Jason,

I've rarely seen you so impassioned and inflammatory as when you write

> it [IBX] is so immature and poorly written.
> IBX is good in some ways but there are too
> many things that are just plain done wrong.

Has something happened to make express yourself so strongly? Please
consider documenting these defects that you perceive, so that this is not
considered a "sour grapes" message.

As for why I use IBO rather than IBX -- well, this project started in D3
(long before I got here), so IBX was not an option. Certainly IBO was (and
is) superior to BDE, FIB, and FIBPlus.

At this point we are migrating new development to Delphi 5, but we see no
reason at all to move to IBX. IBO simply works for us; why should we
change?

> We need to make sure people understand that IBO is the suite
> of choice for the InterBase community when it comes to
> writing client/server applications with Delphi and CPPB.

It's tough to up-sell against a bundled product. OTOH, there is a solid
market for reporting tools, even though QuickReports is bundled in; for
internet tools like WinShoes and Piette's ICS, even though FastNet and
WinMasters were bundled in; for improved visual components like Developers
Express and InfoPower, even though grids and masked edit controls are
bundled in. How have they succeeded? Honestly, I don't know.

I know it's not on quality alone. If it were, then Delphi and InterBase
would have far larger market share.

I wish I had more than moral support to offer you.

Art Metz
AMetz@...