Re: What so special about PostgreSQL and other RDBMS?

Joel Garry wrote:

[snip]

>
> I think a good DBA would consider that unnecessary problems that
> reduce productivity and seriously add to workload in an enviroment of
> insufficient IT resources are something to be avoided.
> "Appropriately" indeed.
>
> In the past, you could make your argument, because of the cost
> differential between Windows and Everything Else. But with linux
> mainstream and GUI, you now have to compare the differentials on the
> same hardware with the same talent pool and low transition costs, and
> it loses.

It's not as pat as that.

I know it's not quite the same thing, but I am more than willing -in fact, I am desirous- to convert my newish (5 months) laptop to running Linux. You know why XP is still on it? Because 3 of the distros refuse to even install on it. Fedora and Mandrake do, but neither of them have a clue about my 802.11g wireless card. One has a problem with my graphics driver. And both have problems with the external firewire drive.

Now I'm sure I could poke around inside /etc/something and fix all that up. But Windows gets all of it right, first time, every time, and I don't have to fiddle at all. So what's the cost equation there? And if it's not true for me that "the same talent pool" can make both work equally well, I suspect it's not going to be true for a lot of shops without some serious re-training/retrenchment/re-hiring costs.

Now, it's a laptop, and Linux on laptops is a bit tricky generally, and that's rather different from the server market, I'll agree. And yes, I have Linux servers running Oracle perfectly well. But those are fairly old boxes (early Penitum IVs, an Athlon 1200, etc), and not state of the art. And I know all about IBM and HP's enthusiastic Linux involvement, amongst others.

But I still don't think that you can just trot out the "it loses" argument and not justify it case by case (where, many times, Linux will justify itself handsomely I have no doubt). But Hardware vendor support? Drivers? Linux frequently seems to just play catch-up. Which might, or might not, be a show-stopper.

Plus, given the context of the current discussion, there are many occasions when someone will positively want to run SQL Server, and perfectly justifiably too. At which point, it (Windows) most certainly doesn't lose, does it? I don't think Crossover Office quite does SQL Server just yet.

Regards
HJR Received on Tue May 18 2004 - 14:53:22 CDT