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From: de@helios.ucsc.edu (De Clarke)
Newsgroups: comp.databases
Subject: Re: Opinions Wanted re: Database Pkgs
Summary: Informed Opinions on Sybase/Ingres/Oracle/Informix
Keywords: sybase ingres oracle informix
Message-ID: <12250@darkstar.ucsc.edu>
Date: 13 Feb 91 01:37:41 GMT
References: <1991Feb7.223244.253@wynnds.xenitec.on.ca>
Sender: usenet@darkstar.ucsc.edu
Reply-To: de@helios.ucsc.edu (De Clarke)
Organization: UCO/Lick Observatory, Santa Cruz
Lines: 30

I am new to all these threads, but bear with me if this repeats
previous chatter:  we (our unit and the campus as a whole) are
seriously considering unix database packages from the "Big Four"

	Sybase	Ingres	Oracle	Informix

and we are very interested to hear other people's love and hate
stories about any of the following facets of any of the four:

Product:  efficiency, speed, installation, maintenance, documentation,
	  	  ease of use, software tools
Vendor:   efficiency, speed, responsiveness, honesty, development
		  effort, general customer relations

This decision could set direction for the next decade so we 
definitely do not want to climb in bed with the "wrong" vendor.
You could mail directly to me if the rest of the readers are
bored silly with this already.  Otherwise I will check in here 
once a week (that's all my local nntpserver can handle).

--de

PS  my particular slice of the pie is a port of a medium-sized (70MB
    of data files and 50K lines of application) double-entry accounting
    system from DEC DTR32 under VMS to XXXXX where XXXXX is whatever we
    all decide on.  Has anyone out there ported a DTR application to
    a unix SQL type database?  Did you survive the experience or are you
    now washing windows in Kennebunk? ;->  I'd like to hear about it.

#include <std_disclaimer.h>