Re: Oracle vs. Sybase

From: Ken Eaton <keneaton_at_kodak.com>
Date: 1997/06/11
Message-ID: <339EB1F9.49D3@kodak.com>#1/1

S. Williams wrote:
>
> To some this will appear to be a repost, but please be patient with me. I
> am trying to justify a choice between these two products for a fully
> relational database product to use for a large customer base, large user
> base corporate application with a requirement of high reliability. I would
> appreciate any comments concerning perceived or known limitations with
> either product that can be provided. I have heard of some limitations, but
> am trying to get more details and can't even find a web site with objective
> reviews of these products. Thanks in advance for your participation...
>
> A. S. WilliamsWe recently went through the same analysis. We had a major application
based on Sybase and some in-house Oracle databases. Oracle came out the winner with the key differences being:
1. Financial stability of Sybase as a company is questionable. Sybase had five quarters of losing money when we did our evaluation.
2. Broader base of products available that work with it. i.e. We were looking to buy a Financial package and Sybase was more limiting than Oracle.
3. More consulting expertise available with Oracle...
4. Questions about the QC process for Sybase that would allow version 10 out with major bugs that caused us a lot of heartache... Oracle isn't perfect, but appears to release cleaner products than Sybase. Version 11 from Sybase looks good though... FWIW... Sybase is less DBA intensive than Oracle. It is easier to tune and manage. They also have good gateway and replication features. Their prices are lower than Oracle's although the gap is closing. There were a number of other things we looked at, but they didn't lean heavily one way or the other.

Received on Wed Jun 11 1997 - 00:00:00 CDT