Re: [HACKERS] [Fwd: SGVLLUG Oracle and Informix on Linux]

> On Tue, 21 Jul 1998, Bruce Momjian wrote:
>
> > > > browse: <http://www.msnbc.com/news/181503.asp>. Thanks
> > > > to Greg Smith <greg(at)zoot(dot)zzz(dot)iipo(dot)gtegs(dot)com> for forwarding.
> > >
> > > After shying away from the Linux platform for several months,
> > > Informix Corp. will do an about face at its international users
> > > conference in Seattle this week. Archrival Oracle Corp. is
> > > expected to put its stamp on approval on Linux this week as
> > > well, by announcing plans to do a Linux port of its Oracle
> > > database, according to sources.
> > >
> > > Ooh. We're getting some serious company. Wonder if they'll be able to
> > > catch up with Postgres :)
> >
> > Ingres II is going to release on Linux too. So now we have Informix,
> > Oracle, and Ingres to compete with. Yikes.
>
> Compete with? They are all releasing free versions for Linux, vs
> the 10's of thousands of dollars they cost for the other operating
> systems? :)

[Informix, Oracle, and Ingres will be releasing versions of their
database engines under Linux in the future.]

OK, let's discuss this. How does this affect us? With all three
releasing around the same time, they really dilute themselves. I can't
imagine most people trying more than one of the commercial alternatives.

Certain people will be tempted by a commercial SQL server, while others
will prefer us because of:

features
installed base
open source
support
price(some are free)

Is there anything we need to do to prevent loss of user base?

Also, I was reading a thread on comp.databases that was discussing free
database alternatives, and no one had mentioned PostgreSQL. We need
people to spread the word about PostgreSQL in all the forums they
frequent. Just point them to www.postgresql.org, and they can look at
it themselves. If they have heard of it, but don't use it, please tell
us why so we can clearly address those issues. We need people to get
more involved in promoting us.

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