Re: SQL server Vs Oracle

Arvin Meyer (a_at_m.com) wrote:

: Stephen Harris wrote in message <7hs76p$1bd$1_at_nebula.mpn.com>...

: Microsoft is now dogfooding all production code for NT on it. It is not only
: very stable, but were it not for the lack of some third party drivers, it

Damn, I seem to remember someone saying that about NT4 which _still_ isn't sufficiently stable for my liking (I'm not being inflamatory here, just stating a personal opinion; an OS that can't manage memory and "leaks" needs fixing). Any NT4 system under SP3 is vulnerable every possible which way. I will consider W2K SP3, which I estimate to be mid 2002.

You may find it interesting to read what large analyst companies (eg Gartner) are saying as well. You may find it's along the same lines.

This one is most telling:
http://webserv.vnunet.com/www_user/plsql/pkg_vnu_news.right_frame?p_story=82737

These also relate:

http://webserv.vnunet.com/www_user/plsql/pkg_vnu_news.right_frame?p_story=82799

http://webserv.vnunet.com/www_user/plsql/pkg_vnu_news.right_frame?p_story=82801

http://webserv.vnunet.com/www_user/plsql/pkg_vnu_news.right_frame?p_story=82917

An interesting addendum:
http://webserv.vnunet.com/www_user/plsql/pkg_vnu_news.right_frame?p_story=83051

As a balance, they also say Linux won't beat NT :-) http://webserv.vnunet.com/www_user/plsql/pkg_vnu_news.right_frame?p_story=82800

: There is NO user handholding. A NetworkPC uses a SmartNIC. The machine is

Errm? Migration of user data? Training in the new app? Educating them in the difference between an NT domain login and a Win95 local login? NO user handholding? Sorry, no.

: plugged in an turned on, period. The SmartNIC, looks for the install server
: and using a script, downloads, installs, and configures the O/S and all the
: applications. One admin can set up 4 to 6 machines an hour, but many

The machine _creation_ is trivial (we've sent a disk image to our suppliers so all new machines will be pre-installed). Physical box shifting and the above _does_ take more than 30 minutes. I've timed it.

: but my back is still in an old body. Better that you start learning the
: newer technology, than saying "Ha! Totally impossible", or some young kid
: will have your job.

Please don't start attacking me. My job is far more secure than you will ever realise because I am _not_ stuck in any technology rut. My comments are based on actually knowledge of operations _taking_place_now_. They are not someone's ideal scenario, they are opinions based on having to support these 500 users (we have two users that just had dumb terminals until last year because they were too stupid to turn a PC on and login to the server).

Technology is a wonderful thing, but users (like your back after shifting all those boxes) doesn't match up. It is the physical reality of the user handholding that slows the rollout down.

If you manage an IT department, change 500 boxes in a week and your users don't complain then either you have very competent users, or a large machine gun nest outside your door. In my company you wouldn't even have a job if you tried it.

This is my last post on this matter because the discussion has delved even further away from DBMS's and has started to bore me. I did say this should be in an advocacy group...

--

rgds
Stephen Received on Tue May 18 1999 - 16:57:45 CDT