David Boles wrote:
If I depend on say "Oracle" and since Oracle is proprietary I should not run
it on Linux?
You are taking a general statement and applying it to a very specific
circumstance.
In the particular case cited, Linux may indeed be the answer you seek.
However, in general terms, the solutions that folks like Les are looking for
can be most easily found in places other than Linux. Microsoft and Apple are
the two largest examples of such places.
Each of those introduce their own issues: OS X only runs on a limited
set of hardware and we all know about the problems with Microsoft.
However, in my opinion, the GPL, by preventing competitive combinations
of software components, has made more money for Microsoft than anything
Steve Balmer has ever said or done.
"the problems with Microsoft"? What would those be Les? List of problems
please.
Life is too short to complete that list... But start with the thousands
of vulnerabilities that produced the estimated 25% of all current PCs
being controlled in botnets that are used to send spam and DDOS attacks.
Or the massive waste of time and money spent to protect the rest with
3rd party add-ons and frequent necessary grooming. Then there are the
illegal anti-competitive marketing practices, the funding of SCO, the
patent threats against open source. Binary device drivers are not part
of this list, though. Since at least Win2ksp2 they basically just work.
--
Les Mikesell
lesmikesell@xxxxxxxxx
