Radical changes coming in MapInfo Professional 6.0 including unprecedented level of componentization (four years-over in the skunk-works my guess), direct access to several alien data formats (hmmm, like SHP2?), and new useability design - well Yahoo!. Essentially a new rewrite and design of Professional. Watch for new release of ProViewer 5.5 and nifty 1.0 addons ProDraw, ProLabel, and a bit later ProBuild for all those entry-level ache exploitations. And how about Visual MapJ, a bean of a cool product? From little beans grow big trees! Oracle is crushing the dB competition on the net, interest in the Spatial Cartridge is way larger than anyone ever expected .... very good news for MapInfo and its Spatialware and MapXtream/Java moves. And did you know you'll be able to own a personal Oracle 8i with Spatial for $395 (or even less). Just works better with MapInfo Professional....MapX and ????? I hear SDE these days is going for $9500 but its not really available (it can be had for less... if you'll settle for less)... Then there's the rumor of a sort of "SDE"-lite, a JET engine hang-it-on-the-outside-index nifty from Microsoft. ESRI's answer - "What me worried? MapPoint - I don't no stinking MapPoint!" And watch for real "spatial analysis" and 3D stuff for all you Professional MapGriders..... What a rumor mill I grind but dig it out yourself - more info at: http://www.mapinfo.com/events/conferences/partner_summit99/index.html MidNight Mapper aka Neil 9/1/99 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe from this list, send e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put "unsubscribe MAPINFO-L" in the message body, or contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
