ESRI Rumors - Their Geodatabase ain't hunting...?

<< Note -  not really certain how to attribute this as its a short collection of comments and pure opinion - found on a blog a few weeks back in regards to a Google around is "geodatabase is it really worth it?">>

I haven't had any problems with Arcgis 10. However please note that the system requirements for ArcGIS 10 are much higher than ArcGIS 9.3.1

Do I have an ArcInfo level licenses? No, I’m using ArcView.

The biggest blocker towards anything becoming the new shapefile is that ESRI charges $2,500+ for its "Data Interoperability" extension, which should be part of the core product. They aren't succeeding with geodatabase, but they are blocking the success of better formats. Anonymous

Unless ArcGIS reads the format natively, without installing an extension (even free), it's not going to have the reach of a shapefile. And unless Esri truly opens the File Geodatabase spec like they did with Shapefiles, it's never going to succeed either.

When I do a quick Google search for “ArcGIS 10 Review” very few results appear that aren’t from Esri themselves.

Once again ARC is inconsistent with a process

You know, I totally agree, at least at an emotional level. My love-hate relationship goes back to the mid-90s. I’ve thrown in the towel a few times on ESRI, only to be sucked back in by the need to get something done that I couldn’t figure out how to do elsewhere given the time I had to do it.

The company should be shut down with the Feds going for an antitrust action against ESRI (monopolistic behavior). Then perhaps we can have some realistic competition in the field rather than having all legitimate competitors bought out – and then perhaps GIS will begin to reach its full potential rather than being hamstrung by a company that produces shit for software.

There- I had to say it. Almost 30 years of working with this company’s garbage products is too much. Imagine where GIS could be now if there was some real competition.