Insider #62: Highlights: IIUG Survey, IDS Training, Chat wit

IIUG Insider (Issue #62) August 2005 Highlights: IIUG Survey, IDS Training, Chat wit the lab, Calendar Welcome to the International Informix Users Group (IIUG) Insider! Designed for IIUG members and Informix user group leaders, this publication contains timely and relevant information for the IBM Informix community. Contents: * Editorial... * The IIUG Survey * The 6 Informix questions and interview with Bruce Weed * IDS V10 Migration Guide * Chat with the Lab * Conference Corner * New Red Books * Gillani Offering free FourGen CASE Tools for 4GL Programmers * Calendar of events * A special note to IIUG members * Useful links * Closing and credits =================================================================== Editorial... =================================================================== August has been a tough month. Not for the IIUG just for me personally. Between leaving my old apartment and moving to my new one I have spent two exhausting weeks in limbo. I hardly had access to the Internet and very little time for the Insider. The result is a much slimmer issue. I am leaving it to your judgment if this is good or bad. I hope to be back on track for the September issue. I hope you have noticed the positive change in IBM's attitude towards Informix. In our effort to help we are conducting a survey for IBM. We will NOT pass your personal data to IBM so please spare a few minutes of your time and take it. We would love to have some Informix success stories as well. If you would like to share them you can send them to me or to Carolyn Woods the IBM liaison to the IIUG Board of Directors at woodsc@us.ibm.com. My email address is still: gary@iiug.org Gary Ben-Israel IIUG Insider Editor IIUG Board of Directors =================================================================== The IIUG Survey =================================================================== The IIUG would like to ask your valuable input in a survey we are conducting. The survey will ask you about your company's current dealings with IBM, database plans, and your perceptions about the future of Informix. This survey will be used by IBM to better understand and react to the needs of its dedicated Informix community. Your information will be shared with IBM on a summarized basis -- no personal information will be provided. Please take a moment now to complete the survey; it will only be online for a limited time. It can be found at: http://www.iiug.org/cgi-bin/survey_Annual_Member_2005.cgi Thank you! Privacy notice - what we do with the results After the survey is closed, we will collect the results and provide them to IBM on a summarized basis - no individual names will be associated with any response. If you provide additional comments, they will be provided anonymously to IBM together with other user comments. =================================================================== The 6 Informix questions and interview with Bruce Weed =================================================================== Here are the questions I've heard hundreds of times since IBM bought Informix in July of 2001: "Is IBM discontinuing Informix?" "Is IBM is going to force Informix users to migrate to DB2?" "Will Informix be around in 5 years? Do I need to move to another database now?" "DB2 is a mainframe-only database, isn't it?" "Why doesn't IBM market Informix?" "What has IBM done for me - the Informix user - lately?" They are indeed valid concerns - the kind of questions for which CIOs and CEOs need clear, concise answers. In this article, which includes an interview with Bruce Weed, Program Director for Informix Marketing, I'll give you the answers. Opinions or Facts? My involvement with the International Informix Users Group (http://www.iiug.org) since 1997 has kept me keenly tuned in to both the user and the company side of the Informix product picture. In addition, one of the two major areas of focus for my company is the sale and support of Informix products so I am very much committed and invested in its future. While some have called me an eternal optimist I do need to make very important decisions about the future; this article is based on everything I know right now. I also believe I can back everything up with empirical evidence: The opinions I express here are based on hundreds of discussions with IBM and users as well as a review of current product roadmaps and releases. I constantly monitor the future of Informix products and I believe everything here is accurate at this point in time. But, I haven't spoken to everyone or heard everything and I'd love to hear what you think! I'm not as connected with the users overseas and would like to hear those experiences as well. To share your experiences, please contact me at ron@iiug.org; I'll publish a summary of feedback in next month's IIUG Insider. Is IBM discontinuing Informix? This is the question that has been troubling IT decision-makers since IBM's acquisition of the Informix product line. Unfortunately, this question has been very much fueled by IBM's database competitors in an attempt to win Informix users. It is very true that during the initial year or so of the transition there was a lot of confusion and uncertainty about the Informix product line. However, IBM has listened to the feedback of the IIUG and its extremely dedicated Informix community, delivering several releases of Informix Dynamic Server, XPS, and Red Brick. An excellent example is the current release of IDS 10, a major version upgrade with a large number of features. In addition, the next several product releases are scheduled through at least 2009. These releases are not just bug-fixes: They will include a number of features and enhancements. In addition, there is no end-of-life scheduled for Informix-SE, OnLine Extended Edition, and XPS, while IDS 7 support has been extended to 2009. The reality is that IBM is one of the largest software companies in the world and they will support their customers as much as possible. It doesn't make business sense to force users to migrate their deeply-embedded database solutions away from the Informix platform they trust. One of the quotes I've heard numerous times from Janet Perna, General Manager of the IBM Information Management division, is that "Informix users will have support as long as they need it." Based on the release schedules and several discussions with IBM, I believe this to be entirely true. Is IBM is going to force Informix users to migrate to DB2? During the first two years of the transition, IBM's direction was to support Informix users indefinitely while enhancing DB2 so that it would be an easy transition for Informix users. Also, we have heard that the message provided to the IBM sales force was that customers should strongly consider migrating to DB2. Neither of these strategies worked, and based on the IDS product announcements and repositioning of IDS as IBM's embedded database of choice (see the interview with Bruce Weed for details), it appears that IBM has indeed listened to the desires of its customer base. The current positioning allows customers to migrate to DB2 if they choose. Outside of that, customers are free to stay on their product of choice. To determine your company's options, I suggest you contact an IBM representative or an IBM Business Partner that works with and understands