RE: Announcing: The IBM Customer Advisory Council for Informix

Mark posted a serious question: > Why can't the announcement of the CAC for Informix be what it was > intended? ....good news for the Informix community. It has now been > twisted and changed into a completely different meaning than was > intended. There are some who think everyone on this list belongs in one of two categories: IBM's cheerleaders and the self-described realists who cannot seem to stop posting that Informix is dead. Anyone who tries to cheer any apparent good news will be screamed into oblivion by these who seldom if ever post anything of technical merit but post lots and lots and lots of messages about how IBM is destroying Informix. Anyone who suggests these posters are unrepentantly spreading nothing but FUD is an IBM sell-out or is trying to censor free speech or is policing the forum... There are those who, while not necessarily cheerleading for IBM, have tried to disagree to varying degrees with the trolls described above. Unfortunately, this has not been productive, and this forum has become less and less pleasant. Once upon a time I could recommend this to my customers as a useful place for tech information, so long as they took everything with a grain of salt. Now, I hope they do not read it, because the nuggets of information are between flame wars that will only make my job worse. However, I think there are a lot of people who mainly just do not want to put up with it. For example, I myself drafted a "Woo-hoo", then deleted it unsent as there were already two messages that suggest this thread will descend into another pointless "Why IBM/IIUG is t3h 3\\/1|_" thread. I do not want to feed the trolls. I wish other clowns on this list would stop encouraging them, too, but my private requests have done no good. According to the FAQ: The Informix mailing-list/newsgroup is a forum for the discussion of Informix database management software and related subjects. Topics include all aspects of using and supporting the various Informix offerings, from C-ISAM to Wingz, and other products designed to operate in an Informix environment. Membership in the list is open to anyone, including end-users, vendors and employees of Informix Software, Inc. The list is unmoderated, so members are solely responsible for its content. All contributions are welcome, so long as they emphasize substantive information. http://www.smooth1.co.uk/pages/smooth1_my-bulldog_com/ifaq/ifaq02.htm#2.1 There has not been much emphasis on substantive information, lately. Mark said: > I really am starting to wonder if my continued mission of furthering > the Informix cause and "recapturing the Informix family" will ever > stick on CDI. It may not. If it does, it may be a long time before it looks like it. On the one hand, IBM did a really bad job of satisfying the Informix family, which was far more fiercely loyal than IBM suspected. On the other hand, IBM has realized this and now recognizes the importance of "recapturing the Informix family". There are those users who apparently will not forgive IBM for its early errors. As punishment, they make a lot of noise on CDI. There are others who are extremely optimistic and embrace the IBM strategy as deliverance from the dark days of uncertainty. These are the cheerleaders, and they have their place, usually in marketing programs. In between is the majority of us, though we tend to be more quiet. In my experience, we trend from cautiously optimistic to relatively cynical, depending mostly on the state of our personal job security (or job search). The CAC is a good program, as I understand it, because it will draw information from that middle group, which is not as likely to post on CDI. I think this is the group that would like to believe. This is the group Mark has a chance of reaching. Certainly, IBM may want to find out why the past president of the IIUG now has nothing good to say about IBM or the IIUG. Granted, IBM should find out what makes its biggest fans reach for the pom-poms. Definitely, given the volume of sales in the EMEA, the CAC should be drawing from an international audience. Again, the CAC will get most of its value not from the extremes, those already committed to vilifying or supporting IBM, but from the big hump of the bell curve, especially if they can figure out how to convince them to support IBM and buy IBM products and services. Let us not be foolish. IBM is not producing software out of goodwill to men. It wants to make money. At the same token, I use Informix products because this is my job, not my life. If I got paid to post to CDI, I would outpost anyone here. This is my personal opinion, which I am expressing after much private fuming. It will most likely be flamed. It does not matter, as I wrote it on a smoke break, and I don't smoke. Sincerely, Christopher Coleman Steering Committee President Kansas City Informix Users Group www.iiug.org/kciug Database Analyst Pharmacy Division Mediware Information Systems, Inc.