Re: What's does oracle have that others don't?

In article <4cbdpd$3p1_at_ixnews2.ix.netcom.com>,

   btt_at_ix.netcom.com(Jennifer Blair ) wrote:
>[snip]
>Users new to Oracle who are coming from a PC-based database background,
>often do not see the advantages. For instance, they're used to a total
>self-contained package, with lots of user-friendly features, like
>menus.
>
>I recently taught a class in New York city where two students who were
>dBASE
>users went nuts trying to compare Oracle to dBASE. They kept asking
>where
>this feature was and that feature was. Unfortunately, we were only
>covering
>SQL and PL/SQL, so they didn't get to see Forms or Reports, which would
>have
>helped. But the biggest difference was the lack of a total package.
>
>Programmers in the class tried to explain the difference in how Oracle
>handled data, and we all tried to explain the size and power of the
>databases it could handle, but they were stuck on what they knew.
>
>This is a difficult transition, guys. The confusion is real.

Absolutely! This is not only a source of confusion for developers (I assume that was your SQL and PL/SQL audience), but also for corporate management who doesn't understand why the whole company can't be run on a "free" database, like MS-Access, w/out user licenses. We have tried to explain it as the difference between a strategic and tactical plan. Different tools are useful depending on the size of the job to be done. While I wouldn't want to run a multi-billion dollar corporation on .MDB files, Oracle (even the Personal variety) is overkill for me to keep track of my CD collection (unless it grows significantly).

>
>Sincerely,
>Jennifer Blair
>Blair Technical Training
>Alexandria, VA
>
>
>
>
>

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