<rant>
Disclaimer and note: I work for Borland, for the 1 person here who doesn't
know me, but I'm a Linux, Delphi and Java nut (I'd never again put an NT box
on the 'net). I like Windows 2000 for desktop use, tho.
This is my opinion, not Borlands - Just incase you were confused and
thought I was speaking for Borland. That's David I and Dale's job :)
> Just on the Slashdot thing, if you read some of the comments, you'd think
> that Borland were the biggest bunch of b*stards in the world. Fancy
actually
> trying to make a buck in the Linux world....
wow, someone else who may agree with that that 99% of the people on Slashdot
are whining pricks.
I find the front page of the site great, and the forums a _total_ waste of
time. Of those 99%, I'd say that 80% of them are people who are either in
support roles (ie, ISP admins, for eg), or students/not employed. They seam
to think that making _money_ (shock, horror) from software is a bad thing,
and that all software should be free.
I think, from the current state of all Linux and OSS related companies,
outside of RedHat and IBM, that model for software that needs to bring some
revenue in DOES NOT WORK. Sorry, but software engineers need to be paid.
They like living in houses, eating, spending time with their families etc.
dot.com -> dot.bomb anyone?
> There also seems to be a dislike of OP too. These "c"nophiles think that
if
> software isn't written in gcc and emacs then it is a bad thing.
AND they complain about the memory overhead of using Wine!!!! GCC is the
slowest, most bloted compiler out there. Example: a friend of mine - total
Linux nut - was compiling an IRC server (I think - might have been the
client). He did it with GCC. It took ages. He fired up vmware running NT,
and compiled the same code with Visual C++, which is by no means the fastest
compiler on the market. The VC code compiled with a little over 1/2 the
size, in LESS than 1/2 the time. And its emulated in vmware (which is slow
as hell), not running nativly on a PC.
> I my opinion, it is because of these types that Linux is struggling to
gain
> a mainstream presence.
I totally agree. I also think that 90% of the software on things like
SourceForge is worthless crap, but its FREE worthless crap. Almost none of
it would pass a basic usability test, and most end users - the people who
use OUR software that we write (we all do write software here, right?) -
would throw it away in disgust. Even if it was free.
The exception to this is the Java Community Process and the Apache projects,
which seam to work by committee, tho the results are not always great (eg,
Tomcat, which is not a good example of well written software)
The Linux kernel is another exception. Its got its faults (mostly design
issues), but its overall an excellent piece of code.
> It is true to say it is because of the propeller heads that there is a
> Linux, but surely the more software available for Linux the better. GPL or
> otherwise.
I agree. I'd rather have a piece of software that I can _use_, and that
works (and/or that I can develop in no time flat), than one thats free.
If anyone wants a good example of OSS done RIGHT, looks at Resin -
www.caucho.com - hands down the best and fastest (faster than Apache :) )
web server / JSP engine / XSL engine etc. You pay a license per server on
deployment, nothing for development licenses, and the source is
downloadable.
and, they are still in business. The quality makes its main compediter -
Tomcat - look like, well, an amatur attempt. And it is.
:)
Have a good day, y'all
</rant>
Nic.
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