3d ago

For people who actually use them, are current open alternatives that bad in comparison?

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Its not about good or bad the software people learn and use are the ones that bring them gainful employment. You learn what the industry uses to get a job in the same way i didn't learn java because its a fun and exciting language i learned it because people hire for it. Also universities have a lot of sway on what people learn as well but I think thats more just reacting to what the industry does than leading it in any way
- I think if there were complete transparency in university site licensing agreements, especially the sweetheart kickbacks the universities get for pushing certain proprietary software into students and curriculum to force familiarity over open source, there would be calls for prison sentences.
  pretty sure ESRI's entire business model in the US exists because of their capture of educational institutions.
  
  I've heard some things about uni's and proprietary software shenanigans but i don't know enough about it. Wouldn't be surprised if they take bribes to entrench shit software in the world
- Yes but if it's significantly better businesses would be shooting themselves in the foot to not use it. It'd probably just be banned tbh
  
  This isn't really true because businesses constantly shoot themselves in the foot paying eyewatering sums for crap software.
  Workflows are hard to shift without significant losses in profits so unless its a small company won't happen. But then you hit the other problem... No labour pool. Industry standards are a self propagating thing and adobe is the one laughing. Look at oracle its basically their entire business model, same goes for IBM they are still selling mainframe systems.
  Come do some z/OS with me comrade https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/zdt/14.2.x?topic=personal-edition its fun and exciting
  
  Oh true, I always forget how interconnected everything is
  What is z/OS?
  
  Runs your banking, healthcare, aviation and probably government systems as well I think also UK train systems. IBMs glorious mainframe system that so alien to current computer conventions you'd think it came from another planet. Bundled with glorious IBM scented Cobol the finest language ever made
  
  Is that where the "learn Cobol for the banking industry, you'll earn zillions" meme comes from? (in my experience the few Cobol people I met were only as well paid as the next bigcorp IT drone, and much less than the workers at fancystartup.io)
  
  It's from back in the Y2K days when there was a huge demand for COBOL devs, and nowhere near enough of them.
  
  Yeah no you get paid the same amount as any other mid level dev its not a well paid position it also has a quite a high turnover rate every cobol dev I've met is absolutely miserable
  
  ITS IN FUCKING COBOL 😭
  I didn't see that coming goddamn, and you say this runs everything?
  
  A billion devices run ~~java~~ cobol
- Hmm, yeah I should have imagined it,

60 comments