Re: Database market share 2004

From: Data Goob <datagoob_at_netscape.net>
Date: Sun, 05 Jun 2005 07:41:38 -0400
Message-ID: <QxBoe.137$al6.112@fe67.usenetserver.com>

Neil Truby wrote:

> "Jurgen Haan" <jurgen_at_fake.dom> wrote in message 
> news:429f0643$0$17153$e4fe514c_at_news.xs4all.nl...
> 

>>Stu Charlton wrote:
>>
>>>So the question is whether OSS eventually sucks the direct revenue out
>>>of the market. If there are enough vested interests to fund that sort
>>>of effort, sure, it could happen. Apache is a great example of that
>>>effect. I think the next area probably will be operating systems.
>>>Databases will take longer, if ever.
>>>
>>
>>I think databases will happen sooner than you think.
>>Hardware is getting cheaper while getting faster,
>>storage is getting cheaper while getting faster
>>OSS Databases are getting faster and more stable while still being free.
>>The one point missing in OSS databases is support.
>>It's so damn hard to get any support on OSS databases.
>>
>>That's why many companies still go for the mainstream databases,
>>for the false sense of safety (I pay for it so it must be good) and for
>>the support (which I still think is one of the most important issues).

> 
> 
> There is a very widespread perception that open-source operating systems - 
> RedHat for example - do not provide adequate support either.  We have 
> encountered many risk-adverse users who would rather stick with Sun, HP or 
> IBM because of the absence of demarcation disputes between the OS and 
> hardware support vendors. 
> 
> 

RedHat is not Linux. RedHat is RedHat-Linux, a fork in the road. But I will say RedHat has provide me with excellent phone support, with a rather short wait-time. RH lacks a lot of admin tools, and requires a bit more hands-on than say SuSE, so you might find yourself using the support more at first till you get comfortable with their limited, but usable tools.

RH does have some benefits in terms of how you can manage networking, but it isn't necessarily better than SuSE, because you have to know what you're doing. Not acceptable in new-to-Linux environments or for those risk-adverse environments. Fedora is a great way to get into RedHat Linux because it doesn't really cost anything. Of course you can get SuSE Pro for around $99 USD so the question really becomes, how much will we want to support it for ourselves. To the extreme, you can go Linux-From-Scratch and really DIY ( www.linuxfromscratch.org ) but you will really learn Linux.

Use SuSE and get the support with it. SuSE has excellent admin tools and allows your people to be successful with Linux and make it work quickly without that queasy feeling that it isn't going to work. SuSE has been excellent support on every single client I know that uses it. They respond quickly and typically are spot on in problem solving. IBM has been pushing "SuSE certified" systems for some time now, so you get a lot of support not only from SuSE, but also from IBM.

To be sure you can expect problems with any release of Linux, but you should have someone on staff that can help you as well as a support contract. The nice thing about SuSE is that they really only have two products, one for workstations that actually can be a server ( Pro ), and the other is a server product that requires a support contract or you can't really update it unless you really want to support it yourself ( SLES ). SLES has a lot of the features you'd expect for a corporate server environment, deeper SCSI support, etc. I think the latest release has morphed into a better product with Novell networking built-in, which is even better, if you are looking for that kind of product. Received on Sun Jun 05 2005 - 06:41:38 CDT