> Friends, it ain't so. Client server computing doesn't scale,
> isn't secure, and will (and must) die. And the Internet is
> most assuredly not just a big LAN.

The Internet is not the be-all-and-end-all of database access
at this point in time. The businesses that many of us are
servicing are still LAN based - at least for intensive database
services. For this reason, and others, LAN relevant solutions
are still being actively developed and maintained.

Databases for business tend to have a longer life span than
many other technologies. It is one of the reasons that the
technology tends to trail behind other technological advances.
There is a large inertia behind significant database systems.

I can point you to a list where many people are still using
the DOS based product DataPerfect for business and personal
use. Why? Because it does the job very well and I have yet
to see _any_ other product beat it for being able to develop
small scale relational databases quickly. That is not to say
there are not problems with the product, they are manifold,
but people will continue to use what serves their purposes.

So I do not find anything at all surprising about developers
continuing to look for improvements in relation to work they
are actually performing, and at this point that includes LAN
based solutions. That requirement will not die any time soon.

So sure, seek to improve the technology if you can, but dont
forget that Firebird has a large existing base of users that
fully expect it to support the requirements they have now.

I have little expectation that Firebird will (or can) make
huge technological jumps. It is not why I am using the
product. It seems to me that huge jumps generally come from
new products, existing products have to protect the investment
of their existing users and so become forced to advance more
slowly.

--
Geoff Worboys
Telesis Computing