Chuck, I agree with most of what you say except for your point about software purchase costs.
While $450 is a lot for an individual to find, for a company the purchase cost of software is trivial compared to the cost of learning to use it. I don't know what contract rates are like in San Diego, but I bet it wouldn't take an employer long to burn $450. A new technology that's easy to learn is always attractive from the employers' point of view - they don't need to spend a lot on training and they can use relatively low-grade staff. That's why the appalling VB was such a success, but I don't think .NET is that easy to learn - unless you're already a Java developer! Chris -----Original Message----- From: Goehring, Chuck Mr., RCI - San Diego [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: 13 October 2003 20:31 To: Tomcat Users List Subject: RE: Why should I use Tomcat vs .NET? Eduardo, A couple interesting points involves myself and my coworker. He has about ten years of VB programming experience. None of his code can be migrated to vb.net without major rewriting because there is no semblance of backward compatibility. It wouldn't be practical for the customer to pay him to convert the app to dot.net, so he's stuck in 1998. All the VB programmers have been screwed by Microsoft this way. With me, I've been doing Java and perl for about 6 years. Because of the contracting environment I'm in, it looked like my work was going to dry up. An opportunity came along for me within the company. They wanted to do ASP 2.0 web development because they had to meet a variety of government requirements and ASP had been approved for use. Thinking I was going to have to do that project, I checked into it. Firstly, the ASP code they were going to write is totally incompatible with ASP.net, so it was going down a dead path. To cover all the bases, I did some research into upgrading my copy of Visual C++ 6.0 to Visual Studio.net. MS wanted $450 for the upgrade. That's a lot for me to fork over to start over with a completely different system that has limited uses. Fortunately, I didn't have to go that route, but it came close. Comparing that to continuing with Tomcat and Eclipse or NetBeans or JCreator (free version), I can't see why anyone would choose to go the dot.net route. MS has also done a powerplay on the folks that use Frontpage Extensions. The Frontpage 200x now requires that you subscribe to a service from Microsoft to enable important features of the product. It is a lot like extortion. I like using the free products because I can dump any of them at any time without feeling guilty about wasting the company's money. Once you spend thousands to use a proprietary product, you may never be able to escape. I still have to support an ancient Developer 2000 product that can't be cost-effectively be migrated to a newer version and has all kinds of compatibility issues when used with newer products. Chuck -----Original Message----- From: Eduardo Vazquez [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, October 13, 2003 10:48 AM To: 'Tomcat Users List' Subject: RE: Why should i use Tomcat vs .NET? Up front I do need to say that the support of this user group has been more than outstanding. I was a sole person looking for help and I received more than I could have expected, and for that thanks to all. Eventually I have lost the war; my CTO has decided on a new technology on his lonesome and has hinted that any effort expended moving forward won't result in any reconsideration of his decision (so much for standards and not putting all your eggs in one basket) Again, I've learned much from all those who have replied to my request and hope that others have learnt a little sumthin' along the way. Much Thanks, Eduardo -----Original Message----- From: epyonne [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, October 13, 2003 9:26 AM To: Tomcat Users List Subject: Re: Why should i use Tomcat vs .NET? Simple decision. If your company is a pure "Microsoft shop", i.e. you use Windows desktops, Windows servers, and SQL Server databases, then it is a no-brainer, go with .NET. On the other hand, if your company has a mixed environment like ours, i.e. Windows and Linux OSs, UNIX Servers, Windows Servers, Oracle databases.... so on and so on. You may not want to use .NET. Microsoft claims that .NET can port to UNIX, but there is still a long way to go IMHO. J2EE will be a better choice for such diverse environment. By the way, Tomcat is merely a web/servlet container and .NET is an enterpirse architecture. You are comparing apple to orange. Hope this helps. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Eduardo Vazquez" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, October 10, 2003 10:48 AM Subject: Why should i use Tomcat vs .NET? I work for a small company which is seriously considering the .NET route moving into the future. My mission if I chose to accept is to sway popular opinion towards Tomcat (Jakarta) for reasons I've yet to summarize because I can't confidently regurgitate any (I'm new to Linux/Tomcat for the most part). Is there anyone who has made this argument yet? Are there anyone have a url with the comparison done already or a list of reasons why .NET isn't optimal versus the other options or on the flip side of that; why tomcat rocks? Any help would be appreciated; I'm not looking forward to becoming even more reliant on one company. Thanks in advance, Eduardo --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] The information in this e:mail and any attachments or any reproduction of this e:mail in whatever manner is confidential and for the use of the addressee(s) only. If you are not the addressee then the distribution, use or reproduction of this e:mail or the information within it is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. If received in error please advise the sender and delete all record of it from your system. 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