On Tue, 2002-07-23 at 08:44, Omer Zak wrote:
> > As for the 'Linux Lost' hugwash, I see where all my Windows-centric
> > *programers* friends ended up working (if at all) and I see where I and
> > other Linux people work and I know that *we* have won and will continue
> > to win. All the rest is just intertia. Microsoft rose because of
> > *develpers* and it goes down because of them too. It just takes time.
>
> This confirms an amazing discovery which I had few months ago. I used to
> team up with someone, who worked exclusively in MS-Windows environment -
> MS-Access and Visual Basic. My target platforms were "anything but
> Microsoft". After few good years, my associate ran into a dry spell
> during the last few months, while I didn't have idle time.
Nothing amazing about it at all. I would go so far as to say it was down
right expected and is only a certain midphase in a proccess that is
going to get stronger over time.
> My explanation of the observation is that the scene is full of Web
> designers. Those who are somewhat better - do MS-Access and Visual Basic.
> They are the ones with whom my associate needed to compete over projects.
>
> On the other hand, the platforms, which I target, are considered to be
> "arcane, unpopular or difficult" by the crowd, so I have less competition
> for those projects, which do come up.
This is a very good analasys. However, it isn't the whole story. Linux
developers are also more productive (and again, this applies to people
who write actuall systems, not to 'web designers', SQL monkeys or script
kittens...). This isn't because they are extra smart people, it's simply
because they have better tools and they got better tools because of the
way we operate, that is freedom.
Proof:
Management request:
"The customers want a tools that will disconncet them from the Internet
after 90 minutes".
Linux programer reponse: "sleep 90; killall pppd; if you want a GUI for
this it'll take another 10 minutes... "
MS programer response: "I've written the GUI in 5 minutes. It looks
great. I've found in a MSDN a code example that disconnects the PPP
connection. However, it does not work on Win2000 and it seems that the
only three persons on earth that know how to fix it are somewhere in a
basement in Redmond and not even our MSDN universal subscription contact
can get them to asnwer before 2034...".
Both are equelly smart. BUT who will get things *done*? you guessed it.
Of course, over time the smart developers realise this and tend to
gravitate towards Linux/Free software because they know they can be more
productive there. And they will start making the tools even better (and
they can because the tools are free-as-in-speech) and the better tools
bring in even more smart developers and we get a postive feedback loop
that makes sure that over time Linux has the better developers and great
tools.
This proccess has been going on for aprox. 10 years now. And just like
any other virus the growth here is exponential, that is - until the very
last doublings you hardly see any effect on the real numbers of
developers. But now we're getting into those last steps and the race is
almost run. Can you guess who is winning? :-)
As for the Desktop sillinies, some historical perspective is due.
Somewhere around 1980 a couple of smart people in Xerox PARC and Apple
computers realised that in order to get the mundanes to use computers
they must make sure computers provide a similar interface to what those
people were used to. Most knowledge workers at that time worked with
desktops (real table desktops, not computers!) so they made the computer
interface imitate that, complete with bug to bug compatability, like
making you do something sepcial to 'uncover' windows when other windows
are above them just like pieces of paper... (thank you Oleg for the
example :-).
This was a brilliant move that made computers truly obiqutous and made
sure there now, 20 years after the fact there are no more people that
actually work with real table desktops. The Desktop interface simulation
was so succeffull it completly obliterated the actaul desktop - the
simulation transformed into a simulacra... "Welcome to the desert of the
real", indeed. Now we can finally leave these old crutches behind.
The old Desktop interface is just bagage now. Windows is dragging it
behind. Linux doesn't. This is an *advantage*, folks. We shouldn't be
building better Linux desktops and we aren't (we can and do match them
though). We should be building something NEW. A graphical CLI interface
anyone? one that isn't bound to he stupid desktop metaphor? I donno. But
we will find out.
Ok, rant finished. We can continue arguing about games now... Anyone up
for a game of Tekken3 ?:-)
Gilad.
--
Gilad Ben-Yossef <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Code mangler, senior coffee drinker and VP SIGSEGV
Qlusters ltd.
"You got an EMP device in the server room? That is so cool."
-- from a hackers-il thread on paranoia
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