Re: What do Oracle, DB2, etc. actually *do*?

Oops! Tim Smith <reply_in_group(at)mouse-potato(dot)com> was seen spray-painting on a wall:
> I've not been able to really figure out an answer to this question from
> the websites of the commercial DB vendors: what do Oracle, DB2, etc.,
> actually do or provide that I do not get with PostgreSQL?
>
> Is there anything technical (as opposed to non-technical things like
> support) that they provide that PostgreSQL is missing?

In the case of Oracle, they have an excruciatingly large set of
additional products that can be bundled in along with the database,
including things like:

- XML extensions
- GIS extensions
- Numerous Java-related extensions including a JMS implementation
- Web application infrastructure
- Additional tools for managing database instances

A while back, we needed an Oracle 8i license for a project and ordered
the "CD pack" which was a whole box full of CDs (including the one bit
we needed) of all sorts of things they'd love to sell us. It was
close to 30 CDs of this and that.

Oracle is spending billions per year on developers; while some of the
results may be of dubious interest, it certainly leads to having a
growing stack of CDs.
--
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