Re: Informix left standing

Nils Myklebust wrote: > John C wrote: > >Oracle and Sybase are integrating tools and apps into their marketing > >strategy. Informix is focusing on the database itself without tools or > >apps. If you're looking for 'one-stop shopping', would you consider > >Informix? > > You could buy Symantec Visual Cafe from Informix for developing Java > applications and would get a 'one-stop shopping' solution with the > benefit of best of breed (or at least almost) for the development tool > as well. Oh, very true, and no one is arguing that OEMing a tool is not a viable way togo. Oracle has been doing that for years..... ;-) > [SNIP] > Even though Visual Cafe may not have the main focus of attention from > Informix, reselling it is a much better strategy than trying to > compete in a bussiness that's overflowing with excelent tools at low > prices. The NewEra flop shows how hard it is and it's very likely that > Sybase will feel the heat on Powerbuilder as well if they do not > allready do that. Java, with the right tools, are so much better by > now, and growing better by the day, so I wouldn't bet much on that > product. > New Era flopped because it was done half assed. There are two aspects to a OO languageenvironment. The language itself and the class libraries. Too much time was spent on the language, and not the class libraries. If you remember, New Era 1.0 was delivered over 2 years late.... > With this situation for Informix to try to compete in the tools > bussiness would be crazy. This doesn't mean they shouldn't maintain > 4GL and some other products, but trying to do a major new tool would > be a waste of resources. Another thing might be to buy a significant > tools vendor, but I don't think they are even considdering something > like that right now. Sybase would be a real bad choice in this respect > of course. > Buy another company? Look around. They are prime potential for being eaten up.Besides, they had to "beg, borrow, or *steal*" to get the money. (Ok, they sold their first born, but you get the point. ;-) AFAIK, they filed the papers so that they could make a public offering of a perferred stock. (I'm not sure I read the Edgar report correctly. I'm an engineer Captain, not a damn lawyer/accountant!) I don't think it would be a prudent investment idea, considering the *last* procurment. And I don't think they could muster shareholder support. Remember that there still is a pending SEC investigation and shareholder litigation. Also, if they had the cash, they would have done a Linux port. Far cheaper and potentially a better gain. Especially in light of the DoJ vs Microsloth that is currently going on. (If Informix was smart they and Oracle would side with McNealy and Barksdale! But that is another story.) > Should they go after applications? > The can't in the traditional markets as that would destroy their > important relationship with SAP, Baan and others. No, what they should do is try to rekindle that deal with people soft.License Informix to the app vendors. Sybase did this with Cisco and I don't think it hurt Sybase. Granted the margins aren't there, but then people who want the app and don't care about the DB will become Informix customers. (And that would be a good thing.) > They seem to be doing some interesting things in specialized > applications in cooperation with other companies as described in > http://www.informix.com/informix/corpinfo/ifxnews/press/1998/rai.htm > and > http://www.informix.com/informix/corpinfo/ifxnews/press/1998/bbc.htm > as just two examples in one area. > What you are pointing to are press releases *from* Informix.Its a bunch of hot air. A few years ago, someone from MCI gave a keynote at the WWIUC praising Informix for the PDQ and XPS technology. That was a hell of a lot more sincere than some back office dweeb writing copy to put out on *PR Wire*. > For this reason Bob F.'s strategy for going after the "high end", > meaning just such specialized applications, not neccessarily big > customers (as the examples are, but other similar cases may not be), > is exactly right. > Big customers? Define Big? Thats the point.What Bob is doing is chasing after the customer who still needs to build a custom app. But if you look at the trend, all industries are looking to make off the shelf products/technologies fit. Its still a small niche. And both Oracle and Sybase are still chasing it. > Of course if he again forgets what we in Norway call the bread and > butter market, in this case the volume of more regular users of > databases, he puts the company in a very precarious situation. I think > he is smart enough to understand that however, and his current > manoeuvres are mainly to focus the company where it is at it's > strongest. > I tend to disagree.There seems to be a lot of SCO users. (Tecsys, Fourgen, and other VARs seem to come to mind.) I seem to recall that no one knows the number of 5.X engines in production on this port. Informix still hasn't gotten the demographics down. (This is for many reasons.) On a side note, I got an Informix magizine at my dad's house. I haven't used this address as a mail drop since '94 when I last took care of him. Actually I think Informix sent that to me from a '92 mailing list. Inside there was a survey. I think its a start. > The fact that a company doesn't spend a lot of marketing and sales > dollars and efforts in every market doesn't mean that all is lost. > Even the biggest companies have to focus, and Informix's lack of focus > the last years have been their major problem. > Marketing, or the really the lack of marketing can kill you. Focus has to come fromvision. Since Roger et el are long gone, the focus has to come from Marketing. That's market research and market planning. Not the actual research. Efficient marketing means getting the most bang for the buck. You have to have a plan to do this. Informix has been preaching their *vision* and that's why they have UDO. That's also why I say the new slogan for Informix should be: "Informix: A solution looking for a problem." It kinda reminds me of a saying. If all you have is a hammer, then all your problems look like nails. I'm not saying that UDO is bad. The problem is, "Does UDO meet the demands of the current market?". The answer for most users, is no. It may be a great technology, but it doesn't offer much to the majority of their users. Its the old 80/20 rule. 80% of the consumers use 20% of the products capability. Oracle and Sybase have already seen this and don't think that their lack of OORDBMS is not a hinderence. The current marketplace doesn't understand it, so why take the time and the costs to educate that market. (This is most likely why Bob feels that they can compete on the harder problems where UDO gives them an advantage. Informix offers features to markets which may need that technology.) As far as OO client to RDBMS, NeXT/Apple has solved that problem a long time ago. EOF adapter allows a OO front end communicate directly to either Oracle,