filePro Upgrade help

[Fairlight]

You'll never BELIEVE what Scott Walker said here...:
> Mark,
> 
> This kind of stuff is what kind of makes me afraid of 5.6.  

Well, the whole dynamic linking thing started at 5.0.9/5.0.10, from memory.
There were issues with glibc at the time that made "static linking"
be...well, less than static.  Specifically, there were issues between
glibc and nsswitch libraries, and the only way Ryan Powers could resolve
them at the time was to link dynamically.  The second they went to dynamic
libraries was the second that version compatibility on linux became an
issue--but they had no realistic alternative at the time.

It would be nice to see the issue revisited to see if static linking is
once again an option.  It's hell on the memory depending on the user count,
but RAM is a lot cheaper than the cost of migrating a production platform
to a new OS revision.

> But to be fair, we are lucky to still have them around coming up with bug
> fixes.  I don't know about you but I have not heard much from fptech in
> the last couple of years and I don't have any idea if there will even be
> any future versions.  You would think if they had something in the works
> they would want us to know about it so we kept using the product, but
> not a peep.  Even the web site is virtually the same as it was in 2007,
> except for a note about the company name changing.

I think they update their web site less often than I do mine--and I am
-not- one to update or post new notes gratuitously.

> I guess what I'm saying is that it seems like they have extremely limited
> resources so you have to factor that into your expectations.

That is my understanding of the situation, and I agree that one does have
to factor it into one's expectations.

> Ken has been extremely helpful on this list on many occasions but he never
> publically speaks as to the state of the company.  I would like the
> ownership to give us a statement of what the future holds, good, bad, or
> ugly.

Yeah, Ken tends not to speak in any official capacity.  I guess that
restriction comes with being subordinate within a company.  Although, if
Bud had a clue, he'd -let- Ken speak officially on technical matters and
development goals.  Perhaps not business issues, but there are things that
are clearly not business issues but rather technical issues, where Ken is
the logical choice to give an official word...'cos I'm guessing Bud sure as
hell wouldn't have a clue on the inner workings of the code.  I could be
wrong, but I doubt I am.

Asking Bud to be more communicative...  That's a longstanding request since
he took the helm.  It's also something that, if it hasn't happened yet,
likely won't happen, for my money.

There was that whole big meeting up in the northeast a year or few ago
(time just dilates over here, so I can't remember...) that raised a bunch
of hype and then nothing ever seemed to come of it.  That was the last time
I heard of Bud reaching out to the community.

The way I perceive the situation, based on how people in the community talk
in back channels, no news means...well, that the ownership doesn't need new
features for their own direct client userbase of fP-based installations of
their software.  That seems to be the picture that's been drawn for me over
the years.  It goes in if management needs it to promote their own agenda.
This is how we still have an 80x25 screen limitation despite years of
clammoring for better, but hey...we have a frakkin' spell checker!  Lovely
priorities, there.

Okay, no...I don't even own a license for fP, admittedly, before someone
decides to call me on it.  Doesn't mean that I don't get frustrated for my
clients that do.  Doesn't mean I don't get frustrated for the community as
a whole, on principle.  It also doesn't mean I'm blind to the point where I
can excuse a good dozen plus decisions that were made incorrectly over the
years.  If you have to interact with the software on any level, you have
reason enough to speak up, IMNSHO.

And on that note, I'm just going to stop...'cos this subject could go on
forever, nothing will actually come of it, and it'll just get ugly for no
substantive reason.

Fin.

mark->
-- 
Audio panton, cogito singularis.