PDKC2M.QKC (POW)

[Jon Hawks]

Well spoken, Mr. Gordon.  Just to piggy-back on this soap box, I too
am disappointed that Cognos has withdrawn from the software
development tools market.  
I work with some of the largest data warehouses in the world and the
industry leading vendors, now, and I am witness to one, extremely
frustrating fact, that being the software tools, in this industry are
very immature.  They are narrow in function.  Too narrow.  Many
transformation software tools are nothing more than code generators. 
People in the industry are more enamoured with speaking DSS talk, than
thinking about solutions and finding good tools.  Everybody is an
expert, but nobody does anything.  Sound familiar?  Powerhouse is such
a good tool and so versatile.  While Cognos is languishing in
Powerplay and Impromtu sales, they will soon learn that these tools
are becoming less useful, as the data that needs to be incorporated
into business analysis is being butchered by other vendor tools and
database administrators.  The data warehouses fast becoming data junk
yards.  I suppose this will become cause to make more products,
though.  It's better than thinking and working together.  Besides, how
would be further our careers if there wasn't someone to harm?





---Kevin Gordon <Kevin.Gordon@seacontainers.com> wrote:
>
> I know this has been said before, but to those of us that have only
used
> PowerHouse on VMS, the concept of not having "POW" available for
dictionary
> maintenance is almost inconceivable. It has certainly never been
thought of
> as an "add-on" to be withdrawn at some future date and was never
presented
> as such by Cognos - it was part of the original package we were
sold. For
> the sort of things I routinely have to do I find PDL virtually
unusable with
> all its idiosyncrasies and restrictions. PDL has some use for
selectively
> updating production dictionaries on remote machines but it is
ludicrous that
> even PDL is only available in the full development licence, so the
> dictionary still has to be copied back to the development machine
anyway.
> 
> I do not see why we should have to "ask" for POW in version 8.
Cognos has
> withdrawn a fundamental (IMHO) feature of the product and we would
like it
> put back!
> 
> Another thing I don't understand is why, knowing that the dictionary
format
> was about to be totally changed in version 8 (one of the reasons
given for
> the withdrawal of "POW"), it was also changed radically between
versions
> 7.10.F and 7.10.G. I know that some change was required to
accommodate the
> Y2K enhancements, but the whole underlying format was changed to
make it
> accessible to the standard PowerHouse tools like QSHOW and QUIZ (and,
> ironically, POW, but this probably isn't a good idea). This was a
welcome
> improvement that allows the development of user-written dictionary
reporting
> tools, but all this is (presumably) lost again in version 8. Weird.
> 
> Kevin Gordon, Sea Containers, London
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-powerh-l@sphere.swau.edu
> [mailto:owner-powerh-l@sphere.swau.edu]On Behalf Of Hamilton, Allison
> Sent: 05 March 1999 17:55
> To: powerh-l@lists.swau.edu; 'STEWARTM@dteenergy.com'
> Subject: RE: PDKC2M.QKC (POW)
> 
> 
> On VMS, where POW was created, the dictionary is a set of indexed
files,
> allowing for easy access and update through a set of QUICK screens.
(VMS
> originally had no other dictionary interface.)
> In PH 8 (and previous PH versions on UNIX, HP/IX and MPE/V
platforms) the
> dictionary is a single direct (or relative?) file.  It's format does
not
> allow for updating and expansion through POW in the straight-forward
manner
> that it does on pre-PH 8 VMS with indexed files.  It was not
designed to be
> dynamically updateable and expandable.
> 
> BUT - keep asking for POW on PH 8, and if enough people want it,
there will
> be a business case for finding a way to get it into PH 8.
> 
> Where there is a will --- there is always a way...
> Allison Hamilton
> As always - my opinions are not always that of my employers, but are
mine
> alone.
> 
> 
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