Re: cities, databases parallel thread

From: Emlyn O'Regan (emlyn@one.net.au)
Date: Tue Sep 12 2000 - 05:50:54 MDT


Spike wrote:
> Emlyn O'Regan wrote:
>
> > I'd be kind of surprised if Spike has a full client/server database
kicking
> > around, just waiting for great gobs of data to be pumped into it. He is
a
> > geek, true, but maybe not quite that particular brand.
>
> Geeeek? I resemble that comment!
>
> {8^D I have heard rumors that Bill's Bloatware is planning to release
> an industrial strength version of excel that has a capacity of a megaline.
> Anyone else heard of that? spike
>

Geez Spike, what is it with excel & engineers? Some years back I used to
work in a company with lots of engineers, supporting small systems.
Engineers, I discovered, love excel. At some point, the really keen ones
discover Excel macros, and build systems, which grow until they become both
mission critical and entirely broken. That was a, ah, challenging job.

Actually I fully supported the approach. After all, if they didn't build
such systems, then they were stuck with pen and paper; the IT division had
higher falutin concerns than building solutions for their clients. At least
if they built something broken, then something existed which had to be
supported, and eventually replaced, which meant they eventually got what
they needed.

I don't know anything about a megaline excel, but I bet there are millions
of engineers the world over, drooling in anticipation.

Truly Spike, I say unto ye, venture into the world of MSAccess. You'll be
surprised; contrary to the hype, it's actually a really useful tool for
storing/manipulating large amounts of data. Just don't try to build
multiuser systems out of it.

Emlyn



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