Re: Windows 8 destroyed the PC>

You really dont have a clue, do you?

Are you really blaming the release of Windows 8 for the drop in PC sales?

A lot of comments here mention that they use their tablets/smartphones for consumption of online things, like Facebook. Why go to all the bother of sitting in front of your PC when you can lie on the sofa checking your Facebook on a tablet? Or your smart phone?

If Windows 8 really is the reason why the PC market has slumped and if Microsofts stranglehold on this market is so weak, why isnt the Open Source community doing everything it can to fill the gaps with alternatives? And promote them to the masses?

Penguinistas must be overjoyed to have you as a poster boy...

Re: Open source lock-in

Ah, can explain the license bit for Oracle and MS, I spent the last week going over the licensing terms for Oracle.... So you can pretty much ignore me on that one.

I kind of agree with you about the freedom that an open source product gives you over a propriety one, having the source available does indeed present you with the opportunity to get out of a dead end, something that an MS product will probably never do. But, this assumes your company has the desire and/or appetite to go down that route.

Take Puppet, for instance. Its a fantastic open source tool, one that I use on a daily basis where I am now and in previous places. However, if it were not for Puppet Enterprise, my company would never have chosen to use this software. Why? Because they wanted to pay money to get them in and set up our POC, dev, test and production systems. My company is pretty big (global), but they didnt want to go and contract a bunch of Puppet consultants in when they could buy in everything they need from the get go. Now, we are beholden to Puppet Enterprise - which is no way a bad thing.

Thats just one example from me with my current place of work. We have no intention of ever ploughing the knowledge we have gained back into Puppet. The tools and processes we have developed will stay with us as our own property. We have come up with (not me) a number of cool things that could help out a number of other Enterprises but this will never get beyond our NDA.

So, I completely agree that open source software is good, and yes it does have a load of positives that put it above closed source apps - but does open source really benefit at the end of the day?

I guess the point I am labouring is this, the open source community is excellent, it should never be disregarded and is an essential source of software and tools for IT in general. But is it fair that the development carried out internally by private enterprise is never shared with anyone else? Puppet has an Apache license, which means that it is defined as "Free Software", I think this means that if I choose to make changes to the source, I dont need to distribute it to anyone if I dont want to.

I suppose the flipside is also true.

This is just my opinion, I am not a staunch advocate for either side, instead I am someone who appreciates what is on offer etc. But I can completely agree why big business may choose not to use open source software, they simply dont relish the thought of having to make any changes they have developed themselves available to the public.

I think you can take away the "Open Source" from the "Lock In", that would be a far more valid statement?

Re: Open source lock-in

If you are locked in just because your design is so complex it makes moving to something new, you are in a whole world of hurt. Moving from one DB provider to another is not a trivial matter, but at the same time it shouldnt be impossible to move from one provider to another.

I have been in situations where the architecture of a product or service was overly complex, making any sort of migration tricky. The idea is to design your software so that the relevant sections can be vertically migrated with as little fuss as possible, however in saying that, it is never that easy.

This means that you might need to complete a load of work prior to getting into the point where you can migrate, which is better off for you in the long run, provided you can allocate that much resource to start with.

Oh, please treat the above as a generic "you", I am not implying that your software is in this state. Its just that I have seen situations like this before and this is how I worked the knot out for myself.

Agree with you on the MSSQL licensing model, it is ridiculous and makes it hard for anyone without the relevant clout in the company wallet to move and expand. The Oracle licensing model is better imho, well perhaps more easier to work with than better.

Re: As I predicted

OK Eadon, if you are truly gifted with an insight that the best market analysts could only ever dream to possess - what else is going to fail, you know, non-Microsoft stuff.

Or could it be that you simply state, over and over and over again, that Microsoft will fail, regardless of the product?

Re: @1Rafayal

I think their choice is Windows or Linux.

That seems to be pretty clear.

Re: @ The Resident Phone Licker

You are a boring little person.

I havent restricted myself to an Android or WP device. For all I know some other device will become available in the net few months that catches my eye, if I lie it I may well go for it.

I dont want a BlackBerry, I have one for work. Same goes with the iphone, I got issued with one of them as well. So I literally dont need to consider them as a device.

When you say open, how open do you need a device to be? Especially something as mundane as a phone... I made a point when getting apps on my current Android device, for instance choosing Kindle for books and Comixology for comics - these apps are available on WP, Android and iOS (not blackberry atm I think?).

So I can pretty much move between devices if these apps are available.

And are you honestly trying to say that you are right because WP doesnt have a huge market share? You sure about that, there are no other reasons why WP isnt as popular as the other devices?

Oh hang on, of course you are right, how silly of me to even suggest otherwise. Is it time for the nurse to give you your medication yet?

Re: @ The Resident Phone Licker

Did I mention Android? No, I didnt.

If I were going to be honest, the deciding factor between Android and a Windows Phone will come down to looks and build quality.

Unlike you, I am pretty free - I can choose whatever device I fancy. Whereas you are stuck with Android as your only choice, or perhaps Ubuntu Phone when available.

You see, the consumer has an awfully large amount of power, the average consumer can freely choose any device he or she wants, regardless of your incessant whining

You really need to let the grown ups talk, before butting in with your nonsense.

@harmony, completely agree with you on that. Without choice, the options available will just stagnate. Linux has caused Windows to evolve and I think the same is the other way around to a certain extent (desktop experience, installation etc).

@spoddyhalfwit, I think the take up of Linux by the regular home user boils down to a few points:

- They dont want to use

- They dont know how to get it

- They dont know how to install it

MS has some advantages, they make a product and let people know all about it and offer help on how to use it. Additionally, there are only a couple of flavours of Windows, Server and not-Server.

Linux, on the other hand, has multiple distros all trying to get attention. You have Mint for instance, which is fine for most users but then you get things like RHEL which has more flexibility but little support for media etc (I chose those two on purpose).

Re: How to LIE with fake marketing numbers

"Amazon has had worse outages thna Azure...."

Heresy!!!

Re: How to LIE with fake marketing numbers @(the ever charming) Eadon

Yes Eadon, I did read your post - hence my response.

You can be as rude and disingenuous as you like, at the end of the day all of your posts are about the same thing:

- You are right

- Anyone who has a different opinion is wrong

- You hate MS for no obvious reason.

You could pretty much just post one comment and then refer back to it for each subsequent post you make.

I live in hope that one day you may just find reason to post about something new, I guess that day will come when you latch on to some other technology that you feel is a gift from God.

Re: How to LIE with fake marketing numbers @(the ever charming) Eadon

Its so lovely to see your personality shining through this early in the morning Eadon.

If you think Dynamics is not one of the most popular CRM tools then you probably want to have a word with the Internets, there seem to be a large number of recruiters desperately looking for Dynamics devs these days. Especially those with X++ experience, which would lead one to think that there is still a lot of places out there using older versions of Dynamics...

Re: Hate to say this... but...

I disagree, in the EU, if you come up with an idea on company time then it pretty much belongs to them.

That is why it is so important for dev types to not work on their own projects when at work.

If I came up with a fantastic new way of doing something with software whilst on company time and then went ahead and sold it, then the company can legally assert that the whole shebang belongs to them

Of course, the company first has to prove you came up with the idea on their time, which is where the whole things starts to fall apart...

I dont think it is as bad as over in the US though. And lets face it, if you have come up with some ideas whilst at work that you then adapt for your own projects, the whole thing turns into a bit of a farce.

Having said all that, I am probably completely wrong, its all just so confusing...

"...I am a master (literally) of physics, mathematics and software engineering..."

This has to be a wind up?

Re: MS the Patent Troll

So would this be any better if MS didnt hold the patents?

Or would it be better for some other company, like Apple, to hold them instead?

Re: Crippled by the DORKY Windows 8 HORROR

@ Steve Knox.

I could have mistaken you for one of my lecturers at Uni telling me off for handing in an awful assignment!

Re: Ugly @Eadon

No Eadon, lets stick to some basics, Windows 8 sucks in your opinion.

To the users who have bought it, I would imagine it doesnt suck for them.

Re: Ugly @Eadon

Eadon, as usual you are bereft of a clue.

I note that you have neatly sidestepped the the topic of the consumer controlling the PC market. It must gall you that it is the consumer after all that decides the direction devices take as opposed to your soap-boxing.

One day, I am sure you will be able to produce a comment, hopefully here if not then at least to your community psychiatric nurse, that is useful.

Re: Ugly @Eadon

You know, I am not actually sure I have read a review that says Windows 8 is impractical.

Sure, I have read a lot of comments and columns etc that complain about the lack of a start menu, but pretty much everyone agrees that this is one of the fastest Windows yet. In fact, if MS put the start menu back it would make a lot of people happy. Including yourself, based on your "comments" on the matter.

By saying Windows 8 is impractical because it takes a click more to get to the desktop, you paint yourself in a rather sad picture. But then again, it matters not to you because you are not a Windows user, your comments are irrelevant.

And to state that the PC market is in decline because of Windows 8, well lets face it - thats a bit silly really isnt it? The PC market is probably in decline because the consumer can get what they want from a smartphone or tablet these days. Think about it for one second (if you can pause the cultist nonsense for a second), the average consumer wants to be able to surf the web, watch youtube and send emails. If they can get that from a device then they are happy.

It leads us to the irresistible truth that the consumer is in charge of the PC market, not you.

Now that we have put you right, you can move on to whatever burning topic you choose to whine about next.

Re: Ugly @Eadon

Complete FUD

Windows 8 is not impractical - it has the Windows desktop.

Is clicking on the Desktop button so difficult? Or, are you complaining about the loss of the Start menu? If you are, then sod off - I think I can speak for a great many people with that comment.

You are, by your own words, a Linux fanboi-cultist, in some regards you are very similar to North Korea - spouting bullshit that has a basis in truth, but with a deep veneer of nonsense and having people sort of agree with you, but who dont want to make themselves known as doing so would be as advantageous as licking a cheese grater.

I fail to understand how, or why, someone who professes to use Linux (and Mint, of all things), is this interested in the Windows UI. Surely it should mean absolutely nothing to you, after-all you are the enlightened individual using Linux after all.

Go play with your command line, you may end up learning something about Linux, and let the grown ups talk.

It would be refreshing to see a product round up discussion board that has some sensible things in it for a change, like are the devices any good etc - from actual users.