Re: Quality of Informix Support
In article <matuscak-2107940828210001@zaphod.rohrer.com>, Joe Matuscak <matuscak@rohrer.com> wrote: >> The bug list available via InformixLink is partial. I don't know >> absolute policy but "sensitive" bugs (those that would harm us if our >> competitors found out) are not posted. >I keep seeing this logic stated from a variety of vendors. I think its >silly. Has anyone been in a situtation where vendor B sited a list of bugs >in vendor A's product as a reason not to buy from vendor A? In my fifteen >or so years of buying software, it has never happend to me. (capabilites >of A vs B, yes. But not bugs) If it does happen, wouldnt you instantly >ask vendor B for a list of *their* outstanding bugs? And would anyone be >dumb enough to believe B if they said they didnt have any? While I'm new to Informix, this is a real risk in the PC Marketplace. For evidence of this, look on the back page of Infoworld or PC Week, where the "Robert X. Cringley" or "Spencer the Cat" columns exist. In an underhanded way, software companies notify these guys of crashing bugs in the software that cause horrible things to happen -- ie "Crash Microsoft Word in three easy steps!" was printed before. Again, I'm not as familiar with the Unix world, but in the PC world this stuff travels like wildfire. Look at all of the hype about Microsoft's DoubleSpace when it first came out. The actual real cases of data corruption were minimal, less than some other disk compression software companies experience, but because Microsoft admitted it, mentioned in on CompuServe and let the trade rags picks it up, they were slaughtered over it. In my background of working at/with many software companies, hiding some of the really nasty stuff or things that would put them at a competitive disadvantage is not at all uncommon; I've never seen a company yet that posts _everything_. BTW: I have no idea how Informix does things, I haven't even see the 'Link yet. -Doug -- Doug Mason, Windows Czar Informix Software, Inc. dmason@informix.com Menlo Park, Ca 94025 +01 415.926.6917