Re: Request: Opinion about databases

At 02:56 PM 5/16/96 +0300, Eliezer Ramm wrote:
>There is a raging war in the office where I work. We are trying to

So, no change there! :)

>decide on a database platform and no one can agree on which one to
>choose. The database people want Informix. The (non-technical) upper
>management wants an NT-based soulution. The people from Oracle
>advertised that our company already uses their product. It's my job to
>be the buffer between the two parties. HELP!! Please send me your

I counted three parties... :)

But stuff Oracle: I wouldn't believe an Oracle advert if it said that they were selling Oracle! :)

Informix has an NT-based version of OnLine very near to release. It's called Workgroup Server.

>feedback. Tell me about your good experiances and bad ones. Do we really
>have to spend $50,000 for a database ?

You get what you pay for.

>We are: An Internet (Web) publishing company, hosting various government
>offices and corporations.

Look at Illustra, the new database company Informix bought out. They have a web datablade to make your life a *lot* easier. It should be integrated into the mainstream server in time for your deployment.

>Our goals for the database are: To offer various information services
>for our different customers. Some have existing, static dtabases on
>different machines. Others have dynamic data that they (or we) should
>update regularly.

All easy enough...

>The equipment we have is: A Sparc 20 server running Solaris, and a mixed
>network of PC's running Windows `95 and Sun SParcStations running
>Solaris. We could purchase a NT system if needed

Informix products run *very* well on Sun. But you could (ugh) move to NT.

Personally, I feel that the database sun shines out of Informix's behind! :)

I reckon Informix/Illustra is _the_ database for the Internet. I've never found anything I couldn't handle using the stuff, in any environment. Check out the Illustra technology concepts at http://www.illustra.com.

HTH. Hasta la vista!

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billy.wheeler_at_pixie.co.za