[olug] open source vs the world

[Sean Edwards]

Lets not travel down the road of mixed comparisons,
like the cliche of apples and oranges.

There is a large selection of "Freeware" for Windows,
but not open source.  Part ( a majority ) of the
problem is that even if a developer released a Windows
software package as Open Source, a user would have to
create a compatible environment to compile it.  If the
software were developed in .Net, or Visual Studio, and
managed in Source Safe, the notion of open source
disappears because of the costly commercial
development required to acces and compile the source. 
The CYGWIN environment is a kind of work-around for
this problem.  The DJGPP compiler is closer to a
solution, but has a long way to go to be an actual
Windows compiler.

Open Source is just a completely different environment
that commercial sofware addicts can not understand. 
Manipulating a kernel to add or remove features is
incomprehensible to someone who has to wait for a
security update from his software vendor. 
Manipulating software by adding or removing features
as one sees fit, reducing the bloatware and optimizing
performance with compiler options are foreign, sexy,
and taboo notions to a commercial software
co-dependant

For those who pay their bills working with MS
products, I hope that works out for you.  On the other
hand, I have paid my bills without MS products: From
1995 to 2000, being a Certified Netware Engineer,
(server, groupwise and nds admin) paid my bills. 
Since then it has been Linux.

I don't have a lot of patience for people who say "I
have to use or promote Windows solutions to pay the
bills," or "I don't like Windows but I have to use it
for my career."  I would rather move my family to work
with Linux than work in a total Windows environment. 
By the way, I did move my family to Omaha from
Illinois to take a job in a Linux environment.

-=Sean Edwards=-

--- Ben Dinger <ben at mac-geek.com> wrote:
> On Fri, Mar 25, 2005 at 11:28:11AM -0600,
> jdh at gotopeak.net wrote:
> > Now all, forgive my ignorance. i have but a
> pitance of the experiance of most people posting
> here. but i see some [by my perception] hate towards
> anything MS. Now at home i am a linux only user, and
> Mandrake at that. because i like it and for no other
> reason. that and XP and 2003 server didn't play nice
> with my opteron and SATA drives. i also test
> software for a local MS certified partner. most of
> my knowledge is in MS. the way i see it, gates
> should be held high, as well as others. it is these
> anti-open source companies and people that make me
> want to work harder at learning linux and developing
> for it and/or even using/promoting it whenever i
> can. i use MS every where i go but at home. sure ut
> has flaws. i don;t deny that, but it makes want to
> work harder at linux and open source, not just sit
> around and bash some multi-billionaire because he
> made some great business decisions. the best does no
> always win, vhs vs beta. let's not be beta, let;s
> become dvd movies! i say use t
> >  he OS that makes sense for the situation, and
> according to the IT staff you have. If i had only
> windows guys on staff, i wouldn't use linux. they
> would find ways to screw it up even without trying!
> personally my home network when done will be 1 linux
> firewall, mythtv, 2 linux server, 1 linux
> workstation, 1 windows workstation, 1 windows test
> box. i see the need for both in my situation. i also
> see the flaws in both. just my 2 ignorant cents.
> > 
> 
> Reading between the lines, are you trying to
> suggest: 
> a.) That Microsoft competition is good for open
> source development
> and 
> b.) That even though it's evil, sometimes there's
> only one good tool for any given job
> 
> If so, how DARE you use such logic!? 
> 
> -- 
> Ben Dinger
> ben at mac-geek.com
> "The Pope?  How many divisions has he got?" --Josef
> Stalin
> _______________________________________________
> OLUG mailing list
> OLUG at olug.org
> http://lists.olug.org/mailman/listinfo/olug
> 


		
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