>From: Helen Borrie <helebor@...>

>Hasn't this subject been exhausted now? I'm sure that, if and when we need
>to solicit funds for anything, you will find that the process will be easy,
>secure and fully documented.

no. sorry. I don�t think the subject has been exhausted.
even if there are things like open source it doesn�t mean you
don�t need to bother about money.
I have a tiny company and I have to earn my and my family livings
out of my programmming projects. so money is important and always
connected with my decisions.
I have to decide now, this January 2000, on what plattform I will build
the future versions of my 2 major apps! both apps now use IB with native
tools (IBO!) and cannot be ported easily to an other RDBMS or back
afterwards.

if I focus on IB again I have to be shure that it will meet my needs.
and I am willing to pay for this.

>Let's please focus on the here and now and get on with the job of
>mobilizing our technical resources for the tasks ahead.

ye and no!
technical resources are not enough. you have to touch all aspects of
making a product sucessul. and there�s also coordination, marketing,
funding, infrastructure....

not only RDBMS developers or low level tool&component building spezialists
are concerned about the future of IB but many developers like me who
are using databses in most bits of code but never think of going
into DB development themselves.
in terms of developer::user I am a DB user although I am a application
developer. I need IB to develope may apps but can contribute to
development of IB only in terms of money.

in http://www2.linuxjournal.com/articles/conversations/010.html
Dale Fuller says "....What we're setting up will be the host organization
outside our company. We don't want to do what Netscape tried to do,
which wasn't very successful. We need a separate entity."

....what is what IBDI is preparing as I can see.

and Dale says "We are funding it, but only as one source of funding.
We want the community to help fund it, and own shares in it. "

so, when will Inprise stop funding newIB? will we see simmilar
struggles again next year? if we developers own some single shares in it,
how
can we influence future of IB?

so what I am thinking of is kind of a Union of developers. kind of a company
where we own shares that owns a bigger amount of shares of newIB.

hannes hernler