Helen Borrie wrote:

> The press release was written by Ann Harrison. Ann ain't gonna put her
> name to anything that ain't what it says. Dale Fuller wouldn't DARE
> co-sign it if he was planning to break faith - that would be a Very Bad
> Career Move, don't you think?

I don't think that anyone is suggesting bad faith on the parts of Ann or
Dale (or, for that matter, anyone else). However, intentions and outcome
are not the same thing.

The press release states that the delay is not the result of a lack of
direction or effort nor a technical problem, but does make reference to
corporate structure. This implies that the release _cannot_ occur until
the corporate restructure is successfully completed, or at least until
successful completion is inevitable. As the release is being held up,
the implication (in my mind) is that the successful completion of the
restructure is not yet inevitable, that there are still steps that need
to be taken. If it were inevitable, the lawyers, managers, analysts,
strategists or whomever would not see value in continuing to hold the
release back. The fact that they do implies that there is, albeit
minimal, cause for concern.

I had not intended to comment, at least not this soon, but as Mark has
raised the issue, I am commenting to make clear that he is not the only
person who is concerned by the delay.

At the risk of inviting comparisons beyond those that I am going to
draw, the first highly public source opening of this type involved a
product of comparable complexity, the creation of a new company to
operate as stewards and extended discussion with people like myself over
license terms, but still met its initially announced release date, and
it did it in half the time. Granted, the company in question was
younger, was facing a graver threat and its on-time release didn't even
build (the Interbase delay is not technical however), but importantly,
they grasped the enormous importance of meeting that initial commitment.

For Interbase to slip its initial release a little bit is a concern, but
not a disaster. The fact that there is not sufficient confidence to
announce an updated release date raises additional concern. There really
are ways that this deal could go wrong despite good intentions,
direction, faith and effort. I wouldn't care to put a date on it, but if
enough time is now allowed to pass, Interbase will have a substantial
credibility problem on its hands.

I (really) hope that my fears are unwarranted.

- Raz