RE: Oracle vs. Informix debate

It may have been a little faster at a specific type of transaction, but I can't believe that when you add backup and recovery, stability tco etc that Oracle would lose to Informix. I would hammer them on the specifics of the "test" and point out any weaknesses.

The other thing for mgmt to consider is finding qualified people to work on your systems. How many people know Informix? I am sure that it is a fine product, but I have never met anyone who uses it. What is the learning curve? How hard/easy is it to tune?

As far as the company goes, I wouldn't put my production system on it. The company has been unstable for years and is viewed that way in the industry.

Sorry I don't have any more specific URL's....perhaps others on the list can help...

my 2 cents..

Frank Pettinato
Oracle DBA
Intel Corp.

-----Original Message-----
From: root_at_fatcity.com [mailto:root_at_fatcity.com]On Behalf Of alan.aschenbrenner_at_ihs.com
Sent: Friday, August 04, 2000 12:29 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L Subject: Oracle vs. Informix debate

Hi everyone,

    Recently I changed jobs and was hired on as an Oracle DBA in Denver, CO. About a month before I started, a big debate started about which DBMS to run
(since their Oracle contract was almost up for renewal). Some managers were
questioning why some of the databases were so slow (and want to migrate some databases away from Ingres also), so they decided to hold a test.

    They decided to benchmark Oracle, Infromix, and DB2 against each other. The results turned out that Informix was roughly 10 times faster than Oracle, and DB2 was only somewhat faster than Oracle. Here's the catch though, both IBM and Informix sent guys out to tune their databases. The Oracle database was only tuned in-house. (Since this test took place before I got here, I had no hand in this). Anyway, it looks like management may be leaning towards Informix, especially after 4 salesman from Informix came here and gave a great marketing speech that any manager would love!

    Any suggestions on papers to read on comparisons, opinions, etc. Is Informix really that much faster? What about 3rd party tools? It seems to me that most tools are written with Oracle in mind, not Informix. And how about company stability? It makes me a little nervous to convert to Informix after watching the stock price of Informix plunge over the past several months down to nearly $4 a share! Plus, they just hired an ORACLE DBA, not an Informix DBA!!!!! (Which makes me wonder if I'll be employed in a few months...) Any other valid points in this argument / debate?

Thanks,

Alan

Alan Aschenbrenner
Oracle DBA
IHS Group
alan.aschenbrenner_at_ihs.com

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