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Re: What so special about PostgreSQL and other RDBMS?

From: Jeff Rodriguez <newsgroup1_at_gurugeek.EXAMPLENOSPAM.com>
Date: Fri, 14 May 2004 17:17:14 -0700
Message-ID: <nkdpc.9485$Yg.956@fed1read05>


Part of the beauty of SQL is that there are standards which if you try and stick with, you can relatively easily migrate to another solution such as PostgreSQL once they reach maturity. PostreSQL really does support a lot, however they're missing the speed, tools, and high-availability addons of MS SQL Server.

For a company that does thousands of dollars worth of transactions per minute, such as the one I work for, that $14,000 per processor is a small price to pay for the reliability we can get from a commercial app. such as MS SQL Server.

Do I like the fact that MS SQL Server is closed source? Of course not, however, if I had a choice of commercial support providers I would definetly choose Microsoft; open source or not. I don't know if you've ever had to use their support, but you can get on the phone with them and within a couple hours have just about anything worked out. Why? Because they're big, they've seen damn near everything.

I do not believe that closed source software it infallible, however nither is open source. Now I'm not going to say that we've never been hacked, because saying so will make me out to sound like an ignorant ass. Instead I'll say that we are not aware of ever having any problems with our SQL Server being hacked.

Anyway, down to what matters:
> What I am trying to do, is to give some sensibile advice on what a
> choice between closed and open source really means, namely that closed
> source means an *exclusive* external dependency, when entering such a
> dependency you are extreamly vulnerable and should only do so with
> both eyes open, after you have determined that this is justified for
> you needs. And even then, you should have an exit strategy so that
> your investment is not lost when the relationship ends or the external
> provider's product loses whatever advantage they had when you made the
> deal.

In the case of SQL Servers, sticking as close to standard sql as possible gives you an exit strategy. Extremely vulnerable? I disagree, if Microsoft were to die tomorrow by some will of the software gods, someone would just pick up the pieces and carry on where they left off. MS SQL Server would be sold to someone, along with the licensees, yadda yadda yadda.

In conclusion I do not agree that using a closed SQL solution makes you vulnerable, because there will always be support for you as long as the product is still popular. MS SQL Server is very popular, and by the time one might consider switching to a new solution, the open source solutions will be large enough to be considered viable. Hell, if we're lucky maybe Novell will pick up PostgreSQL... Received on Fri May 14 2004 - 19:17:14 CDT

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