Re: IDS 11 - Press Releases
Not a technical problem thread — it's a discussion/rant about IBM's developer licensing for Informix (IDS 11). Participants debate whether the ~$800 (or £1,350 "Value Package") IBM developer/partner subscription is good value: some argue it's a bargain since it covers IBM's whole software catalogue (DB2, Notes, Rational, WebSphere), while others say the extra products are useless to small businesses and the price discriminates against SMB partners and is far beyond what students would pay. Complaints also cover weak Informix marketing and developer web content. No resolution is recorded.
Auto-generated by DrWatson from the posts below — may be imperfect; read the full thread.
Ian Michael Gumby said: > > You lost me here. > Principal? What Principal? He's not talking about principals. He's talking about principles. > But IBM does have a developers program that is implemented SWG (SOFTWARE > GROUP) wide. > $800 is not a lot of money for *free* software and tech support. Au contraire, $800 is an awful lot of money for something that is *FREE* ... :op -- Bye now, Obnoxio "I'm astonished anyone pays real money for this crap." -- Cosmo -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by OpenProtect(http://www.openprotect.com), and is believed to be clean.
If you are only looking at a database I agree the $800 can be argued as a lot of mony compared to other database vendors that offer a free database IBM is not just a database vendor. The $800 gets you access to all of IBMs software catalog across all brands of SWG. I guess it depends if you want to move out of your database are of specialisation or want to have access to a much broader spectrum of products.
>From: scottishpoet <dryburghj@yahoo.com> >If you are only looking at a database I agree the $800 can be argued >as a lot of mony compared to other database vendors that offer a free >database > >IBM is not just a database vendor. The $800 gets you access to all of >IBMs software catalog across all brands of SWG. > >I guess it depends if you want to move out of your database are of >specialisation or want to have access to a much broader spectrum of >products. > Uhm... $800 just for IDS is a friggin *steal*. But yes, to your point, there's some other goodies worth having too. DB2? :-P Naw just kidding. Lotus Notes? Rational product line? Websphere's products? Yeah, lots to play with. -G _________________________________________________________________ Get a preview of Live Earth, the hottest event this summer - only on MSN http://liveearth.msn.com?source=msntaglineliveearthhm
Now that you've all worked it out amongst yourselves... :-) There isn't much of IBM's stack of software that I'd really be interested in. Most if not all of what I'm involved in has nothing to do with IBM software. Most of IBM software is for big companies with big IT shops that waste a lot of money and time on a lot of inefficient time wasting crap that only big companies can pay for. Hat's off to IBM for helping these big companies blow money out the window. Maybe someday I'll be able to provide them with more software they can really blow money on, but for now I'm not interested in that. I'm really interested in a database product that can help me develop applications that may or may not be used by a big or little company. Everything I work on scales up or down for size of users, etc. So I don't work typically with software or develop applications that only work for big companies. I'm sure there are plenty of people out there that do work with those other IBM products, but I'm not one of them. In the meantime, IBM has proven time and again, --statistically-- that they really don't plan on doing anything with IDS other than a press release now and then, and some dry web pages with no life or creativity or innovation in them. IBM just sucks, plain and simple. When I see a real developer program specifically targeted for Informix developers with current content, and life to their web site that doesn't look like one of those unattended robot web sites then I'll believe that IBM is really serious about developing Informix beyond Walmart and other big gigantic companies. I don't think they have the personnel on the Informix side to do what I'm talking about simply because most of the people they have are not experienced enough with databases, only with press releases, and certainly they don't have any marketing people at all for Informix. So I'm pretty certain the next big release of IDS will be a big nothing. I'm basing it on statistics, not emotion. I will be 100% right, you can count on it. -t- Ian Michael Gumby wrote: > > > >> From: scottishpoet <dryburghj@yahoo.com> >> If you are only looking at a database I agree the $800 can be argued >> as a lot of mony compared to other database vendors that offer a free >> database >> >> IBM is not just a database vendor. The $800 gets you access to all of >> IBMs software catalog across all brands of SWG. >> >> I guess it depends if you want to move out of your database are of >> specialisation or want to have access to a much broader spectrum of >> products. >> > > Uhm... $800 just for IDS is a friggin *steal*. > > But yes, to your point, there's some other goodies worth having too. > DB2? :-P > Naw just kidding. Lotus Notes? Rational product line? Websphere's products? > > Yeah, lots to play with. > > > > -G > > _________________________________________________________________ > Get a preview of Live Earth, the hottest event this summer - only on MSN > http://liveearth.msn.com?source=msntaglineliveearthhm >
> "scottishpoet" <dryburghj@yahoo.com> wrote in message > news:1181752233.493097.323300@q19g2000prn.googlegroups.com... > If you are only looking at a database I agree the $800 can be argued > as a lot of mony compared to other database vendors that offer a free > database > > IBM is not just a database vendor. The $800 gets you access to all of > IBMs software catalog across all brands of SWG. > > I guess it depends if you want to move out of your database are of > specialisation or want to have access to a much broader spectrum of > products. The fact is, Poet, '1,350 *is* a lot of money to spend on getting a supported and un-bombed version of Informix. Yes, you get a lot of other stuff as well but for an SMB, wanting to specialise on a very limited number of products as SMBs must do to survive, the addiotnal products are of limited value. '1,350 for the "Value Package" is a sh*tload of cash, full stop. As was pointed out my another correspondent, IBM's head honcho is currently extolling the virtues of the SMB market. And what kind of Business Partner is best able to address SMBs empathetically? Business Partners that are themselves SMBs, surely? And the fact remains that the "Value Package" discriminates very strongly indeed against small companies and in favour of the big, volume resellers.
Neil Truby wrote: > The fact is, Poet, '1,350 *is* a lot of money to spend on getting a > supported and un-bombed version of Informix. Yes, you get a lot of other > stuff as well but for an SMB, wanting to specialise on a very limited number > of products as SMBs must do to survive, the addiotnal products are of > limited value. '1,350 for the "Value Package" is a sh*tload of cash, full > stop. And '1,349 more than any student is going to pay. -- Daniel A. Morgan University of Washington damorgan@x.washington.edu (replace x with u to respond) Puget Sound Oracle Users Group www.psoug.org
Which brings up a very good point. Students. Microsoft and others know too well the value of getting their product in the hands of the young. This is the time that shapes their opinions, most likely for the rest of their careers. That guy from Facebook was on a morning show the other day, was he even 25 years old? He has already made his mind up on what technology is important, and other people like him will be the ones that shape this market for the future. Working from the top down as IBM is doing isn't going to work for the long term, it just shows a complete lack of innovation in the market. DA Morgan wrote: > Neil Truby wrote: > >> The fact is, Poet, '1,350 *is* a lot of money to spend on getting a >> supported and un-bombed version of Informix. Yes, you get a lot of >> other stuff as well but for an SMB, wanting to specialise on a very >> limited number of products as SMBs must do to survive, the addiotnal >> products are of limited value. '1,350 for the "Value Package" is a >> sh*tload of cash, full stop. > > And '1,349 more than any student is going to pay.