Re: IBM Gives Away DB2

Graham Smith wrote: > The last of the database giants is adapting to the demands of all-you-can-eat, > no-money-down, open-source code, with IBM set to roll out a freebie DB2 > version on Jan. 30. > > DB2 Universal Database Express-C (Community Edition) will offer the same core > DB2 server, but in a smaller package, designed for application embedding as > well as software development, deployment and redistribution. > > http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1916097,00.asp They scoffed when I suggested IDS go Open Source... guess it wasn't so far off the mark now was it? A waste of time with MySQL...riiiiiiiiiiight! "We're making DB2 more accessible to "the LAMP (Linux/Apache/MySQL/PHP-Perl) community of users," Spang said. "This gets exciting as we update DB2 Express later this year with the DB2 Viper update. It will include the industry's first hybrid data server, serving both relational and nonrelational data structures. Bye Bye Informix!

Double Echo said: > > They scoffed when I suggested IDS go Open Source... guess it wasn't > so far off the mark now was it? Could you please provide me with some of your prescription medication? I'm struggling to follow your logic as I am unfortunately quite sober. Even Bruichladdich isn't getting me far enough out of my mind. -- Bye now, Obnoxio "C'est pas parce qu'on n'a rien ' dire qu'il faut fermer sa gueule" - Coluche did i mention i like nulls? heck, i even go so far as to say that all columns in a table except the primary key could/should be nullable. this has certain advantages, for example, if you need to insert a child record and you don't have a parent row for it, just do an insert into the parent table with the primary key value (everything else null), and voila, relational integrity is preserved. but this is, admittedly, a bit controversial among modellers. --r937, dbforums.com

Obnoxio The Clown wrote: > Could you please provide me with some of your prescription medication? I'm > struggling to follow your logic as I am unfortunately quite sober. Even > Bruichladdich isn't getting me far enough out of my mind. > Don't have any prescription medication, sorry. I suggested IDS go open source, what, a couple of weeks ago, and here we see a DB2 product going Open Source, _despite_ the many folks here who scoffed at the idea that a commercial product, like a DB2 or an IDS would or could.

Double Echo said: > > Obnoxio The Clown wrote: > >> Could you please provide me with some of your prescription medication? >> I'm >> struggling to follow your logic as I am unfortunately quite sober. Even >> Bruichladdich isn't getting me far enough out of my mind. >> > > Don't have any prescription medication, sorry. I suggested IDS go open > source, what, a couple of weeks ago, and here we see a DB2 product going > Open Source, _despite_ the many folks here who scoffed at the idea that a > commercial product, like a DB2 or an IDS would or could. It's going Open Source? Where do you see that? There's an ENORMOUS difference between "free license" and Open Source. -- Bye now, Obnoxio "C'est pas parce qu'on n'a rien ' dire qu'il faut fermer sa gueule" - Coluche did i mention i like nulls? heck, i even go so far as to say that all columns in a table except the primary key could/should be nullable. this has certain advantages, for example, if you need to insert a child record and you don't have a parent row for it, just do an insert into the parent table with the primary key value (everything else null), and voila, relational integrity is preserved. but this is, admittedly, a bit controversial among modellers. --r937, dbforums.com

Obnoxio The Clown wrote: > > Double Echo said: >> >> Obnoxio The Clown wrote: >> >>> Could you please provide me with some of your prescription medication? >>> I'm >>> struggling to follow your logic as I am unfortunately quite sober. Even >>> Bruichladdich isn't getting me far enough out of my mind. >>> >> >> Don't have any prescription medication, sorry. I suggested IDS go open >> source, what, a couple of weeks ago, and here we see a DB2 product going >> Open Source, _despite_ the many folks here who scoffed at the idea that a >> commercial product, like a DB2 or an IDS would or could. > > It's going Open Source? Where do you see that? There's an ENORMOUS > difference between "free license" and Open Source. > I think that DoubleEcho means that IBM is trying to get some mindfulness in the open source community. Positioning DB2 as alternative to mysql or postgres inside the open source stack (linux apache, php/perl/python...). However a real open source IDS, like they already have done with cloudscape, would be a great chance for Informix to get some market penetration back. I'm not sure, but it looks like to me that in the next 1-2 years, database vendors will not charge for their licenses anymore. The Sun/Oracle announcement and the DB2 Express offer might be first indications of a changing mindset. Giving away the license for free and charging for support and services.

Eric Herber said: > > However a real open source IDS, like they already have done with > cloudscape, would be a great chance for Informix to get some > market penetration back. Why? To a business person, "free" means something, "open source" means nothing. If IBM offered a free "IDS Express" that competed in the same space, it would be the thing that would get IDS into the mix. To people who have a vision about how IT could be, Open Source means something. To someone running a business, it means nothing. The only reason there has been any acceptance of open source in the business community is the sticker price. And once you factor in the outrageous support contract prices from people offering commercial support, it's often cheaper to buy a commercial product. TANSTAAFL: the sticker price of commercial software helps subsidise the support costs. -- Bye now, Obnoxio "C'est pas parce qu'on n'a rien ' dire qu'il faut fermer sa gueule" - Coluche did i mention i like nulls? heck, i even go so far as to say that all columns in a table except the primary key could/should be nullable. this has certain advantages, for example, if you need to insert a child record and you don't have a parent row for it, just do an insert into the parent table with the primary key value (everything else null), and voila, relational integrity is preserved. but this is, admittedly, a bit controversial among modellers. --r937, dbforums.com

Obnoxio The Clown wrote: > Double Echo said: > >>Obnoxio The Clown wrote: >> >> >>>Could you please provide me with some of your prescription medication? >>>I'm >>>struggling to follow your logic as I am unfortunately quite sober. Even >>>Bruichladdich isn't getting me far enough out of my mind. >>> >> >>Don't have any prescription medication, sorry. I suggested IDS go open >>source, what, a couple of weeks ago, and here we see a DB2 product going >>Open Source, _despite_ the many folks here who scoffed at the idea that a >>commercial product, like a DB2 or an IDS would or could. > > > It's going Open Source? Where do you see that? There's an ENORMOUS > difference between "free license" and Open Source. > You're right! I meant free. :0) I was so happy to see this my pen broke.

Eric Herber wrote: > Obnoxio The Clown wrote: > > >>Double Echo said: >> >>>Obnoxio The Clown wrote: >>> >>> >>>>Could you please provide me with some of your prescription medication? >>>>I'm >>>>struggling to follow your logic as I am unfortunately quite sober. Even >>>>Bruichladdich isn't getting me far enough out of my mind. >>>> >>> >>>Don't have any prescription medication, sorry. I suggested IDS go open >>>source, what, a couple of weeks ago, and here we see a DB2 product going >>>Open Source, _despite_ the many folks here who scoffed at the idea that a >>>commercial product, like a DB2 or an IDS would or could. >> >>It's going Open Source? Where do you see that? There's an ENORMOUS >>difference between "free license" and Open Source. >> > > > I think that DoubleEcho means that IBM is trying to get > some mindfulness in the open source community. Positioning DB2 > as alternative to mysql or postgres inside the open source stack > (linux apache, php/perl/python...). > > However a real open source IDS, like they already have done with > cloudscape, would be a great chance for Informix to get some > market penetration back. > It would also protect Informix from disappearing from the landscape. Even Ingres won't disappear now that it's open source, for what its worth. > I'm not sure, but it looks like to me that in the next 1-2 years, > database vendors will not charge for their licenses anymore. It does suggest that MySQL is making more of an impact than the big three are willing to admit. > The Sun/Oracle announcement and the DB2 Express offer might be > first indications of a changing mindset. > Giving away the license for free and charging for support and > services. > > I think you're right. I may be a bit premature in my excitement, but open source is probably the next step. It might be more a matter of the legal dept trying to figure out how to GPL the code, than being willing to do it. There may be a lot of big ticket sales for the 'enterprise' versions, and not as many in the smaller space, thus the new strategy of going after MySQL--and even MS-SQL-Server. Elan Le Blanc was probably smart enough not to tell us that, but simple math at this point would lead you in that direction. MySQL is short on one thing though, they don't have a benchmark, which appears to be important in the larger corporate space. eWeek compared it to Oracle what two years ago and this may be why all the fuss to get a free db out there.

Double Echo wrote: > Eric Herber wrote: > >> Obnoxio The Clown wrote: >> >> >>> Double Echo said: >>> >>>> Obnoxio The Clown wrote: >>>> >>>> >>>>> Could you please provide me with some of your prescription medication? >>>>> I'm >>>>> struggling to follow your logic as I am unfortunately quite sober. >>>>> Even >>>>> Bruichladdich isn't getting me far enough out of my mind. >>>>> >>>> >>>> Don't have any prescription medication, sorry. I suggested IDS go open >>>> source, what, a couple of weeks ago, and here we see a DB2 product >>>> going >>>> Open Source, _despite_ the many folks here who scoffed at the idea >>>> that a >>>> commercial product, like a DB2 or an IDS would or could. >>> >>> >>> It's going Open Source? Where do you see that? There's an ENORMOUS >>> difference between "free license" and Open Source. >>> >> >> >> I think that DoubleEcho means that IBM is trying to get some >> mindfulness in the open source community. Positioning DB2 >> as alternative to mysql or postgres inside the open source stack >> (linux apache, php/perl/python...). >> >> However a real open source IDS, like they already have done with >> cloudscape, would be a great chance for Informix to get some >> market penetration back. >> > > It would also protect Informix from disappearing from the landscape. > Even Ingres won't disappear now that it's open source, for what its > worth. > >> I'm not sure, but it looks like to me that in the next 1-2 years, >> database vendors will not charge for their licenses anymore. > > > It does suggest that MySQL is making more of an impact than the big > three are willing to admit. > >> The Sun/Oracle announcement and the DB2 Express offer might be >> first indications of a changing mindset. >> Giving away the license for free and charging for support and >> services. >> >> > > I think you're right. I may be a bit premature in my excitement, > but open source is probably the next step. It might be more a > matter of the legal dept trying to figure out how to GPL the code, > than being willing to do it. There may be a lot of big ticket > sales for the 'enterprise' versions, and not as many in the smaller > space, thus the new strategy of going after MySQL--and even MS-SQL-Server. > Elan Le Blanc was probably smart enough not to tell us that, but simple > math at this point would lead you in that direction. MySQL is short on > one thing though, they don't have a benchmark, which appears to be > important in the larger corporate space. eWeek compared it to > Oracle what two years ago and this may be why all the fuss to get > a free db out there. I don't see any of the big three open source their products any time soon. There is no need. Cheers Serge -- Serge Rielau DB2 Solutions Development DB2 UDB for Linux, Unix, Windows IBM Toronto Lab

Serge Rielau wrote: > I don't see any of the big three open source their products any time soon. > There is no need. > > Cheers > Serge There may be no need today, ( narrowly supporting your statement ) but one could expect that something will be open source before too long. I would be willing to bet that there is something in the works for ALL the commercial products to have an open-source version very very soon. It may not be a version that is available today, but you can easily see where things are headed. See also http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1880116,00.asp "When IBM got behind Linux, many people assumed that they had given up on AIX. Conventional wisdom being that you can't have two competing products especially when one is free or nearly free. Well how did that turn out for IBM? Last I checked, they were doing quite well selling hardware with both operating systems, their biggest rival (Sun Microsystems) has been in a five-year decline, and AIX has moved up from a distant third in Unix market share to take the overall lead in the proprietary Unix market." --Oracle's Free Database Is Good for Business By Charles Garry, eWeek, October 31, 2005