The merger is good for Oracle because they've taken out a competitor but it will suck for PeopleSoft customers because they will eventually will have to migrate to an inferior product.
It may just be my premonition, but I have this feeling that Peoplesoft's best people (who really built a good product) will be the first ones leaving because they'd hate working for a competitor that they've long considered as second-rate.
Oracle may have gotten its way in the end, but ironically, it maybe SAP who gains the most in this deal...
First of all, I'd like to wish that more people read the article first before spewing out their vitriolic at a third world country they know very little about...
Just so you know where I'm coming from, I'm a from that country... and I'd like to note a few things:
It's a city ordinance of Tagbilaran city, a small city in the Visayas region: IT does not apply to the entire country.
As a few already noted, it's more about controlling truancy rather than restricting Internet access (if you read more carefully, there's an exception to the ordinance for students if they have the teacher's permission). So it's not about an anti-internet access per se, but more about protecting children's welfare.
As for the anti-porn restriction, I can understand where that's coming from : the Philippines has a strong Catholic legacy. We tend to be more prudish/conservative in terms of what we say we believe (not necessarily in what we do, however;^))
We are a third world that came out of twenty-plus-years of dictatorship (1973-1986) with very strong feelings for democracy and liberty. While we do have problems (and boy, do we have problems!), our government's attitude toward the Internet has been, in general, positive or at least neutral -- which is why, although its not as widespread as anyone here in the Philippines would like, Internet access is, at least, flourishing...
On the other hand, if it could be done by a group of students for $200, then it would'nt certainly be worth the time of a highly-paid, super-expert guru, wouldn't it?
If the sponsor really thought it needed a high quality, highly reliable piece of software with the same quality as they would expect as one in written in a "corporate environment", then I would expect that they would pay comparable amounts to what they would normally spend anyway...
BTW, This is not to say that open source software is not of the same quality as software written in "corporate enviroments", its just to say that the sponsors should expect commensurate effort for commensurate rewards...
I personally think it's all going to balance out in the end. The important thing is not to pre-judge it but to give it a chance to work itself out...
This was actually proposed by Dr. Robert Forward as a means of propulsion. He wrote sci-fi novels (see Saturn Rukh) but had a hard scientific basis for it. Look it up at his site and look up HoyTethers.
Zope can handle large volumes -- see their page on case studies -- several online newspapers use it on a commercial basis for high volume/high traffic situations.
They also have a chat board product (with threaded discussions) that you can plug in. Zope also has an indexing facility built-in that automatically gives you a search capability.
As for editing, Zope has just implemented WebDAV which allows for distributed authoring and versioning. You can try webdav editing with IE 5.0 and Zope to see if this fulfills your needs.
You manage the entire website with just a browser 99.99% of the time, so you don't have to worry about deploying client software.
It also has an ACL like hierarchy based user access/security interface so you can fine tune the capabilities that you give your users to access or modify your data.
As for converting your back issue articles, it maybe just possible to use ftp to transfer all your back-issue html files into zope. Zope has a builtin ftp server that can be used to transfer files between your ftpclient and the webserver's internal object database.
If this is not what you want, you can probably create a program to do that for you. Its all open source, so the code is available for your modifications.
It also has a dynamic community of Zope advocates that are very helpful in bringing newbies up to speed. They have an active mailing list you can join.
In terms of commercial support, Zope is backed by a commercial company, Digital Creations, who originally created the software as proprietary closed source and saw the light, turned it into open source. If you want commercial support or do it quickly you can hire those guys.
Now, the negatives (not entirely). Zope uses a scripting language named DTML (document markup template language) -- it's like HTML which is easy enough to learn but also subtle enough that it can take a while to become an expert in. Also, while not required, it would help a lot if you know Python, because that's what its written in.
I would urge you to try it out or at least check out the web site( www.zope.org) because I'm certainly impressed by it and all the people I know who started using it are also mightily impressed by it.
Yes, majority of all the PC users in the world buy PCs with a pre-installed OS. But what we seem to forget is that majority of those PCs are pre-installed with either Windows 95 or 98.
Difficulties with installing Windows 95/98 notwithstanding, majority of PC users will never have a problem installing it, simply because it comes pre-installed with their PCs.
So we still do have a problem convincing users to use Linux if we can't improve the installation process. We can't mask the problem by adding technical manuals or installfests -- these are kludgy, awkward solutions to something fundamental that needs to be designed from the ground up.
In addition, FUD or not, Linux is still far from being an ideal desktop system for non-technical users (by this I mean people who use PCs as a means to a end; not as an end of itself -- to write to their loved ones, to manage their family budgets, etc.. and are not necessarily enamored of their machines, otherwise -- in other words, people not like us/.ters). At this point in time, I would still tell my mom, sister, or brother (who are non-technical users) to stick with Windows 95/98 simply because it would be less of a hassle for them and for me.
It's no good to say that people who use Linux should learn to use the command line, that people will be empowered by having to learn the lower level details or have to find a supportive Linux community (or a good Linux guru) to be able to use it. The only result that achieves is that non-technical people will find no compelling reason to switch to Linux, even though in the end it actually benefits them.
This is not to say, however, that things are not improving (or improving quickly). Linux is a moving target and over time it will become as good as any commercial GUI (Windows or Mac) out there.
But it is also important to admit that Linux GUIs (KDE, Gnome, GnuStep, etc.) are not there yet and that there is a lot of work that needs to be done.
The best way to respond to these criticisms (or FUD) is not through explosions of rhetoric that just muddles the issues further, but to actually contribute to those efforts that produce real, tangible results (either in actual code, documentation, bug reports, test results, suggestions for improvements, etc.). For a concrete example, look up the seul project. I don't know how active they still are but their efforts should be supported.
Ooops... I pressed the submit the submit button too soon.
2. It might encourage other (more sensible)/. readers to post sensible comments because they would feel that their comments would not be drowned out by the noise of non-sensical ravings and rantings.
I do have some questions however: -- Who guards the guardians? -- How are the moderators evaluated? I don't know if there is a mechanism by which we can identify and evaluate how the moderators are doing their work...
I might have a suggestion though: -- Identify the moderator who gave the rating -- not by their user name but something like the id that telephone operators give out so that we can complain to their supervisors but not know their real name... -- Allow a search of articles/comments by moderator id so that everyone (not just CmdrTaco) can evaluate what they do and complain if they show a distinct bias or not...
Also some minor nitpicks: 1. comment count on main page should be based on comment level a user selected. 2. comment spillover should also be based on comment count that reflects the comment level a user selected.
I've begun to try it and here's some of my opinions so far:
1. If it works (meaning -- it filters out the stuff I don't want read) it'll be great.
I've noticed that I tend not to read the comments anymore, especially if they reach the hundred limit mark -- it's just too cumbersome to read through a lot of crap just to get some sensible ones...
The more the merrier, fluff or not, hi-falutin crap or demented ravings...
Just be sure he's got his flame-proof suit on because all those flame-throwing ACs are just rarin' to go!!
Let a hundred flowers bloom, let a hundred schools of thought contend... -- MaoZeDong (just before he started purging all those "revisionists" who did'nt agree with him:-()
Slashdot Mirror
The merger is good for Oracle because they've taken out a competitor but it will suck for PeopleSoft customers because they will eventually will have to migrate to an inferior product.
It may just be my premonition, but I have this feeling that Peoplesoft's best people (who really built a good product) will be the first ones leaving because they'd hate working for a competitor that they've long considered as second-rate.
Oracle may have gotten its way in the end, but ironically, it maybe SAP who gains the most in this deal...
Just so you know where I'm coming from, I'm a from that country... and I'd like to note a few things:
If the sponsor really thought it needed a high quality, highly reliable piece of software with the same quality as they would expect as one in written in a "corporate environment", then I would expect that they would pay comparable amounts to what they would normally spend anyway...
BTW, This is not to say that open source software is not of the same quality as software written in "corporate enviroments", its just to say that the sponsors should expect commensurate effort for commensurate rewards...
I personally think it's all going to balance out in the end. The important thing is not to pre-judge it but to give it a chance to work itself out...
This was actually proposed by Dr. Robert Forward as a means of propulsion. He wrote sci-fi novels (see Saturn Rukh) but had a hard scientific basis for it. Look it up at his site and look up HoyTethers.
Zope can handle large volumes -- see their page on case studies -- several online newspapers use it on a commercial basis for high volume/high traffic situations.
They also have a chat board product (with threaded discussions) that you can plug in. Zope also has an indexing facility built-in that automatically gives you a search capability.
As for editing, Zope has just implemented WebDAV which allows for distributed authoring and versioning. You can try webdav editing with IE 5.0 and Zope to see if this fulfills your needs.
You manage the entire website with just a browser 99.99% of the time, so you don't have to worry about deploying client software.
It also has an ACL like hierarchy based user access/security interface so you can fine tune the capabilities that you give your users to access or modify your data.
As for converting your back issue articles, it maybe just possible to use ftp to transfer all your back-issue html files into zope. Zope has a builtin ftp server that can be used to transfer files between your ftpclient and the webserver's internal object database.
If this is not what you want, you can probably create a program to do that for you. Its all open source, so the code is available for your modifications.
It also has a dynamic community of Zope advocates that are very helpful in bringing newbies up to speed. They have an active mailing list you can join.
In terms of commercial support, Zope is backed by a commercial company, Digital Creations, who originally created the software as proprietary closed source and saw the light, turned it into open source. If you want commercial support or do it quickly you can hire those guys.
Now, the negatives (not entirely). Zope uses a scripting language named DTML (document markup template language) -- it's like HTML which is easy enough to learn but also subtle enough that it can take a while to become an expert in. Also, while not required, it would help a lot if you know Python, because that's what its written in.
I would urge you to try it out or at least check out the web site( www.zope.org) because I'm certainly impressed by it and all the people I know who started using it are also mightily impressed by it.
Yes, majority of all the PC users in the world buy PCs with a pre-installed OS. But what we seem to forget is that majority of those PCs are pre-installed with either Windows 95 or 98.
/.ters). At this point in time, I would still tell my mom, sister, or brother (who are non-technical users) to stick with Windows 95/98 simply because it would be less of a hassle for them and for me.
Difficulties with installing Windows 95/98 notwithstanding, majority of PC users will never have a problem installing it, simply because it comes pre-installed with their PCs.
So we still do have a problem convincing users to use Linux if we can't improve the installation process. We can't mask the problem by adding technical manuals or installfests -- these are kludgy, awkward solutions to something fundamental that needs to be designed from the ground up.
In addition, FUD or not, Linux is still far from being an ideal desktop system for non-technical users (by this I mean people who use PCs as a means to a end; not as an end of itself -- to write to their loved ones, to manage their family budgets, etc.. and are not necessarily enamored of their machines, otherwise -- in other words, people not like us
It's no good to say that people who use Linux should learn to use the command line, that people will be empowered by having to learn the lower level details or have to find a supportive Linux community (or a good Linux guru) to be able to use it. The only result that achieves is that non-technical people will find no compelling reason to switch to Linux, even though in the end it actually benefits them.
This is not to say, however, that things are not improving (or improving quickly). Linux is a moving target and over time it will become as good as any commercial GUI (Windows or Mac) out there.
But it is also important to admit that Linux GUIs (KDE, Gnome, GnuStep, etc.) are not there yet and that there is a lot of work that needs to be done.
The best way to respond to these criticisms (or FUD) is not through explosions of rhetoric that just muddles the issues further, but to actually contribute to those efforts that produce real, tangible results (either in actual code, documentation, bug reports, test results, suggestions for improvements, etc.). For a concrete example, look up the seul project. I don't know how active they still are but their efforts should be supported.
Ooops... I pressed the submit the submit button too soon.
/. readers to post sensible comments because they would feel that their comments would not be drowned out by the noise of non-sensical ravings and rantings.
2. It might encourage other (more sensible)
I do have some questions however:
-- Who guards the guardians? -- How are the moderators evaluated? I don't know if there is a mechanism by which we can identify and evaluate how the moderators are doing their work...
I might have a suggestion though:
-- Identify the moderator who gave the rating -- not by their user name but something like the id that telephone operators give out so that we can complain to their supervisors but not know their real name...
-- Allow a search of articles/comments by moderator id so that everyone (not just CmdrTaco) can evaluate what they do and complain if they show a distinct bias or not...
Also some minor nitpicks:
1. comment count on main page should be based on comment level a user selected.
2. comment spillover should also be based on comment count that reflects the comment level a user selected.
Other than that, I like it very,very much!!!!
I've begun to try it and here's some of my opinions so far:
1. If it works (meaning -- it filters out the stuff I don't want read) it'll be great.
I've noticed that I tend not to read the comments anymore, especially if they reach the hundred limit mark -- it's just too cumbersome to read through a lot of crap just to get some sensible ones...
The more the merrier, fluff or not, hi-falutin crap or demented ravings...
:-()
Just be sure he's got his flame-proof suit on because all those flame-throwing ACs are just rarin' to go!!
Let a hundred flowers bloom, let a hundred schools
of thought contend... -- MaoZeDong (just before he started purging all those "revisionists" who did'nt agree with him