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How long it took to realize this? A decade?) Actually, RDBMS folks knew that for ages. There are basically two major types - ones who know nothing but Oracle,

How long it took to realize this? A decade?) Actually, RDBMS folks knew that for ages. There are basically two major types - ones who know nothing but Oracle, a vast majority, and those who have seen Informix or DB2. (SQL Server always considered as a tasteless joke). So, those small minority always knew what a bloatware Oracle is.

parasubvert 14y ago
I have seen Informix, DB2 (which one? there are four code bases), and Sybase. Oracle is still the #1 database for many reasons. Is it vastly superior? No. But it's not what I would consider bloatware anymore than another commercial RDBMS.
- dschiptsov 14y ago
  I have 10+ years of being Informix DBA. Informix was a product of a wonderful team of engineers. It has small code base, and I mean it, proper design and engineering decisions and excellent set of features. The Dynamic Server Product was so good, that Informix was acquired by IBM. It was solid Linux version back in 90s, and works well on Solaris or even SCO. And you could configure almost everything you need in two simple text files and monitor and fine-tune almost everything on the go with just a telnet connection. Don't even tell me about Oracle.)
  - parasubvert 14y ago
    Informix was everything you say it was, I concur. Oracle you could fine tune nearly everything with a single text file through 8i. And even now that's still supported (the pfile vs spfile). Their recovery procedures are also bulletproof unlike the voodoo with say, Sybase ASE to this day.
    - dschiptsov 14y ago
      I once have resolved some stalled server issues on a machine located in a polar town Severomosk (via 2 sequential ssh connections, via terrible GPRS and one plain long-distance modem call - cu -l /dev/ttyS0 you know) from Katmandu, Nepal.) So, properly designed console tools matters.)
      - parasubvert 14y ago
        Cool. I've dealt with similar circumstances - one of my favorite incidents was a remote farm inventory database that kept getting corrupted because sheep kept head-butting an electric fence that was shorting the power to the nearby farmhouse. Sqlplus still is the choice to do most things for old school Oracle DBAs :)

parasubvert 14y ago

I have seen Informix, DB2 (which one? there are four code bases), and Sybase. Oracle is still the #1 database for many reasons. Is it vastly superior? No. But it's not what I would consider bloatware anymore than another commercial RDBMS.

dschiptsov 14y ago
I have 10+ years of being Informix DBA. Informix was a product of a wonderful team of engineers. It has small code base, and I mean it, proper design and engineering decisions and excellent set of features. The Dynamic Server Product was so good, that Informix was acquired by IBM. It was solid Linux version back in 90s, and works well on Solaris or even SCO. And you could configure almost everything you need in two simple text files and monitor and fine-tune almost everything on the go with just a telnet connection. Don't even tell me about Oracle.)
- parasubvert 14y ago
  Informix was everything you say it was, I concur. Oracle you could fine tune nearly everything with a single text file through 8i. And even now that's still supported (the pfile vs spfile). Their recovery procedures are also bulletproof unlike the voodoo with say, Sybase ASE to this day.
  - dschiptsov 14y ago
    I once have resolved some stalled server issues on a machine located in a polar town Severomosk (via 2 sequential ssh connections, via terrible GPRS and one plain long-distance modem call - cu -l /dev/ttyS0 you know) from Katmandu, Nepal.) So, properly designed console tools matters.)
    - parasubvert 14y ago
      Cool. I've dealt with similar circumstances - one of my favorite incidents was a remote farm inventory database that kept getting corrupted because sheep kept head-butting an electric fence that was shorting the power to the nearby farmhouse. Sqlplus still is the choice to do most things for old school Oracle DBAs :)