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What features of Oracle or SQL Server would you say it is lacking? Regarding support, there's plenty of fantastic companies providing support and consulting se

by koolba 8y ago

What features of Oracle or SQL Server would you say it is lacking? Regarding support, there's plenty of fantastic companies providing support and consulting services for PostgreSQL and having used plenty of commercial databases I know of know no other database that has as vibrant a community providing amazing free support as well.

guscost 8y ago
SQL Server has a column-oriented index type. Oracle has a thing that lets you query based on what the data was at a particular (recent) timestamp. They both have lots of useful features like that. However from my experience with Oracle and from what I've heard about their source code, its fundamentals are just disgusting. Decades of haphazardly piled-up features and fixes means that if you're the lucky customer to find a new bug, good luck understanding what the heck is going on by yourself. I'd like to think MSSQL is in a bit better shape, but they have lots of the same incentives so who knows.
- abraae 8y ago
  Oracle is like America. Its not all the same. The database itself is now one of the most rock solid pieces of software ever built. Other products - yeah, less so.
  - SahAssar 8y ago
    I think this is perhaps referencing a recent HN comment about the code quality of Oracle DB: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18442941 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18442941
    - abraae 8y ago
      Ha, that's pretty interesting. Not too sure how much credit to give it though based on this: > It takes 6 months to a year (sometimes two years!) to develop a single small feature (say something like adding a new mode of authentication like support for AD authentication). There's no way in the world I would have imagined that adding AD authentication to any database would be a "single small feature".
mikece 8y ago
For a long time Postgres was the quintessential example of how open sources projects are driven by developers who love to add all kinds of cool, whiz-bang features... but there wasn't boring enterprise features like incremental backups because that's no fun to write and test. But that characterization is long out of date. I think.
jpeter 8y ago
plsql, packages and 'as of timestamp'
bitwize 8y ago
> What features of Oracle or SQL Server would you say it is lacking? An ass to drag onto the carpet. In enterprise speak, "support" means "legal liability". You have to be able to sue someone if it fails and loses your company money. This was taught to me by an old IT hand back when I was a young naïve Linux kiddie "you have to be able todrag somebody's ass onto the carpet when the shit breaks". Oh yes, and there's also brand recognition and a large pool of certified Oracle or SQL Server DBAs to draw from when making hiring decisions. Yes, technical people will know that Postgres is solid and will know how to spot good people to maintain a Postgres installation -- but the person signing off on the IT budget is a total normie. He will smile when he sees familiar names and make a lolwut face when he sees postgres. Relatedly, Postgres doesn't have a yacht. Oracle's yacht won the America's Cup.
- threeseed 8y ago
  I’ve worked for dozens of enterprise companies. Support means support. It means that anyone in the company can ring a vendor 24/7 and get the best quality help on the product. It means your outages are smaller and less frequent. You usually can’t get that with a generic open source product or from smaller companies and it’s especially an issue issue in non-US countries where it’s often impossible to get decent support. I’ve never once seen a company sue a vendor or vice versa.
  - pritambaral 8y ago
    > I’ve never once seen a company sue a vendor or vice versa. The first three results I got from a search engine: 1. https://palisadecompliance.com/oracle-lawsuit-pushing-cloud/ https://palisadecompliance.com/oracle-lawsuit-pushing-cloud/ 2. https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/03/22/oracle_shoddy_service_license_denials_aimed_to_force_adoption_of_cloud_service_lawsuit_claims/ https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/03/22/oracle_shoddy_servi... 3. https://www.businessinsider.in/I-felt-like-we-were-being-extorted-a-customer-explains-how-Oracle-tried-to-strong-arm-it-into-a-cloud-sale/articleshow/48930092.cms https://www.businessinsider.in/I-felt-like-we-were-being-ext...

by koolba 8y ago

guscost 8y ago

SQL Server has a column-oriented index type. Oracle has a thing that lets you query based on what the data was at a particular (recent) timestamp. They both have lots of useful features like that. However from my experience with Oracle and from what I've heard about their source code, its fundamentals are just disgusting. Decades of haphazardly piled-up features and fixes means that if you're the lucky customer to find a new bug, good luck understanding what the heck is going on by yourself. I'd like to think MSSQL is in a bit better shape, but they have lots of the same incentives so who knows.

abraae 8y ago
Oracle is like America. Its not all the same. The database itself is now one of the most rock solid pieces of software ever built. Other products - yeah, less so.
- SahAssar 8y ago
  I think this is perhaps referencing a recent HN comment about the code quality of Oracle DB: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18442941 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18442941
  - abraae 8y ago
    Ha, that's pretty interesting. Not too sure how much credit to give it though based on this: > It takes 6 months to a year (sometimes two years!) to develop a single small feature (say something like adding a new mode of authentication like support for AD authentication). There's no way in the world I would have imagined that adding AD authentication to any database would be a "single small feature".

mikece 8y ago

For a long time Postgres was the quintessential example of how open sources projects are driven by developers who love to add all kinds of cool, whiz-bang features... but there wasn't boring enterprise features like incremental backups because that's no fun to write and test. But that characterization is long out of date. I think.

jpeter 8y ago

plsql, packages and 'as of timestamp'

bitwize 8y ago

> What features of Oracle or SQL Server would you say it is lacking? An ass to drag onto the carpet. In enterprise speak, "support" means "legal liability". You have to be able to sue someone if it fails and loses your company money. This was taught to me by an old IT hand back when I was a young naïve Linux kiddie "you have to be able todrag somebody's ass onto the carpet when the shit breaks". Oh yes, and there's also brand recognition and a large pool of certified Oracle or SQL Server DBAs to draw from when making hiring decisions. Yes, technical people will know that Postgres is solid and will know how to spot good people to maintain a Postgres installation -- but the person signing off on the IT budget is a total normie. He will smile when he sees familiar names and make a lolwut face when he sees postgres. Relatedly, Postgres doesn't have a yacht. Oracle's yacht won the America's Cup.

threeseed 8y ago
I’ve worked for dozens of enterprise companies. Support means support. It means that anyone in the company can ring a vendor 24/7 and get the best quality help on the product. It means your outages are smaller and less frequent. You usually can’t get that with a generic open source product or from smaller companies and it’s especially an issue issue in non-US countries where it’s often impossible to get decent support. I’ve never once seen a company sue a vendor or vice versa.
- pritambaral 8y ago
  > I’ve never once seen a company sue a vendor or vice versa. The first three results I got from a search engine: 1. https://palisadecompliance.com/oracle-lawsuit-pushing-cloud/ https://palisadecompliance.com/oracle-lawsuit-pushing-cloud/ 2. https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/03/22/oracle_shoddy_service_license_denials_aimed_to_force_adoption_of_cloud_service_lawsuit_claims/ https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/03/22/oracle_shoddy_servi... 3. https://www.businessinsider.in/I-felt-like-we-were-being-extorted-a-customer-explains-how-Oracle-tried-to-strong-arm-it-into-a-cloud-sale/articleshow/48930092.cms https://www.businessinsider.in/I-felt-like-we-were-being-ext...