Paris, Octobre 1998

Address to the participants of the microISIS meeting in Montevideo, 1998

by Giampaolo Del Bigio

My dear friends and colleages,

Many of you probably know that I recently resigned from UNESCO for very serious medical reasons. This is therefore the last time I am able to address you in an official capacity.

Three years have gone by since the 1st MicroISIS Congress in Bogota, which saw the appearance of the first version for Windows, of which you will hear later the latest developments from our UNESCO colleague Davide Storti.

Those of you who have been with us from the very beginning can measure the significant impact microISIS has had in the region in the development of data bases, the production of CD- ROMs, the creation of co-operative information networks and the circulation of information, but also, and not without importance, the bringing about of a tremendous stimulous for inter-regional co-operation.

In my opinion the major keywords applying to the microISIS phenomenon are equity of access to a common information processing tool; the early availability of associated development tools, such as ISIS Pascal, the ISIS DLL and, more recently, the WWWISIS interface, as well as the training which has been available from the very beginning in your part of the world.

The generalized design of microISIS, especially its ability to allow the user to design data bases tailored to his needs, coupled with the power of handling variable length fields and records from the very beginning, was certainly instrumental in creating its success.

A milestone in the development of microISIS was ISIS Pascal, which allowed users, especially in the early ´90s to develop integrated applications independently from the engine and, more recently, the ISIS DLL, the Windows Application development interface developed by BIREME, allowing users to develop microISIS applications under Windows, not to forget the latest products such as WWWISIS, allowing users to make their data bases available on the Web.

So, I believe, that in spite of various constraints, especially financial, we were able to maintain microISIS in line with the development of technology and provide you with a powerful and reliable tool to support your information management needs.

Finally, I should like to say that it has been my privilege and great pleasure to have been associated with microISIS from its embryonic stage, to have had the experience of meeting interesting and enthusiastic people from the four corners of the world and I would like now to wish you most sincerely a very successful and productive meeting and that as usual you all have a wonderful time in Montevideo.

Giampaolo Del Bigio