Bill Vernon of Vernon Systems asked me to forward this message Re: ARev
databases for Collections management.
>Date: 06 Feb 95 23:28:52 EST
>From: "Vernon Systems Ltd." <[log in to unmask]>
>To: Bernard Picton <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Re: Collections Software
>
>Our ref:21603
>
>07 FEB 1995
>
>Dear Bernard
>
>ARev & Museum Systems
>=====================
>
>Thanks for sending me the comments on ARev from UNM. I would like to
>answer. We don't have Internet access (except via CompuServe), so I wonder
>if you could forward the following on my behalf.
>
> ------------------------------------------
>
>"I read with interest Carol B Brandt's comments on the suitability of ARev
>for building museum applications.
>
>We are developers of a collection management package built with ARev which
>has been well received and considered as a market leader for the past
>eight years.
>
>What needs to be understood is that ARev is an 'industrial strength'
>development environment which is not suitable for the casual and
>unprofessional developer. Its rich features, powerful programming tools,
>and open unstructured approach take a significant amount of time to learn,
>and demand dedication and a high level of expertise to exploit well.
>
>ARev has consistently rated as one of the most powerful and flexible
>development environments available in independent professional comparative
>evaluations (such as conducted by PC Magazine). Hundreds of diverse ARev
>applications have been built and and marketed by developers. There are
>hundreds of thousands of users of these ARev systems (often marketed
>without disclosure of ARev being the underlying tool).
>
>Casual developers should stay away from ARev, and look to products like
>Access, xBASE, Q&A to build the 'quick and dirty' simple applications which
>are within their competence. (Although, I wonder why anyone is considering
>building their own collection management systems today when there are
>several professionally built and supported packages available at a
>fraction of the cost that it would take to build and maintain an in-house
>system. It seems to me to make as much sense as building your own
>accounting system or word processor.)
>
>I would not agree that ARev is user-unfriendly and full of bugs. A poorly
>conceived, designed and executed ARev system can be a nightmare. It is
>easy to build bad software in any environment, but with a tool like ARev
>someone who does not know what they are doing can really make a complete
>hash of it.
>
>There are many complex and difficult areas in collection management
>applications, which you cannot handle with simple tools like Access.
>These need professional development tools in the hands of professional
>developers. You wouldn't trust your cleaners to do your conservation, nor
>should you expect your curators/registrars to be able to build your
>collection management systems.
>
>This may seem arrogant, but it is true.
>
>The 'tens of thousands of dollars' that were wasted on that bad in-house
>system would have purchased a professionally developed and maintained
>application. This is not a one-off - dozens of institutions have tried to
>build their own systems, most have failed, and millions of dollars have
>been wasted. The shame is that had that money been invested in
>professionally developed software the vendors of that software would be
>stronger and better able to serve the museum community today.
>
>Bill Vernon, Vernon Systems, [log in to unmask]
>
> -----------------------------------------------
>
Bernard E. Picton,
Environmental Sciences Unit,
Trinity College,
Dublin 2,
IRELAND.
Phone: Int + 353-1-608-2055 Irish: 01 608-2055
Fax: Int + 353-1-6718047 Irish: 01 6718047
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
"The beginning of wisdom is calling things by their right names."
(Chinese proverb)
|
