Of course, no Linux distro is more important than my girlfriend. However, getting her to realize that every once in a while she just needs to shut up and leave me alone for a bit is vitally important to continuing our relationship.
If I were to drone on and on about Linux (well, okay, Mac OS X and OpenBSD), she would simply take it the wrong way. Instead of realizing that I am trying to counter her stream-of-gossip monologue with one of my own, she would take it as a sign that I want to communicate more fully, and begin talking even more. I love my girlfriend, and we've been together for over three years, but you need to realize that nodding and grinning is a short-term fix; if she doesn't know you well enough to realize that occasionally you just need some quiet time (like every guy on the face of the Earth), the relationship won't last.
Disclaimer: No, not everything my girlfriend says is inane gossip, but she just called for an hour on her lunch break to babble inane gossip at me, so at the moment my perspective is skewed.
I gave my girlfriend my iBook when the 12" PowerBook came out. The first thing she did was order and install the Sims for OS X, along with all of the expansion packs.
Thank you for this wonderful, wonderful, wonderful idea. Now maybe I can hold this over her head, and force her to stop telling me every detail of her Sims' virtual lives...
Her: "Ooh, Sim-Kyle took Sim-Natalie out on a date, and some Sim-hoochie walked by and Sim-Kyle whistled at her! Sim-Natalie got so Sim-mad she stormed out and now she won't talk to him!"
Me:::flashes Gentoo CD:: "Don't make me banish your Sims..."
Her:::makes me a sandwich to appease me, and finally shuts up about her damn Sims::
Because I just did, and a few things just leap right off the page:
1)In October, the company persuaded U.S. District Judge Dee Benson to order their destruction.
Because, as we all know, in October Microsoft and SCO were already in collusion to cause this big ruckus. Or maybe SCO was just tired of shelling out the cash to store the documents related to a long-finished case, and was trying to save a little money.
2) However, just as the shredding was to begin, Sun Microsystem's attorneys halted it with a subpoena. The company, seeking evidence that might help in its own antitrust suit against Microsoft, eventually pulled out 40 boxes of the computer giant's secret internal communications for digital imaging.
That's funny, by reading the/. post, it somehow seemed that I should find a picture in the article showing Darl McBride feeding reams of paper, all entitled "Damning Internal Documents of Antitrust Violations", into an industrial-strength shredder while Bill Gates, dressed in a Halloween Satan costume, danced in glee in the background. Funny how/. doesn't mention that some of the documents are being preserved.
3)Meantime, the shredding and pulping of the remaining records has been under way for about two weeks.
So, if/. thinks this is somehow important or damning to Microsoft or SCO, why wasn't this mentioned two weeks ago? Or in October, when SCO obtained permission to shred the documents?
Look, guys, I'm all for the downfall of Microsoft and the phoenix rise of Linux (and OS X, but hey, I'm weird), but couldn't we try for maybe just a teensy bit of objectivity?
::adjusts asbestos underwear::
Okay, flame away.
Re:A translation from Nob-speak to Slash-speak
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Spam, Milord
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· Score: 1
Yet another substantive, thoughtful, carefully-worded reply. I bet that one took you quite some time to come up with, too; it's so incisive, it astonishes me. The depth of your insight really is amazing.
Perhaps you could take this inborn ability, finish high school, read a few good books, learn how to think creatively and independently, and then maybe, just maybe stop wasting my time.
Re:A translation from Nob-speak to Slash-speak
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Spam, Milord
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· Score: 1
Well, let me see... the topic was your arrogant, patronizing reply to my post, which, given the moderation my original post received, was in the minority of opinion. It certainly was easier for you to post a critical, if diminutive, forty-eight character response than to actually use your brain and come up with something funnier.
As for holier-than-thou, I think that's more than a bit like the pot calling the kettle black. If you patronize me, don't expect me to be pleasant to you. The holier-than-thou tone was incidental, and probably came about as a result of the fact that... well... you're a dick, and I wanted to point that out.
Re:A translation from Nob-speak to Slash-speak
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Spam, Milord
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· Score: 1
Yawn. Weak, but keep at it, you may yet improve.
It is much easier to be critical than to be correct.
-- Benjamin Disraeli
I would post the definition of "arrogant" here as well, but it is apparent that no man on this earth can teach you anything more about that particular flaw.
A translation from Nob-speak to Slash-speak
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Spam, Milord
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· Score: 4, Funny
Lord Mitchell asked Her Majesty's Government: What are their plans to reduce the growth in spam (unsolicited e-mails).
Translated: I am receiving seven hundred penis enlargement and shemale porn spams per day. This is becoming difficult to explain to Lady Mitchell.
Lord Sainsbury of Turville: My Lords, I hope noble Lords will appreciate how I move seamlessly from corned beef to spam.
We aim to implement by the end of October this year the privacy and electronic communications directive. This includes requirements that unsolicited e-mails may be sent to individuals only for the purpose of direct marketing with their prior consent, except where there is existing customer relationship between the sender and the addressee. Consultation on the draft regulations started on 27th March and closes on 19th June.
Translated: look, I'm making a clever Spam joke! Aren't I a hoopy frood?
Just like the United States, we're planning on passing laws, but only rarely doing anything to enforce them.
Lord Mitchell: My Lords, I thank my noble friend the Minister for that Answer. Unsolicited e-mails, known as "spam", now account for half of all e-mails in this country. In the United States, they account for 70 per cent. Spam, whether it is nuisance advertising or hardcore pornography is literally choking the Internet. Will the Minister expand on his Answer? Do the Government intend to follow the example of the United States Senate in introducing legislation specifically prohibiting unsolicited e-mails?
Translated: No, seriously, the long-schlong pills and he-she emails are a pain. What are you going to do about it?
Lord Sainsbury of Turville: My Lords, we believe this to be a serious issue. The fact that a European regime has now been agreed implements the door to bilateral agreements between the EU and other countries, which is clearly very helpful. The European Commission is keen to pursue that.
There is now a big movement to stop spam in the United States. Twenty-six states have legislated and, although I do not believe that any action has been taken at the federal level, there has been a recent forum from the Federal Trade Commission on the subject.
We take the matter seriously. If measures are to be effective, it is vitally important that the international dimension is taken account of.
Translated: Well, nothing, really. I mean, if the EU does something, maybe, but come on, I mean, France is in the EU, right? How seriously are we going to take anything France is involved in?
Lord Renton: My Lords, will the Minister explain how it is that an inedible tinned food that lasted for ever and was supplied to those on active service can become an unsolicited e-mail, bearing in mind that some of us wish to be protected from having an e-mail?
Translated: Me and Ned Ludd want to know what these "e-male" and "interweb" thingies are, and what they have to do with lunchmeat?
Lord Sainsbury of Turville: My Lords, I am afraid that I have not been able to find out why the term "spam" is used, but that is the meaning it now has. It is a matter that should be taken very seriously because it not only clutters up computers but involves a great deal of very unpleasant advertising to do with easy credit, pornography and miracle diets. That is offensive to people, and we should try to reduce it.
Translated: Hell if I know. You really expect a bunch of pasty guys with thick glasses and technology fetishes to come up with a normal name? All I know is they say it's bad, so we should do something about it.
Lord Faulkner of Worcester: My Lords, I can help the Minister with the origin of the word. It comes from aficionados of Monty Python, and the famous song, "Spam, spam, spam, spam". It has been picked up by the Internet community and is used as a descrip
...I wasn't planning on spending that much time with my family/girlfriend/cats/ferret anyway, but between this and SW:Galaxies, it's starting to look like I'm going to have to build a life-support system into my office chair and buy a second Windows box so I can game *all* the time.
You buy support for Oracle, as well. In fact, let's compare the support offerings of MySQL vs. those of Oracle.
MySQL offers several levels of support contracts, ranging from unlimited e-mail support for one year for $1500, through e-mail, login, and 24/7 phone support for $48,000. Additional charges are assessed if the customer is using InnoDB or BDB tables. Please note MySQL's definition of 'premium':
Your questions receive personal written replies, we will remotely login to your machines to troubleshoot... plus you have 24 hours x 7 days/week emergency telephone access to developers via our round-the-clock dispatch center, and you also receive one developer assigned as you personal account liaison.
Please also note that premium customers are limited to 12 hours of developer log-on support per month.
Now Oracle:
Oracle offers four levels of service: standard, silver, gold, and platinum. Prices are not fixed, but are arranged through Oracle Support Sales, and tailored to the individual customer's needs. Standard support entails read-only access to Oracle's MetaLink website, and a few e-mail incidents per month. I do not recall what silver entails; I have never purchased a silver support contract. Gold contracts allow full access to MetaLink, with the ability to create trouble tickets. In my experience, trouble tickets created through MetaLink generally receive a reply within 30 minutes. Gold contracts also include 24/7 phone support, for those odd people who like to actually talk to a real person (not me, unless it's absolutely necessary), and remote logon of Oracle engineers to help in fixing any problems. Platinum customers get all the services of a gold contract, plus on-site support services. Most Oracle support contracts disallow disclosing the contracted amount, but I can say that per-CPU, a platinum support contract from Oracle is slightly less expensive than the MySQL premium support.
Now let me say that I did read the parent post. Had you read my prior post, you would have seen the part that said, "in my experience." The boss doesn't necessarily know what he/she wants, and talking about TCO isn't a good way to start. You want to warm him/her up to the idea before talking numbers; once he/she is receptive to the idea, the numbers will sound better than if you had just walked into the room and said, "Free software, thirty thousand."
You could also point out that with MySQL you do have two support options, but unless you've been writing database software for a long time, and working with MySQL in particular, you don't have a very good chance of fixing an intricate bug in a timely manner. Having access to the source doesn't necessarily mean you can fix it yourself. By the way, I notice that MySQL doesn't offer any on-site support; thus, Oracle has *more* support than the free MySQL. Pretentious git.
I agree with your main points here, especially about security. Everyone knows you shouldn't go with Swiss - it's full of holes! Munster is too soft, so is mozarella. Feta crumbles under any attack, and gorgonzola's security just plain stinks. Don't get me started on that mass-produced processed cheese! As soon as you take it out of the wrapper, it goes all limp and falls to pieces!
In the end, I made the only decision that made sense: parmesan. It's hardened, very difficult to cut through, and versatile. Plus, it's tasty on a salad or some pasta.
Um, I'm all for MySQL (we use it locally on my company's web servers), but are you also going to estimate the labor costs involved in recovering a failed MySQL database, or the labor costs involved in making MySQL fault-tolerant?
MySQL has many strengths, but reliability on an enterprise scale isn't one of them. MySQL is best suited for "edge" services, or for convenience services in-house. Oracle may gouge you for every cent they can, but there really aren't any databases that can compete with Oracle for enterprise features.
That said, TCO shouldn't be one of your arguments. In my experience, the best arguments address the suitability of the package/software to the problem, the ease of deployment, and scalability. Every time I've heard someone bring up TCO, somebody else asks about support. And USENET is not a suitable answer for most technical directors. If your company uses Oracle, BTW, you should point out that Oracle's recommended platform for new installations is Linux. You don't get a much better endorsement than that (at least, as far as your bosses are concerned).
Civilian GPSs *are* lighter and (oftentimes) more accurate than the PLGR. I own a Garmin, myself. However, civilian GPS units are more susceptible to jamming, and cannot access the encrypted signal you have to access to get an accurate signal in an area where GPS accuracy has been deliberately degraded.
You must not have much experience with the military. Most REMFs are more likely to spend $100 on a cooler and a portable barbecue than a GPS. Why? "Because we'll never be in combat, why would we need that stuff?". And I think you'll find that even in A-teams where the operators have all purchased their own civilian GPS units, somebody's still carrying around a PLGR.
Plus the old ones [fas.org] have such a crappy user interface that you accidentally drop bombs on your own troops. Apparently, its a 14 step process to replace the battery, and in the confusion of battle mistakes are made. The same display for "current" location is used for "target" location, and in Afghanistan they dropped some on themselves.
Okay, let me dispel several fallacies here. First, the user interface, like any other, is only crappy if you don't learn how to use the device. Once you know how the device works, you don't have to think to use it. Second, it's a four step process to replace the battery: turn the unit off, replace the battery, turn the unit on, re-sync. Six button presses in total. If you know how to use the unit. Third, PLGRs report THEIR OWN POSITION. If you want to call arty or air support on a target you have to PLOT THE POSITION OF THE TARGET ON YOUR MAP MANUALLY. Anybody dumb enough to give their own position as target coordinates for an air strike deserves to have a bomb dropped on them.
So, what kind of GPS was that maintenance company using when they got lost and captured by the Iraqis?
Read the article. It says (and my experience has been [you should see REMFs ogle PLGRs - hell, they get excited when they see guys get out of a slick {gunship Humvee} wearing LBVs {gear vests}]) that non-combat units don't commonly have GPS equipment.
That they don't call out "Smoke 'em if you got 'em" anymore.
Actually, they do. I've taken smoke breaks in the middle of MILES firefights (while in good cover, of course), and after having my hip crushed in a training accident the first thing I asked the medic for (and got) was a smoke.
I think you may find smoking is more common/acceptable in combat units than in REMFs. I don't know for sure about that, though, since I've been a Cavalry Scout for my whole career.
From the article: The new system will also track all 12 G.P.S. satellites in each hemisphere at once. The old units can only track five satellites at once, and signals from four satellites are required to establish a three-dimensional position. In addition, current G.P.S. receivers are somewhat vulnerable to enemy equipment that beams false G.P.S. signals to indicate the wrong location, a technique known as spoofing.
Here's the thing: the article is correct about the PLGR needing four locked satellites to establish a three-dimensional position. However, a PLGR can also establish a two-dimensional position with two locked signals and one intermittent one. The important part here is that the PLGR's most common use (determining position for individual soldiers and vehicles) doesn't need a 3D position. Your position (including elevation) can be plotted on any map using only two coordinates. 3D positions are only important for aircraft, air defense, and artillery. And for the most part, those guys aren't using PLGRs. Oh, and PLGRs can track up to 10 satellites.
This corrective post brought to you by a US Army Cavalry Scout. (None of this information, by the way, is classified or restricted. The reporter just didn't check sources very well.)
ScoLinux was going to include some old UNIX tech to support 16Gb of RAM until ScoSource threatened to sue them for $1Bn.
SCO's CEO was quoted as saying, "We're not in any danger of going out of business, we just want to stop these thieving bastards from taking our precious thirty-year old source code, dusting it off, polishing it up, refactoring it - actually, just writing new code from scratch, but 'Linux' sounds sort of like 'UNIX', so it *must* be descended from ScoSource IP - and selling it as their own."
He then removed his rose-colored glasses, glanced at a recent SCO SEC filing, and muttered, "Oh, shit."
not all sites need oracle or postgresql, oracle is very resource hefty and expensive. the costs of oracle alone can tank a small business.
plus, mysql is very light. this means it is ideal for embedded systems and PDAs. there's no way anyone is going to shoehorn oracle into a zaurus. mysql runs fine though on it.
postgresql might be more feature-complete, but the community support for mysql is many times better.
advocate oracle and postgresql all you like, it doesnt matter. one size does not fit all.
Please read future posts before posting knee-jerk defensive reactions like this. Or did you miss the part where I said we use both MySQL and Oracle? We use MySQL because it is lightweight and runs well on limited hardware. Its' replication features are impressive, and we fully exploit them. We just don't use MySQL on mission-critical systems. We use Oracle because it is an outstanding product with amazing capabilities and support. Better support than even the vaunted community support of free/open software.
Where do you get the idea that I'm saying Oracle is the One True Database, and all should bow down to the might Larry? Or are you just automatically going on the defensive because I dared to assert that MySQL is not enterprise-ready?
I work for a company that uses both systems - LAMP for webservers, PJOLA (PHP/Java/Oracle/Linux/Apache) for the internal office/admin/order system, with some interesting interactions between the two systems.
For example, product data and changes originate in the internal system, get sent from Oracle to a MySQL master DB through an ODBC link, then the MySQL master propagates the changes down to the webservers, which are MySQL slaves. The flow of orders from MySQL to Oracle is less complicated, as each webserver transfers its orders directly to Oracle through an ODBC link.
These are just two of the interactions with external data involved in our system (data external to Oracle, that is). Here is why we don't use MySQL internally:
It's not ready for enterprise use. Flame me all you want, but that's the simple truth. Without subselects, built-in OLAP, a comprehensive data dictionary (which is crucial for system auditing), comprehensive tracing features (ditto), hot-standby failover support, clustered database support, and a dozen other things, MySQL is not suited to mission-critical environments.
It's fine for our webservers, where it is important to have a lightweight, fast database server, but not for the really important stuff; I can lose a webserver, no problem - there are several more I can redistribute the load to - but I absolutely cannot lose my office/order system. MySQL can't provide a reasonable guarantee of my data's integrity and security, so I'm not using it.
As for PostgreSQL - when we first started developing our system, we came down to two databases for the internal side: Oracle8i and PostgreSQL. We ended up choosing Oracle for performance reasons, and for clustered database support. PostgreSQL is a full-featured, stable, capable database, but it can't keep up with Oracle for speed or features. Example: Oracle9i's XMLDB - a huge boon to systems which do a lot of business-to-business (sorry, but I hate the B2B B2C, etc. crap) data interchange. Much of today's interchange is done in XML, and the ability to treat an XML file as just another table is a huge effort and timesaver. Oracle isn't the only database with XML support, but it is the only one I know of that allows you to join an XML file to an internal table for queries.
So, flame away, I'm wearing my asbestos underpants. But those are the facts as I see them.
I'm still right; Russia isn't really a democracy, and Canada is the unofficial 51st state, and they know it.
I think democracy sucks, anyway - we should all revert to a state of feudalism. I'd like to tool around town in my spray-paint camo Bronco with a retinue of Road Warrior-style post-apocalyptic bodyguards, telling hot chicks I'm the Earl of 112th and Mill Plain Blvd.;)
DISCLAIMER: FOR ALL YOU CANADIANS (and others who can't take a joke) - I AM JUST JOKING (sheesh)
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Of course, no Linux distro is more important than my girlfriend. However, getting her to realize that every once in a while she just needs to shut up and leave me alone for a bit is vitally important to continuing our relationship.
If I were to drone on and on about Linux (well, okay, Mac OS X and OpenBSD), she would simply take it the wrong way. Instead of realizing that I am trying to counter her stream-of-gossip monologue with one of my own, she would take it as a sign that I want to communicate more fully, and begin talking even more. I love my girlfriend, and we've been together for over three years, but you need to realize that nodding and grinning is a short-term fix; if she doesn't know you well enough to realize that occasionally you just need some quiet time (like every guy on the face of the Earth), the relationship won't last.
Disclaimer: No, not everything my girlfriend says is inane gossip, but she just called for an hour on her lunch break to babble inane gossip at me, so at the moment my perspective is skewed.
I gave my girlfriend my iBook when the 12" PowerBook came out. The first thing she did was order and install the Sims for OS X, along with all of the expansion packs.
::flashes Gentoo CD:: "Don't make me banish your Sims..."
::makes me a sandwich to appease me, and finally shuts up about her damn Sims::
Thank you for this wonderful, wonderful, wonderful idea. Now maybe I can hold this over her head, and force her to stop telling me every detail of her Sims' virtual lives...
Her: "Ooh, Sim-Kyle took Sim-Natalie out on a date, and some Sim-hoochie walked by and Sim-Kyle whistled at her! Sim-Natalie got so Sim-mad she stormed out and now she won't talk to him!"
Me:
Her:
My bad, I missed that one.
Because I just did, and a few things just leap right off the page:
/. post, it somehow seemed that I should find a picture in the article showing Darl McBride feeding reams of paper, all entitled "Damning Internal Documents of Antitrust Violations", into an industrial-strength shredder while Bill Gates, dressed in a Halloween Satan costume, danced in glee in the background. Funny how /. doesn't mention that some of the documents are being preserved.
/. thinks this is somehow important or damning to Microsoft or SCO, why wasn't this mentioned two weeks ago? Or in October, when SCO obtained permission to shred the documents?
::adjusts asbestos underwear::
1)In October, the company persuaded U.S. District Judge Dee Benson to order their destruction.
Because, as we all know, in October Microsoft and SCO were already in collusion to cause this big ruckus. Or maybe SCO was just tired of shelling out the cash to store the documents related to a long-finished case, and was trying to save a little money.
2) However, just as the shredding was to begin, Sun Microsystem's attorneys halted it with a subpoena. The company, seeking evidence that might help in its own antitrust suit against Microsoft, eventually pulled out 40 boxes of the computer giant's secret internal communications for digital imaging.
That's funny, by reading the
3)Meantime, the shredding and pulping of the remaining records has been under way for about two weeks.
So, if
Look, guys, I'm all for the downfall of Microsoft and the phoenix rise of Linux (and OS X, but hey, I'm weird), but couldn't we try for maybe just a teensy bit of objectivity?
Okay, flame away.
Yet another substantive, thoughtful, carefully-worded reply. I bet that one took you quite some time to come up with, too; it's so incisive, it astonishes me. The depth of your insight really is amazing.
Perhaps you could take this inborn ability, finish high school, read a few good books, learn how to think creatively and independently, and then maybe, just maybe stop wasting my time.
Well, let me see... the topic was your arrogant, patronizing reply to my post, which, given the moderation my original post received, was in the minority of opinion. It certainly was easier for you to post a critical, if diminutive, forty-eight character response than to actually use your brain and come up with something funnier.
As for holier-than-thou, I think that's more than a bit like the pot calling the kettle black. If you patronize me, don't expect me to be pleasant to you. The holier-than-thou tone was incidental, and probably came about as a result of the fact that... well... you're a dick, and I wanted to point that out.
Yawn. Weak, but keep at it, you may yet improve.
It is much easier to be critical than to be correct.
-- Benjamin Disraeli
I would post the definition of "arrogant" here as well, but it is apparent that no man on this earth can teach you anything more about that particular flaw.
Lord Mitchell asked Her Majesty's Government:
What are their plans to reduce the growth in spam (unsolicited e-mails).
Translated: I am receiving seven hundred penis enlargement and shemale porn spams per day. This is becoming difficult to explain to Lady Mitchell.
Lord Sainsbury of Turville:
My Lords, I hope noble Lords will appreciate how I move seamlessly from corned beef to spam.
We aim to implement by the end of October this year the privacy and electronic communications directive. This includes requirements that unsolicited e-mails may be sent to individuals only for the purpose of direct marketing with their prior consent, except where there is existing customer relationship between the sender and the addressee. Consultation on the draft regulations started on 27th March and closes on 19th June.
Translated: look, I'm making a clever Spam joke! Aren't I a hoopy frood?
Just like the United States, we're planning on passing laws, but only rarely doing anything to enforce them.
Lord Mitchell:
My Lords, I thank my noble friend the Minister for that Answer. Unsolicited e-mails, known as "spam", now account for half of all e-mails in this country. In the United States, they account for 70 per cent. Spam, whether it is nuisance advertising or hardcore pornography is literally choking the Internet. Will the Minister expand on his Answer? Do the Government intend to follow the example of the United States Senate in introducing legislation specifically prohibiting unsolicited e-mails?
Translated: No, seriously, the long-schlong pills and he-she emails are a pain. What are you going to do about it?
Lord Sainsbury of Turville:
My Lords, we believe this to be a serious issue. The fact that a European regime has now been agreed implements the door to bilateral agreements between the EU and other countries, which is clearly very helpful. The European Commission is keen to pursue that.
There is now a big movement to stop spam in the United States. Twenty-six states have legislated and, although I do not believe that any action has been taken at the federal level, there has been a recent forum from the Federal Trade Commission on the subject.
We take the matter seriously. If measures are to be effective, it is vitally important that the international dimension is taken account of.
Translated: Well, nothing, really. I mean, if the EU does something, maybe, but come on, I mean, France is in the EU, right? How seriously are we going to take anything France is involved in?
Lord Renton:
My Lords, will the Minister explain how it is that an inedible tinned food that lasted for ever and was supplied to those on active service can become an unsolicited e-mail, bearing in mind that some of us wish to be protected from having an e-mail?
Translated: Me and Ned Ludd want to know what these "e-male" and "interweb" thingies are, and what they have to do with lunchmeat?
Lord Sainsbury of Turville:
My Lords, I am afraid that I have not been able to find out why the term "spam" is used, but that is the meaning it now has. It is a matter that should be taken very seriously because it not only clutters up computers but involves a great deal of very unpleasant advertising to do with easy credit, pornography and miracle diets. That is offensive to people, and we should try to reduce it.
Translated: Hell if I know. You really expect a bunch of pasty guys with thick glasses and technology fetishes to come up with a normal name? All I know is they say it's bad, so we should do something about it.
Lord Faulkner of Worcester:
My Lords, I can help the Minister with the origin of the word. It comes from aficionados of Monty Python, and the famous song, "Spam, spam, spam, spam". It has been picked up by the Internet community and is used as a descrip
...I wasn't planning on spending that much time with my family/girlfriend/cats/ferret anyway, but between this and SW:Galaxies, it's starting to look like I'm going to have to build a life-support system into my office chair and buy a second Windows box so I can game *all* the time.
You buy support for Oracle, as well. In fact, let's compare the support offerings of MySQL vs. those of Oracle.
MySQL offers several levels of support contracts, ranging from unlimited e-mail support for one year for $1500, through e-mail, login, and 24/7 phone support for $48,000. Additional charges are assessed if the customer is using InnoDB or BDB tables. Please note MySQL's definition of 'premium':
Your questions receive personal written replies, we will remotely login to your machines to troubleshoot... plus you have 24 hours x 7 days/week emergency telephone access to developers via our round-the-clock dispatch center, and you also receive one developer assigned as you personal account liaison.
Please also note that premium customers are limited to 12 hours of developer log-on support per month.
Now Oracle:
Oracle offers four levels of service: standard, silver, gold, and platinum. Prices are not fixed, but are arranged through Oracle Support Sales, and tailored to the individual customer's needs. Standard support entails read-only access to Oracle's MetaLink website, and a few e-mail incidents per month. I do not recall what silver entails; I have never purchased a silver support contract. Gold contracts allow full access to MetaLink, with the ability to create trouble tickets. In my experience, trouble tickets created through MetaLink generally receive a reply within 30 minutes. Gold contracts also include 24/7 phone support, for those odd people who like to actually talk to a real person (not me, unless it's absolutely necessary), and remote logon of Oracle engineers to help in fixing any problems. Platinum customers get all the services of a gold contract, plus on-site support services. Most Oracle support contracts disallow disclosing the contracted amount, but I can say that per-CPU, a platinum support contract from Oracle is slightly less expensive than the MySQL premium support.
Now let me say that I did read the parent post. Had you read my prior post, you would have seen the part that said, "in my experience." The boss doesn't necessarily know what he/she wants, and talking about TCO isn't a good way to start. You want to warm him/her up to the idea before talking numbers; once he/she is receptive to the idea, the numbers will sound better than if you had just walked into the room and said, "Free software, thirty thousand."
You could also point out that with MySQL you do have two support options, but unless you've been writing database software for a long time, and working with MySQL in particular, you don't have a very good chance of fixing an intricate bug in a timely manner. Having access to the source doesn't necessarily mean you can fix it yourself. By the way, I notice that MySQL doesn't offer any on-site support; thus, Oracle has *more* support than the free MySQL. Pretentious git.
PostgreSQL, though a fine database, cannot compare to Oracle in one critical category: speed. Otherwise I'd be using it internally, myself.
I have not investigated Mnesia.
I agree with your main points here, especially about security. Everyone knows you shouldn't go with Swiss - it's full of holes! Munster is too soft, so is mozarella. Feta crumbles under any attack, and gorgonzola's security just plain stinks. Don't get me started on that mass-produced processed cheese! As soon as you take it out of the wrapper, it goes all limp and falls to pieces!
In the end, I made the only decision that made sense: parmesan. It's hardened, very difficult to cut through, and versatile. Plus, it's tasty on a salad or some pasta.
Um, I'm all for MySQL (we use it locally on my company's web servers), but are you also going to estimate the labor costs involved in recovering a failed MySQL database, or the labor costs involved in making MySQL fault-tolerant?
MySQL has many strengths, but reliability on an enterprise scale isn't one of them. MySQL is best suited for "edge" services, or for convenience services in-house. Oracle may gouge you for every cent they can, but there really aren't any databases that can compete with Oracle for enterprise features.
That said, TCO shouldn't be one of your arguments. In my experience, the best arguments address the suitability of the package/software to the problem, the ease of deployment, and scalability. Every time I've heard someone bring up TCO, somebody else asks about support. And USENET is not a suitable answer for most technical directors. If your company uses Oracle, BTW, you should point out that Oracle's recommended platform for new installations is Linux. You don't get a much better endorsement than that (at least, as far as your bosses are concerned).
#include "disclaimer.h"
...website served by Yugo.
Another innocent server Slashdotted...
Two words: Resident Evil.
#define SIMPSONS_COMIC_BOOK_GEEK_VOICE
Coolest. Movie. Ever.
#undef SIMPSONS_COMIC_BOOK_GEEK_VOICE
Civilian GPSs *are* lighter and (oftentimes) more accurate than the PLGR. I own a Garmin, myself. However, civilian GPS units are more susceptible to jamming, and cannot access the encrypted signal you have to access to get an accurate signal in an area where GPS accuracy has been deliberately degraded.
You must not have much experience with the military. Most REMFs are more likely to spend $100 on a cooler and a portable barbecue than a GPS. Why? "Because we'll never be in combat, why would we need that stuff?". And I think you'll find that even in A-teams where the operators have all purchased their own civilian GPS units, somebody's still carrying around a PLGR.
Plus the old ones [fas.org] have such a crappy user interface that you accidentally drop bombs on your own troops. Apparently, its a 14 step process to replace the battery, and in the confusion of battle mistakes are made. The same display for "current" location is used for "target" location, and in Afghanistan they dropped some on themselves.
Okay, let me dispel several fallacies here. First, the user interface, like any other, is only crappy if you don't learn how to use the device. Once you know how the device works, you don't have to think to use it. Second, it's a four step process to replace the battery: turn the unit off, replace the battery, turn the unit on, re-sync. Six button presses in total. If you know how to use the unit. Third, PLGRs report THEIR OWN POSITION. If you want to call arty or air support on a target you have to PLOT THE POSITION OF THE TARGET ON YOUR MAP MANUALLY. Anybody dumb enough to give their own position as target coordinates for an air strike deserves to have a bomb dropped on them.
So, what kind of GPS was that maintenance company using when they got lost and captured by the Iraqis?
Read the article. It says (and my experience has been [you should see REMFs ogle PLGRs - hell, they get excited when they see guys get out of a slick {gunship Humvee} wearing LBVs {gear vests}]) that non-combat units don't commonly have GPS equipment.
That they don't call out "Smoke 'em if you got 'em" anymore.
Actually, they do. I've taken smoke breaks in the middle of MILES firefights (while in good cover, of course), and after having my hip crushed in a training accident the first thing I asked the medic for (and got) was a smoke.
I think you may find smoking is more common/acceptable in combat units than in REMFs. I don't know for sure about that, though, since I've been a Cavalry Scout for my whole career.
From the article:
The new system will also track all 12 G.P.S. satellites in each hemisphere at once. The old units can only track five satellites at once, and signals from four satellites are required to establish a three-dimensional position. In addition, current G.P.S. receivers are somewhat vulnerable to enemy equipment that beams false G.P.S. signals to indicate the wrong location, a technique known as spoofing.
Here's the thing: the article is correct about the PLGR needing four locked satellites to establish a three-dimensional position. However, a PLGR can also establish a two-dimensional position with two locked signals and one intermittent one. The important part here is that the PLGR's most common use (determining position for individual soldiers and vehicles) doesn't need a 3D position. Your position (including elevation) can be plotted on any map using only two coordinates. 3D positions are only important for aircraft, air defense, and artillery. And for the most part, those guys aren't using PLGRs. Oh, and PLGRs can track up to 10 satellites.
This corrective post brought to you by a US Army Cavalry Scout. (None of this information, by the way, is classified or restricted. The reporter just didn't check sources very well.)
ScoLinux was going to include some old UNIX tech to support 16Gb of RAM until ScoSource threatened to sue them for $1Bn.
SCO's CEO was quoted as saying, "We're not in any danger of going out of business, we just want to stop these thieving bastards from taking our precious thirty-year old source code, dusting it off, polishing it up, refactoring it - actually, just writing new code from scratch, but 'Linux' sounds sort of like 'UNIX', so it *must* be descended from ScoSource IP - and selling it as their own."
He then removed his rose-colored glasses, glanced at a recent SCO SEC filing, and muttered, "Oh, shit."
For those readers who haven't before encountered state machines:
Los Alamos National Lab has some good info (overview mostly)
Lecture notes from MIT
An interesting research project from The Beast
Some info on how FSMs are used for AI in computer games
not all sites need oracle or postgresql, oracle is very resource hefty and expensive. the costs of oracle alone can tank a small business.
plus, mysql is very light. this means it is ideal for embedded systems and PDAs. there's no way anyone is going to shoehorn oracle into a zaurus. mysql runs fine though on it.
postgresql might be more feature-complete, but the community support for mysql is many times better.
advocate oracle and postgresql all you like, it doesnt matter. one size does not fit all.
Please read future posts before posting knee-jerk defensive reactions like this. Or did you miss the part where I said we use both MySQL and Oracle? We use MySQL because it is lightweight and runs well on limited hardware. Its' replication features are impressive, and we fully exploit them. We just don't use MySQL on mission-critical systems. We use Oracle because it is an outstanding product with amazing capabilities and support. Better support than even the vaunted community support of free/open software.
Where do you get the idea that I'm saying Oracle is the One True Database, and all should bow down to the might Larry? Or are you just automatically going on the defensive because I dared to assert that MySQL is not enterprise-ready?
Here's what I think...
I work for a company that uses both systems - LAMP for webservers, PJOLA (PHP/Java/Oracle/Linux/Apache) for the internal office/admin/order system, with some interesting interactions between the two systems.
For example, product data and changes originate in the internal system, get sent from Oracle to a MySQL master DB through an ODBC link, then the MySQL master propagates the changes down to the webservers, which are MySQL slaves. The flow of orders from MySQL to Oracle is less complicated, as each webserver transfers its orders directly to Oracle through an ODBC link.
These are just two of the interactions with external data involved in our system (data external to Oracle, that is). Here is why we don't use MySQL internally:
It's not ready for enterprise use. Flame me all you want, but that's the simple truth. Without subselects, built-in OLAP, a comprehensive data dictionary (which is crucial for system auditing), comprehensive tracing features (ditto), hot-standby failover support, clustered database support, and a dozen other things, MySQL is not suited to mission-critical environments.
It's fine for our webservers, where it is important to have a lightweight, fast database server, but not for the really important stuff; I can lose a webserver, no problem - there are several more I can redistribute the load to - but I absolutely cannot lose my office/order system. MySQL can't provide a reasonable guarantee of my data's integrity and security, so I'm not using it.
As for PostgreSQL - when we first started developing our system, we came down to two databases for the internal side: Oracle8i and PostgreSQL. We ended up choosing Oracle for performance reasons, and for clustered database support. PostgreSQL is a full-featured, stable, capable database, but it can't keep up with Oracle for speed or features. Example: Oracle9i's XMLDB - a huge boon to systems which do a lot of business-to-business (sorry, but I hate the B2B B2C, etc. crap) data interchange. Much of today's interchange is done in XML, and the ability to treat an XML file as just another table is a huge effort and timesaver. Oracle isn't the only database with XML support, but it is the only one I know of that allows you to join an XML file to an internal table for queries.
So, flame away, I'm wearing my asbestos underpants. But those are the facts as I see them.
I'm still right; Russia isn't really a democracy, and Canada is the unofficial 51st state, and they know it.
;)
I think democracy sucks, anyway - we should all revert to a state of feudalism. I'd like to tool around town in my spray-paint camo Bronco with a retinue of Road Warrior-style post-apocalyptic bodyguards, telling hot chicks I'm the Earl of 112th and Mill Plain Blvd.
DISCLAIMER: FOR ALL YOU CANADIANS (and others who can't take a joke) - I AM JUST JOKING (sheesh)