Re: Informix: Please buy Borland
Speeking about products there are also a few other issues: Oracle have reasantly announced they will integrate Visigenics CORBA compatible object request broker with their engine. So far CORBA technology have been useless to everybody but large companies due to a large extent to the impossible prices charged by the vendors for both development and runtime versions of their tools. Also the techonology have been difficult, standardisation lacking and few have created applications with distributed objects that therefore need an ORB. This whole situation is changing with Java. Distributed objects will be integral to a lot of applications. If an ORB where deliverable with the Informix engines at very reasonable prices (perhaps included with the engine) this technology would take off. Microsoft have their competing DCOM technology, but as the Visigenic ORB support (or will support) this as well as CORBA, that problem is solved as well. There are other suppliers of ORB servers, so Visigenic is not a must. (They didn't do a very good job with ODBC for Informix, so they may not be the best choice, although it looks like they may pull it off with the ORB server.) One might claim that an ORB should be included with every operating system. However as long as it is not and if Oracle will be shiping ORB servers and Informix have nothing it will be a problem. Also Informix currently have no MDDB OLAP technology, only ROLAP. Oracle bought IRI (I think they where called that) and their Express database. Stonebreaker would call that engine a wart, but it's still mandatory for some applications (several Informix customers are using this type of techonology). Microsoft have also reasantly bought an OLAP company and is coming out with an MDDB database and OLAP tools. Arbor Software (http://www.arborsoft.com) with their Essbase is the major competitor to Oracle in this area and should be up for grabs although they have reasantly made a major cooperative deal with IBM. There are also several other companies. Appart from beeing a separate database (a wart) Informix also need to include this as functionality in their Universal Server. For that they also need MDDB experience. (MDDB = Multi Dimensional DataBase, OLAP=OnLine Analytical Processing, ROLAP=Relational OLAP - OLAP on a relational database). About JWorks again, it's very unclear to me what that realy is. The following is excerpts from http://www.informix.com/cyb-cgi/Webdriver?MIval=cyberzine_view_Story&ID=272 JWorks is a "Java development component" - whatever that is? "JWorks can be used in conjunction with any Java-based Web development environment, including Symantec Cafe, Sun Microsystems' JavaWorkshop 1.0, and Microsoft Visual J++" Is it a stand allone tool, or must it be used with one of these? Informix has elsewhere said that JWorks is built on the user interface of NewEra 3.0. If this means it still uses .WIF files or something similar to build the user interface, and still have one way compiles of this into source code, the technology is so far behind what Borland and Symantec have that it will hardly be usefull. At least there will have to be other major reasons for us to use it. With Borland and Symantec tools any changes to the UI with the drawing tools will change the code immediately AND any changes to the code will similarly change the UI drawing. Cool and necessary. The ORB, OLAP and development tools are fairly gaping wholes in the offerings from Informix that I think will hurt Informix and thereby us down the line. kerry@kcbbs.gen.nz (Kerry Sainsbury) wrote: :Borland have just announced they are chopping 30% of their staff. :Things don't sound well :-( :"Industry Analysts" think Borland may be making itself attractive to :a take-over by the highest bidder. : :Informix: Start bidding. :Your databases are great, but your PC tools would get a huge boost if you :could make use of Borland's talent. : :You wouldn't even have to build "J-Works" from the ground up, instead take :Borland's "Latte" (J-Builder now). : :Well, *I* think it'd be a nice marriage. Your Unix skills, and their PC skills. :(and Oracle have just licensed J-Builder and C++ Builder, which would be nice :to scuttle, especially if (as has been hinted) Oracle are looking to buy :Borland) : :Cheers, :Kerry S :-- :------------------------------------,------------------------------------------ :Kerry Sainsbury, kerry@kcbbs.gen.nz | THE INFORMIX FAQ v2.5 June 96 :Quanta Systems, Auckland | http://www.iiug.org/techinfo/faq/ :New Zealand. Work: +64 9 377-4473 | ftp://ftp.iiug.org/pub/informix/faq : Home: +64 9 279-3571 | ftp://kcbbs.gen.nz:/pub/informix/ 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