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I would be scared of investing so much effort in knowing about something so proprietary and arbitrary, even if it's useful at the moment.

mettamage 6y ago
To what extent are Java and C# proprietary? I lost track, especially on the Java part. Or what about Go? React? Ok, some of these aren't proprietary, that if the big company supporting it would drop? My point isn't to now learn AWS because everything else is proprietary. My point is that quite a few popular programming languages have corporate interests and can also give a bit of a vendor lock-in, to quite a degree.
- totony 6y ago
  >Ok, some of these aren't proprietary, that if the big company supporting it would drop? I think the bus factor for all of these technologies is not the same. Nor is the ease of switching. If AWS died tomorrow, people would switch to Google Cloud. If Facebook dropped React, it's insanely likely someone would come and take over (esp. since it's already open source). The cost in switching technology is just too big for big libraries/big languages (e.g. even with Oracle somewhat dropping Java, it's still top 3 of must used languages).
- fock 6y ago
  for Java, you have been sure basically forever to be able to create and run your code for years to come (it was/is open-source). Granted, the bootstrapping was/is a problem but applicability of your knowledge didn't depend on monopoly powers alone. C# for servers seems at the same point nowadays (and before you could still own software and hardware a lot more than today). Go - problematic, but GCC has a compiler, which can bootstrap. React - now, we are talking about the mess, the www is today, but technically you'll be able to compile webkit for years to come. And it has some big stakeholders. AWS - everything is proprietary you can't "own" any tool at all. Amazon decides they don't want to do business with you - pooof. Your country decides to block AWS/USA blocks your country - pooof. Want to fix a bug - well, nothing you can do...
stingraycharles 6y ago
If it’s your day job, it comes as a part of the trade, just like developers are intrinsically aware of the JVM or CLR etc internals.

mettamage 6y ago

To what extent are Java and C# proprietary? I lost track, especially on the Java part. Or what about Go? React? Ok, some of these aren't proprietary, that if the big company supporting it would drop? My point isn't to now learn AWS because everything else is proprietary. My point is that quite a few popular programming languages have corporate interests and can also give a bit of a vendor lock-in, to quite a degree.

totony 6y ago
>Ok, some of these aren't proprietary, that if the big company supporting it would drop? I think the bus factor for all of these technologies is not the same. Nor is the ease of switching. If AWS died tomorrow, people would switch to Google Cloud. If Facebook dropped React, it's insanely likely someone would come and take over (esp. since it's already open source). The cost in switching technology is just too big for big libraries/big languages (e.g. even with Oracle somewhat dropping Java, it's still top 3 of must used languages).
fock 6y ago
for Java, you have been sure basically forever to be able to create and run your code for years to come (it was/is open-source). Granted, the bootstrapping was/is a problem but applicability of your knowledge didn't depend on monopoly powers alone. C# for servers seems at the same point nowadays (and before you could still own software and hardware a lot more than today). Go - problematic, but GCC has a compiler, which can bootstrap. React - now, we are talking about the mess, the www is today, but technically you'll be able to compile webkit for years to come. And it has some big stakeholders. AWS - everything is proprietary you can't "own" any tool at all. Amazon decides they don't want to do business with you - pooof. Your country decides to block AWS/USA blocks your country - pooof. Want to fix a bug - well, nothing you can do...

stingraycharles 6y ago

If it’s your day job, it comes as a part of the trade, just like developers are intrinsically aware of the JVM or CLR etc internals.