Boston Python workshop 2

Why do you want a hosting prdoiver ?Nowadays you have an alternative, putting a cheap PC on the home' end of a broadband link, and doing it all yourself. It's like your porch; do you want an open-source' one you build yourself, or do you want a proprietary' one supplied by a porch services prdoiver' ? There are advantages and disadvantages to each.I suppose, being an IBM exec, you'd want to be sure you fit within the acceptable usage policy of whoever provides Internet service; but that's mostly a matter of finding the right service prdoiver, the right contract, and paying the right monthly fee.Public Internet is a bit like the North Atlantic in summer; most of the time the sailing is good, but occasionally you get hurricanes blowing up out of nowhere. You will get denial-of-service attacks, people trying to (and maybe succeeding in) taking control of your machine and using it for their purposes; sending out junk mail, or worse. But that can happen at a hosting prdoiver, too. If you're doing your own thing, then you have to take the backups, be prepared to reinstall, and so on; whereas with a hosting prdoiver you can get all that done under warranty. SNA was never like that.If you'd like some IBM technology in it, maybe try it on a Sony Playstation 3; the PC business is finished as far as IBM is concerned, some cracking sales incentives in the UK because this month the IBM salesman is selling Lenovo personal computers, but next month the Lenovo salesman takes over. Quite a significant watershed is being crossed.And you can have any version of Python you want.