> With the kind of $ they want ($28k * 4 processors), I can pretty much pick
> from any RBDMS on the market, and I'm sure not going to feel chained to M$
> for that kind of bread. Does anybody have a good suggestion for an
> enterprise RBDMS that isn't going to cost over $100K, i.e., doesn't have a
> rake-in-the-cash-now-to-fill-our-Supreme-Court-Battle-warchest pricetag?
That sounds pretty high. The licensing scheme has been pretty convoluted for
some time (though nothing compared to Oracle's) and the fact that Microsoft
is in the middle of revamping it doesn't seem to help.
SQL Server 7 has traditionally been around $2,000 to $2,500 per processor.
This gets you 5 CALs for the box. In addition, those of us connecting
Internet applications to SQL Server need the Internet Connector license for
$2,500 to $3,000.
The new SQL Server licensing scheme for 2000 ditches the whole CAL bit so
you pay around $5,000 to $6,000 per processor. Even the enterprise edition,
is under $20,000 per processor with no additional CALs required.
Don't get me wrong, I'm sure you've researched it thoroughly. You've
probably been over the numbers several times and have been to every site
that attempts to explain the enigma that is Microsoft's licensing. I just
felt obliged to mention this since it wouldn't be the first time a good
developer had been led astray by an inept, non-technical sales person.
Someone mentioned Sybase as a cheaper alternative. I was not aware that they
were substantially less expensive, but if they are and you have experience
with Microsoft SQL Server, then you will probably feel very at home with
Sybase as the implementation of both ANSI '92 and Transact-SQL is very
similar.
They have gone different directions in recent years so if you use much of
what Microsoft has added to SQL Server in the past couple releases (e.g.
English Query, XML Support, OLAP, etc.), then you will have to find
alternatives. This is not to say that Sybase does not have them, I'm just
not familiar with them and I doubt they resemble the Microsoft SQL Server
implementation.
Benjamin S. Rogers
Web Developer, c4.net
voice: (508) 240-0051
fax: (508) 240-0057
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