[vox] [OT] Budget Surplus - How Do I Spend It?

[Marc Elliot Hall]

On Fri, May 14, 2004 at 02:28:01PM -0700, Michael J Wenk wrote:
> Judging by this, I doubt free software would be all that helpful to you. 

Unfortunate, but looking more and more like this is true. 
> 
> Even the DB aspect would be helpful, but you're still stuck with the MS SQL
> server.  So Id ask myself this:  Is there a good chance you can move off of
> MS SQL ?  If there is not, or its just marginal, I wouldn't even bother with
> mySQL or the ilk.  Reasoning would be that if I can avoid supporting multiple 
> DB engines I would do my damndest to do so.  So if you cant move off MS SQL in 
> a timely fashion, then accept the fact that you are stuck with it and move on 
> with life.  

When the customers already have licenses and trained IT staff to
administer MS SQL Server, it's hard to tell 'em "sorry, we're not supporting
that anymore." Even when our client code is DB agnostic (as it mostly is
now), we'd still end up recommending SQL Server to our Enterprise
customers. *sob*
> 
> Assuming a no on this, I would in order: 
> 
> 1) Update all software in development to latest version.  

A good thought. Unfortunately, it looks like Delphi 8 is almost
exclusively built around .NET. How baked is Mono if we decide to change
platforms? 

> 2) Use it to investigate moving to latest technology for your app

> 3) Maybe some kind of blanket training pass for classes ?  

So far, this is what I've been advocating. We just have to *start*
training before 30 June, not have it completed. So an annual pass to a
training group might be the most effective single use.
> 
> 
-- 
Marc Elliot Hall		
P.O. Box 435
Shingle Springs, CA 95682
www.hallmarc.net