Re: Open Source Oracle?

Thomas Kellerer wrote:

> Howard J. Rogers wrote on 13.09.2004 23:47:

>> 
>> But no, I really meant to release the source code. I have a sneaking
>> suspicion that Oracle is going in directions that many users find
>> unnecessary (8 Exabytes per tablespace, anyone?). It would be nice if the
>> open source community got a chance to construct an 'openOracle' that took
>> things in the direction users actually wanted. A forked version off from
>> the, say, Oracle 7 base would be worth looking at, I think.

I don't think this discussion can be meaningful unless we qualify precisely what such features are. Then we can have a parallel debate on what we think "enterprise" really means. And hopefully we can then make sense of the claims and counterclaims.

But the problem (for me, at least) lies exactly in what you've written: Postgres is closing the gap to Oracle by adding these "enterprise features", whatever they might be. Re-phrase that slightly: Oracle is an Enterprise-class product and others want a share of that market. Now follow through on the (slightly-stretched) logical corollary: Oracle is not (particularly) interested in the low and mid-end database market.

And that's my point. By giving the ancient versions away, they *would* be a player in those lesser markets, where MySQL and Postgres already largely reign unchallenged.

> I do think that mid-sized
> Databases could well be run with any of them. So if you don't get Oracle
> for free, why not check out those that are free and offer similar
> features?

I'm not checking anything out, because I'm an Oracle boy. Trouble is, there'll be a lot of people who will do precisely what you suggest, and become a PostgreSQL boy or a MySQL boy. Oracle then loses out, long-term.

> Btw: Sybase just announced that they are giving their Adaptive Server
> Enterprise for Linux away for free (http://www.sybase.com/linuxpromo)

I didn't know that. So thanks for the tip.

Regards
HJR
>
>
> Thomas
Received on Mon Sep 13 2004 - 17:31:53 CDT