Re: "The Problem with Informix" Article by Philip Howarth, Bloor Research

As a rule, I try not to feed trolls, but Bernard Dhooghe brought up a scenario in which I have some expertise: > Suppose I'm a hospital director and need new software because the > existing one can not scale. > > An application vendor proposes a solution based on Informix. Conveniently, I work for an application vendor whose hospital pharmacy solution is based on Informix. > One of the question I would ask him is: will the Informix database > have an eternal life? We frankly do not get this question very often. Religion does not come up in many sales meetings that I know of. Generally, the hospital director does not care about the database because it is invisible. If they start asking, usually because they have been prompted by their IT department, we explain that using IDS allows the database server to remain closer to invisible than any other options. What our Sales team should do is convince the director that he does not need to worry about it, because our development already has. Our primary competitor offers a solution based on DB2. Therefore, if we have to discuss databases, we talk about the features they are using in DB2 which are stable in and come from IDS. The reason IDS is still doing so well in OEM solutions is precisely because of the fact that it can remain invisible and do the job better. In situations where DBMS name recognition is a major factor, too often the least good database engine (hint: Ms. Squeal) wins. What IBM needs to realise is that IDS fits in this market and that they can and should sell it. IDS does not need to be known by everyone. It will never be a home user's app. But IBM can leverage its value to OEM's. As for the long-term viability of IDS, this is where we can leverage IBM. As an IBM product, IDS is liable to A) outlive the customer's need; B) outlive our application's lifecycle; C) outlive my company and the customer's. These opinions are my own, of course, and should not be construed to reflect Mediware policy, sales, longevity, etc., standard disclaimer, etc., don't get me in trouble with the SEC, the FTC, or the PHB, please, etc... Sincerely, Christopher Coleman Acting President Kansas City Informix Users Group www.iiug.org/kciug Database Analyst Pharmacy Division Mediware Information Systems, Inc.