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Re: What so special about PostgreSQL and other RDBMS?

From: Galen Boyer <galenboyer_at_hotpop.com>
Date: 28 May 2004 11:57:07 -0500
Message-ID: <upt8olcf1.fsf@standardandpoors.com>


On Thu, 27 May 2004, kennedy-downwithspammersfamily_at_attbi.net wrote:
> Yes, we had to pay annual maint. Yes, we had to pay for
> Oracle. Yes, we had to pay them for every copy of our
> application that went out the door (we provided an Oracle run
> time). But we got exceptional service and we were a very small
> company. Never got that type of service from other large
> software vendors.

Oracle is for commercial software that Linux is for open source that Emacs is for free. If you are for any of those arguments, you can point to the example and say, "See it works" and then, in Noons case, say, see, the other side doesn't work.

The reality is that the three propositions work. But, the one thing the commercial argument can't say is, "Anybody skilled in our software is quite able to go into the guts and do what they want with it, here's the code". If you look at most big corporations that are Linux users, they don't tinker with it, but there are organizations that consult in tinkering with it. That is the Open Source proposition. The software is free, and the skilled will get paid in tinkering. There is now a whole new, "Tinkering consultant" industry.

> So is Oracle expensive? Not for the value one gets. Why do
> people buy at Nordstroms? They have high quality clothes and
> exceptional service. People percieve value for their money.
> It is a differentiator. If you look at any highly sucessful
> competitive market, the market leader (the one making the most
> money or biggest gross) is doing it better from the customer's
> point of view.

There are plenty of success examples of open source to point to.

-- 
Galen Boyer
Received on Fri May 28 2004 - 11:57:07 CDT

Original text of this message

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