What is more in demand in Japan/Singapore?

[Papa-Lazarou]

.NET, C# ADO and SQL Server etc or Java, JDBC etc?

simple question.

I am bored of IT Management (2 years) and want to do something useful for a living instead


Thanks

[cstaylor]

Java/Linux. Why pay the MS tax?

[IkemenTommy]

Despite what a lot of people think about Linux, MS is still strong and gaining ground in the server market because of the ease of use and maintenance. Even when people say Linux is bulletproof, Linux crashes just as much as MS does. Maybe far less frequently but when Linux crashes, it can be devastating. Unfortunately, Linux doesn't have as good support as MS and that's where MS is still popular. To make the long story short, I would say invest your programing expertise in both Linux AND MS.

[FG Lurker]

Despite what a lot of people think about Linux, MS is still strong and gaining ground in the server market because of the ease of use and maintenance. Even when people say Linux is bulletproof, Linux crashes just as much as MS does. Maybe far less frequently but when Linux crashes, it can be devastating.

I work with both, although these days more with MS than non-MS. When you say crash, what do you mean? When something fails in Windows usually you need to restart the server. When something goes down in Linux you usually just restart that service. A system-wide failure is devastating in either system, so I don't see advantages to either side here.

Unfortunately, Linux doesn't have as good support as MS and that's where MS is still popular.

I call bullshit. If a company wants paid-for support for Linux there is no problem to get it.

To make the long story short, I would say invest your programing expertise in both Linux AND MS.

On the back-office side of things I think there is more future growth potential in Linux and other free systems than there is with MS. On the client side there is no solid challenge to MS for OS/UI at this point. So in my opinion where to focus your study depends very much on what sort of work you want to do -- and of course what you have studied until now.

[cstaylor]

I wrote a Java-based POS and reporting system for a day spa in Toyama-ken that I can remote maintain over VPN. Clients POS stations run our Java software on Windows XP, and the server runs our Java server software on Linux.

Best part about Linux is that you can lockdown the system to only the services you need: no GUI, no Windows File Sharing, no UPnP, no IIS.

Want to clone a machine? Two disks and a free-as-in-beer installation of partimage, and you're good to go. I can clone a master server using a consumer disk cartridge system in less than 15 minutes.

Uptime is currently at 67 days and counting. Hasn't been rebooted for any reason since before the location opened. No BSOD, no panics, no access violations in Microsoft code.

Windows 2003 server is a lot better than 2000 was for uptime, but if you sell your own software and services, I'd strongly suggest spending the time to learn Linux or BSD.

[FG Lurker]

I wrote a Java-based POS and reporting system for a day spa in Toyama-ken that I can remote maintain over VPN. Clients POS stations run our Java software on Windows XP, and the server runs our Java server software on Linux.

Nice setup.

Best part about Linux is that you can lockdown the system to only the services you need: no GUI, no Windows File Sharing, no UPnP, no IIS.

In fairness to Windows you can disable and/or remove most of these services too, including file sharing, upnp, IIS, etc. The problem with Windows is that most/all of these are enabled by default and most admins don't bother to turn off what they don't need.

Want to clone a machine? Two disks and a free-as-in-beer installation of partimage, and you're good to go. I can clone a master server using a consumer disk cartridge system in less than 15 minutes.

partimage is very cool indeed, and is actually free as in speech as well as beer. I have been a Ghost user for many years though -- started long before Symantec bought up Binary Research. Although not free in any sense of the word Ghost is a kickass program and has saved my ass many many times.

Uptime is currently at 67 days and counting. Hasn't been rebooted for any reason since before the location opened. No BSOD, no panics, no access violations in Microsoft code.

Windows 2003 server is a lot better than 2000 was for uptime, but if you sell your own software and services, I'd strongly suggest spending the time to learn Linux or BSD.

I've not had stability problems with Windows 2000 or even NT4. Uptimes of many months are no problem as long as you don't make changes that require reboots. (Heh, that means no patching of course...)

Definitely true that for any client/server app you are far better to run it on Linux with MySQL or Postgres though. You save thousands of dollars in licensing fees, not to mention all the benefits of an open system.

[cstaylor]

I wrote a Java-based POS and reporting system for a day spa in Toyama-ken that I can remote maintain over VPN. Clients POS stations run our Java software on Windows XP, and the server runs our Java server software on Linux.

Nice setup.

Thanks. The system has some interesting features that I haven't seen in other systems. For example, say a family of four check in together. After an hour or so the father needs to leave early. At the front register he can pay for all of his family's purchases made up until that point without them needing to be present. The system automatically creates groups from people who check in together.

In fact, I haven't seen any system that supports multiple payments for customers. The closest I've seen is allowing a customer to pay cash and credit card (we can do that too).

We also list purchases on the receipts in ten-minute purchase periods, so the customer has a rough idea of when they ordered each service/item/vending machine drink.

Definitely true that for any client/server app you are far better to run it on Linux with MySQL or Postgres though. You save thousands of dollars in licensing fees, not to mention all the benefits of an open system.

Totally. The server runs Gentoo 2005.1 on a dual Xeon w/HT, so it appears as 4 processors to Java and MySQL. We're still using Reiserfs 3 (it's stable), but I've heard a lot of good things about XFS and JFS, so I may do some trials at the office and measure performance differences.

Have you seen the clustering support in MySQL 4.1? That's another bit of research I want to try. Right now we Master<--->Slave replicate to a second onsite backup server in case of critical failure, but it would be nice if the two machines could just figure out for themselves the best step forward.

[nullpointer]

At work I maintain Linux as well as Windows servers and a "Linux crash" is something I am not familiar with. Never happened. I have had to restart services for one or the other reason many times but the kernel has been solid as a rock for over 8 months now when I had to reboot as I wanted to replace the power supply unit.

I also have a few win2k3 boxes and they are running just the services they need and are locked down tight. The file and cube repository server (for the OLAP database) , which also doubles up as the source code control server has an uptime of over 5 months now. I had to apply a patch after which it wanted a reboot else the uptime would be nine months. Admittedly, it is not patched as and when patches are released but my point is, if the server admin knows his job, it is not difficult at all to keep a windows server up and running without much trouble.

Overall of course linux is better. Why pay money to MS when you can do the same work with Linux as you can with Windows.

[Papa-Lazarou]

Despite what a lot of people think about Linux, MS is still strong and gaining ground in the server market because of the ease of use and maintenance.

Thank you!
Not wanting to sound like a MS cheerleader, but the ease of administering Win2003, Exchange 2003 and SQL Server 2000 really does free up time for smallish companies without the luxury of full time network admin.

[cstaylor]

Oh, yeah, if you're just talking about small company support for file and print sharing, Windows is certainly the easiest route to take. But you mentioned Java and C#, which lead me to believe you would be writing software.

[nullpointer]

Thank you!
Not wanting to sound like a MS cheerleader, but the ease of administering Win2003, Exchange 2003 and SQL Server 2000 really does free up time for smallish companies without the luxury of full time network admin.

You are right but I just wanted to add a little something to the discussion. Where I work I am the sole sysadmin and network guy. It is a medium sized operation and I spend at most 4-5 hours a week on sys/network admin stuff. If you can spend bit of time to learn and understand Linux then administering it is no different than doing so using windows boxes. It will pay off in the long term anywhere and very short term if you are a small operation as the cost of buying software (OS, SQL-Server etc.) from MS is not cheap, specially if you are a small operation. When I came in mine was a windows only shop. I had to prove usefulness and advantages of Linux step by step and now everyone is happy as at least we are saving at least some of the MS tax.

Buy windows software by all means but do setup linux on PC, if only to experiment.

(I am sorry if I am wrong in assuming that you have not seriously used linux before)

[Papa-Lazarou]

Oh, yeah, if you're just talking about small company support for file and print sharing, Windows is certainly the easiest route to take. But you mentioned Java and C#, which lead me to believe you would be writing software.

Sorry, please dont get me wrong, i was also just contributing my feelings towards the much maligned evil empire. I am now writing web aps with c# and find it straight forward enough but am trying to get a grip on what the market is doing in Japan and Asia in general.
If its Java and Linux, thats just another string to my bow

[Papa-Lazarou]

Thank you!
Not wanting to sound like a MS cheerleader, but the ease of administering Win2003, Exchange 2003 and SQL Server 2000 really does free up time for smallish companies without the luxury of full time network admin.

You are right but I just wanted to add a little something to the discussion. Where I work I am the sole sysadmin and network guy. It is a medium sized operation and I spend at most 4-5 hours a week on sys/network admin stuff. If you can spend bit of time to learn and understand Linux then administering it is no different than doing so using windows boxes. It will pay off in the long term anywhere and very short term if you are a small operation as the cost of buying software (OS, SQL-Server etc.) from MS is not cheap, specially if you are a small operation. When I came in mine was a windows only shop. I had to prove usefulness and advantages of Linux step by step and now everyone is happy as at least we are saving at least some of the MS tax.

Buy windows software by all means but do setup linux on PC, if only to experiment.

(I am sorry if I am wrong in assuming that you have not seriously used linux before)

Yes i do a simliar thing here, the day job being administration of a pure AD domain and the rest of the time introducing Linux for Squid and cheap file sharing (I have worked in places that used dedicated Win2003 boxes just for file sharing) and creating inventory db web aplications to teach myself C#.

Oh happy days

[nullpointer]

...
rest of the time introducing Linux for Squid and cheap file sharing

More power to you!