John W. Colby
jwcolby at gmail.com
Sat Feb 28 10:16:00 CST 2015
>>is potential licensing cost the only reason No. It is major though. This client is a little virtual company. He supports about 6 people total, spread out over the Atlantic NE. As a developer I acquired a bunch of licenses through various channels which I have used to support my business, and thus his business. At some point however he has to stand on his own. So the licensing costs are not trivial to him. As an example, I custom (hand) built a SQL Server back in around 2008. MS SWORE that they would NEVER charge on a per core basis. So I purchased and assembled an AMD based machine with two processors and 16 cores (8 cores per chip), looking at replacing each chip with 12 or 16 core chips as required, to end up with a 24 or 32 core SQL Server. SQL Server likes cores!!! Well guess what, MS changed their tune and now charges PER CORE. So to buy (not upgrade) his own SQL Server license would cost somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 THOUSAND dollars for the current 16 core server. PLUS OS licenses, plus... Ooooops. So while licensing costs are not the only consideration, they are $100 K worth of the considerations. And that is really just the start. For a bank or a car manufacturer, $100K+ is chump change. For a small business, not so chump. John W. Colby On 2/28/2015 10:47 AM, Gustav Brock wrote: > Hi John > > I may have missed something but is potential licensing cost the only reason why you are up to this Linux challenge? > > /gustav > > ________________________________________ > Fra: dba-vb-bounces at databaseadvisors.com <dba-vb-bounces at databaseadvisors.com> på vegne af John W. Colby <jwcolby at gmail.com> > Sendt: 28. februar 2015 16:32 > Til: Salakhetdinov Shamil; Discussion concerning Visual Basic and related programming issues. > Emne: Re: [dba-VB] Visual Studio community edition > > >>Yes, I remember your driven by a large MS SQL backend DB application > development story. Is it up&running? > > It is up and running. I have been using it for years. > > >>No any plans to migrate it to Linux/noSQL - Map Reduce ( > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MapReduce ) / CouchDB ( > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CouchDB ) ? > > I would love to migrate it to MariaDB, however the C# code was written > to target SQL Server specifically. The bigger problem is that the > database is used to pull data sets for sale. I have an entire template > database that I copy for each client order, and that template database > has defined tables, views and stored procedures that I use to fill the > order. Once the order is filled, the order database becomes a history > of what was done to fill the order, as well as a history of records not > to be sold again should the client order another data set. > > In the end there is simply no compelling reason to make the move. Yet. > > The compelling reason long term is that the SQL Server is hosted on > Windows 2008, and SQL Server itself is 2008 as well. As we know, MS > likes to force us to upgrade by dropping support (including bug / > security fixes). I don't know if you have ever looked, but licenses for > new versions are EXPENSIVE!!! Particularly for tiny companies. > > So someday, in the next few years, I will likely be forced to do something. > > I am in fact trying to get MariaDB running on my Linux Mint server / > workstation here at my office. Sadly, doing anything in Linux is a > serious exercise in frustration compared to doing the equivalent in > Windows. MariaDB is installed. I can't log in. Breaking in as the > root user isn't working as the Google search says it should. > > I have an old Areca RAID controller which has to be firmware updated to > work with the modern drives larger than 2 tb size. In Windows, that > involves downloading the file and using a program from Areca to find a > firmware file and upgrade. Dead simple. The same exact process is > required for Linux except... > > Since I am just bringing this card up for the first time (in Linux) I > have to start from scratch installing drivers, installing the software > etc. That involves figuring out what version of Linux... downloading > the right thing from Areca... Typing in loads of crap in the command > window... dealing with the inevitable (and I do mean inevitable) error > messages. > > So a simple (in Windows) 15 minute install turns into an hours long > exercise in frustration (all of last night), and this morning the Areca > card and three spanking new 3 tb drives are still a useless paperweight > hooked up to the Linux machine. > > For some reason, the Linux crowd seems to think this is supposed to be > fun??? I have PILES of work backed up behind "simple" (on Windows) > things that just aren't progressing on Linux Mint. Something always goes > wrong somewhere. And figuring it out ALWAYS starts with "what version > of Linux" and goes downhill from there. > > Google (And SUDO, and the command window for GOD's sake) is my friend. > Except the last two are only very uneasy allies. > > In my opinion the core of the Linux problem is simply that with so many > distros out there, no company selling into the Linux environment can do > anything in a consistent manner because nothing works the same on every > distro. And so the poor guy (me) trying to get anything done is tasked > with sorting it all out for the specific distro chosen. > > Linux is supposed to be free. The problem is that the Linux cost is in > all the stunningly stupid crap that has to be figured out to get > anything more than the simplest install done. And all that comes > BEFORE, and stands in the way of, actually getting any work done. > > Boy did that end up off-topic or what? My frustration is showing. > > On a lighter note, I have come to the conclusion that approximately 50% > of ALL the internet content is "how to" articles for getting stuff done > in Linux. > > ;) > > John W. Colby > _______________________________________________ > dba-VB mailing list > dba-VB at databaseadvisors.com > http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/dba-vb > http://www.databaseadvisors.com > >