Re: How to determine database market share?

Paul wrote:
> DA Morgan <damorgan_at_psoug.org> wrote:

>
> I was asking what is a question of legitimate concern to people who
> are interested in databases generally, which surely must cover a good
> percentage of the readership of this group.

I agree it is of legitimate concern. You might consider some of the outlandish answers might be towards your suggestion of metric.
>
>
> > > Oracle "was" primarliy a db company but not entirely but has in the
> > > last two years been acquiring other (service based - Siebel, whatever)
> > > companies like there's no tomorrow.
>
> > As I said above: Your statement wasn't true 10 years ago.
>
>
> OK, so you're making an acutal point here - you seem to be saying that
> Oracle has been more than a db company for some time - i.e. ten years?
> When in your NSHO did Oracle move from being a db company to something
> else? In any case, how is it relevant to my core question which
> remains *_how many Oracle installations are there_* in area x, y or
> z, and how can a neutral observer *_try_* to determine how much of a
> market there is for Oracle's rivals, which was the thrust of my
> original question - or does that make my life boring again?

I took a market research class in an MBA program. It was actually quite interesting and informative. When I rag on marketeering here, that is the BS kind of thing that people are dissing as marketing in this thread/group. Two different things. I would suggest taking such a class and pursuing your question if you are serious about it. There are things that can be done, but they require planning, time, persistence, and some expense. But I think dawn nailed it regarding the job post thing - very few job adverts for mature systems. Just like with mainframes.
>
>
> > > Would it be fair to suggest that up until about 1-2 years ago Oracle
> > > was *_primarily_* a db company, but has now moved very much into the
> > > "added value" services sector of the market. Sorry about my sloppy
> > > wording, but one can't always write a novel in response to a newsgroup
> > > post.
>
> > No it would not.
>
>
> OK, feel free to expand a wee bit on this succint response.

http://www.oracle.com/corporate/home2.html Especially note that 1998 is the integration of some relatively mature things.

>
> There could be a licence out there which obliges my to surrender my
> first-born to use their programme - would I agree? Of course, because
> I wouldn't have read the damn thing in the first place. Come to
> actually enforcing the clause would be a different matter though...

Hey, 10g SE installs stuff that guarantees you violate its licensing.

>
>
> It is idiotic to try and determine some sort of rational metric (which
> I have suggested is best determined by job-ads) to determine db market
> share?
>
> I fail to see why it is idiotic - difficult maybe, but certainly not
> idiotic. And certainly relevant to this group - all of us leading the
> boring lives that we do, as opposed to your thrilling one, hopping
> from Hawaii to Japan at the drop of a hat? The letters f and y spring
> to mind...

No, but it isn't too bright to get caught up in the inevitable flame war :-)

>
>
> > >>Is 1 $10,000 license for product A worth 1 $2,500 license for product
> > >>B? Is it worth 4X as much? What if one is a per user license and the
> > >>other a per CPU license? A site license? What is one system is connected
> > >>to users via client-server and the other to an application server
> > >>connected to the internet?
>
> > > Here you are merely echoing my points
>
> > I am not. You don't have a point. There is no way to determine market
> > share because there is no definition of what "market share" is. If you
> > define it and can get the metrics, you can't, then you can go into
> > competition with Gartner and other scum.
>
>
> You are correct, definition of market share is at best tricky. I am
> suggesting that looking at job postings on groups for an area would
> be/might be a reasonable metric for determining market penetration.
>
>

huh-huh he said "penetration."

> > >>You might want to go back to watching American Idol. ;-)
>
> > > What is American Idol?
>
> > An Oracle account.
>
>
> ? I googled. Some sort of Big Brother thing?
>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Idol and click on Pop Idol.

jg

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