Re: No future for DB2

"Larry" <larry_at_nospam.net> wrote in message news:SBTJe.19388$_R1.16432_at_fe11.lga...
>I didn't say anything about the economic climate of any industry at all.
> They are actually very good examples.
>
> The point (as you seem to have completely missed it) is that when you
> purchase a product, you most often don't care that your buying from #1
> or #2 or #3 in the industry. And being #1 or #2 or #3 is usually good
> enough to maintain survival.
>
> When you make travel plans, you don't ask which carrier leads in market
> share and you don't care whether you are flying with #3 as opposed to
> #1. As long as there is a good safety record, it is low in cost, and it
> gets you there. If you rent a car, you don't care whether you are
> renting with the market leader. In fact, Avis has been "#2" for many
> years and has survived just fine. And I'd be willing to bet that outside
> of business use, you wouldn't rent with Hertz or Avis anyway ... you'd
> end up with a lower cost company like Alamo ... as long as the price is
> right. What position in the rental market do you think Alamo is? When
> was the last time you found out who the market share leader was before
> buying a coffeemaker?

I am sorry such comparisons with software tools like RDBMS is meaningless. When you buy a air ticket, you are not making long term commitment to the airline. The commitment is only for *that* travel. So one can ignore market share of airlines etc.

Buying a software tool is lot more complicated. The software vendor is in some ways your partner in business. Things like financial viability, market share has some bearing in decision making process.

Here is an example which should be similar to buying a RDBMS tool: If you are purchasing a car, will you go for a company

• whose market share is very low
• there are not enuf repair shops who can fix it at a reasonable cost
• there is always a fear that the manufacturer may discontinue the car or the company may go belly up.