Mogens
PS: And that #€&"#/ enormous hit rate on Metalink searches has GOT to have a good explanation. It's been there for five or six years at least. I've BCC'ed David Ruthven, who helped invent the WebIV stuff. David - why the constant Rdb hits when searching?
Jesse, Rich wrote:
Brilliant, as always. Well deserved award, IMHO. No Academy(R) nomination on the way just yet, though. ;)
BTW, the largest RDB customers seems like they've had a different experience than the littler ones. When Oracle bought RDB, they came to our parent company with a huge increase in the price tag for maintenance. I don't remember exactly, but it was either 100% or 200% *increase* for no added benefits and a drawback (perceived or real) of diminished service. So, our VP at the time gave Larry the finger and went with Sybase, which is now migrating into DB2 for a multi-billion dollar company. Oracle could have had a nice fat contract if they hadn't screwed us over like that.
I still miss RDB...except when it constantly pops up in Metalink searches. :)
Rich
Rich Jesse System/Database Administrator [EMAIL PROTECTED] Quad/Tech Inc, Sussex, WI USA
-----Original Message----- Sent: Tuesday, November 25, 2003 6:29 PM To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L
As the AWE (Award-Winning Educator) of the year, I have a huge responsibility placed on my shoulders: I have to answer questions regarding Rdb truthfully.
So here we go...
Back in the year 1994, Digital very discreetly asked their three biggest customers (including Lego) what they thought of the idea of Digital selling Rdb and other stuff to Oracle. This was before Oracle was asked, mind you. At the time, Lego had 700+ Rdb databases running.
The three big ones answered back that if Oracle was the safe bet for securing their product for the next five to ten years, then fine. Then Digital went to Oracle and sold the stuff for at cheap price. I remember the Digital CEO asking the Oracle folks kindly to please treat their old, beloved customers nicely. It was - Goddamn it! - actually a quite touching moment, if you had any ideas back then about the level of integrity and support in the Digital community.
That's how I came to deliver the first-ever course at Lego in their HQ in Denmark (in a town called Billund, but certainly not named after The Bill).
Why did I deliver an Oracle course there, when they had Rdb already (and working like a charm, mind you)? Because all of the Rdb customers concluded this: We'll run all our old systems on Rdb for many years to come, but we'll base all our new systems on Oracle.
Oracle has done the right things about Rdb again and again and again after taking over the shop from Digital. They kept the bearded, bitter, old, twisted, spec-writing folks of the New England Development team. They let them get on with what they did best: Write new features for Rdb. They borrowed good ideas from them and fed it into Oracle. They let them use good Oracle ideas in Rdb. I have never, ever, seen any take-over work so well in the IT industry. Ask the Rdb customers (Lego, Novo, etc.) and they will tell you they still trust Oracle and Rdb. Incredibly well done. Respect.
Oh, and many years later my guys in Premium Services were among the first five people to know about Lego's desire to change from SAP to Apps. Those were the days: We had so much Lego Mindstorm stuff (for the very cheap company price) available we didn't know what to do. Of course the whole thing failed, and they went back to SAP, but the guys still talk about the Lego sets... but not about the project itself.
I think that Lego today is moving as fast as possible towards SQL Server and a general Windows strategy. These days, you don't get fired from choosing Microsoft.
Jesse - was this what you wished for, or did it suck?
Mogens
Jesse, Rich wrote:
Where's our Award-Winning Educator and former Lego DBA, Mogens? If thereis
one dream job for me, it would be an Oracle DBA at Lego.
And I was upset to find that someone took my "legoman" username from my ISP at home. :(
Rich
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