On 8 Feb 2002, at 11:36, M Patterson (Multinail) wrote:

> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <lester@...>
> To: <ib-support@yahoogroups.com>
> Sent: Thursday, February 07, 2002 6:06 PM
> Subject: Re: [ib-support] Future API-Compatibilty between Firebird and
> IB?
>
>
> > > That's a pity. Shouldn't there be a commitment to keep them
> > > API-Compatible?
> >
> > I think the problem here is that Borland have shut the gate
> > ( after the horse has bolted ) and we are not going to see
> > their changes until they release them. So there is no way of
> > keeping Firebird 'In Sync'.
> >
> > Personally I would rather just concentrate on Firebird and
> > only have one set of 'problems'. Interbase is already a
> > different beast so lets not waste time trying to chase it,
> > but rather improve on what we have.
>
> But then will be able to use the IBX components? Let's not get all
> bitter and twisted about Borland. I'm trying to write a program with
> IBX / Interbase on my machine, my colleague is running an app that
> integrates my code on a machine running Firebird, and we would like to
> be able to offer Firebird to customers, or Interbase if they want paid
> support.

As time goes on, IB and FB will head different directions, by the
time FB 6 comes out, it will be so different from IB that other then
possibly refering to the ODS as the ODS, and maybe a few
console tools having the same names (gbak?) they will be
completely different. This is due to the fact they have different
purposes. IB's main purpose is to make Borland some money,
and to give them something to package with their development
tools with more guts then Paradox. FB's main purpose is to
provide it's users with a capable heavy duty database. This is why
IB has had two production releases, and FB is just heading
towards it's first. I expect at some point, this group will need to
split into FB and IB versions, because the two products are
growing too different. So everybody will over the next 2-3 years
need to decide whether they want to support Interbase or Firebird,
because it will get too complex to support both.

It's like trying to support Sybase and MS-SQL at the same time,
since MS-SQL was originally based on Sybase 10, there are still
similarities, but Sybase is now on version 12, and MS-SQL is on
version 7 (although Microsoft didn't start at 1, so who knows ).

As for paid support, why can't your company provide it, it's not like
there are many complete show stoppers, it's more likely a client
forgetting a simple function.

Paul
Paul Schmidt
Tricat Technologies
paul@...
www.tricattechnologies.com