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Technology Stocks : Novell (NOVL) dirt cheap, good buy? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: PJ Strifas who wrote (28187)	9/21/1999 2:58:00 AM
From: Scott C. Lemon	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 42771

Hello PJ, A couple of your comments sparked my interest ... as usual! ;-) I've been developing software for quite a while, and I'm curious about some of your perspectives: > This same approach which so won over developers is also showing > signs of wear and tear. Over the last few years, developers have > been jumping off the proprietary bandwagon known as Win32 for the > openness and freedom of web-based technologies. Can you name me 10 applications of this type that you use on a daily basis to run your business? Or to operate within the industry? Ok ... even 5? I have tried for years to move to a non-Windows environment, and yes there are some weak attempts at tools that provide some level of functionality ... but I run almost all Windows applications today. I'm curious what "web-based" applications that you truly use to run your life or business ... > 1) There's more growth in the web than Win32 platform. But with web-based applications you lose all desktop integration and decrease the "ease of use" when trying to tie the application to the users PC. (i.e. saving to the local hard-drive, drag and drop, etc.) > 2) Cross-platform compatibility and convergence will drive software > sales beyond the PC era. So you're talking about Windows2000, WindowsNT, Windows98, and WinCE all running the same software? ;-) > 3) The Palm phenomenon is just the tip of the iceberg, devices will > shrink, functionality will grow (if only we had another space race > to accelerate this) people will get connected from varying devices. This is going to be the exciting area of growth ... but WinCE is still in the running and MSFT is not giving up yet ... > 4) "Webtone" will be a reality sooner rather than later. How does this decrease the impact of MSFT and Windows? NetMeeting is a very good "free" V/VoIP application ... > Microsoft has also shown a propensity for allowing developers to > create products and more importantly markets only to release a > similar component within their OS (for free) and steal much thunder > from the originator(s). This is the one area that I can't agree with you more ... and as a software developer I love MSFT for doing this and being this way! Microsoft will sell me their entire product line, and all the APIs and tons of information all for ~$2000/year. As a developer I get a boatload of CDs, and I can say right now that I have never had to call Microsoft for an API or support. It all there! They give me everything that I want! And yes, although they are open and give me all of this, they also seem to say: "Here's everything you need, please develop cool stuff for our products and platforms, and by the way - we reserve the right to squish you like a bug at any time and steal all your ideas and give away a free competing if we feel like it." But you know what ... I'd rather dance with the devil like this, and actually enjoy doing so, then deal with some of the companies out there. Many companies in this industry are afraid of giving the breadth of APIs away to their developers. They are afraid they might have to support a whole ton of developers at great expense. They are afraid that a whole bunch of people will write code to them, and so they will have to keep them working and expend energy to migrate the developers to new APIs. In general, they treat developers like a bunch of people who are a big pain in the @$$. This always reminds me of the angry stewardesses on airplanes while flying around the country. You know how every now and then you are served by one that seems to have that attitude ... "You know ... if I didn't have to deal with all you passengers, my day would be just great!" ;-) Just some thoughts ... Scott C. Lemon