Nintendo's New OLED Switch Using Apple Pay Later iOS 16.4: What to Know Awaiting Apple's VR Headset 14 Hidden iPhone Features Signing Up for Google Bard VR Is Revolutionizing Therapy Clean These 9 Household Items Now
Want CNET to notify you of price drops and the latest stories?
No, thank you
Accept

Small-time developer in a big pond

A News.com reader writes: The big companies win. Some of the dot-coms built cool freebie software, but now...we have to go back to the Oracles and Microsofts of the world.

 

  
Small-time developer in a big pond

In response to the Feb. 8 column by Charles Cooper, "Developers feel the squeeze":

I am one of those "small" developers in the big pond and I find it extremely difficult to get along in the tech world for many reasons, some of which Cooper touched upon.

I'm more of an "open-source" software believer and use things like MySQL, Java, Linux and so on. But now things are getting extremely tough. A chat-bot application I work on is going nowhere, and I find myself having to go back to the pool. It's ridiculous, because now I have to "educate" myself again to use Oracle and Microsoft tools.

What makes things even worse is that even as a small-time developer, I can't go to a conference without asking an exhibitor a simple question and having them say, "We work with Oracle, so if you have Oracle, you could do A, B and C."

What kind of small-time developer has $20,000 to blow on Oracle? What's even more two-sided about it is that the public is brainwashed by these companies, so even if you do come out with a cool app, the first thing they ask is if it will work with Oracle or Microsoft.

In the end, the big companies win. Some of the dot-coms built cool freebie software, but now that they're gone, we have to go back to the Oracles and Microsofts of the world. Like Cooper said: If 10 years from now we still have to hit Ctrl-Alt-Delete, some of us will be sitting back and wondering whether that small little idea we had to give up on could have changed the world.

Jon Baer
Brooklyn, N.Y.

 

 

    
Latest Headlines
display on desktop
Qualcomm: Accounting meets guidelines
Companies fear costly MPEG-4 licenses
NextCard trading halted; bank shut down
Stocks surge late to end losing streak
Apple short-circuits Circuit City deal
Microsoft works to fix MSN privacy flaw
Trademark search wars find new battle
Probe launched into Pac Bell DSL flap
Commentary: Expect more patent enforcement
PayPal moves to put IPO back on track
Cell phones set to overtake fixed lines
Corning sees bottom in first quarter
FBI, SEC scrutinizing Global Crossing
Judge consents to Microsoft hearing
Jamcracker reworks its software strategy
Alliance to improve home PC security
This week's headlines