[ic] Get ready, Restart! Do I use IC or what?

[Rick Bragg]

On Sat, 2009-06-20 at 15:38 +0300, Gert van der Spoel wrote:
> > Hi All,
> > 
> > it's been years since I've developed with either MV 3 or IC 4 but I've
> > got a project I'll be talking on in the next couple weeks, so I'm in a
> > hurry to get up to speed.
> > 
> > This may be an unfair question, but how is the state of IC today,
> > functionality, dependability, and performance wise, and the overall
> > forum collaboration?
> 
> Fuctionality: outstanding!
> Dependability: unsurpassed!
> Performance: like the energizer bunny!
> Forum Collaboration: as if it's one big family :)
>  
> The more boring answer: 
> Some reports have come in with regard to 5.6.0/5.6.1 UTF8 support.
> If you need UTF8 then 5.6.1 is your choice. If you do not at all need
> anything related to multilingual or UTF8 then at this very moment, like
> right now today, now now now, your best bet will probably be 5.4.3. But
> hopefully not for long.
> 
> Work is underway to further improve stability in this area (you can check
> the Github fork of David:
> http://github.com/machack666/interchange/tree/master although this one is
> still EXPERIMENTAL and not suggested for production use!).
> 
> If you know any programming, you will most likely be able to iron out some
> quirks in your own install. But hopefully the next version will offer
> further stability, including full UTF8 support, for the majority of users.
> 
> There is a rather active IRC channel in case you run into issues:
> http://www.icdevgroup.org/i/dev/users/community
> 
> There are also further activities surrounding Interchange, such as their
> attendance of the German LinuxTag 2009 fair.
> 
> Never a dull moment within the community!
> 
> 
> > And how does it current rate against other alternatives?
> 
> Alternatives?? 
> 
> > 
> > My primary 'must haves' include the ability for easy, self maintenance
> > of products (including imagery, discounting structures, inventory on
> > hand), product associations and recommendations, freight carrier
> > pricing integration, and integration into credit card merchant 
> > clearinghouses.
> 
> Most of it is there, be gentle and use sweet words and you can probably get
> IC to do all of that for you.
> 
> > Perhaps less important questions but still issues like threads, did
> > they
> > ever get fixed?
> 
> Regarding threads there has just been a discussion about a week ago (see
> mailinglist:
> http://www.icdevgroup.org/pipermail/interchange-users/, searchable via
> icdevgroup.org):
> - I believe Perl 5.8.8 and above can be run with threads
> - However DBI apparently still does not recommend to run with threads
> - However there appears to be a 10-30% performance penalty when running with
> threads
> 
> So Perl 5.8.8 and above you can, but up to you.
> 
> > Anyway, I hope someone will humor me and we can dialog over the
> > weekend.  Thanks again...
> 
> Enough humor? :)
> 
> CU,
> 
> Gert
> 

Don't forget longevity!  Software years are shorter than dog years. (5
is line 105!).  I have been running highly customized catalogs since
2001.  Since then, upgrades have been relatively quick and painless, and
integration with new technology has been totally doable.  In terms of
e-commerce and web application framework software out there, this is
like the Bible. 

btw, I started with IC 4.xxsomething on Redhat 7.3 back in the day, and
now am using Ubuntu Gutsy with threaded perl IC v 5.6.1 with no
problems.  About to launch a custom catalog with logs of social
networking capabilities for a small city!

rick





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