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This is not a topic about open source software vs. Microsoft in terms of technology superiority. I just want to give you some hint about which platform of technology will reward you better if you decide to choose a career in computer technology.

I have been working in the technology field for 10 years. I once thought that Microsoft made the greatest software and its product was more superior to the others. Using Microsoft products essentially became many people’s day to day life. For many people when they chose technology as their career Microsoft was usually the starting point.

Firstly it is widely used. Every company uses some type of Microsoft technology. If you know Microsoft technology the chance you get a job is high.

Secondly, it is because Microsoft technology is easy to access and easy to lean. What is your first programming course? Most likely it is Visual Basic. The greatest thing (or trick) about Microsoft is that it makes complex things look simple and that encourages people to learn.

I mentioned about that in my earlier post. Do you think Visual Basic is simple? For those people who just start learning programming they will probably say, “Yes! It is pretty easy”. A senior programmer will probably answer it in a different way, “well it depends on what you want to do with Visual Basic”. Microsoft technology is easier to learn also because it has a comprehensive online knowledge base. In fact I believe Microsoft’s MSDN web site is the greatest computer knowledge base available.

Thirdly you have to pay for Microsoft technology. How can you made money out of something that anyone can get it for free? That was exactly what I feel when I start a career in technology 10 years ago. I leaned HTML, Visual basic, Active Server Page and SQL server on my own in six months. I was able to find a job right after this and I quit school. I was enrolled in a Master of computer science program but I only went for one semester. From then on I believe in Microsoft.

We have seen in the pass that in every computer technology Microsoft was able to compete well. For example SQL server was hitting on Oracle on high end database market with its SQL 2005. Windows OS was running everywhere. Its IIS server was powering up numerous web sites. Its C# programming language was taking on Sun’s Java. Its Visual Studio development tools were a lot easier to use then others. So when I was working in companies that were Microsoft shops I seldom look for technology solutions out of Microsoft. On and on I lost track of the technology world.

When I look for a fast solution for my own web site, I found WordPress. It is a great piece of software and it is totally free. Because I want to make some customization out of it I have to lean PHP and MySQL a little bit. And I have to learn how to use Apache web server a little bit in order to set up a testing environment on my laptop. Then I discovered the Apache web site. After that I look over all the open source projects of Apache, tried a few and fell in love with Tomcat and a few others. In order to run JSP on tomcat I have found Eclipse, a free java development IDE. I was amazed by the open source world and I was so surprised by what they can do. Even more surprised is that you can download all of them for free.

I found there are more web sites on the internet powered by open source software than by Microsoft. I realize that the more technology orienated a company is the more likely it uses open source solution. I found most well developed internet companies use open source solutions, for example PayPal, YouTube, Google and FaceBook. I found more start up companies using open source solutions than those using Microsoft. You can find a lot of those companies in Techcrunch.com. I felt I was a little too late. I felt I might have missed a lot opportunities.

The last news I leaned about the company that makes WordPress, the software that lead me to the open source world, was that they were working on their IPO and rejected a buy out offer in 200 millions. Imagine if you are working for a company like this. You can be as young as Matt Mullenweg and probably become multi-millionaire within a few years.

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