Hello Roy,

> I mildly disagreed with some of your other points but this one has me
> seeing red.
>
> People didn't like WinMe because it was actually less stable than
> W98. People upgrade to WinXP because 1) they buy a new PC and don't
> have any choice 2) they're part of some corporate role out program
> which is often operated under the "no choice" system from M$. Much
> the same applies to M$Word.

I didn't talk about the New PC people which they were forced
to buy Windows ME. I was talking about the old guys.
True, Windows ME was a dissapoint. WinXP was and is a success
and that's why everyone use it nowdays. Also, they didn't stop
selling Win98SE after WinME. The user had the choice to buy
a pc with Win98SE after all, but a New User with a New PC didn't
know how bad the Windows ME were because he didn't have any
experience on computers at all.

> I do agree that you should listen to what your customers want, but it
> shouldn't just be on a "ask for anything and I'll deliver basis". I
> also don't believe that M$ really ask what their customers want. What
> they do is deliver feature bloat and then convince customers they
> can't live without it.

Well, i'm part of the Vista beta program and i can sure you
that they do actually listen to the beta testers requests!
(which most of the beta testers are experient people).
Unfortunally i can't give any more info to proove you that.

--
Charalabos Michael - [Creation Power] - http://www.creationpower.com -
http://www.creationpower.gr

Robert,

<< By then it's usually too late. The time to design is before you code. >>

Yes, but you're assuming in this case that the design is so bad that it
cannot be changed easily, which is a fairly pessmistic view of things.
ElevateDB is extremely flexible and the design is solid.  The whole
discussion regarding the VarChar/Char support could be changed either way in
a matter of minutes.  The same goes for the discussion about the file
extensions, which can actually be changed by the developer.

Basically, you have to have a little faith that we know what we're doing and
don't need direct input from everyone here during the development phase.
That's not to say that feedback is not valuable - it most certainly is.
It's simply like I said before - there's a time and place for everything,
and now is not the time to hash out small details like we have been doing.
It's the "too many cooks in the kitchen" problem.

--
Tim Young
Elevate Software
www.elevatesoft.com

Robert,

<< Agree with you. But then, why bother with the fig leaf that "we'll
discuss the features in the new system after the new system is "completed"?
Just say "it's my product, and it will be done my way" and be done with the
discussion. >>

I said that because I mean it.  The darn thing has taken long enough
already, what's a few extra weeks to hash out what everyone likes/doesn't
like.

As I've said many times before, DBISAM is where it is today because of
valuable customer feedback and input.  You also have to remember that
ElevateDB is a culmination of requests that have *already been made* over
the years with DBISAM.  For example:

1) Better user security - got it
2) RI and proper constraints - got it
3) Better SQL and more adherence to the standard - got it
4) Unicode - got it
5) Proper catalog support - got it
6) Better database manager - got it

and on and on.  So, we are listening and doing what people need/want already
with ElevateDB.  Sometimes it just takes a while to implement these types of
things, so you have to be patient with us.

--
Tim Young
Elevate Software
www.elevatesoft.com

Ole,

<< Don't worry about it - you won't see a single contribution from me in
these newsgroups in future. >>

I'm sorry that you feel that way, but what I was describing was simply the
truth.  You do have a tendency to go back and forth between:

a) Very helpful and informative

and

b) Monopolizing our (and others) support time by publicly starting long
threads about personal pet peeves regarding a particular SQL implementation.

I politely, but firmly, asked you to stop doing b) here because we can't
afford the distraction and you indicated that you would do so.  At other
times it wouldn't even be an issue and would even be worthwhile, but right
now it is an issue.

--
Tim Young
Elevate Software
www.elevatesoft.com