-----Original Message-----
From: Doug Chamberlin <dchamberlin@...>

>The big hurdle in this marketing plan that I see is that to switch from a
>desktop database to a client/server database for the back end requires a
>certain understanding about how it all works and about what you can/cannot
>do, should/should not do in order to succeed. These people do not want to
>hear this stuff. Their constant cry is "I could do it before so why can't I
>continue to do it?" While Interbase, as a backend, makes these people
>compromise less than the big databases do, it still requires more
>discipline to use than Access.

I disagree with this part. If your designing tool is intelligent enough, it
is just as easy to design an Access database than to design an IB database.
All Access bells & whistles can be done transparently on IB, one way or the
other (autoincs -> generators, parameterized queries -> stored procedures,
etc.). Given Delphi's excellent component management architecture, it
wouldn't be too hard to create query designers, form designers or report
designers.

Plus, migration from LIBS to a shared IB server is *way* easier than
migrating Access to MSSQL. I have some code which tries to connect to a
local IB server, starts it up if it's not running, otherwise checks the
local network for a running server and connects to it, all without the user
noticing (I'll wrap it up in a component and post it on CodeCentral sometime
soon). This allowed me to deploy an app both in single-user and in
multiple-user environments, without any change in the program. On the other
hand, the last time I upsized a local database to MS SQL I had to go through
hell to get everything working like it did before (it was MSSQL 65, though).

Just my 2 centavos.

Marcelo Lopez Ruiz