Hi, Christian
I've got the JRun doc set sitting about 10 feet away. iPortal docs are about
20 feet away.
Both very nice-looking, I'll grant you that. But in terms of answering
concrete, specific questions, they (JRun in particular) didn't strike me (or
anyone else here) as being of very much use. I didn't say they were
completely useless, but I expected better from an appserver of that price
(which for JRun is, of course, still fairly cheap).
I find that a lot of the content of documentation from big-league app
servers is page after page of how to fill in text fields in GUIs. Sorry,
that doesn't cut it.
Arved
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Christian Sell
Sent: Sunday, October 22, 2000 9:09 AM
To: Orion-Interest
Subject: Re: Orion in production
>IMHO the docs from the better-known app server vendors are just more
pretty.
>In most cases they aren't actually better. The best docs I've ever seen for
>applications of this kind are those for open-source CORBA ORBs - ORBacus
>springs to mind. Maybe Orion can emulate those.
I dont know what docs you have been looking at. For me, looking at the JRun
3.0 documentation makes me feel like a desert wanderer hitting an oasis. I
think a nicely written, consistent, complete, tutorial-like introduction IS
a real value. Now, when relating to the issues covered by the J2EE standard,
I can accept that we have the spec and are excpected to read it (thoroughly
and completely). But when it comes to server-specific issues, I think full,
well-written docs are a must.
Also, regarding the pricing issue. I dont think those management types are
all that stupid. The fact that a company has 1500 employees, has a huge
service force and has been in the business for a decade or more may well be
worth a few bucks. Its all a matter of perspective, and there is more than
one justified perspective IMO. I as a techie running a small shop am well
(somewhat) able to cope with orions deficiencies (only a handful of
developers, strange definition of "documentation", etc.) in favor of its
qualities. But I do accept that a management type running a 300+ heads shop
sees things from a different angle. I thinks it is also fair to reflect that
in the pricing..
