Re: Informix running on Linux

Ian Goddard wrote: > > Marco Greco wrote: > > > < snip > > > I will ask the IIUG *to sit with Informix and get them to reconsider their > > positions* both on pricing politics and linux ports. > > All it takes is 10 brave cdi readers to back up my request (... oh, well, OK, > > and one more to adequately word it... :-) > > OK, count me in as a backer. After all I seem to remember trying to fly > a similar kite a year or so ago... > > > Seriously, Informix, you need to turn again to developers. Let them > > have the software at acceptable prices and on a widely available > > OS. You *need* a wide developer base. *Who else is going to propose > > your products to prospective customers?* > > > Yes! > Let me remind you of another group who might also benefit from this - > students. Remember that Unix got a huge push from graduates who first > used it as students in the late 70s and early 80s and then moved into > the computing profession (at least that's what folklore says). I > suspect the Internet's current growth owes a lot to the fact that the > student population had access over the last few years. If Informix > could get better access to classrooms running on Linux (classrooms > always seem to be price sensitive) this could pay off in due turn. Even > M$ is courting that market now... > > Ian Ian, Sorry if I had not supported you a while back when you were trying to get this going. It is an awareness issue, and something that we all have to go through to appreciate the power of Linux. Students, yes, the legions who decide the fate of many computer products with almost the same brutal honesty the commercial market gives. Linux is an outgrowth of this extremely important sector of the computing world. What an important investment Informix could make by bringing them in early in their careers, or even in an ongoing capacity. Imagine also having cheap Linux-based learning centers for the economically disadvantaged, or "Informix Universities", where training can be offered to the mainstream developer at an affordable cost. Linux comes under the "you gotta see it to believe it" category. Having the hardware to try it out, I'm a believer. For the legions of developers out there that do not have a UNIX at home to try out, I really encourage you to find an old PC, bootstrap it with Linux, and see what it does to your computing world. It's cool leverage. When you have a Unix in the house, it'll change everything. All you need do is get ethernet cards, a cheap ethernet 8-port hub, and you're in business. Xwindows, games, shells, C++, Perl, the works, ALL FOR FREE. The only cost to you is the hardware. You can boot it on an old 386, or dare I say an old 286 machine, with probably 8 MB memory. Having a little more memory, and the machine rocks! ( Of course if your spouse already complains you spend too much time in front of the PC, this could aggrevate the situation. ) :-) -- Tim Schaefer \\\\|// tschaefe@mindspring.com (6 6) ------------------------oOOo---( )---o00o--------- http://www.mindspring.com/~tschaefe http://www.inxutil.com ( http://207.69.204.52 )