Re: Pulling my hair out
I can't speak for v9, per se, since I'm still on v8. But as a long time Alpha user, having run my business on it for many years, this is my take:
Alpha is in general rock solid for the end user. That is to say, if you develop a db, and it works as expected to your satisfaction, you deploy successfully to your end users. No problem. Here's the rub:
As far as the constant "breakage" is concerned, this has been discussed ad nauseam in the past: "Alpha is a small company", "they have limited resources", etc, etc, etc. That doesn't make it "right", it's just the way it is. Should they change their operating policy? Sure they "should", but they haven't yet. Does that mean you shouldn't develop in Alpha? No. But one needs to observe the above deployment caveat. Alpha is powerful and flexible. Build it, test it, then stick with that version/patch - at least until you really need the new features of the latest release.
My 2-cents.
---
P.S. If someone knows of an easier to use database product that is as powerful as Alpha - without the bugs, let us know. I'm sure a lot of people besides me would be interested.
Originally posted by Scott_Walker
View Post
Alpha is in general rock solid for the end user. That is to say, if you develop a db, and it works as expected to your satisfaction, you deploy successfully to your end users. No problem. Here's the rub:
- As expressed here, patches come out in a constant stream and they frequently break something that previously worked. With any luck, Alpha issues a new patch that fixes the problem - usually.
- When a new version comes out, those sometimes break things that used to work. With any luck, Alpha issues a new patch that fixes the problem, sometimes.
- But sometimes when a new version comes out, they rewired something in a fundamental way. There is no patch, because as far as Alpha is concerned, it's not "broken". That forces you, the developer, to recode, redo whatever.
- And, of course, when a new version comes out, as has been said here, the previous version is "dead" - as far as any more bug fixes. Nice.
As far as the constant "breakage" is concerned, this has been discussed ad nauseam in the past: "Alpha is a small company", "they have limited resources", etc, etc, etc. That doesn't make it "right", it's just the way it is. Should they change their operating policy? Sure they "should", but they haven't yet. Does that mean you shouldn't develop in Alpha? No. But one needs to observe the above deployment caveat. Alpha is powerful and flexible. Build it, test it, then stick with that version/patch - at least until you really need the new features of the latest release.
My 2-cents.
---
P.S. If someone knows of an easier to use database product that is as powerful as Alpha - without the bugs, let us know. I'm sure a lot of people besides me would be interested.
Comment