Re: Informix SE 7.x: Does it support data types 'text', 'varchar'??

Christian Kirsch <ck@held.mind.de> wrote: > In article <35ccde6d.0@news2.uswest.net>, > krwall@uswest.net writes: >> >> I don't find it ironic, just a sign of incredible ingratitude. The Linux >> community finally get an industrial strength DBMS from a major vendor, and >> immediately complain about missing features in a free version. How many >> actually took the time to bang out a quick "thanks" to Informix for doing >> so? I did, and encourage my colleagues to do the same. > Could you elaborate a bit more on the points "industrial strength" and > "missing features"? IMHO this is an obvious contradiction -- or are > missing features vital for industrial strength? Missing features: BLOB support, byte data type (IIRC), 4GL product. Industrial strength: BLOB support and the byte data type are commonly supported in databases these days but (with the arguable exception of the byte data type) IMHO one doesn't need BLOB support to have a sturdy, bullet-proof DBMS. I'm sure that Informix isn't bullet-proof, of course, but neither are any of its competitors, particularly the Other Database. My point, though, remains: instead of complaining about what we didn't get (4GL is forthcoming, anyway), I appreciate Informix doing a complete reversal of their position, stated sometime in October last year, that they would not release a version for Linux. If Linux is to obtain more credibility, it needs the support of major vendors like Informix. Kurt -- kwall@uswest.net http://www.users.uswest.net