>> So how big a market share does DB2 itself command? They don't say.
>> Big
>> deal, so IBM-Informix have slightly more market share than Oracle.
>> If
>> Oracle had bought Informix the shoe would be on the other foot.
>> Again, big
>> deal!
What's news is that a few years ago many pundits had written
DB2 off for dead and decided that Oracle was The Thing. If
IBM is creeping up on Oracle it generally means that IBM has
reversed a significant trend -- and probably that Oracle has
blown a good thing.
The numbers are also interesting because new license revenue
is a good indicator of who is switching over or starting up
new systems with the product. Oracle's being behind in new
licensing bodes ill for them in the next few years as they
loose the ongoing licensing and support fees. It also hurts
when selling to suits because the product has less "momentum"
and IBM will certianly be telling everyone about how well they
have turned DB2 around.
It's also vindication of sorts for commercial linux vendors,
since IBM is now doing their best to hork linux on anyone
that'll listen and is doing a rather nice job of integrating
DB2 into linux platforms. This helps give the suits something
solid that runs on linux, backed by Big Blue and does their
jobs well. Uncle Larry, on the other hand, is mercurical
enough that noone really trusts his "vision" of linux taking
over the corporation; IBM the suits are willing to trust on
this one.
It's also good news for data warehousing in general, since
Red Brick may become a product again; which would be good for
linux since it tends to make a nice data warehousing platform
(on the right hardware). This will give people a choice, at
least, and save us from having Oracle shoved up our snoots
for tasks it does poorly just becuase it's Oracle.
I'm certianly not going to run around in the streets naked
celebrating over the news [for which my neighbors are lucky]
but it is worth noting and is probably pleasant news for most
of us.
--
Steven Lembark 2930 W. Palmer
Workhorse Computing Chicago, IL 60647
+1 800 762 1582
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Author: Steven Lembark
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