[thelist] Linux/PHP/MySQL advantages over WinNT/ASP/MSSQL?

[Jeff]

lauri,

:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
: From: Lauri Väin <optima at hot.ee>
:
: > The real question is, what's the level of expertise
: > you have to work with there?
:
: ... the guys at the main office want move towards a
: Microsoft based standard in their offices worldwide.
:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

then there's your answer.  doesn't sound likely to me that you'll get to
play with linux and/or php.  it sounds to me like they are trying to set a
standard.  allowing you to use linux and/or php would conflict directly with
that goal and could be very costly to the company in the long-run,
especially when it comes time to working with, maintaining, upgrading, or
porting your linux and/or php driven apps after you're no longer there.

:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
: Sorry for the poisonous attitude towards MS, but I'm a
: sucker for cross-platform, cross-browser solutions.
:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

<jest>yeah, i guess you're right.  you are a sucker.</jest>

i'm not sure i see the connection between cross-platform/cross-browser and
the anti-ms attitude.  after all, just how cross-platform is linux?  *smirk*
and as far as php is concerned, there is *much* better cross-platform
middleware available that actually performs similarly across platforms,
unlike php which sucks on windows, among other windows-version annoyances
(more about that below).

:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
: And again, please don't turn it into a holy-OS war . . .
:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

one thing about thelist that you'll learn - we don't have holy wars or flame
fests.  we're all adults here and often have passionate discussions, but
they're all respectful and handled with decency.

:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
: As many employees want stuff like I just mentioned, it
: would be easier if I could code the things needed myself.
: I know PHP (I chose to learn it instead of ASP as PHP is
: open-source and it's free). The WinNT version of PHP is
: not as bug-free as the *nix version is si Linux would be
: better than WinNT. And no, I don't have the time to learn
: ASP (as I'm 16 years old and still go to school and I have
: some hobbys too - on of my hobbys is my work, I love it!)
: nor do I want to learn it as it's not cross-platform
:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

sounds to me like asp would be an excellent addition to your skillset,
whether you can see the value in it or not.  the same argument you use for
not learning asp, is the very same argument that could be used for not
learning php as it only offers token support for windows.

i've always found the argument for using cross-platform software to be
alittle flawed though.  it's usually not taken into account that anytime you
support more than a single platform you have to make compromises to get a
finished product.  you can make it incredible on one and a port for the rest
or you reduce the feature set until you arrive at a group of features that
are possible in the given codesets for each platform or you skip both and
end up with inconsistent feature support across platforms.  one way or
another somebody is going to lose.

the most stable solution is to pick a platform, pick the tools that work the
best on that platform, and make that your standard.  hopefully when you make
those choices you pick things that are likely to be around for the lifetime
of the endeavor so you don't have to go through the hassle of porting to
something else.  this is probably where your company's decision fell with
microsoft products.  there's a platform and product there that are from a
company who's success, to some extent, lies in that product being used.
most companies won't put time and resources into the open source material
(unless they have damn fine people that aren't going anywhere anytime soon)
because it's harder to get support for that product.  it's just cheaper in
the long-run to pay for a support contract and have the vendor take care of
them.  there's not enough open source material that can offer that (redhat
is an excellent example of one that can and does and are selling well
because of it).

:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
: Linux is also a lot more stable (in my opinion) as it has
: been around longer.
:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

it's not the platform, it's who configured it and who's maintaining it.  if
they know what they're doing, it'll perform regardless of the platform.  if
they don't, then it won't.  besides, in the end it's all 1's and 0's anyway.

just my 2¢,

.jeff

name://jeff.howden
game://web.development
http://www.evolt.org/
mailto:jeff at members.evolt.org