Re: why no corporate love?

* Michael McLay <[email protected]> [2004-03-03 13:47]:
> 
> Python needs a marketing message that does a better job of highlighting bottom 
> line reasons for using Python. Stating that Python takes 1/2 to 1/5 the code 
> of Java doesn't seem to matter. It doesn't make sense that it would take less 
> code if you are a manager that believe all programming languages are about 
> the same. Perhaps using an analogy would help them understand how this is 
> possible. Using Python instead of Java or C# is the same kind of technology 
> move as moving from using a hierarchical database to using an SQL database. 
> The move to SQL was a move up the abstraction ladder to reduces maintenance 
> costs. SQL only became a financially attractive alternative once hardware 
> costs dropped in the 1970s. Can cheap gigahetz processors be used as a 
> justification to switch to Python?

I (still) have the suspicion it is the non-commercial aspect of it. As
slightly similar parallels, Linux and the Apache webserver did not
seem to be in the corporate spotlight until they were
packaged/"standardized" by various companies. Of course they were
sneaking in the backdoor via "those that knew", but public acceptance
seemed to follow only after big-name blessing (IBM, Oracle, etc.)

The only non-company-backed language I often see listed in job
listings or hear of extensive use is Perl (largely in finance), which
I'd guess got there via its use by sysadmins and since it's been
widely-known in the UNIX world for years (and was the web programming
language for a bit - many bookstores still file Perl books under Web
programming - Python seems to always be near the 'regular' languages
and/or theory books).

I've always thought an agreed-upon standard like ASF's Jakarta, Tomcat
servlet container would be a big help in establishing a 'legitimate'
platform, but that's Web-SIG material and extremely flammable so I
avoid mentioning it anywhere as I probably just should have.

This topic has been discussed to death here so I'll stop now...

-- 

___________________________
toddgrimason*[email protected]