Re: Informix Users Conference

Kenny Hovanes writes: |> Well, I was at the conference and here is a very quick summary of |> what I saw.... |> |> 1) Informix doesn't seem to be very excited about windows NT. The first |> discussion talk of the day was by Phil White (ceo of Informix) and Mike |> Maples (microsoft VP), and talked about the impact of NT on the computing |> environment as a whole. |> |> 3) On the following day, there was a round table discussion about NT and OO |> by some guys Informix selected. I forget the names, but my god, they are |> very hostile toward NT. And this seems to fit the Informix point of view. |> My impression from informix was that NT will go away, and they seem to |> be betting the farm. Unix seems to be the commitment, and UNIX only. |> Sure Informix will play around with NT and offer the SE, but Online isn't |> supposed to be around until late 94 or early 95. This gives me the idea |> they want to see what happens, while Oracle and Sybase are porting their |> stuff already. Let me assure you that your impression is wrong. Informix is quite comitted to NT - it has become one of our 3 server platforms for the future (Unix, Netware, and NT). We offered SE to get something out quickly. The reason for the 94/95 of OnLine is that we will be porting 6.0 to NT. Since 6.0 will not be out on Unix until the end of 93 sometime, it is going to take some time to port and test everything on a different o/s. |> 2) The sessions covered were interesting, but a lot of the time they seemed |> to be directed from a marketing point of view. The sessions really could |> have been a lot more technical, but hey, it's just the second conference |> they have had. Let me state from experience that it is difficult to get very technical in 45 minutes! There were a few longer sessions, and I believe those *did* get pretty technical. |> 7) The technical ability of the Informix people doing the demos was kinda low. |> I was trying to get some decent information, but the general answer I got |> was pretty lame. Mind you, I port all the Informix products to our hardware |> platform, so I was asking more technical things than they might have |> expected. People at the booth were not there to answer in-depth technical questions, really. They were mostly marketing folks and SEs. I did suggest that next year (in Tampa, FL) we offer a sort of "general technical questions" center, where people could go with the heavier technical issues. I fear the logistics of this are quite difficult, though (mostly finding the folks qualified to staff such a center), and do not expect to see anything like it next year. Though *you*, as paying attendees, could make it happen by suggesting it in any general comments forms they may have handed out. |> 10) In addition the 6.0 online engine is going to use it's own threader, |> instead of the os threader. Hmmmmm, this might be a problem. On the contrary, it *avoids* a ton of problems. We need something portable across a lot of platforms. Further, we can code threads suited to db work that will be much more efficient (e.g. lightweight) than any general purpose o/s threads. Gary Kelley, the lead architect for 6.0, looked at all the available thread offerings and found them wanting. |> I guess that's a lot of the stuff they did. One thing I found a little |> frustrating was... A lot of the speakers were not native english speaking. |> Mind you, I'm not getting down on foreigners (god forbid, it's not politically |> correct anyway 8-), but a good grasp of the english language would be nice |> if you plan to talk in front of an english speaking audience. Many of the speakers were technical folks from Informix. They were not hired for their presentation skills, but rather for their technical skills. That they were gracious enough to take the time out to come and present at the conference is to their credit. I'm sorry you found it difficult to understand them, but I'm sure they were doing the best they could. I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed it for the most part. Remember, the attendees drive the changes for next year. I'm sure Bill Daul will be forwarding your posting to the appropriate folks in Corporate Events. Dave Disclaimer: These opinions are not those of Informix Software, Inc. ************************************************************************** "I look back with some satisfaction on what an idiot I was when I was 25, but when I do that, I'm assuming I'm no longer an idiot." - Andy Rooney