Is Informix too good?
Some old buds of mine had a problem the other day. Seems that their site DBA's have become so used to stability that when a problem arose, they fell over each other like Keystone Cops trying to rectify it, and caused themselves a major outtage uneccessarily. We are talking about a TB of data and 1000's of users. The DBA group is one of the most gung-ho in the US. This got me thinking: Is Informix's own product so good that it causes people to avoid it? Just playing Devil's Advocate now: If Informix can outperform other competitors, and use 24 cpu's vs. 32 - who will the HW Vendors reccommend? If Oracle needs 20 consultants for 6 months vs. Informix 10 for 3 - who would the consultant companies prefer? If the DBA's think that their management will go with 2 DBA's per TB of Informix data vs. 5 or more for Oracle - who would they prefer? If management is into empire-building and Informix can do more for less, who would they rather go with? A Team of 30 high-profile competitor consultants and an E10K Sun or 5 Informix consultants raring to do another before the others are finished scoping on an E6500? What do you think?? Shoot me down! Echo bravo charlie Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
My organization has as customers a lotta Fortune 100's, and I consistently see them selecting inferior products for two big brick and mortar reasons: 1) What's everybody else doing? Will I be going down a proprietary path if I do something different? 2) Will my vendor be around two years from now to support their product? I play largely in an LDAP field, but we also see plenty of Oracle. Within the last decade, Informix has overpaid for two different companies, and now sees the latest buyout helping dismantle them from within. Their stock was back up to what, six bucks the other day? So no, I don't think the problem is that Informix is too good. e5142332@my-deja.com wrote: : Some old buds of mine had a problem the other day. Seems that : their site DBA's have become so used to stability that when : a problem arose, they fell over each other like Keystone Cops : trying to rectify it, and caused themselves a major outtage : uneccessarily. We are talking about a TB of data and 1000's of : users. The DBA group is one of the most gung-ho in the US. : : This got me thinking: Is Informix's own product so good that : it causes people to avoid it? Just playing Devil's Advocate now: : -- jeff george (no, not the idiot quarterback) ------------------------------------------- http://yin.interaccess.com/~whizbang
In article <t77685j7uoei7b@corp.supernews.com>, whizbang@interaccess.com wrote: > > My organization has as customers a lotta Fortune 100's, and I consistently > see them selecting inferior products for two big brick and mortar reasons: > > 1) What's everybody else doing? Will I be going down a proprietary path > if I do something different? Well, Oracle is equally proprietary, but I agree that this is happening too. Follow the herd off a cliff. We have heard for years that Oracle doesn't scale well, and are now starting to see signs that their design sins are coming home to roost as more and more data and users arrive. > > 2) Will my vendor be around two years from now to support their product? Met a couple of ex-Oracle guys a while back - they told me that they were told not to attack Informix on a feature-for-feature basis but rather to instill doubt and fear into their customers minds about going Informix. 'What about their future?' was apparently part of their training course dictum. > I play largely in an LDAP field, but we also see plenty of Oracle. Within > the last decade, Informix has overpaid for two different companies, and > now sees the latest buyout helping dismantle them from within. Their > stock was back up to what, six bucks the other day? A long way from 35 to be sure. Still has a major install base with significant license revenue though and 'reports of their death have been widely exaggerated...' We either see a turnaround or we don't - it's as simple as that. Customers are still buying. I think a lot of the bigger Fortune 100's that you mention are still in something of a state of entropy post Y2K - their staff are trying to drag themselves back into 1996 mode pre-Y2K freeze and it will take a while to see momentum build up. > So no, I don't think the problem is that Informix is too good. Well, not to be argumentative (and in the interests of discussion), but you haven't addressed any of the points originally raised, unless you are suggesting that the only two of any validity are the ones you proffer? Do you think the original points have no merit whatever, and that the scenarios depicted do not occur? Echo > e5142332@my-deja.com wrote: > : Some old buds of mine had a problem the other day. Seems that > : their site DBA's have become so used to stability that when > : a problem arose, they fell over each other like Keystone Cops > : trying to rectify it, and caused themselves a major outtage > : uneccessarily. We are talking about a TB of data and 1000's of > : users. The DBA group is one of the most gung-ho in the US. > : > : This got me thinking: Is Informix's own product so good that > : it causes people to avoid it? Just playing Devil's Advocate now: > : > -- > jeff george (no, not the idiot quarterback) > ------------------------------------------- > http://yin.interaccess.com/~whizbang > Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
In the year of Our Lord Sun, 28 Jan 2001 03:59:01 -0000, whizbang@interaccess.com (jeff george) spake, saying: >My organization has as customers a lotta Fortune 100's, and I consistently >see them selecting inferior products for two big brick and mortar reasons: > >1) What's everybody else doing? Will I be going down a proprietary path >if I do something different? > >2) Will my vendor be around two years from now to support their product? > >I play largely in an LDAP field, but we also see plenty of Oracle. Within >the last decade, Informix has overpaid for two different companies, and >now sees the latest buyout helping dismantle them from within. Their >stock was back up to what, six bucks the other day? > >So no, I don't think the problem is that Informix is too good. ROTFLMAO!!! :-))) I think you're confusing technical capabilities with business acumen, though. >e5142332@my-deja.com wrote: >: Some old buds of mine had a problem the other day. Seems that >: their site DBA's have become so used to stability that when >: a problem arose, they fell over each other like Keystone Cops >: trying to rectify it, and caused themselves a major outtage >: uneccessarily. We are talking about a TB of data and 1000's of >: users. The DBA group is one of the most gung-ho in the US. >: >: This got me thinking: Is Informix's own product so good that >: it causes people to avoid it? Just playing Devil's Advocate now: >: >-- >jeff george (no, not the idiot quarterback) >------------------------------------------- >http://yin.interaccess.com/~whizbang