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| GeoCommunity Mailing List |
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| Mailing List Archives |
| Subject: | Re: GISList: Manifold 5.x vs. ArcGIS 8.x |
| Date: |
01/31/2003 10:26:18 AM |
| From: |
Glenn Letham (GeoCommunity) |
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Actually,
I find hearing/reading from REAL users (even if they are a tech or an
intern) to be very valuable. Perhaps they may not be an Internationally
recognized industry "expert", however, getting the low-down from the guys
that are getting their hands dirty every day with a product is very valuable
and insightful.
Not to put down professional reviewers but really, how much can anyone
(myself included since I occasionally conduct reviews) know about a product
by test-driving an NFR release for a couple of days and reading through some
technical specs and marketing material? - even if they have been in the
industry for 30 years. Such articles are great reference material and useful
for hearing about new features, "cool stuff", and system requirements,
however, a piece from a daily user who has taken the time to pen his/her
thoughts and share them is very valuable.
Regards
Glenn
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Glenn Letham, Managing Editor
ThinkBurst Media, Inc
ph: 850-897-6778
fx: 850-897-1001
GeoCommunity - http://www.GeoComm.com
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For news enquiries and submissions see
http://spatialnews.geocomm.com/submitnews.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jamie Snow" <jamieb_snow@yahoo.ca>
To: "Quantitative Decisions" <whuber@quantdec.com>: <gislist@geocomm.com>
Sent: Friday, January 31, 2003 10:06 AM
Subject: Re: GISList: Manifold 5.x vs. ArcGIS 8.x
> Bill's post below is exactly what I was taking from
> the 'comparison' on Manifold's marketing site. I do
> know the person who wrote the original comparison, so
> that is what prompted my post. It was not a flame on
> the person himself ... just a question of his ability
> to adequately compare many GIS applications, with his
> few years experience. Although anyone can compare
> software, I thought that if a company is using this
> comparison as a marketing blurb, it should be from a
> more experienced user.
>
> Dmitri's statement of "Every truly experienced GIS
> person reading this list understands it is a far from
> trivial matter to learn how to operate in detail any
> one of these products, let alone to achieve a working
> mastery of three of them". I couldn't agree more.
> That is why I was questioning how much weight a
> comparison of products would carry from someone with
> less than a few years industry experience.
>
> Then again, I guess I'm also questioning a company who
> would use this as a principal marketing piece.
>
> I too am sick of hearing from this unnamed company who
> continues to use this list as their primary marketing
> source.
>
> And to use, IMHO, a poor comparison, written by a
> relative new comer to the industry as one of their
> main sources of competitive marketing tells me more
> and more about the company itself.
>
> Flame away.
>
> Jamie
>
> --- Quantitative Decisions <whuber@quantdec.com>
> wrote: > At 08:10 AM 1/29/2003 -0800, Dimitri Rotow
> wrote:
> > >You would get more credibiilty for your two cents
> > if you addressed the
> > >substance of his post instead of engaging in
> > character assassination.
> > >...
> > >This particular individual may have graduated
> > recently, but nonetheless has
> > >an immense amount of technical skill far and away
> > above the "ground floor of
> > >GIS" and great familiarity with the most recent
> > editions of flagship
> > >products from ESRI, AutoDesk and Manifold.
> >
> > There was a point to be made here. In GIS, there is
> > practically no such
> > thing as an "objective" review. How we evaluate
> > software depends strongly
> > on what we like to do with it and on our skills with
> > it. Your reviewer was
> > clear about that. That he was sensitive to the
> > issue is clear from his
> > opening statements which describe his work with GIS
> > and the software he
> > knows. Kudos to him.
> >
> > Thus, one always wants to know something about the
> > perspective and
> > background of a GIS software reviewer. That's not
> > an ad-hominem
> > attack. It's a part of critical thinking.
> >
> > In this case, your reviewer clearly admits only a
> > passing familiarity with
> > some of the software, ArcView in particular:
> >
> > "I have access to AutoCAD Map 5, ESRI ArcView 3.2a
> > and ESRI ArcInfo 8.1."
> > [We all know the difference between "having access"
> > and "gre
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