At 02:46 AM 17-01-01 +0100, you wrote:

>i think, a poll would be best to do on the firebird-site first to see, which
>active developers there share our point at all....I think, several
>IBPhoenix-people are quite happy with seperate source-trees, so don't
>expect, that all firebird-develoeprs would join a united
>source-tree.....lets poll them, and after that all the others (us lurkers,
>e.g)

Sorry to have come to these messages late - I've been away for some days..

As an "IBPhoenix person" I can assure you that I (and most others) are NOT
happy with separate source trees. Why should anyone think that?

People should also disavow themselves of the notion that the two trees are
"competing". One is active, the other is not; and I still can't see how
an open-source source tree that is still read-only after six months can
have a chance to become active, let alone to COMPETE with anything. :))

IBPhoenix is group of people interested in putting a business network
around open source InterBase. IBPhoenix and Firebird are not the same
thing. Firebird is a group of volunteer developers, a very vital part of
the InterBase developer community. The IBPhoenix efforts - also not funded
- include building up a library of documentation for both open source code
developers and users of InterBase.

The idea that Firebird and/or IBPhoenix and/or the IBDI are somehow "at
war" was invented by Borland and propagated around the newsgroups by
certain of their staff members, for reasons which totally escape my
comprehension. I can't see any advantage whatsoever coming to Borland or
to InterBase from it.

Perhaps the sticking-point is Borland's insistence on not participating in
the open source community effort unless the company can have complete
control of "the" tree. How can this policy be helpful to Borland's image?

Previously I believed the dual tree situation was a huge hurdle that would
need to be overcome in order for InterBase to progress. Now, I feel
resigned to the fact that Borland has no WILL to unify open source
InterBase or to grace the development effort in any way. Regrettable
though this be, Firebird is doing better than OK, with or without
Borland. Perhaps, with Charlie C. et alter, it could be superb, but we
will never know.

While I'm sure a poll of the entire IBDI would come out strongly in support
of unity, I believe it is out of our hands and, with hindsight, it always
was. There isn't anybody on the Borland payroll who is interested in being
part of OPEN open source development as a volunteer nor any likelihood that
anyone will be allowed to commit "company time" to it. If I'm mistaken
about this, I would be delighted to see credible evidence to refute it.

Regards,
Helen



All for Open and Open for All
InterBase Developer Initiative · http://www.interbase2000.org
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