One of my friends, Scott, is a consultant who doesn't currently have
newsgroup access so I am asking these questions for him. I'll be telling him
how to monitor the answers via Google Newsgroup searches.

Scott has heard a lot of hype about DB2 and Oracle and is trying to
understand the pros and cons of each product. I'm quite familiar with DB2
but have never used Oracle so I can't make any meaningful comparisons for
him. He does not have a lot of database background but sometimes has to
choose or recommend a database to his clients.

Scott has enough life-experience to take the marketing information produced
by IBM and Oracle with a grain of salt and would like to hear from real
DBAs, especially ones who are fluent with both products, for their views on
two questions:

1. What are the pros and cons of the current releases of DB2 and Oracle?

2. What other sources of *independent* information are available to help
someone new to databases choose between DB2 and Oracle?

This is *not* a troll and we don't want to start a flame war! Scott just
want some honest facts to help him decide which product is best at which
jobs.

--
Rhino

Rhino wrote:

Two things

1) This WILL end in a flame war.
2) You have posted this message to a defunct Oracle group. If you insist
on starting this at least use the right targets -
comp.databases.oracle.server

Rhino wrote:
DB2 consists of two letters and one integer and Oracle consists of 6
letters and no integers.

This is not the first time you have tried to start a flame war and your
previous attempt is logged in my database.

Please take your pathetic attempts to some other group. Perhaps
alt.bored.troll.
--
Daniel A. Morgan
University of Washington
damorgan@x.washington.edu
(replace 'x' with 'u' to respond)

Rhino wrote:

I have logged your previous attempts to start a flame war and no one
with an IQ over room temperature is going to fall for this one either.

Take your wasted life to alt.bored.trolls and post there.
--
Daniel A. Morgan
University of Washington
damorgan@x.washington.edu
(replace 'x' with 'u' to respond)

tell your friend Scott that he should stop wasting his time with DB2 and Oracle.

Use Ingres instead, it does the same stuff as the other 2, but its FREE.

Regards
Michael Newport

"Mark Townsend" <markbtownsend (AT) comcast (DOT) net> wrote

So how can I ask this question in a way that will get a meaningful answer
rather than in flames?

Thank you! As I said in my original post, I've never used Oracle so I didn't
know that comp.databases.oracle was defunct. It had a few recent on-topic
posts in it and I had no idea what its normal activity level is so I tried
that one. I'll repost to the correct newsgroup now that I know what it is.

Rhino

"DA Morgan" <damorgan@x.washington.edu> wrote

comp.databases.ibm-db2 you'll find that I am usually a responder to people's
questions and usually only start my own posts when I have a technical of my
own. If you look in comp.databases.oracle you'll find that I've never posted
there before because, as I said, I am not familiar with Oracle.

Can you suggest a better way to ask my question? I am trying to figure out
how someone having to choose between Oracle and DB2 would choose one over
the other. Surely that is a legitimate question that many people have had to
answer.

Rhino

Rhino,

Frankly, if your friend Scott is a person who doesn't have a db
background, he is not going to be able to understand any technical
differentiators that are brought forth here (and their significance).

Secondly, when you post and ask such questions here ... all you are
going to get are people's opinions ... some very biased opinions. This
stuff is almost religious to some people. The best thing that Scott can
do is to:

- fully understand his customer's requirements from a business and
technology perspective
- tap into someone like Gartner, Mega, Giga for independent opinions on
each dbms
- search the tech media for any reviews of each product
- call upon his local Oracle and IBM reps to bring whatever they can to
the table

By the time he gets done here, his head is going to be spinning and he
will be asking "so who is right and who do I listen to?"

Larry Edelstein

Rhino wrote:

DA Morgan <damorgan@x.washington.edu> writes:

It says a lot about consulting in the IT industry, that the part where
Scott is a consultant that recommends databases when he doesn't know
anything about databases, actually sounds like the truth. :-)

--
#include <disclaimer.std> /* I don't speak for IBM ... */
/* Heck, I don't even speak for myself */
/* Don't believe me ? Ask my wife :-) */
Richard D. Latham lathamr (AT) us (DOT) ibm.com

Rhino wrote:

You can't - the exercise as you have it is a little facile. As a
suggestion, why not recommend a process to your friend, rather than just
an outcome. For instance

1) Work out what criteria are most important for you, for the given
situation (for instance, how you evaluate software depends on what you
want to use the software for, and databases can be used for many things
- from simple data management, to high end OLTP, to very, very large
Data Warehouse environments, and even more lately, to Content
Management). Other options such as price, support, market support,
platforms availability etc may also be relevant.

2) Evaluate the different offerings against this criteria. This may
require that you research the product's web site, read the doc, perhaps
even download and try. Definitely talk to each vendors sales
representatives - typically try to get to the more technical sales
consultants. As you go, use the newsgroup to validate your understanding
of what each offering does and does not do, and what you may have been told.

3) When you come up with a potential best candidate, validate your
decision. Seek references that best match your criteria. Talk to the
technical people in each reference account. Also ask to talk to the
users in each reference account (the two are often at odds as to what is
actually happening).

4) Then choose Oracle :-)