When I was still working at U2, we met with Mike Ruane of Revelation Software to discuss projects of common interest to both companies. At the time I had hoped there was a chance of greater collaboration then what transpired after I left.
It's a shame that more wasn't possible then, but I suppose Big Blue had something to do with that... LeRoy Sent from my iPhone 3Gs On 23 Mar 2010, at 6:46 PM, "Tony Gravagno" <[email protected]> wrote: > Common thread winding through this post... > > At the TigerLogic Conference a few months ago, Susie Siegesmund > was a key speaker. Many of us joked/suspected/(hoped?) that TL > had a Rocket in their pocket. But Susie's excellent presentation > really underscored both a desire and a need for collaboration > amongst the MV DBMS providers. Susie and Rick Koe (TL CEO and > primary stockholder) stood together to talk about such > collaboration. I was reminded of the Spectrum Manufacturers' > Association of the 80's. We need something like SMA again, but > while Susie and Rick openly recognize the problems I'm not > convinced they're willing to dedicate resources to fixing the > problems. We need an independent agency to coordinate such > efforts, driving the DBMS vendors to take action toward their own > best interests. > > As Brian suggests below that U2UG will be taking on various > projects, I'm thinking such UG time might be better spent on > helping to coordinate the efforts of others - UG's for other DBMS > platforms and perhaps a new "SMA-ish" oversight group. This, as > a separate effort from U2-specific endeavors. > > Similarly, rather than the DBMS vendors themselves coordinating > resources for platform marketing, books, etc, I think their best > approach would be to foster the creation of a new SMA-ish group, > which would in turn drive the DBMS vendors to do more. > >> From: Brian Leach >> ... the new user group board are going to be >> discussing our projects for the coming year and introductory >> materials/sample applications and such like are very much in >> the frame. > > It's a shame that U2UG is the only real global MV group around. > Efforts as described by Brian should be shared by those who > support other MV platforms - share the burden, share the > benefits. > > I don't think U2UG should be driving toward introductory/sample > materials that are entirely U2-centric and not more generic and > inclusive of the other Pick/Prime platforms. Sure, this is all > about U2 here but a user group that focuses only on U2 (for > something like this) would be as guilty of self-serving efforts > as the DBMS vendors. Yes, of course we need better intro > material for U2 but if the rest of the MV market is still > suffering from a dearth of information then U2 vendors will > continue to face uphill sales battles. > > So collaboration in the name of mutual expansion (more like > self-preservation) is important. With no other central entity or > authority I think this is a project that should be undertaken by > Spectrum, a neutral, for-profit business, with the same > motivations as the rest of us, with co-op funding from DBMS > providers and application vendors alike. > > >> So nomenclature is something we will need to address if we're >> not going to confuse people from the very start. > > I agree that nomenclature is important but I would put less > emphasis on it. If anything, let's go back to roots rather than > proprietary branding: the platform is derived from Pick and > Prime, let's use the terms from those platforms as the common > base, acknowledging that all MV platforms have their own names > for the same concept, but not trying to coerce users or vendors > to conform to some new standard. The commonly accepted name of > the platform is now MultiValue. Let's not, yet again, try to > come up with something new. It works, go with it. Pick your > battles carefully because there will be many of them, and some > not worth fighting. > > >> From that point of view, it's a pity that mvBase and >> mvEnterprise exist otherwise we could carry the 'mv' >> naming further as the standard, but they will be too >> heavily associated with those products. > > mvEnterprise is almost a dead product. mvBase is surprisingly > not dead but the base is too small to worry about conflicts in > nomenclature. > >> The Pick name has fallen out of favour, and in any >> case largely describes the operating system which is >> viewed very much as a historic platform. > > Again, in creating something new there would be a stigma of an > unknown. Under a MultiValue banner, the names Pick and Prime are > fine as historical references. We can't run away from history > and attempting to do so will only elicit suspicion. Proudly > acknowledging 40 years of history in a world plagued by > techno-ADD and paradigm fads might actually be a good approach. > > Tony Gravagno, mvWindbag > remove.pleaseNebula-RnD.com/blog > Visit PickWiki.com! Contribute! > http://Twitter.com/TonyGravagno > > > > _______________________________________________ > U2-Users mailing list > [email protected] > http://listserver.u2ug.org/mailman/listinfo/u2-users To read FRSTIA's disclaimer for the e-mail go to http://www.frstia.co.za/ _______________________________________________ U2-Users mailing list [email protected] http://listserver.u2ug.org/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
