Steve -
What I have found is there is more than truth in the saying "The grass seems
always greener on the other side". For we who have history with MapInfo
Professional, I guess we may be just too emotional to really evaluate its
evolution. Frustrated? Yep, that's what Wish Lists tend to do to you. I
am quite amazed at what you can do with Professional in its current form -
most of my wishes have become fishes in fact!
I believe you care about MapInfo. I too have to agree that MapInfo
Professional is quickly approaching some very significant issues of design
life versus legacy users. In example, ESRI has decided to just let its user
and developer community bite the bullet having decided to terminate ArcView
and ArcInfo as they knew it. Avenue is a dead script as is AML. Long live
AkeView 8.1 (Its not free this time!)
When Oracle blew ESRI out of the SDO/SDE saddle with 8i's Spatial Cartridge
design it wasn't too long before Jack and Bill got their COM and Visual
Basic deal together. Can you really use Visual Basic on SUN Workstations and
does SDE-Lite really extend Access?
So what are the macro trends? Well certainly Microsoft is not going away -
even more so now that Bush has decided he is the President-elect. Oracle
and its internet focus also seems to be rather dominant but they have no
time for the desktop. Oracle is in my opinion "the" CORBA JAVA design? The
internet effect seems to be moving the computing environment back towards
servers and it's wireless connection is really the next step.
John Cavalier is a very smart fellow as is Mark Cattine. Business-wise they
are doing a very adequate job. And technically Andy is hanging in there and
provides our link to the core MapInfo while George Moon remains pragmatic
and very low profile.
So to understand MapInfo.... its a shadow play; study the progression of
MapInfo Professional - MapInfo Professional Runtime - MapX - MapXtream JAVA
- MapXtream NT - MapXtend. It looks like we "desktop dinosaurs" all need to
better understand the future of business GIS in general let alone our
frustration with Professional. When was the last time you invested in a
3.5" disk software install?
MapInfo Professional is certainly going to evolve - its not a question of if
but when and how painful it could be. Times they are a changin....
MidNight
aka Neil
-----Original Message-----
From: Steve Wallace [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Wednesday, November 29, 2000 7:34 AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: MI-L Ad Hoc MI Pro Editorial / Venting
"In addition, we've even been able to introduce an internet-enabled version
of MapInfo Professional at a 15% higher price, without encountering any
resistance from the market."
-- Mark Cattini, President and Chief Operating Officer, MapInfo
Taken from Investor Conference Calls at
http://www.corporate-ir.net/ireye/ir_site.zhtml?ticker=MAPS&script=1100
Hmmm. This must be another product. I don't know that I would call the
ability to make web links or an HTML map "internet-enabled." Oh, and we must
be _far_ too quiet about prices, upgrade costs and lack of features
(especially REQUESTED features), for MapInfo to say that they can continue
to raise prices without encountering resistance.....
We need to find a way to make our voices heard.
Steve Wallace
Florida Farm Bureau Insurance Co's
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