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Home -> Community -> Usenet -> c.d.o.server -> Re: informix/oracle comparison
in article 3B2A6A2B.558FC8C0_at_ca.ibm.com, Serge Rielau at srielau_at_ca.ibm.com wrote on 6/15/01 1:03 PM:
> Informix is NOT getting dropped, not now and not later.
> Any other statement is Oracle marketing.
>
> http://www-4.ibm.com/software/data/informix/directions.html
> Please download the whitepaper, it doesn't get much clearer than that.
>
> Cheers
> Serge
>
>
Warning - Oracle Employee Bias. These are of course my own views.
Hmm - interesting disclaimer at the bottom of the last page (always read a document backwards :-) )
"This document expresses IBM's current intentions and plans, which are subject to change. This document is not intended to and does not create a binding obligation of IBM to provide maintenance, support, enhancements or upgrades for any product. Maintenance, support, enhancements or upgrades for Informix products will be provided in accordance with and subject to the terms of specific written agreements."
Basically as any indication of the future that IBM can be held to, the whitepaper is not worth the electrons it consumes.
As to why IBM did it - buying Informix was the quickest way IBM could get
additional marketshare - they simply could not have spent the $1 billion any
other way and hoped to get the same result as quickly. It's a gamble that
IBM will be able to maintain this additional marktshare for the long term
(3-5 years), but I think they truely believe they will. And over 3-5 years,
a billion dollars is nothing for a company the size of IBM. Note that IBM
also had several pending court cases against Informix over patent
infringement - see
http://www.computingsa.co.za/2000/02/14/International/int09.htm - that the
new management at Informix probably didn't want to have to fight - much
easier to simply sell IBM the product than spend years in litigation, or
having to licence technology from IBM anyhow.
And forget OS/2 as an indicator - that WAS an IBM product, with deep cultural roots in IBM. Can you say Dynix, anyone ? Received on Mon Jun 18 2001 - 20:12:17 CDT
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