Re: Informix Software is Finished...

Daniel Wright wrote: > > ALAN COWAN wrote: > > > Sad, but such a good product is unlikely to disappear. > > > > Sad that a good product probably won't disappear? (Sounds like a good > thing, unless you have a strong interest in their competitors). > > > Looks like the only LOGICAL solution is a merger with Sybase. > > (If not financially viable). > > Sybase is hardly in a position to buy anybody, and what would that do to their own marketing? Intelligence please! > > Possibly, both Sybase and Informix have good products, but have > underperformed in the market. > > > Cannot think of a company who would takeover Informix > > (apart from Oracle. Mind you if Boeing can takeover McDonnell Douglas, > > as more > > of a charitable gesture than anything else, then Oracle can do it to > > get the > > Informix customer base, even although the Informix customers probably > > will > > eventually have to convert to Oracle [if not Sybase] anyway). > > Again, think about it. If Oracle actually bought Informix, what does that say about their own products? Oracles' engine is a piece of crap, the only reason they sell so well is because of their applications. Informix has taken an open-systems approach. Under that kind of thinking if there's anybody who'd be better for them, it would be SUN. Next to that, maybe HP. > > Oracle has been taking its fair share of criticism from the techno-press > as well. > > > "Today if you want an alternative to Oracle, there's no one > > else but Sybase," said Neil Herman, analyst at > > investment bank > > Salomon Brothers Inc. > > > Yeah but Neal isn't technically minded enough to know anything about this market. Investment analysts study money first, then advertising, then technology. Remember all the hype behind Gupta and SQL-Windows? Where is this now??? > As for Sybase, what can one say about an RDBMS which cannot support row > level locking? > Good point, but I thought they fixed this. > > Is IBM's DB2 chopped liver, or what? > > > Basically, but they have a nicer looking product in the 5.x US. In their own IBM world they'll retain a lot of sales presold in AS/400. > I wish I could comment on DB2, but I know very little about > it.Depending on whose marketing literature you're reading, each of these > vendors products have the best performance. Oracle has always been seen > as a good solid product, but with a very high price; their recent > venture into NCs, I see as a loss of focus in their real strength and > makes me question whether they are as committed to data as they once > were. Oracle is a bucket of bolts. The engine is old hat, and will take years to catch up with Informix. >I dabbled with Sybase for a while, and though it was a very good > product seemed to have numerous quirks (I was using 10.2, and converting > to XI was presented to me as if it were the Holy Grail or something, but > alas, I didn't stick around long enough to find out for myself.)It seems > to me that Informix has made a few marketing blunders, but their core > product (IMO) is their database engine, which is very solid, reliable > and quick. Sure, I'll bitch as loud as anyone about any bug I find in > it, but I kind of doubt the others are bug-free, and as far as I know, > there has not been anything really serious bug-wise (which wasn't fixed > in a maintenance release) since version 5. Sybase is just barely starting to make a comeback of their own, with the alliance of Powersoft, which needed a good data base. > I think the stock market problems Informix has faced are due to a number > of factors, most important of which is the willingness of investors to > buy into the "magic bullets" advertised by the marketing depts. When > the magic bullets fall short of expectations, they are abandoned, > leading to an overinflated stock price becoming undervalued (can you > say "buying opportunity"?). Informix suffers from a piss-poor marketing plan, that's all there is to it. > I could be wrong, but I think Informix (and its' stock) will bounce > back in the next year or so. It's difficult to anticipate this kind of > thing, given the volatility of "current" technology, but if Informix > mgmt can sort the hype out from what business really wants, and devote > itself to fulfilling this need, they could very well dominate in the > near future. On the other hand, if people lose faith in the product and > Informix doesn't reassure them by responding to what is really wanted, > they will die on the vine. Generally this doesn't happen, unless the > company becomes so arrogant as to alienate consumers. > Yes, and behind-the-scenes scrambling without communication to the customers looks like arrogance, even if the reality is one of a company working hard to turn things around. They need to have some new ads come out quickly, and some innovation in the marketing plan. This is so critical to getting a positive image and getting back on track. > In short, I think Informix will survive, either as a leader, or as one > of the stragglers, but for its users to survive, they should seriously > consider making their products as portable from database to database as > possible. > > Alan > I think Informix will survive too, and by years' end or so you're going to see some really good things come out. In a certain sense, Informix is enjoying lots of press, and visibility to their products. This is not exactly the most optimal use of the press, but nobody can knock the technology they've brought to market. The only problem has been articulating it, and selling it competitively. Tim -- Tim Schaefer \\\\|// tschaefe@mindspring.com 6 6 -------------------------oOOo---( )---o00o---------------------- http://www.inxutil.com - My Ezine http://www.informix.com - Informix Software Inc. http://www.iiug.org - International Informix User Group/FAQ news://comp.databases.informix - Newsgroup for Informix Users ================================================================