At 01:02 AM 03-01-01 +0000, you wrote:

> > Helen,
> >
> > (The Open Source database seems to have gone out of fashion...)
> >
> > Helen
> >
> > All for Open and Open for All
> > InterBase Developer Initiative · http://www.interbase2000.org
> > _______________________________________________________
>
>Coming from someone so active in the IB community and willing to help
>out newcomers, this statement really suprises me.

Chris,
You mistook me - it was just an ironic comment on the changing times.
At the beginning of last year, MySQL and PostGreSQL both had new releases
and the prospect of Open Source InterBase to complete the "requirements
triangle" for open source databases had everyone excited. New books using
Open Source software were everywhere.

Since IB actually went OS in July, the overwhelming need for a "basics"
book for IB has been everywhere. The collapse of the ISC spinoff caused
sponsorship prospects for the big InterBase Developer's Handbook to
evaporate overnight. I stopped work and the translator teams went "on
hold". I outlined a less ambitious "newbie" book which was less scary for
publishers.

Of course, during the intervening period, NASDAQ has got closer to reality
and now the flow of new books on OS software has dropped to a trickle. The
newbie book for IB 6 should sell like hotcakes but the publishers now are
being very retrospect.

>I do not claim to be at your level of expertise, but I would have to
>disagree with you. I feel the open source database is just coming
>into fashion.

I TOTALLY agree with you. I don't believe it would be possible to reverse
the trend towards commoditizing the key elements of software (operating
systems, databases, user interfaces, browsers, connectivity). It is set up
to be the new wave, whether Microsoft likes it or not. IBM lost out in the
second wave (proprietary operating systems, expensive proprietary chipsets,
ultra-protectionism, da-di-da-dum) but now it's turning the tables on its
old competitors and meeting the third wave with arms and minds open. (Just
reflect on what the world would be like today if OS/2 had captured the
market instead of Windows...)

>For several months now, I have been a subscriber to numerous BDE
>replacement related newsgroups and trust me, there are alot of
>unhappy customers that will soon be converting over to IB. The BDE
>with a Desktop DB is a dead end road. Developers know this and are
>going to have to make a choice. IB being open source, with such great
>support from the community along with an excellent set of tools like
>IBO, makes this choice almost to easy.

I agree with this totally, too. I am a latecomer to IBO, having gone the
FreeIBComponents route first and eliminated it. I wish...I wish....but,
once an IBO convert, I continue to be stunned and ashamed by the ignorance
in which I basked for the preceding three years. The rest, as they say, is
history. I'm not yet an IBO expert...I'll start thinking I am when I run
out of new things to discover in IBO; and I'm still using techniques I
don't need in some of my apps. I'll get there in time, I don't doubt it. <g>

>No serious developer is going to jump on board the open source wagon
>until it has had time to stabalize. It appears to me that the
>Firebird project has picked up the ball dropped by Borland and the
>future of InterBase looks bright.

I too agree with this. It was sobering last week to see an article by Tim
Perdue, in which he observed that "Open Source InterBase is a
dead-end." Why is it sobering? Because Perdue is one of the Admins of
SourceForge. In Firebird Admin we receive messages from him about the
files we move about there. Astonishingly, HE has not made the connection
between Firebird and InterBase.

Maybe this is an extreme, or even exceptional, example of the effectiveness
of Firebird's "marketing strategy". Or not. Really, the only people who
really know of its existence are the members of the existing InterBase
community. We are still seeing newbie questions coming through to the
lists pertaining to the sourcecode downloaded from the Inprise CVS tree
which has not changed since release day (other than to fix a couple of
errors in the Windows installation); and there are people still wanting to
download the buggy binaries from the Borland site.

I'm really sorry that my ironic comment about the attitude of book
publishers was taken as a sign that I don't have faith in the third
wave. Nothing could be **further** from the truth. A year ago I gave up a
career, at a very stupid time of life to be abandoning careers, to follow
my obsession with documenting InterBase and its capabilities. The year
2000 was one of forked paths and crushing disappointments, but (New Year
blues aside) I haven't reneged yet...I'm still looking for ways to achieve
it. I'm constantly inspired by people like Jason, Ann Harrison, Mark
O'Donohue and the other source gurus in Firebird, yourself, Geoff Worboys,
Claudio Valderrama and the scores of others who share the desire to get
InterBase "out there" and realising its potential.

Regards,
Helen

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