> You're looking backward; I'm looking forward. Companies are tripping
> over themselves to give away free databases -- and most, if not all,
> have documentation. Some are free as in beer, some as in liberty, but
> none cost anything to kick or use. Without the stream of Delphi
> refugees from Borland and a host of competitors with more approachable
> products, Firebird has some real problems. As the other open source
> database systems get their Window's acts in order (and they will),
> things will get even worse.

I am reading your points Jim, and there are issues re, Firebird, there
always has been, probably due to the way it came into life. However
there is documentation available, not perfect I agree.

1. There is a whole host of free documentation available on IBPhoenix
and the main Firebird site.
2. The InterBase 6.0 docs are downloadable from the IBPhoenix site
3. Using the 6.0 docs + the Release Notes is a good start. (And the
release notes tend to be well written and detailed).
4. A Using Firebird and a Firebird Reference Guide are on the
IBPhoenix Developer CD. Ok you have to pay for the CD, but writing
docs takes time and money.
5. These two docs were donated to the Firebird Project and undergoing
re-writes by the Firebird Documentation team. This takes time and effort
but they are coming slowly and surely. This is where the project needs
help. So volunteeers needed
6. Work has started on a Firebird API guide, this too will appear on the
IBPhoenix Developer CD initially and will be donated to the project at
a suitable time.

In an ideal world, we would have all the docs neatly finished and packaged
with ribbons, simplay and easily downloadable, but the issue of how Firebird
was open sourced and the ownership of copyright for the existing docs made
this impossible. No-one wants to be on the end of a law suit from Borland
since none of us could afford it. So we have to do what we can.

Paul