Re: Informix vs. Sybase vs. Oracle vs. (gasp) MS SQL Server

>>>>> "Paul" == Paul Brown <pbrown@triplerock.Berkeley.EDU> writes: Paul> Paul> Pablo Sanchez (pablo@sgi.com) wrote: Paul> : >>>>> "Paul" == Paul Brown <pbrown@triplerock.Berkeley.EDU> writes: Paul> : Paul> Paul> : Paul> To quote from Jim Gray, (_Transaction_Processing_:_Concepts_and_ Paul> : Paul> Techniques_ pp. 420-21); Paul> : Paul> Paul> : Paul> : Unless something has changed, aren't you still an Informix Paul> : employee (or employed in some fashion by them)? If so, then Paul> : of course you're going to post supporting literature... Paul> Paul> Yes. I am an Informix Employee. You're the keeper of the Paul> Sybase FAQ. Religon counts for something. I'm the keeper of the Sybase FAQ however I'm also aware of the benefits in certain areas of Informix and Oracle. Heck, I'm not blinded by religion. I have posted to c.d.s. with my gripes regarding Sybase. You can search dejanews for 'em: o isolation level 0 implementation - crap o ... Anyway, I may be the maintainer but I try not to live my life with a pair of rosey glasses. Ask how Oracle does serializability... Paul> When I'm simply trying to contribute to a technical debate, and Paul> don't want my affiliations to obscure my contributions, I Paul> post from UCB. I said *nothing* positive or negative about Paul> anyone. If you like, I can post references to the IBM Paul> research (some of which is also attributed to Jim Gray) which Paul> argues for your case. To be fair, that would have complemented your initial post well. Paul> The irony here is that I actually agree with you! I know, I know... I was hoping for more static from ya... :-) Paul> A well Paul> designed schema should require only page granularity. (Another Paul> important topic unbroached in this thread concerns Paul> lock escallation strategies.) Which Sybase *used* suck at... *finally* system 11 handles it right.... Paul> But the practical reality is Paul> that people don't always do 'the right thing'. This is the Paul> 'hard lesson' Gray refers to. Unfortunately what you say is true... this is why Oracle's versionings works so well... they appeal to the general masses who don't do things right. I guess therein lies opportunity. -- Pablo Sanchez | Ph # (650) 933.3812 Fax # (650) 933.2821 pablo@sgi.com | Pg # (800) 930.5635 -or- pablo_p@pager.sgi.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I am accountable for my actions. http://reality.sgi.com/pablo [ /Sybase_FAQ ]