I cannot aggree with the statement that BI/OLAP will never catch on. The amount of money / effort that both Microsoft and Oracle are investing in it would seem to indicate the opposite.

Having been a long term user of Oracle's now defunct Oracle Express Server, I see these products as a means of transforming all transactional information into realistic data cubes that businesses can make strategic decisions upon.

Without these OLAP/BI facilities any operation is naked when it comes to business planning.

Bob Firmin

Independent Developer (UK)