RE: Insider #75: Highlights: IBM Information On Demand 2006, The Next Informix IDS Release...
Malcolm, You completely miss the point when you think I tried to minimize your role & commitment to Informix! I started my mail with: > Malcolm, first understand I have a lot of respect with what you have > been doing for the Informix community. Then, we can disagree, can't we? Where do you see the offense to the person "Malcolm Weallans"? jgp On Tue, 10 Oct 2006 09:24:35 +0100, malcolm weallans wrote > Jean Georges, > I am very upset my your remarks about my commitment to Informix. I have > been working with the product for 20 years. How many others can say > that? I have also put many years into running user groups here in > the UK and internationally. I also put lots of my own time and > money into working with local groups and IIUG over a number of > years. But I am also altruistic. I want to help others. I have > never made any money out of all these ventures. And I really > understand why there are problems with selling conferences to DBAs, > especially Informix DBAs. The salaries are lower than DB2 DBAs. > The jobs are not that highly respected in their own companies - > Informix is the past not the future. I have been telling it "how > it is" from my viewpoint and trying to support the people who are > less fortunate than us in the relatively affluent west. If only some > more members of the IIUG board would really think - what is it like > to earn $50 per month for being a DBA or developer. I've met people who > were on those salaries. > So before you go slagging me off in public I would suggest we should > meet face to face - or if you prefer fist to fist. > > Malcolm > > -----Original Message----- > From: informix-list-bounces@iiug.org [mailto:informix-list-bounces@iiug.org] > On Behalf Of Jean Georges Perrin > Sent: 10 October 2006 03:35 > To: informix-list@iiug.org > Subject: RE: Insider #75: Highlights: IBM Information On Demand 2006, > The Next Informix IDS Release... > > Malcolm, first understand I have a lot of respect with what you have > been doing for the Informix community. > > Having said that, I fully disagree with you on many points. > > Informix is not in "apathy mode". It sure is not as "brilliant" as > in early 1997 when Informix corp was cumulating about a quarter of > Oracle's revenue. But some did errors and things have changed. > However, apathy or anemic are certainly NOT how I'd describe the > Informix world today! Are you related to DE? > > The conference had poor attendance: it was the first ever in Europe. > Even IFMX did not do one in the glorious (new) era. > > Price is high: I will not disclose numbers (which I do not have ;-) ) > but IDUG is *not* making a lot of money on European events. IIUG > (blame us if you will) is not doing ANY money. > > Volunteers: the conference in Vienna, from the IIUG standpoint, is > manned by volunteers, this include Gary & Paul. If we had 10 times > these guys, we'd probably be able to make a cheap conference in my > garage... (and along side with my "cave", we could do two tracks, we > would even be able to set up a hands on lab on my systems...). > > And please don't find the excuse of "no time"... I am on a contract, > so even if I can access those conferences at "a preferred rate", it > means no income during the week. And going to 3 or 4 conferences a > year does not bring you knowledge: one or two yes, no more knowledge > because you double the time spent in the same type of conference. > And I am not an Informix consultant, so I am not even chasing > customers there. > > Please all, stop moaning and complaining, IIUG is looking for volunteers... > > (and it's not all directed at Malcolm). > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: informix-list-bounces@iiug.org [mailto:informix-list- > > bounces@iiug.org] On Behalf Of malcolm weallans > > Sent: Monday, October 09, 2006 20:54 > > To: 'Jean Georges Perrin'; 'Davorin Kremenjas'; informix-list@iiug.org > > Subject: RE: Insider #75: Highlights: IBM Information On Demand 2006, > > The Next Informix IDS Release... > > > > Jean Georges, I don't think it is a question of setting an index and > > pricing according to where the people come from. That would generate > > a big market in paper companies ostensibly based in the poorest > > country of the world. But this is exactly the same problem that we had > > in trying to fix a membership fee for IIUG - oh so many years ago. > > > > What we really need to consider - as a newsgroup and as IIUG - is that > > we have a diverse audience. Some may be prepared to pay to attend > > conferences > > - others might find financing such a venture difficult. Some might > > have ample time to attend conferences. Some are managing a number of > > IDS servers single-handedly and our absence needs a lot of > > justification. Some want highly technical presentations to justify > > the expense of both time and money. Some would be lost with these > > advanced topics and would like to have > > lower level presentations. > > > > It has been commented that there weren't many UK informix users at the > > conference as well as a shortage of croatians. It would be worth > > seeing figures of the numbers of attendees from each country and for > > proper comparison how many licences have been sold in those countries > > and the average salary of a DBA in those countries and even how many > > IIUG members there are in those countries. Perhaps the IIUG could try > > to publish those figures. I am sure it would be an interesting > > exercise collecting the data > > :-) > > > > But being realistic the apathy towards Informix is a major factor. I > > can't persuade the powers that be to let me attend an Informix > > conference - but if > > it was Microsoft.... > > > > Regards > > > > Malcolm > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: informix-list-bounces@iiug.org [mailto:informix-list- > > bounces@iiug.org] On Behalf Of Jean Georges Perrin > > Sent: 09 October 2006 12:22 > > To: Davorin Kremenjas; informix-list@iiug.org > > Subject: Re: Insider #75: Highlights: IBM Information On Demand 2006,The > > Next Informix IDS Release... > > > > > > > > I also agree with Malcolm, however it is very very complex to set a > > system like that. what would be the reference? UK having an index of > > 100? Belgium 80? Croatia 30? France (well you need to pay them to make > > them move)... > > > > Another comment was that there are less tracks for Informix than DB2, > > so should we price proportionnally? > > > > IIUG can take all those positive and constructive ideas and propose > > some changes to IDUG. > > > > jgp > > > > On Mon, 9 Oct 2006 12:11:54 +0200, Davorin Kremenjas wrote > > > "malcolm weallans" <malcolm.iiug@btopenworld.com> wrote in message > > > news:mailman.74.1160152453.29455.informix-list@iiug.org... > > > > John, > > > > I don't think our croatian friend was objecting to having to pay. > > > > It's just > > > > that it's a lot of money. I don't know what Croatian salaries are > > like > > > > but > > > > I think they are probably