> I disagree. If you sit down and compare the feature-sets of
> Oracle 8 and Universal Server side by side, it pretty obvious
> that the two products are very similar...up to and including
> the fact that neither of them have been released. :-)
There are important differences. Oracle8 will use middleware between cartridges and database engine. This means slow performance and extra server hardware. Sybase also uses middleware, DB2 uses the same approach as Informix.
The middleware approach is a 2nd rate solution which was chosen only because its much more work going the integration route.
Also, Informix DSA is a more modern architecture than Oracle and their replication scheme is more elegant and proper.
On top of the real and very serious competition Oracle will be getting on the high end is their failure to take NT seriously on the low end. Up until a few months ago, Oracle on NT was a port of their Unix code. Oracle's architecture is ill-suited for top-notch performance on NT and they need to develop for NT seperately from Unix. They only figured this out a few months ago. This is another example of where you shake your head and ask yourself, why does it take these guys so long to get moving on something so obvious?
Oracle just announced that they dropped out of the race to compete with MS, IBM, and now Netscape with Bandwagon (Oracle7, Interoffice, Enterprise Manager). There was no interest. So, how many people are going to buy the new productivity applets they are developing if there is little or no interest in Interoffice?
So, Oracle may be very rosy right now but they have not done a good job of looking after their future. Eventually, this will be reflected in earnings and stock performance |
