[Info-vax] OT: Elephants Can't Dance

[Bill Gunshannon]

In article <gp82cv$sq6$1 at online.de>,
	helbig at astro.multiCLOTHESvax.de (Phillip Helbig---remove CLOTHES to reply) writes:
> In article <49b71bd4$0$90266$14726298 at news.sunsite.dk>,
> =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Arne_Vajh=F8j?= <arne at vajhoej.dk> writes: 
> 
>> >>> What do you mean by "put life back into Rdb"?  The only thing it 
>> >>> possibly lacks is marketing.
>> >> How many new features has been added to RDB the last 10 years
>> >> compared to Oracle Classic, DB2, SQLServer and the rest ?
>> > 
>> > How many does it need?  Does it do the job people choose it for?
>> > Is the target being capable of doing a job ir keeping up with
>> > the Jones's?
>> 
>> The expectations to a database is not constant over time.
>> 
>> People want more features all the time.
>> 
>> The production I list has added a ton of features the last
>> 10 years.
>> 
>> If RDB want to be a general competitor they need new features
>> as well.
>> 
>> If the plan is to let RDB support the existing apps that are not
>> being developed much, then RDB does not need the new features. But
>> there is not much of a future in that.
> 
> I don't think it is planned to run Rdb under anything other than VMS.  
> So, only the wishes of the VMS customers are relevant.  Their wishes are 
> routinely incorporated into new releases of Rdb.  The typical Rdb 
> customer on VMS neither wants nor needs bells-and-whistles features 
> which might exist in some other product---he wants something which will 
> do the job.

Thank you.  My point exactly.

I deal in the Open Source world at work (due mostly to budget constraints)
and nothing annoys me more than having students and faculty come to me
with a request that we run out and grab (and install int he middle of the
semester!) the latest and greatest version of a product who's update
cycle is measured in days.  Why do the want the new one?  Does it fix a
problem they were having?  Does it offer a feature they absolutely need?
Of course not, but it's the newest version and we should be running it.
I am working on a new web server right now.  They want it to include the
latest version of PHP.  Which breaks every one of their PHP based web
pages!!

What ever happened to "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!"

bill
 

-- 
Bill Gunshannon          |  de-moc-ra-cy (di mok' ra see) n.  Three wolves
billg999 at cs.scranton.edu |  and a sheep voting on what's for dinner.
University of Scranton   |
Scranton, Pennsylvania   |         #include <std.disclaimer.h>