Re: informix market share

"Bob Jones" <email_at_me.not> wrote in message news:x5bif.19109$BZ5.8847_at_newssvr13.news.prodigy.com... >

>> Much I like Informix (though I stopped working with it for about a year
>> now), I also think it is toast for reasons totally different. What
>> is happening is that Informix skilled people are rapidly shrinking, just
>> like
>> Sybase and other fading products. In my last project I worked with some
>> UK folks and was shocked to learn that they were exposed to only one
>> RDBMS: SQL Server, right thru their college days. Little bit of research
>> told me that this trend is bit global with most of the fresh graduates
>> hardly
>> proficient in lesser known databases.

I help companies equip for a market-leading app in Europe that remains Informix-only. I fear for how long though: the last two customers have both expressed concern not at Informix itself or even IBM's plans for it, but the in shortage of skilled staff. Good for me selling managed service of course, but not good for Informix long-term.

I previously mentioned that we recruited another graduate trainee this summer, the first for a couple of years. We got a very good one but he, like most people we interviewed this time, and in stark contrast to even 2 years ago, hadn't even covered SQL Server even in Computer Science: the unis seem to think Access is sufficient grounding in database theory now! Received on Sun Nov 27 2005 - 08:25:23 CST