Open source software Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Open source software - Essay Example In today's business world which uses IT for its optimal and non-stop functioning, a database is something which any organization will not run without. Speedy business needs has made database an absolute requirement. As their number increases, so is the competition between them. These all vendors always think about new and innovative ideas to win the market competition. One of these way has been to offer customer an open source software so that if the customers preferences changes they can make necessary amendments This has given rise to a numerous software solution providers or database developers. Does this, supplying open source software,give an indication about future of all database Vendors Do all database vendors will eventually have to open up their source code or go out of business This essay disagrees to this thought and will examine few reasons for it.Those who still believe in supplying closed source software will always own a bigger share of the market as they have been do ing it in the past.In the recent past some companies have searched for a more economic database than to shell out a hefty amount to Database biggies every time they thought of expanding their business limits.There stepped in the open source database software because modifying it to the extended needs just take little.As the volume of business is rising and so does the requirement of software capabilities.Many companies today resort to open source database but merely acquiring an open source doesn't guarantee that whatever changes you make to the database it will always work with finesse. There may be instances of irrecoverable data loss or reduced security. There will be no one to take guarantee to that effect. That's why, industries where there is a requirement of updating the software importantly with the transfer of their past crucial data, they will always look for bigger companies doing this against insured terms. These insured terms are not possible even if you have a complete software development wing in your office. Developing software is a group effort, but modifying the software with keeping existing data intact is a serious group effort. Now days there are so many companies selling open source databases but they are less preferred upwards in size of business. So the open source will of course keep in market and remain in competition with the packed database software but will never be able to beat them. There is also a psychological reason behind this that as someone reaches towards the peak his chances of falling are increasing. The top of the peak is all surrounded by falls so after reaching near to peak no one would like take a cheap and risky step but will always go for a costly but assured step. For example a bank would never use open source software modified by its own organization. There is a related online special article in which Lacy S (2006) has told about Herman's search for database management keeping budgetin mind. "His search took him in an unexpected direction. He's spended a lot of time evaluating databases built around the open-source software that's disseminated and developed freely over the Internet. Sony, like most big companies, has been conservative when it comes to open source. So now Herman and executives like him are the spoils in what's shaping up to be a heated round of database wars. On one side are the defending champions -- Oracle, IBM, and Microsoft -- against a ragtag bunch of coders and some more organized corporate ventures, all going to market in different ways, but all trying to take down the Big Three using the power of open source." This open source trend is rising not only in database softwares but in other fields too. In this regard Valimaki (2005) states in his book - The rise

Commiuncation in business - case study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Commiuncation in business - case study - Essay Example Also, workers belonging to different cultures may have different reasons for lack of motivation and may require different measures to be motivated. In fact, every individual has his/her own needs that need to be satisfied to motivate him/her. In this paper, one such project has been discussed as a case study, which suffers from a lack of motivation in the workers. This multi-billion project involves construction of a condominium. Star Construction Company (SCC) has been hired by Unique Lead Builders (ULB) to construct the condominium. In this paper, I have proposed a framework to SCC which it can apply in its organization to improve the workers’ motivation and hence productivity so as to finish the project within the deadline, and avoid imposition of liquidated damages. 2. Terms of Reference – state clearly: Who am I? I am a Business Consultant. I have formerly done Masters in Business Administration (MBA). I have my own firm that offers consultancy to the clients and/o r contractors for a fee. I have provided my services on a number of projects, and have done good business. My firm is quite popular in the market, and I am considered as one of the top business consultants in my region. Who is my client? My client is Star Construction Company (SCC). SCC is a Contractor that takes building contracts. Currently, SCC is busy constructing a condominium in the centre of the city. It is a multi-billion project, which requires SCC to retain a minimum of 2000 workers for the whole period of construction. Currently, SCC is lagging 5 months behind the schedule it was given by ULB in the start of the project. In order to identify the root cause of delay, SCC has conducted a self-audit of its performance. The biggest issue that the auditing team has come up with is lack of motivation in the workforce. Workforce’s reluctance to take interest in the work has declined its productivity, which has directly affected the schedule. The auditing team has suggeste d the General Manager (GM) of SCC to take measures to improve the workforce’s motivation so that their productivity may be enhanced and the project can be sped up. Why has SCC consulted me? In order to devise a strategy to improve the workers’ productivity, it is imperative that the issues workforce commonly encounters are identified. Unless the workers’ concerns are satisfied, they can not be made to work hard. SCC has, therefore, asked me to prepare a briefing paper which SCC may consult in order to solve its workforce related problems and increase their productivity. 3. Overview of the situation: SCC was given a work schedule by the client at the start of the project. The whole project schedule covers a period of 3 years. As of now, eight months have passed since the commencement date, and the productivity has been considerably lower than what was the demand of the original schedule. SCC lags behind the schedule to such an extent that the goal of no more than 3 months has been achieved in 8 months. The client has stipulated very strict rules against the delay. The liquidated damages will be charged at the rate of 1 per cent of the project’s cost per week of delay. Therefore, SCC can not afford to delay the project as a delay of only a month will consume 20 per cent of its profit. Accordingly, a delay of 5 months will leave

Othello and Guess Whos Coming to Dinner Comparative Essay Example for Free

Othello and Guess Whos Coming to Dinner Comparative Essay The transformation between Othello, a 16th century Shakespearean tragedy and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, a 1960’s Romantic Comedy, can be compared by addressing themes that are present in each text. The theme of race can be used to compare the different attitudes of each context, surrounding the significant black characters of Othello in Othello and John in Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, and there interaction with white females that belong to an upper middle class. The theme of interracial marriages can be used to compare the different values and attitudes of each context, towards a black white marriage. This applies to both Othello Desdemona and John Joanna. By exploring the different contexts, ideas and techniques incorporated into each text, we can apprehend the different messages that each composer has attempted to convey to their audience. Othello – Power of Love Othello is a Shakespearean tragedy, set in Elizabethan Times that present the relationship between, Othello, a ‘moor’ who’s an official in the Venetian army and Desdemona, the daughter of a noble Venetian Senator, Brabantio, and how despite their different experiences in love, a strong relationship can occur, without any initial external input. Desdemona’s assertive behaviour towards romantically pursing Othello, demonstrates her confidence and power, which she maintains throughout the play. Most significantly, the fact that Othello did not ask for Brabantio’s permission to marry Desdemona, demonstrates how Othello did not consider the traditional values of Elizabeth society. However as they play develops, Iago’s manipulation of Othello’s insecurities, leads to the relationship between Othello and Desdemona falling apart. This reflects Elizabethan society and its values towards love and marriage. In Elizabethan times, a marriage between a man and a woman was considered extremely important. Women were generally considered to be in the possession of their father, this was because men were considered powerful and important people. It was in the father’s power to determine whom their daughter married, provided that his family were respectable and had money. A marriage between a ‘moor’ and a white would not have been socially acceptable in Elizabethan times, seeing that the Moorish skin colour portrayed a sense of filth and evil. Whites being superior and educated, while others were considered inferior. This theme can be explored through the objectification of Desdemona in scene 1 Act 3 Lines 182-187 â€Å"How to respect you. You are lord of all my duty: I am hitherto your daughter. But here’s my husband: And so much duty as many mother showed To you, preferring you before her father, so much I challenge that I may profess Due to the moor, my lord.† We see that Desdemona, is detaching herself from her father, just as her mother did to her father. This demonstrates her power and her ability to make decisions despite her father’s approval.

Saboteur by Ha Jin | Analysis

Saboteur by Ha Jin | Analysis Reading Saboteur was really ironic for me because I grew up in this kind of controlled place, and I could really relate to these feelings that Mr. Chiu had. In Poland, until I was about ten years old we were under the control of communist Russia. I remember that the government required every person to have their permission to get food. They did not let us use money; we had to apply for special vouchers and everybody was allowed the same amount because communism philosophy was that everyone is equal. There were many times that I saw this kind of totalitarian control by the police. For example, if someone said something against the government that they didnt like, they could go to jail. Even worse, if some government official didnt like someone, they would be falsely accused and sent to jail, even though the government officials were the bad guys and the person had done nothing wrong. Ha Jins short story Saboteur is filled with ever increasing irony from beginning to end that finally c limaxes in the main character, Mr. Chiu, becoming that which he was falsely accused of being. Ha Jins tale of Mr. Chius unfair arrest, imprisonment and eventual release in Muji City, China after the Cultural Revolution is filled with irony. The story opens at the end of Mr. Chiu and his wifes honeymoon. Mr. Chiu had suffered from acute hepatitis and he was feeling like he was recovering but still worried about his liver. This is where one of the first ironic events occurs. They were having lunch in the square, waiting for the time to catch their train home, when the policeman at the next table threw a bowl of tea on their sandals. Mr. Chiu is obviously upset, and he asks the officers why they threw the tea. The officer tells Mr. Chiu that he is lying, and that he wet his shoes himself. The policemen arrest Mr. Chiu after he asks Why violate the laws you are supposed to enforce? (Jin par.15). The young officer then told Mr. Chiu Youre a saboteur, you know that? Youre disrupting the public order (par.17). This situation is very ironic because Mr. Chiu was minding his own business, doing nothing to disrupt the public. The police, who are supposed to keep the order, were the ones disrupting it. Many times, in communist coun tries, the enforcers of the law and rules end up being the ones who break them the most. After Mr. Chius arrest, he was taken to the Interrogation Bureau. He was asked some standard questions and we learned that he as a member of the Communist Party. Then the chief told him Your crime is sabotage, although it hasnt induced serious consequences yet You have failed to be a model for the masses (par.40). Mr. Chui argued his side of the story trying to convince the chief that it was actually the police officers who were the saboteurs. The other man in the room then showed Mr. Chiu some statements given by eyewitnesses. The statements all said that Mr. Chiu had shouted in the square and refused to obey the police. Mr. Chiu was feeling sick. The chief told him that he would have to apologize and write a self criticism. Mr. Chiu told the chief, I wont write a word because Im innocent. (par.51). This whole scene is ironic because it is again the police who are saboteurs. They went so far as to get false statements to force Mr. Chiu confess to a crime that he did not commit. He r efused to do that. Mr. Chiu was feeling very sick. He asks one of the guards to let their leader know of his condition when he is informed that no leader is on duty on the weekend. Mr. Chui resolved himself to take his detention with ease, and he tried to be restful to not irritate his hepatitis more. When he woke up Monday, he heard moaning. Mr. Chiu looked out of his window, and realized that it was his lawyer handcuffed to a tree in the heat. The lawyer had been sent by his wife to get him out of the jail, and now he was being tortured for calling the boss a bandit. This is another instance of irony because it shows the upholders of the laws breaking them. Mr. Chiu is taken to the interrogation room again after seeing his lawyer friend get more punishment. He felt helpless, and knew the only way to help was to sign a confession for a crime he did not commit. The chief told him he didnt have to write it himself, only sign it. The confession said I myself and responsible for my arrestI have realized the reactionary nature of my crimeshall never commit that kind of crime again (par.95). Even though he was furious, he signed it to help his friend. Mr. Chiu and the lawyer left the police station, and then they stopped at many tea stands and restaurants. While eating little bits at each place, he kept saying I wish I could kill all those bastards! (par.106). Within a month over eight hundred people got hepatitis and six died. The irony here is that Mr. Chiu is the one who spread his disease, disrupting public order, they crime he was falsely accused of. This story has many wonderful instances of irony, and if we look even closer, we can see even more irony when we tie all of the past events to the ending. Even though Mr. Chiu takes the only revenge he can, becoming what he was falsely accused of by spreading his disease around because he was reacting to the crime against him. The real saboteurs were the police. If the police had not falsely accused Mr. Chiu, they would not have spread hepatitis to their city, disrupting the public. They are the ones who wrote the confession, and those were the crimes they were guilty of.

Katherine Anne Porter Essay -- Authors Writers Biography Essays

Katherine Anne Porter Katherine Anne Porter was born on May 15, 1890 in Indian Creek, Texas. Her mother died when she was two, and she was raised by her father and her paternal grandmother, who assumed the role of Katherine’s mother. Her formal education consisted of convent schools and ended after a year at the Thomas School in San Antonia when she was fifteen. A year later, only sixteen years old, Katherine ran away and married her first husband, John Henry Koontz. Lasting nine years, this was the longest of her three marriages. She left Texas and her husband in 1913 to become an actress in Chicago, and tow years later she contracted tuberculoses. It was upon her recovery that she decided to become a writer. She became a journalist for the Fort Worth Critic in 1917 and then, a year later, joined the staff of the Rocky Mountain New in Denver. It was her subsequent move to Greenwich Village, though, and the influence of its artistic environment, which led Porter to pursue serious fiction writing (w ww.lib.umb.edu/arcv/kapbio). What is commonly considered the first stage of Porter’s literary writing occurred from 1920-1931. During this time Katherine spent many years in Mexico and became involved in Mexican politics and culture. Although Katherine spent no more than a total of three years in Mexico, they provided important material for her writing, most significantly the three short stories â€Å"Maria Conception† (1922), â€Å"The Martyr† (1923), and â€Å"Virgin Violeta† (1924), all of which were published in Century magazine, and which comment on the Obregon Revolution and the theme of betrayal (Unrue, 22-23). These stories helped to further immerse Porter into literary and intellectual circles. In 1930 Flower... ...re self-motivated, without the author’s omnipresence. She has been called â€Å"a maker of darkish parables for her treatment of individuals who are impoverished by the modern environment and also for her use of the themes of guilt, isolation, and spiritual denial. Bibliography Brinkmeyer, Robert H. Katherine Anne Porter’s Artistic Development. Louisiana State University Press; Baton Rouge and London, 1993. Hendrick, George. Katherine Anner Porter. Twayne; New York, New York, 1965. Unrue, Darlene Harbour. Understanding Katherine Anne Porter. University of South Carolina Press; Columbia, South Carolina, 1988. www.kirjasto.sci.fi/kaporter.htm . 02/24/04 www.lib.umd.edu/arcv/kap/kapbio.html . 02/224/04 www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/porter_k.html . 2/23/04 www.csustan.edu/enligh/reuben/pal/chap7/porter.html . 2/22/04

Tess of the d’Urberville :: Literary Analysis, Thomas Hardy

Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles is a criticism on Victorian society. But the major, universal idea it criticizes is the existence of true love. Through the relationships Tess has been in, as well as the time era in which Hardy lived in, it has become evident that there will always be a flaw with romance. To begin with, Hardy wrote realist works of literature. In order to escape the â€Å"fantasy† of Romantic works realism was a response in which the true social characteristics of life were illustrated. This is evident in Tess of the d’Urbervilles as Tess is depicted as admitting to the condition of our planet, â€Å"a blighted one† (40). By admitting life and Earth to be a decaying one, Hardy has shown that things could be better, a major standpoint of other social writers of his day. But as well as being a novelist, Hardy was a poet and a renowned one at that as well. In his poem â€Å"Between Us Now† Hardy again demonstrates characteristics of a realist writer: â€Å"Let there be truth at last / Even if despair† (lines 7, 8) meaning that he will be acceptant of both the truth and its consequences. Therefore, Hardy is completely capable of describing social issues, and does so in Tess. Now, the first major relationship Tess is in is with Alec d’Urberville in which she is subjugated to mistreatment. One of the most evident examples of the way Alec treats Tess in the garden, in which he feeds her strawberries while she was â€Å"in a slight distress† and even smokes in front of her, although she claims that she minds â€Å"not at all† (52). Now the clearer example, the strawberry abuse, alludes to the rape which comes later on in the novel. She is forced to consume the strawberry although she would rather â€Å"take it in [her] own hand† (52), obviously showing refusal at a blunt state, In addition to this Alec unabashedly smoked around her, which is not only disrespectful but hazardous to her health. The â€Å"narcotic haze† (52), which permeated the rooms Alec and Tess were in, acted like enigmatic amnesiac clouds of death. They not only limited visibility but choked Tess and damaged her eventually later on. This is also parallel to her rape in that the damage done by Alec was invisible for a long time in both cases. Later on in the novel, Alec is very shortly converted into a devout Christian but is â€Å"tempted† by Tess, whom he calls a â€Å"dear damned witch of Babylon† (377).

Peer Pressure Is More Beneficial Than Harmful Essay

Good morning teachers and my fellow students, today my topic of this debate is â€Å"Peer pressure is more beneficial than harmful† and I am in favor of it. Peer pressure refers to the influence exerted by a peer group in encouraging a person to change his or her attitudes, values, or behavior in order to conform to group norms. Social groups affected include membership groups, when the individual is â€Å"formally† a member (for example, political party, trade union),or a social clique. A person affected by peer pressure may or may not want to belong to these groups. They may also recognize dissociative groups with which they would not wish to associate, and thus they behave adversely concerning that group’s behaviors. Peer pressure is when â€Å"friends† persuade you to doing something that you do not want to do. But maybe you want to do it, and you just don’t have the courage to do it and your friends talk you into it. Positives Peer pressure is not always bad. It can help you analyze yourself and contemplate on your ways of life. If you are fortunate to get a good peer group, your peers can play a vital role in the shaping of your personality. Their way of looking at life may influence you to change for betterment. Some of your peers are your close friends, who do not pressurize you to do things but rather inspire you to change yourself. Your peer group may actually persuade you to bring about a constructive change in your personality. Peer pressure can lead you to make the right choices in life. If you are fortunate to get a good peer group, your peers can play a vital role in the shaping of your personality. Their way of looking at life may influence you to change for betterment. It helps define who we are and how we feel about subjects in our lives. It is how we chose to react to peer pressure that defines who we are as an individual. Are we a leader or a follower? Both types of people are needed to make the world go around. Responsible behavior. Not all middle schoolers spend weekends getting into trouble. Many spend time doing things with their families, playing sports, babysitting, engaging in hobbies or reading. A typical weekend for your child’s friends will probably become a typical weekend for your child, too. Self-esteem. Many of the things children do because of peer pressure are not harmful. They may all like a certain hairdo or the latest pop band. Being like other kids makes them feel they belong ²and that is a very important feeling to a middle school child. Connection to school. Children don’t always fall in with the  ³wrong crowd. ´ Very often they fall in with the right crowd ‘one that cares about schoolwork, participates in activities, and tries to succeed. Such friends can motivate your child. Good peer pressure is being pushed into something that you didn’t have the courage to do or just didn’t cross your mind to do. However, as you think about it, it seems like a good thing to do. Good peer pressure can also be a situation when your friends convince you not to do something you were going to do because it wasn’t in your best interest. Some people say that good peer pressure is when you get pushed into something that you didn’t want to do and it turned out well. Well, this may be nice, but ask yourself this question: how do you know â€Å"ahead of time† whether what you are doing will turn out good or bad? Can you? Most people can’t, but if you can, your problems may be solved! When the time comes for you to make these big decisions, it is important to think before deciding. Take as long as you need just to think about whether you want to do it, think about whether you should, and finally think about the consequences. These are the important things that must be done before any big decision is made. Also, knowing who is asking you to do something helps you make the decision. If the person is not your friend, you should really consider what they want you to do, but if you know, trust and respect this person then you might seriously consider what they ask. But how do you know? For each person, deciding who is your friend or not, is a difficult decision. It might be of benefit for you to develop some sort of personal grouping system of your friends and depending on what group they fall into will determine how strong an influence you allow them to have in your life.