On Tuesday 18 July 2006 03:37, Daniel Bauer wrote:
I just sometimes get jealous of those guys that can run to their customers every day, having a lot of income just out of W's bugs. And if something doesn't work as expected, they can always say: "not my fault, it's a W bug" and everybody immediately believs it, even if they screwed it up themselves.
You guys need to get out more. I've been in systems development all my adult life, and I don't know of anyone who "runs to their customers" every day on any product THEY developed. If they did, the customer would soon get tired of them and get rid of the system just to get rid of the consultants. I've seen this happen. I have systems I've written, and migrated from IBM 370 mainframes to DOS PCs, and Novell networks, then to Windows and Linux servers. The programs are essentially intact from the early mainframe versions with the only changes being enhancements requested by the users, and platform mandated changes. I've moved systems to the PC and never touched them again, they are still running today in XP boxes even though they were delivered when Dos 6 was the best you could get. In the real world, the mission changes over time, and that is why software developers come out with new versions. Medical billing systems are a good example. Every little clinic and doctors office either needs to farm this out or get some software. If they get some software there are going to be subsequent versions. Laws change. Insurance changes. Medical science changes. The need for changes in the software which are mandated by the user community VASTLY outnumber and are more frequent than the need for changes mandated by Bill Gates. I'd put the above sentence in ALL CAPS if it wasn't so rude. Your contentions seems to be that if the Medical Billing was done on Linux, the fact that the HCFA 1500 form was redesigned every few years and Medical Diagnostic Codes and procedures change yearly, and congress passes law after law would SUDDENLY DISAPPEAR. I suggest you are not living in the real world, where systems more complex than a rolodex, and bills have to be paid on time, and new data keeping requirements arise every year. -- _____________________________________ John Andersen