Informix Users Forum 2005

Folks,

I just returned from the Informix Users Forum 2005 in Atlanta, GA and would like to share a few impressions with you. I have been putting together the Washington Area Informix Users Group Forums since 1994 and this was the best event we have done to date. Our user group teamed up with the Southeast Informix Users Group, based in Atlanta, GA, to present this user group technical conference. The Home Depot was the sponsor and hosted the event at their facility. We had over 170 participants, from 8 countries, and 30 states in the US. There were 14 sponsors with products for the Informix user community. There were 32 technical presentations, by speakers who are Informix developers from IBM and DBA users from around the world. The message was very clear from IBM that Informix is a critical product and will continue to have a great future. The message from the users attending was also very clear, no other product does the job of Informix and we are loyal to what works.

We will have pictures and the presentations up on the web site in about a week.
http://www.iiug.org/waiug/present/Fo...Forum2005.html

Regards - Lester
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Lester Knutsen lester@advancedatatools.com
Advanced DataTools Corporation Voice: 703-256-0267 x102
Visit our Web page: http://www.advancedatatools.com

Washington Area IBM-Informix User Group:
http://www.iiug.org/~waiug/
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sending to informix-list

I was there as well....Lester checked me in on the first day!

I went to loads of presentations and picked up loads of info.....and
then my PDA reset
itself and I lost all my notes from the first day...*&^%*&!

In case Sean Durity is wondering why I didn't attend his .Net
presentation on the second day
it was because I was talking to someone from IBM marketing who wanted
to talk to me
after my comments on c.d.i! (She was at the front desk on the first day
and said she wanted
to speak to me then...cornered as I walked in)!!!

I can say I got some good answers from the IBM marketing lady even if I
do not agree
100% with IBM's approach. At least I now have the 'offical' position
from IBM and
I have a contact who can help me explain to others where IBM is coming
from.

In summary Informix is not been merged with DB2 and is not going away
in 2010 despite
what some (non-IBM!) people are telling me. The reason that 2010 is
mentioned is
that the IBM plans only go up to 2010 but if you look closely on the
roadmap
the arrow goes beyond 2010, it is just that IBM only plan for the next
5 years at a time.
(If IBM quoted up to 2099 someone would say Informix was dying in
2100!!)

So loads of good news and I've made lots of contacts.

Finally meet loads of famous people from c.d.i I have not met in person
before (in no particular order) -
John Carlson,John Leffler, John Miller III, Lester,Christine Nomille
IDS Product Manager
(gives a good hug!), Mark Scranton, Jerry Hamilton
(yes I was talking to two ladys from the Informix conference at the bar
all night...so??).
Tom Horner, Barry Lam, Dick Snoke (IDS Security), Darrly Preist, Cindy
Lichtenauer,
Stuary Litel (IIUG President) (who I beat on the racing game - sorry!),

Ron Flannery, Sam Gentush, June Hunt,Carolyn Woods and last but not
least

Kate Tomchik from Home Depot!

Mucho, mucho thanks to Kate for organising...oh..a million and one
things from
rooms to probably the air we were breathing!

Loads upon loads upon loads to write up.

NOTE: The slides will be put on the IIUG Website somewhere.

PS I will probably be in the photos in my black London2600 t-shirt, the
one I wear to all events
so I am easy to spot!

PPS My conference tip is from John Miller III. Online Point in Time
Table Restore can be used to
recover tables but you need to know the schema first. What if I do not
know the table schema?
Well since the restore reads from tape and just does a normal insert
into the target table....
restore systables/syscolumns to new tablenames, then use them to get
the schema of the
table you need to restore as it was on the backup!

I will do proper writeup later on, once the slides are on the IIUG
site...