On Jan 25, 1996 15:46:22, 'mclean <[log in to unmask]>' wrote:


>In the large museums that have the time, staff and money to develop their
>own systems I have seen some impressive work, but I believe we should not
>delude ourselves about the true costs of software development versus the
>ease and affordability of selecting a vendor product.

Another advantage to vendor software for museums that has not been cited is
the advantage of community.  Using a product that other museums use allows
staff to mine the experience of many other users.  There is something to be
said for the user groups, the newsletters, and the comraderie that grows
around a product.  Solutions to problems and implementations come easier,
and the community serves as a lobbying group to get new features.  In
additon, the community of trained users have a head start when looking for
a new position: they have already been trained on a major application.  It
ain't WordStar, perhaps, but it does flatten out the learning curve.
--

Robert A. Baron
Museum Computer Consultant
P.O. Box 93, Larchmont N.Y. 10538
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