Re: Trying to decide whether to support DB2 or Oracle

Hi,

Fundamentally I don't think there're much difference for both Oracle and DB2 as both benifitted from System R a lot. Probably that's why both are the DB industry leaders now. However, followings are my observations about these two:

Oracle: dominant position in distributed systems makes it much easier to find a good developer which means the development cost could be lower; good performance for OLTP applications; one stop-shop package; poor support service and bad partnership (SAP, PeopleSoft, Seibels).

DB2: wide platforms (from PDA to mainframe); very sophisticated query optimization techniques made it excellent for OLAP applications; lower price and good customer support; no procedural DB programming language made the development tougher; way fewer publications on DB2 compared with Oracle;

Overall, I think DB2 has a better future.

--
John Li
Baker Street Technologies
Toronto, Canada
"Joe Lumbley" <joe_at_lumbley.com> wrote in message
news:xZHH6.76$HQ3.62982_at_nnrp2.sbc.net...


> For those of you who don't know me, I am the author of the "Informix DBA

> Survival Guide", which is the best-selling book ever published about

> Informix, published by Informix Press and in its second edition.  My

 figures


> show that approximately 25-35% of all Informix shops have a copy of my

 book.


> I've been a speaker at the last two Informix User Conferences, so there

> should no be no question that before last Tuesday, I've been 100%

 Informix.


> I dream in ESQL/C.

>

>  I've had over 6000 visitors to my Informix DBA Survival Guide website in

> the last week, and many of my customers and prospective customers are

 asking


> me for guidance about where to go from here.  Problem is, I'm not sure

 what


> to tell them.

>

> Now, I'm in a quandary.  I believe that in the long run, Informix products

> are toast.  I'm looking for good business reasons why I should support

> either DB2 or Oracle.  I'm considering becoming "database agnostic, but

 that


> is a little bit "middle of the road" for my tastes.  I believe that

> eventually I will either move totally to the DB2 or to the Oracle camp,

 and


> I'm having a hard time deciding which is the better move in the short and

> long terms.  I believe I will probably remain database-agnostic until

> someone shows me good reasons why I should go either way.

>

> I'm cross-posting this to the Informix, DB2, and Oracle groups, not with

 the


> intention of starting a flame war or sticking a knife in anybody, but in

 the


> interest in learning more about the two camps.  I'm much more interested

> today in the business side than in the technical side.  If you ask me

 today,


> I'll still say Informix is the best technical choice, but I am open to

> proof.

>

> Why would it make more business sense for a consultant such as myself to

> move into either one of these two camps?  I market a CRM application for

> Informix, and I think this may tend to tilt the advantage to Oracle

 because


> of their dominance in the CRM market, but I'm ready to listen to all

 sides.


>

> If anybody can give me a peek from an executive or decision-maker's

> viewpoint, that would be even better.  I know we're all techies here,  and

> that we don't always know what's happening in the walnut-paneled offices.

>

> Joe Lumbley

> JP Lumbley & Associates, LLC

> Dallas, Tx

>

>

>

>

>

>