Dear John

In effect, your argument is: "my way is better than yours, and if your way gets a better result, that's because you should have done it my way."

Simple question.

You design and implement a grid app in all your copious wisdom.

You present proudly to the customer.

The customer says "no, move the third column to the first position and I'm not ssure where that 4th column should go... "

My "implementation" allows me to cope with ease- right in front of the customer.

You will need to rethink your implementation, because you cannot alter the column order. So instead of safely customing the interface in front of the customer, something which is quite appropriate, you will need to scuffle around under the hood and test the result every time- I assume you test when you alter underlying code. Hopefully you will be able to avoid a C00000005 error in front of the customer.

According to you, all this extra work for you is because my implementation is not as good as yours. QED.

I'm afraid your assertion that customers and implementation are not connected, can never ever be correct. You are not implementing according to some arcane theoretical model, you are implementing to serve your customer. An implementation that adds cost for your customer or cannot meet their needs easily, is not better than an implementation that allows the customer to choose exactly what they want *and change their mind* without rewrite.

In legal terms I believe the terminology goes "case closed, costs awarded against Mr Petersen's client." If you see that as a win, good for you.

As for calling in boffins; I do not have a monopoly on good ideas or methods, so I do not hesitate to call in boffins. Proud to do so in fact. You seem to sneer about that; your loss.

Regards

JR