Posted by Erland Sommarskog on 09/18/05 00:27

Serge Rielau (srielau@ca.ibm.com) writes:
> Isn't that for the purchaser of the book to decide? Presumably most
> readers are consenting adults. On the DB2 side we have both closed and
> open betas, also with select customers going into production earlier.
> What makes a closed beta more "real" than a closed beta that turns into
> an open beta (as Erland describes).

Yeah. I don't know why DA comes with this rubbish about "real" betas. Had
he worked at the Oracle marketing department, it would have made sense.
Now it only serves to give an unprofessional impression of himself.

> I too am surprised that people buy these books, but that tells me more
> about demand than wrongness. Keep in mind that while the installations,
> in average may be smaller than Oracle's and DB2's I wouldn't be
> surprised if the number of developers is actually higher given the
> SMBness of the install base. These folks want to get on the beta train
> to learn. Nothing wrong with that.

Yes, I think you nailed it there.


--
Erland Sommarskog, SQL Server MVP, esquel@sommarskog.se

Books Online for SQL Server SP3 at
http://www.microsoft.com/sql/techinfo/productdoc/2000/books.asp

[Back to original message]