Informix future...

https://www.iiug.org/en/2023/07/08/iiug-insider-issue-275-june-2023/#Editorial "IBM and HCL are not interested in developing, marketing or selling Informix. They are satisfied with the revenue from the customers who are still using the product." I also hear Informix almost died last year. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMAmPGJ3KCw 36:21 "Informix is alive and well and making money, please understand that, we are interesting in you, the Informix team is interesting you" Interested they felt the need to say that. I did not hear that from the Db2 team, they do not feel the need to say that. Can someone comment? I am an IBM champion for Informix and built my career on it? ------------------------------ David Williams ------------------------------

Hi Dave & family. Similarly, I hitched my wagon to Informix 30 years ago so this is a concern to me as well. Fortunately, I also fell into some Perl environments so I was able to hone that as well; most of my contracts the past 6 years have been with Perl. +----- Jacob Salomon --------------------------------------------------+ | The first lesson of economics is scarcity: there is never enough of | | anything to fully satisfy all those who want it. The first lesson of | | politics is to disregard the first lesson of economics. | +--------------- Thomas Sowell (Is Reality Optional?::Student Loans) --+

Hi David, I have stated before that I wish the IIUG Insider could be more positive. As a customer I think there is quite a bit to be positive about. I don't know that much about the sales and marketing sides but there is certainly quite a bit of development going on such as Informix v15. To me this web page looks like marketing: https://www.hcl-software.com/informix It's rather strange that two companies have no interest in selling a product to new customers: if this is true it would be good to have some insight from IIUG as to why this is, especially on the HCL side where there is no competing product (DB2). I understood from a presentation a few years ago that HCL planned to integrate Informix into its own applications and in as much as I pay attention to these things, HCL Unica now supports Informix. I suspect part of this relates to no Informix talk being selected for the IBM TechXchange conference but when I look at the web site for this conference, it seems this isn't quite true: https://www.ibm.com/community/ibm-techxchange-catalog/?search.techtracks=1689786983785003hsvv&search=informix#/ Db2, Netezza, and Informix: What's new and What's next [5375] Product Managers discuss new capabilities and the roadmap for multiple IBM Databases. Session Type: Technology Breakout Tech Tracks: Data Topic: Data Management Industry: Cross Industry Technical Level: Intermediate Level Miran Badzak, Program Director, IBM ------------------------------ Benjamin Thompson ------------------------------

HCL DB of choice is now Actian (Ingress of old), they bought the company a few years back. I sell more Informix on HCL paperwork (ie OneDB) cos they will let me sell licenses, IBM just won't. HCL are great to work with and are interested in helping. Cheers Paul On 7/24/2023 10:27 AM, Benjamin Thompson via IBM TechXchange Community wrote: 010001898883834f-1b55eab0-52b0-47a2-851d-2e803af4a319-000000@email.amazonses.com"> Hi David, I have stated before that I wish the IIUG Insider could be more positive. As a customer I think there is quite a bit to be positive... -posted to the "Informix" group Informix Post New Message Re: Informix future... Reply to Group Reply to Sender Jul 24, 2023 11:28 AM Benjamin Thompson Hi David, I have stated before that I wish the IIUG Insider could be more positive. As a customer I think there is quite a bit to be positive about. I don't know that much about the sales and marketing sides but there is certainly quite a bit of development going on such as Informix v15. To me this web page looks like marketing: www.hcl-software.com/informix It's rather strange that two companies have no interest in selling a product to new customers: if this is true it would be good to have some insight from IIUG as to why this is, especially on the HCL side where there is no competing product (DB2). I understood from a presentation a few years ago that HCL planned to integrate Informix into its own applications and in as much as I pay attention to these things, HCL Unica now supports Informix. I suspect part of this relates to no Informix talk being selected for the IBM TechXchange conference but when I look at the web site for this conference, it seems this isn't quite true: www.ibm.com/community/ibm-techxchange-catalog/... Db2, Netezza, and Informix: What's new and What's next [5375] Product Managers discuss new capabilities and the roadmap for multiple IBM Databases. Session Type: Technology Breakout Tech Tracks: Data Topic: Data Management Industry: Cross Industry Technical Level: Intermediate Level Miran Badzak, Program Director, IBM ------------------------------ Benjamin Thompson ------------------------------ Reply to Group Online View Thread Recommend Forward Flag as Inappropriate ------------------------------------------- Original Message: Sent: Sun July 23, 2023 03:05 AM

David, There is a lot of FUD out there which is why I said it on the audio referenced. It has been there for 22 years, that we're dead, we're dying. Yet during that time there have been lots of new development (9.4, 10.1, 11.1, 11.5, 11.7, 12.1, 14.1, and soon 15.1 and a huge number of fix packs containing new development for each of these major releases. This is not indicative of a product that is dying or dead. These are facts. Scott Pickett IBM Informix Product Management spickett@us.ibm.com 617-899-7549

I feel I am slowly being brought up to date :) Actian still seems to like Informix though; there is a nice video short on their web site: https://www.actian.com/data-management/hcl-informix/ ------------------------------ Benjamin Thompson ------------------------------

David et al: First, Informix will not "die" and did not "almost die last year". Informix is probably the biggest cash cow in IBM's software quiver making millions for them. HCL is contractually required to maintain and extend it, according to IBM's guidance, for another 9 years or so and will likely be renewed. Under that contract, HCL is permitted to use the Informix Intellectual Property to create their own products, and so they have created OneDB. OneDB vNext will be resynched with the Informix vNext code (it fell behind after v14.10.FC6) but with additional features that IBM did not feel compelled to add to IBM Informix. HCL has also committed that going forward OneDB will always be a superset of IBM Informix including all bug fixes and new IBM approved features in addition to features exclusive to OneDB. I agree that the fact that IBM will not market Informix is a problem, but, as I have been reminded time and again, IBM does not market any specific products (except when they do - can you say Watson?) only IBM itself and broader concepts like Cloud Computing and Artificial Intelligence. On the plus side for IBM, our own Scott Pickett has been promoted to Product Manager of IBM Informix and will be transitioning from his current position over the next few months. This is a HUGE improvement over the last three of four product managers who had to split their attention between Informix and DB2 (while dealing with hints from above to ignore Informix). ------------------------------ Art S. Kagel, President and Principal Consultant ASK Database Management Corp. www.askdbmgt.com ------------------------------

Scott, Is there a scheduled date (or quarter) for 15.1? Ballpark? Best regards, -Snorri ------------------------------ Snorri Bergmann ------------------------------

Benjamin: See my post to David's question below about OneDB and how it stands versus IBM Informix. HCL Informix is, has been, and will continue to be identical to IBM Informix in every way except for licensing and the name on the package. ------------------------------ Art S. Kagel, President and Principal Consultant ASK Database Management Corp. www.askdbmgt.com ------------------------------

Mid Q1 2024 currently for Vnext Sent from Mail for Windows

Hi, David, We may fall into deep thought, but that's my opinion : I'm working with INFORMIX since 1994. A lot of Government and part of Banking systems in BULGARIA/EUROPЕ are based on INFORMIX. Till this moment NO ONE of this systems was migrated on another DB Server. There is no such kind of bad DB server - but there are a lot of problems with installation, configuration, maintenance and support ..... but not for Informix. Еven in the last "bad" years we sold and install a lot of licenses for such a small country . My choice was and will be Informix. It's my personal and professional decision. If you have any doubts for Informix feature you're already wasting your time. I'm not an Informix evangelist - just 30 years " suffered" ;-) Regards, ------------------------------ Boycho Velkov ------------------------------ David et al: First, Informix will not "die" and did not "almost die last year". Informix is probably the biggest cash cow in IBM's software quiver making millions for them. HCL is contractually required to maintain and extend it, according to IBM's guidance, for another 9 years or so and will likely be renewed. Under that contract, HCL is permitted to use the Informix Intellectual Property to create their own products, and so they have created OneDB. OneDB vNext will be resynched with the Informix vNext code (it fell behind after v14.10.FC6) but with additional features that IBM did not feel compelled to add to IBM Informix. HCL has also committed that going forward OneDB will always be a superset of IBM Informix including all bug fixes and new IBM approved features in addition to features exclusive to OneDB. I agree that the fact that IBM will not market Informix is a problem, but, as I have been reminded time and again, IBM does not market any specific products (except when they do - can you say Watson?) only IBM itself and broader concepts like Cloud Computing and Artificial Intelligence. On the plus side for IBM, our own Scott Pickett has been promoted to Product Manager of IBM Informix and will be transitioning from his current position over the next few months. This is a HUGE improvement over the last three of four product managers who had to split their attention between Informix and DB2 (while dealing with hints from above to ignore Informix). ------------------------------ Art S. Kagel, President and Principal Consultant ASK Database Management Corp. www.askdbmgt.com ------------------------------

But you COULD be an evangelist for Informix, whether IBM Informix or Actian/HCL OneDB. I have dedicated myself to doing that for over 30 years and most intensively since the IBM acquisition 22 years ago. Join me on social media promoting both flavors of Informix! That goes not just for Boycho but for everyone on this forum who loves Informix. ------------------------------ Art S. Kagel, President and Principal Consultant ASK Database Management Corp. www.askdbmgt.com ------------------------------

Hi Ben, It's baffled me for years as to why IBM has no interest in selling Informix to new customers. Maybe someone from IBM can answer that question? As far as no Informix sessions being selected for the the IBM TechXchange Conference... There were 1000 selected and ZERO Informix only were chosen. This is TRUE, The presentation you mention above will probably have about 10 minutes of Informix Roadmap content. Best, Cindy ------------------------------ Cindy Lichtenauer ------------------------------

Hello David, Customers love Informix because of its stability, top features, and extremely high performance on minimal hardware. Except in the Informix Company days, there has never been any special advertising for this self-starter. We have an extremely stable and growing Informix user base in Europe in all major industries. With Informix 15.10 and OneDB 3.0, this will continue in a groundbreaking way. And if you want to meet the whole Informix/OneDB community in person again, then block 3-5 June 24 for your participation in the "leolo Informix Mastermind 2024" at the Interalpen Hotel Tyrol. This will again be a festival of the whole worldwide Informix community. Hope to see you. Best Regards Henri ------------------------------ Henri Cujass leolo IT, CTO Germany IBM Champion 2021 2022 2023 IIUG Board Member henri.cujass@leolo.com ------------------------------ Hi, David, We may fall into deep thought, but that's my opinion : I'm working with INFORMIX since 1994. A lot of Government and part of Banking systems in BULGARIA/EUROPЕ are based on INFORMIX. Till this moment NO ONE of this systems was migrated on another DB Server. There is no such kind of bad DB server - but there are a lot of problems with installation, configuration, maintenance and support ..... but not for Informix. Еven in the last "bad" years we sold and install a lot of licenses for such a small country . My choice was and will be Informix. It's my personal and professional decision. If you have any doubts for Informix feature you're already wasting your time. I'm not an Informix evangelist - just 30 years " suffered" ;-) Regards, ------------------------------ Boycho Velkov ------------------------------ Original Message: Sent: Mon July 24, 2023 12:10 PM From: Art Kagel Subject: Informix future... David et al: First, Informix will not "die" and did not "almost die last year". Informix is probably the biggest cash cow in IBM's software quiver making millions for them. HCL is contractually required to maintain and extend it, according to IBM's guidance, for another 9 years or so and will likely be renewed. Under that contract, HCL is permitted to use the Informix Intellectual Property to create their own products, and so they have created OneDB. OneDB vNext will be resynched with the Informix vNext code (it fell behind after v14.10.FC6) but with additional features that IBM did not feel compelled to add to IBM Informix. HCL has also committed that going forward OneDB will always be a superset of IBM Informix including all bug fixes and new IBM approved features in addition to features exclusive to OneDB. I agree that the fact that IBM will not market Informix is a problem, but, as I have been reminded time and again, IBM does not market any specific products (except when they do - can you say Watson?) only IBM itself and broader concepts like Cloud Computing and Artificial Intelligence. On the plus side for IBM, our own Scott Pickett has been promoted to Product Manager of IBM Informix and will be transitioning from his current position over the next few months. This is a HUGE improvement over the last three of four product managers who had to split their attention between Informix and DB2 (while dealing with hints from above to ignore Informix). ------------------------------ Art S. Kagel, President and Principal Consultant ASK Database Management Corp. www.askdbmgt.com

Hi, What do you mean IBM will not sell Informix licenses? What? I am sure Microsoft,, Oracle, Sybase etc will love to hear that! If IBM were serious about Informix woluldn't they sell licenses? Or would that compete with DB2? NIH. Answers? David. ------------------------------ David Williams ------------------------------ HCL DB of choice is now Actian (Ingress of old), they bought the company a few years back. I sell more Informix on HCL paperwork (ie OneDB) cos they will let me sell licenses, IBM just won't. HCL are great to work with and are interested in helping. Cheers Paul On 7/24/2023 10:27 AM, Benjamin Thompson via IBM TechXchange Community wrote: 010001898883834f-1b55eab0-52b0-47a2-851d-2e803af4a319-000000@email.amazonses.com "> Hi David, I have stated before that I wish the IIUG Insider could be more positive. As a customer I think there is quite a bit to be positive... -posted to the "Informix" group Informix Post New Message Re: Informix future... Reply to Group Reply to Sender Jul 24, 2023 11:28 AM Benjamin Thompson Hi David, I have stated before that I wish the IIUG Insider could be more positive. As a customer I think there is quite a bit to be positive about. I don't know that much about the sales and marketing sides but there is certainly quite a bit of development going on such as Informix v15. To me this web page looks like marketing: www.hcl-software.com/informix It's rather strange that two companies have no interest in selling a product to new customers: if this is true it would be good to have some insight from IIUG as to why this is, especially on the HCL side where there is no competing product (DB2). I understood from a presentation a few years ago that HCL planned to integrate Informix into its own applications and in as much as I pay attention to these things, HCL Unica now supports Informix. I suspect part of this relates to no Informix talk being selected for the IBM TechXchange conference but when I look at the web site for this conference, it seems this isn't quite true: www.ibm.com/community/ibm-techxchange-catalog/... Db2, Netezza, and Informix: What's new and What's next [5375] Product Managers discuss new capabilities and the roadmap for multiple IBM Databases. Session Type: Technology Breakout Tech Tracks: Data Topic: Data Management Industry: Cross Industry Technical Level: Intermediate Level Miran Badzak, Program Director, IBM ------------------------------ Benjamin Thompson ------------------------------ Reply to Group Online View Thread Recommend Forward Flag as Inappropriate Original Message: Sent: Sun July 23, 2023 03:05 AM Original Message: Sent: 7/24/2023 11:28:00 AM From: Benjamin Thompson Subject: RE: Informix future... Hi David, I have stated before that I wish the IIUG Insider could be more positive. As a customer I think there is quite a bit to be positive about. I don't know that much about the sales and marketing sides but there is certainly quite a bit of development going on such as Informix v15. To me this web page looks like marketing: https://www.hcl-software.com/informix It's rather strange that two companies have no interest in selling a product to new customers: if this is true it would be good to have some insight from IIUG as to why this is, especially on the HCL side where there is no competing product (DB2). I understood from a presentation a few years ago that HCL planned to integrate Informix into its own applications and in as much as I pay attention to these things, HCL Unica now supports Informix. I suspect part of this relates to no Informix talk being selected for the IBM TechXchange conference but when I look at the web site for this conference, it seems this isn't quite true: https://www.ibm.com/community/ibm-techxchange-catalog/?search.techtracks=1689786983785003hsvv&search=informix#/ Db2, Netezza, and Informix: What's new and What's next [5375] Product Managers discuss new capabilities and the roadmap for multiple IBM Databases. Session Type: Technology Breakout Tech Tracks: Data Topic: Data Management Industry: Cross Industry Technical Level: Intermediate Level Miran Badzak, Program Director, IBM ------------------------------ Benjamin Thompson ------------------------------

David: Forgive Cindy's informal language. Of course if you go to OBM and ask for a new license they will indeed sell you that license, even if you are not already an Informix customer. What was meant is that IBM has no interest in seeking out new customers for Informix. They are happy to just keep collecting support renewals. They do kot actively "sell" Informix just like they do not advertise or otherwise market or promote Informix. There has not been an Informix press release in about ten years. The only reason the industry knows about the HCL deal is that I broke the news on social media and in my Blog so HCL sent out a press release afterwards. ------------------------------ Art S. Kagel, President and Principal Consultant ASK Database Management Corp. www.askdbmgt.com ------------------------------

Hi Cindy, I agree with what you're saying about the TechXchange Conference: it's not worth anyone's time if they are looking for Informix content. I am sceptical about the statement in the editorial, " HCL is not interested in developing, marketing or selling Informix", which I think needs more nuance and filling out with some background information, to permit readers to better judge for themselves what the situation is. I hope no-one takes this comment at face value. AFAIK HCL is doing all three of those things. Could it do more? Maybe. As for "IBM is not interested in developing, marketing or selling Informix" [to new customers] - well that's been discussed in here umpteen times and they've always relied on business partners. Should I read between the lines that neither IBM nor HCL will contribute towards an Informix conference? I got a lot out of the ones I attended in the past. Ben. ------------------------------ Benjamin Thompson ------------------------------

What I mean is IBM will not let me sell Informix licenses out-of-country, Actian will let me sell anywhere in the world On 7/26/2023 7:19 AM, David Williams via IBM TechXchange Community wrote: 0100018992244d0e-f50f60af-422e-4080-ab77-c774011bb221-000000@email.amazonses.com"> Hi, What do you mean IBM will not sell Informix licenses? WTF I am sure Microsoft,, Oracle, Sybase etc will love to hear that! If IBM... -posted to the "Informix" group Informix Post New Message Re: Informix future... Reply to Group Reply to Sender Jul 26, 2023 8:20 AM David Williams Hi, What do you mean IBM will not sell Informix licenses? WTF I am sure Microsoft,, Oracle, Sybase etc will love to hear that! If IBM were serious about Informix woluldn't they sell licenses? Or would that compete with DB2? NIH. Answers? David. ------------------------------ David Williams ------------------------------ Reply to Group Online View Thread Recommend Forward Flag as Inappropriate ------------------------------------------- Original Message: Sent: Mon July 24, 2023 11:35 AM

re: " HCL is not interested in developing, marketing or selling Informix" They are developing the product, Informix 14.50 or 15.10 (depending on who you speak to) and OneDB3.0 will have a lot new stuff. A good number of the RFEs are supposed to have been cleared. I wish HCL/Actian had stuck to the name OneDB2 - there is only One DB2 is a create tag line :-) No idea on Marketing They sell as Informix or as OneDB Cheers Paul On 7/26/2023 8:07 AM, Benjamin Thompson via IBM TechXchange Community wrote: 01000189924f8a50-d2cb241b-5a08-4771-9130-12747e10457a-000000@email.amazonses.com"> Hi Cindy, I agree with what you're saying about the TechXchange Conference: it's not worth anyone's time if they are looking for Informix... Informix Post New Message Re: Informix future... Reply to Group Reply to Sender Jul 26, 2023 9:07 AM Benjamin Thompson Hi Cindy, I agree with what you're saying about the TechXchange Conference: it's not worth anyone's time if they are looking for Informix content. I am sceptical about the statement in the editorial, " HCL is not interested in developing, marketing or selling Informix", which I think needs more nuance and filling out with some background information, to permit readers to better judge for themselves what the situation is. I hope no-one takes this comment at face value. AFAIK HCL is doing all three of those things. Could it do more? Maybe. As for "IBM is not interested in developing, marketing or selling Informix" [to new customers] - well that's been discussed in here umpteen times and they've always relied on business partners. Should I read between the lines that neither IBM nor HCL will contribute towards an Informix conference? I got a lot out of the ones I attended in the past. Ben. ------------------------------ Benjamin Thompson ------------------------------ Reply to Group Online View Thread Recommend Forward Flag as Inappropriate ------------------------------------------- Original Message: Sent: Tue July 25, 2023 08:02 PM

ALL - Please vote the below ideas up Hi, If IBM are serious where are the following in Informix? DB2 has them and IBM has owned both code bases for over 20 years, what is the delay? Merge DB2 and Informix? Sure merge them on the Informix code base User level threading so less user->kernel transactions so more efficient Less stack depth for common operations in Informix e.g. Buffered index reads Informix has more advanced extentsions capability than Db2 datablades. Talking about datablades, why does https://www.ibm.com/docs/vi/informix-servers/14.10?topic=overview-whats-new-in-informix#concept_v1410xc9__1410xc9_blades say "Support for blademgr and DataBlade Developers Kit (DBDK) is removed starting Informix Server 14.10.xC6. Standard blades will be autoregistered. You should use SYSBldPrepare() function to register user defined blades." We can still register blades but how do we develop them without the DataBlade Developers Kit? https://ideas.ibm.com/ideas/INFX-I-479 Add columnar indexes to Informix. - Future consideration Db2,Oracle,SQL Server have these, Sybase (IQ), KDB (Timeseries columar) have these. DB2 has had this for 5 years+, where is the Informix version? https://ideas.ibm.com/ideas/INFX-I-488 Add MPP/DPF/XPS Clustering to Informix - Future consideration Db2,Oracle,SQL Server (used to be Parallel Data Warehouse) Even Sybase has this with Compute Cluster, where is the Informix Verson, XPS was killed! Sybase in 2019 had no roadmap beyond 2025 and people were saying it would die then and even they had developed 1 database across multiple VMs! DB2 has had this for 5 years+, where is the Informix version? https://ideas.ibm.com/ideas/INFX-I-489 Informix Purescale - Future consideration Oracle RAC< DB2 Purescale, where is the Informix Version? DB2 has had this for 5 years+, where is the Informix version? https://ideas.ibm.com/ideas/INFX-I-539 Add Block Indexes to informix - Submitted DB2 MDC has this, even Postgres has BRIN Indexes. DB2 has had this for 5 years+, where is the Informix version? https://ideas.ibm.com/ideas/INFX-I-540 Add Materialized Views to Infomrix same as Oracle and DB2 - Submitted Oracle has had this for decades, DB2 has MQTs. In multi-machine version MQTs can even be broadcast to each node! https://ideas.ibm.com/ideas/INFX-I-541 Add MDC Multidimension Clustering Tables to Informix same as DB2 - Submitted DB2 has had this for 5 years+, where is the Informix version? https://ideas.ibm.com/ideas/INFX-I-486 NUMA aware memory allocations. - Future consideration DB2, Oracle, SQL Server DB2 has had this for 5 years+, where is the Informix version? https://ideas.ibm.com/ideas/INFX-I-542 Timeseries support compression - Submitted KDB has had this since at least 2017, how does Informix compete? https://ideas.ibm.com/ideas/INFX-I-543 Timeseries support more than 1 concurrent write per container/chunk. - Submitted Heard this was an issues in 2017 or earlier, have not heard it has been fixed. KDB has had this since at least 2017, how does Informix compete? David. ------------------------------ David Williams ------------------------------

Hi, I am getting cynical but..HCL are doing a lot of stuff that should have been done by IBM decades ago. Sure vNext fixes the storage limits ("No more extents" that everyone hits with Informix and not Oracle/SQL Server/Postgres etc) but once HCL have those issues fixed to reduce the costs of admining Informix with their apps then what? Once Informix meets HCLs need to own their own database that works well with their apps will they want to improve the product futther? Or just keep their costs down, as Art just said they did not put out a press release until he kind of pushed them into it. David. ------------------------------ David Williams ------------------------------

RE: "Support for blademgr and DataBlade Developers Kit (DBDK) is removed starting Informix Server 14.10.xC6. Standard blades will be autoregistered. You should use SYSBldPrepare() function to register user defined blades." This is awful phrasing by IBM, I have written datablades and bladelets for years now and I have never used the DBDK since Windows 98. You do not need the DBDK at all, I don't think it has been downloadable for years, and probably won't install under Windows anymore But the phrasing implies you can't do blade development anymore. Cheers Paul On 7/26/2023 8:26 AM, David Williams via IBM TechXchange Community wrote: 010001899261158d-531b756c-a84c-4265-a4ea-3a934078f1e6-000000@email.amazonses.com"> ALL - Please vote the below ideas up Hi, If IBM are serious where are the following in Informix? DB2 has them and IBM has owned both code... -posted to the "Informix" group Informix Post New Message Re: Informix future... Reply to Group Reply to Sender Jul 26, 2023 9:26 AM David Williams ALL - Please vote the below ideas up Hi, If IBM are serious where are the following in Informix? DB2 has them and IBM has owned both code bases for over 20 years, what is the delay? Merge DB2 and Informix? Sure merge them on the Informix code base User level threading so less user->kernel transactions so more efficient Less stack depth for common operations in Informix e.g. Buffered index reads Informix has more advanced extentsions capability than Db2 datablades. Talking about datablades, why does www.ibm.com/docs/vi/informix-servers/... say "Support for blademgr and DataBlade Developers Kit (DBDK) is removed starting Informix Server 14.10.xC6. Standard blades will be autoregistered. You should use SYSBldPrepare() function to register user defined blades." We can still register blades but how do we develop them without the DataBlade Developers Kit? ideas.ibm.com/ideas/INFX-I-479 Add columnar indexes to Informix. - Future consideration Db2,Oracle,SQL Server have these, Sybase (IQ), KDB (Timeseries columar) have these. DB2 has had this for 5 years+, where is the Informix version? ideas.ibm.com/ideas/INFX-I-488 Add MPP/DPF/XPS Clustering to Informix - Future consideration Db2,Oracle,SQL Server (used to be Parallel Data Warehouse) Even Sybase has this with Compute Cluster, where is the Informix Verson, XPS was killed! Sybase in 2019 had no roadmap beyond 2025 and people were saying it would die then and even they had developed 1 database across multiple VMs! DB2 has had this for 5 years+, where is the Informix version? ideas.ibm.com/ideas/INFX-I-489 Informix Purescale - Future consideration Oracle RAC< DB2 Purescale, where is the Informix Version? DB2 has had this for 5 years+, where is the Informix version? ideas.ibm.com/ideas/INFX-I-539 Add Block Indexes to informix - Submitted DB2 MDC has this, even Postgres has BRIN Indexes. DB2 has had this for 5 years+, where is the Informix version? ideas.ibm.com/ideas/INFX-I-540 Add Materialized Views to Infomrix same as Oracle and DB2 - Submitted Oracle has had this for decades, DB2 has MQTs. In multi-machine version MQTs can even be broadcast to each node! ideas.ibm.com/ideas/INFX-I-541 Add MDC Multidimension Clustering Tables to Informix same as DB2 - Submitted DB2 has had this for 5 years+, where is the Informix version? ideas.ibm.com/ideas/INFX-I-486 NUMA aware memory allocations. - Future consideration DB2, Oracle, SQL Server DB2 has had this for 5 years+, where is the Informix version? ideas.ibm.com/ideas/INFX-I-542 Timeseries support compression - Submitted KDB has had this since at least 2017, how does Informix compete? ideas.ibm.com/ideas/INFX-I-543 Timeseries support more than 1 concurrent write per container/chunk. - Submitted Heard this was an issues in 2017 or earlier, have not heard it has been fixed. KDB has had this since at least 2017, how does Informix compete? David. ------------------------------ David Williams ------------------------------ Reply to Group Online View Thread Recommend Forward Flag as Inappropriate ------------------------------------------- Original Message: Sent: Mon July 24, 2023 11:35 AM

Hello all, IBM will allow you to sell Informix or any other product from their portfolio. Now, whether you can sell in your country or other countries depends on your geography and the rules might be different from one geography to another. IBM is happy to sell Informix or any other product as a matter of fact as long as it generates money for them. IBM does not promote Informix as an answer to a customer who wants a database without specifically saying that they want Informix. All they care about is the money that comes in; it does not have any color for them ( IBM). Do we as a partner sell Informix to new customers, the answer is : it is rare but we have done it last year ( replacement of Oracle by Informix in our case). Most of our sales are on new projects on the installed base because customers like the product. Why is Informix not sold that much: this is because of the market and the way customers perceive Informix today. Why is that : because IBM never promoted Informix as the database to sell and because there are not enough knowledgeable Informix people out there to hire and the image of a legacy product. It is true that IBM does not promote Informix but they really do not promote anything. They do not care about Informix as a product but only the money it generates for them. Now, they are happy to sell it if the customer wants it. So Informix is still being sold and IBM is happy to get the revenue from it. But, do not expect the sales to explode or the customers wanting Informix for their new projects or Informix being promoted by IBM. It was the same 10 years ago, 5 years ago, last year and it still is the same as long as the product keeps evolving technically and part of the IBM price list let us move forward. Informix is a great product as you all know but not very visible and will never be. Khaled Bentebal de mon portable

Hi All, Since Garys editorial has caused such a stir, I've asked him to write a follow up. (This will also be in the next Insider) Cindy FROM GARY BEN ISRAEL: The future of Informix In my June editorial I expressed my concern about the future of Informix. As I said Informix is NOT dead. There is a road map for Informix v15. It has been delayed more than once. The current date is 2024 Q1. We are yet to see if this date will be met and what will version 15 include. Will there be new innovations? Will Informix continue to lead technologically? No one is going to kill Informix. IBM and HCL are happy with their revenues and many customers are still depending on the product. IBM is happy with Informix, but they are unhappy with the Informix user community. They want to get rid of the IIUG. We have demands, we are telling the truth to our users, we want more. So, after 22 years of supporting the IIUG we have no budget. At the TechXchange conference there will be no Informix sessions. IBM does not want the IIUG to have a technical event in 2023. IBM Informix management, except Scott Pickett, will not speak with the IIUG board. HCL is not responsive as well. I believe that an active user community is essential for any product. Your posts mean you care. But we need more. They say that hope is the last thing you lose. I am still hoping. ------------------------------ Cindy Lichtenauer ------------------------------

Hi Ben, Regarding your question about an Informix conference.... The IIUG would love nothing more than to plan and execute another IIUG Informix conference! IMHO, it's the best thing we have ever done and can offer our User Community. HOWEVER, in order to put on an event, we need financial support from sponsors. IBM has been our primary sponsor and source of income for the last 15+ years. Unfortunately, over the past five years they have been slowly defunding the IIUG. So much so, that this year they are only going to give us enough money to keep the organization afloat. (meaning we can continue with a website, the Insider, monthly TechTalks, etc). They have told us that next year we will receive ZERO funds. Going forward, the IIUG will try and continue to stay alive as long as we can. As far as HCL sponsoring the IIUG, I am told it is a possibility and we are going to pursue it. But, I doubt it will be enough to put on another IIUG Informix Conference. If anyone would like to let IBM know your feelings on defunding the User Group, please email me privately at cindy@iiug.org and I can put you in touch with the people responsible for these decisions. Cindy ------------------------------ Cindy Lichtenauer ------------------------------