Re: Informix running on Linux

marcog@ctonline.it (Marco Greco) wrote: :Nils, Tim, David et all : the general consensus in this and other threads seems to be that :Informix is moving away from two sources of revenue that have supported :them in the past: : :- developers, and :- small customers Yes. :I remember, in 1989, that rem decided to use 4gl and the standard :engine for the quality of Informix products, the number of available :ports and the promise to be able to upgrade our software for the years :to come. A prediction: Informix will reevaluate 4GL and put some more resources into it. There will be a new version with more features within perhaps half a year. They will lower the runtime as well as the development prices in the process, particularly those for a Linux port. All you who use it, be carefull what you say. The above prediction hangs on Informix beeing able to make money on it. You would have to be willing to pay for an upgrade or better yet for new installations, and in large numbers. A Linux port would be one way. Another issue that I haven't thought about before is that the new tools strategy from Informix realy need a simple way for developers to get access to the engine. A Linux port could help significantly in this. Even the smallest developers can easily afford a Linux machine as a server - the hardware can often be had for free or at least a very low cost. In this way the small developers could develop and test real client server and web based applications. Even OWS bundled with Symantec Visual Cafe (promised from Informix) could not come close to approaching this. Appart from requireing a Windows NT server for this type of advanced applications it would leave the Delphi, VB and other developers out in the cold. A Linux port would not. With the right price Informix should be able to sell 10.000 installations easily. With a little more effort why would 100.000 be impossible for developer sales alone? Remember the total database developers market now is in the millions. :It seems now that if we wan to keep abreast with current Informix :technology, we have to shell out more money than we did when we :bought our original licences. (Informix, my feeling, both as a developer :and as a representative of a small client, is that you are dumping me) You are sadly not alone. Although I am trying to rapidly move up market I still have problems in this area as well. I might report more on that later. :And it sure looks odd that Informix is dumping developers and small :firms at the same time SCO is offering a free personal/60 days eval :licence hoping to capture more clients (BTW, sorry to say it Nils, but :SCO sucks, both in terms of performance and software quantity/quality. :Have a look at slackware...). Hey, I actually agree with you on SCO to a large extent. My only problem is it's a *much* better alternative than anything from HP, Sun or IBM. Their specialised Unix machines aren't viable at all at the low end. They are so overpriced in this area that my sales would be zero if I had to use them. With no Linux port I have no real choice. Remember Informix on SCO can give me the performance of a Sun Ultra Enterprise 3000 or a large K-series HP machine. :I will not repeat the good points that have been raised in the past days. :Instead, given that, among others, the purposes of the IIUG are : :- To give Informix users a collective voice to articulate issues they find :important, and :- To influence and advise Informix, : :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... :-) I think there are many, many more that will support this. I have allready counted something like 20 different posters here, all in wanting this to happen, most saying they will buy products. For every poster there are probably many readers that agree and would also buy. This is still but a tiny part of those who could benefit strongly and would be easy customers. :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?* 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