ArcGIS Server 9.2
Eric Bader wrote a great honest post about ArcGIS Server 9.2. Anyone who has ever used AGS 9.1 knows that its hard to even get a “hello world” application up and running quickly. I remember when I first installed it I had that sinking feeling, “now what do I do?”. Eric says at 9.2:
The non-developer will immediately become highly productive, immediately after installing the ArcGIS Server.
And with a product that costs as much and requires the investment that AGS does, quick results are needed to show those who just laid out big bucks why AGS is so powerful. This is part of the story of why the 9.2 release is so important to developers.
Eric’s blog post is probably the best I’ve seen out of ESRI yet. It is honest, transparent and spells out why AGS 9.2 is a huge deal to developers. I’m looking forward to more from Eric on ArcGIS Server and I’m sure everyone else will too.
Looks like the ESRI folks got to Eric. There is an “update” on that post. Seems like someone at ESRI thought he was too hard on 9.1 and was on his case.
You are right though James, by far the best post of any ESRI blogger. ESRI users are smart enough to know marketing when they see it. All we want is honest dialog with the development teams.
[...] I’m not really sure why there hasn’t been more involvement with the ESRI folks on the blogs. I think there might be a couple of reasons. First I think everyone acknowledges that culturally it is very hard to blog at a company and I think that might be part of it. I’m not sure if there is any policy at ESRI for blogging or what backlash there has been from blogging by ESRI employees. I think the closest we saw was Eric Bader’s blog post gain a disclaimer and the fact he hasn’t followed up on it. [...]