>What about field-level contentions? Modern (for example) operating theatre apps rely on multiple users updating same-row fields every few seconds and not overwriting each others' work with stale material. Updating every field every time creates a contention nightmare for such an environment, slowing notoriously critical clinicians down with stupid contention decisions they do not have time for and creating still more cynicism about IT. RV or SPT solves this completely.
John,
I have an issue with updating same-row fields that I haven't been able to solve. Let's assume I have a table with many fields, two of which are "City" and "State". One record has City="Washington" and State="Washington".
One users sees that, and figure out it's "Washington, D.C." while another figure out it's "Seattle, Washington", so both make one change. We end up with City="Seattle" and State="D.C.".
Of course, this example is a common "garbage in, garbage out" situation, but I think you get my point. I'd be glad if someone could point out a solution.
Note to Americans: sorry if I mispelled "Washington" - knowing all US states is not common in Canada! :)
Sylvain Demers