G'day,
Somebody once said to me,
"Viewpoints are like backsides.
(not the word they actually used but it's more appropriate for a BPI
[Broad Public Issue] communication)
Everybody's got one."
This thread highlights that very well. It is a testimony to the tolerance
of the list
members that they can so willingly give and receive vastly different
viewpoints.
From the viewpoint of the effusive owner/chief salesman of a business who
takes
great pride in the expansion of functionality and correction of so many long
standing bugs in his flagship product there is probably a shortage of English
superlatives to describe his "baby".
From the viewpoint of a programmer experienced in the functionality of
high-end
databases, fully object oriented languages and diverse development environments
for high end corporations for whom an $80,000 a year DBA is a drop in the
bucket,
to use any superlative for a file-server database with an integrated
development
environment with the limitations of R:BASE would be laughable.
I guess it's a bit like the joke about the cup with water up to the half
way mark.
The optimist says, "It's half full."
The pessimist says, "It's half empty."
The engineer says, "The cup is over-engineered."
The time and motion man says, "It's under utilised."
The bacteriologist says, "Never mind the quantity, what's the bacteria level?"
It's all a matter of viewpoint. Understand where the other fellow is at
and it makes
it easier to communicate to him at his level of reality.
That's why a communication addressed to a general audience will have a chance
of striking a note of discord with a percentage of members regardless of
the style
chosen, as against a communication constructed accordingly and addressed to a
person of known viewpoint has an almost 100% chance of success.
That's what make Public Relations and Sales such interesting and
challenging fields.
Lots of different publics, lots of different viewpoints, lots of work to
win them over to
a positive viewpoint of your product or service.
One drill I did many years on a PR course was to assume the viewpoint of the
recipient of a communication. It is an interesting experience. I should
do the
drill some more myself from time to time.
It is interesting mocking up conversations with a civil engineer (who
builds targets)
and a mechanical engineer (who builds rockets to take out the targets).
Anyway, that's some of my viewpoint...
'Avagreateweekend.
At 14:25 1/06/01 -0700, you wrote:
Re: Super-superlatives and glorious-glory
I don't tend to think, write or speak in constant superlatives, either.
Thus, we may all agree to disagree and not take any of this personally. Or
so I hope.
To go a step further, "glorious" tends to step into religious territory. A
slippery slope and not one particular suited to database developers in a
professional capacity.
Now, before the faithful get too tightly wound, let me explain that I have
been a strong supporter of R:Base since 1991. I also appreciate the efforts
and support the kind Dr. M. has put into continuing the product. I am not
insulting anyone nor am I casting stones. Nor pebbles. Not even dirt!
Let the product speak for itself. It is, quite simply, the best database
product in its niche.
Ken Brown
PosiTrak, Inc.
Warmest regards,
Tom Grimshaw
coy: Just For You Software
tel: 61 (0)2 9552 3311
fax: 61 (0)2 9566 2164
mobile: 0414 675 903
post: PO Box 470 Glebe NSW 2037 Australia
street: 3/66 Wentworth Park Rd Glebe NSW 2037
email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
web: www.just4usoftware.com.au
