Re: Informix's Official NewEra Three Year Plan

Hi, Michael Segel wrote: > Hmmm, > By what Christine (Da Babe) wrote, No argument there ;-) > N.E. is doing one enhancement release this year (early '98), > then going in to a maintenance mode on the product. No... all three releases are listed as maintenance releases, though there are some specific items that are going into the Q1 release. Just because it is maintenance, doesn't mean that new functionality cannot be added to it. If you need specific items added to the base product or enhanced, then they are going to have to be requested. As a general suggestion, you might want to use IIUG to serve as a clearing house for upgrade/enhancement requests and forward on a batch request to Informix product management. Christine may have some ideas on how to facilitate this. This could serve several purposes: 1. Allow the user community to drive the enhancement process in an organized fashion. Have Informix build the products you want to use the first (second?) time. 2. Give Informix an idea of how many customers the proposed changes/additions are important to. It's easier to justify an upgrade request when you can say that a majority of the current installed base are pulling for something. In the end, it couldn't hurt and very well could make a difference. > What this says to me, is that N.E. is not a mission crittical > application for Informix. (Meaning Informix doesn't go under if > N.E. sales tank.) Isn't that already the case??? Fact of the matter is that engine sales are the companies "life blood". It has been that way as long as I can remember. As far as mission critical goes, it is to the extent that we have tools products which support our database products and take advantage of our unique functionality. Something which tools vendors who organize themselves around ODBC do not necessarily have a desire to do. It's in their best interests to work with every DB and gear their development to that lowest-common-denominator. > Of course, they said the same about 4GL and it will still be around. Products of consequence to a company rarely disappear. When they do, it has been my observation that it was probably best for the user community and for the vendor. I don't believe that this is the case with NewEra or with 4GL. "They" also said that NewEra was the replacement for 4GL... I didn't believe that either. I think that it was a classic case of comparing apples-to-oranges. > Now IMHO, if you are new to OO development, or are just looking > at new tools, N.E. may not want to be the way to go. However, > if you have already made an investment in to the tool, with a > new class library, you are better off using it. For the new OO developer, NewEra provides a number of compelling advantages, *IF* you get the right training from the beginning. This is key. I believe that if you start off with viewing NewEra purely as a language, you will be in a better position to take advantage of it's unique functionality and avoid the more common design traps. As developers, we have had to deal with products that have lacked necessary features and functionality from many vendors since the beginning of the PC revolution. I am not planning on holding my breath until that changes. You're right -- NewEra may not be the way to go. It's not a product for everyone. I don't know of a product that is. The real challenge here is the application of our skills and knowledge to select and use the right tool for the task at hand. > One feature which will be important is the ability to add your > own visual objects to the palette. (This is missing.) Then when > you write a new class library you can still use the click and drop > method of adding your visual objects. I would have liked that functionality myself. This being missing has been a criticism of mine since the early days. Ken