Re: broad discussion about future market direction for DBA

Mon, 18 Nov 2002 16:46:03 -0000, Niall Litchfield said (and I quote):

> XML doesn't *by itself* solve any business problem whatsoever.

Hehehe! Let's not let a small detail like that get in the way of the next metaphor and big "wave" of upgrades, shall we? After all XML sounds like something out of a Batman movie, gotta be a "kewl technology"...

:D

> business managers desktops. For this to happen the HR system has to talk to
> the finance system and to the marketing system and the data warehouse and
> the ... well you get the idea.

So, if they have never talked before, what makes XML the magic solution? The darn thing is a way of specifying a language, not the language itself...

> Don't get me wrong but we've been here before haven't we, and in the end the
> technology isn't the insurmountable problem (all of the above could be done
> with DCOM/COM+/CORBA/EJB whatever). The problem is design and analysis and
> creeping standards together with bad project management and ludicrous
> timescales.

Bingo! One plastic blue bucket for the gentleman who just spoke!

> (and self important types who think that implementing a
> payment/receivable system is a similar task to building a cathedral and so
> they should be called Architects and get a similar salary).
>

Bingo again. I'm running out of plastic buckets here!

> Of course the above is somewhat overstated, web services are useful
> especially when building from scratch, I rather suspect though that they are
> a fad for the first 5 years of the 21st century. Fads and booms do not good
> careers make.

Well, we used to call that sort of functionality shared code. Then it became "published dll's". Yet later, it became CORBA or DCOM, depending on the OS in question. Now they are being called that. Oh well, once again this industry has changed the flies...

>
> Yep, And in the end you will *always* need a database professional to do
> that, just as you need a mechanic to tune a machine.
>

No more plastic buckets, I'm afraid. You're making too much sense... :D

-- 
Cheers
Nuno Souto
nsouto_at_optusnet.com.au.nospam