🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1992Dec31.165918.19645@news.acns.nwu.edu> geek@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Myrland Gray) writes:
>Actually, it's Helix Technologies. Future? Helix? *hack* --cough-- (*&^*%*&
>NOT! Helix is bound to die a quick and painful death (IMHO) in the not too
>distant future.

What I hear Joey saying is that the code is old and unpleasant to
work with, and that, therefore, the product will die.  If you use
this argument, then you'll have to give up a lot of other software
(like Unix, maybe)!  Just because code is challenging to work with
doesn't mean you can't maintain and enhance it.  One of the difficulties
of being an engineer is that you know all the weak points of a technology.
It's refreshing to hear success stories about how people are actually
making use of the technology to do real work.

The other key point that Joey hits on is what management decides to
do with the technology and the product.  Any technology-based
company has to make difficult tradeoffs about whether to give the
customers what they ask for (assuming the customer is always right),
or to figure out what the customer needs (assuming the customer
is always wrong).  It has been my experience that the Helix gurus
have always placed an emphasis on figuring out how to give the
customer functionality that fits into the Helix system with maximum
internal consistency.  IMHO, that has led to a very consistent
product that doesn't have all the expected features.

Joey describes the other Odesta product as
>...(essentially a mac
>front end to a mainframe database).

I think what he's referring to is what we now call "Open ODMS", which
is much more than a front end to a database.  At Odesta Systems
Corporation, we develop client-server technologies to provide
document management and workflow management solutions.  We
chose an open client-server configuration using standard SQL databases
(like Sybase and Rdb) because we recognized that customers don't
always like having their data in a closed, proprietary system.  Our
client software ("design mode" as well as end-user) is written to
be portable across Mac, Windows, and Motif platforms.

--daniel rabe
(helix programmer in a previous life)

Disclaimer: I speak only for myself, and do not represent Odesta,
Odesta Systems, or Helix Technologies.