Conference ulysse::rdb_vms_competition

312.0. "Database Hoohaw" by DPDMAI::DAVISGB (Let's get Relational!) Mon Mar 06 1989 23:38

Hello Database Compadres,
    
    Freshly back from riding the success plane in Houston, I settled down 
    to peruse the latest and greatest musings from that dogged pursuer of 
    the ever-elusive non-disclosure tidbit...Digital Review...
    
    For all you database types, there's some interesting reading in this 
    month's (week's?) issue....
    
    Page 46, a continuation of the 'Unix Databases Create Modern-Day 
    Goldrush' article, finally arrives at a paragraph en-labeled:
    
    'Unix Shortcomings....
    
            Nonetheless, some industry watchers point out 
            that substantial differences between operating 
            systems cannot be ignored.  In some areas, they 
            maintain,  Unix can be a weaker choice than a 
            proprietary system.
            
            For example, Unix is thought to have a weaker 
            file-handling system than RMS on VMS.  Thus, 
            many UNIX developers have been forced to write 
            their own file-handling systems.  "The less you 
            have to know about the file structure of Unix, 
            the better off you are," Leonnig said. Uniplex 
            has created it's own file handling system, he 
            said.
            
            In addition, UNIX cannot match VMS file and data 
            integrity.  Like many operating systems, Unix 
            buffers data that has been sent to the disk to 
            be stored.  Although users may think information 
            has been stored safely,  data may be still in 
            memory, subject to a sudden power loss ofr 
            machine malfunction.
            
            Oracle's Tims said his company has worked around 
            the problem by taking advantage of undocumented 
            features to help insure data integrity.
            
    Tell your sales rep THAT should give their customer a warm and 
    fuzzy feeling....ORACLE works on UNIX by implementing undocumented 
    features....the article continues...
            
            Another oft-cited weakness is Unix's lack of 
            speed, which stems from its very strength - 
            portability.  Because Unix runs on a variety of 
            hardware platforms, according to analysts, it is 
            unlikely to be as efficient as VMS, which is 
            optimized for VAX hardware.
            
            The big thing you get on VMS is that your disk 
            I/O tends to be faster and more reliable," 
            Interbase's DePalma said.
            
            Consequently, Dataquest's Cubbage added, Unix 
            databases are likely to find a lukewarm 
            acceptance from the On-Line Transaction 
            Processors - one of the hotter segments of the 
            market......"
            
    
    And in the same issue....Rumour Roundup continues with....
    
            
            "The rumour hotline has been ringing with 
            complaints from DEC sales-types.  It seems that 
            every time one of them sells an ORACLE product, 
            he or she is given a one-way ticket to a new 
            territory in the Aleutians.  Ever try to sell an 
            Rdbms to a polar bear?"
            
    
    Finally, on the same page as the rumor roundup, there's an article 
    that says in big letters "DBMS Trend Seen Favoring Oracle over 
    DEC".  The article states that ORACLE is the DBMS "of choice" at 
    26 percent of all sites", and "DEC lags behind with a combined 9% 
    for both Rdb and DBMS"   
    
    I got a little confused when I saw an accompanying Pie chart that 
    showed Rdb with 19% and DBMS with 17% of the VAX sites versus 
    Oracle with a whopping 20% (see...we're STILL neck and neck in the 
    Rdb/Oracle race.)  Confused, I read the previous paragraph 
    again...the sentence said 
    
    "Oracle is the DBMS...of all sites PLANNING A DBMS PURCHASE'!  
    
    Don't let customers or sales fall into this trap!  ORACLE touts 
    this to customers as their proof of market acceptance.   If you 
    study the trends over the past few months (See Michael Booth's 
    NewsBOOTH), it's clear that ORACLE is losing market share to Rdb.  
    Planning and Using are two different survey numbers....
    
    FYI, here are the 'DBMS installations at VAX sites numbers from 
    the pie chart...:
    
                ORACLE          20%
                DEC (Rdb)       19%
                DEC (DBMS)      17%
                RTI (Ingres)    16%
                Info Builders    4%
                Compuserve       3%
                Campus America   3%
                UC Berkley       2%
                Henco            2%
                Informix         2%
                Others          12%
    
    (Note that SYBASE didn't even merit it's own slice of the PIE!)
    
    Cheers,
    
    Gil