Some Sections Removed, for brevity and becuase I was so shot down
there was nothing to say...

MD.

>>However the potentially short turnaround between Firebird V2 and V3
>>has created an issue for us.

>HB /It hasn't created an issue for anyone yet. Firebird V2 is
>currently in
>early alpha testing; V3 is a Holy Grail that will be emerge at some
>point
>in the future when everyone works out direction.

>If you are making assumptions based on the wild ballpark times we
>were talking about in the draft Roadmap a year ago (still draft) then
>forget it. Firebird gets absolutely no propulsion from deadlines of
>any sort. You'll regret it if you try to market it that way.

MD /Noted, thanks for the reality check.

>>In short, we don't want to commit to V2, and then find that it's
>>orphaned by V3.

>Don't understand "orphaned by". Can you explain what you mean?

MD /You're right, bad word. The concern is that if the development
focus shifts from V2 to V3 too quickly that V2 will suffer, and that
we will be forced to go through another deployment to ship out V3.0

>>At the same time we aren't that comfortable about
>>committing to V3 and running the risk that the release date slips so
>>much that it's no longer useful for our project.

>Nobody should "commit to V3" now. We don't even have a V2 release. If
>"release dates" are important in your plans, then my advice is you
>are on the wrong track - totally.

MD /Noted, thanks for the reality check.

>>At the moment we are tending towards committing to V2 now, and
>>assessing V3 in Q3 05.

>Umm, I very much doubt that (and I should know....) Wouldn't the
>sensible, safe, practical thing be to commit to 1.5 now? That *is* a
>stable release with an established support network. V2, on the other
>hand, is alpha software, at the stage of being beaten to a pulp by a
>demonic crowd of field-testers. Support issues for V.2 are right
>off-topic until the release.

MD /Noted, thanks for the reality check. Dreaming about V3, got it.

>>How can I obtain some reassurance that recommending Firebird V2

won't affect my future "employability"?

>If it were me, I'd have the development and QA systems already up and
>running (like, yesterday!) on Firebird 1.5, over real-world test
>databases, and getting reassurance for myself and others that it's as
>good as I need it to be. That's the place from which you should be
>conjecturing about future releases that don't exist yet. I don't know
>what aspects of your "employability" are at risk by recommending a
>long-overdue upgrade from poor, tottery old beta IB 6. However, since
>you asked the question, I wouldn't like to be in your shoes if the
>quality of your research so far into the facts and issues is a factor
>in keeping you employed.

MD /And I wouldn't like to be in your shoes if manners is a factor in
keeping you employed. Typical Australian! ;-) This is a component of
the research! I've STFW, and as far as I can tell this is the best
place to come for practical advice on this subject – and I'm grateful
for the advice I've received.

Thanks

MD

--- In Firebird-general@yahoogroups.com, Helen Borrie <helebor@t...>
wrote:

> At 01:30 AM 31/03/2005 +0000, you wrote:
>
>
>
> >Hi All,
> >
> >My company develops and markets a Delphi application, which currently
> >uses IB6 at the back end.
> >
> >We've made the decision to jump (step) from IB6 to Firebird because of
> >the age of IB6, assorted platform issues with it and because of the
> >lightweight security.
> >
> >However the potentially short turnaround between Firebird V2 and V3
> >has created an issue for us.
>
> It hasn't created an issue for anyone yet. Firebird V2 is currently in
> early alpha testing; V3 is a Holy Grail that will be emerge at some

point

> in the future when everyone works out direction.
>
> If you are making assumptions based on the wild ballpark times we were
> talking about in the draft Roadmap a year ago (still draft) then forget
> it. Firebird gets absolutely no propulsion from deadlines of any
> sort. You'll regret it if you try to market it that way.
>
>
> >In short, we don't want to commit to V2, and then find that it's
> >orphaned by V3.
>
> Don't understand "orphaned by". Can you explain what you mean?
>
> >At the same time we aren't that comfortable about
> >committing to V3 and running the risk that the release date slips so
> >much that it's no longer useful for our project.
>
> Nobody should "commit to V3" now. We don't even have a V2 release. If
> "release dates" are important in your plans, then my advice is you

are on

> the wrong track - totally.
>
>
> >Understand that we have 4000 remote installations of IB6 to convert,
> >so the cost of preparing an installation routine and deploying is
> >significant.
>
> Sure. And you should not founder in your resolve to get rid of IB

6. It

> is unfinished software, released without QA, full of bugs that are long
> gone in both release of Firebird (1 and 1.5). Running 4000

installations

> of beta software for four or five years must have been fairly exciting.
>
>
> >There's also the issue of having to deal with concurrency issues
> >between IB6 and Firebird. (Mitigated in V3.0 I know, but when?)
>
> Can you describe these "concurrency issues"? And, having described

them,

> could you then go on to explain how the non-existent V3.0

"mitigates" them?

>
>
> >At the moment we are tending towards committing to V2 now, and
> >assessing V3 in Q3 05.
>
> Umm, I very much doubt that (and I should know....) Wouldn't the

sensible,

> safe, practical thing be to commit to 1.5 now? That *is* a stable

release

> with an established support network. V2, on the other hand, is alpha
> software, at the stage of being beaten to a pulp by a demonic crowd of
> field-testers. Support issues for V.2 are right off-topic until the

release.

>
>
> >Do you think this is this a practical approach?
>
> Nope.
>
> >What will become of V2.0 if V3.0 is an early success?
>
> It's not a valid question. V.3 will be V.2, only more and better;

just as

> V.2 will be V.1.5, only more and better and v.1.5 was v.1.0, only

more and

> better. The releases are a continuum. You just move your Firebird
> databases along with your more and better Firebird servers, if and

when you

> want to. Some don't even do that. A new release doesn't turn the

world on

> its axis. We're talking about continuing as before - with some very

likely

> cleanup of client code called for - and taking in new features along

the

> way, according to requirements. No "Leap of Faith" to be seen anywhere.
>
> >How can I obtain some reassurance that recommending Firebird V2 won't
> >affect my future "employability"?
>
> If it were me, I'd have the development and QA systems already up and
> running (like, yesterday!) on Firebird 1.5, over real-world test

databases,

> and getting reassurance for myself and others that it's as good as I

need

> it to be. That's the place from which you should be conjecturing about
> future releases that don't exist yet. I don't know what aspects of your
> "employability" are at risk by recommending a long-overdue upgrade from
> poor, tottery old beta IB 6. However, since you asked the question, I
> wouldn't like to be in your shoes if the quality of your research so

far

> into the facts and issues is a factor in keeping you employed.
>
> ./hb