Hi Alex,
We do know of the issue - and have done for some time now. We are still trying
to find out what the policy is in the US and how other manufacturers of embedded
databases are re-acting to what is going on. I would say that for most VAR
organisations, much of the revenue comes from 1-5 installed licenses, cut that
out and you are a non viable company. There is an interesting article in
Distributed Computing for August (1999) that has the head of Centura Corporation
(remember Gupta?) commenting on this phenomenon:
"[someone wins $1m INDY prize] Let us see here --- Hmmmmmm - how should he split
the prize; how about $999k for him and $1k for the engine manufacturer?
Sounds crazy? Not if you are in the software development tools business. You can
purchase an "engine" for a few hundred dollars, build a wonderful INDY car, and
race it to victory. The dilemma is that if the engine builder struggles to make
a living, then they will not sustain his ability to build great engines. This
means that the drivers would not be able to race the best cars. And we all know
how much fun it is to watch an INDY car race around the track at 200+ MPH [sic]"
It goes on to comment how 80% software that is cheap like VB has caused problems
for other vendors of software development tools. The same argument would go for
SQL Server (IMHO, it has an awful engine), but it is good enough and free is a
good price. Developers going for it (and MS offering it) just means less choice
in the low-end marketplace and IMHO, things get worse for everyone.
I can see how InterBase can continue to compete against MS SQL Server on some
level - with IB for Linux for example as the cost of the 5 user license is the
cost of a 5 user license for NT (and MS SQL Server doesn't run on Linux or
anything other than Intel/NT (now that Alpha has been dropped)), but as you say,
with a free version of a "good enough" SQL engine, I will be interested in what
the response from InterBase in the US will be.
Richard
Alex Kouznetsov wrote:
> I think if Inprise/Borland immediately does not come up with the similar to
> MS plan, they may say goodbye to IB.
> Free IB re-distributable for Borand developers with the same up to 5 users
> license would be the right answer and it must be quick.
>
> I'd suggest local Borland to contact USA Borland and tell them that people
> may start jumping off IB train quicker they one may think.
> IB is better in may areas but it is far from being clear winner. 5 free
> users licenses for MSSQL is enough to make IB looser.
>
> Oh, Microsoft, you've done it again! But this time it is not gonna make such
> amount of noise as embedding IE into OS.
>
> Alex
>
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> New Zealand Delphi Users group - Delphi List - [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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--
Richard Vowles, Senior Systems Engineer,
Inprise New Zealand
MAIL: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
HTTP: http://www.esperanto.org.nz
[my messages contain my own opinions, not those of my employer]
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