Jerry, I was trained at a college that had little use for Microsoft products and I feel I am all the better for it. Yes I have found that setup and configuration of the non microsoft products may be text based, or somewhat cryptic at first but I have found that with some, as you put it, determination, it took a very short time to learn to navigate and update the appropriate configuration files. As for your comments on the GUI side of things... Keep looking, you will find a wide variety of GUI's from Linux to php to MySQL. What is happening in this environment is you have the choice to do it your way, either through line commands or the click of a button in a GUI. And it gets better, not only does this non-windows technology provide GUI's I have found that they are increadibly easy to use. A perfect example of this is a comparison of MS SQL server front end and a popular front end to MySQL called phpMyAdmin. If you introduce a person with intermediate technological skills to both packages, as I have done, you will find that it is the microsoft product that becomes cryptic and hard to understand, where as its open source counter part is clean, straight forward and simply easier to use.
All this aside, the greed for cash and power and the fact that their products are simply unreliable, instead of what is just "better", is what put me off of Microsoft. -Steve. -----Original Message----- From: Jerry [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Friday, May 03, 2002 2:53 PM To: PHP Win Subject: [PHP-WIN] Moving to non-Windows technology Wow, that was a very fast response and from so many people re: shutting down Apache. Thank you all. I have been developing Web sites with ASP and MS SQL Server. I am so sick of Microsoft's greed for cash and power that I just had to bail. Just an example, Visual Studio .net can be had for no less than $1000.00. I can't stop there. MS is turning to subscription based income for everything. They go after ANYTHING that is making someone else money. I hate their business tactics. Their products are bloated, and have too many security holes. It is a great stock to own but I hate who they have become. So, I am moving to all non-Microsoft technology. I am using Windows and it will take some time to move to Linux. I'll probably move one PC at a time. However, I am switching to PHP, PERL, and MySQL. What I have found however is that doing so has been harder than I thought it would be. The farther I get into it the easier things are becoming. That is partly due to my determination. My observation and opinion is that those that use non-ms technologies have a club of their own and while they think Windows users should move away from Windows, they don't go to much effort to help them make the move. Also, they are typically more technical and thus prefer a more technical approach to things. For example, they work from the command prompt and prefer not to use a GUI because they feel that doing so is a much more pure experience. I don't fault them for this. It is just a difference. However, Windows users are used to using a GUI for most everything. Using a command prompt is considered unproductive to them. I have found though that there are developers that have been addressing this issue. Luckily, I was able to find some great tools which has made the move pretty smooth so far. I know there are a lot of people that are prisoners in the MS world that would like to move to non-MS technologies but don't see the benefits, are scared to do so, and/or just don't know how. So, I have decided to document my experience for their benefit. I'll either submit an article to some Web sites in hopes that they will publish it and/or I'll put a site up just for the cause. I think a lot more people will make the move if they see the benefits and how easy it can be done. I'd like to hear your comments and suggestions on the topic. Anyway, I look forward to participating in the non-MS community! Jerry -- PHP Windows Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php -- PHP Windows Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
