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| GeoCommunity Mailing List |
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| Subject: | RE: GISList: Automatic data recording |
| Date: |
07/02/2003 02:10:01 PM |
| From: |
Dimitri Rotow |
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> Ooops. I didn't plan to get a big discussion on this. I might agree with
Me neither, but what the hey... :-)
> you, Dimitri, that in the business field sometimes it may be more
> effcient to use "pre-built" software, etc.
> But GIS is also used in activities that actualy are not neccessarily
> business related e.g. science, education, non-profit, research and
> development, hobbies.
Except for hobbies, all of these areas still have to balance resources,
objectives, costs, etc., for a total cost of ownership (TCO) consideration.
I realize that in some such cases management is very poor, so that
inefficient projects are easily launched when in business they would never
be undertaken. But as budgets contract, even elite institutions that have in
the past disdained cost-effectiveness are being forced to operate more
efficiently, to take on greater accountability for how they run their
operations.
Look, you'd expect a savvy businessman to know better than to try to make
his own shoes when he can buy better ones off the shelf for much less cost,
but there's no reason why scientific, educational, non-profit and R&D
institutions cannot likewise be managed in a savvy way so that they don't
waste their precious resources making their own shoes when it would be
smarter to buy them off the shelf.
> And still there are many fields in business where considering very
> specific tasks (re)making something "from a scratch" is the only
> possible alternative.
Very true. However, you have to consider in such cases is it wiser to do so
using Microsoft technologies or to use some other set of technologies.
>
> >Nonsense. If anything, CGI scripting is usually, but not always, slower
> >than .asp.
> >
> >
> -------------
> - cgi-scripting/server-side-services which also includes PHP, Java
> server, mod_perl, etc... There are many alternatives to ASP. Just look
> at an explosion of PHP empowered sites including www.geocomm.com !
> Should this fact be ignored by the GIS community ? Why should we stick
> with far not the most efficient technologies just because of business
> ideology.
> ----------------
It's not business ideology as it is the practical benefits of taking
advantage of the mainstream: much lower TCO, much greater flexibility at
much lower costs because there is so much more available for it. That there
are many alternatives simply reports that there are many tiny minorities
sharing a microscopic non-Microsoft niche, that's not good for any one of
them since the larger the share the lower the TCO due to synergies between
many players supporting one standard.
>
> >More nonsense. Windows from 2000 onwards and *especially* recent releases
> >like Windows Server 2003 are *extremely* efficient, reliable and highly
> >secure. Yes, it is true that there are more security reports for Windows
> >
> >
> >than for Linux, but that's because more people use Windows, by a
> factor of
> >100 to 1. For web sites, many more commercial users utilize Windows and
> >Windows has vastly more web applications running under it.
> >
> >
> ----------------------------------
> Well, I mean Unix-like systems which of course includes Linux. Windows
> and Unix in networked environments behave in totaly diferent ways. And
> Unix/Linux still holds it's position. How much do you think B. Gates
Let's use "UNIX" to mean both UNIX and Linux. UNIX share of all computers
has gone down steadily since the 1980's, largely because Windows share of
interactive systems has increased. UNIX share today consists almost
exclusively of "black box" server appliances running simple server tasks.
If anything, UNIX share of interactive machine usage (that is, applications
like desktop "office" systems) continues to decline.
> recently paid for some sources of Unix and why ?
Well, I hope you don't think that Bill did that because he suddenly agrees
with Linux zealots that despite its adoption by hundreds of millions of
people, Windows is worthless and so Microsoft should give up and use UNIX.
:-)
Bill did that to help put a stake through the heart of his Linux competition
in servers. The greatest threat to Linux today comes from SCO, because it
is a massive legal problem for System V source code to have been found
within Linux. Bill always covers his bets, so he too has used Linux to
leave no stone unturned in his product coverage. By paying SCO he achieves
two very important bets: 1) He immunizes himself from any legal problems
arising from theft of System V source code by Linux writers and 2) More
importantly, he instantly gives legitimacy and financial power to SCO's
intellectual property (IP) legal action against IBM and other Linux us
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