>Tony Gravagno wrote: >As is evident by these notes, it would seem that the challenge was all about tools, but the opposite is true. >it had nothing to do with GUI or technology and someone with AE/ED and a greenscreen could have won.
Tony, thank you so much for bring this perspective - the RIGHT ONE - to the discussion. There's been way too much focus on tools in the discussion of last year's programming competition, and I frankly I for one am immensely tired of what has turned into a slight of my abilities, like somehow I couldn't have possibly won without the tools I used? (Those who have said such things know who you are.) >Tools can certainly help, but last year we saw that the tools >actually got in the way when they became the focus. My original concern is that the discussion of tools got in the way of having the competition this year. Personally, I was looking forward to the competition after Gus and crew announced they had levelled the playing field. With the changing of the guard at the magazine I can see now how the competition could have definitely been a back seat issue. I only hope that Nathan and Clif can find a way to hold the competition next year, and even if they make us all solve the problem with nothing more than a PE version out of the box, then I welcome the opportunity to prove that solutions and tools are not as tightly coupled as some have suggested. >Assuming there will be another challenge, next year may >be different if a more clear message can be established >about what is expected. Throw out the tools if necessary. I'd even go as far as to not allow participants to bring anything into the room. Set up each participant on a cheap laptop with a PE version, hand out a spec and say "go for it". Won't get much more level than that. Problem is, as you've pointed out, would the tool providers want to play if there wasn't a marketing opportunity? I would hope that wouldn't be true because as you said... >And remember - it's all for fun and prizes and >profiling our DBMS of choice, not to show >how great one's products are. Amen, bro. Thanks again. -Kevin [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.PrecisOnline.com ------- u2-users mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe please visit http://listserver.u2ug.org/
