Re: a comparison of different databases

Franco Scarselli wrote: > > I need a SQL server to manage data. The candidates are the Oracle SQL > server, the Sybase SQL and the Microsoft SQL server. < snip > > Microsoft SQL seems to be cheap and at the same time it should work well > in an enviroment completely based on Microsoft operative systems. Don't bank on it! > Microsoft SQL does not have row locking, but for some years I will not > need it, because we have few client PCs. Again, don't bank on it! Deadlocks are almost inevitable, but row-level locking is your best bet for an increased Mean Time Between Deadlocks. > In the mean time, Microsoft > will provide to resolve the problem (I hope). Microsoft SQL runs only on > NT server, however NT is likely to replace DOS and WINDOS and to became > very widespread so that the fact could not be a major drawback. At the risk of repeating myself... don't bank on it! M$'s OS strategy has changed about twice a year for as long as I've been watching it. > Oracle enterprise server is far more expensive. However, Oracle > Workgroup server is competitive, even if it lacks of data replication. > Further, I know that Oracle enterprise has a lot of more features, but > what about Workgroup server with respect to Microsoft and Sybase > servers? Further, a WEB server would be useful for me and the Oracle > WEB server is very expensive. On the other hand Oracle products are more > scalable. Further, Oracle is the leader of the market, it is very > interested in spend money to mantain its position. This should be an > assurance for the future. Technically Oracle is ahead of the field. What you need to consider is whether this means a more stable product or simply one with lots of additional features. In at least one respect (row-level locking), at least one of the other DBMSs is significantly behind Oracle. > Sybase offers two products: Sybase SQL server and Anywhere SQL server. > The former is similar to Microsoft SQL server because they are both the > result of the development of the old Sybase SQL server. However, there > is Unix version for Sybase SQL. Anywhere come from Whatcom SQL and is a > very simple DBMS which has the advantage of beeing able to run with very > few memory and to support Windows 95, Windows 3.1 .... Watcom. Nice products. > Pheraphs in my > case, I could use Anywhere in branch offices and Sybase SQL in main > office. Sybase products are cheap, expecially Anywhere. Of corse they > lack of some feature with respect to Oracle, but what about Sybase SQL > server with respect to Microsoft SQL server? Or you could get an AS/400 (built-in database, runs Netware, runs Notes). But I guess I would say that. -- Phil Edwards phil@news400.com Editor, NEWS/400.UK +44 (0)161 929 0777