I think what has been glazed over so far in regard to VA leadership's arguments on the death of M are the following.
1. Leadership's position: No M programmers. The truth is, the VA always grew their own via in-house training. It was very easy to grow their own, because people with any background in computer science or engineering can become production-level competent in a matter of weeks. Folks without a strong theoretical background may take a bit longer, but M is still easier to learn than just about any other computer language. 2. Leadership's position: No MUG. How have they supported MUG ? At the last MUG meeting I went to in San Diego, most of the VA people self-funded their trip there. There were no speakers or breakout session leaders from the the National VA development organization. 3. Leadership's position: M is old technology. Yes, old but good, hardware independent, and evolving. 4. Leadership's position: Go to Oracle. How does this promote vendor independence ? Finally, none of this new "rehosted" stuff has hit the streets yet. It remains to be seen if any of it works, and how well it can be supported in the field. There have been no cost comparisons or justifications, so that side of the equation seems to be completely disregarded. Another CoreFLs scale disaster would certainly set back the "rehosting" efforts, and would (hopefully) cause some leaders to rethink their positions. I am not a prophet either, but I am a computer scientist, and I think I can see that things are rather chaotic now, and there is not alot of clarity in "the vision". Or, if there is, it hasn't been articulated very well. But, as Rick says "we'll see". -----Original Message----- From: Richard G. DAVIS [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Saturday, November 27, 2004 11:33 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [Hardhats-members] Re: MDC/MUG Revival - Just do it Rick's "letter" to Kevin fails on only one small point... ...it is not presented in a forum that accords it the distinctive position it deserves. So, I urge you all to set aside a day in your week, any day will do, and read only this letter. Struggle with it, wrestle with it, meditate and put it aside for another week. Continue that devotion far into the future and be ever mindful of the gathering illumination that you will enjoy. Regards, Richard. -- > From: "Frederick D. S. Marshall" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Organization: WorldVistA > Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Date: Fri, 26 Nov 2004 16:29:04 -0800 > To: Hardhats <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: [Hardhats-members] Re: MDC/MUG Revival - Just do it > > Dear Kevin, > > We are not in a catch-22. > > The Object-Oriented Language subcommittee (SC16) of the MDC spent many > years examining the state of the art in OO languages and databases to > determine how MUMPS should be upgraded with OO features. We know how to >... >.... >..... >...... > > I do not know who will pay for MUMPS's development, but I do not need to > know. I suspect someone will, sooner or later. We will pursue our > work, time will pass, and then we will learn the answer to your > question. I am no prophet, merely a philosopher. > > > On Fri, 2004-11-26 at 06:54, Kevin Toppenberg wrote: >> My thoughts are, who is going to pluck the cash down >> on the table to actually write the code the >> new-and-improved M? >>... >>.... >>..... >> >> I think we are in a catch-22 >> >> Kevin > > .. ... .... ------------------------------------------------------- SF email is sponsored by - The IT Product Guide Read honest & candid reviews on hundreds of IT Products from real users. Discover which products truly live up to the hype. Start reading now. http://productguide.itmanagersjournal.com/ _______________________________________________ Hardhats-members mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/hardhats-members ------------------------------------------------------- SF email is sponsored by - The IT Product Guide Read honest & candid reviews on hundreds of IT Products from real users. Discover which products truly live up to the hype. Start reading now. http://productguide.itmanagersjournal.com/ _______________________________________________ Hardhats-members mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/hardhats-members
