PHP Program

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echo ” Hello World ! “;

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Dr. Dobb’s 2008 Hall of Fame Calendar

Okay, the year is almost half over and I’m just now getting around to posting Dr. Dobb’s 2008 Hall of Fame Calendar. Which probably means that I should start on Dr. Dobb’s 2009 Hall of Fame Calendar right away.

What is Dr. Dobb’s 2008 Hall of Fame Calendar? It’s a downloadable PDF document with monthly photos of recipients of the annual Dr. Dobb’s Excellence in Programming Award. Let’s see, since this is May… you have a whole month of Bruce Schneier who received the award for his contributions and writings about computer security.

 You can download your copy of Dr. Dobb’s 2008 Hall of Fame Calendar here.

C Program

main()
{
printf(“Hello World!”);
}

Best Computing Solutions: The Future of Linux – Part II

Some People Prefer to Buy Cheap. Take most people in the market for a new computer. Put them in places like Costco or Best Buy – what do you think they will end up with? A new Ubuntu box from Dell? Nope. A Mac? Not even close. In reality, it will likely be something from HP, and it will be clearly designed for the Vista release of Windows.

This is where the Windows fans begin preaching about how no one can ever touch Microsoft’s market share. And as things sit now, they are right – just not for the reasons they preach. Microsoft has its market share for a few of the following reasons:

- They practically own the consumer market. Bundle this with blind allegiance from hardware manufacturers, and of course, the government and enterprise markets, you have a full on monopoly, pure and simple.

- Microsoft also has a lot of strength from a software industry that is drunk with Windows dependence.

- Trucks of revenue for everyone. From the PC repair guys to those that create software and even the hardware manufacturers. Stick with Microsoft, everyone wins…except the end user.

Now let’s walk into the local big box store with the mindset of the typical consumer. Alright, the user automatically is indicated with Vista logos everywhere reminding them that Windows is their overlord. This tends to reinforce that good old Windows “blind sight,” as I like to call it.

At the time of computer shopping for this user, it happened to be during a holiday sale. So this means that they see a nice Compaq desktop starting at a whopping $379. Other options also include deals where printers and other accessories are included.

People love the idea of little extras with their low-end PCs, and the fact that most of the offerings showing up as sold out are $500 and under, it is a good deal overall.

Apple. Windows zealots better be paying attention, the market share is not as strong as it once was. With the big box stores now stocking Apple’s Mac line of computers, Windows is going to feel the heat. And while I would bet that these big box stores were not carrying as many as they should have for their customers, late last year, Best Buy was back-ordered on the Mac Mini

Linux Desktops in Big Box Stores? So when should you expect to see Linux machines appearing in big box stores? I do not believe it will happen anytime soon. Not because these Linux boxes are not worthy, but they are already selling at a comfortable rate online. There’s little incentive to go through the brick-and-mortar trouble.

Within the next few years, it could be that we will indeed begin seeing ready-to-run Linux boxes making an appearance. Previous attempts in this realm have been met with mixed results. However, with closely controlled hardware and updates that have been tested on that same hardware, it could be a successful holiday item for Christmas gifts that are yet to come.

Best Computing Solutions: Windows vs. Linux – Part I

As long as there are choices in computing platforms, there will be those that claim that their OS is the best over all others. In this article, I will work to put my own preferences aside, examine my years of experience with past clients who have used all three major platforms and why each made the most sense for them.

Why Change What Works? There are some people that need specialized options from their platforms. My wife, for instance, is happy to use Linux to check her e-mail; however, she cannot not rely on anything less than OS X for color calibration and working with Adobe Photoshop. Users like my mom have an entire hard drive (nearly) full of Microsoft Publisher files that are not likely to be migrated over to anything different anytime soon. Windows XP does what she needs it to do, why change it?

Then there is me with Ubuntu. While I run a number of other distributions, I have found that with the possible exception of the latest Fedora release, the adoption rate and external utility development for Ubuntu have blown the doors off of everyone else. But that is just me.

At any rate, the point is that I prefer Ubuntu, since it works for what I’m looking for. I can get every application imaginable from the given software repositories or simply Deb packages from GetDeb.net. Because of the way Ubuntu does things, I have not compiled anything since migrating to this distro from a whirlwind tour of my previous distributions.

So we are faced with the question – is any one of these “better” than the other? The very idea of one being the better option is totally relative and in the eyes of the user.

Time For An Upgrade, But Which OS to Choose From? Take any photo e-mailing browser with PC user and ask them to pay the upgrade price for Vista, and once they are done laughing at you, they will likely ask “why?” This puts us in a pickle for a number of reasons. Because outside of more than likely needs to buy completely new hardware for a semi-decent Vista experience. So the question remains – why bother? For some people, it could be a question of security improvements, which are certainly valid with Vista over XP. However, the same has been a constant with OS X and Linux, without Microsoft’s abysmal security track record. And believe me I have had a fair share of people asking me why they would want to use Windows again, considering all the virus and malware issues they had to concern themselves with.

Yet at the same time, unless they are using video, video games or something else resource intensive or specialized, the defining factor will be whatever is cheapest. This is an area most technology enthusiasts still have trouble wrapping their heads around, but it is a cold, hard fact.

Sticking to What is Familiar Vs. Overall Value. Keeping in mind that most people are not informed enough to ask if iLife comes with an office suite like iWork by default, or if Windows Vista provides MS Word as an added bonus, at the end of the day, most people will end up migrating to Vista. Surprised? Don’t even dare think that it is because “Vista is the best” for them specifically. It is a combination of PC pricing and expecting or wanting a lot of change in their computing world.

Mac users, like my wife, will never agree with this. And I say more power to them. But the reality is this – less advanced Windows users want it to be familiar, not what some consider being more functional. This is not my opinion, this is an indisputable fact. Ask anyone one out there dealing with Joe Public in the repair industry, they will agree for the most part.