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"I bet there's huge money to be made in a simple spreadsheet-like user interface that can be setup with similar constraints as a database (field types, foreign

by roel_v 14y ago

"I bet there's huge money to be made in a simple spreadsheet-like user interface that can be setup with similar constraints as a database (field types, foreign key constraints etc)." That's exactly what Access does (and Filemaker and literally 1000's of other packages over the last 2 or 3 decades), and still 'real' computer people piss on them and the people using it. And they're too difficult for 'normal' people to use beyond flat tables and forms, so in the end you still end up with a single choking point of one person who knows how these 'applications' work. The Excel way is in may cases the right way, from a business POV, and the collateral damage here are the developers who have to deal with the quirks of such a workflow.

TheCapn 14y ago
Companies are in the business of software now whether or not their direct business is making/selling software. Its worth it -most of the time- to have a technical expert on retainer much like they would a maintenance person for any other skilled task they have in times of need. If we're working in a computer age of technology you can either fight it and fall behind, try to do things, doing them wrong, and fall behind, or suck it up and hire professionals for doing jobs a professional should do. Sorry for the mini-rant. I'm working for a small company right now as "the software guy" because everyone else here doesn't care about keeping things efficient. I don't blame them, they have their jobs to do and dealing with software sides of things for 2 hours every day isn't ideal nor appealing. But when you have a software expert on staff and you refuse to take his recommendations don't come crying to him when your half-baked workaround backfired. Maybe the point I'm aiming to make is developing database systems that are full featured yet still usable by people who can't mentally wrangle data and storage is a lost cause. I know we aim to empower users with their data but at times things become too vast and too important for a person without formal experience in large databases to "get their hands dirty" at the risk of blowing everything up.

by roel_v 14y ago

TheCapn 14y ago

Companies are in the business of software now whether or not their direct business is making/selling software. Its worth it -most of the time- to have a technical expert on retainer much like they would a maintenance person for any other skilled task they have in times of need. If we're working in a computer age of technology you can either fight it and fall behind, try to do things, doing them wrong, and fall behind, or suck it up and hire professionals for doing jobs a professional should do. Sorry for the mini-rant. I'm working for a small company right now as "the software guy" because everyone else here doesn't care about keeping things efficient. I don't blame them, they have their jobs to do and dealing with software sides of things for 2 hours every day isn't ideal nor appealing. But when you have a software expert on staff and you refuse to take his recommendations don't come crying to him when your half-baked workaround backfired. Maybe the point I'm aiming to make is developing database systems that are full featured yet still usable by people who can't mentally wrangle data and storage is a lost cause. I know we aim to empower users with their data but at times things become too vast and too important for a person without formal experience in large databases to "get their hands dirty" at the risk of blowing everything up.