been in this game my entire life I've learned that Businessmen (women) make Business decisions. They are not qualified to make technical (IT) decisions, so, they make "business" decisions. The down side of this, is that they often (not always) hire the cheapest IT resources they can (because that's a good "business" decision). Unfortunately, if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys, so its a false economy. If you ask these decision makers if they would pick the cheapest brain surgeon, or cosmetic surgeon for their wife's fill-in-the-blanks surgery, they would first do some research, obtain opinions and only then make the decision. A cab driver cannot evaluate the technical acumen of a Boeing 747 pilot any more than a Businessman can evaluate the technical acumen of an IT professional - so they go by price alone. Since their hiring practices are based on price and what they think they know from the latest "computer fashion magazine" or "expert journalist", its not surprise that as often as not they get burned. They really have a disdain for the technical personnel. IT personnel haven't helped themselves either - many have thrown their weight around the company with conceit and arrogance, "confirming" the businessman's opinion. Unless the IT group is in charge of their own *P* and L, instead of just the L, it flat out can't function as a business. That means that IT is a profit center with control of its own destiny, or its not. It can't be half (usually the L half) of a profit center only, and provide any quality level of service.
The ancient Egyptians figured this out thousands of years ago. No digital medium has a life span (today) of 25 years. Tried to read a tape/disk/MO written 15 years ago? Papyrus, clay/stone tablets etc. have a longer life span, only need carbon units (people) to interpret them - no "technology" of ANY age is necessary. Of course, if there are not people... who cares to see the pictures?;-)
I haven't used a microsoft product for 11 years, preferring to use only LINUX, which I've advocated since 1993, so I'm not bashing it.
Here's the rub: NOBODY USES WINDOWS - they use the applications that run on top of windows. The LINUX installation process is recognized as superior to windows already, so that's easy. The availability of "joe public"'s favorite applications will make or break LINUX on the desktop.
What made LINUX a presence in the Server Room and Data Center was the huge boost it got from Oracle, DB2, Sybase, Apache, Tomcat and other technologies. The 'OS' didn't suddenly take off - it was propelled by those core applications being made available for LINUX. Until that happens in the desktop realm we can whine all we want - its not going to happen.
Lobby for Adobe, Quicken, Mobile Phone Sync tools that are pretty, PDA tools. Yeah, I hear all you whiners naming gphoto, KitchenSync, jPilot etc., but grow up. If you could choose to date a gorgeous movie star or some skank, you'd choose the movie star. There are way more applications for windows that "just work" out of the box, and are pretty and sexy, than there are for LINUX. ITAS! (It's the applications, stupid).
*LOVE* the 'slash' comment in the signature. There is also no such thing as a 'computer virus', only a 'microsoft virus', because UNIX doesn't have'em, LINUX doesn't have 'em, FreeBSD doesn't have 'em, VMS doesn't have 'em, MVS doesn't, TANDEM doesn't..... ONLY microsoft. That makes it a 'microsoft virus'.
That's a load of drivil! Open formats are only necessary if there's more than one product. Systems need to exchange data, and as long as there's more than just microsoft, free or not, there is a need for open formats. Just look at the HTML spec and what it has accomplished - its not "ms-html", contrary to microsoft's best efforts. "Software has no intrinsic value" - what? Which planet do you live on? You could be writing your nonsense-verse post on a napkin a few million times and licking a few million stamps to promulgate it. Instead, the valueless software you used to create you post has given you time to enjoy your life by sleeping or whatever else you'er doing while not licking a million stamps. Microsoft is so big now, with nearly every judge owning ms stock, every senator in their pocket, and an unstoppable business model of "stand on the competitor's air hose until theyy suffocate to death (Netscape, Real Networks, etc. etc.) by giving away their application for free cutting off the competition's (and ofthen the innovator's) revenue stream. Open Formats are the only chink in microsoft's otherwise impenetrable armor, and the only bastion of hope for more than one software company in the world. You may need to get out of your data center once in a while and smell the source code. G
I think that the IT "professionals" and their "managers" deserve each other. I'm generally disgusted with "managers" who are little more than "reporters" or "spinners" of activities to their management, preoccupied with administrative minutia, and the IT workers who are dweebs with no context, little personal integrity, no knowledge of IT and computing, and do little more than regurgitate the microsoft propaganda du jour, and whatever those ignorant, lazy and biased "journalists" publish in their technology fashion magazines. The IT whiners are no better than the managers they so liberally disparage because they lack the courage to get fired for "doing the right thing.". Managers and workers, stand up and be counted!
Techies do not respect "managers" who are not at least as smart as they are. A manager who knows what questions to ask, and where to drill down, is a valuable asset to the organization and mentor to the team he leads. A manager that could, if need be, sit down at a keyboard, help the team debug, troubleshoot, brainstorm, and even code a problem that the team is struggling with is priceless. The team will follow him to the ends of the earth. As long as the manager isn't on an ego trip. Its about the team. This technical manager, with humility and servant-leadership doubles a team's value for the employer and the personal and professional development of the individuals that comprise it.
Doubt that? I am no "Apple Groupie" (I'm a *nix head), but you need to look no further than Steve Jobs for living proof of its power. Thanks for listening. G
Ignorance abounds... It's like saying the Chevron gasoline isn't as acommodating to the disabled community as is Mobil gasoline.
Shame on us as the tech-savvy for not making a better effort to educate the average personal computer user! Too many people still have no idea how it works - they just use it, as it if worked by magic! And, actually, they don't CARE how it works! This is just one misinformed and undofrtunate soul who is determined to display his ignorance to the world. I can't see microsoft buying him off to say such things. He's just ignorant of the facts.
*KNOW* what you want! Understand what business you're in. If you want to be in the business of making money, go into sales. If you want to be in the business of making technology to make other people rich and be allowed to work hard until you burn out, be a techy. If you want to not work too hard, not burn yourself out, and basically have little accountability, go into management.
I sure hope so! One of the true pleasures of life is well written, well arranged, well produced (recorded) and well pressed music. If you think that your "typical" MP3 tune (usually at 128 bits) sounds good you've been listening to your iPod too loud and too long. A good CD recording on a decent stereo is *MUCH* richer sounding than any MP3, and better than ogg vorbis also.
It would be a travesty to only be able to buy music that has been sterilized by lossy compression (MP3 & others), reducing it to a shallow facsimile of real music:-(. I and many others can hear the difference, whether it be rock or classical music, jazz or flamenco.
Please don't leave us at the mercy of hearing-impaired iPodniks! Beautiful music is just too much to lose. It would be like the extinction of an exotic species.
We all have our "religious" convictions. I've been developing software (apps & system) for *nix and other OSes for 25 years and none is perfect. I've worked at all levels of more than 20 UNIX-like Oses, including many LINUX distribs for 12 years and the *BSD oses. They all have pluses and minuses. The GNU/LINUX environment is the most complete operating sytem besides that evil empire technology farce from Redmond. There are many things that frustrate me about LINUX, but it has been my OS of choice and I have been microsoft-free for 7 years. I couldn't do that with OpenBSD. It is the only cost-effective, reliable, secure-enough environment that allows millions of us to get out from under the thumb of that company whose name probably attributes more to Mr. Gates' manhood than it does to technological merit.
These butt-sucking companies have snubbed their nose at the LINUX community for years. Now they've got their come-uppance because microshaft is releasing products that compete directly with them and eating their lunch. NOW they want to cosy up to the LINUX community!??! I think we should boycott them. How do you think we got Adobe Acrobat version 7 for LINUX? Microshaft announced "Metro", its Acrobat-killer, so Adobe suddely got religion. All the companies deserve to have the eveil empire eat their lunch.
Nice article. But we miss a crucial point. The general acceptance of the LINUX OS depends more on the available applications and the ease of use than any other factor. The challenge presented by KDE and GNOME has clearly driven the WindozeXP evolution - you can see the similarities where microsoft has "borrowed" from LINUX. It is only the COMPETITION between these two desktops that has made them both as good as they are. I have been a LINUX user and developer for nine years now and know many of the original players. Red Hat and other LINUX distributions have made a very nice living from the efforts of the Open Source community and elimination of the competition between the Desktops in order to reduce your cost of production of a given distribution is a false economy.
It will result in less competition, slower advancement of the Desktop for LINUX and ultimately kill the goose that lays the golden egg. Remember that most of the Desktop developers do so from pride and not for money, or to reduce their cost to produce any given release. The generalization will dampen their spirits and in the long run kill their motivation to improve at a rapid pace which will in turn provide RedHat and others with an inferior product.
I understand your reasoning, which is indeed on track in the short term, but its a short term fix for a long term slip into obsolesence.
bill gates (lower case on purpose) is not and never has been a visionary or technological innovator. He has monopolized the market to the extent that he now ownes the rights to technology's vocabulary. "Computer" now refers to the "Personal Computer". "Computer Virus" - there's no such thing, only a Microsoft Virus.
After developing software for twenty years now, with the resources microsoft has at their disposal they still cannot produce an operating system that doesn't crash 2.5 times a week (that is a factual statistic) and that incubates viruses faster than a corpse bacteria.
He and his company produce crap, and cram it down our throats through illegal and momopolistic practises. Shame on all the lemmings that perpetuate this status quo. If microsoft spent more money on engineering and less on lawyers and advertising I'd have a lot less criticism for them.
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I read a few of these posts by zealots for "this" language or "that" language. There is a right tool for every job, and in many cases, more than one tool that will do the job. The questions to ask yourself it which languages meet the your criteria: ... etc. .NET for C# to be useful. The same goes for Java - you have to learn the massive class libraries in order to leverage those environments. Even interpreted languages like Ruby, Python, Perl et al have modules or libraries that you will need rather than "roll your own". With 'C', the joke was that you have to "sire your own user community" - but the "modern" languages (read "newer than 'C') come with classes/functions/tools to do almost anything imaginable today - all you need to do is learn which class/method/function does what. ;-) and I still code today (amongst other things), in many languages, because I like something about each of the languages. It isn't an "either or" thing - for some projects .NET might be a better fit as long as you only want to code for Windows. For another project, Ruby, SCALA, Java, whatever. (NOTE: For all the purists jumping up and down right now, the C# language doesn't run only on Windows platforms, but it is so tightly linked with the .NET environment and dependant on the CLR that it's not terribly useful in a non-Windows environment. Yeah, I hear the LINUX zealots shouting "mono" at me, but really...) :-)
* Do you want another language as a marketable skill?
* Do you want to write and sell iOS apps?
* Do you want cross-platform functionality?
* What functionality is that? Is it single code-base native GUI on multiple platforms? Do you want to write games, communications, accounting programs, robotics, web apps?
*
For every language you entertain there'll be a bunch of zealots espousing it's virtues and an equal group of naysayers panning it. A programming language is a syntax, but also in today's world it is dependent on a massive class library (functions in 'C'-speak). There is a mental "mindset" around each language also that once you "get" it, the language will make more sense and be more powerful and natural for you.
Coming from 'C' (either Kernihan & Ritchie or ANSI) your biggest transition is going to be to the Object-oriented paradigm. I say learn more than one language so that you have a basis for comparison. And make one of those languages a "scripted" or "interpreted" language - something that you don't have to compile to test as you learn. Ruby and Python come to mind but there are plenty of others. Once you get your head around objects, then look at the compiled languages. Moving to C++ or Objective-C will be pretty familiar because of your 'C' background - but not trivial. The same way Basic programmers can write a 'Basic' program in the 'C' syntax (which is a horrible program) you can write a 'C' program in C++ or Objective-C or C# or Java, with an equally horrible result. Once you get your head around the whole idea of Object-oriented programming, you have to learn the massive, and I mean MASSIVE class libraries of
I've started programming computers 40 years ago
Learn more than one, and at least one interpreted, scripted object-oriented language. I add "scripted" because your could argue that that any language that has a runtime or JVM could be "interpreted". You asked our advice - well, that's mine
FWIW I was a straight 'C' programmer for many, many years and made the difficult transition to objects and all the other paradigms. It was well worth it.
Seriously dudes, its much simpler than that.
Birds fly in a 'V' formation because they "poop in flight". Unless you want to be covered in excrement you learn to fly a little offset from the bird in front of you so that you don't get smeared with the "exhaust". Makes it really hard to see where you're flying. Even birds can figure that much out.
All the religious fervor for various languages notwithstanding we need to consider what's best for this 11-year old. At 11, he/she is not passionate about compilers or interpreters. The main interest here is to be able to command a computer to do his/her bidding - without a lot of aggravation or a heavily front-loaded learning curve. What the individual wants and needs is instant gratification, mental challenge to stretch the mind, self esteem by self educating in a skill that is still revered and respected and finally, a marketable skill. Given these criteria there are many viable choices. I am a self taught software developer with a career spanning 30 years. I'm also an employer - I screen, recruit and hire a lot of programmers. So rule out any compiled language. This teenager would be well served to learn either or both of Ruby or Python. I'd probably go with Python first because of the large pool of expertise, material, tutorials, ease of learning. It teaches good habits, has some decent GUI toolkit integration and performance is pretty good. A little way into the Python foray I would advise him/her to learn Ruby. Ruby will instill some outstanding programming paradigms and habits. And Rails/Scaffolding etc. will make it possible for this youngster to quickly deliver a sophisticated web site. Time to satisfaction (and therefore encouragement, reward and motivation) will be short with this approach and both Python and Ruby are amongst the most highly paid skill sets on the market right now. .NET/C# are in high demand now also, but have a much steeper learning curve. Go with Python and then Ruby. You will have fun, learn to program well and have marketable skills and a great foundation for furthering your computer programming career. If you lose interest during the Python/Ruby phase, then programming likely isn't for you. Unless you want to write device drivers (like me) - then learn 'C' :-). The Operating System of choice matters little for this purpose - whatever you're most comfortable with. Good luck with your endeavor.
If you know either Java or .NET you can easily find a job making good money coding today. I am always hiring top talent and right now for the .NET and Java skill set there are currently FOUR jobs to every ONE candidate looking for work. My company has four openings right now in Orlando, FL.. Sell what people want to buy - right now that's .NET, Java, SQL, Oracle. You'll be fine - I know plenty of software developers over 50 and none of them is currently unemployed. After a decade of managment I recently re-entered the software developer market. I quickly found work with C/C++, and learned Python and Ruby in a couple of weeks. Go for it!
There are many considerations when making such a decision. I've worked at Amazon.com, Fiserv, RedHat and other companies using everything from Assembly to Ruby and have the benefit of hands on experience in most of the languages if not all the frameworks. Cost (license/implement/train/maintain), Company Culture, Development Effort (time to market), Limitations vs. Features/Extensibility, Skilled practitioner pool size, Longevity, Scalability, Open Source vs. Closed, Operating Platform etc. are all considerations. Having worked in many different environments I would tell you that Ruby on Rails is phenomenal for maintainable code with a very quick time to market, but it doesn't scale worth squat. Not even with mod-phusion etc. It has architectural limitations. Python is pretty good but it's not specifically web-centric and you have to write more code that's a little less maintainable, but performance is better. Java seems to be the 800 pound gorilla *but* you have write a lot of code making time to market a little less attractive from that standpoint. Then there's .NET and the Microsoft stack - good for time to market and even performance if you're looking to do all "standard" stuff - If you try to do anything special/esoteric you're going to be in for a long haul.
Make a list of all your platform selection criteria, then prioritize them. Then evaluate the platforms based on that list and you'll have your answer.
You are never too old to learn a new programming language. Any language. What happens with age, especially as you rack up an impressive list of languages, toolkits, development tools, libraries, IDE's, editors, compilers, operating environments in which you have some proficiency, you lose your enthusiasm, motivation and drive to learn "yet another language/toolkit/whatever" that will one day soon be irrelevant to the marketplace. It is such a wasted effort to learn yet another one when you know that effort will be all for naught. But do it anyway - it'll keep your brain sharp and bolster your self-esteem. And besides, some of the new languages are cool for doing certain things.
I have three siblings, at least two of which are Chupacabras. They've been sucking the life out of me for years!
Having been in this game my entire life I've learned that Businessmen (women) make Business decisions. They are not qualified to make technical (IT) decisions, so, they make "business" decisions. The down side of this, is that they often (not always) hire the cheapest IT resources they can (because that's a good "business" decision). Unfortunately, if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys, so its a false economy. If you ask these decision makers if they would pick the cheapest brain surgeon, or cosmetic surgeon for their wife's fill-in-the-blanks surgery, they would first do some research, obtain opinions and only then make the decision. A cab driver cannot evaluate the technical acumen of a Boeing 747 pilot any more than a Businessman can evaluate the technical acumen of an IT professional - so they go by price alone. Since their hiring practices are based on price and what they think they know from the latest "computer fashion magazine" or "expert journalist", its not surprise that as often as not they get burned. They really have a disdain for the technical personnel. IT personnel haven't helped themselves either - many have thrown their weight around the company with conceit and arrogance, "confirming" the businessman's opinion. Unless the IT group is in charge of their own *P* and L, instead of just the L, it flat out can't function as a business. That means that IT is a profit center with control of its own destiny, or its not. It can't be half (usually the L half) of a profit center only, and provide any quality level of service.
Well, all I can say is that "Empty vessels make the most noise."
The ancient Egyptians figured this out thousands of years ago. No digital medium has a life span (today) of 25 years. Tried to read a tape/disk/MO written 15 years ago? Papyrus, clay/stone tablets etc. have a longer life span, only need carbon units (people) to interpret them - no "technology" of ANY age is necessary. Of course, if there are not people ... who cares to see the pictures? ;-)
I think you all miss the point entirely.
I haven't used a microsoft product for 11 years, preferring to use only LINUX, which I've advocated since 1993, so I'm not bashing it.
Here's the rub: NOBODY USES WINDOWS - they use the applications that run on top of windows. The LINUX installation process is recognized as superior to windows already, so that's easy. The availability of "joe public"'s favorite applications will make or break LINUX on the desktop.
What made LINUX a presence in the Server Room and Data Center was the huge boost it got from Oracle, DB2, Sybase, Apache, Tomcat and other technologies. The 'OS' didn't suddenly take off - it was propelled by those core applications being made available for LINUX. Until that happens in the desktop realm we can whine all we want - its not going to happen.
Lobby for Adobe, Quicken, Mobile Phone Sync tools that are pretty, PDA tools. Yeah, I hear all you whiners naming gphoto, KitchenSync, jPilot etc., but grow up. If you could choose to date a gorgeous movie star or some skank, you'd choose the movie star. There are way more applications for windows that "just work" out of the box, and are pretty and sexy, than there are for LINUX.
ITAS! (It's the applications, stupid).
*LOVE* the 'slash' comment in the signature. ..... ONLY microsoft. That makes it a 'microsoft virus'.
There is also no such thing as a 'computer virus', only a 'microsoft virus', because UNIX doesn't have'em, LINUX doesn't have 'em, FreeBSD doesn't have 'em, VMS doesn't have 'em, MVS doesn't, TANDEM doesn't
That's a load of drivil!
Open formats are only necessary if there's more than one product. Systems need to exchange data, and as long as there's more than just microsoft, free or not, there is a need for open formats. Just look at the HTML spec and what it has accomplished - its not "ms-html", contrary to microsoft's best efforts.
"Software has no intrinsic value" - what? Which planet do you live on? You could be writing your nonsense-verse post on a napkin a few million times and licking a few million stamps to promulgate it. Instead, the valueless software you used to create you post has given you time to enjoy your life by sleeping or whatever else you'er doing while not licking a million stamps. Microsoft is so big now, with nearly every judge owning ms stock, every senator in their pocket, and an unstoppable business model of "stand on the competitor's air hose until theyy suffocate to death (Netscape, Real Networks, etc. etc.) by giving away their application for free cutting off the competition's (and ofthen the innovator's) revenue stream. Open Formats are the only chink in microsoft's otherwise impenetrable armor, and the only bastion of hope for more than one software company in the world.
You may need to get out of your data center once in a while and smell the source code.
G
I think that the IT "professionals" and their "managers" deserve each other. I'm generally disgusted with "managers" who are little more than "reporters" or "spinners" of activities to their management, preoccupied with administrative minutia, and the IT workers who are dweebs with no context, little personal integrity, no knowledge of IT and computing, and do little more than regurgitate the microsoft propaganda du jour, and whatever those ignorant, lazy and biased "journalists" publish in their technology fashion magazines. The IT whiners are no better than the managers they so liberally disparage because they lack the courage to get fired for "doing the right thing.". Managers and workers, stand up and be counted!
Techies do not respect "managers" who are not at least as smart as they are. A manager who knows what questions to ask, and where to drill down, is a valuable asset to the organization and mentor to the team he leads. A manager that could, if need be, sit down at a keyboard, help the team debug, troubleshoot, brainstorm, and even code a problem that the team is struggling with is priceless. The team will follow him to the ends of the earth. As long as the manager isn't on an ego trip. Its about the team. This technical manager, with humility and servant-leadership doubles a team's value for the employer and the personal and professional development of the individuals that comprise it.
Doubt that? I am no "Apple Groupie" (I'm a *nix head), but you need to look no further than Steve Jobs for living proof of its power.
Thanks for listening.
G
Ignorance abounds ...
It's like saying the Chevron gasoline isn't as acommodating to the disabled community as is Mobil gasoline.
Shame on us as the tech-savvy for not making a better effort to educate the average personal computer user! Too many people still have no idea how it works - they just use it, as it if worked by magic! And, actually, they don't CARE how it works! This is just one misinformed and undofrtunate soul who is determined to display his ignorance to the world. I can't see microsoft buying him off to say such things. He's just ignorant of the facts.
*KNOW* what you want! Understand what business you're in.
If you want to be in the business of making money, go into sales.
If you want to be in the business of making technology to make other people rich and be allowed to work hard until you burn out, be a techy.
If you want to not work too hard, not burn yourself out, and basically have little accountability, go into management.
I sure hope so!
:-(. I and many others can hear the difference, whether it be rock or classical music, jazz or flamenco.
One of the true pleasures of life is well written, well arranged, well produced (recorded) and well pressed music. If you think that your "typical" MP3 tune (usually at 128 bits) sounds good you've been listening to your iPod too loud and too long. A good CD recording on a decent stereo is *MUCH* richer sounding than any MP3, and better than ogg vorbis also.
It would be a travesty to only be able to buy music that has been sterilized by lossy compression (MP3 & others), reducing it to a shallow facsimile of real music
Please don't leave us at the mercy of hearing-impaired iPodniks! Beautiful music is just too much to lose. It would be like the extinction of an exotic species.
We all have our "religious" convictions. I've been developing software (apps & system) for *nix and other OSes for 25 years and none is perfect. I've worked at all levels of more than 20 UNIX-like Oses, including many LINUX distribs for 12 years and the *BSD oses. They all have pluses and minuses. The GNU/LINUX environment is the most complete operating sytem besides that evil empire technology farce from Redmond. There are many things that frustrate me about LINUX, but it has been my OS of choice and I have been microsoft-free for 7 years. I couldn't do that with OpenBSD. It is the only cost-effective, reliable, secure-enough environment that allows millions of us to get out from under the thumb of that company whose name probably attributes more to Mr. Gates' manhood than it does to technological merit.
These butt-sucking companies have snubbed their nose at the LINUX community for years. Now they've got their come-uppance because microshaft is releasing products that compete directly with them and eating their lunch. NOW they want to cosy up to the LINUX community!??! I think we should boycott them. How do you think we got Adobe Acrobat version 7 for LINUX? Microshaft announced "Metro", its Acrobat-killer, so Adobe suddely got religion. All the companies deserve to have the eveil empire eat their lunch.
Hear _ Frickin' - Hear!
Well said!
Gary
Nice article. But we miss a crucial point. The general acceptance of the LINUX OS depends more on the available applications and the ease of use than any other factor. The challenge presented by KDE and GNOME has clearly driven the WindozeXP evolution - you can see the similarities where microsoft has "borrowed" from LINUX. It is only the COMPETITION between these two desktops that has made them both as good as they are. I have been a LINUX user and developer for nine years now and know many of the original players. Red Hat and other LINUX distributions have made a very nice living from the efforts of the Open Source community and elimination of the competition between the Desktops in order to reduce your cost of production of a given distribution is a false economy.
It will result in less competition, slower advancement of the Desktop for LINUX and ultimately kill the goose that lays the golden egg. Remember that most of the Desktop developers do so from pride and not for money, or to reduce their cost to produce any given release. The generalization will dampen their spirits and in the long run kill their motivation to improve at a rapid pace which will in turn provide RedHat and others with an inferior product.
I understand your reasoning, which is indeed on track in the short term, but its a short term fix for a long term slip into obsolesence.
My 2c worth,
"640K Should be enough for anybody"
Bill Gates.
'nuff said.
Not the only bitch.
bill gates (lower case on purpose) is not and never has been a visionary or technological innovator. He has monopolized the market to the extent that he now ownes the rights to technology's vocabulary. "Computer" now refers to the "Personal Computer". "Computer Virus" - there's no such thing, only a Microsoft Virus.
After developing software for twenty years now, with the resources microsoft has at their disposal they still cannot produce an operating system that doesn't crash 2.5 times a week (that is a factual statistic) and that incubates viruses faster than a corpse bacteria.
He and his company produce crap, and cram it down our throats through illegal and momopolistic practises. Shame on all the lemmings that perpetuate this status quo. If microsoft spent more money on engineering and less on lawyers and advertising I'd have a lot less criticism for them.
bwanagary