Re: Informix vs. Oracle wuz: Re: Informix?
Just to add a few comments here Mr. Parker. The fellow that you are responding to is right on every single count. I was in a meeting with one of the analysts last year. He was saying that the descision to buy a database these days has a lot to do on the overall package such as Support, performance, stability of the product, professional services, financial stability of the database vendor itself etc etc. The fact that one might have some fancy technology (such as non-preemptive thread switching in a Unix process) will only attract a minority of the descision makers. The ones who put heavy emphasis on fancy technology. These people according to this analyst constituted only 11% of the market. This is one example of the marketing effort that has been lacking and Dave is pointing it out. We are all waiting and hoping for the best. Saeed In article <645thb$mnu@cssun.mathcs.emory.edu>, jparker@informix.com (Jack Parker) wrote: > >Spot on in your analysis. However I'm not saying, by any means, that this >is the only or primary reason. > >A thousand shames on Informix for not moving to intercept that >>decision by marketing Informix so damn well that no manager making such a >>decision would ever consider NOT talking to Informix BEFORE making it. >>In almost 10 years at Informix I shudder to think about the deals lost >over the >>*impression* upper management (at potential customers) had of Informix vs. >>Oracle, even when they ceded the technical edge to Informix. And those were >>only the deals we got into. How many were there where we never even got the >>opportunity to offer an alternative? >> >>The biggest reason for the current market share distribution is 17 years >of ABYSMAL >>marketing by Informix. And there is STILL no signs of improvement. >What's up with >>that? > >I cannot comment on that as such, I'm not and have never been from the >sales side of anyone's house. What I saw over the past decade coming from >Oracle was a massive sales effort - aimed at everybody and their uncle, >which placed heavy emphasis on how good their product was, despite evidence >to the contrary. Hard sell jobs. Huge commissions to sales people. Heavy >emphasis on sales and minimal emphasis on product or quality. > >At the same time what I saw from Informix was emphasis on developing a good >product and solving people's problems - NOT on selling it. So if you >wanted something good you went to Informix, if your manager wasn't powerful >enough to fend off the Big O salespeople you went with Oracle. > >Somehow that left a pretty good taste in my mouth with regard to Informix, >at the same time I was worried that the company might not be there tomorrow >unless they started to sell. Enter Phil White. I don't have the inside >scoop on what went on back then, I only know that I started to see a lot >more jobs become available with Informix written across them. I don't know >if that should be ascribed to Phil or not. Now we have Bob and I have a >very good feeling about that. I think we'll be here for a while - now >speaking of being off topic... > >What happened to your address dave? > >cheers >j. > >As always I do NOT speak for my employers in this group. > //////////////// Jack Parker > ////////// // Informix ECS Burlington MA > ////// / /// 25 Burlington Mall Rd, Suite 400 > ///// // //// Burlington, Ma 01803 > //// // ///// 617-238-1619 > /// // ////// jparker @ informix com > // // /////// _________________________________________________________ > / // //////// 'Outside of a dog a book is a man's best friend, > //////////////// inside of a dog it's too dark to read.' - Groucho Marx >__________________________________________________________________________ _ >echo '[q]sa[ln0=aln256%Pln256/snlbx]sb3135071790101768542287578439snlbxq'|dc >