----- Original Message -----
From: Dalton Calford <dcalford@...>
To: <IB-Architect@egroups.com>
Sent: Friday, July 28, 2000 3:33 PM
Subject: Re: [IB-Architect] ISC - State of the nation report ?



> Never underestimate an opponent.

Good point, and I am not saying that it would be easy, just that it is
likely to succeed based on Inpise's past performance.

On really a different subject, something that I wonder about. How much money
can really be made on support alone? Isn't most of the money to be made in
licensing either the DBMS, or the application that uses it? Lets not forget
that one of the biggest selling points of Interbase is it's LACK of needed
maintenance and support. It's the easiest DB out there to use and maintain.
Far more money could probably be made by starting a consulting firm to
support Oracle, or SQL Server.

Why can't there be two Interbase's? Ours and theirs(different names of
course). A user could use whichever he wants, because they both give the
same result. In my case, I am going to release an app that USES the
Interbase file format. It really doesn't matter to me who's engine I use, as
long as it is stable. And my customers will probably care even less than I
do. In fact, most end users of a product like mine, don't even know what a
RDBMS is. The fact that IB is now open source means that I don't have to pay
royalties to ANYONE. Every dollar I take in will be mine(and the IRS's).

So I guess what I would like to see is a separte Interbase Engine from
Inprise's, just to insure the longevity of the product. I will make my money
licensing and supporting apps. That probably sounds a little selfish, but
it's life. I am certainly willing to do my part with the "new" IB if there
is one, because my success will probably depend on it.

Also, if there was to be a seperate Interbase, could it not be licensed? If
it was better and faster than the "free" Interbase, would'nt users be
willing to pay? There are a lot of "free" software packages out there, but
almost invariably, the ones you have to pay for are better than the free
ones.

And one last point (Im on a roll). The way I see it, the developer community
is going to put their sweat into a product that is basically still owned by
Inprise, and Inprise will make money supporting a product that they don't
have to pay to develop anymore. Something smells REALLY rotten here.

Paul