XPost: comp.databases.ibm-db2   
   From: news.hans@telus.net   
      
   michael newport wrote:   
      
   > HansF  wrote in message   
   > news:<_68fd.2$df2.0@edtnps89>...   
   >> michael newport wrote:   
   >>   
   >> >   
   >> > So why buy Oracle when Ingres is free.   
   >>   
   >> If you use Oracle like you use Ingres, you are absolutely correct.   
   >   
   > Its just a database. You use it as you need to, to do your job.   
   > See previous post for comparisons on how to do this.   
   >   
   >> The implication is that accounting and shareholders or stakeholders (or   
   >> wife) have not had a review of where time and money are going.  Which is   
   >> more toward keeping old technology alive than improving the business.   
   >>   
   > Human.   
   >   
   >> Which makes me worry about management and the viability of the   
   >> organization. (Suggest you keep your resume polished ...)   
   >   
   > Human.   
   >   
      
   What you consider Human, I consider time diverted _from_ Human activity such   
   as spending time with my wife and family.  Instead, I'd be coding to   
   account for those pieces missing.  After all, per your previous post it's   
   just a database, so we wouldn't want to get any benefit from that would we?   
      
   Been there, done that.  Prefer the family.   
      
   >> Of course, you _could_ use Oracle the same way as Ingres and code the   
   >> solution in PERL or otherwise.  But my wife prefers I send time with her   
   >> instead of the computer, and these days I prefer to listen to the CDs   
   >> than   
   >> to code the catalog.  (I listened when they said 'get a life' )   
   >   
   > Yes Ingres has changed significantly in the last 7 years.   
   > It is also free.   
   > That is $400 dollars saved.   
   > Now imagine if you were a large company.   
      
   Totally forgetting the cost of programming and maintenance again, aren't   
   you?  Selective memory and bad logic don't make the added time and cost of   
   unnecessary development go away.  And a big company needs to pay it's   
   people.   
      
   Remember that the run-on cost of development and maintenance kills many more   
   projects than the cost of purchased software or hardware.  Which gets   
   people fired.  Which, I guess is Human as well.   
      
   And yet, I do understand what you are saying.  Having used both   
   OpenOffice.org and MS Office, I have never needed the full capability of MS   
   Word or Excel and have standardized my home and business on OO.org.   
   There's nothing missing, so I don't need to code for the stuff I'm missing.   
   In such an environment iff it's been properly thought out, go for 'good   
   enough'.  (And remember MySQL & PostgreSQL!)   
      
   Note that I'm also a big believer in FOSS.  All my personal and corp   
   machines, except one, are GNU/Linux based.  Allows me to put the money and   
   effort where it belongs.  Which I can only do by careful, not religious,   
   analysis.   
      
   And IMO, based on my analysis, Ingres is behind the times in the commercial   
   rdbms market, and (although it has a few decent capabilities) behind the   
   times in the FOSS market as well.  My prediction is that the MySQL group   
   will look at the capabilities and legally subsume the good stuff, to add it   
   to the already superior product.   
      
      
   I suspect you are going to respond and, since I have a family to get back   
   to, that means you will get the last word.  Make it a good one.  Then you   
   can get back to your religion (and spend your time coding).    
      
   /Hans   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)