Helen,

> It's a point...but I guess it's different, too. There's an assumption that
> you know how to use Delphi, and understand object-oriented development, and
> understand the database...

This is legitimate assumption, especially concerning Delphi and
object-oriented development.

> I think that has changed a lot in the past few months...open source is
> bringing in a lot of people who otherwise wouldn't be doing database
> stuff...these days, we get a lot of "absolute newbies" here - who haven't
> done any database programming at all. In some cases, they don't even know
> how to use Delphi properly. It's a moot question whether IBO should
> provide "kindergarten" help for a product that is really intended for use
> by people who properly understand Delphi and databases.

You are absolute right, open source has done it!
I am one of the (absolute) newbies, working with xBase and
Paradox (and Clipper and Clip4Win and Delphi) up to now. I mean,
we don't need a "kindergarten" (nice, do you speak german?) for
Delphi or OO, we need a kindergarten for *IBO*. With the
assumption above. Do you mean, IBO is something like "yesterday
downloaded, today a champ"? I don't, and reading this list I believe
I'm not all alone.

Regards,

Richard Säger EDV-Beratung
Web: http://www.saeger-edv.de