I think its best to stick with objective assessment and avoid ESRI bashing. I am no apologist for ESRI and not for MI either. We need some attempt at objective comparison not "God kills a kitten" or "Worship Satan and eat children entrails" stuff. This is not the material for constructive dialogue.
I have to use several classes of software to do my job, statistical packages, GIS, internet development, numerical analysis, but the GIS folks seem to get more weird (less than objective) about their software than any of these other software users. Not clear to me why ... We all being paid by some entity that has a business model (government, private or otherwise), and we as GIS professionals should attempt to choose the best package to match the goals and objectives of the organizations we work for - minus our personal prejudices. R Hoskins Olympia, WA -----Original Message----- From: Robert Crossley [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Wednesday, September 04, 2002 4:42 PM To: MapInfo List Subject: Re: MI-L MapInfo v. ArcInfo 5/09/2002 06:16:24, Bill Thoen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > and because God kills a kitten every >time somebody buys another copy of ArcView... > If we are talking about feral kittens, it could be the reason that ArcInfo is so well supported by the environmental agencies. Any comparison needs to separate the hype from reality. When getting comments on the relative merits of the two, you must understand that in the ESRI introductory training courses, they teach that MapInfo stands for "Worship Satan and eat children entrails" in an ancient hebrew dialect. In the more advanced courses, they use a combination of hypnotism, subliminal measages and Grateful Dead or Britney Spears music (depending on the audience) to reinforce this point. I think it would be kind of fun to post this same question on the Arc list and summarise the answers. I sure that some of the Ersilite fundamenatlists would love to help you see the "error" of your predecessors ways. Judge for yourself how much of the ESRI community's superiority complex and its loathing of all things Mapinfo is based on fact. It has to be said though that I have noted some softening of feelings towards mapinfo by ESRI over the last few years, probably as a result of Arc's migration to a windows platform, its hypocritical "power to the people" marketing with ArcView, and the watering down of the topology argument since they have adopted the shape file format - or perhaps its just the aforementioned indoctrination wearing off. Be assured that 4 or 5 years ago, the decision to go with MapInfo was probably a very sound judgement. It sounds like your company has been operating successfully in GIS and probably saved hundred's of thousands of dollars in software and operator costs. R Robert Crossley Neo Software 9 Short St New Brighton NSW 2483 AUSTRALIA P: 02 6680 1309 F: New Connection M: 0419 718 642 E: [EMAIL PROTECTED] --------------------------------------------------------------------- List hosting provided by Directions Magazine | www.directionsmag.com | To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Message number: 2832 --------------------------------------------------------------------- List hosting provided by Directions Magazine | www.directionsmag.com | To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Message number: 2833
