Re: Db2, Oracle, SQL Server

Mark D Powell wrote:

> I have actually worked with all three databases in question. I have
> only installed and configured DB2 UDB. We did very little with it once
> I got it installed and managed to reach it from a PC client.
> Management of DB2 requires using a slew of utilities compared to
> commands in Oracle and the GUI for DB2 at the time was written in java
> was slow, slow, and slower still. This was OK with me since I perfer
> to work from a command line interface and perform my tasks via scripts.
>
> I have a little more experience with SQL Server having verified and/or
> setup several maintenance jobs, having performed a couple of production
> fixes, and done a couple of installations.
>
> I have a decade of experience with Oracle.
>
> SQL Server is great for standalone setups and low object change
> environments but as you add users and add object change activity I find
> Oracle is a better choice. DB2 UDB is a fully functional rdbms and an
> IBM partner has told me that IBM is working as hard as they can to make
> it look more like Oracle (converting utilities to being SQL type
> commands as in ALTER DATABASE, ALTER SYSTEM, etc) But as of 8.2 I find
> Oracle is much easier for a DBA to manage.
>
> Oracle gives the DBA and developers greater access to what it does
> internally than either of the other two products. Most of the time you
> do not need to look that deeply but for critical code and application
> features this difference might be important.
>
> On the down side Oracle is probably more expensive to buy than either
> DB2 UDB or SQL Server but you can run Oracle on Linux, UNIX, VMS, and
> OS-Z as well as Windows so you have a wide choice of hardware vendors
> and platforms wtih Oracle. With SQL Server you are pretty much locked
> into Windows on Intel compatiable processors. DB2 UDB runs on Windows
> (I think), Linux, UNIX (Sun and HP only), or the mainframe so you have
> a little more flexibility over SQL Server.
>
> HTH -- Mark D Powell --

I was with you right up to the last paragraph. I have yet to see, with current 10g pricing, where Oracle costs more than either SQL Server or DB2. It is important to remember that Oracle Standard Edition is the equal of SQL Server. And while I am not as familiar with IBM's latest, 8.2, I suspect it too is still more the equal of Oracle Standard Edition than Oracle Enterprise Edition. I'd be interested in knowing what you think.

-- 
Daniel A. Morgan
University of Washington
damorgan_at_x.washington.edu
(replace 'x' with 'u' to respond)