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Open Source on its own is no alternative to Big Tech

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Re: Open Source on its own is no alternative to Big Tech

#81

Post by surfingdino »

pjmlp wrote: post #55
keelhaule wrote: post #19

I think the author is not learned in the technology economics. IBM to save it's business had to merge with Red hat almost 50% 50% in 2018. Microsoft it's security and cloud offering had to, open source it's .net framework, aquire GitHub, ditch Visual Studio fot Visual Studio Code, ARM is eating the world, it over hauled the x86_x64 architecture, and became the Defacto architecture. We can go on and on and on and on,t…

Nice explanation, except IBM has been one of the largest Linux contributors since forever, they saw it as a means to reduce Aix development costs. Linux only took off during the dotcom days as IBM, Oracle and Compaq started adopting it into commercial workloads, back in 2000. Visual Studio Code isn't in the same ballpark as Visual Studio. It was already an Azure project, as the Monaco editor, and it was a way to kill…

Linux took off when PCs were finally able to run operating systems with virtual memory. All of a sudden devs did not need to pay for licences for C/C++ compilers and other dev tools, but most importantly they no longer had to pay tens of thousands of dollars for Unix workstations or servers. It coincided with the commercialisation of the Internet (it started as a non-commercial project funded by DARPA).

Re: Open Source on its own is no alternative to Big Tech

#82

Post by okanat »

wazoox wrote: post #9

EU is a digital colony and that's entirely down to the lack of political will.

I think it will take way more than political will.

The USA is enjoying the wealth they gained in both world wars and they also kept their defacto colonies in the South America and Pacific.

Europeans destroyed their wealth in the world wars and they lost their colonies. Of course the end of the colonialism has ended some of the human suffering but it has a cold-hearted economic impact.

The American venture capitalists are all coming from the industries that got stronger at and after the world wars. They invested silicon and then the tech industries that built the wealth exponentially. The Europeans had to rebuild their countries until 70s and the investments they made are smaller. Similarly the US spent its government money to nuclear and space programs that further strengthened the economy. EU spent its surplus to improve post-Soviet countries which may or may not pay dividends in the future.

It may require significant reallocation of resources from certain places to tech. It may require diverting the resources spent on old pensioners who are the biggest voting block. It is not a simple lack of political will. It requires reshaping a century of decisions.

Re: Open Source on its own is no alternative to Big Tech

#84

Post by DandyDev »

surfingdino wrote: post #78
DandyDev wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every time I hear a story like this - "management says 'no'" - I wonder if anyone cared/dared to ask follow up questions. Why was PostgreSQL not an option according to management? I would not take their dismissal at face value. I'd want to know why not. But that might be Dutch culture.

Insurance. The piece of paper that states who the buck stops with when there's a claim or lawsuit.

Let's say that is the reason, then that seems a very valid reason, right? Accountability is important, especially in large organizations.

I guess what ticks me off a bit is the trope of dissing on management for saying 'no' but leaving out all the relevant context that might show management to be right.

Don't get me wrong, I've seen my own fair share of bad management. But it's not so black and white when it comes to grand sweeping decisions like "should we invest in PostgreSQL or keep paying Oracle big license fees?"

Re: Open Source on its own is no alternative to Big Tech

#86

Post by pelorat »

keelhaule wrote: post #19

I think the author is not learned in the technology economics. IBM to save it's business had to merge with Red hat almost 50% 50% in 2018. Microsoft it's security and cloud offering had to, open source it's .net framework, aquire GitHub, ditch Visual Studio fot Visual Studio Code, ARM is eating the world, it over hauled the x86_x64 architecture, and became the Defacto architecture. We can go on and on and on and on,t…

> ditch Visual Studio for Visual Studio Code

How has Microsoft ditched VS for VSCode? VS is lightyears ahead in features and performance.

The two are not even remotely comparable. VSCode is a text editor that wants to be an IDE, but if you work with C++ or .NET you're shooting yourself in the foot if you use VSCode.

VSCode is not a serious alternative to VS or other IDE's like JetBrains Rider.

Re: Open Source on its own is no alternative to Big Tech

#88

Post by AlienRobot »

axegon_ wrote: post #36

As much as it pains me to say it, it's true. I use predominantly open source software on all my computers with some small exceptions. I used to rely on some cloud services because of the convenience and nothing else. But leaks started becoming way too common and what I can say about all places that I've worked at, data is handled really badly. If you pair that with some OSINT skills, you can learn pretty much anythin…

>If you pair that with some OSINT skills, you can learn pretty much anything about anyone from a single leak.

If you need more anxiety, just think about the hottest technology right now that is capable of relating massive amounts of data instantly :-)

SQL isn't ready for AI.

Re: Open Source on its own is no alternative to Big Tech

#89

Post by majkinetor »

I don't buy this argument. It's simplistic and IMO wrong on multiple accounts.

Big tech can totally sell "FOSS services" and provide ground works for it, like some of it do - you don't have to lock people with proprietary stuff.

Even more, big IT tech couldn't exist without FOSS in this form and shape, while the opposite is not true.

Re: Open Source on its own is no alternative to Big Tech

#90

Post by the_gipsy »

bruce511 wrote: post #29

I think the key point is this; >> (By the way, all new software without accompanying support & guidance is doomed to fail. And if that software comes from a dominant player, you’ll just have to deal with that by the way.) There's a temptation to conflate the software license with the software business. This is natural, but places software as the primary value in the chain. From a business perspective the software tho…

Software license may not consciously matter to end users, but they do have a huge impact on everything else. That is, the end user would not have the software, or would have vastly different software, if the licenses were different. They just don't know and don't care about the licensing details and effects, like so many other technical aspects.
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