Re: Informix 5 vs. 7

cos@zax.whoville.leftbank.com (Ofer Inbar) wrote: :I've arrived at a new site where they plan to start using Informix :OnLine for the first time. I asked what version they bought, and they :said 5! They got it because it was cheaper. I've never worked with 5 :and am wondering if it makes any sense for a brand new installation to :go with 5 instead of 7? What are some of the advantages of getting 7? If you want to compare 5 versus 7 you should probably compare with the Workgroup Server version of 7. This is substantially cheaper than the normal Dynamic Server 7. Are you sure they compared the right prices? 7.22 or 7.23 is obviously the one to go with if the price doesn't make it impossible. The next upgrade to 7.3 is going to give you several significant advantages. The upgrade to Universal Server may also be easier, and you will surely want that if it becomes available at a resonable price. The 7 line of servers have so many advantages in tunability, functionality and support that I wouldn't even considder version 5 for a new installation. Tunability you allready know. Functionality is in sql, backup and other areas. Support is not only from Informix (which are going to support 7.x longer and probably better than 5.x), but also in third party tools. Many more and better tools are available. Many existing and new tools for the version 7.x where demonstrated at the user conference. 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