Re: http://www.hjrdba.com/

"Sean M" <smckeown_at_earthlink.net> wrote in message news:3CD2B48C.AD8ADB30_at_earthlink.net...
[Snip]

> A site like Howard's wouldn't be much different. Howard, by virtue of
> being an Oracle employee, is privy to vast amounts of information not
> available to the general public. He has free access to Oracle
> University materials, free access to other Oracle-employed experts,
> internal Oracle-only documentation, and gets to hone his skills on
> Oracle's nickel as an instructor.

I just thought I'd comment on the above with some true facts.

In about September of last year, we began teaching 9i. You may recall that the Solaris version came out first, around about June-ish; then the Linux version, and finally the Windows version.

I had to prepare to teach the 9i new features course. How do you prepare to teach a piece of software you've never got to run? So what did I have to do? I bought a brand new PC with my own cash (not claimable as expenses). I installed my own purchased copy of Linux. I downloaded the Linux version from technet.oracle.com via my 56K modem (ouch!). When the NT version finally came out 3 days before my first teach, I downloaded the NT version from technet, again via the 56K modem, wiped the new PC, installed my own verison of Windows and started over again.

I have to say that evidence of the vast amounts of material help was seriously lacking. The vast materials to which I had access was a 15 page pre-release beta document (that described the beta version, not the release version). I talked to no-one (it was the first 9i teach in Australia, so there was no-one to talk to). And I only discovered I had access to Metalink 2 weeks ago when the security bug was mentioned.

So, not that this changes anything at all, but to say I have access to vast amounts of privileged information or resources is somewhat inaccurate. I find Jonathan's and Steve's sites much the most useful source of information. Then this newsgroup. And then my own botched experiments.

Just thought I'd mention it.

Regards
HJR
>Clearly, Howard's writings (though
> insightful and original) directly benefitted from his status as an
> Oracle employee. Could he have produced those same writings had he not
> been employed by Oracle? Maybe, but that's a tough one to prove. So
> yes, Oracle owns what he's produced, as well they should.
>
> It's a shame that all the personal time he spent on the site is now
> lost.
>
> Regards,
> Sean
>
> [My views do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.]
Received on Tue May 07 2002 - 07:06:20 CDT