Re: Informix Users Conference

In article <22pa2bINNt0v@emory.mathcs.emory.edu> walt@mathcs.emory.edu (Walt Hultgren {rmy}) writes: > >All in all, I think that the conference was well worth the time and effort >it took to attend. Informix should be careful of making it too much of >a slick marketing event subsidized by registration fees, though. If it >does, it will lose a lot of its appeal -- at least for me, anyway. > >Walt. > Agreed. I thought the conference was worth the trip - especially for the opportunities to talk with actual Informix developers - but I did feel kind of like I had attended a four-day infomercial. 25% of the sessions I attended were for Online 6.0 - not yet available. Most of the other sessions I went to were for ViewPoint, Informix-DBA, Wingz 2.0 and HyperScript Tools - none of which are currently available for my platform -- the Macintosh. Don't get me wrong, I liked what I saw (very much!), but it is disconcerting to be told by over 20 different Informix representatives that they have no idea when Mac (or Motif) versions will be available - best I got was second half of 93, which (by my calendar) we are already in! My project has been using Wingz/ HyperScript for the Mac for the past 3 years, and it seems that every 6 months someone from Informix promises us that version 2.0 will be out in another 6 months... so far all we've gotten is vaporware. I sure hope they deliver soon on HyperScript Tools - it would be a cruel joke to delay release of such a wonderful product for the platform that launched Wingz 5 years ago. Anyway, back to the point, next year I'd like to see less infomercial sessions on new and unreleased products, and more sessions geared toward question-and-answer-time-with-the-in-house-guru. I attended a session on troubleshooting Online 5.0 databases which was OK, but would have been much better if it were structured as an audience-asks-the-panel session instead of presenting the top-5 troubleshooting techniques. I'd also like to see more birds-of-a-feather type of sessions - but on a more technical level. It is a *user* conference after all, so why not gear more sessions toward users interacting with other users (lunch doesn't count :-) For example: o the Database Administrator's happy hour - an open mike session for DBAs to recount their most chilling "war stories". o HyperScript Q&A - open mike session where HyperScripters can ask general questions in the hopes that someone in the audience might have a solution (similar sessions for 4GL, etc.) Any comments on the badge system? I suppose it was pretty neat, albeit another means by which to promote nifty features supported by Informix products. But I suppose one should flaunt what one has. Now I know what it feels like to be a box of cereal on a supermarket scanner! Again, I liked what I saw, but feel that the conference could be even better next year. IMHO, Brian O'Sullivan bosulliv@mitre.org MITRE Corp. Washington,DC NASA HQ site