Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!caen!umich!sharkey!cfctech!kathy From: kathy@cfctech.cfc.com (Kathy Nash) Newsgroups: comp.databases Subject: Re: Informix, or Oracle... That is the question. **HELP** Keywords: Informix Oracle Help Message-ID: <1990Nov20.205855.3317@cfctech.cfc.com> Date: 20 Nov 90 20:58:55 GMT References: <1990Nov7.085324.12653@rbdc> <1990Nov8.023758.28163@informix.com> Reply-To: kathy@cfctech.cfc.com (Kathy Nash) Organization: Chrysler Financial Corporation, Southfield, MI. Lines: 45 >>The following is a summary comparison of two RDBMS products, ORACLE and >>INFORMIX. >> >>FORM GENERATION >>--------------- >> >>ORACLE SQL*Forms requires huge amounts of memory. INFORMIX runs well >>on small platforms. >> From personal experience, it should be known that while you can set INFORMIX to run with little memory, the cost in response time must also be weighed. >> >>REPORT WRITERS >>-------------- >> >>ORACLE's report writers are horrible. Their new SQL*ReportWriter lacks >>some fundamental features, like a conditional (IF-THEN) statement. Oracle >>Corporation doesn't even use it internally. Their ten-year-old SQL*Report >>is still used, but its usage is archaic. (dot commands) >> >>INFORMIX-4GL can be used to write any report that can be written using >>a language like COBOL. INFORMIX also offers a report writer called >>ACE, which requires programming, and a report writer called QUICK STEP, >>which does not. >> Again, the ease of use can often come at the cost of response time. >> >>OVERALL CONCLUSIONS >>------------------- >> >>ORACLE has severe difficulties with bugs in new products. It takes them >>a great deal of time to roll out new products because they run on so many >>platforms. >> We receive 2.10.03, first quarter this year. By, September we were upgraded to 4.0. Since there are problems with INFORMIX 4.0 (dbload dumping core, performance, etc.), we will be upgrading to 4.1 when it is released (now a moving target release date). We have to upgrade over 130 machines with every release. Our personal experience is that joins, sums, etc. take a long time and therefore care needs to be used when designing tables. >>=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Kathy Nash The opinions above are my own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of my employers.