Art,

> > In my opinion, InterBase is in the late stages of
> > recovery/survival from its near fatal blow over a
> > year ago. Things are continuing to look up and I
> > am very encouraged.
>
> I'm always happy to hear good news. Why do you say this? Is it because

of

> the Firebird project? Has interest in InterBase actually increased?

Well, it feels to me as if we are getting close to getting a stable
production release from either Borland or the Firebird teams. Once this
happens and the community can solidify around it things will really pick up
from there.

Until there is a solid and stable IB6 production/certified build and the
community adopts it and in essence "standardizes" on it as the "next best
major version" it will be a solid stepping stone from the commercial 5.6
version to our current time. As it is right now, I don't consider that IB6
is as stable as 5.6 (with 5.1 GDS32.DLL).

Until this happens I don't consider InterBase has fully healed from its
wounds.

What I really wonder is, what is taking so long?

Are Firebird people thinking too far in advance instead of simply getting in
the trench and knocking off the current rough edges?

Is Borland really serious about what they are doing and actually completing
the finishing touches on the engine or are they worried about IBConsole, IBX
and other superfluous things that the community has already done a wonderful
job obviating the need for.

Just some thoughts.

Regards,
Jason Wharton
CPS - Mesa AZ
http://www.ibobjects.com