Re: backhanded compliment from Larry Ellison

Robert,

> He was then quoted as saying "They are a bigger threat to [Microsoft]
> SQL Server than Oracle."

I've always felt the same. In fact, I tried to persuade the president
of Great Bridge to target SQL Server before taking on Oracle, without
success.

Oracle has a market advantage that has nothing to do with features, and
everything to do with good image marketing. Despite that, we are
forcing them to our economic model ... over the last 5 years, Oracle's
license revenue has shrunk while their service revenue has climbed
steadily. IBM understood this from the get-go, and has focused on
support & service for DB2, making discount/bundled licenses readily
available.

To put it another way: People who buy Oracle 9i or IBM DB2 are not
buying a database, they are buying a company. We can't fight that
directly, and should not try.

> Not a ringing endorsement, but I have to agree because I think we
> beat
> sql server hands down. The only thing we don't do is run on windows
> natively, but if we get that in 7.4, we should be able to eliminate
> sql
> server from the database market :-)

There are still some respects where we trail MS SQL Server:
1) slower performance on massive data updates
2) point-in-time recovery
3) in-database replication tools
4) GUI DBA tools (i.e. tools to manage configuration params, backup,
process management)
5) automated version upgrade/patching

Also, keep in mind that 80% of MS SQL server purchases are an included
part of vertical applications ... that is, people are not buying MS SQL
Server, they are buying ELBS or Great Plains Accounting. These
purchases we will not influence until we can get similar commercial
vertical apps to adopt postgresql.

Anybody know someone at AccPac Innternational?

This is a good opportunity -- MS SQL Server is weak and not getting
better, and MS's acquisition of Great Plains was a dismal failure --
financial software is sold on support, and MS support sucks -- so we
could pick up and entire industry segment if we make the right
alliances.

Just a thought.

-Josh Berkus