Standing on the shoulder of Giants
Apr
15
Written by:
2009/04/15 06:05 PM
The war rages on. The debate intensifies. Families split up, friends become enemies. We scream and shout, argue and fight to get our point of view across. We strongly believe who is the best. I'm talking about the age old debate of Windows vs Linux. My question to you is, which OS are you developing for? Which do you see has the brightest future? Which OS can you put your faith and trust in? Whether it be Desktop development or Web development.
The best-known use of this phrase was by Isaac Newton in a letter to his rival Robert Hooke, in 1676:
"What Descartes did was a good step. You have added much several ways, and especially in taking the colours of thin plates into philosophical consideration. If I have seen a little further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants."
Newton didn't originate it though. The 12th century theologian and author John of Salisbury used a version of the phrase in a treatise on logic called Metalogicon, written in Latin in 1159. Translations of this difficult book are quite variable but the gist of what Salisbury said is:
"We are like dwarfs sitting on the shoulders of giants. We see more, and things that are more distant, than they did, not because our sight is superior or because we are taller than they, but because they raise us up, and by their great stature add to ours."
The phrase may even pre-date John of Salisbury, who was known to have adapted and refined the work of others. - Phrases
Windows dominates in the desktop and personal computer markets with about 90% of the desktop market share, and accounted for about 66% of all servers sold (not used). In server revenue market share Windows achieved 36.3% and Linux achieved 12.7%
As a company Microsoft Towers over Linux. Mainly because there is no such company that deals with Linux. Its all opensource. different companies have different distributions. This has its pros and cons, which I will not deal with there. But one does get certain amount of comfort dealing with a Giant like Microsoft.
You have trust and security. There is a certain amount of history to pull on. Although Linux is certainly gaining ground in many different areas, it still has a long way to go. Microsoft is not about to let Linux, or Rather any distro, bring it down.
With so many PC's that have Windows installed, and a large amount of servers with Microsoft Server OS installed, those using Microsoft belong to a very very large family.
Microsoft is the Giant, and I am standing on their shoulders.
So who's shoulders are you standing on?
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