More Pithy Commentary From the Past Master...
The Setup: I often haunt the technical websites during my off hours, looking for information that will help me land the next lucrative contract (yeah, right). Often, the pundits the sites hire to stir up the masses and get them to post answers will ask a leading question, and the foolish, not knowing they're being baited, will sadly rise to the occasion. Being foolish, they will often put their (silly) political beliefs in their answers, believing this will make them appear more mature and worldly (they are, sadly, neither). These silly postings must occasionally be offset by ones from more mature writers. Here's one who blurted out his silliness in the midst of a discussion of the relative merits of open-source software vs. Microsoft (AKA The Evil Empire). The writer got a little lost, and put his (sadly liberal) viewpoint out for all to laugh at. My gentle answer follows.
The real disaster is the previous administration, which gutted the military in favor of "social" spending (those economic chains we were discussing). The current administration has had to re-build the military, an expensive proposition, but absolutely necessary in a post-9/11 world. A bit of deficit spending is necessary to kick-start the economy, and now that that is done, we should see improved job numbers (oh, wait, that's already happened, hasn't it?). And trust me on that "Socialist" bit. My wife, who is from Sweden, and knows a Socialist when she sees one, assures me that if there were truth in political advertising laws, we would be referring to the Demoncrats as the "American National Socialist Party." Not too far from "Nazis," now is it? Food for thought, if the Thought Police will let us.... -- dw
The Setup: The Yankee Group (an alleged think-tank tied to Microsoft, and therefore suspect in its conclusions), publishes a study that claims open-source software (specifically products like Linux and MySQL) actually cost more to implement than commercial software, despite being essentially "freeware." Sounds like FUD to me....
I'm one of those people who cause trouble at large companies. I once told IBM's fifth-largest mainframe customer they should buy Amdahl plug-compatible mainframes (twice the throughput at half the cost -- what's not to like?). IBM promptly offered them two million off their next purchase to get rid of me (nice to know what you're worth, eh?). Not having learned my lesson, I later bet a CIO just back from a Microsoft junket that Active Directory wouldn't be shipped for four years (this was just after Novell introduced NDS). I was short in my estimate by two years. I'm no longer there to gloat about being right, but neither is she (they were bought by a more successful competitor, and she was promptly shown the door). CIOs, CTOs, CFOs, and the like are only human, and can be fooled by FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt). Unfortunately, Microsoft has supplanted IBM as the foremost practitioners of this dark art, and managers that came up through business schools rather than glass houses have no defense against the Redmond Fertilizer Factory. Just because they have a responsible position doesn't necessarily make them intelligent enough to weigh highly sophisticated technical issues and come up with the right answers. It's up to us troublemakers to assure they hear both sides of the story. Let's not turn this into a religious war -- tell the truth, and the truth shall set them free (free software, that is). -- dw
The Setup: Somebody rather foolishly attempted to use statistics to bolster an egregiously stupid opinion, overlooking the fact that 79% of all statistics are made up on the spot (just like that one). The clueless really shouldn't try to have discourse with the educated and intelligent, because the more ethical among us dislike having a battle of wits with the unarmed....
What was it Twain said? I believe it was, "There are three kinds of lies: Lies, damned lies, and statistics!" Linux vendors are sadly like mice scrabbling after the crumbs left over after the Windows elephant has lumbered through. MS has 94% of the market, with Apple and Sun taking large bites of what's left. It's hard to argue with the conclusions drawn, which are that scarcity of Linux talent and expertise drives support costs up, and that for established systems, a wholesale change to Linux wouldn't offer a worthwhile ROI. That doesn't mean that NEW systems can't be implemented on a superior platform. Take heart -- these old, foolish managers will soon be taking their much-needed early retirements, and we wise and thoughtful Linux supporters can then bring in our favorite OS -- just in time for it to be be blindsided by the next macrobiotic wonder OS. It's like Santayana said: those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it. -- dw
The Setup: I often haunt the technical websites during my off hours, looking for information that will help me land the next lucrative contract (yeah, right). Often, the pundits the sites hire to stir up the masses and get them to post answers will ask a leading question, and the foolish, not knowing they're being baited, will sadly rise to the occasion. Being foolish, they will often put their (silly) political beliefs in their answers, believing this will make them appear more mature and worldly (they are, sadly, neither). These silly postings must occasionally be offset by ones from more mature writers. Here's one who blurted out his silliness in the midst of a discussion of the relative merits of open-source software vs. Microsoft (AKA The Evil Empire). The writer got a little lost, and put his (sadly liberal) viewpoint out for all to laugh at. My gentle answer follows.
The real disaster is the previous administration, which gutted the military in favor of "social" spending (those economic chains we were discussing). The current administration has had to re-build the military, an expensive proposition, but absolutely necessary in a post-9/11 world. A bit of deficit spending is necessary to kick-start the economy, and now that that is done, we should see improved job numbers (oh, wait, that's already happened, hasn't it?). And trust me on that "Socialist" bit. My wife, who is from Sweden, and knows a Socialist when she sees one, assures me that if there were truth in political advertising laws, we would be referring to the Demoncrats as the "American National Socialist Party." Not too far from "Nazis," now is it? Food for thought, if the Thought Police will let us.... -- dw
The Setup: The Yankee Group (an alleged think-tank tied to Microsoft, and therefore suspect in its conclusions), publishes a study that claims open-source software (specifically products like Linux and MySQL) actually cost more to implement than commercial software, despite being essentially "freeware." Sounds like FUD to me....
I'm one of those people who cause trouble at large companies. I once told IBM's fifth-largest mainframe customer they should buy Amdahl plug-compatible mainframes (twice the throughput at half the cost -- what's not to like?). IBM promptly offered them two million off their next purchase to get rid of me (nice to know what you're worth, eh?). Not having learned my lesson, I later bet a CIO just back from a Microsoft junket that Active Directory wouldn't be shipped for four years (this was just after Novell introduced NDS). I was short in my estimate by two years. I'm no longer there to gloat about being right, but neither is she (they were bought by a more successful competitor, and she was promptly shown the door). CIOs, CTOs, CFOs, and the like are only human, and can be fooled by FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt). Unfortunately, Microsoft has supplanted IBM as the foremost practitioners of this dark art, and managers that came up through business schools rather than glass houses have no defense against the Redmond Fertilizer Factory. Just because they have a responsible position doesn't necessarily make them intelligent enough to weigh highly sophisticated technical issues and come up with the right answers. It's up to us troublemakers to assure they hear both sides of the story. Let's not turn this into a religious war -- tell the truth, and the truth shall set them free (free software, that is). -- dw
The Setup: Somebody rather foolishly attempted to use statistics to bolster an egregiously stupid opinion, overlooking the fact that 79% of all statistics are made up on the spot (just like that one). The clueless really shouldn't try to have discourse with the educated and intelligent, because the more ethical among us dislike having a battle of wits with the unarmed....
What was it Twain said? I believe it was, "There are three kinds of lies: Lies, damned lies, and statistics!" Linux vendors are sadly like mice scrabbling after the crumbs left over after the Windows elephant has lumbered through. MS has 94% of the market, with Apple and Sun taking large bites of what's left. It's hard to argue with the conclusions drawn, which are that scarcity of Linux talent and expertise drives support costs up, and that for established systems, a wholesale change to Linux wouldn't offer a worthwhile ROI. That doesn't mean that NEW systems can't be implemented on a superior platform. Take heart -- these old, foolish managers will soon be taking their much-needed early retirements, and we wise and thoughtful Linux supporters can then bring in our favorite OS -- just in time for it to be be blindsided by the next macrobiotic wonder OS. It's like Santayana said: those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it. -- dw