Re: Oracle vs Informix??

In article <1995Apr4.081805.1@aspen.uml.edu>, <licciardd@aspen.uml.edu> writes: > Xref: massive comp.databases:44112 comp.databases.oracle:31103 comp.databases.informix:17240 > Path: massive!ncar!newsxfer.itd.umich.edu!zip.eecs.umich.edu!newshost.marcam.com!news mathworks.com!uunet!in1.uu.net!ulowell.uml.edu!aspen.uml.edu!licciardd > From: licciardd@aspen.uml.edu > Newsgroups: comp.databases,comp.databases.oracle,comp.databases.informix > Subject: Oracle vs Informix?? > Date: 4 Apr 95 08:18:05 -0500 > Organization: University of Massachusetts Lowell > Lines: 17 > Message-ID: <1995Apr4.081805.1@aspen.uml.edu> > NNTP-Posting-Host: aspen.uml.edu > > Hello all! > My company is looking into a new platform to do its database programming > in. They have asked me to find out everything I can about Oracle, and > Informix. Primarily we are creating a batch processing type of system and > have a need for a strong background programming language. Some front end > user forms will be created but not many so a screen painter, etc is not as > needed as the language. With this in mind could a few of you send me e-mail > comparing your experiences or telling me you experience with either piece > of software. It would be appreciated. Also needed is a note as to how > programmer friendly the c/c++ libraries for these databases are. > > Thanks a bunch > SPC Derek Licciardi > US ARMY Recruiting Command > licciardd@aspen.uml.edu > licciard@knox-emh1.army.mil > I can't help you a whole lot on the c/c++ question, but my guess is that you will find a more user friendly class of c/c++ libraries for Oracle due to the fact that it is ported for over 80 different hardware platforms and moving data across any of these under Oracle is pretty much seamless. As for the rest, it would depend on alot more than the information you provide here, but I will give you my personnal view on the subject. I have about 3 years experience with Informix and about four months (current) with Oracle. First, Oracle products, services, and support are typically more expensive than most RDBMSs; including Informix. It seams to me that if you are planning a more localized and/or mission critical database application and/or if you want fairly straight forward database administration that you would use Informix 6.0 and above (stay away from Informix 5.0 and earlier versions because they have a nasty adjacent row-locking problem.) Oracle seams to be a tougher RDBMS to administrate; Oracle does everything by files: control files, table space, administration, logs, etc. Informix, on the other hand, does everything in a specially allocated area of physical diskspace, pretty much handles alot of the administration internally, and has easy to use administrative utilities and documentation that is exceptional to anything I've seen or read on Oracle. If, on the other hand, you can invest in a good Oracle DBA (yes, it's not just the product itself that is costly) and don't mind the database going down more often than say Informix would, Oracle is great in terms of portability, user interfaces, features, and client/server environments. Oracle seems to have a larger more complex product line than Informix: Oracle seems to have a product to do just about anything on any platform and they'll try to get you to buy them all! So, there you have it.