[Operators] Server Software Choice

[Dave Cridland]

On Tue Apr 28 14:13:35 2009, Daniel E. Renfer wrote:
> This was the reason I chose OpenFire when I was trying to make  my
> choice of servers. I didn't know Erlang, but I did know Java. I  
> figured
> if something *did* break, or I wanted to change something, I would  
> be
> better off with the language I knew, versus one, at the time, I had
> never heard of.

In as neutral way as I can be, given my employment, I would readily  
agree with the implication that the choice of server has to be  
strongly influenced by a strategy for when it breaks. The servers in  
existence essentially work fine within the basic limitations they  
have, whatever those may be, so beyond the basic questions of whether  
it's fit for your specific purpose, the question becomes what happens  
when things go wrong - when bugs are exposed, or when the software's  
stretched beyond its capabilities.

That implies taking into consideration your own skills, the  
"fixability" of the source code (if applicable), the responsivity of  
the support (if any). Lack of source-code may be an ethical issue for  
some, but on a practical level, if the source-code is in a language  
you do not understand, you're purely reliant on support - and to be  
fair, it's unlikely that even if you're reasonably proficient in,  
say, Java, you're unlikely to be able to dive into Openfire or Tigase  
and fix some bug you've just run into. 
Dave.
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