Re: In an RDBMS, what does "Data" mean?

"Eric Kaun" <ekaun_at_yahoo.com> wrote in message news:UV2yc.2595$tp6.675_at_newssvr15.news.prodigy.com...

> 1. I doubt "overwhelmingly good evidence" motivated people to pick up Pick
> (or any other technology)

I'll bet it was the path of least resistance. My guess, from Dawn's description, is that it's real easy to learn, and it puts together, in one package, the tools needed to store and retrieve data, and the tools needed to capture and present data. Add in some fairly trivial computing capability, and you've got a pretty powerful system... regardless of the data model.

> 2. People tend to use that with which they're familiar

And they become familiar with that which they use. It's feedback.

> 3. The market doesn't necessarily guarantee anything (and no, I'm not
> anti-capitalism) about what it produces

If nobody buys, then it doesn't sell. No invoices, no cash. That's more a guarantee of apparent value than real value. But measuring real value is extraordinarily difficult.

> 4. The gadgeteering which makes software development fun also produces a
> tendency to wallow in what you know, and in what seems "cool", orthogonal
to
> any actual value

To a kid with a hammer, "normalization" means "flattening".

> 5. Finally, the criteria businesses have for their solutions also factors
in
> learning ability, prevalence of those taught in technology X, etc.

Good point. Received on Fri Jun 11 2004 - 12:59:17 CEST