"waterskidoo" <water.skidoo@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:f6otqr$ki0$2@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> On 2007-07-07, guess <manic.bassman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> On Sat, 07 Jul 2007 16:19:13 +0100, Roy Schestowitz wrote:
>
>>
>> yes all very well... but when I was in Johannesburg back in April, I
>> deliberately went into some computer shops to see what the state of
>> things
>> was there hardware wise etc. and found that no-one in them had even heard
>> of Ubuntu or Linux...
>>
>> Joe Public isn't going to know Linux is even available as it isn't in the
>> shops or mainstream computer press.
>
> A walk through Mall Of America is all that is needed to see that Linux
> is not a household word.
> What is going to happen however is that Joe Public will be introduced
> to Linux at work, at school or possibly in his local library and
> it will at some point travel home with him to the family computer.
> That is how Linux is growing and will continue to grow.
> Of course companies like Dell that legitimize Linux for Joe Public
> will of course help as well, but that is moving along slowly
> for now.
I agree. However, in order for small businesses (the majority of employers
are small businesses) to try and use Linux, we MUST make it as easy and
cheap as possible to learn and code the custom applications that they need
to compete.
Although languages like C, C++, Java, etc. are very powerful, they are not
easy to learn and master. They require more time and money to implement
than most small businesses have available to them. Therefore it is cheaper
(in the present) to continue to just tow the Microsoft line.
Linux MUST have its own Visual Basic. Visual Basic (the REAL Visual Basic -
not VB.Net) made it easy for small businesse to use the employees they had
and the equipment that they had to write custom internal applications
without the need for large expeditures in hardware, software or hiring
expensive programming gurus. Small bsuinesses used VB as a tool to get the
job done fast (RAD) and more cheaply than if they had used C++ or even Java
coders.
Was VB perfect? Hell no. But small businesses don't need perfect. They
need cheap and RAD. Business processes, goals and needs change so
frequently today that it doesn't make sense to invest a terrible amount of
anything in their support.
Just like all small business needs, you need IT systems that are easy to
use, easy to support, easy to find programmers for, as RAD and as cheap as
possible. Linux doesn't have a programming standard that small businesses
can learn and use that is as RAD, cheap and effective as VB was for Windows.
REALbasic is the only thing I have seen that fits this bill well. REALbasic
can be easily learned by ex-VB programmers because its syntax is VB-esque.
It even helps to convert VB6 apps to REALbasic. So you can take advantage of
the glut of VB programmers looking for a new home. AND, you can code your
apps for Windows as well as Linux using REALbasic. So there's no need to
cut over your whole organization until you try it on Windows, then move it
to Linux (same source code - just a recompile) and make sure that your
business processes are safe in the move.
REALbasic has real support by a company that is sold out to doing one
thing - making REALbasic better. No conflicts of onterest. No OS
preference. No Microsoft changing things every 2 years with no backwards
compatability.
Best of all, REALbasic is free for Linux. Get that? FREE software and
support from a real company dedicated to their own success via your success.
If not REALbasic, then what? Whatever we can find that will make Linux
development as RAD, cheap and easy as VB was for Windows will be what Linux
needs to take the business desktops and servers and will lead to the taking
of the home desktops.
jim
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