8/30/2010

InterBase 2009 installer - say hello to Windows 3.1 again

It seems that InterBase development suffers from the lack of resources. Recently I downloaded InterBase 2009 Developer Edition in order to install it at new workstation, with intention to look at corrupted database from customer, started to install it and saw this dialog:


Someone new it IT could not not even recognize where is this dialog from... it's from Windows 3.1. Installation is the first experience that new users have from InterBase and what they see? Old-styled dialogs indicate the level of attention from company to its product.
On other hand, localized and fast (and much smaller) Firebird installer at Windows looks much better and give very positive user experience, because opens source developers create products for own use too, not for the abstract customers.
Also, CodeGear in the installation location - IB2009 was published in August 2008, when Embarcadero already bought virtual CodeGear division from Borland, and there were at least 3 service packs and 1 hotfix after that.
It seems that there is nobody in Embarcadero who is responsible for the renovation of InterBase installer.

Update
After this blog-post Sriram Balasubramanian from Embarcadero contacted us and commented on branding issue:

Thank you for the report. InterBase 2009 branding and name specifications were set before the Embarcadero purchase timeline for CodeGear. Thus the name still reflects C:/CodeGear/interbase/

Since the installer does not get branding/naming changes in Service Pack releases, it still (unfortunately) reflects no change.


We have already made the branding changes in an upcoming release of InterBase,
http://channel-e.embarcadero.com/index.php?option=com_jvideodirect&v=2BIc9syaWrknH&x=1

If there are other installer specific input that you'd like to suggest, please post your comments to
http://forums.embarcadero.com and/or log a case in Quality Central for InterBase (at http://qc.embarcadero.com).

Thanks!


Best wishes,
Sriram Balasubramanian
InterBase,
Embarcadero Technologies

8/08/2010

3d Russian Firebird Conference

3d Russian Firebird Conference will take place in Moscow, September
29, 2010. The conference will be devoted to the Firebird new versions
and to best practices in maintenance and development, with special
focus on big Firebird databases.

Special speakers at conference: Phillipe Makowski, President of
Firebird Foundation, Firebird developers team: Dmitry Yemanov, Vlad
Khorsun and Alex Peshkoff.
Registration (in Russian): http://ibase.ru/conf2010/