On Mon, 06 Nov 2000 21:37:56 GMT, "Mats Pettersson"
>I may be missunderstanding you completely, but aren't there specialized
>applications
>out there for testing web-sites?
Yes but not for browser compatibility. The only way to check a web
site against all the faults in all the versions of all the browsers is
to fire up all the versions of all the browsers.
I doubt we will see much improvement until things like JavaScript
become an open International standard where one open source plug in is
used by every browser. The closest equivalent I can think of is the
Photoshop plug in. Just about all of Photoshop's competitors accept
the same plug ins automatically.
.
.
Quote:>If you get to something like compiling and installing sendmail, mysql,
>apache... you preferable
>have to be a C/C++ programmer, like to read FAQs RFCs and spend a month
>learning
>protocolls and security systems (i might stretch it a bit, but you get the
>picture).
>Don't get me wrong, i admire the people doing all those free applications
>and i understand
>they don't have all the time in the world to write big comprehencive
>manuals, especially
>for free, but nevertheless it's a problem.
>Mats
I find the Windows NT binaries of PHP etc work well. The installation
is simple for most. Apache is a little tricky because few people
understand services. The problem is setting up a workstation to run a
departmental Intranet or a test web site. Installing all the bits by
hand requires a different knowledge set for each. There is not
equivalent to a Microsoft Office CD.
If the user switches to Mandrake 7 and clicks on Workstation, they get
the GUI but not server apps like Apache. If they click Server, they
miss out on the GUI. That is where the Mandrake help panels come in. I
can work out what is missing and just run the installation process
from scratch using the help panels to find out about custom
installation. Just like NT and other operating systems.
With NT, I can then alter the NT installation script to pre answer
questions and burn a new CD. That new CD will automatically install on
100s of PCs with no problems. To do the same with Linux, you have to
start with far more knowledge of Linux and people with that knowledge
are in short supply.
People like to show me their favorite distro of Linux install in 10
minutes with only 3 questions. Great. Then something goes wrong. The
fix up time is as long as with NT and there are fewer people with the
knowledge.
The take up time for new technology in the computer industry is the
same as in the car industry. 20 years.
XML is a refinement of the 25 year old GML. Hard disks remain
unchanged after 30 years.
The American car industry waited 80 years before admitting disk brakes
are better than drum brakes. They waited another 10 years before
admitting disk brakes are also cheaper to make. The closest equivalent
in the computer industry is the serial port. USB's predecessor worked
on HP calculators 20 years ago but no one took up the idea because it
was too new.
Linux will start winning the big race when a company can take one CD
and roll out 1,000 workstations complete with GUI, StarOffice, a
database, PHP, something equivalent to MS's Personal Webserver and
something compatible with Powerpoint.
I am hoping RedHat 7 has taken on all the good features of Mandrake 7
and will combine that with regular updates. Once every 3 months would
suit my needs.
I use Solaris and Linux for web servers. Considering each server is
serving around 80,000 workstations, the workstation market is far
larger and more influential.
The mass market, the user of the future, works at about the level of
PHP/Visual Basic/Excel macros so will not be able to resort to reading
C code. They need the GUI apps to warn them disk space is running out
and show them where the space went. That was where I started this
discussion. What is the Linux equivalent of Diskeeper or Raxco?
I do not need the GUI apps but find them many times faster so will
stick with NT Workstation until the right set of apps are Gnomed.