rdbms evaluation (which one?)

I work for an Internet/Web consulting firm in Manhattan. We're currently choosing *which* major rdbms system to use for web datahosting. I'm personally familiar with MS-SQL Server (4.21a) and Sybase 10.x. I looking for pointers to comparison information between the MS SQL Server, Oracle, Sybase, Ingres and Informix RDBMS'. Especially helpful would be reviews I could find on the Web. Our main concern is price/value. You know the tune - cost, reliability, performance/scalability (perform well on anything from a Sun Sparc 5 to dual processor Sparc 20+ and beyond), ease of development and so on.. Add on Web development tools are not the highest priority - those are what *we* develop after all 8). What I have so far: MS-SQL Server - Doesn't compete on performance. Limited driver support for Unix. The light beer of RDBMS (manages great, less filling). Oracle - Enough power to blow yourself up. Hard to manage. Cost is reasonable for the workgroup system, esp. as a var. Cost will escalate as options are added in (the ala carte approach). Sybase - Hard to manage, reasonable performace. One of the more popular rdbms' for web development. Cost was not reasonable for start up costs (initial pilot costs were above all other vendors). Informix & Ingres - both look like reasonably powerful systems, not *too* hard to manage (utilities included!). Don't know as much about them unfortunatly. Important question: How does Oracle Workgroup Server compare? -- "Learn by Suffering" Sybase Survival Guide "But for heavens sake - don't encourage it!" Glen Acord (snark) "what? Learning or the Survival Guide?" - a reply to my .sig snark@evolution.com http://www.evolution.com/~snark