By silicon.com, 18 October 2007 10:00
COMMENT
What's got silicon.com readers reaching for their keyboards this week? Reader Comments of the Week showcases how our users are responding to the latest tech news and views on the site...
Microsoft vs open source
Gov slammed for 'pro-Microsoft IT stance'
Getting a MS solution implemented can be cheaper because all those involved have already spent the vast sums needed to be proficient in MS technology. Changing to open source can be more expensive on the first project because people have to learn new skills and that cost is always included in the comparison. If these costs are treated in the same way as in the MS case there is little chance of MS being cheaper. Politicians, company directors and others do not look beyond the immediate impact so no progress is possible on a long term comparison of benefit.
-- misceng, UK
Make everything Linux or Microsoft, but not lots of different products, in the big picture that does not work. Going for a standard usually means creating a monopoly, that's the nature of standards.
-- Anonymous, virtually somewhere
These possible extra training costs are because too much of the current "training" only teaches people how to operate a particular version of a particular Microsoft product.
As a first step, the government should immediately decide that all of its training must teach people how to use IT, rather than just one manufacturer's products.
Gradually, this would reduce the cost of switching to "open source" products or those of other manufacturers.
It's crazy to allow the current "lock-in" to Microsoft products to continue.
-- Richard, UK
It's quite simple. Microsoft is the new IBM.
Those of you who have been around IT for more than a few years (like me) will remember the expression "No one ever got fired for buying IBM."
-- Sarah, Romford
Editor's choice
silicon.com news editor Steve Ranger flags up his picks on the site this week...
♦ Agenda Setters 2007
♦ Skills crisis? What skills crisis?
♦ How to build an IT department
♦Q&A: Graham Linehan, writer and director of The IT Crowd
♦ Avoiding the next Northern Rock
Carbon footprints
The carbon budget is coming...
But what effective will it have on the Planet?
None, if the stories about China opening a coal-burning power station every week are remotely accurate.
Just another GB (that's Gordon Brown) stealth tax?
-- Anonymous, Midlands
What a geekĀ
Photos: Are you part of The IT Crowd
What do you mean Geek stereotypes? I thought this was a documentary.
-- Haydn Rees, Eindhoven
Risky wi-fi
Wi-fi health risks to be probed
This opens up a whole new strand of research funding opportunities - testing things for which there is no evidence of harm! From where I'm sat, I can see lots of things for which there is no evidence of harm - leaves, wood, pottery, mint sauce, cotton are only a small percentage of them. However, I think there might be some risk - sometimes I have a headache when in the presence of any or all of these things. I demand that I have proof that they are not harmful, so the gevernment should make the funding available for scientists to investigate this ...
-- Jeremy Wickins, Sheffield
Is recycling rubbish?
Tech recycling rubbished as "stupid"
Of course buying IT equipment that is designed to work longer is superior to recycling equipment that becomes obsolete quickly. But all equipment eventually goes beyond repair or upgrade, and then recycling - extracting useful materials to be used in making new products - is the only sensible option.
Also, what do we do with the hardware we are using now? That equipment was definitely designed for obsolescence and contains things like mercury and other toxins (which the RoHS Directive eliminated only recently). Once again, recycling - which involves the removal and separation of toxic chemicals - is the only sensible option.
All green IT experts, including even Simon Dury, will agree that there is a place for recycling in the hierarchy of options for managing electronic equipment.
-- Dmitriy Nikolayev, Boston, MA
Skills for life
Project management skills in short supply
Maybe if this industry sector started considering older employees in these roles the shortage would close a little. At 60 I have skills and experience to offer across a breadth of industries but I can see my age putting off a prospective employer or agency once face to face. Experience does count.
-- Gerry Holland, Bath
Sharing fat pipes
Poll: Wi-fi sharing not for everybody
The main reason that I would not share my broadband connection is its abysmal speed. It is slow enough, without an unspecified number of other, unknown, users grabbing the bandwidth.
-- Chris Walker, Staffordshire
I'm happy to share my broadband, but only if I don't have any usage cap. I only have WEP on my router now, so theoretically someone could park outside my house, break the encryption, and use my connection now.
If someone downloads 1GB a day via my connection, I'll take the performance hit, but I'm not going to pay extra (in fact I want a discount if I'm sharing), and I'm not going to bow down to a 'fair usage policy' if I have no control over other people's usage.
-- Julian Nicholls, Lymington
So when some criminal drives by and uses my free wi-fi signal to download some illegal content, which of us gets the knock on the door at 4am from the police?
-- Karen Challinor, UK
Please note, comments may be edited for clarity - but are not corrected for grammar, spelling, punctuation or style. The views expressed are not necessarily the views of silicon.com. You can write to silicon.com by posting a Reader Comment below, or emailing editorial@silicon.com.
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