----- Original Message -----
From: "John Porter" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Friday, June 16, 2000 12:48 PM
Subject: Re: Need some Help with Advocacy re: Java vs. Perl
> David Grove wrote:
> > This is one major thing that I've wanted to try - create a complete
suite of
> > actual apps for Win32 using Perl and a GUI toolkit. It could show the
Win32
> > world that Perl is more than CGI.
>
> Quite right. This would be a huge milestone for perl advocacy.
>
>
> > > Another factor, IMO, is that no one sells perl modules. What little
> >
> > This is _not_ a bad thing.
>
> Moral assessments aside, it is (I assert) a factor in Perl's continuing
> to fly below the radar.
>
>
> > The world needs to get away from M$'s commercialization.
>
> Well, people -- and programmers -- need to eat.
> People write and sell apps and libraries with/for gcc;
> why not for perl?
Correct. However, the key word is "programmers".
The "moral assessments" in this community isn't the result of a naive
attempt to make everything free, but to eliminate useless garbage programmed
by untrained vb for dummies readers, and to eliminate the idea that a two
week crash course in perl CGI (or VB or whatever) makes a person a
"programmer". I don't and can't define these people as programmers, and like
the rest of the trained programmer community, I take offense at the
infiltration of the half-trained, handheld mouseclickers into the term
"programmer". They're not.
Programmers have to eat. Most of them work for companies who pay them to
program to product internal systems. Programmers who pick up a $29.99 copy
of VB for dummies and an educational copy of VB and a week later think
they're programmers and put out some $15.00 shareware... they don't deserve
to eat. We desperately need to get away from control-ware. I for one would
never, EVER pay for a CPAN module.
The "microsoft mentality" is that every piece of code, not matter how large
or small, deserves payment, is propagated by a completely hypercapitalist
way of thinking that is harmful to the future of not only perl, but the
human race. I'd prefer to have my children continue to enjoy free software
without these false impressions, and without having to pay $900 for a
barney-toy database built by a two-cent VB "programmer".
99.99999999% of the programs written by "real programmers" (those who
deserve to eat) aren't on the shelves of any store. They are internal to
companies and compute your bank statements. It is unfortunate that we have
to address that infinitessimal society to give the impression of a
capability to handle the rest of the load.
