Re: SQL server Vs Oracle

Nuno Souto wrote in message <7hefgt$8u8$2_at_m2.c2.telstra-mm.net.au>...
>
>When in 6 months time you have to upgrade to a PIII.
>To run what? Excel2000, Word2000 and so on.
>
>Of course it will be cheaper than the current system you have.

The PII400 I have runs the Office suite just fine., so does the 2 1/2 year old P200.

>Now do some simple arithmetic. Add the cost of the 486, plus the PII,
>plus the PIII.
>Not so cheap anymore to run just a spreadsheet and a word processor, is it?
>
>Sucked in by the spiral, buddy.

Not at all, the equipment does wear out you know. the 486 is almost 7 years old now, and while it still runs Office 97 (slowly compared to the others) it can't run multi-tasked operations quick enough to be useful. The printing on the keyboard is gone for several letters, and thin for others, the monitor blinks on and off, and there is only about 90Mb of hard drive space left. It is still being used, but will soon be relegated to print server status, replacing a 386SX16 that's over 8 years old. As my business grows, I need new machines. Buying older technology (when it is even available) doesn't make sense.

>Are you using these for anything else significantly more exciting than what
>you had running in your 486 (abstracting from the ubiquitous games) or that
>you couldn't run on a 486?
>Most likely not.

No, but reports (pure processing power) that tooks 50 seconds to run on the 486, run in 7 seconds on the P200, and 3 seconds on the PII400. That's by themself on the 486, and with other things happening on the P200, and a lot of other things happening on the PII400.

>Certainly the businesses out there that keep on doing circulars and memos
>can most likely survive with the 486. Problem is this industry won't let
them
>do so, support being what it is now. Part of the reason is that
consultants in
>this field, which should be recommending sensible solutions, are just
>recommending
>"addon hardware". Bingo...

Survival is not the same as growth, is it?

>Great "value for money", ain't it?

I sure think so. The tools of other professions are far more expensive. Even a carpenter is likely to spend more per year on tools than a programmer. And far more, relative to the income produced. ---
Arvin Meyer
onsite_at_esinet.net Received on Thu May 13 1999 - 09:17:01 CDT