Re: Another one bites the dust: Oracle buys Sleepycat Database

From: Volker Hetzer <volker.hetzer_at_ieee.org>
Date: Fri, 17 Feb 2006 19:15:08 +0100
Message-ID: <dt53rc$dnn$1@nntp.fujitsu-siemens.com>

DA Morgan schrieb:
> kwr2k wrote:

>> That's why its important for all of us (despite our professional
>> allegiance to Oracle) to support databases such as MySQL and
>> PostgreSQL. They may not be 'anywhere near Oracle' yet but its
>> important to keep them going ... with all its supposed support for
>> open-source, Oracle is not the most benevolent of companies.

>
> Supporting one product versus, or in addition to, another for
> political purposes: To what end?
>
> Software is a tool. Choose the best tool for the job. If that tool
> is Oracle then use it. If that tool is Pick then use it. If that
> tool is MySQL then use it. But to advocate using a tool just to
> make a political statement strikes me as a disservice to an employer.
Depends on how important your employer is for you. I don't think politics is just for politicians. Every citizen ought to be concerned about how ones country is run, and do what he can to make in run in the way he likes it.
Supporting an economy without monopolies is desirable, at least for me. So, I balance the gain/damage to my employer with the gain/damage to my surrounding society and to me.
For instance, asking my boss for a small donation for some charity will damage the company a little but improve society. Asking him to deploy a free database in order to keep oracle on its toes keeps the economy healthy and if my company can afford it, why not? It's not as if I'm lying or hiding something. If my boss disagrees, I do what my boss says.
In the long run, we'd all suffer if free software would be pushed into unimportance, so with refards to free software I tend to base my advice not on whether it's the "best" but whether it's good enough. Again, with 100% openness to my employer.

But, in the case of oracle, so far I haven't found MySql good enough. For me, rman, DataGuard and Metalink are the things MySql has to beat first.

I don't know about mysql but another thing I like about oracle is its resilience in the face of crashed processes. There are quite a few processes that can die without the user noticing. There are a number of other processes where the user still can continue working, maybe with limitations and where we can tell the user, log out this evening and then I can start fixing things.

In that regard oracle is a bit like a big ship with safety doors, pumps and everything so that a real lot has to happen before it sinks. Other software compares to that like a boat that leaves only a big mushroom cloud as soon as a screw falls off the railing.

Ok, the big ship needs a bit of effort and skill to keep it going, but there you are.

Lots of Greetings!
Volker Received on Fri Feb 17 2006 - 12:15:08 CST