Re: informix/oracle comparison

From: Serge Rielau <srielau_at_ca.ibm.com>
Date: Sun, 17 Jun 2001 08:46:06 -0400
Message-ID: <3B2CA68E.890A5BFD@ca.ibm.com>

Hi Sam,

You are polarizing. The world comes is shades... DB2 is the strategic product line but there are areas where Informix IDS is ahead of DB2. If a shop is primarily an Informix shop there is no reason to push DB2. If a shop is agnostic, DB2 would be preferable, same as Oracle will push 9i over RDB I suppose. If a shop needs special features of Informix then Informix is the right choice. These special features do exist. So Informix has it's rightfull place in the product lineup.

It is too early to quantify reactions of ISV's. If they so far supported Informix and they have working products out there, there is only one reason to cease delivering, and that is, if there is no profit to be made.
It is the intention that ISVs expand their Informix offerings to DB2, not switch them.

>6) Last but not least, why did IBM purchase Informix in the first place?

> I think once you answer this question then everything will become
> crystal clear.

Primarily: marketshare, secondary technology and people. And yes now the answer is crystal clear. IBM pays money for marketshare. So it will do nothing that will alienate these new customers. Turning Informix into a deadend would be a save way to have that money go to waste by loosing more customers than already decided to leave anyways and by loosing employees.

On the flip side the competition will to everything to scare those customers aways. Depending on the competition "everything" may include seeding grossly false statements.

I agree that the market will end up with three players. I do not agree that the market for niche players has dried up.

The bottom line is that I think when someone wants to read up on what's going on in the marketplace one has to read more than one company's webpage. Especially reading the news of the primary companies involved might be a good idea.

Cheers
Serge Received on Sun Jun 17 2001 - 07:46:06 CDT