Archive | 2004

So how do you make money if the software is free?

A question I’ve heard and tried to answer from a couple of angles is
‘So how do you make money if the software is free?’ Part of the answer
lies in examining the question’s assumptions: I rarely, if ever, made a
profit because a client chose a specific software package: I’m in the
business of consulting, not value-added resale. But that’s me. How does
everyone else in the chain profit, or at least benefit? IT Manager’s
Journal answers the question in their article “Seven open source business strategies for competitive advantage.”

Any Questions?

The Onion: God Clarifies “Don’t Kill” rule. This article hasn’t lost anything in the past 3 years: in fact, it may have gained quite a bit. [Garrett Fitzgerald’s Blog]

The challenges of modern IT

Worm Lays Waste To IT’s Defenses.
“With preventive initiatives slowed by corporate bureaucracy, the IT
infrastructure becomes easy prey for the Sasser worm.” from Computerworld News.

This is a good tale of how it really works down in the trenches, with
communication issues, bureaucracy and uncooperative groups making
security a difficult challenge.

Happy Memorial Day

A rare day off at Ted Roche & Associates, LLC. Still, spent an hour
this morning posting some solutions to MySQL queries to the ProFox
list, and a few hours working on a chapter about connecting to MySQL
from Visual FoxPro. But also got some time in with Laura working on
roman shades in the office. And, lest we forget, more than a few
minutes remembering those who sacrificed so we could enjoy the freedom
of the holiday. Have a good Memorial Day.

Bob Metcalfe: IT Matters

The Harvard Business Review published an article last year entitled
“Why I.T. Doesn’t Matter,” a very popular article followed up by a book
of the same name. Bob Metcalfe, inventor of Ethernet and former
industry publisher, responds here.

Subversion… check it out!

Subversion: The new-generation CVS. Software development is an iterative process that … [OSNews]

Subversion is hot stuff, a clean re-implementation built on the ideas
of CVS but with the added features to support better multi-file
versioning, remote access and improved security. I’ve got clients
running on Windows, Linux and OS X, and plan to move my main repository
there soon.

VFP Revolutions

A new letter of protest, asking Microsoft to give the Visual FoxPro
product its due, is making this rounds. Started in Brazil, it’s picked
up 500 signatures in the first few days worldwide.
VFPRevolutions-NewOpenLettertoMicrosoft.
“For all Visual FoxPro Developers community Although sometimes
happenings small jobs offering waves for the VFP developers, we feel
that in the last years had a big job offering or projects reduction
having like base the VFP, this in the world…” Link via the FoxForum Wiki

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