[clue-cert] awk book

[Kevin Cullis]

Hey David,

See comments below.

David L. Anselmi wrote:
> Sean LeBlanc wrote:
> [...]
> 
>> Total agreement here. Use what makes sense. The more tools in your 
>> belt, the
>> better off you are. I agree with what Kevin Cullis was saying over on
>> clue-talk on regarding OS's. Use MS/Linux/OSX/etc when it makes sense 
>> - they
>> are just tools. The decision to use MS will most likely be driven by
>> business/political needs rather than technical ones, of course... ;)
> 
> To me, there are some jobs that are not worth doing and some tools that 
> are not worth using.  By that I mean we should have more respect for 
> ourselves than to use those tools.  If we only choose tools based on 
> business/political/technical needs, what about freedom?

Regarding tools, there are bad, good, better, and best. Which OS you use 
  is bad, good, better, and best. Same goes for vehicles: bikes, 
motorbikes, cars, trucks, SUVs, and 18 wheelers. If the tool fits, use 
it. But then again, there are very few open source tools that are known. 
Whose fault is it?

> Kevin's argument (whether technical needs are considered or not) sounds 
> like corporate behavior--people are better than that.  Bruce Perens said 
> when he was here that corporations have no morals.

Some corporations, I agree. All corporations, I don't. Do a lot of 
corporations have no morals? Could be, but then again governments are 
the same. I've spent half my life in the government and half in the 
corporate world and I find both have their weak points and strong 
points, but they both revolve around people and it's people's morals 
that determine the level of good they do. Personally, I follow after 
"The Joy of Work" as much as I can within the confines of what I do. I 
do my best.

> Nothing against Kevin--I respect him and didn't read his statements so 
> I'm just responding to the paragraph above, not anything Kevin said.

As I respect and admire you and your skills and talents of which I wish 
I could do what you do. But alas, I don't have them.

But what I do think is that the tools available for Windows, Mac, and 
Linux can be varied in quality, quantity, and availability. Just take a 
look at this listing:

http://www.maa.org/editorial/mathgames/mathgames_08_01_05.html

How many are Windows, Mac, and Linux? How is the quality? How is the 
functionality? Adobe's Photoshop CS2 is about 2 versions ahead of GIMP, 
or so I've been told. Now as an average user, I can get away with using 
GIMP, but if I'm a graphic professional there are probably tools sets in 
Photoshop that would run rings around GIMP (maybe Michael Hammel can 
verify this). As professional photographer told me when I told him about 
GIMP (he was not aware of it), "if it did one thing that Photoshop 
didn't, I'd use it."

That sums up my view as well. While I have my preferences, I go with the 
tool that can get the job done with the resources (both limited and 
plenty) at hand.

Thanks for letting me rant a while.

Kevin

P.S. I'm writing a book about this very subject for small businesses as 
I write (it covers Windows, Mac, and Linux). You'd be surprised at what 
I've found.
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