>I'm not sure such a rigorous regime would be either warranted or needed......
>
>Perhaps that is a cue for somebody to deliver a patronizing "change sometimes involves pain" lecture. ;-)
>
>In the end, any database is just a file or files on a hard drive. Users can come up with numerous innovative ways to screw them up. ;-) I remember one client who complained that a crucial PC with my app kept restarting and losing data. In the end I came and watched the user. A phone on the adjacent desk rang; she leant across to take the receiver and her dainty foot knocked a forest of multipoints and adapters plugged into her single power point. The machine rebooted. ;-) I also had a customer who put a server behind a door in the so-called server room: as I watched, an IT person burst into the room, thumping the door hard against the server.

> I had a "project manager" who screwed with his PC until his network card was flaky +++: every time he logged into my system, havoc ensued. ;-)

That's sounds vaguely pornographic :-}

>
>I'd also say that Dbf files can be easy enough to repair. I've done it myself over the years and many vendors supplied automated repair tools. Sql Server mdfs are a different proposition. Anybody here have experience fixing a torn system table page? My expectation would be that even the most decorated practitioners would have limited experience repairing the sort of flake you have to expect on a personal PC. All it needs is a buggy music codec or the user kicking an adapter and you risk an "I can't restore from last week's backup! It's tax time and my accountant needs the new entries TODAY!!" crisis for which the vendor will be blamed. Only a vendor with 95% market share can shrug that off.

I guess they can shrug it off by pointing out that the blame is proveably not with their software (given that x,0000 users do not have a problem) but with the hardware/ operating environment of the user. But I still think we are talking about different scenarios. The expectation of a client who has forked out $K's for a tailor-made, customised installation is going to be far greater (rightly or wrongly?) than that of one who has paid a $100 to download something off the web......