Re: SQL server Vs Oracle

Arvin Meyer wrote in message <7h0hih$gh5$1_at_esinet2.esinet.net>...
>Steve,
>
>Only God doesn't make mistakes, and I'm not always sure I agree with that.
I
>don't know how long you've been in this business, but bugs have been around
>as long as software has, some much more serious than any that have been
>foisted by Microsoft.

[snipped]

• How long have I been in business?

I started consulting in 1982, after a six-year career at Deloitte, after undergraduated study at Lehigh, and graduate work at Wharton. I was a sole proprietor until 1991, at which time I joined up with old friend from Deloitte, who was currently a CFO/Partner in a private "hedge" fund. We incorporated and focused our systems and accounting consulting to the financial industry at that time.

Prior to 1982, II worked on time-sharing terminals (GE) in high school, and mainframes in college, primarily developing in BASIC, FORTRAN and COBOL.

• Have I seen bugs in non-Microsoft products? Yes
• Have the bugs been worse than those in Microsoft products? Some yes. Some no.
• Should the quality of software today, be based on past history? No.

Quality standards of other products are currently evolving, why shouldn't software?

• Do I believe that the reliability of PC software products have actually declined over the years? Yes.

Microsoft reminds me of the car manufacturing companies of the past. Their cars got big with many "features", requiring large amounts of fuel and service. Their reputation became tainted, even though the cars were "better" than the past. Foreign companies started to make more reliable cars, which required less fuel, and which were less expensive. Even though such cars to did not have the feature bloat of the American cars, people started to purchase them. The purchasing decision were aided by the fuel shortage and raising prices, and by the fact that they didn't require the constant service of the American cars. Eventually, the foreign car companies took the leadership role in reliability.

• Do I still use their products? Of course.

I have business problems to solve, and they have the best answers to solve them with. It still doesn't mean they do not have room for major improvement, or I will not change the tools that we use to solve problems in the future. Right now, they are the "best" answer for our clients. If you are satisfied with the quality of their products. Fine. I think they need improvement.

Steven Received on Sat May 08 1999 - 10:58:50 CDT