Re: Four J's compiler, Remember Wingz ?

Also sprach "Felix Mathews" <fmathews@systems.DHL.COM> : :A few years ago Informix started selling Wingz, it didn't fly, it crash landed :instead. This so called 4j have been hunting customers even in this user group. They :claim that it can work on Oracle and other databases too, since 4j by itself couldn't :get any popularity and a good customer base, the product may be only that good. On the contrary, WingZ was a highly successful product in its time. It's downfall was that it was a Mac based spreadsheet - with Windows and Excel ultimately dominating the market, it had limited longevity potential. What you may be thinking of (and where your assessment is more accurate) is Hyperscript, the WingZ scripting language, and the product that followed up WingZ (which, curse my age-addled braing, I cannot recall at the moment - Viewpoint maybe?). That was a product that more or less flopped, primarily, I think, to the lack of promotional and marketing support Informix put behind it. I believe 4Js has failed to win a wider market for their 4gl tool simply because they are not Informix, i.e. they don't have the name recognition, and thus lack the trust of the developer community. I believe that in packaging the tool as an Informix product, Informix will see a great deal of success with it. It really represents the direction Informix *should* have taken years ago, rather than waste their time and effort on NewError. There is a huge 4gl market out there that Dynamic 4gl will provide a great migration path for. And no matter what else comes of it, the TRUE benefit to Informix with Dynamic 4gl is that it resulted in Jonathan returning to the Informix fold ;-) (and Jonathan himself certainly seems enthusiastic about the product, which is a damn good endorsement in my mind). :Informix marketing group finds it very difficult to dominate even in RDBMS market, :eventhough they have the best available RDBMS engine, so I won't be surprised if this :Dynamic 4GL / 4J crash lands like Wingz. What you say is true, historically, of Informix. However, I have to say that after hearing the new VP of Marketing, Diane Fraiman (not sure of the spelling of her last name there), speak at the Partner's Forum this past week, I do believe Informix has finally found the right person to head up marketing. I found her refreshingly forthright and honest, something typically uncommon on the marketing side of the house. If she is able to deliver on all that she has spoken of intending to do, then there should be very good things to come for Informix. Dave Dave (posting from home, speaking as a representative of nobody but himself) ********** "Everybody plays the fool, sometimes."