Hello Dawn,
At 11:22 AM 18/05/2004, Dawn M. Wolthuis wrote:
> -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:owner-u2- > [EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Robert Colquhoun > On the original point of dawn collecting material for future flame wars on > comp.databases.theory:
You got me wrong -- I'm not into flames, I'm just trying to learn why all database textbooks cling to theory related to SQL-based databases, teaching 1NF as if it were the only mathematically-valid approach.
From looking at cdt here:
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&group=comp.databases.theory
Half your posts appear to be advocacy for pick/mv products and others contain derogatory remarks about relational based systems ie don't buy oracle stock, sql is evil etc....The audience is not neutral, it mainly consists of sql/relational priests and acolytes, you are attacking their religion, how could anything constructive ever possibly emerge?
> choosing only the failed conversions and ignoring > the successful conversions will quickly be exposed. A much better tactic > is to stay positive and sell the benefits of whatever solution you are > pushing, this would involve showing how easy it is convert to and from mv > systems to other existing systems.
I'm really not in a selling mode, but a learning one. I'd like to better understand why companies are spending so much money on Oracle, for example, and whether they think they are getting a good ROI on their investment or simply don't know any better solution.
Does it really matter that it has happened? There could be a set of reasons for it or it could be dumb luck, either way it is in the past now. Much more important is what is going to happen now,? For what it is worth i personally can see 2 alternatives oracle et al gets commoditized(more likely) or something superior enough overcomes the large inertia and replaces it(less likely).
> A list of conversion failures might have nasty unintended consequences: > it > would show a future prospective mv customer once they chose a mv solution > there was no way ever they would be able to leave.
I recognize that could be a possible conclusion that one could draw. Since I'm not looking to sell, but to understand, then if that is really the case, then I want to better understand that too. I might look like I'm selling, but in this case I am really trying to understand why what I have learned related to databases in my reading and what I have seen with my eyes are so contradictory. Cheers! --dawn
Well then perhaps you need to do some kind of scientific study instead. Get a mv vendors customer list from 10 years ago and the customer list from today. Find the customers no longer using the product and see what replaced it and interview about the conversion process, maybe compare the companies that converted growth, profits etc with those that stayed on mv.
- Robert ------- u2-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.u2ug.org/listinfo/u2-users
