Re: Informix running on Linux

Nils Myklebust wrote: > > Tim Schaefer <tschaefe@mindspring.com> wrote: > > ...snip of many arguments about NT... > > You seem to have missed my point on a Linux port versus NT (or > anything else). The point is *not* the quality of NT or how > interesting it is for this or that type of user. The point is that > seen from Informix's point of view (which is the only interesting one > in this contest as it is them we have to convince) the Windows NT and > other current ports are interesting and often strategic in and of > themselves. A Linux port also have to be interesting in the same way. > Whether NT is a good or bad database server isn't a big deal in this > situation. Any market on Linux that Informix can earn money on, > directly or indirectly, is the interesting point. I think it is there > and have put forward some arguments as to why. You are spending too > much time on your problems with NT. > Nils, You missed my point about a few things too. I don't worry about Linux impacting NT at all. In fact I hope it blows it out of the water. That's my point, plain and simple. I could care less how much money Informix makes. Why? Because they have abandoned ALL the small-time/small-business developers. They are now getting a good dose of what the market is thinking: Your products are great, but who cares. We can get Oracle and/or Microsoft products in here and not see much difference. In recent product satisfaction surveys, Informix did not have much significance over any of the others. The technology aside, Informix has lost the most important pieces of the computer business: DEVELOPERS and CUSTOMERS. So, to worry about NT is a red herring. Comparing NT to x86 UNIX <IS> relavent, because it resides on an x86 platform. How "interesting" something is means nothing to me. If Informix wants to dabble in markets that are risky, then so be it. They have a stock price to reflect it, somewhere around $6.78 USD last I checked, and now more lawsuits. Informix needs to do some serious apologizing to me and all the people out there who've been ignored. They can put their money where their mouth is. You get DEVELOPERS back and all these platform products will take on new dimensions. The NT market will take care of itself. Right now, if I were to recommend a UNIX solution for client/server, on the small to mid-size end, I'm probably stuck with HP, IBM, or Solaris or maybe SCO, depending on the client, and their ability to pay. I know damn good and well I'd be laughed at to even suggest NT at many sites as a viable SERVER for Informix. If they use NT, SQLServer is probably already there. So, that's an uphill battle I don't even want to think about. I'd rather they buy an HP K-series or T-series server, and then connect across the pipe with Windows PCs. This method has the highest success rate, and is probably dare I say the most popular. But to go to a lesser platform for smaller business, the cost is too high. They roll over to MS. As to Linux's viability in the market: It persists. Anybody who knows the small potatos markets will see that if ONE major player in the data base market goes to Linux, NT doesn't really stand a chance. There's no need for it. The whole point to NT was to provide replacement business for UNIX. Plain and simple. But because Gates doesn't understand the UNIX market he's missed the boat. Now he's using NT to grind on Novell. What a pitiful waste. The OS has not progressed, but the overall cost has. And the other small potato UNIX players don't understand that developers and small businesses are STUCK with NT or overpriced x86 UNIXes that perform poorly. So between MS missing UNIX and UNIX missing UNIX, there's Linux. It's a great product, and right for the time. I refuse to suck up to Informix. I've endorsed their products whole heartedly up until New Era, and continue to endorse them, in spite of their continued arrogance. They should not be coddled to or rewarded for poor performance. They need a swift kick in the ass and come play with the rest of the kids. They think they're too good to market to small business which got them where they are, and they've walked away from the core principles driving this current market. Their stock price proves it. What do I have to do for the future? Go get work with a data blade developer? These people made their money elsewhere first, and now are suddenly Informix's friends, while the rest of us out here are not good enough to even rate a phone call. And now we have to compete with their consultants. They're competing against the very people who built the business. And now we see press releases where Informix is putting up Universal Server sites, to prove that it works. They want to force consensus from the top down, rather than letting us developers get our hands on it. Oracle figured this one out a while back, I can't figure out why Informix remains so arrogant. > I will grant you one thing about NT in this connection: If it's too > expensive or otherwise not interesting for a significant part of the > market it's another argument why Informix should also do a Linux port. They may soon have no choice but to do some revolutionary things. Novell and Digital found out the hard way, Informix can too. Oracle is eating Informix for breakfast, and laughing all the way. The latest ads in Computerworld are a new low for Oracle, but they are enjoying it. > Your basic argument seems to be that they could gain new users that > wouldn't be covered by an NT port (or any of the other ports they now > have). I think you are right on this, but it could have been stated > much simpler without making NT look all bad. Remember who you are > talking to and their very legitimate interests in earning money for > Informix by selling on the platforms where they can do just that. > Again I say, I don't care about how much money they make, or how bad NT looks. Informix has waltzed around like a bunch of Las Vegas gangsters, strutting Universal Server as if everybody is just going to drop what they have, and buy it, at the inflated prices they want. They made a little over a billion dollars last year, and can afford to invest in their customers. This is what it's really all about. Especially in light of the latest lawsuits. I have to cajole and plead to get a developers' copy of the software. It's ridiculous. To make it clear, they should saturate the market with 7.x, and Linux is a great way to do that. It represents the finest of the small end, and can allow rapid market penetration over any other data base product out there. It also allows small business developers to use Informix DSA on the small end. This is one of the biggest markets. Fourgen put out a book when 4GL was in it's heyday about it. Ask them if they still have Gary Gagliardi's book, "How to Build Your Reseller Business". The book came out in 1990 and I dare say much of the information is still current. According to the book, page 10, "90% of the marketplace is small to medium-size organizations". You tell me if we're on to something here. Linux for a data base is only part of the equa