"I've never had much luck with 2000 and less than 256 mb of ram"
"My boss is running it on a P3 with 256 and it's pretty unresponsive once outlook and ie are open "
Excuse me? I run Win2000 on a Duron 650 with 128 RAM and it runs quite well. It is very responsive and the GUI feels a lot snappier than my Red Hat 9 install with Gnome on the same machine. Have you run Gnome / KDE on a P3? Or are you comparing the responsiveness of a modern system running Linux with a 4 / 5 year old system running Win2k? When 2000 came out 128 was quite a reasonable amount of RAM on a desktop, so I find it strange to suggest that somehow it ran unacceptably slow on a system with that configuration.
OK, to summarise my position (yes I do have one, just because I dont think Linux is for everyone does not mean I do not have a valid point).
Yes Gnome is doing a fantastic job. No the desktop is not as polished as either Win or OS X. Case in point. Cut / copy and paste. You cannot hold a straight face and tell me that this works consistently across all Linux applications can you? Heck..even the hourglass spins around sometimes, but other times remains still, depending on the application you are in. From a users perspective this comes across as an unpolished product.
MS Office IS needed by businesses. Clients generally require you to send your documents in.doc format. Im sorry, they pay the bills, they win. If you send through a.doc and it suddenly comes out funny, it is unacceptable, and if it is a proposal it can mean the difference between winning or losing a contract. It appears unprofessional.
A PC will have downtime, no matter if you run Linux, Windows, Solaris, whatever. If you do not have a clue and need your PC for your business, you are generally better off with a system you can just take to your local computer repairman to just reinstall Windows, rather than having to find someone who knows Linux. Yes, in an ideal world this local computer tech would know Linux, but we do not live in an ideal world. This small business needs their computer for work so they can afford to eat at night. No you cant expect them to google for answers. Until Linux gets wider acceptance and tech support becomes simple to find, you cant honestly expect them to use it.
Lack of games. Very big reason Linux is not taking over the desktop. This is changing however (no WineX is not the answer for the Average Joe).
Use the right tool for the circumstances. Just as I would not run a Windows server (Exchange being the exception), for many users Linux is not the answer for the desktop. No just because I do not think Linux is the answer to everything does not mean I am trolling.
As an aside, if I mock the comment that "2004 is the year of Linux on the desktop", it is a valid criticism. Every year we hear that XXXX is the year of Linux on the desktop. How about we save the celebrations and only announce when XXXX WAS the year of Linux on the desktop. Celebrating something that has not happened yet is just stupid.
Apologies for coming across aggresively, that was not the intention. No I am not an M$ fanboi just as I am assuming you are not a zealot.
OK, just for a simple case in point. Cut and paste. You are seriously going to tell me that cut and paste works consistently through all Linux applications? Even the hour glass. Spins around on the desktop, under Mozilla it is static. Yes they are little things, but they all contribute to the overall usability. On Windows, cut and paste is the same across the board. The hourglass behaves the same. This is the sort of thing I am talking about. The polish is just not there yet on Linux.
Yes I do know about Gnome's efforts in usability and full credit to them, it is almost there, but the keyword is 'almost'.
"But one day, not toooo far away, you will be using linux."
I already do. Just because I do not think that Linux is ready for the Average Joe does not mean that I have never used it. I quite like it in fact. But then again, I am a programmer, not an end user. Linux is great for what I use it for. Is Linux better than the commercial alternatives for the average end user? No.
And in the REAL WORLD you need to ensure that your documents are viewable by ALL your customers. No it is not an ideal situation, but a business NEEDS MS Office.
And yes I do use Linux before you start thinking that my opinions are based on ignorance. I am quite happy with it. Would I recommend it to a small business unless I knew they had some form of tech support handy? No. Does it support all the hardware that a family may want to plug into it eg scanners, cameras etc? No. Whether or not the cause is due to the manufacturers not providing the right drivers, the temperature in Iceland reaching -50 or whatever, the fact remains that the average family may not be able to use their peripherals.
Why has OS X use on the desktop remained far in excess of Linux use? Is that due to laziness of the end users not researching anything beyond "Winblows"?
It is this attitude of superiority that will keep end users away. Something that may be simple to use for you and me may be very difficult for a computer illiterate person. As Linux is far cheaper than the Windows alternative, and most families are very money conscious, there obviously is another reason for the lack of average Joe takeup of the product. And the attitude you display of "Linux is usable, you are stupid for not finding it usable!" is just not going to convert anyone over. Why do you think Apple and MS spend so much time and money researching usability?
That ring a bell? There are more, you can Google for them yourself (a favourite zealot instruction to a poor new user). I think the modding has just proved my point - the biggest problem facing Linux is the abundance of zealots.
Let me explain in simple terms. Usability is not as good as MS or Apple. Why? The zealots do not believe usability is an important feature. Usability is for lusers.
If somebody makes a suggestion for an improvement, the response generally goes along the lines of "why dont YOU write the code?".
If a new user asks for help, rather than a simple one line answer which is all that is required most of the time, the response generally is "stop wasting my time, google for it". Generally not as polite.
There are many more, but think about it. How many major problems with Linux are not somehow attributable to the attitudes of the zealots?
Re:Using the right tool for the job
on
OpenGL in PHP
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
"Debugging someone else's code in a language that enforces structured programming pragmas as little as possible is a nightmare. I know this because I do it on a regular basis."
Same here, and I totally agree with you. If something goes wrong, I want to know about it, not have the program / database decide for me what it should do with it. I think your problem was you mentioned something bad about MySQL in a PHP story. The LAMP zealots are amongst the worst. MySQL will accept date types like 2004-15-60! Having to support quite a number of apps, I want to know the moment something funny happens, not find out a month later when the end user is pulling a report.
For simple web apps (eg shopping cart) I advise people to use LAMP due to its simplicity. Anything larger and I advise people to stay well clear and go with something like Java (or Perl) and Postgres. This forces the designer / developer to think in large terms to begin with. May seem like a waste of time early on (and it is if you know for certain your app will not grow) but when you start scaling up, it will save a total rewrite.
Dont forget that 2004 was going to be the year of Linux on the desktop!
The biggest reason Linux is not succeeding - the attitude of the zealots. You will find the vast majority of Linux problems stem from this one problem.
This is rather strange. We think along very similar lines on this issue, but arrive at totally different conclusions.
I know where youre coming from, and I used to think along the same lines. Then I figured out it is all about trade-offs. Generally you trade money (or potential money) for enjoyment. If you love research, then you will not get a well paid job. If you want a well paid job, then chances are you will not really enjoy it. It comes down to what means more to you. The greater income or the job you prefer. If you want to spend a greater time with your kids, then you have to accept your income will suffer. Generally we expect our quality of life to be at a certain level, which requires money, so its a tough balancing act.
People in positions of power have never wanted thinking, happy populations. People who are content with their life have too much time to think about things and are less likely to accept orders from superiors. It is much easier to control a population if there is someone to blame for their problems. Whats my answer? To think and be happy. Sounds corny, but just imagine if the majority of the population had the same attitude what would happen.
On the subject of programming as a hobby, there is no way I would program for free for a company, no matter how much I enjoyed it. For myself I love playing around, my favourite being writing up simulations. If a company wants to make money off my work, then they can pay me for it. I give it to my friends for free, anyone else has to accept that my time and effort went into it and should compensate me for it.
The problem comes when you lose the distinction between work and fun. Your boss asks you to do something IT related outside your job description. Because you enjoy IT, you do it for fun, not realising that now you have done it, you will be expected to support what you have done, and it will be added to your current workload for no extra pay. For me, work is work. If they want me to do something, no matter whether I enjoy it or not, they pay for it. They are using it to fill their coffers, they can pass some of it my way too. Is this selfish? Probably, but I do not apologise for this attitude one bit. Its all about playing the game depending on what the rules are, and adjusting your strategy accordingly. At work you have to play the corporate game, but out of work there is no reason why your dickhead boss has to make the rest of your life miserable - thats your life to enjoy however you please.
I am getting a bit off-topic here, but what the heck
I agree with you up to a point. But, I disagree that life is so pointless. The problem lies with people going into a profession because they have been pressured into it - friends, family, society etc. And the source of the problem generally lies with people doing a job and then trying to base their lifestyle around their work. When you think about it, thats absurd! Employment is to make money to pay for you to lead the lifestyle you want to. And yet people find themselves giving up the things they love because it does not fit around their work!
In schools people should be encouraged to follow what they enjoy. Why are they not? Because that starts undermining capitalism. The almighty dollar is meant to be the driver behind everything. Schools tend to encourage students to persue the most highly paid career that they can with little regard for what they enjoy or what they want out of life. If making a million dollars means less to someone than a good family life, why are they encouraged into high stress positions when they will be much happier with a nice quiet 9-5 job? No, they wont make millions, but they will be much happier with their life.
If everyone just followed their dreams, life would be so much more enjoyable! Dont like your boss? Leave, do something else. No you may not work in IT for a while, but you can always do it in your spare time, and it will be far more enjoyable to you (been there done that). Get a less stressful job and just enjoy life!
So, to bring my rant to a point: I would take the total opposite approach to what you suggest. Encourage kids that life is there to be enjoyed, and they should follow their dreams, and to hell with what anyone else thinks of them.
I am not blaming the zealots for the companies not playing fair. I hold the zealots responsible for not presenting the full story to young developers.
We know big business does not play fair. Young kids with no experience with business do not. If you are going to tell them that FOSS is great / the way of the future etc, you should also point out the problems that may be encounter. Many zealots do not.
Note that I am drawing a distinction between FOSS advocates and FOSS zealots. Advocates generally do accept that there are downsides and will let others know. The big problem in the FOSS community is the very high percentage of zealots running around that sometimes drown out the sensible advice of the more knowledgable advocates.
The point I am trying to get at is this: If you know that big business does not play fair, but keep that fact from someone you are advising to take up FOSS development just so that you can "convert" them, then yes you are also partially responsible of they get screwed over. You did not do the screwing, but you knew there was a possibility of it happening and did not warn them.
The big BIG problem for the FOSS business model for the little guy is some large company running off with the product and either offering it themselves, or in this case not bothering to contribute anything back.
And yes, software costs money to develop. Even if you do it in your spare time, that is time that could be spent on a profit earning venture. For better or worse, we live in a capitalistic society. You go to the supermarket, they will expect you to pay cash for what you buy.
And the FOSS zealots ARE partially responsible for poor young students / software developers spending huge amounts of their valuable time for free. All over slashdot the zealots will flame anyone who dares to suggest that to run a business you have to think past just simply offering FOSS software / services. It is always suggested that FOSS is the way of the future, all large companies are shifting to FOSS etc etc etc. Why do you think IBM loves Linux? Not because they have a love for their fellow human being - they can get it for free! They can undercut the opposition. If they are true believers in FOSS philosophy, wheres the source code for DB2? Yeahh...suuure..they have fully embraced open source havent they?
Yes, FOSS is a noble cause, but please PLEASE stop trying to convince kids that they will make money from their efforts. Consulting makes money for the little guy, developing FOSS doesnt.
All you need is for the market itself to grow. If the market is growing, and your market share remains the same, it means you are selling more units, hence your sales increase.
Windows sold roughly $3 billion in RDBMS systems, Linux systems accounted for roughly $300 million. If Windows sales increased by 50%, and Linux sales increased by 100% what position would they be in? Windows would be selling $4.5 billion (increase of $1.5 billion), Linux would be selling $600 million (increase of $300 million). Windows market share would be blowing Linux away even though Linux sales were increasing at double the rate of Windows. Market share is not only based on how many you sell, but also how many total units were sold by everyone.
Now if Linux sales were increasing a larger amount in dollar terms to Windows, and Windows sales were dropping in dollar terms, then you can say that Linux is taking MS market share. Until then, just because Linux grows at a great rate means nothing. As one of the parents pointed out, if I sell 1 unit this year and 3 next year thats an increase of 300%. Does that mean that Windows market share has somehow dropped because of my massive increase in sales? Of course not. Same principle.
Agreed about the post not being derived through any great insight, but in a similar vein, a post should be modded according to the content, not the author. You will note that posts are modded, not authors. If a post is funny, insightful, interesting, then it should be modded as funny, insightful or interesting.
To mod a post that may be highly informative to the majority of readers as Troll just because the author posted Troll posts in the past is just stupid.
Yes, know the style you are talking about now. Going back a few years, thats for sure! And Experience was a great albume, favourite on there being 'Hyperspeed'.
You dont know any online stores that sell dance music from the early to mid 90s by any chance? Only place I can seem to get my hands on some of the classics is when a dj sells off their vinyl collection:( which is not that often
Personally Im a Postgres fan. No, my original post was not to bash MySQL because I prefer an alternative, but since you brought up the subject of alternatives...:)
There are quite a number of FOSS databases which offer far more than MySQL (eg Postgres, and aparently Firebird), yet MySQL seems to be pushed by the community as its premier RDBMS. Why? Yes, it is fast. But that speed appears to come at the expense of functionality. It allows date inserts of values such as 2004-15-68!! No errors, nothing! Yes, its fast because it checks pretty much nothing. With no foreign keys, no data checking, it does pretty much nothing to ensure data integrity.
Thanks for the info, will be looking into it shortly:)
Dont forget to continuously keep bringing up MySQL. If SQL Server offers something, either reply with "MySQL already has that", or if MySQL does not, then reply with "who needs that anyway? Thats just bloat". After all, who needs foreign keys, views, triggers, procedures etc?
Playing black / red on roulette does NOT give 50% chance of winning, you are forgetting the 0 (and sometimes 00) on which the house wins no matter whether you picked black or red.
"Every dollar not syphoned out of the corporate I.T. budget and shipped off to Redmond to pay for nothing but software infrastructure is another dollar that can be used to pay a developer (hopefully a local one) to build the thing the company really wants: the applications that run the business. "
Umm...no
Every dollar not shipped off to Redmond will be split between a bonus for the CIO, the CEO and shareholders. If company X needs 1 person to support MS products + pays enough licensing equivalent to hiring 10 people, and switches to FOSS software and requires 1 person to support the system, dont expect them to hire another 10 support staff. They will keep the 1, and the department will run 10 X employee salaries under budget. So instead of the in-house developer / support tech and MS developers all getting paid, the in-house support tech now gets paid, and the rest go to the PHB's.
And now the in-house developer instead of having one point of contact, has to spend their time chasing around the net to hopefully find a documented solution (FOSS projects are not exactly famous for their great documentation). A boss will generally accept "it has been escalated to the vendor". They will not accept "I cant find the answer on the net"
Slashdot Mirror
"I've never had much luck with 2000 and less than 256 mb of ram"
"My boss is running it on a P3 with 256 and it's pretty unresponsive once outlook and ie are open "
Excuse me? I run Win2000 on a Duron 650 with 128 RAM and it runs quite well. It is very responsive and the GUI feels a lot snappier than my Red Hat 9 install with Gnome on the same machine. Have you run Gnome / KDE on a P3? Or are you comparing the responsiveness of a modern system running Linux with a 4 / 5 year old system running Win2k? When 2000 came out 128 was quite a reasonable amount of RAM on a desktop, so I find it strange to suggest that somehow it ran unacceptably slow on a system with that configuration.
OK, to summarise my position (yes I do have one, just because I dont think Linux is for everyone does not mean I do not have a valid point).
.doc format. Im sorry, they pay the bills, they win. If you send through a .doc and it suddenly comes out funny, it is unacceptable, and if it is a proposal it can mean the difference between winning or losing a contract. It appears unprofessional.
Yes Gnome is doing a fantastic job. No the desktop is not as polished as either Win or OS X. Case in point. Cut / copy and paste. You cannot hold a straight face and tell me that this works consistently across all Linux applications can you? Heck..even the hourglass spins around sometimes, but other times remains still, depending on the application you are in. From a users perspective this comes across as an unpolished product.
MS Office IS needed by businesses. Clients generally require you to send your documents in
A PC will have downtime, no matter if you run Linux, Windows, Solaris, whatever. If you do not have a clue and need your PC for your business, you are generally better off with a system you can just take to your local computer repairman to just reinstall Windows, rather than having to find someone who knows Linux. Yes, in an ideal world this local computer tech would know Linux, but we do not live in an ideal world. This small business needs their computer for work so they can afford to eat at night. No you cant expect them to google for answers. Until Linux gets wider acceptance and tech support becomes simple to find, you cant honestly expect them to use it.
Lack of games. Very big reason Linux is not taking over the desktop. This is changing however (no WineX is not the answer for the Average Joe).
Use the right tool for the circumstances. Just as I would not run a Windows server (Exchange being the exception), for many users Linux is not the answer for the desktop. No just because I do not think Linux is the answer to everything does not mean I am trolling.
As an aside, if I mock the comment that "2004 is the year of Linux on the desktop", it is a valid criticism. Every year we hear that XXXX is the year of Linux on the desktop. How about we save the celebrations and only announce when XXXX WAS the year of Linux on the desktop. Celebrating something that has not happened yet is just stupid.
Apologies for coming across aggresively, that was not the intention. No I am not an M$ fanboi just as I am assuming you are not a zealot.
Until next time, cheers
OK, just for a simple case in point. Cut and paste. You are seriously going to tell me that cut and paste works consistently through all Linux applications? Even the hour glass. Spins around on the desktop, under Mozilla it is static. Yes they are little things, but they all contribute to the overall usability. On Windows, cut and paste is the same across the board. The hourglass behaves the same. This is the sort of thing I am talking about. The polish is just not there yet on Linux.
Yes I do know about Gnome's efforts in usability and full credit to them, it is almost there, but the keyword is 'almost'.
"But one day, not toooo far away, you will be using linux."
I already do. Just because I do not think that Linux is ready for the Average Joe does not mean that I have never used it. I quite like it in fact. But then again, I am a programmer, not an end user. Linux is great for what I use it for. Is Linux better than the commercial alternatives for the average end user? No.
And in the REAL WORLD you need to ensure that your documents are viewable by ALL your customers. No it is not an ideal situation, but a business NEEDS MS Office.
And yes I do use Linux before you start thinking that my opinions are based on ignorance. I am quite happy with it. Would I recommend it to a small business unless I knew they had some form of tech support handy? No. Does it support all the hardware that a family may want to plug into it eg scanners, cameras etc? No. Whether or not the cause is due to the manufacturers not providing the right drivers, the temperature in Iceland reaching -50 or whatever, the fact remains that the average family may not be able to use their peripherals.
Why has OS X use on the desktop remained far in excess of Linux use? Is that due to laziness of the end users not researching anything beyond "Winblows"?
It is this attitude of superiority that will keep end users away. Something that may be simple to use for you and me may be very difficult for a computer illiterate person. As Linux is far cheaper than the Windows alternative, and most families are very money conscious, there obviously is another reason for the lack of average Joe takeup of the product. And the attitude you display of "Linux is usable, you are stupid for not finding it usable!" is just not going to convert anyone over. Why do you think Apple and MS spend so much time and money researching usability?
Troll hey? Whenever anyone brings up this point, they are modded into oblivioun
2004: Year of the Penguin?
That ring a bell? There are more, you can Google for them yourself (a favourite zealot instruction to a poor new user). I think the modding has just proved my point - the biggest problem facing Linux is the abundance of zealots.
Let me explain in simple terms. Usability is not as good as MS or Apple. Why? The zealots do not believe usability is an important feature. Usability is for lusers.
If somebody makes a suggestion for an improvement, the response generally goes along the lines of "why dont YOU write the code?".
If a new user asks for help, rather than a simple one line answer which is all that is required most of the time, the response generally is "stop wasting my time, google for it". Generally not as polite.
There are many more, but think about it. How many major problems with Linux are not somehow attributable to the attitudes of the zealots?
"Debugging someone else's code in a language that enforces structured programming pragmas as little as possible is a nightmare. I know this because I do it on a regular basis."
Same here, and I totally agree with you. If something goes wrong, I want to know about it, not have the program / database decide for me what it should do with it. I think your problem was you mentioned something bad about MySQL in a PHP story. The LAMP zealots are amongst the worst. MySQL will accept date types like 2004-15-60! Having to support quite a number of apps, I want to know the moment something funny happens, not find out a month later when the end user is pulling a report.
For simple web apps (eg shopping cart) I advise people to use LAMP due to its simplicity. Anything larger and I advise people to stay well clear and go with something like Java (or Perl) and Postgres. This forces the designer / developer to think in large terms to begin with. May seem like a waste of time early on (and it is if you know for certain your app will not grow) but when you start scaling up, it will save a total rewrite.
Dont forget that 2004 was going to be the year of Linux on the desktop!
The biggest reason Linux is not succeeding - the attitude of the zealots. You will find the vast majority of Linux problems stem from this one problem.
Yes, being the largest software vendor on the planet and having a monopoly on the desktop market is a pretty big miss isnt it?
Look no further than Windows and Office. Absolute failures.
This is rather strange. We think along very similar lines on this issue, but arrive at totally different conclusions.
I know where youre coming from, and I used to think along the same lines. Then I figured out it is all about trade-offs. Generally you trade money (or potential money) for enjoyment. If you love research, then you will not get a well paid job. If you want a well paid job, then chances are you will not really enjoy it. It comes down to what means more to you. The greater income or the job you prefer. If you want to spend a greater time with your kids, then you have to accept your income will suffer. Generally we expect our quality of life to be at a certain level, which requires money, so its a tough balancing act.
People in positions of power have never wanted thinking, happy populations. People who are content with their life have too much time to think about things and are less likely to accept orders from superiors. It is much easier to control a population if there is someone to blame for their problems. Whats my answer? To think and be happy. Sounds corny, but just imagine if the majority of the population had the same attitude what would happen.
On the subject of programming as a hobby, there is no way I would program for free for a company, no matter how much I enjoyed it. For myself I love playing around, my favourite being writing up simulations. If a company wants to make money off my work, then they can pay me for it. I give it to my friends for free, anyone else has to accept that my time and effort went into it and should compensate me for it.
The problem comes when you lose the distinction between work and fun. Your boss asks you to do something IT related outside your job description. Because you enjoy IT, you do it for fun, not realising that now you have done it, you will be expected to support what you have done, and it will be added to your current workload for no extra pay. For me, work is work. If they want me to do something, no matter whether I enjoy it or not, they pay for it. They are using it to fill their coffers, they can pass some of it my way too. Is this selfish? Probably, but I do not apologise for this attitude one bit. Its all about playing the game depending on what the rules are, and adjusting your strategy accordingly. At work you have to play the corporate game, but out of work there is no reason why your dickhead boss has to make the rest of your life miserable - thats your life to enjoy however you please.
I am getting a bit off-topic here, but what the heck
I agree with you up to a point. But, I disagree that life is so pointless. The problem lies with people going into a profession because they have been pressured into it - friends, family, society etc. And the source of the problem generally lies with people doing a job and then trying to base their lifestyle around their work. When you think about it, thats absurd! Employment is to make money to pay for you to lead the lifestyle you want to. And yet people find themselves giving up the things they love because it does not fit around their work!
In schools people should be encouraged to follow what they enjoy. Why are they not? Because that starts undermining capitalism. The almighty dollar is meant to be the driver behind everything. Schools tend to encourage students to persue the most highly paid career that they can with little regard for what they enjoy or what they want out of life. If making a million dollars means less to someone than a good family life, why are they encouraged into high stress positions when they will be much happier with a nice quiet 9-5 job? No, they wont make millions, but they will be much happier with their life.
If everyone just followed their dreams, life would be so much more enjoyable! Dont like your boss? Leave, do something else. No you may not work in IT for a while, but you can always do it in your spare time, and it will be far more enjoyable to you (been there done that). Get a less stressful job and just enjoy life!
So, to bring my rant to a point:
I would take the total opposite approach to what you suggest. Encourage kids that life is there to be enjoyed, and they should follow their dreams, and to hell with what anyone else thinks of them.
I will justify myself.
I am not blaming the zealots for the companies not playing fair. I hold the zealots responsible for not presenting the full story to young developers.
We know big business does not play fair. Young kids with no experience with business do not. If you are going to tell them that FOSS is great / the way of the future etc, you should also point out the problems that may be encounter. Many zealots do not.
Note that I am drawing a distinction between FOSS advocates and FOSS zealots. Advocates generally do accept that there are downsides and will let others know. The big problem in the FOSS community is the very high percentage of zealots running around that sometimes drown out the sensible advice of the more knowledgable advocates.
The point I am trying to get at is this:
If you know that big business does not play fair, but keep that fact from someone you are advising to take up FOSS development just so that you can "convert" them, then yes you are also partially responsible of they get screwed over. You did not do the screwing, but you knew there was a possibility of it happening and did not warn them.
The big BIG problem for the FOSS business model for the little guy is some large company running off with the product and either offering it themselves, or in this case not bothering to contribute anything back.
And yes, software costs money to develop. Even if you do it in your spare time, that is time that could be spent on a profit earning venture. For better or worse, we live in a capitalistic society. You go to the supermarket, they will expect you to pay cash for what you buy.
And the FOSS zealots ARE partially responsible for poor young students / software developers spending huge amounts of their valuable time for free. All over slashdot the zealots will flame anyone who dares to suggest that to run a business you have to think past just simply offering FOSS software / services. It is always suggested that FOSS is the way of the future, all large companies are shifting to FOSS etc etc etc. Why do you think IBM loves Linux? Not because they have a love for their fellow human being - they can get it for free! They can undercut the opposition. If they are true believers in FOSS philosophy, wheres the source code for DB2? Yeahh...suuure..they have fully embraced open source havent they?
Yes, FOSS is a noble cause, but please PLEASE stop trying to convince kids that they will make money from their efforts. Consulting makes money for the little guy, developing FOSS doesnt.
All you need is for the market itself to grow. If the market is growing, and your market share remains the same, it means you are selling more units, hence your sales increase.
Windows sold roughly $3 billion in RDBMS systems, Linux systems accounted for roughly $300 million. If Windows sales increased by 50%, and Linux sales increased by 100% what position would they be in? Windows would be selling $4.5 billion (increase of $1.5 billion), Linux would be selling $600 million (increase of $300 million). Windows market share would be blowing Linux away even though Linux sales were increasing at double the rate of Windows. Market share is not only based on how many you sell, but also how many total units were sold by everyone.
Now if Linux sales were increasing a larger amount in dollar terms to Windows, and Windows sales were dropping in dollar terms, then you can say that Linux is taking MS market share. Until then, just because Linux grows at a great rate means nothing. As one of the parents pointed out, if I sell 1 unit this year and 3 next year thats an increase of 300%. Does that mean that Windows market share has somehow dropped because of my massive increase in sales? Of course not. Same principle.
Blasphemy!
2004 is the year of Linux on the desktop! It is, seriously!
Only 7 months and Linux will dominate, honest, really and truly! We promise!
Pity that Windows sales increased and their market share remained constant.
Dont let the facts get in the way of a good joke.
If you had read the article, Linux isnt kicking MS in the slightest. MS sales were UP, and their market share stayed the same.
Linux market share increased, but certainly not at the expense of MS.
Agreed about the post not being derived through any great insight, but in a similar vein, a post should be modded according to the content, not the author. You will note that posts are modded, not authors. If a post is funny, insightful, interesting, then it should be modded as funny, insightful or interesting.
To mod a post that may be highly informative to the majority of readers as Troll just because the author posted Troll posts in the past is just stupid.
Yes, know the style you are talking about now. Going back a few years, thats for sure! And Experience was a great albume, favourite on there being 'Hyperspeed'.
:( which is not that often
You dont know any online stores that sell dance music from the early to mid 90s by any chance? Only place I can seem to get my hands on some of the classics is when a dj sells off their vinyl collection
Personally Im a Postgres fan. No, my original post was not to bash MySQL because I prefer an alternative, but since you brought up the subject of alternatives... :)
:)
There are quite a number of FOSS databases which offer far more than MySQL (eg Postgres, and aparently Firebird), yet MySQL seems to be pushed by the community as its premier RDBMS. Why? Yes, it is fast. But that speed appears to come at the expense of functionality. It allows date inserts of values such as 2004-15-68!! No errors, nothing! Yes, its fast because it checks pretty much nothing. With no foreign keys, no data checking, it does pretty much nothing to ensure data integrity.
Thanks for the info, will be looking into it shortly
Dont forget to continuously keep bringing up MySQL. If SQL Server offers something, either reply with "MySQL already has that", or if MySQL does not, then reply with "who needs that anyway? Thats just bloat". After all, who needs foreign keys, views, triggers, procedures etc?
Playing black / red on roulette does NOT give 50% chance of winning, you are forgetting the 0 (and sometimes 00) on which the house wins no matter whether you picked black or red.
"The moral of the story is that you can catch more flies with honey than vinegar"
You can catch even more with a flamethrower.
Should have tried that one!
"My bet is that he started working at Red Hat because he thought open source was a good idea and the future"
My bet is he started working at Red Hat because they offered him a job with the salary and conditions he was looking for.
"Every dollar not syphoned out of the corporate I.T. budget and shipped off to Redmond to pay for nothing but software infrastructure is another dollar that can be used to pay a developer (hopefully a local one) to build the thing the company really wants: the applications that run the business. "
Umm...no
Every dollar not shipped off to Redmond will be split between a bonus for the CIO, the CEO and shareholders. If company X needs 1 person to support MS products + pays enough licensing equivalent to hiring 10 people, and switches to FOSS software and requires 1 person to support the system, dont expect them to hire another 10 support staff. They will keep the 1, and the department will run 10 X employee salaries under budget. So instead of the in-house developer / support tech and MS developers all getting paid, the in-house support tech now gets paid, and the rest go to the PHB's.
And now the in-house developer instead of having one point of contact, has to spend their time chasing around the net to hopefully find a documented solution (FOSS projects are not exactly famous for their great documentation). A boss will generally accept "it has been escalated to the vendor". They will not accept "I cant find the answer on the net"