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| Subject: | RE: [gislist] ArcGIS 9 - recommend postponing installation |
| Date: |
06/01/2004 02:35:01 PM |
| From: |
J Bee |
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Hmmm, I guess no one ever does a conversion. Never changes systems...
Granted it can sometimes be difficult to decide if you are just throwing good money after bad, but I think it is fair to say that decisions to change systems have benefits over a long period of time rather than in the short run.
In Anthony's case, I am not absurd enough to suggest strong arming clients to use somethg other than ESRI (although it may save them hundreds of thousands of dollars in the long run). Not everyone on this list is using esri on a consultant or propitier basis. Some (many?) use it strictly in-house, because that's what they think they should do...use esri stuff. I think my points apply more to this group of users.
I am very aware of several agencies that have stopped using esri and switched to either Caliper (Maptitude/TransCAD), or Autodesk Map. Why? Cause it did all the same stuff ESRI does with far less pain and for far less cost. Feel free to explore this theory on Maptitude's or TransCad's listserve (via Yahoo groups). Many, many folks there are experienced ESRI users, but have changed and are happy they did.
Me personally? I use several applications inclusing ESRI products and Caliper products.
"Your proposition would also suppose that we buy the fantasy that those cheaper alternatives are "headache-free", which, last time I checked, NO software, anywhere in the world, at ANY price is headache-free. Do you not complain when your beloved software causes heartburn? If you do, why, you paid so little, put up with a little discomfort and get over it right? You see the fallacy in that argument I am sure."
Oh contrair mon frere, there is no fantasy from my standpoint. In using both software packages (ArcView and TransCAD) for over six years, never, ever, ever, have I had the problems with Caliper that I have had with esri. The real fantasy is that ESRI is worth the money, or even worse, that it is the best gis package. Hey, you can't even use v9.0, which I'm assuming you paid for, yet right after you complain about it, you defend it.
Stay with esri. Change. I sleep well either way.
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...........
"Ross, Gregory K." <GKROSS@mail.ifas.ufl.edu> wrote:
Problem with this theory is that, almost universally, businesses (and city,
state, federal governments if they are being run efficiently), are NOT
INTERESTED CONTROL of their SOFTWARE, but in MAKING A PROFIT a profit or
getting the job done in the most efficient manner. Hence, don't reinvent the
wheel when somebody else has already invested the time, money, and energy to
create a product (Microsoft, Oracle, and ESRI come to mind) that performs
the tasks you wish it to perform at an acceptable cost. Start-ups make this
mistake much more often than need be................
Gregg Ross
-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Gould [mailto:gould@lsi.uji.es]
Sent: Tuesday, June 01, 2004 1:57 PM
To: Anthony Quartararo: gislist@lists.thinkburst.com
Subject: RE: [gislist] ArcGIS 9 - recommend postponing installation
At 18:38 01/06/2004, Anthony Quartararo wrote:
>Ok sure, I'll just phone up all my clients, and ask them to scrap their
>hundreds of thousands of dollars in infrastructure centered around ESRI
>technology, not to mention business processes, people and an untold
>number of partners, so I can have one less headache each day.
>Errrrrrr, survey says......try again.
try unplugging a piece at a time. migrate the data in parallel to Deegree
or Geoserver or MapGuide and then without telling anyone pull the plug on
the arcIMS. then the same with the visualization side (Jump etc.).....
your hardware is heterogeneous, now try the software... plug-n-play.
keeping all the eggs in one software basket leaves control in the hands of
the software vendor.
M Gould
> _____
>
>From: J Bee [mailto:mapcmon@yahoo.com]
>Sent: Tuesday, June 01, 2004 11:44 AM
>To: Anthony Quartararo: gislist@lists.geocomm.com
>Subject: Re: [gislist] ArcGIS 9 - recommend postponing installation
>
>
>"You would also think ESRI could come up with a method that would truly
>"upgrade" previous installations without having to completely uninstall
>the older version first [in the interest of saving a significant amount
>of time...]."
>
>On the flip side, you would also like to think thaqt users such as
>yourself would realize that there are far better alternatives, with
>more advanced technologies, easier to use, and much, much cheaper in
>cost. I am still bewildered as to why folks invest in ESRI, other than
>an excuse like "that's what everyone else seems to use"
>
>Well, before the next person jusmps off a cliff, consider Maptitude
>($495 which includes a geocoder)
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