Re: Anyone with experience with MMOG and databases?

O
> Nice example.
>
> Perhaps a little bit of perspective would help.

No, not really. Perspective rarely helps. It's understanding, not perspective that people need.

>
> Oracle is *very* expensive in Brazil.

Good! If someone has enough money for an expensive database and a big machine, my fees will not present a problem. In god we trust.

> One can start a small
> business on PostgreSQL (or InterBase or...) and later port to IBM DB2, but
> porting to Oracle would be far more difficult.

No, I don't think so. It depends on the design of the application that is being ported. Now, if the company doesn't have enough money to hire a decent application designer and writes an application that sucks, that can easily be ported anywhere and you'll have the true portability: an application that sucks on each major database! The DBA's nightmare......

>
> But the worse situation is the reverse. One starts paying Oracle,
> and then needs to downsize.

Repeat after me: dice is my friend, dice is my friend...

> Market adjustments, new competitors whatever
> -- for example, your now competitors aren't locals but Indians, Philipins,
> Brazilians or whatever. You look to where you could cut some costs. With
> Oracle, nearly impossible.

Really? How come? Switching to smaller machine wouldn't help save money? The company that is ready to save money on its database will have no compunction about trying to save money on their DBA and to that I have to object, purely for moral reasons. Thus, dice is your friend.....

> With DB2, you have quite some options.

Exactly two: shoot yourself in the left foot or shoot yourself in the right foot. People rarely have more then two feet.

>
> Granted it is not quite so simple, but as a general idea it's more
> or less like that.

You must be very young, like twenty something? Learn from Wally, he's the true giant.

-- 
Mladen Gogala
http://www.mgogala.com


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