Oracles better for some

 
 
By Lisa Vaas  |  Posted 2004-02-27 Email Print this article Print
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


If you talk to a data warehousing expert like Ian Abrahamson, CTO of Red Sky Data, hell tell you that its all about sitting down and asking yourself what your corporate database direction is. If its to build into a strong environment with a lot of features and the ability to reduce vulnerability to downtime, then Oracle is a good direction to go in. "Over time, its, Where are you going, where are you today, what do you foresee?" Abrahamson says. "The choice was, If you go with SQL Server, youll be tied to Windows and Microsoft forever. Plus you wont be able to move to Linux [or Unix]. … Now, [with the price cut], you have an opportunity to grow into your vision." If you take that argument to SQL Server fans, many will tell you that Microsofts database is plenty robust and scalable enough for their needs. Indeed, many believe that the "its not robust or scalable" rap is dated. There was some kernel of truth at the beginning of time, but Microsoft has grown the database since it was first introduced. The fact that SQL Server did so great in Winter Corp.s annual survey of the worlds biggest, most heavily used databases says a lot. Click here to find out why Oracles price cuts should have been deeper.
After considering all the pros and cons of one database over the other, what it all comes down to could well be that Oracles price cut amounts to preaching to the choir. For most businesses that consciously choose their database platform, the decision has been made, and a $1,000 price cut off the initial software price wont sway them much.
Next page: Why price wars are our friends.


 
 
 
 
Lisa Vaas is News Editor/Operations for eWEEK.com and also serves as editor of the Database topic center. Since 1995, she has also been a Webcast news show anchorperson and a reporter covering the IT industry. She has focused on customer relationship management technology, IT salaries and careers, effects of the H1-B visa on the technology workforce, wireless technology, security, and, most recently, databases and the technologies that touch upon them. Her articles have appeared in eWEEK's print edition, on eWEEK.com, and in the startup IT magazine PC Connection. Prior to becoming a journalist, Vaas experienced an array of eye-opening careers, including driving a cab in Boston, photographing cranky babies in shopping malls, selling cameras, typography and computer training. She stopped a hair short of finishing an M.A. in English at the University of Massachusetts in Boston. She earned a B.S. in Communications from Emerson College. She runs two open-mic reading series in Boston and currently keeps bees in her home in Mashpee, Mass.
 
 
 
 
 
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