Why DO some people still prefer version 5 engines?

Given that version 7 of SE and IDS are fundamentally superior to version 5, why are so many sites sticking with 5? And why do Informix still go to the trouble of upgrading them? Surely any compatibility problems have been resolved by now, and the migration path isn't THAT difficult. -Andy Kent- Redland, Bristol

From a technical point of view, I would love to be using (learning!) the latest version. But from my firm's point of view, v5 *works* (very well). They looked at upgrading to v7 a couple of years ago, but felt that it wasn't worth the exhorbitant cost :-( I'm hoping to slip an upgrade into next year's budget plan, but that's another story!! Richard. PS Thank god for 7.30 on Linux - at least I get to play occasionally!! On Wed, 3 Feb 1999, Andy Kent wrote: > Given that version 7 of SE and IDS are fundamentally superior to version > 5, why are so many sites sticking with 5? And why do Informix still go to > the trouble of upgrading them? > > Surely any compatibility problems have been resolved by now, and the > migration path isn't THAT difficult. > > -Andy Kent- > Redland, Bristol > >

+---- andykent@cix.co.uk (Andy Kent) wrote (Wed, 3 Feb 1999 23:08 +0000 (GMT Standard Time)): |Given that version 7 of SE and IDS are fundamentally superior to version Old apps don't know about new features. You need new apps, built with IDS7-aware tools. |5, why are so many sites sticking with 5? And why do Informix still go to |the trouble of upgrading them? Unsupported customers quickly become non-customers. The DB system is not alone. Existing applications works with the existing DB. Upgrading app+db is very risky and very time consuming. It took me a day or so to install/preconfigure IDS 7 on a new box. Plus a few days to export/import data from the old IOL 5. It took many weeks before we found out how to make the IDS 7 database and the very old Informix 5 client (on a different non-upgradable box) cooperate properly - the database had to use the IOS 5 default number and date/time formats, accept all ISO-8859.1 characters, and hopefully sort character columns according to Danish rules. Our GLS config needs turned out to be incompatible to what was already installed and in use at the customers' sites. For some strange reason Informix thinks the international standard ISO-8859.1 is not the same everywhere. |Surely any compatibility problems have been resolved by now, and the |migration path isn't THAT difficult. HA! |-Andy Kent- |Redland, Bristol /pesky/

The reason is quite simple. There exist unpublish research which clearly shows that Informix 5 is faster ander many cicumstances. Sometimes (as in the case of strored procedures) 20 times faster. But, oc course, if you have multiple physical cpu's or need the functionality in 7, DON'T wait for 8 :-) Richard Thomas <richard@equity.starjump.org> wrote in message news:Pine.LNX.3.96.990204145308.13420A-100000@equity.starjump.org... > >From a technical point of view, I would love to be using (learning!) the >latest version. But from my firm's point of view, v5 *works* (very well). >They looked at upgrading to v7 a couple of years ago, but felt that it >wasn't worth the exhorbitant cost :-( > >I'm hoping to slip an upgrade into next year's budget plan, but that's >another story!! > >Richard. > >PS Thank god for 7.30 on Linux - at least I get to play occasionally!! > >On Wed, 3 Feb 1999, Andy Kent wrote: > >> Given that version 7 of SE and IDS are fundamentally superior to version >> 5, why are so many sites sticking with 5? And why do Informix still go to >> the trouble of upgrading them? >> >> Surely any compatibility problems have been resolved by now, and the >> migration path isn't THAT difficult. >> >> -Andy Kent- >> Redland, Bristol >> >> >