From: belkin@teecs.UUCP (Hershel Belkin) Date: Fri, 23 Nov 1990 14:36:44 GMT Subject: Re: Informix, or Oracle... That is the question. **HELP** Message-ID: <19590001@teecs.UUCP> Organization: Litton Systems, Toronto ONT Path: utzoo!censor!teecs!belkin Newsgroups: comp.databases References: <1990Nov7.085324.12653@rbdc> We chose Informix over Oracle about 3 years ago for various reasons, price being one :-). I have never regretted the decision! We use Informix-4GL for all our database-related applications. Our largest application is many thousands of lines of 4GL code, highly interactive, and includes dozens of fairly complex reports. The amazing thing (to me) is that we have _never_ had to resort to any 3GL code! Everything we ever wanted to do could be done within Informix 4GL! To me, that alone is worth everything-- this application was ported from an older, non-unix machine, and the sort of changes that used to require man-weeks (or even months) are now made in hours! Our time to deliver a new report has gone from about 4 weeks to 2 days! (The report write that you fererred to -- ACE -- is not nearly as powerful as the one built into Informix-4GL, by the way) DISCLAINMEERR: I have never actually written anything using ORACLE. But I have friends who consult specifically in Oracle, and they seem to always be mired in COBOL and C coding (great if you're being paid by the hour :-) So I may be biased. But I've always thought that if you've got something good, why look to change it? (PS. Not that I don't have _some_ complaints about Informix, but they seem very minor in perspective. And one of my sorest points -- their phone support -- has recently improved significantly.) +-----------------------------------------------+-------------------------+ | Hershel Belkin hp9000/825(HP-UX)| UUCP: teecs!belkin | | Test Equipment Engineering Computing Services |Phone: 416 249-1231 x2647| | Litton Systems Canada Limited (Toronto) | FAX: 416 246-5233 | +-----------------------------------------------+-------------------------+