Re: Informix: Please buy Borland

There are a lot of companies that want to buy tools and databases from the same company. There are good reasons for this, as the integration isn't straightforward. With the new Universal Server the integration will have to be extended significantly, and that's no easy task. Informix is the best company to do this. Sybase may have spread their resources to thin, but their basic error was in their server design. They spent a lot of effort in designing paralell queries in a way that simply couldn't work, and also didn't. Several other parts of their database is also far behind. Last year they had 20 programmers working on row level locking. Of course this drained their resources on something others had done from the start. Sybase simply doesn't have good enough designers. If you look at Oracle I think their tools bussiness is important in the success of their database sales even though the tools aren't particularly good. At least you can buy GUI tools from the database vendor. Also Informix did enjoy a tremendous success from having the best development tool available in the character based UI times. Of course I agree also that Informix should work hard with other vendors of development tools. They have had some effort in this area, but far from enough. In my opinion they should have written their own manuals on how to use Delphi, Visual Basic, PowerBuilder and possibly several other tools with Informix databases. To the extent possible this should have been distributed with the tools, and be made available on their web site. There is no real conflict between having their own tools and doing such cooperative efforts with other tool vendors. It's called coopetition. As to Dr. Codd's version 2 RDBMS there are too many faults and arbitrary statements in his definition (see discussion on this issue by mr. C.J.Date a year or two ago in Datbase Programming & Design magazine for further info on this). I doubt that Informix, or any other RDBMS vendors are particularly interested. With the Universal Server Informix have also moved far beyond this "spesification". Having heard Stonebreaker, and his opinons on database design, I think further developments will go in other and better directions. R*A*Schulman@worldnet.att.net (Richard A. Schulman) wrote: :On Wed, 26 Feb 1997 13:44:15 GMT, Nils.Myklebust@idg.no (Nils :Myklebust) wrote: : :>Another option is to b[u]y Symantec. : :I strongly disagree with all this advice that Informix should buy :4GL-vendor X or Y. : :First of all, for the RDBMS company, ownership of a 4GL is a :distraction from the very difficult business of being an RDBMS leader. :Many people think this is precisely what happened to Sybase -- it :became distracted from its core business. : :Secondly, I think that being owned by an RDBMS company is a :kiss-of-death for a 4GL company. One important reason that influences :4GL purchasing decisions is whether the 4GL provides excellent support :for all major RDBMSes. Only then does the purchasing company have the :option of later switching (or mixing and matching) databases if it :wishes. : :Third, Informix has enough of a job getting its sales and marketing :effort straightened out quickly -- very quickly -- lest it lose the :brief advantage it has in several of its recently acquired or :developed DBMS technologies. Management is also distracted presently :by the defection of a major group of developers to Oracle and the :lawsuit it is pursuing in the wake of this. : :The database is the company's core competency, not the 4GL. Informix :should be forming very strong alliances with ALL the leading 4GL and :database driver vendors, especially the Java ones. This is where :Informix historically has been at a disadvantage vis-a-vis Sybase, :Oracle, and Microsoft, namely, in mainstream third-party support. : :As far as technical direction goes, I would like to see Informix :become the leader in implementing Dr. Codd's specifications in "The :Relational Model for Database Management: Version 2." :--- :Richard A. Schulman :// For email reply, be sure to remove the two anti-spamming :// asterisks that will appear in the "to" field of your reply. Nils.Myklebust@idg.no NM Data AS, P.O.Box 9090 Gronland, N-0133 Oslo, Norway My opinions are those of my company The Informix FAQ is at http://www.iiug.org