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From: randall@informix.com (Randall Rhea)
Newsgroups: comp.databases
Subject: Re: Unscrupulous posting
Message-ID: <1990Dec12.001604.19357@informix.com>
Date: 12 Dec 90 00:16:04 GMT
References: <1990Dec4.215711.2508@oracle.com> <1990Dec7.023519.9020@informix.com> <1990Dec7.164302.21543@oracle.com>
Sender: news@informix.com (Usenet News)
Organization: Informix Software, Inc.
Lines: 47

> In 1990Dec7.164302.21543@oracle.com Dennis Moore writes:

>Gee, I bet Randall is very objective.  I personally used Informix for two
>years, worked at Ingres for a year and a half, and now work at Oracle.  In my
>NSOO [not so objective opinion ;-)], Oracle is the best of the three products.
>And my opinion is worth just as much as Randall's to any customer hoping to
>make a decision on a development strategy for the future.  Zilch.

How come?  Why is your opinion, or my opinion, worth "zilch"?  Why does
working for a database company make one's posting "unscrupulous?"  I would
say that such opinions are "suspicious", but not "worth zilch."  In fact,
working for a database company is sometimes a real plus, as it allows for
access to information that one would not normally have. 

What you are really implying is that my opinions are biased to the point
of being useless.  (i.e. "Gee, I bet Randall is very objective.")  Once again,
let me point out that I don't work in the sales department, so I receive no
commissions ... if someone out on the net buys Informix, I don't receive
a dime.  Let me also say why I came to work for Informix:  I liked the
products.  I thought that the company had a strong product line, and was
well-poised for the future.  (So far, things have turned out that way, as
Informix is still making a profit, unlike our competitors.)  I never thought
that the products were perfect, but I was impressed with them because I
had actually built successful applications with them.  My opinions were
arrived at long before I came to work here. 

So, what we have here is one guy from Informix who says Informix is good
and one guy from Oracle that says Oracle is good.  What should a net
reader do?   The option that Dennis proposes is to ignore both articles.
(.... then why did Dennis bother to post his article on the net ... ?)  
Personally, I prefer to keep an open mind, and I read all of the articles,
no matter what company the author works for.  If I disagree with something,
(e.g. "SQL*Forms is a 'robust' tool") then I can respond to the article
point-by-point.  I prefer to refute specific facts/opinions, rather than
slamming the entire article for being "biased."   One cannot automatically
assume that a person is biased and still be fair to that person.  Also,
just because an article comes from a non-competitor does not mean that
it is NOT biased.  

Look at what the article SAYS.   Then make the conclusion.


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Randall Rhea                                          Informix Software, Inc. 
Senior Programmer/Analyst, MIS                    uunet!pyramid!infmx!randall