Re: Getting an Answer Is One Thing, Learning Is Another

"Niall Litchfield" <niall.litchfield_at_dial.pipex.com> wrote in message news:<3d518be2$0$231$cc9e4d1f_at_news.dial.pipex.com>...
> "Martin Doherty" <martin.doherty_at_oracle.com> wrote in message
> news:3D517D06.C9BA13E9_at_oracle.com...
> > Niall, you're too modest. I admit I didn't research the list of names
> (thanks
> > to Daniel for helping amend some notable omissions, to which I must add
> > Anurag), just jotted down the first few that floated up from the murky
> depths.
> > However, this very fact tells me that you are an active group participant,
> you
> > supply answers as well as questions, and your postings are intelligent,
> concise
> > and helpful. You don't have to be an expert to be a valued contributor.
> Please
> > accept my apologies for including your name without permission.
> >
> > BTW your reference to 1970's musical Heroes couldn't possibly apply to
> David
> > Bowie, whose illustrious and prolific musical career spans from the 1960's
> to
> > the present day. ;)
>
> Thanks again for the kind words. I'm not offended, but I *really* don't want
> to give the impression that Oracle is some sort of technological God to be
> tended by a select few, whilst everyone else follows holy writ (or something
> they read somewhere nce anyway). Any reasonably intelligent and computer
> literate folk can understand it and harness it, it'd be a shame if there was
> a cult of names around a piece of software thats supposed to help us manage
> data.

What I've seen, dealing with computer literate folk who don't know about Oracle,
is that they _should_ be given that impression. They just don't have the foundation to understand the issues, yet they make important decisions based on severe misconceptions. This is the stuff of horror. The point of the eWeek article was that people generally don't want to learn the foundations.

For some recent examples:

VB programmers port hospital system to Oracle by using some import utility to create tables. Guess where tables wind up. Guess what happens with NT service that can't finish emulating timed batch processes before the next one starts. Oracle is shared with other apps on NT box. Customer is in Europe, so they want Oracle experts to tell them what to tell the customer to fix it. They will probably throw out Oracle because they can't control what happens at customers.  Frankly, I can hardly disagree, much as I hate MS crap, it is simply much cheaper in admin overhead for small numbers of users.

Large (2000+ users) OLTP system - excessed network admins get transferred to be DBA's with no training, can't understand why you would tune a production system differently than a development system. After all, they're going to put them on the same server...

Oracle Portal on an NT box sold as answer to all DSS needs. Unfortunately, they can't afford to hire anyone that knows anything about Oracle, and the learning curve is way too steep for the highly productive MS people who spend 60 hours a week fixing viruses... box shut down.

We had a pretty sweet deal there for a while as magicians. Why can't we have it again?

>
> As for Bowie perhaps he's best left to Mr Foote of this parish. It wouldn't
> do to encourager les autres after all.

Tin Machine - Genius, Noise, or Both?

>
>
> >
> > Martin
> >
> > Niall Litchfield wrote:
> <snip>
> > > > Most of the questions appearing on the newsgroup are of the type
> > > > described in your article, and they are usually answered (cheerfully,
> > > > sarcastically or brutally) with either the specific information
> > > > requested or an admonition to consult the Oracle documentation, but
> > > > often with the important rider added: "Tell us what it is that you are
> > > > trying to accomplish, and we can advise you on the best techniques to
> > > > use, and why". Not only that, but they are always striving to expand
> the
> > > > fundamental knowledge of all questioners, to better equip them to
> solve
> > > > their own problems in future, and to eliminate the damaging
> assumptions
> > > > and myths which so often dominate our choices in a landscape of
> > > > unmanageable complexity.
> > >
> > > I'd like to hope
>
> Ooops and as for posting without finishing the sentence...... Doh!
>
> I think, I have more to say on this and the attitude people who should know
> better have to technology but perhaps it can wait for now.
>
>
> --
> Niall Litchfield
> Oracle DBA
> Audit Commission UK
> *****************************************
> Please include version and platform
> and SQL where applicable
> It makes life easier and increases the
> likelihood of a good answer
> ******************************************
jg

--
@home is bogus
We can be Heroes!  Just for one day!