Re: native Oracle-port on Linux -- what would it take?

> >Well, the latest SMP servers from Compaq and DEC look pretty
> >good. RAID-5 SCSI, hot-swappable drives, multiply-redundant
> >hot-swappable power supplies, what more could you want?
>
> Okay, since you asked - how about these:
>

• spurious garbage deleted *

> I admit that you can get pretty decent boxes when looking for PC
> servers (We are using IBM 704's as standard servers and are
> quite satisfied), but the above features are usually missing in
> PC hardware - even server hardware.
>
> That's what you get when you buy Enterprise Ultra hardware from
> Sun. This is at least one league above PC hardware (yes, in
> features and in price as well).
>
> You don't install such boxes routinely, but for a data warehouse
> solution or other mission-critical parts of your enterprise this
> is just right and it scales like nothing (from single processor
> solutions with memory in the 32 MB range up to 64 processor
> solutions with GBs of mem and TBs of disk space).

This is the same argument I've heard a thousand times over. More so than a technology issue, this is an elitist issue. It seems that for some reason unbeknown to me, some admins (especially) and coders are 'threatened' by the idea of having something similar in power to what is available to the home user these days.

This seems especially true when it comes to free OSs versus commercial ones. The quick rate of development of free OSs takes a lot of the bragging rights away from some people. I'm sure that we've each encountered some of them.

Typically, in my experiences, they will make a huge bravado of hardware that's bleeding edge and so expensive that it can only be afforded by the largest of corporations, it also is usually extensively proprietary. This is often followed by a "...and that's why PCs and free OSs will never be useful in 'real business' situations...but that's not to say they're not good machines with a purpose, etc."

I've heard this a thousand times over, and I laugh everytime. I always remember that these were the same things that IBM and Digital told their customers as PCs were replacing 3270 terminals. "...Oh, PCs...pay them no mind, they're for home users...they'll never be used in business environments..."

I certainly don't need to explain the rest.

Granted, there is some truth in the redundancy of larger 'iron' machines. But, just as it happened before, this is going to become less and less of an issue. In many cases with PCs, it's equivalent or cheaper to replace an entire PC than to replace a single failed component on a bigger iron machine. Ever look at vendor prices for replacement drives, power supplies, etc?

Some companies and people like to pretend that if they quietly ignore and or downplay PCs are free operating systems, they'll just dry up and disappear. They are free to revel in their ignorance.

If Oracle makes a decided point NOT to port to Linux or to be generally elitist to appeal to assinine admins, so be it, they'll be the ones missing out on a massing market.

--Chris Received on Sun Dec 28 1997 - 00:00:00 CST