Discussion on:

10 cross-platform tools that can make your job easier

Re. the notion that MySQL is "... one of the most reliable and usable database servers available." Only one riposte to that really :

UPDATE credibility
SET value = 0
WHERE author = 'Jack Wallen'
AND subject = 'database servers'
AND content LIKE '%tosh%';
COMMIT;

I've been using MySQL as a mission-critical database in my business since 2005. Absolutely flawless and fast. I also set MySQL up on a BSD server back in 2003 for a local company, using Microsoft's Access as the front end for the database. Again, flawless, fast and reliable. I've notice that detractors generally think that Microsoft's SQL Server think that database is the only game in town.

If you'd shelled out thousands of bucks in licenses, you'd be blowing the SQL Server horn yourself!

I thought I read somewhere that Google runs on MySQL?

Actually, Google has their own proprietary database. For some reason, they decided to create their own database from scratch.

There's a whole class of "engineers" in the market with Microsoft certification and that's all they know. They are not actually educated in I.T. in a general sense they're just trained like monkeys to click the right buttons to keep Microsoft servers running. They don't actually understand sysadmin and networking outside of the Microsoft context. They're really more aptly described as "users" not "engineers".

These are the people who say that Linux is a "toy" OS and that MSSQL is the only enterprise database.

We need to have sympathy for them and slowly inform them about the real world. It's painful for them because they've spent years of their lives on their training and it's hard to acknowledge that what you thought was professional state of the art engineering is just Microsoft advertising.

that they are "graduates" of that program advertised on the radio and TV - about "their" computer careers. From what I read is they pay big bucks to learn how to pass the Microsoft certification tests and then told they should have no problem getting a job in IT.

... and it's the major one made use of when MySQL is in the room. I'd rather use a DBMS that showed rather more respect to my data than MySQL generally does. And no, in this particular case it doesn't necessarily mean SQLSwerver or Orrible either.

When I saw the title on the TR email I thought "oh good, cross platform tools to make my job easier" after all I deal with Win & LX stuff. After reading the article, though, I am a bit disappointed. Apart from VNC which I have already ditched in favour of Teamviewer, all the rest of your list seem to be applications, not tools

If you are looking for cross platform tools have a look at Cygwin (http://www.cygwin.com/)

Would you be satisfied if the title had the word "applications" instead of "tools"?
I guess you are trying to make a point but it is unclear what you want to say . . .
Have you anything to suggest but expressing your disappointment?

referring to applications like GIMP, Audacity, GNU Cash, etc. While they have equivalents that run across systems, they normally would not be useful in an IT shop. For example, PING is a useful cross-platform TOOL. While I, personally, won't quibble about the wording. in the title, technically Steve is correct. A tool is a hammer, a screwdriver, etc., like ping. What was described is more like a "specific-use toolbox", containing the "tools" to accomplish a certain type of job. I am not going to come with "cement mason" tools to paint someone's house or rooms.

Nice info to me

Openoffice (openoffice.org) is as good if not better than Microsoft Office, and it's free.

LibreOffice is better that OOo and M$ Office... and it's free too!

KingSoft Office Suite 2012 is a killer app. Try it is free!!

I have a query, Whats the difference between Unix timestamps and MySQL timestamps?
If anybody will answer, It will be very helpful.

Unix timestamps are the number of seconds since January 1, 1970. A MySQL timestamp is in the form of YYMMDDHHmmSS (year, month day, hour, minute, second).

I've tried both and though it is personal preference, I really like libre. What do you prefer about abiword? Do you know if tight vnc comes with the same security probs that other vnc clients / services have?

LibreOffice
Vim
DB2
StrongSpace
DuckDuckGo

Oracle VM VirtualBox is another sweet program that you can get for free. You can literally run a computer inside of a computer, the program even supports running your own VM Servers!

https://www.virtualbox.org/

Our remote tech would connect to our network thru the vpn, then use TightVNC to remote into the helpdesk Mac, and finally use ARD to assist Mac users. Convoluted, but it worked and the remote tech could get away with just having a windows laptop.

OSX 10.7 Lion ended that, the tech can't connect to the mac anymore, at least not consistently and not without someone in the building going to the mac constantly to clear caches and reset settings.
We haven't been able to get any other VNC to connect Win7 PC to Mac OSX 10.7 since. Does anyone have a reliable alternative?

An obvious CPA to me is between iOS and Android. Maybe I am behind the times with my knowledge but tracking a Droid from my iPhone was not possible and showed me some limitations so far with all this rapid tech explosion.

Obviously this is something missing here, IT Process Automation tools (a.k.a. Runbook Automation) are essential for the day to day life of IT operations, same as you need VM's or SQL management tools etc...

Just for the record for folks making the choice between Jenkins or Hudson - they're basically the same thing except, Jenkins is the original developer fork that occurred when Oracle took over Hudson, Hudson support petered off under Oracle's control and Jenkins was the stronger of the two. However, Oracle has recently gifted the Apache project with Hudson - so it is yet to be seen who will be the stronger seed, but right now Jenkins is the strongest.

I've tried it numerous times over the years - the interface still seems amateurish. I recognize that the power might be there to accomplish amazing things, but it's obscured by a frustrating interface.
At least they finally let you go into "one window" mode...

Has anyone got a suggestion for a cross-platform (preferably FOSS) document repository solution?
Our small business is getting to the point where a dropbox share just isn't cutting it for sharing and versioning documents anymore, and we might be ready for a locally-hosted, web/net/vpn-accessible document repo with versioning, check-in/check-out, search, and simple organization, etc.

... how did I NOT know about this?!?!?!

Been trying it for a few days, and I'm a fan!

Thanks Jack!

C.

?? Your recomended sources for these ??

'My SQL ' (now [2013] March;) Express version now an Oracle Product, IS available for download from CNET downloads.com HOWEVER a PLETHORA of fellow traveler
'parasite' Browser hijack nuisance software installs FIRST & the CNET Download Manager is just a "traffic cop/taxi driver" subroutine!!!!!!!