There has been a lot of soul searching lately with several people questioning the continued fanatical support for the U2 (Universe/Unidata database) market when there are limited jobs and many unemployed programmers. The problem in my belief is two fold.
First, are there companies you work for or have worked for changing for better or giving lip service? The latter is probably more like it. They think green screen entry worked in the 80's and the 90's it should work today. Why spend the money refreshing the interface when it does not change the underlying code. They could not be more wrong. As they say in the food business: presentation is everything. You don't look at a runway model and look at his or her brain, of course not. So why are so many managers so obsessed with the latest thing when they have the greatest database and software in front of them? Because, we have not changed the front end in thirty years. Let us gussy up the character interface with a lovely browser interface with tabs, grids, hypertext links, colors, and drag and drop features. Watch those manager eyes go bonkers when they see what you can do with Universe and Unidata databases.
Secondly, we the worker bees are happy to be employed and not worrying about what we produce. How many times have you been given a project to fix or create and hacked the code rather than re-write? Just guessing here but there have been a lot that I know of. Take one of the projects you are given, find a open source tool or free trial, and write it on your own time with a browser front end. Show your manager you have this amazing skill set and what applications can look like. Of course, it may fail, but you have try in order to fail.
I have been pushing U2logic since 1998 when I knew that if we did not change from being a contract shop to an innovated shop we would be dead in the water. I started with, which turned out to be an awful idea, to take a green screen application and remake in wIntegrate GUI. Then we moved on to RedBack IDE which was okay at the time as long as you had IE 4. From there we moved to RedBack Open using Microsoft IIS server.
The year is 2004. I look around and the current owner of U2 have done nothing with the database or the tools they have acquired like SB+ and RedBack. There have been just incremental improvements nothing radical to capture the market excitement. So what's a boutique software house to do: create their own tools. Yep, that is what we have done. We have a middleware called U2WebLink that replaced RedBack. We wrote XLr8Designer and XLr8Object editor to allow you to create web pages like no other software company in the world.
I believe we have been on the innovated treadmill and we have been pushing the limit as well with our new feature of continuous compile for our Eclipse based code editor called XLr8Editor. U2logic is not on the bleeding edge but we are very close.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Is it a fact...
I have often wondered why we have the love for this database. Come on, it is just a way to keep track of data that we pump out in reports for a user or government. I have worked with other databases throughout my career. Why is this one so special?
Is it the fact our queries are more English like than SQL like? Or is it the fact that before there was a NoSQL there was UniQuery or Retrieve natural language? Or is it the fact our database engine does not just store and retrieve data but allows us to interact with it? Or is it a fact that when we write a few lines of UniBasic language takes 5 to 100 times more lines in code in Java? Or is it the fact that we can put a whole system together in weeks versus months for other databases. Or is it the fact that we do not have a database administrator on staff at most of our Universe or Unidata sites? Or is it a fact that we can make program changes in minutes while other systems take days or weeks? Or is it the fact that we can interface with any system and we try to figure out which way is best rather than which way can we? Or is it the fact that we be using it so long we don't know there might be a better alternative.
Although fact sometimes get in the way of good decisions, remember all the companies that have tried and failed to replicate what Universe and Unidata database do best: Make the business run efficiently from a cost stand point and from a users perspective.
Is it the fact our queries are more English like than SQL like? Or is it the fact that before there was a NoSQL there was UniQuery or Retrieve natural language? Or is it the fact our database engine does not just store and retrieve data but allows us to interact with it? Or is it a fact that when we write a few lines of UniBasic language takes 5 to 100 times more lines in code in Java? Or is it the fact that we can put a whole system together in weeks versus months for other databases. Or is it the fact that we do not have a database administrator on staff at most of our Universe or Unidata sites? Or is it a fact that we can make program changes in minutes while other systems take days or weeks? Or is it the fact that we can interface with any system and we try to figure out which way is best rather than which way can we? Or is it the fact that we be using it so long we don't know there might be a better alternative.
Although fact sometimes get in the way of good decisions, remember all the companies that have tried and failed to replicate what Universe and Unidata database do best: Make the business run efficiently from a cost stand point and from a users perspective.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
I feel the need for speed
Moving out to the country from the city was an eye opening experience in many ways not just from the Internet point of view. The wind blows out here constantly. There is no such thing as delivered pizza. A run to store takes 2 to 3 hours. People like plumbers, electricians and others for your home takes a lot of work to find them and to get them to show up. Oops, too much digression.
In the city we had originally we had dialup at 56K, if we were lucky and the stars aligned. Next we moved up to an ISDN at 128K which we thought was amazing speed. A cable modem at 1 Mbps was unbelievable even though it was a shared medium. The last upgrade was a DSL modem at 3 Mbps was so fast we did not know we could use that much bandwidth.
Country living, we can see the DIA tower, had our phone company offering us dialup when we transferred our phone. Oh come on, my last PC that had a modem in was 8 or 10 years ago. We searched a found another alternative that used satellite service was very expensive and not much faster than 128K.
Eventually, we found a line of sight dish service using Motorola technology. The speed is not consistent but we get about 1.5 Mbps. If it snows, you better clear you dish off. If you have a tree growing in the line of sight you better get it trimmed. You have to unplug you dish receiver every month or so, because the errors accumulate and service slows down. The electrical plug is the weird purge mechanism.
Just this week our phone company called us and said the have laid fiber about two miles away. We got excited and signed up for 3 Mbps DSL service. They said the may even have 7 Mbps service within a year. So there is a speed angel looking out for us.
BTW: The title is taken from Top Gun starring Tom Cruise in 1986.
In the city we had originally we had dialup at 56K, if we were lucky and the stars aligned. Next we moved up to an ISDN at 128K which we thought was amazing speed. A cable modem at 1 Mbps was unbelievable even though it was a shared medium. The last upgrade was a DSL modem at 3 Mbps was so fast we did not know we could use that much bandwidth.
Country living, we can see the DIA tower, had our phone company offering us dialup when we transferred our phone. Oh come on, my last PC that had a modem in was 8 or 10 years ago. We searched a found another alternative that used satellite service was very expensive and not much faster than 128K.
Eventually, we found a line of sight dish service using Motorola technology. The speed is not consistent but we get about 1.5 Mbps. If it snows, you better clear you dish off. If you have a tree growing in the line of sight you better get it trimmed. You have to unplug you dish receiver every month or so, because the errors accumulate and service slows down. The electrical plug is the weird purge mechanism.
Just this week our phone company called us and said the have laid fiber about two miles away. We got excited and signed up for 3 Mbps DSL service. They said the may even have 7 Mbps service within a year. So there is a speed angel looking out for us.
BTW: The title is taken from Top Gun starring Tom Cruise in 1986.
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