Re: I-Net & Win 3.11 or Win95
> leblancs@tsagate.com ("Sean LeBlanc") writes: > On 8 Feb 96 8:30 Anno Domini , Nils.Myklebust@ccmail.telemax's > mailer burped out: A little sorry for the "burp", but sometimes things aren't as good as usual. > [huge snip] > > Dear Informix: > > This is stupid, stupid, stupid. Can you please tell us when you will do > > something realy smart with this. With Windows 95 and NT TCP/IP is included. > > You should be able to make an intelligent installation procedure that > > makes I-NET and ODBC work out of the box with little or no problems. It should > > check the TCP/IP installation (all parts of it, including any host/services files > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ > > Yeah, but how would it know where to look? For trumpet, these files > are wherever a user decides to put them. For Windoze NT, they are in > /windows/system32/drivers/etc, and those are only two TCP/IP stacks. Well, Informix could decide to support a few TCP/IP stacks fully, and the others less well. As TCP/IP now comes free from Microsoft for Windows 3.11 (WfW), Windows 95 and NT these should at least be well supported in this way. For others they might ask the user where the files are (with an option to scan the disk as they often have the same names). > > needed), test the connection (using telnet or whatever), give detailed > > descriptions for the 10 or 20 most used Unix servers/OS versions on what to do > > and so on. In this day and age we as users demand this kind of functionallity > > and ease of use. Many, perhaps most, of the points in this checklist should > > be possible to check in your installation program! > [Another huge snip] > > I'm sorry, but I must play Devil's advocate here. Isn't Informix > software aimed at programmers? I'm not saying that Informix couldn't > use some work on I-net, but make it the Macintosh of database > connection interfaces? Why not? Why should "programmers" have more work than neccesary. Also, it isn't realy aimed at programmers. It's aimed at the PC support people that do installation work. These most often aren't programmers, they are often very overworked, and need all help they can get. This is a big issue in the industry, and this is a product that is very differen from most others Informix supply. Mass installations is a very different issue than setting up a single Unix server. One of the reasons why the SE engine has been so successful is its ease of installation. Why not repeat this on I-Net/ODBC? > ODBC connections can be equally difficult to manage, > IMNSHO. Yes, but for that reason the full ODBC setup should be included. At least a very detailed explanation on how to go about it. > This is not a flame, and I most definitely don't work for Informix. > Yes, I-Net is not a plug-and-play operation, but I would hope that > most people would classify themselves at least a few steps ahead of > the average user in problem-solving savvy. Yes, I do, but my time is limited. I am also not particularly interested in this kind of work. I do application development. As I work in a small company I often has to do installation and setup as well, or help with it. For the reasons stated above this should be plug-and-play - most definitely. Informix will probably one day make it that, I simply want that day to arrive a little sooner. Nils.Myklebust@ccmail.telemax.no NM-data, Aasesvei 71, 1300 Sandvika, Norway My opinions are those of my company