Love the cartoon. I think I know someone who just got a job like that!
You are right - the transition from being a much appreciated Sybase customer (they sponsored us at the Computer World Honors) to being generally ignored by SAP and having our costs and administration effort skyrocket, has made me an unhappy camper - and my grumbling about that in the forum is probably inappropriately directed.
This escape problem is the first technical issue with SQL Anywhere that I felt was poorly addressed - for the most part I have been a Watcom /SQL Anywhere supporter back to the early 90's. I used to introduce it as part of my courses at UCLA.
We pay a fairly hefty partner fee every year, plus purchase licenses for hundreds of users, that doesn't put us up there with the biggies like intuit - but it's our largest annual technology cost.
-- BTW - No Joke - who have you found who actually reads and responds to letters? Please forward the name and address privately if you can.