Re: PDM vs RSE (was: EGL vs. Java)

Nathan Andelin wrote:

I mostly responded to Joe Pluta's notion of calling for an additional "tax" on PDM users for "staying in the past". Joe challenged IBM's move to unbundle RDi from other tool offerings, and when that didn't work, he called for a "tax".

What? You have got to be the most bizarre interpreter of my writings.

I never formally challenged the specific unbundling of RDi and RDI-SOA from WDSC. I was unhappy with *any* unbundling whatsoever if it meant that people had to pay extra to try the new tooling. My primary concern has always been that at least one copy of all tools be available in every shop. If you got something else from what I've been saying over the years then you're ... well, you're just wrong.

And I NEVER "called for a tax". I simply suggested that IBM might charge more for a seat of ADTS than a seat of RDi as an incentive to move to the new tools - actually I phrased it as charging less for RDi than ADTS, but that's semantic. I then poked fun at my own suggestion as the "stay in the past" tax. You want to put some kind of negative spin on that, go ahead, Nathan. It's mean-spirited and unnecessary, but hey, it's a free world. But I will say that it's that sort of personal diatribe that really makes this list less appealing every day.

I've spent the past two decades supporting the RPG developer and the midrange platform. I've done everything I can to make sure those folks move into the future. If you're now suggesting that I'm somehow against the legacy programmer, or that my primary goal hasn't been to support and encourage the midrange developer, then I suggest you go back and check my record. I'll put my history up against yours any day, buddy.

Any day.

I think IBM is doing the right thing by charging separately for PDM and RDi. Some of us resent subsidizing tools that we'd rather not use. But I don't expect my opinion to be popular on a WDSCi list.

I think what IBM is doing is correct as well. I've said that repeatedly, publicly, before you did. I just do it while managing to avoid words like "resent" and phrases like "when that didn't work" because they are problematic in a mailing list. They're fraught with negative connotations and they simply raise the static level with no benefit to anyone. However, you seem to enjoy that sort of friction, so I don't expect you'll stop now. But that's just my opinion.

And that is my February rant. No more this month... <smile>

Joe