Matt Heusser's Lies, lies, lies

[matthew_heusser at mcgraw-hill.com]

Warning:  Open-Source Religious Argument.

>Make sure you know the facts
> before you make assertions in the future.

I'm sorry - Mr. Tobey, you obviously know more about my business than I do.

But seriously ...

>There is no such thing as a 'nifty'
>proprietary data storage layer.

Companies base thier entire business model on Propietary Data
Storage Layers.  Think 'Quicken', Think 'MS Word', Think 'AutoCad
DWG.'  Think 'PowerPoint.'  Think 'data file' instead of 'data base'
and it begins to make sense.  Sure, you can make money with open
source, but it doesn't fit well into a content/subscription model.

My customers actually pay money for our software and content on
a subscription basis.  That's very different thant the IT services world.
In your solution,  I would give away the keys to the kingdom!

>The only thing nifty about it is that the developer
>(you?) can buy himself some more job security.

Fine, Let's avoid the flames and stick to facts.

Seriously, we have 10 developers here.  We hired a contractor to do
a great deal of the programming on our Data Storage Tier.  He's gone,
and if I quit, someone else would be up and running shortly.  If we lost
all 10 developers, that would  be bad - but we have a half-dozen
information developers who know how to build catalogs in our
proprietary format.

I think this is coming down to the differences between shrink-wrapped
software and the uses of Perl.  And this is a perl list.  Perhaps I've been
remiss.  Joel asked me how we use XML, and I started talking about how
we use XML.   Perhaps I assumed a knowledge base that does not exist
about win32 shrink-wrapped software development.  If so, I apologize.

>Lies, Lies (another lie), Lies.  Depending on what you
>want, you can get BerkelyDB, Mysql, PostgreSQL, and
>any number of other database type applications for free
>or very low cost.  Most of them (esp. BerkelyDB and MySQL)

I want to re-distribute the database and run it on the user's desktop.
BerklelyDB is attractive for that, but if I want to redistribute it, I have
to ship the source code and pay a fee. (1)  Considering that I want
my data to be encrypted and stay that way (only accessable through
my data handlers), that's not a very good choice.  [I know, we're back
to open source again ... what can I say?  I work for an intellectual
property company.  I may not like your opinions, but I do recognize
that you have a right to them.]

MySQL is the same way(2)

Wasn't PostGreSQL produced by Great Bridge Software? Aren't they
out of business? (3)  Wasn't it produced under the GPL?

Essentially, you're repeatedly suggesting that I ship an open-source
database to individual client machines.  I'm suggesting that that doesn't
fit with the client-side app content/subscription model, and you can tell
by reading the license  agreements to those apps.

Disagree?  Have experience developing shrink-wrapped applications
and want to chime in?  Have a few more Databases you'd like to
discuss?  I'd love to hear it.

Matt H.
References:
1.  http://www.sleepycat.com/licensing.html
2. https://order.mysql.com/
3. http://www.greatBridge.com