Roy Schestowitz wrote:
> __/ [ BearItAll ] on Monday 19 February 2007 11:45 \__
>
>> Roy Schestowitz wrote:
>>
>>> An "Unbreakable MySQL" is unlikely to materialise
>>>
>>> ,----[ Quote ]
>>> | Like all proprietary software vendors, Oracle is under increasing
>>> | pressure from shareholders to prove that its business is strong enough
>>> | to sustain growth in the face of increasing interest in open source
>>> | among its core enterprise customers. This particular round of
>>> | sabre-rattling may come at a sensitive time for MySQL, which,
>>> | according to Mickos, is close to announcing an IPO.
>>> `----
>>>
>>>
http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/tech/BA1DFC4CEC901488CC257283007840C2
>>
>> I think we can turn a blind eye to Oracle not being OpenSource at this
>> time, it is good for Linux to have them supplying the same power of
>> Oracle databases and tools as are currently available for the UNIX
>> platform and on Windows Servers too by the way. Remember that they have
>> been putting out a commercial Linux version since some time in the 1990s,
>> I bet your left sock that many a dbase programmer or support staff has
>> the old Oracle evaluation kit set up on a Linux for testing global code
>> off the main system.
>>
>> Best to not assume Oracle are an enemy just because of they undercutting
>> Redhat, currently we have no reason to believe that Oracle will not do a
>> better job in the support arena. Their already have in place support
>> teams who only need a crayon to scub out the word UNIX from the top of
>> their crib page and write Linux underneath it. So the move to Linux
>> support is really a very logical one. For those taking up the Oracle
>> support they is actually a long list of good reasons on the Oracle site,
>> not pushy bullshitting marketing reasons, but actuall real life reasons.
>
>
> Yes, I agree, but their entry---that which challenged Red Hat---wasn't
> elegant. FUD tactics that Ellison used to elevate his product isn't
> appreciated either. It makes everyone look bad (think about the Xen fights
> between RH and Novell).
>
> That said, Oracle uses Linux on 80% of its servers, according to figures
> on their Web site. They also employ a few people who contribute to the
> Linux kernel. In fact, they 'stole' quite a few kernel hackers from 'true'
> Linux companies.
>
If 80% of it's servers are Linux and they have people working in the kernel,
in what way are they not a true Linux company? They are not OpenSource,
that is understandable, if I was Mr Mysql I would pounce on that source
code the day it was released and a little while later release my OMySQL.
Once Oracle have a fuller hold in the Linux market they may open it up.
Linux companies as with any company have to make money from somewhere, we
can't really expect the Oracle staff to clean doorstpes to supplement their
wages and competitive practices are a good thing for businesses. The good
companies climb to the top, the less good companies drop off the bottom.
Redhat will lose nothing at all if their service is at least as good as any
competitive service. Plus the competition is also good for Redhat users in
the sense that it has kicked Redhat up the backside and they seem to have
realised that they have not been doing enough for their existing customers,
they are changing.
About time too, even before Oracle did their bit I had abandoned Redhat,
from a new install you start too far back. openSuse makes a cracking server
and is right up to date, SLES is a little behind that and rock solid. More
and more are realising the benefit of pulling in a Debian without the tosh,
not only a slick clean server but installation and upgrade paths are much
neater than with a toshed up distro. No way was I going to load up a Redhat
and step back a couple of years when they were so many better options
available.
>
>> Consider this example. You take on a job in a brand new installation, a
>> nice Blade cluster, a mega Oracle database, some applications and the
>> communications systems to your 5 branches scattered around the world who
>> each have a slave server (oh, ok then, we'll let them have a cluster too,
>> but it's still just a slave). How much help can Redhat be to you in
>> supporting that lot? Not a great deal really. But Oracle already covers
>> all of those areas and many more. How ever good we believe ourselves to
>> be, we all need help sometimes and Oracle are already geared up to
>> provide that help.
>
>
> Some companies thrive in malice and they use predatory tactics to weaken
> their competitors. Some other companies play nice and hope that customer
> appreciation (and by no means alienation) will buy loyalty. Oracle and
> Microsoft never seem to be self-shamed when they engage in malovalent
> stuff. Google took the opposite approach, though it's beginning to change.
> IBM and Google are 3rd and 4th for S/W, IIRC, while Oracle and Microsoft
> are first and second. I can't remember how Sun fit in. When was the last
> time Sun showed an ugly face? I mean, look at how they market Solaris when
> gunning for Red Hat customers. I can't see much FUD, threats (think
> Ballmer), and vandalism.
>
Joe's 'Extra Lard Breakfast Cafe' will use verbal mailice to improve his
chances against the cafe down the road, he'll also try to put his cafe sign
out nearer the road than their's in the hope it is more likely to be
spotted. He would wash his sticky tables with a grease laden dish cloth if
he thought it would keep customers coming to his cafe, and it must work
because so many of them do it.
It's all just business, a game.
What a powerfull team if Sun and Oracle got together. Solaris OS, a monster
of a Linux OS that is already growing in popularity and if I'm any judge I
would stick my neck out and say that Solaris would on it's own be the
biggest of the business server OS's. Add Oracle to that and you have a team
that could plough through the rest with great ease. As it happens, they are
together, they are targeting the high end and mid range too and there isn't
a great deal up there to get in their way.
There is still room for Redhat, I don't really want to see any company go
under. But if they continue in their arrogant 'We are the biggest therefore
we don't have to put in any effort' attitude, then I wouldn't moan their
loss at all, they haven't actually 'added' to Linux for a long time,
concentrating only on new sales. In Redhat's favour I will say they are
putting more effort in now, bet your left sock they wouldn't have lifted a
finger if Oracle hadn't come in.
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