Re: What so special about PostgreSQL and other RDBMS?

Daniel Morgan wrote:
> Howard J. Rogers wrote:
>

>> True enough. But not every patch needs to be applied to every server 
>> (one can get more intelligent about these things that the CYA 
>> Microsoft advisories suggest).
>>
>> But even so. It takes me about 48 seconds to shutdown and re-start my 
>> Windows 2000 Advanced server. I think I can live with 48 seconds of 
>> downtime a month. I think *most* people could live with that sort of 
>> downtime a month, actually. The number of people who truly, 
>> absolutely, must have no compromises 5 9's uptime are actually quite 
>> small, if you look at the planet as a whole.

Daniel. Before you type, why don't you read? And why don't you just stop to pause a little and think who comes to this group?

I frankly couldn't care about *your* customers. I carefully didn't include them in my comments by using the word "most".

I didn't make any sweeping statements about *my* customers either. That also is the function of the word "most".

If you actually took time to read and consider what others posted here, you wouldn't come up with some of the smartass comments that you do.

> Well maybe those with RAC taking down nodes once at a time. But
> otherwise they expect to be up 7x24x365. It is very hard to explain
> to your web customers that you are interrupting their book purchase
> or that the search they wanted to do will have to wait ... or ...
> we're terribly sorry you can't purchase plane tickets or check your
> bank balance for awhile.
>
> It just isn't acceptable.

That's just fine and dandy, and FOR THAT REASON, you wouldn't recommend they use Windows. Perfectly understandable, perfectly reasonable. A *reasoned* business decision.

But I wasn't talking about your customers. I was talking about the *generality* of customers on the planet *as a whole*. And *they*, my friend, might very well (correction: do) find Windows a perfectly acceptable platform on which to run vital and important databases. Monthly patching and 1 minute downtime due to patching-inspired reboots included.

What I'm asking you to do, Daniel, is to lift your nose from *your* perspective and *your* customers, and consider a rather bigger picture.

And if you did that, you wouldn't be sitting there rubbishing one of the more common operating systems a wide-perspective DBA is likely to encounter in his/her professional career.

That is all.

HJR Received on Sun May 16 2004 - 01:33:14 CDT