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New SQL Server Release Slips to 2005

Strudelkugel writes "CRN reports SQL Server 'Yukon' will slip to 2005, complicating plans for ISVs and creating opportunities for OSS and other competitors."

430 comments

  1. That's okay by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Because SQL Server 2000 is pretty much the best database around for the price.

    Who needs all that integrated .NET stuff anyway?

    1. Re:That's okay by Manip · · Score: 2, Insightful

      MySQL is the best database around for the price actually!

    2. Re:That's okay by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      The trouble with MySQL is that you really do get what you pay for ..

    3. Re:That's okay by next1 · · Score: 5, Informative

      i think you'll find PostgreSQL is also pretty good value for money!

    4. Re:That's okay by jalet · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      Considering history and what you have written, I positively think you are completely stupid.
      MySQL is a bad example anyway.

      --
      Votez ecolo : Chiez dans l'urne !
    5. Re:That's okay by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Whoops. They won't write ASM for both x86 and I-64 since they have their IL assembler.

    6. Re:That's okay by next1 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Once SQL server 2005 (now) is out, noone will even remember things like MySQL

      no way! MySQL will always have it's place: it's an open source alternative and i'd also guess it would have a predominantly different market.

    7. Re:That's okay by Shakrai · · Score: 3, Insightful
      The trouble with MySQL is that you really do get what you pay for ..

      Then buy a support contract. Then you will get what you paid for. I'm using MySQL and MS SQL 2000 in an Enterprise environment and MySQL (on second-hand hardware mind you -- our primary database runs on MS because that's what our vendor supports -- bah) is ten times easier to manage and work with then SQL Server 2000.

      I'm not even using a support contract and I still prefer MySQL. Saying "you get what you pay for" without even acknowledging that they offer support (and the fact that it's open source and you can fix bugs/add your own features without paying thousands of dollars of licensing fees) is a fairly stupid statement to make.

      --
      I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
      We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
    8. Re:That's okay by jalet · · Score: 1

      Well, maybe. But then why wasn't the parent modded as Funny instead of Insightful ?

      --
      Votez ecolo : Chiez dans l'urne !
    9. Re:That's okay by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because the moderators are stupid. My clearly funny comment was modded as flamebait and numerous insightful comments by myself and other have been modded as Trolls just for mentioning certain hot button topics.

    10. Re:That's okay by 16K+Ram+Pack · · Score: 1

      Absolutely. I used to run a blog and built a couple of sites for a couple of people. The sites cost those people less than $1000 each. How much is the license price for SQL Server?

    11. Re:That's okay by vf123 · · Score: 3, Informative

      I agree, you can bash Microsoft all you want just because that's who they are, but don't bring up MySQL as an alternative to any real database, be it oracle, postgres or mssql.

    12. Re:That's okay by BoomerSooner · · Score: 5, Insightful

      SQL Server 2005? is going to be great. However, if I had to choose the *best* database I would go with Oracle without a doubt. Every tool other database manufacturers are trying to mirror generally come from Oracle. Plus they support Linux which makes buying very expensive hardware a problem of the past. Hell you can get a license for standard for $799.

      Unfortunately my job runs SQL Server 2000. Having cut my teeth on PL/SQL, Transact is a nightmare because it is so limiting.

      I'm actually looking forward to Yukon because the marketing ad sheet shows some really cool features. The only question is will they deliver and when will it be?

    13. Re:That's okay by bucknuggets · · Score: 2, Informative

      > SQL Server 2005? is going to be great. However, if I had to choose the *best* database I would go with > Oracle without a doubt. Every tool other database manufacturers are trying to mirror > generally come from Oracle. Ah, no. Most of the BI functionality being implemented in RDBMS' over the last 4-8 years was first implemented in teradata & then informix. And "Best" makes no sense without context. Oracle is very powerful, but relies heavily on experienced and available dbas, and is the most expensive product out there. Best for some folks might be a less expensive product or simpler product to manage. And as far as performance is concerned both teradata & db2 beat it out at the extreme top end.

    14. Re:That's okay by amateur+bore · · Score: 0

      Plus they support Linux which makes buying very expensive hardware a problem of the past. Just as well given the price of the software!

    15. Re:That's okay by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      Because SQL Server 2000 is pretty much the best database around...

      I especially like that feature where every SQL Server communicates with each other... what's it called? Oh yeah, SQL SLAMMER. ;)

    16. Re:That's okay by Cooper_007 · · Score: 1
      And where, pray tell, can one find the Windows binaries for this wonderful piece of software?

      I absolutely love PostgreSQL, but it's difficult to recommend it to my cow-orkers who only run Windows.

      Cooper
      --
      I don't need a pass to pass this pass!
      - Groo The Wanderer -

    17. Re:That's okay by Simon+Lyngshede · · Score: 0

      Why wasn't this moddet as funny? Come on people, this is an obvious joke, where is your sense of humour.

    18. Re:That's okay by dasmegabyte · · Score: 5, Insightful

      MySQL...is ten times easier to manage and work with then SQL Server 2000.

      I'm sorry, but what the hell are you talking about? I've used both these servers extensively (as well as Sybase ASA, PostgreSQL and Oracle), and as much as I respect MySQL, it's certainly no easier to use than SQL Server. It's at best about the same, with SQL Server being much easier to pick up from 0 knowledge due to a surprisingly good set of help docs. Enterprise Manager and Query Analyzer are really good tools, as well...in fact, until we discovered mssqlXpress, Query Analyzer was bar none my favorite IDE for making new statements. (sqlXpress adds sourcesafe integration, versioning, and historical reporting to a clone of Q.A. with autocomplete and automatic proc generation, it is a pretty clutch tool)

      MySQL is very good, but ten times better? Not really. In fact, if I had to beg for any SQL Server regardless of price, I'd take SQL Server because it's the easiest to develop for and easiest to port FROM. This gives you an app that will run on almost any other server with a little effort. I rewrote a massive app to run on Sybase in three weeks and Postgres in a month (most of which was testing the DB core of our app).

      --
      Hey freaks: now you're ju
    19. Re:That's okay by next1 · · Score: 1

      never actually had to think about that question before, however a quick look at their faq seemed to indicate it's in progress.

    20. Re:That's okay by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      and the fact that it's open source and you can fix bugs/add your own features without paying thousands of dollars of licensing fees

      no, you'll have to pay thousands of dollars in development time. And, do you really want joe-open-source off the street "fixing bugs" in your database software? It may not quite be rocket science, but the bar for that sort of work is pretty high. I sure wouldn't bet my business(es) on it.

    21. Re:That's okay by Shakrai · · Score: 1

      And, do you really want joe-open-source off the street "fixing bugs" in your database software? It may not quite be rocket science, but the bar for that sort of work is pretty high. I sure wouldn't bet my business(es) on it.

      I'd bet my business on joe-open-source off the street with heavy peer review before I'd bet it on closed-source Microsoft who only cares about the bottom line and adopts a "We'll fix it after it ships via Windowsupdate" mentality to security and bug fixes.

      But that's just me.

      --
      I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
      We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
    22. Re:That's okay by Qzukk · · Score: 1

      where, pray tell, can one find the Windows binaries for this wonderful piece of software?

      Cygwin.

      There is a native windows port with threading done by a Japanese company (non-free, though), and its apparently expected that it will be translated back into english sometime soon.

      --
      If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.
    23. Re:That's okay by Theatetus · · Score: 1

      I think postgres requires a kernel that doesn't have its thumb up its ass, so probably not

      --
      All's true that is mistrusted
    24. Re:That's okay by kannibal_klown · · Score: 5, Insightful

      As technically inferior MySQL is to Postgres, MySQL has a few major things going for it that ensure it's niche.

      1. Easy to install on Windows. The average coder at a Windows-only farm can easily run the executable and have the latest version running on their developer box. Not all companies allow you to have multiple boxes, and many force you (via draconion security measures) to only run windows with certain software installed. Postgres NEEDS a user-friendly Win32 installer, perhaps with a similar info-item like MySQL has. This is a MUST for companies to start to take notice. Then, a PHB can even play with it and like it.

      2. Marketing. While open-source, MySQL has a nice marketing engine behind it. A beautiful webpage, online and PRINT adds, and magazine and newspaper articles CONSTANTLY writing about the "little database that could" every few week / months. Postgres needs to start getting the word out, and hype it a little. Just because a product is superior, doesn't mean it will thrive. There are tons of examples out there: Beta vs VHS, Windows vs OS X, etc. For a database to be used, it must be allowed and "signed off" by a manager of some sort. Most will take reputation + support + "ooh, nice webpage" over a product that might be better, but they know nothing about it.

      3. More management tools. MySQL has a couple out there that look and run great; very professional looking. This earns respect from PHB's, as they are easily misled by such niceties.

      Don't get me wrong. MySQL is nice, but doesn't have what I need most (Views, triggers, etc). Postgres may not be perfect, but I think it is superior. We just need to get the word out to those "not in the know".

    25. Re:That's okay by inteller · · Score: 1

      oh bullshit. Nothing beats Enterprise Manager for out of the box DBMS management. NOTHING. You may be able to put some sort of option source twiddlydink on MySQL to management, but it still can't beat Enterprise Manager.

      Not a flame, but the motherfucking truth.

    26. Re:That's okay by BoomerSooner · · Score: 1

      What? Are you nuts. $799 for a database is nothing in the grand scheme of a business. Hell $1250 isn't either. But getting Oracle for almost 1/2 of MS SQL Server is good in my opinion.

    27. Re:That's okay by 110010001000 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I wouldn't bet it. The idea of "heavy peer review" and "many eyes" doesn't play out in the real world. There are less qualified people looking at the MySQL code than any of the closed source products. The idea that a user of product is going to browse through the source code looking for bugs ia laughable. No user has the time for that.

    28. Re:That's okay by pohl · · Score: 1

      It's true that the Win32 port isn't up to snuff, but you should be able to find plenty of non-ass-jamming kernels supported in this list

      --

      The "cue the foo posts in 3, 2, 1..." posts will commence with no subsequent foo posts in 3, 2, 1...

    29. Re:That's okay by Don+Tworry · · Score: 1
      The idea of "heavy peer review" and "many eyes" doesn't play out in the real world.

      I would have to agree because there is no guarantee that there would be "heavy" peer review or any peer review at all. Then you are stuck implementing something that is untested or testing it yourself which gets us back to spending $$ developing the code.

      --
      humble and proud of it.
    30. Re:That's okay by ramsejc · · Score: 1

      I'm running both in production environment as well, and I agree with this. Our main inventory system runs MS SQL for vendor support reasons, and everything else runs MySQL. I have no complaints about MySQL, and running it side by side MS, I'd say it's more productive using less hardware for (dum dUM DUM!) less money ($0 if you've got skills). And with the new PHP clause in the license, you are sure to win!

    31. Re:That's okay by Shakrai · · Score: 1
      I wouldn't bet it. The idea of "heavy peer review" and "many eyes" doesn't play out in the real world. There are less qualified people looking at the MySQL code than any of the closed source products. The idea that a user of product is going to browse through the source code looking for bugs ia laughable. No user has the time for that.

      You don't know for a fact how many people MS has working on their SQL server. Even if there are more people working on it then MySQL I still maintain that open source is the better solution.

      I'll grant you that most users aren't browsing through their database server code looking for bugs. But if they do find one they can fix it without waiting weeks for Microsoft to get around to doing it. I won't ever be forced to upgrade to a new version of MySQL that I don't need.

      And BTW: Regardless of how many qualified people Microsoft has working on SQL server it's a moot point if they still care more about the bottom line then they care about releasing a secure and stable product.

      I guess the Microsoft people are feeding today.

      --
      I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
      We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
    32. Re:That's okay by $ASANY · · Score: 1, Informative
      I'd be cautious about MS anything, particularly MSSQL. Most of the features they add tend to involve supporting other MS proprietary standards that are usually rather insecure and vulnerable. Now as they struggle to kludge .NET into somewhere it doesn't belong, it's no surprise they're having a hard time making it happen.


      As far as Oracle, I haven't seen anyone use it based on Oracle's technical merit. The only reason I ever hear to use 9i is that it has "market share". It's hard to manage, it's inconsistent, convoluted, and just plain difficult to work with. The limitations of PL/SQL, SQL*Plus and Server SQL are amazing -- there's no 'if' statement, and you can't write DDL with it.


      One database per server. Index creation gets logged and can fail (hanging indefintely) if the log fills up. The 'create database' command doesn't yield a functional database. Oracle is an absolute pig with system resources -- worse than Microsoft. It's data replication is terrible. It's a real mess.


      If you're looking for a linux-friendly database, look at Sybase ASE 12.5, the LinuxWorld Reader's Choice awardee. You'll find it less expensive than Oracle or MSSQL, also.

    33. Re:That's okay by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "I guess the Microsoft people are feeding today."

      Is this supposed to be an argument?

    34. Re:That's okay by stefpe · · Score: 1
      What? Are you saying there's no if-statements in PL/SQL? SQL*Plus itself doesn't have them but there's nothing stopping you from just typing some PL/SQL code with if-statements into it.
      As for "you can't write DDL with it", I'm not sure what that you're referring to but you most certainly can write DDL in both SQL*Plus AND PL/SQL:

      SQL*Plus:
      SQL> create table foo (...);
      PL/SQL:
      ..
      if (something) then
      execute immediate 'create table foo (...)';
      end if;
      One database per server? Are you running it on Windows? Don't...
      Granted, each instance CAN eat 100-200MB ram (or more..) depending on your shared pool size, etc. but I never had any problems running a bunch of databases on pretty low end servers (later versions do require a lot more RAM but much of that can be fixed by throwing out all the Java stuff. I can write my stored procedures in PL/SQL just fine.)

      Besides, RAM is cheap and great for performance.

      About create database, yes you do need to install the data dictionary views too and it's an extremely good idea to create some additional tablespaces and rollback segments but hey, that's a pretty good thing to do with any database.
    35. Re:That's okay by ceeam · · Score: 0

      > Because SQL Server 2000 is pretty much the best
      >database around for the price.

      Well, yes, except it's pretty inefficient, not quite reliable, having tons of obsolete semantics, and a piece of rubbish instead of PL. Oh, it's also pretty slow more often than not. Bar that... Yes, it rocks, I suppose. As for the price...

    36. Re:That's okay by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      You're an idiot. If you had any sense you'd be applying the argument to PostgreSQL vs MSSQL, and leaving mySQL the fuck out of it. You obviously don't have a clue what goes into a good database.

    37. Re:That's okay by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      Shit, have we all regressed back to the 80s here?

      mySQL is barely better than using, say, C-ISAM. Technology has moved on since then. You would save yourself one hell of a lot of development time by using a decent database with modern features.

      PostgreSQL, for example, is an very good candidate if you don't want to shell out hundreds of dollars.

    38. Re:That's okay by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're entirely correct. I just mouthed off some amusing flamebait to get first post. Looks like it worked ...

    39. Re:That's okay by Dahan · · Score: 1
      I'll grant you that most users aren't browsing through their database server code looking for bugs. But if they do find one they can fix it without waiting weeks for Microsoft to get around to doing it.

      You assume that the user is even capable of finding and fixing the bug. If it's some trivial bug, maybe so, but this is a relational database we're talking about here. Suppose it's a bug in the query optimizer--how many people know enough about relational algebra to debug that? If you have a degree in CS and specialize in databases, lucky you. If not, you're still waiting weeks for someone to fix it.

    40. Re:That's okay by the_consumer · · Score: 1

      You have a link to a study or are you talking out of your ass?

      --
      "If you're thinking what I'm thinking, you're right." -
    41. Re:That's okay by cayenne8 · · Score: 2, Interesting
      Well, it seems SQL Server is pricing itself close to Oracle these days...and if they are on par costwise...I'd go Oracle.

      For open source..I'm still looking into it, but, I like PostgreSQL the best at this point..good data integrity...very oracle like....

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    42. Re:That's okay by cayenne8 · · Score: 1
      "One database per server."

      Not sure WHERE you got this idea from...we have several boxes here that have 4-5 instances easily on each box...and these are LARGE databases with heavy usages...no problems at all.

      And...with Oracle...you have a choice of OSes...not so with SQL server.

      Sybase, I'm not familiar with...so, can comment there...but, the statement about oracle above was incorrect. And...they're not that hard to manage, you just have to know what you're doing. And with the new version, "10G"...it looks like much of the admin. of the database is going to be more automated...

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    43. Re:That's okay by Alarion · · Score: 1

      Sorry for the code display.. the <ecode> tag doesn't seem to work as expected.

      It really does help to know what the heck you are talking about before trying to spread the FUD. It also helps if you read the very basic of tutorials or manuals.

      >>One database per server. Index creation gets logged and can fail (hanging indefintely) if the log fills up. The 'create database' command doesn't yield a functional database.

      Oracle's concept of "databases" is different than some other vendors. You can have multiple databases per server. An oracle database is structured similar to:

      Database Server
      |-Instance 1
      |-User1's Schema
      |-Table 1
      |-Table 2
      |-User2's Schema
      |-Table A
      |-Procedure B
      |-Instance 2
      |-User 10's Schema

      etc..

      Simply creating a new user gives you a "new database" so to speak. As each user can create his own tables, procedures, packages, views, sequences, indexes, etc.

      >>The limitations of PL/SQL, SQL*Plus and Server SQL are amazing -- there's no 'if' statement, and you can't write DDL with it.

      PL/SQL is much more powerfull and robust than Transact SQL.

      DDL:
      as mentioned by another commenter. Very easily done. DML as well.

      If: Do you mean if/else/if blocks in code or in SQL. Oracle does BOTH.

      in PL/SQL:
      if ( v_some_var = 1 ) then
      ....
      else if ( v_some_var = 100 ) then
      ....
      else
      ....
      end if;

      in SQL: select decode(color, 'RED', 'The shirt is red', 'BLUE', 'The Shirt is blue', 'Unknown Color') from shirts where shirt_type = 'Tee'

      for more info with plenty of examples:
      http://doug.burns.tripod.com/decode.htm l

      So just what the in heck are you talking about?
      Replication works just fine. System resource hog? Well yeah, but then again it's kind of hard NOT to hog resources and offer the same kind of flexibility and features that Oracle offers.

      -Can Sql Server store 1+ exabytes of data(I don't know, I am asking. Oracle supports up to 8 exabytes)?
      -Can Sql Server run on a "grid"?
      -Can Sql server let you write your triggers/procedures in Java?
      -Does Sql Server support integrated debugging of Transact-SQL (watches, breakpoints, step into, over, out of code)?
      -No Sequences in SQL Server? I guess select max(column) will have to do until your value gets too large for the column.
      -Does SQL Server support packages (again, I don't know so I am asking)?

      Oracle has its faults, sure, but it is way, way more robust than SQL server.

    44. Re:That's okay by dasmegabyte · · Score: 1

      Postgresql is a VERY good database (I use it as the backend for dasmegabyte.org), and its license is more "open" than MySQL's. But it's no MS SQL. It's another "Apache vs. IIS" comparison (no, I'm not talking security). IIS really is an "Internet" server, incorporating every service from DNS to webscripting. Apache is "just" a web server. In the same way, Postgresql is a great, reliable database. But MS SQL does SO much more than just selects and inserts...

      --
      Hey freaks: now you're ju
    45. Re:That's okay by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

      Even if you had a degree in CS and specialize in databases you will have a hard time diving into someones elses code to find the bug and fix it, especially since architectural documents are nonexistent for most OSS.

      For most people the interest in OSS is that the software is "free as in beer". If OSS projects started to charge for the product you would see interest in such projects rapidly fading.

    46. Re:That's okay by nametaken · · Score: 1

      Are you including the price for the upgrade assurance that goes in the toilet?

    47. Re:That's okay by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The parent is flamebait, right?

      As for Yukon slipping though - who cares?

      Seriously: who can get excited or worse, worry about the release of a Microsoft product anymore?

      Don't we have better things to do than discuss and wait for more Microshite?

      Are people going to some fucking day get on with their fucking lives, or what?

      And what's this with all the Microlosers in here at Slashdot? You think it's cool to hang out with the open source community, all the while you tell the boss that Windows is the only way to go? It's not only dumb, it's treason.

    48. Re:That's okay by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Say just wanted to give you a quick note. I'm done peer reviewing mysql now. You can go ahead and use it.

      You wanker's living in your parent's basements aren't qualified to peer review bat files.

    49. Re:That's okay by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      " ($0 if you've got skills)"

      shouldn't that be skillz? Maybe you'll work for free and then your company can pay $0 all the way around. How nice.

    50. Re:That's okay by AstroDrabb · · Score: 1

      I know you can run it in Cygwin. I think you may also be able to run it in the Microsoft Windows Services for UNIX which they now give away for free.

      --
      If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land,
      it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. -James Madison
    51. Re:That's okay by marcello_dl · · Score: 1

      The idea of "heavy peer review" and "many eyes" doesn't play out in the real world.

      So in the real world OSS packages should be considerely less stable than commercial ones. Does that really happen? Not in my experience.

      --
      ---- MISSING MISCELLANEOUS DATA SEGMENT --- [sigdash] trolololol
  2. Old News by Manip · · Score: 0, Redundant

    This has been on many many sites for a long time... I really wish the /. editors would read some other news sites before posting this out-of-date information.....

    Also I only use MySQL :)

    1. Re:Old News by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
  3. Yukon's promised features by BigHungryJoe · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Not good for MS. A lot of people have been waiting on Yukon. Yukon is finally going to deliver online restoration, database mirroring with automatic failover, and support for mirrored backup sets.

    Disappointing. SQL Server had really come a long way, too. Maybe 2005 won't be too late.

    1. Re:Yukon's promised features by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

      "Not good for MS. A lot of people have been waiting on Yukon. Yukon is finally going to deliver online restoration, database mirroring with automatic failover, and support for mirrored backup sets."

      That's just what the marketing guy says, so calm down. None of those features will work properly anyway.

    2. Re:Yukon's promised features by Florian+Weimer · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Yukon is finally going to deliver online restoration, database mirroring with automatic failover, and support for mirrored backup sets.

      Let's face it, these features isn't something most users need. If Microsoft sees real trouble, they will simply slash the per-processor license cost by a factor of 50 or 100, and switching suddenly becomes a non-issue for most users.

      Per-client licenses and awfully high per-processor licensing costs are the most important factor which motivates most users to attempt other solutions. Of course, the proprietary databases have important features which look very good on paper, but I've seen quite a few installations which use a multi-thousand dollar database as if it were MySQL (not even using online backup). You can get away with that if you only need a workgroup server license, but if you need 20,000 client access licenses (or multiple per-processor licenses), licensing becomes a problem and you'll certainly consider other options.

    3. Re:Yukon's promised features by dasmegabyte · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Word. Licensing costs are a big issue with any database. A few months ago I had to devote about three weeks porting our app to Sybase. We wrote it originally for the MSDE (Microsoft SQL Desktop Engine) for our customers who couldn't afford a SQL server. MSDE is a really nice idea, but it only works with up to 5 connections before it tanks quality bigtime. And it seems our customers always needed 6 computers, which made the cost to add that last computer about $3000. Sybase ASA has a much nicer per-connection pricing.

      Why couldn't I use MySQL? Well, we'd already written the procs in T-SQL for ADO.NET. Using Sybase ASA allowed us to write a single set of procs that would work on both servers (after quite a bit of wrangling). Using MySQL would have required either using MySQL everywhere (which would have been no good for our clients who already have SQL Server and just want us to put our app on there) or maintaining two distinct sets of procs, which would have not flown with our QA team (already upset about testing the SAME procs on two servers).

      --
      Hey freaks: now you're ju
    4. Re:Yukon's promised features by Jim+Hall · · Score: 1

      Disappointing. SQL Server had really come a long way, too. Maybe 2005 won't be too late.

      Customers may be more disappointed than you think. I attended a conference last week, where Microsoft was in attendance. I sat in on the SQL Server presentation. The Microsoft guy implied it might not make 2005, but would be 1H2006 (likely 1Q2006).

    5. Re:Yukon's promised features by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > Let's face it, these features isn't something most users need

      I disagree -- there's lots of demand for Failover, especially at small/medium sites that don't want to deal with the clustering business.

      As for the price -- $5K for an unlimited licence -- usually a drop in the bucket compared to custom development and IT staff, but it depends on your situation.

    6. Re:Yukon's promised features by Florian+Weimer · · Score: 1

      I disagree -- there's lots of demand for Failover, especially at small/medium sites that don't want to deal with the clustering business.

      Some users have SQL databases which just support their business. You seem to have users in mind whose businesses are their SQL databases (or at least they think it is, usually it's your brand or your customer, depending on your perspective).

      I'm not saying that nobody needs failover, I'm only reporting my observation that quite a few proprietary database users only use a tiny subset of the functionality. Adding more functionality won't change this. 8-)

    7. Re:Yukon's promised features by flacco · · Score: 1
      Why couldn't I use MySQL? Well, we'd already written the procs in T-SQL for ADO.NET. Using Sybase ASA allowed us to write a single set of procs that would work on both servers (after quite a bit of wrangling).

      isn't that why you write standard SQL, and write your applications in a platform-independent language like Java?

      --
      pr0n - keeping monitor glass spotless since 1981.
    8. Re:Yukon's promised features by dasmegabyte · · Score: 2, Insightful

      "Standard SQL" can't be relied on to do all that much, and what it does is slowwww. From server to server, you can't rely on syntaxes being the same for things like subqueries, LIKE statements or even cross-database selects (which some servers allow and others don't). So while yes, you CAN write cross-database compatible script, your best bet for performance is to optimize for one.

      And much of the speed boost you see in using SQL instead of a flat file is in the compilation of stored procedures. Which is why MySQL is so much faster than SQL Server in some tests. If you "SELECT date, article FROM Table1", MySQL is great. But if you "SELECT t1.article, min(t2.date) FROM Table1 t1 CROSS JOIN Table2 t2 on t1.table1id = t2.table2id WHERE table1.tableenum IN (2,3,1) GROUP BY t1.article", your best bet is to compile that into a stored procedure and use MS SQL or one of its companions.

      See, cross-platform, cross-product methodologies are a good practice in theory. But if you know that none of your clients is likely to use an alternative platform or alternative server, you may as well write them the best software you can. You can't do that without breaking compatibility.

      --
      Hey freaks: now you're ju
    9. Re:Yukon's promised features by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, I dunno if I parse what you are saying, but in my experience, the business buys the application, and after its up and running, the local reactive MCSE Ops guy starts asking about failover. And you have to inform them it's pager time because the automatic stuff is out-of-reach for them. Its probably not a sales consideration, but it would be nice feature to have in the markets where MSSQL gets used heavily.

    10. Re:Yukon's promised features by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Thats why I separate my queries into their own files along with the functions to access the database, and let the porting team just easily modify the query files (mySQL.cpp, pgSQL.cpp) easily do their job by modifying a single file, even getting to optimize it for each database... that of course assumes you want to run on multiple database engines, most of my stuff runs on mySQL, postgreSQL, MS SQL, Oracle, and then one or 2 others that the community contributes (Firebird once, and Interbase a couple times)... also if I need everything ported to DB2 should their be a demand, I can hire one person to just port all the queries over, easily enough...

    11. Re:Yukon's promised features by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      MSDE has a query governor that limits execution speed when there are 5 concurrent operations being executed by the DB engine. Has *nothing* to do with concurrent connections, connections or computers. Seems you know less about your application environment than you think.

      Useful reading:
      http://www.microsoft.com/sql/msde/techin fo/workloa dgov.asp

  4. What ... by fewnorms · · Score: 2, Interesting

    ... they postponed yet another piece of software?? See me not being amazed here, I mean, it seems to be the trend at MS currently to announce new software and then postponing it due to "problems" ... I wonder why. Would it be because the want to see what OSS has to offer first so they can steal the ideas and then sell 'em off? On the other side, if developers start saying this "slip" is becoming "a credibility issue", then maybe certain OSS apps will finally be accepted in full as being grown-up pieces of software. At best this will cause MS to loose a few points in goodwill with a large group of people that still (foolishly) place their trust in them.

    --
    Veni, Vidi, Velcro!
    1. Re:What ... by Saint+Stephen · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I saw a couple of Alpha builds of Yukon and the Planning papers (blue badge), but I didn't see much, but I bet I know what's taking so long:

      Yukon will allow structs as column types, and will do mapping between .NET types and SQL types automatically, and allow you to run C# SQLDataAdapter-type code natively within Stored procedures. Plus with the trend starting in SQL 2000, it'll be XML, XML, XML. I know XML will be a native type and some of the "indexed xml" (red/blue fast-search vs. DOM-search) that they started in the aborted Hailstorm project will be in there.

      Longhorn replaces Win32 with .NET; Yukon replaces the SQL you knew with new stuff. They'll eventually get it right and it will rock, but don't expect to use all this until 2007 (it'll be out before then, but you won't finish your first REAL project till then).

      There, I said it. 2007.

    2. Re:What ... by DrSkwid · · Score: 1

      it seems to be the trend at MS currently to announce new software and then postponing it due to "problems"

      That trend started long ago in a galaxy quite close.

      The filesystems as database feature has been touted for NT, Xp and now Longhorn.

      Software companies are in a dilemma, dammned if you pre-announce, dammned if you don't.

      Following their roadmap is the road to hell.

      and grrrr lose not loose, fool

      --
      There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
    3. Re:What ... by 4b696e67 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I think they are delaying not due to stealing OSS software ideas, but honestly trying to make their software better. For the first time in many years MS has real competition. They can't release another insecure trashbag OS or database server. If they release before it is actually ready, then they will get tons of bad press and their lunch ate by OSS software.

      Lets just hope OSS developers don't sit on their laurels during these delays. If they do they will be playing major catch up come 2005/2006. This is the time for OSS to take the lead. The boys at Redmond may be evil, but they are no fools.

    4. Re:What ... by TheDigitalRaven · · Score: 0
      They can't release another insecure trashbag OS
      XP Reloaded?
    5. Re:What ... by M1FCJ · · Score: 4, Insightful
      MS SQL Server's "corporate" competitor is Oracle 9i. Oracle will beat a SQL Server hands down in any scenario unless it is a small database system, if that's the case there's no point using SQL Server, you can use MSDE or any freeware product. Postgres (last time when I had a look at it under Windows) runs on top of Cygwin and horrendously slow unlike its Unix-compatible brother. MySQL can be used but what's the point if you have already decided to use a toy database, you shouldn't use SQL Server, go and use MSDE instead, or Access. Most used MySQL is 3.x family and it used to not support lots of features (all changed in 4.x but are we being adventorous today?).

      Unfortunately, as far as I can see (and my idea will be readily disputed by others) no OSS database is ready for "enterprise" systems (whatever that means, I work in a company who writes software and the backend can be any RDMBS as long as they have a decend JDBC driver). SQL Server 2k has lots of missing features which makes our life very hard and I'm not a fan but at the moment I can't go to any of our customers and say use postgres or mySQL etc.

      Another big player is DB2 by IBM which claims it has the fastest database on the world but DB2 is cumbersome, hard to manage compared to Oracle and MS SQL2k but it works almost under any platform under the sun.

      Database world is quite interesting, I can't say any RDMS system out there is perfect.

    6. Re:What ... by MuMart · · Score: 1
      OSS software gets written on a need basis. The only time OSS software has needed to play catch up is with interoperability issues, and these can't be worked out until the software is released. This is the only type of competition MS are interested in, because it's the only game they can't lose

      Databases are a solved problem. They have been since the 80s. OSS will continue to provide the meat-and-potatoes SQL functionality it's users need. It's important that we don't believe the corporate hype. None of these "new technologies" will be an improvement over the tried and tested systems.

    7. Re:What ... by Zog+The+Undeniable · · Score: 1
      They can't release another insecure trashbag OS

      Ah, so you were the guy that bought Windows Me?

      --
      When I am king, you will be first against the wall.
    8. Re:What ... by Crashmarik · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Oh Joy

      Just what you need a new microsoft database that makes refactoring and porting your DB to another platform near impossible.

      Larry Elison is probably chuckling like a demented monkey over this. I can see his sales people going at this. Microsoft Software assurance = Pay them to take their time to devise ways to achieve complete customer lock in. Or, the ever popular why run your business using techniques with 50 years of validation behind them when you can do things microsofts way.

      I can allready see the security problems popping up. Run C# code directly, the same code being ever more integrated into yukon. Well seems we will be able to expect worms that make slammer look like a joke. Heck you could have them replicate throughout the entire system and hold entire enterprises data hostage.

      The sad thing is that the large group of IT director/ Sysadmin lemmings will go along with no one ever got fired for choosing microsoft. After all, look at how they have embraced the ever popular and ever more dangerous office/exchange combo.

    9. Re:What ... by blowdart · · Score: 4, Insightful
      Run C# code directly, the same code being ever more integrated into yukon.

      Same code, but different security model/sandbox. The CLR in yukon does not have access to the file system, sockets, winforms, services, the registry or anything else a virus is going to need. It's limited to communicating with the SQL process and manipulating data within a database. Nothing more.

    10. Re:What ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They can't release another insecure trashbag OS or database server.

      SQL Server 7 and 2000 are the best products Microsoft has ever released, IMHO. I am no MS fan, but I LOVE these two products, and was pleasantly surprised when we first upgraded to SQL Server 7.0.

      In other words, it is nowhere near "trashbag database server."

    11. Re:What ... by greendot · · Score: 1

      Longhorn replaces Win32 with .NET

      I'm not too sure what the scope of that statement is because you still have to be able to run legacy stuff that uses the Win32 APIs.

      But, Server 2003 already weaved .NET into the OS. It is no longer a layer that sits on top like in XP and Win2K.

    12. Re:What ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't want to start a flame war. But microsoft doesn't have the greatest rep when it comes to security. Do you really think their CLR is secure ?

    13. Re:What ... by bucknuggets · · Score: 1

      OSS databases can work in enterprise deployments - you've just got to have to be prepared for lower availability & reliability numbers. Often that's not a big deal, and often it can be addressed through redundancy (which is easier with $0 cost for postgres, and generally low cost for mysql). I've been a dba for sql server, db2, oracle, and postgresql. And actually db2 8.1 is pretty easy to work with. Still clunky in some ways, and not as easy as sql server, but much simpler to admin than oracle (which has 450 page install docs and 800 page backup docs).

    14. Re:What ... by fewnorms · · Score: 1

      Not being a native english speaker, I think I am allowed some errors in my writings, you grammar-nazi :) But thanks for pointing it out anyway.

      --
      Veni, Vidi, Velcro!
    15. Re:What ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Try out http://www.firebirdsql.org/ (Firebird) its based on the source code released by Inprise Corp (now known as Borland Software Corp) under the InterBase Public License v.1.0 on 25 July, 2000. It has many "Enterprise" features including JDBC.

    16. Re:What ... by LurkerXXX · · Score: 1

      Your argument might have merit if their database system wasn't leagues ahead of any OSS database. Oracle is their competition and the one that they steal ideas from. Most OSS stuff is way behind .Postgres has some nice features, but is still well shy of MSSQL. MySQL??? Don't make me laugh.

    17. Re:What ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ellison? Oracle already supports most of the feature set of Yukon (except with Java instead of NET). Besides, it's not like customers don't know where they stand with Oracle (locked in).

    18. Re:What ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No exploit of it when implmented right so far...unless you have an example to say it is insecure.

      Your statement could just as well be written that T-SQL is insecure. All this new feature will be is allow developers to use .Net languages to write T-SQL. That is it. Nothing really beyond that.

    19. Re:What ... by Saint+Stephen · · Score: 1

      Don't know why this is +5 insightful, when the AC has posted the correct answer with a score of 0 below you.

      The last time I installed Oracle 6 Enterprise Edition I could use structs as column types and run Java stored procedures. Microsoft is only copying them.

      C#/.NET is nothing in the world but Microsoft's "Windows-specific Java" that Microsoft renamed to COOL, then C#, after the Sun lawsuit don't you?

      Literally! No shit! Windows Forms was originally the AWT extensions (but much enhanced), and the Visual Studio code + live design view editor was originally in VJ++ (the VB designer was not code based).

    20. Re:What ... by Saint+Stephen · · Score: 1

      Well, strictly speaking you are correct, however internal planning documents phrase it the way I do.

      Windows Server *ships* .NET, but no existing tools (MMC, explorer, cmd.exe, &c. run any .NET code). Longhorn will not drop .NET, but Microsoft will ship a *whole* lot of code in the Microsoft.* namespace, much of which is a wrapper on Managed DirectX.

      It is more accurate to say they are "deprecating" GDI in place of an all-directX interface. The new code they are writing for Longhorn is all Managed.

    21. Re:What ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      (blue badge)

      For those of you who dont know what this means, he's a MS Employee (and not a contractor. Contractors have orange/reddish badges that signify them as being lowly).

    22. Re:What ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yea, just the most important part of your system... your data. Just great.

    23. Re:What ... by ergo98 · · Score: 1

      Oracle will beat a SQL Server hands down in any scenario unless it is a small database system

      It's intriguing how the open source community gets the "big brother" syndrome, and because the big OSS products aren't contenders in the big leagues, they latch onto Oracle as the "not Microsoft" option. Oracle is a great DBMS, but if you think that SQL Server doesn't give it a serious run for it's money then you're delusional. Especially telling was your comment "especially on small databases", when one of the strengths of SQL Server is very large scale databases. ...if that's the case there's no point using SQL Server, you can use MSDE or any freeware product

      Even if it's a small database, you still have to develop and maintain it, as well as assure security of the database system. Tossing off the "or any freeware product" is pretty lame advice. Conversely, it might trouble you to know that MSDE is SQL Server (or are you just talking from a "retail cost" perspective?). Yes, it's a real bonafide instance of SQL Server running on your machine with a couple of registry settings to enable a speed governor.

      SQL Server 2k has lots of missing features which makes our life very hard and I'm not a fan but at the moment

      Which features would those be?

    24. Re:What ... by DrSkwid · · Score: 1

      you are allowed as many as you like

      hehe

      Vrees niet de spelling nazi

      --
      There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
  5. OSS Opportunity by benjiboo · · Score: 4, Interesting
    I'd be surprised if any company of size would change something as mission critical as their DBMS due to this delay. To me, it says that they're going to get it right first time around.

    It's also worth the effort on Microsofts' part to get this right. After all, WinFS is going to be built on the same technology.

    --
    Vacancy for signature. Apply within.
    1. Re:OSS Opportunity by spells · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I'd be surprised if any company of size would change something as mission critical as their DBMS due to this delay. To me, it says that they're going to get it right first time around

      I agree with you about large company decisions remaining unchanged. But I have not ever seen a significant correlation between slipping release dates and improved quality - in fact, my experience says the opposite. Maybe SQL Server will be the exception, but I doubt it.

    2. Re:OSS Opportunity by ciroknight · · Score: 1

      After all, WinFS is going to be built on the same technology.

      Speaking of WinFS, why haven't we seen this completed and running in linux yet? Wouldn't it be amazingly better organizational-wise than any current system in use? Think about it this way: why does a file need to have a path if it can be located by a serial number, for that matter why does it need a name? Just index everything by where it would be stored and by what it's name would be.

      but getting back on topic: This is the reason why I believe they are delaying Yukon. They want it to run seemlessly with the operating system, so that the database engine has access to some of that kernel memory the NT kernel eats, IMO. Theoretically, each copy of Windows Elements will include a full copy of SQL Server 2005, minus the extensions and direct query support (imagine the speed of an application querying for a file instead of manually searching for it.. big improvement to the user), but will probably include several extensions that make it more pleasant to the user, such as ID3 Searching, Document searching (words within a file), FS level DRM Management (yeah, we know..), and other little goodies of that nature. We're obviously in an erra where data no longer can be labled under one name, and it's time our software reflected this a such; Microsoft knows this, where's the Linux initiative?

      --
      "Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is." G.W.Bush
  6. OS RDBMS might profit by tronicum · · Score: 1, Interesting
    If the Open Source Databases implement equeally features that some applications might need, they can profit from the situation.

    MySQL Control Center is a step in that direction (client side) if they implement some more features on server side M$ centric customers need, it could get Microsoft into trouble in the future (some years)

    1. Re:OS RDBMS might profit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      How the fuck did this get modded to +5?

      Wow, MySQL now has an official front-end tool (instead of one of many third-party ones that it's had for ages), oohh, that'll make ALL the difference. It's got NOWHERE NEAR the feature set of MS-SQL, Oracle, PostgreSQL, or Firebird. Christ, we had to wait till version FOUR till they added native transaction support (which wasn't ever written by them), subqueries, replication, etc. and we're still not sure that it even does any of this properly now! (Each point release massively changes and/or extends features, which is stupid for a supposedly stable DB.) Sounds like a "real" DB to me that'll definitely compete with Oracle and MS-SQL, yeah right...

      But because Slashdot loves MySQL this gets modded to +5 by people who don't know shit about databases, and certainly not about MS SQL Server. Great.

      The only reason MySQL became popular was because it was free and ran well together with Apache on modest hardware, so ISPs could bundle it as a *simple* website backend DB. It does that pretty well (as long as you don't mind running REPAIR TABLE every now and again), but it's certainly no viable alternative to MS-SQL or Oracle. Anyone that thinks that and uses the acronym M$ in the same post really doesn't know what the fuck they're talking about.

    2. Re:OS RDBMS might profit by barcelona_stony · · Score: 1

      When it comes to databases, I certainly don't know what the fuck [I'm] talking about, but I bet the US Census Bureau knows a thing or two about databases. MySQL Press Release

    3. Re:OS RDBMS might profit by tronicum · · Score: 1
      I just pointed out that having all the nifty frontend stuff that MS has will it make more likely that user might migrate. Does PostgrSQL or Firebird provide such GUIs ?

      The LAMP, OSS, free, easy stuff is just not what I was talking about. But flaming about MySQL is probably an easy if you have no other argument.

    4. Re:OS RDBMS might profit by fupeg · · Score: 2, Interesting

      How the fuck did this get modded to +5?

      You talk about people who don't know shit about databases, but you know so much that you had to post anonymously. You clearly don't know shit about MySQL.

      You're right that MySQL doesn't have all the features that Oracle and DB2 have, but those two databases don't have all the features that MySQL has. MySQL let's you tailor your databases/table types to what they are going to be used for. You can pick and even change on the fly the algorithm used for your tables. This let's you optimize tables that are read only or non-transactional for speed. Run your tables as MyISAM or HEAP if you have enough RAM, and the speed will blow away Oracle or IBM. If you need transactionality, then go with InnoDB tables.

      You also show your ignorance by putting Microsoft in the same sentence as Oracle. If you were building a true enterprise system, MS would not even enter the equation. DB2 would be the only other option to consider besides Oracle. You bitch about MySQL and "Each point release massively changes features." Look at MS. Why do you think they are slipping so badly on the next release of SQL Server? Just take a look at their list of new features they are promising and then talk about "massive changes." This is also not surprising since this will be the first release where they've really added anything over what they got from Sybase.

    5. Re:OS RDBMS might profit by jester · · Score: 2, Interesting

      So explain to me how society mods responses like this to +5 Insightful when all the guy ? (who knows, he only posts as an AC anyway) spouts is swear words and bile.

      Perhaps you ought to address the real issues one by one rather than venting your spleen. It would make a much more intersting comparison. MSSQL has advantages over MySQL ... nobody will argue against that. The fact is that many people do NOT need advanced features. Its horses for courses.

      MySQL has had transactions for some time, and will get triggers, views, etc. 5.0 already has stored procs, transactions, by default. Yes I know they've been around for some time in commercial offerrings, but the fact is that MySQL is OpenSource, written by volunteers. The support for MySQL is 10 times better than anything commercial I've seen, and its free.

      There, I didn't use one swear word in that. Go on, try it

    6. Re:OS RDBMS might profit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      MaxDB (SAP DB) seems to make up some of the short-commings of MySQL, and is free under the GPL.

      SQL Server is a nice package, but may contain features not needed for a production environment that can be satisfied by a free and open source product.

  7. but by mr_tommy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Has any one contemplated the concept that Microsoft might actually be taking the time to make better products? I realise its taboo on slashdot to show any support to Microsoft, but the fact is that they are not stupid! Do you honestly believe they would just decide, hey, lets let linux + competitors get a foothold in our markets whilst we jack about! WRONG!

    One thing anyone in the IT business should learn is to never ever under estimate microsoft.

    1. Re:but by Zakabog · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Do you honestly believe they would just decide, hey, lets let linux + competitors get a foothold in our markets whilst we jack about!

      No but we do believe that microsoft makes buggy closed source products and has evil business practices. And your post is just further evidence for it. Ya they're taking the time to make better products, time they wouldn't have to spend if the product was open source to begin with, it'd be out in the world and more people would be fixing the bugs (making a better product.) And you know as well as everyone else on slashdot that when it does finally get released it will STILL have many of the bugs that they're now working out. Further showing that an open source project is much easier and it takes less time to stamp out the bugs. Anyway I don't really care what microsoft does with their products, I'm just saying that we shouldn't support microsoft because they've got to push back a release date to make the product "better." Now if microsoft released a bug free product by it's original release date, I'd really support them for doing something very few companies (if any) have ever done before.

    2. Re:but by Zakabog · · Score: 1

      Think of it this way. If you were a teacher, which student would you prefer? The one that handed in all their projects on time and done extremely well, or the one that decides "Well I need more time for the project to make it better" and then hands it in months later worse off than any of the other projects you've already received months before?

      We shouldn't "support" microsoft for this unless they come out with one hell of a product in the end (and we know they won't.)

    3. Re:but by pubjames · · Score: 2, Funny

      One thing anyone in the IT business should learn is to never ever under estimate microsoft.

      A few years ago, I would have agreed with you. Now my response is:

      Ooooh Microsoft is mad at me, I'm so scared! Microsoft is coming to get me! Oh no, don't let Microsoft come after me! They're so big and strong! Oh, protect me from Microsoft!

      (Thanks to MrBurns)

    4. Re:but by penguinbrat · · Score: 1

      One thing anyone in the IT business should learn is to never ever under estimate microsoft.

      I don't know about anyone else, but I've always overestimated them - giving them the benifit of the doubt that the next version would be the one that would get me to switch back.... I gave up pretty early with XP.

    5. Re:but by GeckoX · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Get off your high horses people (not just you, all the posters along this vein).

      Look, what are you waiting for in the next release of SQLServer? Anything? Nope...didn't think so.
      You HAVE a rock-solid DB solution from MS right now, so who cares if the next release from MS is late, especially when it represents a fundamental change, and thus nothing you're doing _right now_ will suffer if it's not out next week will it?

      Damned, the only thing I know of that's being worked on that requires this to be released is WinFS, which will be released in Longhorn when? A couple more years you say?

      Besides, when was the last time your OSS project of choice went gold on time? And no, not having release deadlines doesn't count.

      --
      No Comment.
    6. Re:but by HangingChad · · Score: 1
      but the fact is that they are not stupid!

      You really want to take the defense on the question of MS not being stupid? Individually, no. They're very bright and reasonable people. I've met many of them. But I'm talking about their collective intelligence level. Personally, I wouldn't want to defend the intelligence of a lot of what they've done.

      --
      That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
    7. Re:but by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Nope...didn't think so. You HAVE a rock-solid DB solution from MS right now,

      Is that the DB that lost track of all that nuclear material due to bugs in INSERT. You HAVE several rock-solid databases (see Oracle) right now... why choose a late one with a proven track record of unreliability.

    8. Re:but by flacco · · Score: 1
      Has any one contemplated the concept that Microsoft might actually be taking the time to make better products?

      no. i think they're taking the time to make them as inter-reliant with each other, and as inoperable with alternatives, as possible.

      --
      pr0n - keeping monitor glass spotless since 1981.
    9. Re:but by dillon_rinker · · Score: 1

      Demotivators says it best:

      "None of us is as stupid as all of us."

    10. Re:but by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, it's not. You just made that up.

    11. Re:but by jechonias · · Score: 1

      Rock solid? lets see proper multi-threaded multi-cpu queries working, lets see the memory limitations removed, lets see the multi cpu stupid wait states problem resolved.

      please.....

    12. Re:but by throx · · Score: 1

      Look, what are you waiting for in the next release of SQLServer?
      Quite a lot actually. The big ones for me are the .NET integration with stored procs and being able to use structured exceptions within T/SQL.

      --

      Fear: When you see B8 00 4C CD 21 and know what it means

    13. Re:but by clockpenalty · · Score: 1
      No, He didn't make it up. Just stretched the facts a little:

      read about it here

      --
      Shinsengumi de gozaru
  8. That's too bad... by MarkMcLeod · · Score: 1, Funny

    Perhaps they've decided to locate and fix bugs and security issues BEFORE they release a product...

  9. Like what? by Sla$hd0tSux0r · · Score: 3, Interesting

    What OSS opportunities does this create? Doesn't OSS need to close the gap with SQL 2000 before taking advantage of any slippage? How about ANSI '92 compliance for MySQL... that would be a good start!

    1. Re:Like what? by ThePretender · · Score: 1

      starts with an 'O' but ends in 'racle' instead of 'SS'.

      There's one entity that could actually consider this an opportunity.

    2. Re:Like what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      How about ANSI '92 compliance for MySQL... that would be a good start!

      No, a good start would be to flush MySQL down the toilet where it belongs and use a real database engine such as PostgreSQL or Firebird.

      Seriously! Why wait for MySQL to add all those missing features when such superior alternatives already exist, and, furthermore, MySQL has a more restrictive license?

    3. Re:Like what? by khuber · · Score: 5, Insightful
      No, a good start would be to flush MySQL down the toilet where it belongs and use a real database engine such as PostgreSQL or Firebird.

      As long as you can accept the limitations of MySQL, it's perfectly usable. MySQL is faster and lighter weight than PostgreSQL in my experience. I haven't tried Firebird yet.

      Honestly, I wouldn't want to run a site like Slashdot on MySQL, but for smaller projects it seems useful.

      RDBMSes don't implement Codd's 12 rules anyway, so maybe none of them are "real". Personally I think it's good to have a range of database options. At the high end, Oracle and DB2 have loads of features, and are presumably "real" by your definition, but they are also incredibly complex to administrate, which is why most companies have dedicated DBAs for them.

    4. Re:Like what? by myspys · · Score: 2, Funny

      /. does run on mysql ;)

    5. Re:Like what? by bucknuggets · · Score: 2, Insightful

      > As long as you can accept the limitations of MySQL, it's perfectly usable. Don't forget the design philosophy - in which everything inconvenient is given a default operation. Thanks anyway - my only interest in mysql is if I need to walk someone through a windows installation of a free database. Other than that, I'd go elsewhere to avoid loosing money on data corruption. > MySQL is faster and lighter weight than PostgreSQL in my experience. It is lighter-weight, but in mixed-workload tests I've done (using innodb) postgresql was faster.

    6. Re:Like what? by Lonewolf666 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Postgre and Firebird(open source descendand of Interbase) seem to be mature enough. If they improve on their management tools, they might be a strong competition for small to medium database installations.
      For the really large ones, Microsoft has to compete against Oracle.

      --
      C - the footgun of programming languages
    7. Re:Like what? by next1 · · Score: 1

      true, it's probably more of an opportunity for oracle. but there certainly could also be some possibilities for PostgreSQL.

      if some companies are feeling they're not getting their moneys worth as they describe, then this may be the thing that makes them decide to try a cheaper alternative that will still do everything they need.

      i know of a medium to large company that moved from oracle to postgres recently for similar reasons.

    8. Re:Like what? by Khazunga · · Score: 1
      How about ANSI '92 compliance for MySQL... that would be a good start!
      Postgresql is already SQL'92 compliant and is aiming at SQL'96 (I don't know if pgsql 7 is '96 compliant). MySQL is wrongly regarded as the flag bearer on OSS databases. It isn't the best one by a mile.
      --
      If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you
    9. Re:Like what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      > As long as you can accept the limitations of MySQL, it's perfectly usable.

      If only it were missing features. My main problem with MySQL is its approach to missing data or constraints: use a half-assed default. Yes, you can train yourself to keep from running into them, yes you can train your team, everyone you bring on, all your customers with developers. Or you can install a database that actually does that for you. That's what computers are for.

    10. Re:Like what? by dasmegabyte · · Score: 1

      And that's why we can't edit posts ;)

      --
      Hey freaks: now you're ju
    11. Re:Like what? by jpkunst · · Score: 1

      Honestly, I wouldn't want to run a site like Slashdot on MySQL, but for smaller projects it seems useful.

      Slashdot runs on MySQL.

      See InnoDB: User Stories, second item on the page.

      JP

    12. Re:Like what? by Badanov · · Score: 1
      MySQL is faster and lighter weight than PostgreSQL in my experience.

      Lightweight? I would call PostgreSQL many things, but lightweight isn't one of them.

      Not trying to get into any competition, but my own tastes run to PostgreSQL for the sheer magnitude of programming and installation options available.

      PostgreSQL is a fantastic database package, but even so, I just could not bring myself to use the word lightweight with regard to it.

      --
      Dawn of the Dead
    13. Re:Like what? by khuber · · Score: 1

      /. does run on mysql ;) No kidding. That's why I said _I_ wouldn't want to run Slashdot on MySQL.

  10. maybe by timmarhy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    all this slipage is a cover for the fact that ms has been listening to it's customers ( forced by some healthy oss pressure ) 1: we don't want to be forced into upgrade cycles every 12 months. enterprise systems don't work that way. 2: take the time and fix the damn bugs. we are paying for this shit lets see it work properly.

    --
    If you mod me down, I will become more powerful than you can imagine....
    1. Re:maybe by will_die · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The main complaints are not this, it is that many companies paid huge amounts of money on licenses because microsoft said the give me every update license would be cheaper then purchasing the upgrades when the product was released. Now they have paid thier money and they are getting nothing.
      Meanwhile some of poor DBA have to work with a product which was lacking major database capabilites when it was released, and now have to tell managers they the capabilities and money they were expecting for 2004 will be late 2005

    2. Re:maybe by dasmegabyte · · Score: 0

      1) You're right. Enterprise systems don't work that way. They upgrade slowly over time, because you can't just slap new software on a working system and expect it not to change the way the system works. For the enterprise, the manpower cost to upgrade a server's software and test every aspect of its use always eclipses the cost to upgrade the software alone. I know plenty of servers still running MS SQL 6 or 7, even though they have bought copied of 2000 for that machine, simply because they don't have the time to devote to the upgrade. This whole "forced upgrade" thing is not as big an issue as OSS evangelists make it out to be.

      2) MS' SQL Servers have always been relatively bug-free. They're quite stable. So, for that matter, have their more recent OS releases. There was a security hole in SQL Server that propagated a virus, but that hole had been patched for quite some time. Where the hell's this "let's see it work properly" comment coming from? It surely isn't from experience, because during the five years I've used SQL Server, I've seen it die a FRACTION of the times I've seen Postgres or MySQL go down. They're much more stable now, but it's MS who has the edge and the reputation.

      --
      Hey freaks: now you're ju
  11. MS slips makes more opportunities? by purduephotog · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I hate to disagree with that, but we recently had a project and had the choice of which SQL to use. Customer pushed back and simply said MS.

    Just because the product isn't there doesn't mean they will automatically go to another 'free' alternative- instead it means they'll simply use the older version until it wears out.

    1. Re:MS slips makes more opportunities? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      1. I hate to disagree with that, but we recently had a project and had the choice of which SQL to use. Customer pushed back and simply said MS.

      If the customer can tell you how to implement requirements, you're in trouble already. They should tell you what they need. How you deliver is strictly up to you.

    2. Re:MS slips makes more opportunities? by Spoing · · Score: 1
      1. I hate to disagree with that, but we recently had a project and had the choice of which SQL to use. Customer pushed back and simply said MS.

      I'm sorry...I do understand what you're talking about and in some ways I agree though I'm angry and need to vent. In short;

      Your main problem is customer management and requirements...not the tool chosen.

      The customer sets expectations (the what) and your job is implementation (the how).

      When the customer specifies the tools and the background methods they are saying they know better and could do your job. As if they actually know wtf you do (*sprinkle bitterness*).

      A note on 'customer management'. Also known as "managing customer expectations", managing the customer is something that has to be done if you want a sucessful project most of the time. It gets a bad name because some see it as a method to abuse or ignore customer complaints. That is the wrong way to do it. Both the customer and the implementor -- even if you are an in-house developer or tech -- have roles.

      The customer knows what they need (in general) but does not have the expert knowledge to do the work.

      You should know how to do the work and to ask the questions needed to implement a system to support those needs.

      Do you tell a plumber the type of pipe he has to use, or do you talk with the plumber and understand that he knows wtf he's talking about and then (if he does) let him do his job?

      What is it with people thinking they are in the software business when they are really in a business that just happens to use software? Everything will be computerized, just like everything uses electricity...though not everyone is an electrician!

      --
      A firewall can not protect you from yourself. Turn off what you do not need. Do not use the firewall to do your work.
    3. Re:MS slips makes more opportunities? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Your plumber analogy is retarded, even for a slashdot analogy.

      IT 101: The company has likely already paid for MS-SQL. Furthermore, they likely have already hired a MS-SQL DBA, who already has all the backup and admin scripts in place. Throwing a new DB Server into the mix is an expensive proposition (even if the software itself is "free"), and should never be done lightly. They DO have "expert knowledge" about their investment in a particular platform.

      All your talk about "customer management" just makes you sound like some slick-talking dotcom sales bullshitter and not someone who deliveres solutions for a living. Get a taste of reality, please.

    4. Re:MS slips makes more opportunities? by Spoing · · Score: 1
      1. All your talk about "customer management" just makes you sound like some slick-talking dotcom sales bullshitter and not someone who deliveres solutions for a living. Get a taste of reality, please.

      Brave words from an AC. Maybe I'm not the one who needs to learn about this subject??

      --
      A firewall can not protect you from yourself. Turn off what you do not need. Do not use the firewall to do your work.
    5. Re:MS slips makes more opportunities? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      OK then, teach me oh great master. Rather than speaking in vague and meaningless analogies, how about constructing an argument where a customer might need to be "managed" into adding another RDBMS platform? I mean a lot of times customers are really really stupid, but most of them have enough of a clue to know what DB they are running. Yeah, it's a coward flame, but your post to be nothing more than a long rant about everyone should just bend over for you because you are the nerd superstud who knows all.

  12. Actualy kind of sad by Cesaro · · Score: 5, Interesting

    As a DBA who deals with MS SQL 2k (and 7 and 6.5) on a day to day basis (hour to hour basis?) I'm actually kind of saddened by this. I was really looking forward to playing with the TSQL/.Net paradigm shift as far as accessing data.

    7.0 was a huge jump from 6.5 and 2k from 7.0 was almost as significant of a jump. I will call a spade a spade and say that the evolution of the MS SQL server has really impressed me and I was looking for good things from this next version as well. I know this is the wrong place to say such things, but I've had lots of problems with other MS problems, but this one since 7.0 has been quite good. Don't even get me started on some of their other products though. :)

    I'll just go hide in my DBA hole until 2005 I guess.

    1. Re:Actualy kind of sad by Peridriga · · Score: 1

      You forgot your tages when posting this....

    2. Re:Actualy kind of sad by Cesaro · · Score: 1

      tages?

    3. Re:Actualy kind of sad by aclarke · · Score: 4, Interesting
      I completely agree with you. The only thing I really HATE about SQL Server is that it only runs on Windows Operating Systems. As I "only" have about 6 years of experience managing database servers, I find Oracle very frustrating to develop for and maintain. My databases aren't THAT huge (maybe 75-80 million records) and SQL Server works great. Of course, my main client is only now switching from v.7 to 2000 so I don't think this delayed release will affect me that much. I can do all my ColdFusion and Java development and hosting in Mac/Linux so SQL Server is the only thing forcing me to keep a Windows box in my closet (which of course was locked up when I tried to use it this morning).

      I do hope they can somehow do a better job with security with the next release, although that may be asking too much. :-( Last time I had to reinstall SQL Server 2000, the whole subnet was down with the SQL Slammer worm before I even had a chance to configure the server and download the patches from Microsoft. Ouch. You have to download the patches ahead of time, pull the server off the internet, install SQL Server and all the patches, change the default port (and obviously make sure your sa password is not blank, duh) and only THEN go back online. Wow.

    4. Re:Actualy kind of sad by bucknuggets · · Score: 2, Flamebait

      well, even though 2000 is a decent product - it still has quite a few obvious enhancements needed (exception handling in stored procs for example). The direction they're headed with yukon however, is to push more .net stuff into the database. Yuk. I've always avoided their proprietary ado/vb/etc stuff in sql 2000, and .net is just more of the like. Anyone who takes advantage of any of that stuff is stuck with sql server forever.

    5. Re:Actualy kind of sad by Cesaro · · Score: 1

      Exactly, I'd kill a small country to get better error handling in stored procedures. :)

      I think I've gotten used to handling it in code in a very make shift manner, but man I'd love that. :) hehehe.

    6. Re:Actualy kind of sad by Cesaro · · Score: 1

      I concur. Everything I've done with Oracle I've found very frustrating and it looks like I'm going to be inheriting a couple more Oracle systems in the near future as well. "Well you've done so well with the others, we're giving you more!" Yay!

      The cross platform ability would be tremendous but I just can't see it happening any time in the near future. And as for security, I'd love to see more stuff beefed up with built in capabilities for point to point encryption of data going back and forth, etc... As for Slammer I've not ever been affected by it, we run most everything behind our own firewalls under very controlled conditions. So we were pretty safe from that. Only ones affected were development installs of MSDE, etc...

      Not touting their security by any means, but I've not been bitten by it too hard as we run a really tight ship where I CAN control both the in/out network traffic *AND* the physical access. Makes life a lot easier. ;)

    7. Re:Actualy kind of sad by MattRog · · Score: 3, Informative

      You can take a look at Sybase ASE which runs on Linux, Windows, Solaris, etc.. As I'm sure you are aware Sybase wrote the original SQL Server and licensed it to Microsoft. When they split (around version 6.5 I think) Microsoft took the SQL Server name.

      In any rate, Sybase ASE uses the T-SQL dialect and also has many of the same stored procedures for system administration.

      --

      Thanks,
      --
      Matt
    8. Re:Actualy kind of sad by Cesaro · · Score: 1

      I would absolutely love to check it out, but I'm so crushed with the day to day stuff that currently trying to branch and test out new DB's is just not an option. Maybe after the economy picks up a little more...

      Sadly, the only time I have for this fun side of my job (finding new and exciting products) is really on my own time.

    9. Re:Actualy kind of sad by Dissenter · · Score: 1

      I'm with you on that. I'm a DBA / developer for MS SQL and Oracle. I was looking forward to the next version too. As you said, the last few versions have been great leaps from the previous. I hope to see similar things from Yukon.

      --

      Dissenter
      "There is no knowledge that is not power."

    10. Re:Actualy kind of sad by drank · · Score: 1

      it still has quite a few obvious enhancements needed (exception handling in stored procs for example).


      Well, then 2005 is going to be your lucky day (and mine too!). Yukon includes a T/SQL try-catch syntax for structured exception handling in stored proceudres.
    11. Re:Actualy kind of sad by Cesaro · · Score: 1

      These are tears of joy...

    12. Re:Actualy kind of sad by Malc · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Either you have poor network security (i.e. your SQL Server installation was directly exposed to the internet), or poor network administration (i.e. your network was already infected by Slammer).

      We had an incompetent admin and were vulnerable to Slammer for over a year on four major DB servers at our colo facility. Even though our new admin compared the firewall to sieve, it was still secure enough to protect us. I think we were vrey lucky, but I find it hard to believe that you can bring up SQL Server in a corporate environment and have it infected by Slammer before you get chance to patch it. Something's seriously wrong there.

    13. Re:Actualy kind of sad by madfgurtbn · · Score: 1

      I know this is the wrong place to say such things, but I've had lots of problems with other MS problems, but this one since 7.0 has been quite good.

      I disagree that this is the wrong place to say such things. Slashdotters need to realize that we have our own version of FUD, where M$ can't do anything right. The facts are, they have come a long way in the last 3 years or so, and OSS cannot rest on its laurels.

      Microsoft has recognized it's two biggest technological faults have been security and stability. They have made huge strides in both areas.

      Has OSS been making sufficient strides in our weakest area? (I believe the weakest areas to be usability for non-geeks and easily installing software applications across distros.)

      --
      Send lawyers, guns, and money. Dad, get me out of this.
    14. Re:Actualy kind of sad by JohnFluxx · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Hi,
      Could you tell me why you would use stored procedures?
      It just seems better to have another layer that handles that logic, seperate from the database. That way you can change databases easily.

      Is it just because the gui tools make it easier or something?

    15. Re:Actualy kind of sad by Jon+Erikson · · Score: 3, Informative

      Because stored procedures are kept on the DB side and can be optimised and cached by the DB, and also it means that less stuff needs to be sent from DB machines to other machines - all the processing is done in the DB and just the final results sent out.

      --

      Jon Erikson, IT guru

    16. Re:Actualy kind of sad by kpharmer · · Score: 3, Informative

      JohnFluxx wrote:
      > Could you tell me why you would use stored procedures?
      > It just seems better to have another layer that handles that logic, seperate from the database. That way you can change databases easily.

      Sure - that's a good approach - especially if you've got a product that you want to support on N databases. However, it's pretty difficult to implement a complex application with completely generic sql anyway. So, when working with complex apps - the use of simple stored procs can actually simplify porting.

      But in a more typical situation -when you're developing an application for a single database, and your primary concern might be that the client may want to switch databases in the future (but it will still only run on one database product), *then* the case for stored procedures is much stronger.

      Typically I'll implement stored procedures for four reasons:

      #1 Parallel Development: stored procedures allow the database & application teams to develop in parallel. For example: as soon as the object model is created, the database team can approve it and commit to delivering stored procs that map to that spec. The same day the developers start writing code. While the developers are writing this code the dbas figure out the physical model and then map that to the procs. I've used this technique to often cut 3-5 weeks off project time-lines.

      #2 Physical Model Adaptability: often in complex applications performance dynamics can change over time, requiring that the data model be tuned to handle new situations. With an abstraction layer of stored procedures the dbas are freed to easily make these modeling changes without significant interaction with the developers. This works better for some organizational structures, and even when the dba & programmer are on the same team, it still allows the one person with the greatest sql skills to perform the entire change - and does not require a team to perform impact analysis on both java and the database.

      #3 Database Performance: again, in complex or performance-intensive applications, some queries can be extremely complex. However, the folks who are typically the best at tuning the queries are the dbas, not the developers. For example, I sometimes have to split a query into separate steps, with creation of a cartesian-product table as a first step, then joining against a few other tables as next steps, then pulling everything together in a 4-6th step. I can encapsulate that query behind the scenes and offer a relatively simple-looking table to the developers to work with. The programmer's best attempt at tuning their query took 2 minutes, and I got it down to 2 seconds - but there's no way that they can maintain the query I created. Other performance-benefits occur when the dba partitions data across a cluster, and includes logic to determine which node to run part of the query upon. This shouldn't be in the application layer - since it's very database system dependent.

      #4 Miscellaneous - there are other potential benefits as well - such as keeping all the sql code where the dba can automate access plan creation, impact analysis, etc. Another misc benefit is in the creation of a security layer.

      Of course, note that in none of the above scenarios am I recommending large or complex stored procedures. The kind I'm recommending are 99% sql - and easily port from one database to another.

    17. Re:Actualy kind of sad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      IIRC, it took 15 minutes for Slammer to go from its first infection to being on about 60% of the SQL servers on the Internet. It was fast.

      That being said, I've always been a big fan of the "pull cable; insert CD" method of getting things installed in a hostile environment.

  13. Meanwhile, MySQL does transactions by ka9dgx · · Score: 5, Informative
    Meanwhile, MySQL is now doing transactions, and VIEWs are on their way in 5.1. It's GPL, so it's free (as in speech).

    --Mike--

    1. Re:Meanwhile, MySQL does transactions by doofusclam · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Transactions? Exactly how many years behind the competition is OSS on that one?

      If you used real databases, in real production environments on complex data sets, you'd see that MySQL just doesn't cut it - yet. It's great for trivial 'simple but big' datasets, but for data mining and analysis it's awful.

    2. Re:Meanwhile, MySQL does transactions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      oh wow!
      a RDBMS at version 5 is finally doing transactions?
      and is about to have views?

      sign me up.

    3. Re:Meanwhile, MySQL does transactions by bwalling · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Meanwhile, MySQL is now doing transactions, and VIEWs are on their way in 5.1. It's GPL, so it's free (as in speech).

      Why not use Postgres? That way, you don't have to wait for features that all the other RDBMS products have had for years. What is it that makes MySQL so much more popular than Postgres? It sure isn't features.

    4. Re:Meanwhile, MySQL does transactions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      Meanwhile, MySQL

      Meanwhile, PostgreSQL is more free (as in the BSD license so you can actually use it without danger of being sued or having your license revoked by anybody). And PgSQL has more features and is reported to handle greater loads than MySQL (where MySQL would simply fail or crash).

    5. Re:Meanwhile, MySQL does transactions by cruachan · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Wow, views will finally be in version 5.1.

      Jeez. First time I looked at MySQL a couple of years ago for a project I started putting a basic database scheme together an went to construct a view, only for my Jaw to hit the desk when I found out they were not available. Views are such a basic component of RDBMS databases that it simply hadn't occurred to me (an Oracle, DB2, SQLServer and others veteran) that software could be release that called itself a relational database that didn't have them.

      Anyway, just went and used Postgres instead. It's still beyond me why people even bother giving MySQL the time of day when the incomparably superior Postgres is available under GPL.

    6. Re:Meanwhile, MySQL does transactions by msgmonkey · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I think it's the same reason that people will insist on MS, i.e. the "know" MS so assume it has best solution for the job.

      The same with MySQL, at around 1999 when I first started to look at doing some (very simple) database work it was the most developed thing you could get for free. At that time, Postgres was not optimised for speed and was still regarded as research product.

      Anyhow, the situation has changed somewhat but some people still think it's 1999, of course most of these people are n't RDBMS people so tend to belittle essential features, until MySQL gets them.

    7. Re:Meanwhile, MySQL does transactions by Czmyt · · Score: 2, Informative

      "PostgreSQL is released under the BSD licence"
      "Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software and its documentation for any purpose, without fee, and without a written agreement is hereby granted, provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph and the following two paragraphs appear in all copies."

    8. Re:Meanwhile, MySQL does transactions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      What makes MySQL so popular? Because it's the Access of the OSS world.

    9. Re: Meanwhile, MySQL does transactions by bucknuggets · · Score: 1

      yeah, well keep in mind that Oracle & DB2 only got views around...1981?

    10. Re:Meanwhile, MySQL does transactions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And the funny thing is that Access is superior to it in almost every way. Access even has views!!

    11. Re:Meanwhile, MySQL does transactions by Tetsugaku-San · · Score: 0

      "Jeez. First time I looked at MySQL a couple of years ago for a project I started putting a basic database scheme together an went to construct a view, only for my Jaw to hit the desk when I found out they were not available" Man I have SO been exactly there - my first use of MySQL for a peronal project floored me when I discovered there were now view (After searching the progfram for a button I thought had gone missing) - now I try to use MSSQL2K like I do at work :)

    12. Re:Meanwhile, MySQL does transactions by MythMoth · · Score: 1
      I know exactly where you're coming from; I couldn't quite believe it when I discovered that MySQL didn't have views. I was almost as astounded that it didn't have foreign keys with the default table type.

      MySQL does have some points that would win it favour:
      • It's easy to install on a variety of platforms (specifically including Win2K).
      • It's fast, at least by reputation.
      • It's easy to configure.
      • It has good documentation.

      If I'm looking for a database for a "real" application, I care about data integrity. Only then will I consider other points. Of the databases I've tried, Postgres wins hands down. But for a "personal" product, or for someone building a system who's fairly new to databases ? I can see why they go for MySQL.

      D.
      --
      --- These are not words: wierd, genious, rediculous
    13. Re:Meanwhile, MySQL does transactions by Dan+Ost · · Score: 5, Insightful

      What is it that makes MySQL so much more popular than Postgres?

      Lower barrier to entry.

      Since the vast majority of toy applications don't
      need anything more than a hashed flat file (like gdbm), people find it easy
      to get things working with MySQL (MySQL abstracts a flat file quite easily)
      and suddenly think they're Database GODS. Then, when they attempt a new
      db project, they either force MySQL into it because it's what they know, or
      they look at a more powerful DB package, realize they're in over their head,
      and decide that the DB package is to blame for their inability to use it, thus
      reinforcing their idea that MySQL is a better tool.

      Now I realize that there are lots of applications where MySQL is perfectly
      adequate, but the ease of using MySQL for toy applications has fooled lots
      of people who have limited db skills at best into thinking that they're
      experts.

      --

      *sigh* back to work...
    14. Re:Meanwhile, MySQL does transactions by MythMoth · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Incidentally, I'm not suggesting that Postgres is (yet) comparable to the commercial offerings. Just that of the open source solutions I've tried so far, it's the only one that's a real contender to be used in a "live" situation.

      --
      --- These are not words: wierd, genious, rediculous
    15. Re:Meanwhile, MySQL does transactions by mborland · · Score: 4, Insightful
      It's still beyond me why people even bother giving MySQL the time of day when the incomparably superior Postgres is available under GPL.


      I'm with you on that one. Once I installed Postgres I haven't looked back. What I admire about the Postgres team is that they focus on standards first and speed second. Smart, because eventually speed catches up (through code optimization or just over time through hardware); whereas MySQL has to add in features afterwards, and do so without slowing it down (and thus pissing off its following). Please MySQL fans, no flaming.


      Postgres vs. MS SQL is sort of a different issue. MS SQL has all kinds of features Postgres doesn't have, e.g. lots of replication features (I believe, though I've never had to use them) and its optimizer seems more intelligent than Postgres'. That said, very few dataservers actually use the extended features, and my casual complaints about Postgres' optimizer are quelled by a) fixing my query b) VACUUMing the database as instructed or c) realizing that it was only a few ms slower anyway. Cons on the MS SQL Server side are that a) it ties to you one platform, b) tends to have large gaping security holes and c) tends more often to be implemented by those without a clue of DBAing or security.


      Whoops, I ranted.

    16. Re:Meanwhile, MySQL does transactions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Yep, like Access, it's an easy tool that's great for small projects (or large ones where the project maps to its features). The problem is when small projects are suddenly deployed in a huge enterprise environment that stress it.

      A wise programmer keeps a well-stocked toolbox and switches tools to fit the job, and not the reverse.

    17. Re:Meanwhile, MySQL does transactions by DataCannibal · · Score: 1

      MySQL is popular among people who don't really understand databases and what they are for. It's generally used by people who see a database as a big bucket for holding all their data. They're not aware of all the work that can be saved by letting a database take care of data integrity, reinforcing data rules etc etc.

      Just ask any Oracle DBA who's had to work with java developers who think they need to do everything in the client or in the middleware.

      --
      No but, yeah but, no but...
    18. Re:Meanwhile, MySQL does transactions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      I call bullshit

      It's easy to install on a variety of platforms (specifically including Win2K).

      apt-get install postgresql

      Oh, you want to run postgres on that substitute for an OS people call win2k? Install cygwin. Maybe mysql is easier on win2k, but I call this no big deal.

      It's fast, at least by reputation.

      Mysql is fast when inserting rows without transaction management. Postgresql is just as fast or faster for just about everything else. And for complex queries, postgresql can be orders of magnitude faster than mysql (4 seconds vs 50).

      It's easy to configure.

      huh? /etc/postgresql/*, text editor, voila.

      It has good documentation.

      You haven't seen Postgresql documentation, have you? I like it better than oracle documentation, and I DEFINITELY like it beter than MSSQL documentation.

      --Coder

    19. Re:Meanwhile, MySQL does transactions by MythMoth · · Score: 1

      I'm illustrating the reason other people would choose to use MySQL or even SQL Server over Postgres, a point I think you missed. I personally use Postgres on a Linux platform. However:

      Oh, you want to run postgres on that
      substitute for an OS people call win2k?


      If my primary platform was Win2K, then I don't think that would be an unreasonable expectation. In those circumstances, which is easier ? Running a MS SQL installer, the MySQL installer, or, uh, installing Cygwin and getting Postgres set up ?

      Postgresql is just as fast or
      faster for just about everything else...


      Possibly. As a matter of fact, I don't actually care very much. For my purposes data integrity is way more important than performance anyway. You're not arguing with my point, which is that MySQL is perceived as being fast, regardless of the facts.

      huh? /etc/postgresql/*, text editor, voila

      Astonishingly enough, editing text files with mediocre documentation isn't much fun, which brings me on to...

      You haven't seen Postgresql documentation, have you?

      I have the elephant book, and I have the New Riders "PostgreSQL Essential Reference" book on my desk, plus I have a Safari subscription. So yes, I've seen the PostgreSQL documentation. Apparently you haven't.

      I'm not particularly talking about the SQL syntax documentation (although that's not especially good), rather the installation documentation and syaadmin documentation.

      Let me reiterate, finally, that I'm a fan of PostgreSQL, I like it, and I use it. But I'm not blind to its faults, and I've used many commercial databases, which I suspect you haven't.

      Moreover I'm prepared to put my name to my opinions.

      --
      --- These are not words: wierd, genious, rediculous
    20. Re:Meanwhile, MySQL does transactions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's still beyond me why people even bother giving MySQL the time of day when the incomparably superior Postgres is available under GPL.

      Because Postgres is moribund--just look at their website--and how do you pronounce it anyway?! When is the last time you heard Postgres mentioned in the business press. MySQL gets mentioned a lot.

    21. Re:Meanwhile, MySQL does transactions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Smart, because eventually speed catches up (through code optimization or just over time through hardware)

      shitty code catches up when hardware power increases? yeah, good logic there...

    22. Re:Meanwhile, MySQL does transactions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      CREATE TABLE foo (id INT) Type = InnoDB;
      INSERT INTO foo (id) VALUES (0);

      BEGIN;
      INSERT INTO foo (id) VALUES (1);
      DROP TABLE foo;
      ROLLBACK;
      > Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)

      SELECT id FROM foo;
      > ERROR 1146: Table 'test.foo' doesn't exist
      You call that transactions?
    23. Re:Meanwhile, MySQL does transactions by hesiod · · Score: 1

      > What I admire about the Postgres team is that they focus on standards first and speed second.

      What I don't admire about them is the impossibility of using it (a few years ago). I had a RedHat 6.0 (yeah, it's old, get over it) install and I followed the documentation exactly and postgres wouldn't even run. I downloaded it & compiled & installed from source, same result. MySQL, OTOH took a few hours to get running exactly as I wanted -- after days being frustrated by PG.

    24. Re:Meanwhile, MySQL does transactions by jocknerd · · Score: 1
      Why not use Postgres? That way, you don't have to wait for features that all the other RDBMS products have had for years. What is it that makes MySQL so much more popular than Postgres? It sure isn't features.


      MySQL has a company behind it. PostgreSQL is a volunteer product for the most part.
    25. Re:Meanwhile, MySQL does transactions by Just+Some+Guy · · Score: 1
      I had a RedHat 6.0 (yeah, it's old, get over it)

      No. There's no "get over it". RH6 came out in, what, February '99? How can you gloss over that so easily? Would you also hate MSSQL because it doesn't install or run well on NT4?

      Within reasonable limits, PostgreSQL is as easy to install and configure as MySQL. Yours were not reasonable limits.

      --
      Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
    26. Re:Meanwhile, MySQL does transactions by Just+Some+Guy · · Score: 3, Insightful
      What I admire about the Postgres team is that they focus on standards first and speed second. Smart, because eventually speed catches up (through code optimization or just over time through hardware)

      There's nothing as gratifying when working on a project as realizing that you've built such a solid, engineered solution that you can throw out five layers of error checking that test for conditions that you can rigorously prove cannot exist. Those are the sorts of speedups that PostgreSQL has been undergoing, and even if I didn't like PostgreSQL as a product, I would certainly commend their design team for such excellent work.

      --
      Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
    27. Re:Meanwhile, MySQL does transactions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Heh, all that Java Middleware was developed specifically to route around the Oracle DBAs.

    28. Re:Meanwhile, MySQL does transactions by fbg111 · · Score: 1

      It's still beyond me why people even bother giving MySQL the time of day when the incomparably superior Postgres is available under GPL.

      Once the Postgres native Win32 port is done, then you'll probably see increased uptake. As it is, anyone who develops on Windows boxes (yes there are such people) is excluded from using Postgresql.

      For example, I run a one-man non-profit during my spare time in grad school, where I develop and maintain websites for other non-profits. It lets me write off most of my computer kit purchases, and put some very interesting philanthropy work on my resume. But I'm studying Asian languages and use WinXP for its excellent language support via MS's IME. So I'm among those for whom it's just easier to use MySQL, especially since the sites I develop aren't that large or complicated.

      There are also a decent lot of bloggers out there running blogs on Windows servers for whom a MySQL-based blog makes a lot of sense.

      --
      Flying is easy, just throw yourself at the ground and miss. -Douglas Adams
    29. Re:Meanwhile, MySQL does transactions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      MySQL has a company behind it. PostgreSQL is a volunteer product for the most part.

      So I should go with Windows rather than Linux right?

    30. Re:Meanwhile, MySQL does transactions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Keeping on topic, MS-SQL doesn't have transactions for DDL statements either. While I think MySQL is a hunk of flaming shit, your example doesn't seem like something that would be used in a realworld application.

    31. Re:Meanwhile, MySQL does transactions by Billly+Gates · · Score: 1

      Try finding an ISP that supports postgreSQL?

      That is why.

    32. Re:Meanwhile, MySQL does transactions by poot_rootbeer · · Score: 1

      Transactions? Exactly how many years behind the competition is OSS on that one?

      Given that the huge commercial RDBMS's have existed since the 1970's, but most Open Source projects have really only taken off in the last 5ish years, I'd say OSS is doing a great job of catching up.

    33. Re:Meanwhile, MySQL does transactions by poot_rootbeer · · Score: 4, Funny


      Slashdot rule #12: comments on any story even remotely related to database systems will ultimately digress into a MySQL vs. PostgreSQL advocacy war.

    34. Re:Meanwhile, MySQL does transactions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      http://techdocs.postgresql.org/hosting.php

    35. Re:Meanwhile, MySQL does transactions by Caligari · · Score: 1

      While I personally prefer PostgreSQL to MS SQL, I have done quite a bit of work with both of them and I admit that MS SQL isn't too bad. There are some things I really, really hate about MS SQL, but most of this stems from me having had to move an Access DB's datastore to MS SQL, then later to port the whole bloody mess of a thing to
      PostgreSQL which was NOT a nice experience at all.

      As you say, MS SQL gets a bad rap because of the crowd she lets admin her.

      However, I just thought I'd let you know that as of version 7.4 PostgreSQL now has very good replication features at last. A number of companies offer proprietary replication products (commandprompt.com's one, dbExpert's one, etc) but there is at least one GPL'd replication back end also, which was in fact donated by a company which had previously been selling it.

      I'd also like to add that I think its a terrible shame people consider MySQL the de facto "open source" RDBMS when PostgreSQL is far, far superior. There is simply no excuse for using MySQL, apart from maybe your hosting provider not supporting it or something. To remedy this situation, you should hit your hosting provider over the head with a large metal pipe.

      --
      The moving cursor writes, and having written, blinks on.
    36. Re:Meanwhile, MySQL does transactions by cruachan · · Score: 1

      www.zetnet.co.uk

      Been using them to host my main site since mid 90's

    37. Re:Meanwhile, MySQL does transactions by imroy · · Score: 1
      Transactions? Exactly how many years behind the competition is OSS on that one?

      Hey! Don't go blaming the whole Open Source(tm) software world for MySQL. Just because MySql Inc. claims it's the "most advanced open source relational database" in all its press releases, does not make the claim true. For those of us interested in real databases that are Open Source, well we use PostgreSQL or Firebird. They're not quite up to the level of Oracle or MSSQL, but they're easily better than the amateurish MySql.

    38. Re:Meanwhile, MySQL does transactions by spnbs · · Score: 1

      Actually, PostgreSQL is distributed under a BSD license. Which makes it even more attractive in certain circles.

      http://www.postgresql.org/licence.html

    39. Re:Meanwhile, MySQL does transactions by jechonias · · Score: 1

      If Postgres is so clever, why can't i do sort orders and case-insensative searches without using functions of some sort or other workarounds? MS SQL server can store the data in case-insensative order, why can't postgresql?

      (this one thing has stopped us using postgresql as a replacement backend to our sql-powered client)

      jech

    40. Re:Meanwhile, MySQL does transactions by hesiod · · Score: 1

      > How can you gloss over that so easily?

      Because I have not seen much improvement since? Yeah, that would be a pretty good reason to me.

      > There's no "get over it".

      Okay, you don't have to get over it if you don't want, but there's not much point in you being upset over something I couldn't do.

      > Would you also hate MSSQL because it doesn't install or run well on NT4?

      Yes, if that was the platform I intended to run it on.

      > PostgreSQL is as easy to install and configure as MySQL. Yours were not reasonable limits.

      What, getting it to run at all were not reasonable limits? You could say they CURRENTLY aren't reasonable (ie, using a recent distro), but you said "were not." What was not reasonable about it?

    41. Re:Meanwhile, MySQL does transactions by Espectr0 · · Score: 1

      What is it that makes MySQL so much more popular than Postgres? It sure isn't features.

      A windows version

    42. Re:Meanwhile, MySQL does transactions by Espectr0 · · Score: 1

      It's still beyond me why people even bother giving MySQL the time of day when the incomparably superior Postgres is available under GPL.

      PostgreSQL isn't GPL, it is BSD-licensed.

    43. Re:Meanwhile, MySQL does transactions by Just+Some+Guy · · Score: 1
      If Postgres is so clever, why can't i do sort orders and case-insensative searches without using functions of some sort or other workarounds? MS SQL server can store the data in case-insensative order, why can't postgresql?

      First, is that part of the SQL standard, or something that Microsoft tacked on as per usual? I'm not asking facetiously: I really want to know. In other words, is PostgreSQL deficient, or is MS-SQL non-compliant?

      Second, is this really so difficult:

      kanga=# select * from test;
      rowid | rowvalue
      -------+----------
      1 | a
      2 | B
      3 | D
      4 | c
      (4 rows)

      kanga=# select * from test order by rowvalue;
      rowid | rowvalue
      -------+----------
      2 | B
      3 | D
      1 | a
      4 | c
      (4 rows)

      kanga=# select * from test order by lower(rowvalue);
      rowid | rowvalue
      -------+----------
      1 | a
      2 | B
      4 | c
      3 | D
      (4 rows)

      OK, now that we've demonstrated that it's trivially easy to do case-insensitive sorting, let's ask the inverse: how easy is it to do case-sensitive sorting on MS-SQL? I'm not an expert, but several Google results seem to indicate that it's not very easy.

      In other words, do you think that it's easier to discard unwanted information or to write code to create needed information? I choose the former, and apparently the PostgreSQL folks did, too.

      --
      Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
    44. Re:Meanwhile, MySQL does transactions by asdfghjklqwertyuiop · · Score: 1

      DDL statements are unlogged on most dbmsses...

    45. Re:Meanwhile, MySQL does transactions by Badanov · · Score: 1
      I don't know from standards. But you aren't gonna believe this: I had a really hard time installing MySQL, so much so, I decided it wasn't for me, personally.

      I know, I know, MySQL is s'psoed to be a better solution , easy to install, etc. but I had one hell of a time installing MySQL.

      Maybe I'm an idiot. Dunno. I kept using PostgreSQL and never stopped from that point.

      --
      Dawn of the Dead
    46. Re:Meanwhile, MySQL does transactions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This couldn't be more true. I read an interview in some mag with MySQL CEO. He really pushed that the db is not deigned to compete with the big boys but to provide a fast and stable db for certain types of projects.

      MySQL fills a great niche for PHP and web apps because it is lightweight and easy to use. I think MySQL would be much more difficult to use in the enterprise where transactions, sprocs, views, and full security model are required.

      But this is not to say MySQL cannot handle big databases. I use MySQL servers as staging databases between our transactional dbs and warehouses. It is fast, portable, and free. Our transactional systems are Oracle, Sybase, and MS-SQL and our warehouse is Sybase IQ. MySQL and perl are a perfect fit.

      MS-SQL 2K is also a great db. It is extremely easy to develop for and it performs fairly good. But again I would be reluctant to use it in the enterprise for big apps. I think the post "40 Million Lines of Code" explains that one pretty clearly. The security problem, locking and threadig issues, and constant Windows server patches make this a no-no for serious apps.

      However, if you are working on big iron building huge enterprise apps for insurance, healthcare, finance, telecom and other big verticals I think there is no question you better be using DB2, Oracle, or Sybase and you better be running on some form of *nix.

      People who disagree with this probably have never learned to admin a DB from a command line or do not understand how a computer can work without a video card.

      All in all, like every piece of software, they have their pros and cons... MS-SQL Server's biggest con is the MS in front of its name.

      peace...
      abombss

    47. Re:Meanwhile, MySQL does transactions by rjamestaylor · · Score: 1
      Slashdot rule #12: comments on any story even remotely related to database systems will ultimately digress into a MySQL vs. PostgreSQL advocacy war.

      Interjecting humilitating criticism in the midst of a debate is just the kind of thing Nazis did in Germany.

      Well, I guess this thread is official over, now, wouldn't you say?

      --
      -- @rjamestaylor on Ello
    48. Re:Meanwhile, MySQL does transactions by jocknerd · · Score: 1

      I wasn't referring to which is better. Just more popular. MySQL is more popular because it has a company promoting it. I actually used to work for a company that supported PostgreSQL, Great Bridge. But it still wasn't the same as being the company that actually created it.

    49. Re:Meanwhile, MySQL does transactions by jechonias · · Score: 1

      Your reply, like the suggestions on the postgres site, are based on the assumption that my users are comfortable with sql and that thousands of screens and reports and queries can be re-written just to do case-insensative sorts.

      Oh and that the lower/upper function will perform reasonably well given the large record sets returned.

      Ironically the case issue is a make or break for my users. Not sure why but there you have it.

      as for case sensative sorts, no trouble. In sql simply store the data using a case sensative charater set. Don't confuse the functions with the stored data character sets.

      jech

    50. Re:Meanwhile, MySQL does transactions by Just+Some+Guy · · Score: 1
      Your reply, like the suggestions on the postgres site, are based on the assumption that my users are comfortable with sql and that thousands of screens and reports and queries can be re-written just to do case-insensative sorts.

      You make assumptions that the PostgreSQL folks or myself have an opinion on your usage. I don't, and I assume that they don't.

      You never answered whether MS-SQL is following the SQL standard or not, and the fault really is as simple as that: if MS-SQL is correct, then PostgreSQL is wrong. If it is not, then you cannot blame PostgreSQL for not emulating MS's broken implementation. So, which which is it?

      --
      Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
    51. Re:Meanwhile, MySQL does transactions by jechonias · · Score: 1

      Hi,

      with regards to the assumptions, I wasn't refering to whether or not you (and the posters of said assumptions) had an opinion of my customers usage, I was making a reference to the fact that your reply was typical of postgres' user response to the issue of case insensativity.

      I have no idea whether or not MS-SQL's ability to store characters in a variety of different sets is part of the SQL standard, ASNI 92 or otherwise, I am merely selfishly interested in the fact that it is a common feature available by default to MS SQL users, that is not available in any useable format to Postgres users.

      I am also not making a blame on Postgres or anyone with regards to said feature, casting of blame isn't necessary as I am not a judge.

      Again I am merely pointing out the fact that this barrier to porting MS SQL apps exist, and the response you gave is typical amongst postgres users when faced with the case-insensativity problem, yet in practice isn't useable.

      I would welcome a more practical solution, else in the mean time I will be forced to wait whilst the postgres team decide on whether or not to implement this capability.

      jech

    52. Re:Meanwhile, MySQL does transactions by Just+Some+Guy · · Score: 1
      I have no idea whether or not MS-SQL's ability to store characters in a variety of different sets is part of the SQL standard, ASNI 92 or otherwise, I am merely selfishly interested in the fact that it is a common feature available by default to MS SQL users, that is not available in any useable format to Postgres users.

      The point is, though, that you could make the same argument against Mozilla for not supporting the non-standard extensions to Internet Explorer. It's not that those extensions are inherently bad, but that they're not standard, and exist mainly to lock customers into a Windows solution.

      --
      Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
    53. Re:Meanwhile, MySQL does transactions by jechonias · · Score: 1

      Good point, though it doesn't help me. Whether or not these extensions (if in this case it is an extension) were purposely done to lock users in (in this case perhaps not) the fact remains that it does act as a barrier to porting to a free solution.

      thanks for your valuable input, i'm not going to continue this discussion further (mainly because I have to get soime work done before the boss finds me slacking!!)

      cheers

      Jech

  14. MS helping OSS - Indirectly by UltimaGuy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If I had any doubts that MS is helping OSS and slowly erasing itself, it is now clearing :-) Jokes aside, this will seriously affect businesses that have paid for their upgrade licenses, as the licenses will expire before the sql server is released. This will make decision makers view Open Source in a new light. Atleast, in Open Source you don't pay for future vaporware in the present.

    --
    "In questions of science the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual."
    1. Re:MS helping OSS - Indirectly by bnet41 · · Score: 1

      Yea, but what OSS database product even comes close to SQL 2000? That being said MS SQL 2000 doesn't hold a candle to DB2, or any of Oracle's offerings. That is just my opinion. I think stuff like MySql is great for small operations, but they are hardly enterprise worthy.

    2. Re:MS helping OSS - Indirectly by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      Firebird
      Postgresql
      Maxdb

      They all beat MS-SQL consistantly, and postgresql is coming close to toppling oracle!

      Mysql isn't the only open source database in the world. It is popular because 90% of users DON'T need all the flashy features.

    3. Re:MS helping OSS - Indirectly by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They most certainly don't 'beat MS-SQL consistantly' .. where do you get this nonsense from?

    4. Re:MS helping OSS - Indirectly by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Can you provide evidence of what features they lack? Or are you just trolling. i have experiance of all three. Only MySQL is the toy database, The other three eat MS-SQL for breakfast.

    5. Re:MS helping OSS - Indirectly by doofusclam · · Score: 1

      There's nothing flashy about views and stored procedures.

      The reason I (and others) brought this up is because some OSS zealots, started going on about MySQL, despite it still not being a full RDBMS implementation, and not even slightly comparable to SQL Server, Oracle, DB2, Teradata et al.

    6. Re:MS helping OSS - Indirectly by MythMoth · · Score: 1, Insightful


      I'm not as familiar with the others, but I promise you, Postgres is not coming close to toppling oracle, or MS SQL.

      It's a good database, but MS SQL has a host of features that Postgres doesn't.

      --
      --- These are not words: wierd, genious, rediculous
    7. Re:MS helping OSS - Indirectly by That's+Unpossible! · · Score: 1

      Can you provide evidence of what features they lack?

      Sorry, debates don't work that way. You stated "They all beat MS-SQL consistantly." Now try to back that claim up. In what way do they beat MS consistently?

      The other three eat MS-SQL for breakfast.

      Uh huh... Prove it.

      --
      Ironically, the word ironically is often used incorrectly.
    8. Re:MS helping OSS - Indirectly by MythMoth · · Score: 2, Informative

      Well, Postgres which is the one I know most about doesn't have:

      Updates to Views
      Real Time Replication
      Two Phase Commit

      --
      --- These are not words: wierd, genious, rediculous
    9. Re:MS helping OSS - Indirectly by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      People that bought the upgrade insurance took a gamble and lost. The same gamble could be taken with any number of software companies out there and lost as well.

      Only Microsoft gets hammered in the press because it's "fun" to bash them. Move along here minions.

    10. Re:MS helping OSS - Indirectly by CaptainSuperBoy · · Score: 1

      It's a rare case where it's cheaper to rewrite an entire project than wait a year and buy a new MS license. It's too bad about everyone getting burned with SA but do you think that companies are simply going to ditch all their SQL2K projects because they're not getting Yukon?

  15. except... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Many business customers have recently been coerced into signing ongoing contracts where they receive any upgrades in a particular year in exchange for a yearly fee.

    These companies are going to be extremely p155ed off when they realise that all they are going to get for their money is (maybe) XP Reloaded (think ME).

    Companies cannot afford to throw money down the microsoft toilet for much longer... especially when all they get is extra bugs that they didnt need in the first place, coupled with a healthy dose of lock-in and increased support costs.

    1. Re:except... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Knowing how Microsoft likes to backpeddle in the face of bad publicity I would not put it past them to announce that anyone who has a UA or SA contract valid till some date this year (say july) would still get SQL 05 upgrade.

      When my shop buys licences we do so assuming we won't want to upgrade within three years so we don't bother with SA.

  16. Does this sound familiar? by fataugie · · Score: 4, Funny

    Microsoft (circa 2001): "With this new licensing model, you buy "software assurance" so if a new version is released in the next two years, you're entitled to a free upgrade"

    Uh huh...I see that's working out nicely...

    --

    WTF? Over?

    1. Re:Does this sound familiar? by penguinbrat · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Did M$ Office pay off - or will it?

    2. Re:Does this sound familiar? by fataugie · · Score: 2, Informative

      Don't know, the last version I bought was Office 97. For what we use it for, there is no added value to upgrading.

      By skipping Office 2000, Office XP and Office 2003, we saved mucho $$$.

      --

      WTF? Over?

  17. Just More Validation for OSS Model by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Here's a company with many thousands of employees, more money than God, and a dominant position in almost every market segment they're in. And they STILL can't write secure code OR meet most of their delivery deadlines (deadlines which they set themselves, not ones that were imposed on them).

    Meanwhile, the groups that produce products like MySQL and PostgreSQL have had steady releases, a wealth of needed features, and relatively few security incidents.

    Unless you're already so heavily bought in to their infrastructure that any change would be prohibitively expensive, I can't see how it makes any sense to base your business on Microsoft's products. They're expensive, they're insecure, they're performance laggards, and you just can't rely on them for support.

    Cheers,

    1. Re:Just More Validation for OSS Model by Malc · · Score: 1

      Err, yeah, right. Are you telling me that MySQL would be appropriate as the backend to our 24x7x365.25 web operations with millions of hits per day, some tables with nearly 300 million rows and hundreds of gigs of data? SQL Server 2000 (and SQL Server 7 before that) serviced these needs very well. I can't see trusting MySQL to the job... especially considering after all these years that it still can't do half the stuff that would need it to.

      You can't compare MySQL to SQL Server. A lot of the people running a DBMS can't afford to be constantly upgrading, which is what would happen if we followed your advice. Server stability (tied to not changing) is critical in many environments. Most of us are more than happy to wait for MSFT to release when they're ready. I don't need nor want incremental updates every few months, especially when they add new features. SQL Server 2000 will carry on serving our needs very well for many years... who knows, MySQL might be an alternative by the time Yukon is ready, but then of course it won't have all the features that we decide we need from Yukon.

      The open source projects with the best record for security and stability also don't have predicted or short-term release cycles. Just the same as MSFT. Take a look at Debian.

    2. Re:Just More Validation for OSS Model by bonch · · Score: 1

      Meanwhile, the groups that produce products like MySQL and PostgreSQL have had steady releases, a wealth of needed features, and relatively few security incidents.

      Meanwhile, their OSS products lack incredibly necessary features and can't touch the commercial solutions.

      What OSS products meet delivery deadlines anyway? It's easy for OSS projects to make fun of MS for that when they follow a "release early, release often" schedule of a new point release every damned month with miniscule updates. Commercial guys are adding on major revisions and features with each new product, because they have to SELL them and make them a worthy upgrade.

    3. Re:Just More Validation for OSS Model by QQ2 · · Score: 1

      +3 insightfull?

      C'mon serious I mean I work with MySQL,SQL Server Oracle and DB2 (mainframe only).
      I like MySQL because it's free but it's lightyears behind even SQL Server.

      SQL Server has issues true, clustering forinstance is pathetic and its SQL syntax is limited but it is not expensive and it has some damn good performance.

      The problem with SQL Server is that in runs only on windows and that's a pathetic platform compared to our monsterous mainframe DB2 environment.

      However at 2000 Euro per processor fo the enterprise edition it is (relativly) cheap as dirt.

      and Insecure?? SQL Server has three servicepacks out now Oracle has more tahn that in hotfixes for it's latest version

      I'm not saying SQL Server doesn't have it's share of problemens, I'm not saying that it is the best product out there but it has a good back2buck ratio.

    4. Re:Just More Validation for OSS Model by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >Err, yeah, right. Are you telling me that MySQL >would be appropriate as the backend to our >24x7x365.25 web operations with millions of hits >per day, some tables with nearly 300 million rows >and hundreds of gigs of data? SQL Server 2000 >(and SQL Server 7 before that) serviced these needs very well.

      Oh please. Anyone with those requirements isn't likely to use SQL Server either. They'll spring for DB2 or Oracle. Hell, I guess I shouldn't buy that Ferrari now either since it doesn't have a trailer hitch. Nevermind that I don't need/want a trailer hitch...

    5. Re:Just More Validation for OSS Model by Malc · · Score: 1

      Shows how little you know. This has been operational for over four years, performs well (not even close to breaking in to a sweat based on our stress/scaling testing). No justification for traditional big iron and its associated cost.

  18. Past tense? by LarsWestergren · · Score: 4, Informative

    "Early adoption of Yukon in enterprises was quite strong due to the functions and features [..]"

    How can you talk about functions and features of software that has not yet been released? How can companies "early adopt" vaporware?

    Yes, they can order in advance, but to me "adoption" means running something as a part of your business. Not "planning to maybe use it once you get it and if it turns out to be as good as you was promised it would be".

    --

    Being bitter is drinking poison and hoping someone else will die

    1. Re:Past tense? by REBloomfield · · Score: 2, Insightful

      erm, people do actually use these things before they hit production you know. We had Exchange 2003 in place months before the release. They don't just stick these products out there, they let people use4 them first and check whether things work... duh...

    2. Re:Past tense? by LarsWestergren · · Score: 3, Insightful

      They don't just stick these products out there, they let people use4 them first and check whether things work... duh...

      Oh, you mean the wonderful deal where you pay for the priviledge of being a beta tester? ;-)

      --

      Being bitter is drinking poison and hoping someone else will die

    3. Re:Past tense? by dcam · · Score: 1

      > How can you talk about functions and features of software that has not yet been released? How can companies "early adopt" vaporware?

      There has been a beta yukon program, some of the DBAs on the mailing lists I am on have been testing and evaluating a copy. People could have planned an application around what they say in the beta, with the expectation of of the full product being released later. It is still a pretty dumb thing to do though as the features in the beta may not be the same as in the full version.

      --
      meh
  19. Can't screw up by peterdaly · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This is one of Microsoft's most important products. Finacially, there is a huge amount of "positive perception" riding on SQL server.

    Businesses may run on one of their OSes, but businesses run IN SQL Server. This product can make or (more critically) brake businesses. If rumors of major problems with SQL server screwing up business were to get out, corporate perception of them would tank.

    They have no real choice with this product but to try and make sure it is ready (and take more time if needed) rather than push it to market.

    -Pete

    1. Re:Can't screw up by Cesaro · · Score: 1

      Agreed.

      I would much rather get a delayed product (especially considering that the current one is more than sufficient for the time being) rather than get a hurried product that is going to cut my legs out from under me.

      If you are a cautious person (if you are a DBA and are NOT a cautious person I'd hesitate to call you a DBA at all) a release in 2005 means your earliest production database going on it in 2006, unless there is an absoultely driving feature that you MUST have as soon as possible. The bottom line is that more of often than not the users are not the driving force behind a DB Engine change (they might give feedback on what is slow but that is about it :) ) The DBA's and programmers are the driving force, we're looking for better products that are easier to manage, easier to recover and easier to administer. For those of us that are DBA/Programmers we're also looking for something that is great to work with all around since we see both sides of the coin.

      So as far as the users are concerned, I'm going to keep their systems working. That is all they know. Whether I keep them working for the next 4 years on 2k doesn't bother them in the slightest as long as I still deliver what I promise to deliver (correct data in a timely fashion that you can be confident of.)

  20. Mysql, PosteGres, DB2, Oracle MSSQL by puto · · Score: 5, Informative

    It is really funny the level of fervor behind Mysql. So funny it makes you wonder if the zealots have ever used anything other to any real extent.

    The company I work for software's backend can go Mysql, Postgres, Mssql, Db2, or Oracle.

    For massivce connections, queries, reporting, reliability it is in this order.

    1. Mssql, DB2, Oracle, all pretty much equal.
    2, Postegres, tricky but holds its own.
    3. Mysql, will work in the low end, forget reporting, forget huge db hits.

    I like Mysql. But Mssql 7.0 hands its ass to it.

    What happens is some company will be our product. Hand it over to some 25 year old self proclaimed web genius to install. Conversation is as follows.

    1. "Can I have the Source?" No, it is closed, long discussion about how we suck cause our product isn't open source.
    2. "Ewwww, Java, it sucks, you should rewrite in PHP" I explain it has been continually developed since 96, no way to stop the engine and write in PHP.
    4."I decided to save the company some money and install Mysql" We say ok, explain issues, put them in an email and fax(CYA principle). I then advise to run Postegre, that it is more robust, and is FREE as well.

    No one lists. Junior installs on Mysql, everything runs fine, site gets huge amount of traffic, database gets quirky. Management starts running huge queries on database reporting tool. Database is very slow to respond, then in a few weeks keels over.

    We get called. Tech is yelling, my guys are smirking(but still polite on phone) Management, myself, and tech gets on conference. Tech starts berating me. Management starts berating me. I pull out magic email and fax with all my system recquirements, suggestions for optimal use. Hey, guess what I was write. Wait a minute, shouldn't I know best since I work for the company that writes and support the product?

    Three times a week this happens with Mysql. We have 14000 customers and I swear 50 percent have some guy that thinks he knows best.... knows our product better, knows computers better...

    This is a great example of where our community needs to clean up its act. And I thought I would never say that.

    Mysql is good for what it is, but there are many things it is not. Learn this.

    Puto

    --
    The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
    1. Re:Mysql, PosteGres, DB2, Oracle MSSQL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's pretty funny. I encounter such people frequently in my line of work too and it's exactly the same sort of bullshit.

    2. Re:Mysql, PosteGres, DB2, Oracle MSSQL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It sounds like you shouldn't support MySQL if your app obviously doesn't run well with it. Why support it if it's a constant headache? Seems like a bad decision on your company's part.

    3. Re:Mysql, PosteGres, DB2, Oracle MSSQL by penguinbrat · · Score: 1

      In defense of your customers - When I was in the middle of things, it was only about 10-20% of the commercial products that the support that was actually worth anything, most of the time I DID know more...

    4. Re:Mysql, PosteGres, DB2, Oracle MSSQL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sombodi shud lurn to pruf reed.

      If your CYA email reads like your post, it is no big surprise that your customers don't take it seriously.

    5. Re:Mysql, PosteGres, DB2, Oracle MSSQL by multi+io · · Score: 1
      We get called. Tech is yelling, my guys are smirking(but still polite on phone) Management, myself, and tech gets on conference. Tech starts berating me. Management starts berating me. I pull out magic email and fax with all my system recquirements, suggestions for optimal use. Hey, guess what I was write. Wait a minute, shouldn't I know best since I work for the company that writes and support the product?

      Wow. When will you publish your memoirs?

    6. Re:Mysql, PosteGres, DB2, Oracle MSSQL by AftanGustur · · Score: 2, Interesting


      2. "Ewwww, Java, it sucks, you should rewrite in PHP" I explain it has been continually developed since 96, no way to stop the engine and write in PHP.

      It looks to me that your "25 year old self proclaimed web genius" is exactly that. And doesn't know the first thing about databases, let alone operating systems, process slots, filehandles, semaphore locks, interrupts or Context switches. And is absolutely clueless about how to debug DB performance problems.

      There *is* one thing that MySQL is good at and that is performance. The problem is, people often put MySQL on crappy hardware and have no clue about how the system realy works or how to tune it.

      --
      echo '[q]sa[ln0=aln80~Psnlbx]16isb572CCB9AE9DB03273snlbxq' |dc
    7. Re:Mysql, PosteGres, DB2, Oracle MSSQL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      > There *is* one thing that MySQL is good at and that is performance.

      Whoa. MySQL is only good at "performance" under very simplistic use cases (single table selects, low insert/update load). Which describes a web board, but not that many real world applications. I'm sure this is one of the perceptions that the guy is fighting with -- that "MySQL is teh fasterest", when in fact with their applicaiton which is obviously designed for real DB servers, it isn't.

    8. Re:Mysql, PosteGres, DB2, Oracle MSSQL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I take offense to this since I am almost 25! Then again, I'm not claiming to know it all either..NO ONE DOES.

      Out of curiosity what is your product or is that info closed source too? ;)

      I'm def. not a database expert. I don't need to be. I don't even need to know about semaphore locks, context switches and all that other good stuff.

      What I do know is 1) this has been a valuable post so as if we ever need to do another signficant database project, I know what to consider. 2)mssql could be the greatest product on earth, but I dont trust windows so I'll never use it if I can help it. What good is a cd without a cd player? Likewise, what good does a database or any software do if I can't trust/rely on the os it needs to run on. 3)For the very small stuff we use it for, can't complain about mysql.

    9. Re:Mysql, PosteGres, DB2, Oracle MSSQL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I agree 99.9%. I just have one little point to add: Java does suck.

    10. Re:Mysql, PosteGres, DB2, Oracle MSSQL by gotem · · Score: 1

      i don't get it: in the conversation you skipped point 3, and point 4 wasn't PROFIT

    11. Re:Mysql, PosteGres, DB2, Oracle MSSQL by AftanGustur · · Score: 1


      Whoa. MySQL is only good at "performance" under very simplistic use cases (single table selects, low insert/update load). Which describes a web board, but not that many real world applications.

      So I guess you're saying MySQL AB customers should only be web boards and people who don't know better ??

      Just for your enlightenment, This company runs entirely on MySQL, and no, they're not into web boards, they sell statistics :-)

      --
      echo '[q]sa[ln0=aln80~Psnlbx]16isb572CCB9AE9DB03273snlbxq' |dc
  21. Re:BLASPHEMY! BLASPHEMY! YOU WILL EMBRACE MYSQL! by 0x0d0a · · Score: 1

    Okay, I'm not a DB programmer, so I just may be out of touch here, but I know that Postgres had transactions, I'm quite sure that Oracle had transactions, and I strongly suspect that MS SQL had transaction support already.

    If MySQL really did just get transaction support, it seems more like My was a bit behind, rather than being far ahead of the others.

  22. Re:BLASPHEMY! BLASPHEMY! YOU WILL EMBRACE MYSQL! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Of course MS SQL has transactions. Any decent database software has transactions as standard. mySQL is a toy database, just one step up from storing your data in CSV files.

  23. NOT by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    sorry, but I know that MANY corperations are still using MSSQL 6.5 for critical databases because 2000 still has some problems.

    the only other database they use is Oracle, and MSSQL is a tiny joke of a toy compared to it.

    1. Re:NOT by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I suspect their 'problems' are related to compatibility with old applications. Not that MSSQL2K is perfect, but I've ever never met a DBA that preferred 6.x. Most of the oldtimers are *still* swearing at that piece of junk.

  24. Horrible Name by mwilliamson · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I really do wish mickysoft would rename their flagship database something else. Are they that arrogant that they feel the need for such a generic name? That's about like naming your product "Web Server" or "Network File Server". When someone mentions SQL server, I always have them clarify whether or not they are talking in general terms for some sort of relational backend, or are they referring to microsoft's product. Sometimes they don't even know the difference, but perhaps that is microsoft's end goal.

    1. Re:Horrible Name by REBloomfield · · Score: 1
      MySQL. Yeah, that means something too. It's mine, rather than Microsoft's...

      What would you rather have?? Oracle 9i? Could be anything...

    2. Re:Horrible Name by chendo · · Score: 1

      Like FireFox, huh. You can't tell if they're talking about the browser, or a fox that's on fire. (yeah, I know, that was lame, but it's 3am)

      Although that would be a great idea....

      1. Start up a car company named "Car"

      2. Confuse customers.

      3. PROFIT!

      --
      Founder of Mirror Moon - Tsukihime Game Trans
    3. Re:Horrible Name by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Actually, if you're looking to blame someone for the name, blame Sybase.

      MS SQL Server started out as a partnership between MS and Sybase to port Sybase's flagship database project (called "SQL Server") to Microsoft's OS/2 offering in 1987. This eventually turned into the first version of SQL Server for NT in 1992.

      Both sides agreed to end their joint development agreement in 1994. For a time, both companies released products named SQL Server, which led to the expected confusion among PHBs.

      Finally, after MS SQL Server started taking over market share, Sybase changed the name of its flagship RDBMS product to Adaptive Server Enterprise (ASE), leaving MS in sole possession of Sybase's original product name.

      [Source for all this info is Inside SQL Server 2000, I believe it's based on a foreword by Jim Gray from an earlier version of this reference]

    4. Re:Horrible Name by LarsWestergren · · Score: 1

      I really do wish mickysoft would rename their flagship database something else. Are they that arrogant that they feel the need for such a generic name? That's about like naming your product "Web Server" or "Network File Server".

      I know, its so annoying! Quickly, lets patent .Net before Microsoft get their hands on...oh...right.

      --

      Being bitter is drinking poison and hoping someone else will die

    5. Re:Horrible Name by MythMoth · · Score: 1

      Seriously ? Or are you just being arsey ?

      Everyone I know refers to "the database server" and they only ever mean Mikey's product if they say "SQL Server".

      D.

      --
      --- These are not words: wierd, genious, rediculous
    6. Re:Horrible Name by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      Uh, most DBAs that I know just call it MS-SQL (emm-ess sequel)?

    7. Re:Horrible Name by mwilliamson · · Score: 1

      Yes, I am seriously being arsey...but management types are getting accustomed to calling any database server a "SQL Server" and this can certainly lead to confusion down the road.

    8. Re:Horrible Name by MythMoth · · Score: 1

      I have a suspicion that your management will get accustomed to calling you a pedant. Which may detract from your credibility when recommending products other than "SQL Server".

      --
      --- These are not words: wierd, genious, rediculous
    9. Re:Horrible Name by BrianB · · Score: 1

      Actually, it's not their name. Sybase used to have "Sybase SQL Server", which they licensed to Microsoft during version 4.1/4.2. Microsoft kept the SQL Server name and Sybase later changed theirs to the horriblly named "Adaptive Server Enterprise" (ASE)

    10. Re:Horrible Name by sharkey · · Score: 1
      Are they that arrogant that they feel the need for such a generic name?

      Yes. You should take a look at the name of the OS it runs on.

      --

      --
      "Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
    11. Re:Horrible Name by mdfst13 · · Score: 1

      But in that world...there are no products other than SQL server. He just said that they call *all* DB servers SQL server. Thus, Oracle, MySQL, PostgreSQL, etc. are all SQL server.

      My personal theory is that the best response to this would be to use the IBM product when they don't specify properly. As they say, it's hard to get fired for buying IBM.

      I actually read a post (different forum) once where someone argued that saying SQL was sufficient to indicate that they meant Microsoft SQL Server, not the query language. He got really offended when people told him he was nuts.

    12. Re:Horrible Name by inteller · · Score: 1

      No its a great name dumbass. Think about it, if everyone wipes their ass with toilet paper, it would be in your best interest to name your product "Toilet Paper" so when Joe Bloe sends his kid to the store for toilet paper, he comes back with your product.

    13. Re:Horrible Name by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Are they that arrogant that they feel the need for such a generic name? That's about like naming your product "Web Server" or "Network File Server"

      Or perhaps like RedHat calling Apache httpd?

    14. Re:Horrible Name by Nick+of+NSTime · · Score: 1

      The worst part of it is that it often gets shortened to just "SQL." Kinda like "XP" instead of Windows XP, and "OS X" instead of Mac OS X. You get the idea. I'm often asked questions about SQL, and while I think the questioner wants help with JOINs and VIEWs, he actually needs help with Enterprise Manager.

    15. Re:Horrible Name by TrippyZ · · Score: 1

      The bosses at work always call it ess-queue-ell server.

    16. Re:Horrible Name by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Thanks, I didn't know that

  25. re by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    Ha.

    Since Microsoft bought Sybase and renamed it SQLServer, it has slowly been emasculating this db.

    It's fiasco after fiasco when it comes to SQLServer releases... MS, seems to decide out of the blue, to rollback changes which were stupid in the first place, but, which were prevasive or duct tape 'features' on at the 11th hour.

    At least it keeps a legion of monkeys employed mopping up the mess, left in the wake of Ms release to Ms release.

    1. Re:re by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Nobody bought Sybase. Learn history.
      MS and Sybase bought Watcom SQL Server to joinly develop new product. After some internal fight companies split up and released thier own SQL Servers.

      Anyway MS SQL Server 7.0 was a total rewrite of old Watcom code.

      I know there is a huge hate of MS products on Slashdot but most of the people just don't know the SQL Server well to comment on it.

      Especially amazing to see people compare MS SQL Server to MySQL. No database developer worth his salt will put any critical data into MySQL.

      MySQL has it's niche but it is not in the same league as SQL Server or Oracle. Access maybe,FoxPro, BerkleyDB are competitors of MySQL.

  26. Obviously you don't know the situation by purduephotog · · Score: 3, Insightful

    otherwise you'd realize you build software to specifications, one of which is "we have a site license for MS SQL Server."

    That means... they tell us to build the system to operate on it, and we deliver.

    Coming back to them and informing them we aren't going to listen to their needs would result in, oh, someone else having been awarded the contract.

  27. SQL 2005 & VS.NET 2005 by samsmithnz · · Score: 4, Interesting

    What this article doesn't mention is that Visual Studio 2005 (formly known as Whitby) has also been delayed so that MS can release both products at the same time. (as VS.Net 2005 is supposed to be heavily integrated with the .NET features of SQL 2005)...

    The thing I don't understand is why VS.NET is being delayed like this, the SQL objects should be seperate and not integrated into VS.Net anyway!

    1. Re:SQL 2005 & VS.NET 2005 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because "Whidbey" is actually the code name for .net Framework v2. Visual Studio Whidbey is the code name for the next version of Visual Studio (which will work with .Net Framework v2). It is .Net Framework v2 CLR that will be integrated with SQL Server 2005 (Yukon).

      So, Yukon is waiting for Whidbey. And Visual Studio Whidbey is waiting for Whidbey as well. That is why they are both delayed.

  28. Re:BLASPHEMY! BLASPHEMY! YOU WILL EMBRACE MYSQL! by actiondan · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Yep, I was shocked when I first played with MySql, having heard such good things about it, and discovered how many features it lacked that I consider essential to a serious database.

    I have since got over my shock and realised that MySql is really good for what it is, but is really a different kind of beast to Oracle, MSSql etc.

    Dan.

  29. Postgres Re:Meanwhile, MySQL does transactions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Postgresql is not released under the GNU GPL but under a classical BSD-like license.

  30. SQL Server 2005, Visual Studio 2005 by pmsyyz · · Score: 4, Informative

    CNET News reported five days ago on the 10th that both Yukon and Whidbey would be delayed and their final names. They need that time if they are going to clean up the shit HTML and JS outputed by VS. Not that they will, that would allow people to use Firefox.

    The company said Wednesday that it has decided to push out to the first half of 2005 the delivery of the next major edition of SQL Server, code-named Yukon, and a closely related update to Visual Studio.Net, called Whidbey. Until recently, the company had said that both products would ship by the end of this year.

    The final product names for Yukon and Whidbey will be SQL Server 2005 and Visual Studio 2005, said Tom Rizzo, director of product management for SQL Server.

    Microsoft delays database, tools delivery
    --
    Phillip
  31. Re:That's okay - Holy cow 40 Million lines of code by Tangential · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Give MS a frickin' break....MS said there is going to be something like 40 *million* lines of code...

    Just out of curiosity, I counted the lines of code (both c & assembler, all processors) of the 2.6.4 kernel. It is less than 5.5 million.

    40 million lines of code. There's all the reason I ever need to not use it.

    With 40 million lines of code, you never fix bugs, the best you can hope for is to relocate them to a really obscure place.

    --
    Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of congress. But then I repeat myself. -- Mark Twain
  32. Perhaps... by bob670 · · Score: 2, Insightful
    they had to go back and make sure it had enough buffer overflow issues so they could keep the demand for MSCEs high?

    Joking aside, I think these delays can be attributed to the whole "Trustworthy Computing" thing and MS discovering just how much junk code was floating around in each new version. They have deep enough pockets to ride out these kind of delays but it does open a great window of opporutnity for OS X and Linux along with a raft of other OSS solutions. A break in the constant upgrade cycle is an opening we should all be working to take advantage of, from desktop tech to database admin to kernel devs.

  33. Slashdot - MySQL? by pdjohe · · Score: 3, Informative
    1. Re:Slashdot - MySQL? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > Isn't Slashdot run on MySQL?

      I'm not sure I consider this an advertisement in favor of mysql.

    2. Re:Slashdot - MySQL? by Nick+of+NSTime · · Score: 3, Funny

      Yes. MySQL allows duplicate keys.

    3. Re:Slashdot - MySQL? by bonch · · Score: 2, Flamebait

      You think Slashdot is some sort of example of efficiency and speed?

      My god, thinking about Slashcode alone makes my eyes bleed. I don't even want to think about their InnoDB setup.

      I remember some guy posted about how switching to CSS would save around 20-40% or so of bandwidth. Taco's response? "Submit a patch if you want." So we're stuck with HTML 3.2 because Taco is a lazy ass who doesn't want to fix it himself.

    4. Re:Slashdot - MySQL? by jsantos · · Score: 1

      There you go...

      --
      This signature intentionally left blank
    5. Re:Slashdot - MySQL? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Here's the story about Slashdot and CSS, it's pretty old. Here's a quote:
      Even leaving all the comments and indentations in, I was able to reduce a 68KB page to a 36KB one, plus a 5KB stylesheet. Moreover, the number of images loaded per page went from 205 to 52.
      I can only assume the problem still exists.
    6. Re:Slashdot - MySQL? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      goddamn! now theres red bull all over my monitor!
      thanks
      *g*
      Ashran

    7. Re:Slashdot - MySQL? by Chester+K · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Isn't Slashdot run on MySQL?

      And Microsoft.com runs on IIS -- but that doesn't mean that IIS is everything to everyone; nor does the fact that Slashdot runs on MySQL mean that MySQL is good for everyone.

      MySQL is really good at a really limited subset of queries. If MySQL is all you know, then your ignorance is bliss in that you don't know all the other wonderful things a real RDBMS can do for you since MySQL never offered them to you.

      Once you've used a real database system, you could never go back to the chains of MySQL.

      --

      NO CARRIER
  34. Re:BLASPHEMY! BLASPHEMY! YOU WILL EMBRACE MYSQL! by Omega1045 · · Score: 3, Informative

    This is a good example of how far behind MySQL really is. I don't want to degrade the db; I have used it on several PHP/MySQL driven sites. However, Oracle, IBM, Microsoft, Sybase and others have had transactions for many years. I have only been developing professionally for about 7 years (circa 97), but I started out on SQL Server 6.5 which had full support for transactions. SQL Server 7.0 had support (via MTS) for distrubuted transactions (across multiple databases). If MS had this back in 1997, you know Oracle had it before then.

    --

    Great ideas often receive violent opposition from mediocre minds. - Albert Einstein

  35. Hello? M$? Oracle iFS was out in 2000... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If MS can't get all the features required for WinFS to work on SQL Server in time, why don't they just turn to Oracle iFS http://www.orafaq.com/faqifs.htm ? Maybe then the Longhorn release wouldn't be such a longhaul.

  36. This product lacks focus by fritz1968 · · Score: 2, Informative

    This product lacks focus," said Betsy Burton, analyst with the Gartner Group. "They're doing all sorts of stuff with it, first scalability was the issue, then XML support, then .Net activities, and then business intelligence and now security. The gut issue is, what is the purpose of this release? As a team trying to develop a product you have to know where you're going," she said.

    This is the paragraph that explains it all. This product lacks focus. Why? Who knows? But if you cannot give your troops clear, concise goals, then everyone will go in a million different directions. And nothing will get done!

    When this project first started out, it may have had the clear, concise goals. But then they started to add extra things to the project as it progressed. Sometimes adding a new feature or what-not means starting from scratch (if you wanna do it right).

    If MS wants to do this right (and not delay the shipping date), then they should put a freeze on adding new features. Otherwise, it will either slip again, or a critical flaw will be found with the software.

    My $0.02

    --
    It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.
    1. Re:This product lacks focus by mborland · · Score: 2, Insightful
      But if you cannot give your troops clear, concise goals, then everyone will go in a million different directions. And nothing will get done!

      True, and the 'troops' here are not only the programmers, but also the MS marketers and MS development community. XML features? .NET stuff? I am all in favor of having options, but I cannot imagine that each and every feature will be well-optimized or secure. MS SQL, which is and has been one of MS' best products, is going the way of Word by incorporating a bajillion features. All in all, this approach isn't bad (we all like features), except that this is a core element to businesses and you can't afford to put too much monkey s**t in it.

      I suppose the crux is that databases like Postgres now features pretty robust, standard database functionality and so now MS thinks that they need to keep 'ahead' by putting all sorts of wonky stuff on top. I know I'm old-fashioned, but XML and .NET stuff...isn't that what middleware is for? Otherwise you're starting to embed way too much stuff too deep in your DB and not making it abstract/flexible...what DBs are supposed to be.

  37. yes, but... by ArseneLupin · · Score: 0, Troll

    ... MySql is not a real database. It does not implement transactions, it has no clustering solution, it has not integrated backup tool, and it does not support avanced SQL command such as SELECT, INSERT or DELETE

    1. Re:yes, but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      warning: lie spewing troll detected Mysql implements transactions, does clustering, does backups, supports afaik all of sql97

  38. grow beyond ms sql 6.5 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    >corperations are still using MSSQL 6.5 for critical
    >databases because 2000 still has some problems.
    >the only other database they use is Oracle, and
    >MSSQL is a tiny joke of a toy compared to it.

    I suppose you have never run SQL 2000 on a decently powerful machine.

    I also suppose you never put a load balancing application on top of a dozen or so SQL 2000 boxes.

    Get over it. SQL 2000 is on par with Oracle, Sybase, DB2, etc.

    1. Re:grow beyond ms sql 6.5 by AstroDrabb · · Score: 1

      MS SQL Server 200 is OK. However, it cannot touch Oracle as a large enterprise DB. Oracle's clustering/grid computing is very very good stuff. MS SQL Server just doesn't have it. The fortune 500 I am a senior programmer at uses Oracle ONLY for critical data and it has never let us down. We do have a bunch of MS SQL server boxes up to quad 3.06GHz Xeons with HT, SCSI, etc and they are not bad. Though our DBA's would never stick our critical data in them. They are departmental servers only. We have had issues with MS SQL Server 2000 and memory leaks where the DB had to be brought down to clean up memory. Tons of "transaction logs full" problems even though DTS packages do nightly backups of the DB and transaction logs which should clear them out. It is funny because the transaction logs will be fine for a few weeks and then, wham, they just start to get full and the DTS packages fail. MS SQL Server just flakes and needs to be restarted, or sometimes an OS reboot, then the issue is totally gone for a few more weeks, and it comes back. Oracle may take a little more knowlege to setup, however, once you have that core Oracle skill set, Oracle DB will never let you down. We run Oracle on Linux and Solaris and Oracle just won't die. MS SQL Server also just lost its price advantage over Oracle. Another problem with MS SQL Server 2000 is that it only has failover clustering. In fact MS's next version of SQL Server won't have any better clustering support either. One of the main benefits of clustering is cost/performance. I will agree that SQL Server is acceptable for departmental, however it is not there yet for the enterprise needs for the company I work at, and it sounds as if the next version will not be ready either.

      Do use SANS/NAS for your load balanced DB?

      --
      If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land,
      it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. -James Madison
  39. marketing survey by martin · · Score: 2, Interesting

    About 6 months ago I was on the phone to some marketing company who were doing a survey on Yukon and whether or not I was contemplating deploying it.

    I said no because:

    1) it was too tighly integrated into AD/ windows server and we didn't any of that.
    2) I didn't trust it, and wouldn't till it had been in the field for at least a year.

    I think they got alot of responses like 2) (going by the marketers comments) and they prob decided to wait till the new windows server is out (2006??) and deploy on the new Trusted Computing Base thing they are wittering on about.

  40. A lot of people have ben waiting....But.. by DelawareBoy · · Score: 2, Insightful

    SQL Server 2000 has lots of legs to run. While there are lots of people, myself included, want to get a hold of Yukon, I don't know of many (actually, any) shops out there which are like, "We NEED Yukon to ship *Now*." Companies have been pushing back to M$ for years to slow down their release cycle, build a more secure, more stable product. And now people are complaing that they are doing just that? They can't have it both ways. As anyone who codes can tell you, writing secure, stable software is *hard*. Releasing it on time is even harder. If M$ can release Yukon and it is stable, secure, and fast, I'm willing to wait till 2007, even... -Delaware Boy in 2004

    1. Re:A lot of people have ben waiting....But.. by fwarren · · Score: 1
      Companies have been pushing back to M$ for years to slow down their release cycle, build a more secure, more stable product. And now people are complaing that they are doing just that?

      <troll> I would be complaining if I paid for Software Assurance </troll>

      --
      vi + /etc over regedit any day of the week.
    2. Re:A lot of people have ben waiting....But.. by ergo98 · · Score: 1

      Companies have been pushing back to M$ for years to slow down their release cycle, build a more secure, more stable product. And now people are complaing that they are doing just that? They can't have it both ways.

      Errr...have you ever thought that maybe those are two separate sets of people?

  41. Stealing from OSS disproved by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    NT 4, when everything is disabled, is a damn good server OS.

    The OS guys are wrongly assuming that MS's problem is MS software. It was not. MS's problem was the limitations of Intel hardware.

    Hardware is not MS's problem anymore since you could, starting in 2001, get a 4gb ram 8 CPU machine.

    Stop confusing the desktop OS with the server OS.

  42. Some of that Spit and Polish by Phrogz · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Much as I love a good MS Bashing, I'll tell you what I find really lacking (personally) for PostgreSQL and other OSS RDBMSs - a good GUI management tool.

    Something that helps you craft medium-complicated joins quickly with a few clicks and drags.

    For example, see this screenshot from Visual Interdev working on MSSQL2k, creating a SQL Query for a stored proc. Sure, it's almost trivial to hand-write the SQL code. But it was even easier to just select a few tables, click on the fields I want, right-click on the joins (created automatically from the database structure) to change their type, and be done.

    I use PGSQL for all my personal projects now, but I sorely miss the speed that a GUI editor like this allowed me.

    1. Re:Some of that Spit and Polish by MythMoth · · Score: 1


      Very true - I'm hoping that some bright spark will take advantage of the Eclipse library and make a decent cross-platform PostgreSQL gui/admin/design tool.

      --
      --- These are not words: wierd, genious, rediculous
    2. Re:Some of that Spit and Polish by connor_macleod · · Score: 1

      some would say it's easier and faster to use the gui to create those big, once-off queries and then clean up the code

      having said that, why not beat M$ and copy the gui with a decent code generator behind it ...

      seriously, try it in access if you dont have sql/ent manager. You can easily create complex joins, group by's and agregations in a few seconds which would take you a lot longer to write (and it aint hard to stick a couple of extra new lines and bulk indents in after the fact!)

    3. Re:Some of that Spit and Polish by Badanov · · Score: 1

      pgaccess is one fine tool IMO for managing PostgreSQL, but nothing beats nice scripts for creating tables and such, managing PostgreSQL tables and other elements. Much faster than a silly gui.

      --
      Dawn of the Dead
    4. Re:Some of that Spit and Polish by frekio · · Score: 1

      There are plenty of good user interfaces, such as the ones made by EMS (i.e. http://ems-hitech.com/pgmanager/), and they don't cost thousands of dollars like the MSSQL one for example.

    5. Re:Some of that Spit and Polish by Phrogz · · Score: 1

      Thanks for the link, I hadn't seen that one. But is is $400, and for Windows/Linux only. Not helpful for someone running MacOS X and on a budget :)

    6. Re:Some of that Spit and Polish by frekio · · Score: 1

      It was just meant to be illstrative... there are lots of them out there. I don't run OS X myself, but I do run FreeBSD, which has linux binary compatability and should run the EMS manager, so shouldn't you be able to get it to work on OS X?
      Plus 400$ is a lot cheaper than MSSQL :)

  43. Re:BLASPHEMY! BLASPHEMY! YOU WILL EMBRACE MYSQL! by bucknuggets · · Score: 1

    Oracle and DB2 both had transactions by '83, so mysql's about 21 years behind by that measure.

  44. Mention an OSS alternative to OLAP by Nicolay77 · · Score: 1

    Or "Analysis Services" and that's where you have to work.

    No, plain SQL databases are not the place to look for niches.

    --
    We are Turing O-Machines. The Oracle is out there.
  45. Re:BLASPHEMY! BLASPHEMY! YOU WILL EMBRACE MYSQL! by Omega1045 · · Score: 1, Funny

    Thanks for making me feel young ;-)

    --

    Great ideas often receive violent opposition from mediocre minds. - Albert Einstein

  46. Postgres is the BEST DB I've used by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There isn't even a point comparing it with shite that is MSSQL. MS JDBC drivers for MSSQL suck arse. MSSQL doesn't even have sequences. MSSQL has only 2 types for datetime that suck, no separate type for storing just date or storing just time. And a ton more crap.

    --Coder

  47. better late and tested, than now and buggy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    assuming that Yukon is relatively bug free and scales well with all the new features, the delay is a good thing. But considering the number of new features and the integration of .NET with Sql Server, I'm going to wait for the second or third release after yukon. I wonder if this delay is caused by a conflict in how Sql Server manages/schedules threads vs how .NET manages threads. Given Sql Server implements it's own thread scheduling/monitoring to achieve maximum CPU utilization, it may be that integrating .NET is causing performance issues under load. I don't have any facts to back it up, but it could be a cause.

  48. The real problem by jeremyds · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The real problem is not so much that the Yukon date has slipped, it's that Whidbey (The next version of Visual Studio.NET and the .NET framework) is slipping with it. For who knows what reason, Microsoft decided that these products must be released together. While Yukon promises some very nice features, most people would much rather have Whidbey released now and live with SQL 2000 for awhile longer.

    To top it off, MS is not even going to be releasing any service packs for Visual Studio in the meantime. There are some rather serious issues with the current version of Visual Studio that can only be fixed by calling MS for specific hotfixes. Needless to say, much of the MS developer community is up in arms.

    1. Re:The real problem by Chester+K · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The real problem is not so much that the Yukon date has slipped, it's that Whidbey (The next version of Visual Studio.NET and the .NET framework) is slipping with it. For who knows what reason, Microsoft decided that these products must be released together.

      The reason they must ship together is because SQL Server is the guinea pig for Whidbey's new hosting interfaces (running an instance of the Framework inside your own non-managed application). This is not a trivial addition to the .NET Framework.

      Check out this .NET architect's blog posting going briefly into some of the details of hosting and why SQL Server is so important to Whidbey.

      --

      NO CARRIER
  49. Great analogy by A+nonymous+Coward · · Score: 1

    40 million lines of code, like a space shuttle, there's a wonderful analogy. Glad you picked something as unreliable and misdesigned and overblown, pretty much sums it up.

    From day one, M$ has been bragging the SQL Server would drive the big boys out of business. Every release was the killer release. Every release bragged how much better it was than the previous release.

    Sort of like those two accident commissions. Each time, NASA was going to make the fixes necessary to make the shuttle worthwhile. Each fix made it so much better and safer than the previous.

    Seems like the same old, same old. In both cases, the individual engineers would love to do a great job, but management is driven by PR rather than engineering.

    I guess you made a better comparison than you realized.

    1. Re:Great analogy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well ok but, let's see you do better, Oracle for example, DB2? Other than that there is nothing quite like the complexity and featurset of SQL Server for the price. Sure MySQL is more reliable but it's featureset by comparison is just not up to SQL Server.

  50. More Validation for OSS Model - NOT! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Being open source does not give you a pass to have less than professional quality documentation, end user tools, monitoring tools, configuration tools, and all of the other things that make a commercial software product.

    Compare apples to apples.

  51. Not a great loss.. SQL2000 is a good product by nurb432 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Once they got to that version of their SQL product, they got it pretty much right.

    Its one of the few solid things that microsoft puts out. Previous verisons were pretty dismal.

    I doubt that most pepole will ever need the 'new' features coming down the pike. They should leave it alone, instead of screwing it up or bloating it out....

    --
    ---- Booth was a patriot ----
  52. MS server side issue - MS OS becomming mainframes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Microsoft's issue is that for a large section of their customers, their server side products already do a good enough job.

    Those customers do not have any reason to upgrade.

    Secondly, the desktop upgrades are less important because most business's end user platform (Win 2000/XP + Office 2000/XP + web browser based applications) is a stable and will meet business needs for 5 or more years.

  53. Old tactic by Short+Circuit · · Score: 1

    It's actually a really old tactic. You tell people you've got a really neat product in the works, so they don't upgrade just yet. They wait for your product with its "latest and greatest" features.

    Then you keep slipping the date, and the customer, while mildly irritated, still waits for your product.

    Generally, this works well against organizations who know they'll need to upgrade "soon," but it isn't an immediate issue.

    Think back to when AMD announced the release date of ClawHammer. People put off upgrading to other products until ClawHammer came out, then they bought it up in all its goodness when it came out.

  54. 'best database around for the price'? by kpharmer · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Really?

    Is it the best database for a linux or unix shop?
    Is it the best database for large reporting or search applications?
    Is it the best database for projects or companies with a small budget?

    Ah, the answer to all of the above is 'no':
    - zero portability
    - parallelism and partitioning is primitive
    - licensing costs for a 4-way server can easily hit $100k, and in many configurations are more expensive than other top commercial products (db2 for example).

    When it comes to prototyping, sql server is at the top of my list. However, when it comes to delivering powerful capabilities, automating operations, and scripting changes - then it's at the bottom of my list.

    But I will agree with you on the .net stuff - integrating that into the database is a bad idea.

    1. Re:'best database around for the price'? by borgboy · · Score: 1

      If you feel that hosting the CLR in process with SQL Server is a bad idea, how do you feel about hosting a JVM ?

      --
      meh.
    2. Re:'best database around for the price'? by bucknuggets · · Score: 1

      > If you feel that hosting the CLR in process with SQL Server is a bad idea, how do you feel about hosting a JVM ? I prefer to keep component functionality lean. So, I've got no problem with JVMs and CLR - but I just absolutely don't want it in a database server. Each of these technologies is sufficiently complex on its own, and far more complex when integrated by a vendor.

    3. Re:'best database around for the price'? by enkafan · · Score: 1

      I'm with you on the linux or unix shop, and the cost issue, but saying it won't cut it for a large system with searching is simply insane. Perhaps you are going on what you saw in SQL 6.5, but I think you'll find that the parallelism and partitioning are some of the nice features in SQL Server that has allowed it to jump to the top of the list when it comes to the top 10 in the TPC / C list. By top 10, I mean every single server in the top 10 is running SQL Server.

    4. Re:'best database around for the price'? by bucknuggets · · Score: 2, Interesting

      You're looking at the price/performance ranking - for oltp applications. SQL Server does have the best numbers there. However, this doesn't reflect best performance for oltp (where they hardly show up at all), and certainly not for searches/reporting (which are reflected in tpc-h). And the only parallel features that I'm aware that they support are in using a set of distributed views to provide a single image of a set of independent servers. This is just a trivial implementation of some of the parallel features that db2 and informix use. It really isn't even in the ballpark for this kind of functionality.

    5. Re:'best database around for the price'? by aztracker1 · · Score: 1

      Is it the best database for projects or companies with a small budget?

      licensing costs for a 4-way server can easily hit $100k, and in many configurations are more expensive than other top commercial products (db2 for example).


      Hmm.. can afford a 4-way SMP server, but can't afford commercial software to run on it...

      --
      Michael J. Ryan - tracker1.info
  55. It wasn't... by Zebra_X · · Score: 3, Informative

    slated to be released until the last quarter this year. 2005 "sounds bad", but it's only a few months.

    1. Re:It wasn't... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Probably not the point. Lots of people signed up to Microsoft's software subscription with the belief that updates for many packages, including SQL Server, would be released within the subscription period. Microsoft has now taken their money without providing any meaningful updates. Now their licensees will be presented with another choice: upgrade again or lose your significant investment.

    2. Re:It wasn't... by greygent · · Score: 1

      It was slated for release for the last quarter of this year after it was delayed from this summer (2004). I guess the thinking is, if Microsoft gradually delays things a few months at a time, it doesn't seem so bad.

  56. postgres vs mysql by bstil · · Score: 1

    I avoided MySQL until 4.0 and 4.1 came out. 3.23 really lacked many basic features that I consider necessary in a database.
    PostgreSQL? I looked at the Postgres website and the project looks almost inactive. No one talks about Postgres in the business press.
    MySQL has many new features behind it in 4.1 and 5.0. Plus, which I consider to be very important, it has incredible momentum behind it in both the developer community and the press.

    1. Re:postgres vs mysql by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      PostgreSQL? I looked at the Postgres website and the project looks almost inactive.

      The URL is http://www.postgresql.org/

      Hope this helps.

    2. Re:postgres vs mysql by kpharmer · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The business press doesn't talk much about postgresql - but companies, vendors, and skilled database developers & administrators are.

      It has plenty of momentum, and is clearly ready and getting used in a wide variety of applications now.

      MySQL does have an incredible amount of momentum, more than most products out there. However, it'll have to be completely rewritten from the ground up before it really becomes a threat to commercial products. That will probably take years to get right. Postgresql on the other hand is just filling in feature gaps - and has a much more evolutionary upgrade path ahead.

  57. sqlxml by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I'm going to guess sqlxml performance blows huge chunks. I ran several dozen benchmarks comparing oledb with sqlxml. sqlxml was at best 10x slower than oledb. With 6 concurrent clients hitting sqlserver on a nice 4CPU box, sqlxml was 100x slower. So yeah, there's going to be performance issues. It's called, dump sqlxml or sell yukon with hardware XML accelerators.

  58. Re:BLASPHEMY! BLASPHEMY! YOU WILL EMBRACE MYSQL! by bstil · · Score: 2, Informative

    Yep, I was shocked when I first played with MySql, having heard such good things about it, and discovered how many features it lacked that I consider essential to a serious database.

    Have you seen versions 4.0, 4.1 or 5.0? True, 3.23 did lack many essential features.

  59. Paid defenders of the faith? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Seriously... how many of the posters here defending Microsoft's projects work for Microsoft and are paid to troll here.

    You KNOW there are some...

  60. Re:That's okay - Holy cow 40 Million lines of code by value_added · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Maybe the other 34.5 million lines is related to this?

  61. Too busy stereotyping... by MoebiusStreet · · Score: 1

    ...to actually do any research. The Yukon feature set is pretty well nailed down. MS had announced quite some time ago what they planned to put into it. Nor is this vapor of the sort designed as FUD to stall people from buying the competitor: some customers have had beta builds of this for a while. It's just that it's a rather ambitious goal, certainly the biggest upgrade since v. 7.0.

  62. Re:BLASPHEMY! BLASPHEMY! YOU WILL EMBRACE MYSQL! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    MySQL has been pretty much written with websites in mind; pages, cookies, users; it's open source and the developers were interested in that. Over the last few years MySQL has started to include InnoDB which is now (per 4.0) it's transactional db.

    It's pointless to compare transactions in mysql to Oracle or IBM offerings because mysql hasn't been around that long and transactions were no priority until recently.

  63. Please called it MICROSOFT SQL server by hey · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Just calling "SQL server" suggests its the only
    program that serves SQL.

  64. Old News by sjvn · · Score: 2, Informative

    The ship date news had already been reported by Mary Jo Foley, The reporter of Microsoft news, on the 10th.

    http://www.microsoft-watch.com/article2/0,1995,1 54 6601,00.asp

    Steven

  65. Dont understand by An-Unnecessarily-Lon · · Score: 1

    We are forced to run SQL 7.0 Standard Edition so I have no Idea what any of these post are talking about. Sigh... I digress

  66. argh! can't wait by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    For those who don't know the history - MS SQL7 was essentially MS's 1.0 SQL product (all previous versions were based on licensed Sybase code), the current SQL2000 is 2.0, and Yukon is going to be that magic 3.0... about the time when MS get's things not only right, but starts killing the competition.

    For those Oracle lovers in the crowd, take a look at the benchmarks - MS SQL rules the lower and middle ground. It would rule the high end except lack of platform has held it back.

    Yukon is going to kill Oracle in the middle space because of development features.

  67. So it's the Windows of databases [nt] by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    nt

  68. Meanwhile, MySQL doesn't do IP addresses? by Frater+219 · · Score: 1
    Meanwhile, MySQL is now doing transactions, and VIEWs are on their way in 5.1.

    Is it going to have a data type for IP addresses in the next release, too?

    It really, truly astounds me that MySQL has caught on as a DBMS for Internet-facing applications -- including logging, network management, and so forth -- when (at least as of the versions I've seen) it doesn't have data types or operations for IP addresses or CIDR blocks. My partner is in the middle of a CMU NetReg deployment. CMU NetReg is a MySQL-backed Perl application for allowing authenticated users to register their computers into a DHCP network. It has to store all IP addresses as integers, and do binary math in Perl, because the DBMS is too stupid to tell whether 10.128.128.52 is in 10.128.128.0/24.

    (Note, I'm not talking about the internal representation of IP addresses. Obviously IP addresses are 32-bit integers. I'm talking about what you see when you do SELECT ip_addr FROM hosts and get 167870644 instead of an IP address. I'm talking about whether the database can compare IP addresses, SELECT those addresses in a netblock, and so forth. Or, as with most things MySQL, you have to implement basic data manipulation in your application because the DBMS can't be arsed.)

    Meanwhile, PostgreSQL has IPv4, IPv6, netblock, and MAC address data types and built-in functions to process them. Those make it a darn sight easier to write network management programs, or any other program that needs to reason about IP addresses.

  69. Try Firebird. by ghjm · · Score: 2, Interesting

    What is the blind spot people have about this?

    Ben is Glory! Wake up people!

    Anyway, check out Firebird. It's way ahead of Postgres on most counts.

    -Graham

    1. Re:Try Firebird. by Cajal · · Score: 2, Informative

      How do you figure that Firebird is "way ahead" of PostgreSQL? It's better than MySQL sure, and it has some abilties that PG doesn't (a Windows version and it can be embedded), but I wouldn't say that it's "way ahead."

  70. GUI's tools for other databases by eberry · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Something that helps you craft medium-complicated joins quickly with a few clicks and drags.

    Don't tell me there are developers or DBA's creating stored procedures in this fashion. This is something I expect from one of my lusers using Access. The code this creates is a nightmare.

    However for most other things I like the GUI too. Which is why I downloaded these GUI tools for MySQL.

    --
    Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Lois, this isn't my Batman glass. - Peter
  71. Re:That's okay - Holy cow 40 Million lines of code by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    eeeeh I duno about that, 40 million lines of code can be easier managed by a team 8x bigger than the team that does Linux just by proportion alone. What I mean by Linux team though is the people that contribute to the Kernel regularly. If a project is well managed, I'd have full faith in its ability to be at least decently coded.

  72. PostgreSql by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I hear lots of people saying that, I guess they're right. BUT
    I find it very hard to use , documentation is really not like mysql.com/documentation, or am I just being stupid? I have no problems in converting to PostgreSql on my servers and projects, if the admin part wasn't that hard :/

    But again, maybe it's just me.

  73. Re:Darl McBride made honorary Jew by daperdan · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    This is funny as a joke but the truth is that Darl has been adopted into a jewish tribe. The religion he belongs to gives what is called a "Patriarchal Blessing". It's usually given during the teenage years.

    In this blessing all Mormons are adopted into one of the 12 tribes of Irael. Darl is most likely from the tribe of Ephraim or Monasa err adopted into it.

  74. Not to troll, but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    what has Microsoft shipped in 2004? It seems every announcement nowadays is "coming in 2005".

  75. Re:argh! can't wait by BrianB · · Score: 1

    SQL7 was only 1.0 if you ignore versions 4.2, 6.0 and 6.5.

  76. Re:argh! can't wait by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    you're joking right. try throwing 30-50 concurrent queries at Sql Server and tell me what kind of performance numbers you get. It's going to be slower than Oracle 8i, 9i and 10g. If you did real benchmarks comparing Sql Server to Oracle, you'd know this. Now if you process the queries serially, then Sql Server will do just fine. Assuming you don't mind waiting for the results. According to the director of Sql Server team, one of their goals for yukon is "clustering that works". that's a quote from a MSDN talk. go google for the article yourself to read what he had to say.

  77. Re:That's okay - Holy cow 40 Million lines of code by Malc · · Score: 2, Insightful

    You're comparing apples to oranges. How many lines of code are in Windows' kernel? Or alternatively, how many lines of code make up the Debian installation on my system (my desktop is KDE if that makes a difference).

  78. Editorial license by Strudelkugel · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Today I learned something about /. editorial policy. When I orginally posted the story, I thought it was interesting from the perspective of what this new disappointment might mean for Steve Ballmer as CEO. All of those comments were deleted from the post, so I guess a story isn't interesting unless it can make Microsoft look bad in some fashion.

    I have a suspicion that institutional investors in Microsoft are having their patience tested with a stock price that hasn't moved, no clear vision being stated by the company (remember .Net everything?) and no official statement about how the cash hoard will be used. Unlike OSS, Microsoft has investors that can and will influence the direction of the company.

    If institutions force Ballmer out, what strategy will Microsoft pursue, and what might this mean for technology? That was the question I wanted to address. Ironically, I even stated in my post that I didn't want this to become another Microsoft v. OSS story, as there are plenty of those already. The business problems of Ballmer might not seem to be a technical story, but I think they absolutely are, as whatever Microsoft does to satisfy its big investors will have great significance for the tech world.

    --
    Imagine how much harder physics would be if electrons had feelings! -Feynman, maybe
    1. Re:Editorial license by IntlHarvester · · Score: 1

      I think it's an interesting question, but I can see why they cut it. I mean, I haven't heard anything about investors wanting Ballmer out (I'd probably be the last to know, however).

      But, from the technical side, MS is making some odd choices -- They're faced with some real fierce compeition from Linux, IBM, Sun, Java, etc, and their tactic is to take a 3 year timeout and shoot for a total overhaul of their product line in 2006. That seems like a really long time to ask their customers to sit and wait -- especially if the economy starts to pick up.

      The interesting thing is that Ballmer was Microsoft's IBM Guy during the early years of the company, and since he took over, Microsoft seems a lot more "IBMish" -- more focused on big, complex product lines that are more tightly integrated. Sort of like back in the day when IBM was positing OS/2 as part of this end-to-end "SNA" strategy, while MS just kept chipping away with incremental releases of Windows -- I think a lot of customers are going to fail to see what the big picture is with the NET strategy.

      (I suspect there's a good Ask Slashdot question in there somewhere, but I can't really think of anything that wouldn't just be red meat for the Linux Advocates.)

      --
      Business. Numbers. Money. People. Computer World.
    2. Re:Editorial license by EatenByAGrue · · Score: 1

      Institutional investors don't have much sway over Microsoft - Gates and others own enough stock to ensure control.

    3. Re:Editorial license by Sangui5 · · Score: 1

      3 words: minority shareholder lawsuit.

      Gates and co. may own a controling block, but if they are clearly making bad decisions, things can get sticky for them.

    4. Re:Editorial license by silverbolt · · Score: 2, Informative

      Wrong... Institutional investors have much more stock, and they can heavily influence Microsoft direction. See here

  79. Lets try Electrician by purduephotog · · Score: 1

    You: "Hi - I need an armored BX cable run thru steel conduit out to my front light post"

    Electrician: "Nah, you can get away with just regular 14/2 and plastic conduit."

    You: "Well, I'd really like the cable to be armored because of landscaping and the fact we do dig up the dirt around here a few times in the past for drainage problems"

    Electrician: "No, I'm the talent- I know what you need. Besides, plastic conduit is cheaper and easier to work with, and armored cable is very heavy and very expensive- alot of overhead that just simply isn't worth it. In fact, you can buy nearly 6x the amount of cable for the same price as that armored stuff you want.".

    You: "Ok, lets try another tactic. Do it or I'll find someone else- I'm paying".

    Help any?

    1. Re:Lets try Electrician by Spoing · · Score: 1
      1. Help any?

      Your example shows what not to do; ignore the customer. They want protection, you talk about cheap. Maybe they are right or you didn't talk to them properly? I can't tell...no specs, no requirements!

      --
      A firewall can not protect you from yourself. Turn off what you do not need. Do not use the firewall to do your work.
  80. "keeps getting delayed" by bonch · · Score: 1

    Why do I keep seeing this false meme repeated and repeated and repeated?

    Longhorn never got "delayed" because it never had a release date. They were targetting late 2005. Then they came out and said late 2005 is possible, but they're targetting early 2006. They haven't changed a thing since.

    So where did this "Longhorn is vaporware, it keeps getting delayed" idea start?

  81. Re:BLASPHEMY! BLASPHEMY! YOU WILL EMBRACE MYSQL! by actiondan · · Score: 1

    No, I haven't tried them yet - I only use MySql on one of our sites at the moment and that host hasn't upgraded.

    I'll have a look and see what improvements have been made.

    Thanks for the note.

    Dan.

  82. How well does MS SQL integrate with PHP? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I wonder if that's holding it back.

  83. Re:argh! can't wait by kpharmer · · Score: 2, Informative

    > For those Oracle lovers in the crowd, take a look at the benchmarks - MS SQL rules the lower and middle
    > ground. It would rule the high end except lack of platform has held it back.

    um, which benchmarks would those be? www.tpc.org doesn't have many benchmarks for desktop-sized servers (which is where sql server really does beat oracle/db2/etc). And as far as it being held back by its platform - without any of the parallel features of oracle/db2, and without any of the partitioning features - it has zero chance at the high-end.

    It's basically *years* behind either of those two databases. This has nothing to do with windows, it has everything to do with lack of high-end database features in sql server. Microsoft has done a good job of improving the database client UI and adding usability features to low-end database functionality. But it hasn't added the high-end functionality, nor has it really delivered a great UI (for example: the SQL Server GUIs all sort date columns alphabetically rather than cronologically).

    > Yukon is going to kill Oracle in the middle space because of development features.
    Got news for ya, people pick databases for reasons other than development features.

  84. Software Assurance by wafflemonger · · Score: 1

    My question is where does this leave people who bought the 3 year Software Assurance packages from MS. They have already paid for this update, but it will not be available for them until their contract is up. This will also happen to those who have also paid for updates to Windows and Visual Studio. Do they get an extention to their contract to include these products that they have paid for, or are they just screwed?

    1. Re:Software Assurance by jmulvey · · Score: 1

      In your mind, they are "screwed". Software Assurance works like an insurance policy that you can buy on various products. If a newer version of the product is released during the term under which you're covered, you get an additional matching license for the new product (and you still keep the old license).

      Software Assurance is an OPTION. You still have the choice of purchasing plain 'ole licenses. Software Assurance is looked at positively by bean counters that want predictable year-over-year costs. And if you think that's dumb, you should take it up with the bean counters.

      Offtopic, but do you feel screwed when you buy car insurance and don't get into an accident? I'm asking because it's really the same kind of thing.

    2. Re:Software Assurance by wafflemonger · · Score: 1

      This is more along the lines of how a lot of people understood the Software Assurance plan when it was introduced -
      MS : Our new upgrade cycle is 3 years. If you pay now you get the upgrade when it comes out as long as you are paid up.
      Customer : So in the next 3 years I am guaranteed brand new software.
      MS : Yes.
      If I am guaranteed that I am going to be in an accident in the next 3 years it looks more like buying car insurance, and the person that I am going to have the accident with is an employee of the insurance company. Now he rams me after 4 years because he was not able to get around to it for the first 3. If I don't pay twice for that accident I am uncovered. The car insurance is not a super accurate example because of the fact that I was told when I paid for the insurance the first time that there would be an accident and I would need it. What was the origional launch date for Yukon, Longhorn, and Whidbey? 2004. Inside my 3 year coverage period. Now the guy who is supposed to crash into me is without a car, my accident will not happen, but the insurance company gets to keep my money because I paid for something in advance that I am not going to get. Now I have to pay twice for the same accident. I'm sure the bean counters hate to pay twice for the same thing.

    3. Re:Software Assurance by jmulvey · · Score: 1

      Nobody every guarantees anything with Software Assurance. That might be how YOU understood it when you read about it on slashdot. People who make decisions on these things look into them more than the first paragraph.

  85. What's so generic about it? by bonch · · Score: 2, Insightful

    "Microsoft SQL Server 2000." The word Microsoft in it outta clue you in.

    Oh--"mickysoft?" What is this, a high school Linux user group in 1998?

  86. Why Analysts Suck. by Zebra_X · · Score: 2, Insightful

    from the article Some think Microsoft has bitten off more than it can chew with Yukon. "This product lacks focus," said Betsy Burton, analyst with the Gartner Group. "They're doing all sorts of stuff with it, first scalability was the issue, then XML support, then .Net activities, and then business intelligence and now security. The gut issue is, what is the purpose of this release? As a team trying to develop a product you have to know where you're going," she said

    Betsy clearly has no clue regarding the SQL Server product's evolution, capabilites or how these are going to change with Yukon. In fact she seems to have a very limited grasp of significance of the Yukon's release.

    Unlike Oracle, SQL Server has basically hovered in the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" pattern for the last 5 years. For the most part it has delivered a decent database platform, that was for a while more cost effective than oracle. Those who have used SQL Server extensively know it's limitations. Betsy's arguments about "product lacking focus" are rediculous. That's primarily becuase Yukon seeks to rectify a large number of the problems and limitations of SQL Server 2k. It's really very difficult to provide a "focused" look at a product that is changing so significantly. In fact, her complaint is very similar to those that were uttered as Microsfot was trying to formalize the definition of .NET, which really has not clarified itself much in the last two years.

    It would seem that Betsy is looking for are a few jargon sound bytes that can be displayed on a single powerpoint slide. That slide would then be shown to a bunch of people who nod their head and say, "that's a sound strategic driection". Big idea's aren't sound bytes.

    Unfortunately for Microsoft, they are attempting to be ambitious with Yukon. A lot of new plumbing is going in, as well as a refinement and crystalization of the current features such as SQL -> XML queries, DTS, Replication, the integration of a first class programming language among others. These are all features that we've needed for a long time.

    Yukon represents a significant change in the world of RDMS's on the Windows platform. It's sad to see that influential groups such as Gartner can't recognize or have the vision to see how much (and for the better) things are going to change for SQL Server 2K shops.

  87. Embedded JVM rocks. by ccoakley · · Score: 1

    You may feel different after using DB2. Since SQL is a terrible standard for stored procedures (IMHO), it is nice to have an embedded JVM for writing stored procedures in Java. After learning T-SQL (and having a short stint as a PL/SQL code monkey), I really have learned to hate proprietary SQL extensions. T-SQL isn't even all that proprietary--it looks a lot like SQL3. However, the implementation sucks. If I can't come up with a non-procedural implementation for a query (meaning I can't write it as a single query and need cursors), then it is faster to suck the data out of the database and loop over it using ADO than it is to use a cursor. That is terrible! Also, the dynamic capabilities of T-SQL suck. Want to assemble a statement based on user preferences? Too bad, string concatenation and EXEC are the only way to go (and they are limited and slow). I don't understand why using visual basic to cat strings together and submit them over the wire is faster than having a stored procedure do the same thing. Anyway, one of the features I was looking forward to in the next release of SQL server was just that, faster looping for procedural business logic. SQL Server 2000 already supports extended stored procedures, which have much of the same functionality, but with more overhead than I really want.

    --
    Network Security: It always comes down to a big guy with a gun.
    1. Re:Embedded JVM rocks. by kpharmer · · Score: 1

      But the problem with using java in the database is that the population of skilled developers and adminstrators of that solution drops to near-zero.

      I know quite a few developers are experts with java, and quite a few with sql. But I only know one who's an expert at both.

      Stored procedures are invaluable, though I mostly keep it simple. If I had a choice I'd go with a native impementation of python - something both easy to learn and powerful.

    2. Re:Embedded JVM rocks. by joib · · Score: 1

      PostgreSQL has support for writing stored procs in python. I haven't used it, so I can't comment on the quality of the implementation.

  88. No, DUMBASS. RedHat doesn't call it shit. by Ayanami+Rei · · Score: 1

    It was _always_ called httpd. It was based on the ORIGINAL httpd from UIUC, and kept the name of the daemon (even though the product name changed).

    Learn to do a little research before you make baseless accusations.

    --
    THIS THING CAN TURN ON A DIME, MACROSSZERO STYLE ALSO FUCK BETA, ~NYORON
    1. Re:No, DUMBASS. RedHat doesn't call it shit. by mwilliamson · · Score: 1

      Uh, wrong thread? Learn read the thread before you post.

  89. Oh, it's MICROSOFT! by strider_starslayer · · Score: 1

    You know, I read the headline, and I honestly could not figure out WHO'S sql server was being delayed. So I said to myself while opening it; why diden't the author of this specify which SQL server is being affected?

    On a slightly more seious tone (though I did honestly not know who's server was being delayed; I thought it was some no named server that I'd never heard of!), do not allow microsoft to pull another 'we own the word windows'; never shortern Microsoft SQL server, into SQL server- at the absolute least call it MS SQL, so that this way in 5 years they can't turn around and sue everyone who has SQL in there name!

    Don't believe me; look at lindows.

    --
    -Millions of Monkeys, Millions of typewriters, 6 hours of sorting through faeces encrusted pages to find: This post
  90. Re:That's okay - Holy cow 40 Million lines of code by PsychoSid · · Score: 2, Funny

    Surely thats down to the absence of some sort of animated paperclip ?

  91. The real reason why SQL Server 2005 by psyconaut · · Score: 0, Troll

    Microsoft were using SQL Server 2000 to track code changes and other information tidbits....the server running this went tits-up over the weekend and the recovery features of SQL Server weren't up to scratch ;-)

    -psy

  92. Re:BLASPHEMY! BLASPHEMY! YOU WILL EMBRACE MYSQL! by TrippyZ · · Score: 1

    Yeah, I got stuck a while back when I found out that you couldn't, at the time, INSERT into a table with the source data being a SELECT from the same table.

  93. Oracle and DB2 by IO+ERROR · · Score: 2, Informative
    Did you know: If you're a developer you can get a free development license for Oracle and/or DB2.

    Download Oracle or DB2 today.

    This is really helpful if you want to play around or learn them, but you need to have a pretty big machine to put them on. Figure on 1GB RAM, 2GB swap and at least 20GB disk, just to play around with ONE of them. Then add in the size of the data you'll be working with...

    --
    How am I supposed to fit a pithy, relevant quote into 120 characters?
  94. Forgetting history .. by dustmite · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Tsk, always giving MS the benefit of the doubt. Microsoft has almost ALWAYS "slipped" on major projects in the past, usually be anything up to several years. This is nothing new, and has never implied that they were about to produce a quality product in the past.

    Microsoft don't "slip" on deadlines: they deliberately start out providing fake, earlier deadlines to the press. So they'll say for example "next SQL server will be out in 2004". This has two effects: (a) companies that might have been thinking about using the gap to produce a competing system consequently don't, "next great MS version will be out too soon" they say. And (b) clients using an older version that need to upgrade to something 'bigger' think "hey, next great MS version will be out soon enough, let's wait for that rather than switch to Oracle".

    Then the deadline approaches and Microsoft says "whoops we're slipping". But too late for the many who've now made the decision, so they just wait out the extra time and stick with MS.

    Come on, this is an OLD game from MS. Don't be so naive. Those who don't study history ..

    1. Re:Forgetting history .. by timmarhy · · Score: 1

      not always. win95/98/xp/2000 and all the office releases were out on time weren't they? and full of holes.
      you have a valid point about vapourware releases and dates, but thats common in all but the OSS industry.
      don't get me wrong my dream is to move my work over to linux thin clients that boot off an image on a central server and run off perl/apache build applications. just observing thats all.

      --
      If you mod me down, I will become more powerful than you can imagine....
  95. So what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No one in their right mind would use Microsoft SQL Server anyway. If you wanted top use a proper database, you'd go with Oracle. If you wanted cheap database you'd go with MySQL or Postgres. SQL server is kludgy, bloated, performs badly and I wouldn't expect any better out of "Yukon". By the time it is out, Oracle will be even further ahead than it already is! Lets face it, the only reason to use Microsoft SQL server is is you have a "pointy haired boss"!

    1. Re:So what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Moron.

      http://www.tpc.org/tpcw/results/tpcw_results.asp ?o rderby=dbms

      okay, enough slashdot for today. Too many idiots.

  96. OSS databases often make good substitutes by jesterzog · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I think stuff like MySql is great for small operations, but they are hardly enterprise worthy.

    I agree with you to an extent, although moreso for Postgres than MySQL, the latter of which is insulting and not worthy of being labelled a real database, imho.

    I also think that this is exactly why open source is such a threat to the big products like Oracle and SQL Server. The big databases certainly do have a lot of features. Certainly they're capable of much more than open source products. But if you think about it really, how many of the users actualy use all of those features?

    The places where OSS products can cut into the market are with all of those customers who have a big, expensive commercial database that they really don't need. If you only use your databases for inserting, updating, selecting, stored procedures and having some integrity built in, and of course if you have an admin with some idea of what they're doing, then something like postgresql may be perfectly reasonable for your needs. It's not a top level database but for what it does, it does well and just as reliably as anything else on the market. It may not be the best choice if you have extreme load conditions or whatnot, but a lot of commercial vendor's customers don't.

    This is what the commmercial vendors really have to watch out for. Although most OSS databases don't offer the breadth of features, they are starting to be viable substitutes for the majority of database tasks. It's certainly possible that the commercial vendors might suddenly find a lot of their customers disappearing from underneath them.

  97. I browse at -1 by Ayanami+Rei · · Score: 1

    Here's what I was replying to.

    Learn proofread your criticisms.

    --
    THIS THING CAN TURN ON A DIME, MACROSSZERO STYLE ALSO FUCK BETA, ~NYORON
  98. Re:Insect furries by Dahan · · Score: 1
    Why do you never see them? Why is it always noble animals like wolves? Why not shrews? After all, they're both small, annoying and riddled with disease

    Shrews are insects?

  99. More than just a database server by Zamfir · · Score: 1

    most of these comparisons, especially MySQL are silly. SQL Server is more than a database engine. Yukons makes this even more so, with a set of tools separate from - though licensed with - the database engine.

    This includes....

    Analysis Services OLAP- market leading and most scalable MOLAP engine on the planet. Can use any relational database as source. This is a HUGE release for analysis services

    Analysis Services Data Mining - tons of new algorithms in Yukon.

    Reporting Services - v1 just shipped for SQL Server 2000. Server side managed reporting engine. Can be used on top of any database

    Data Transformation Services - ETL tool completely rewritten for Yukon. Completely rewritten. Can use other databases as source/target


    microsoft is trying to make these tools stand on their own merits. thus, even if you are an oracle shop, you may want to license SQL Server too just for these other tools.

  100. Re:That's okay - Holy cow 40 Million lines of code by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You are a fucking moron, playing up the same old tired jokes from 1998.

    DHURRRR! 40 million lines of code = PAPER CLIP Oh My GoD TEH BLOET!!!!1

    Aside from the annoying characters, the office assistant used Baysean(sp) networks to help people to quickly find what they wanted in MS office with out much foreknowledge.

  101. No - MySQL is just shit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    deal with it

  102. Re:That's okay - Holy cow 40 Million lines of code by Bush+Pig · · Score: 1

    You haven't read Fred Brookes' "The Mythical Man Month", have you?

    --
    What a long, strange trip it's been.
  103. SQL Server tools by rabs · · Score: 0

    ... And I'd also add SQL Profiler as a great tool to verify the actual queries running against your db in real time.

    - rabs

  104. Re:That's okay - Holy cow 40 Million lines of code by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Aside from the annoying characters, the office assistant used Baysean(sp) networks to help people to quickly find what they wanted in MS office with out much foreknowledge."

    Agreed. When was the last time a Linux program helped the end user do anything without much foreknowledge. Google cups esr.

  105. MS Business Solutions "Convergence" Conference by joe170 · · Score: 1

    Can't wait to ask a question or two about this in one of the more gearhead orientated breakout sessions at Convergence next week. GASP. I home the MSserfs don't read this, else no bacon-wrapped scallop for me at the welcome reception! What was with the swedish bikini team sporting parrots on the shoulders and the caracature-art guys at last year's anyway!? Weird.

  106. PostgreSQL needs a name change by nemeosis · · Score: 1

    I seriously think that PostgreSQL needs a marketing name change.

    Take a look at all the popular databases, they all have cool names:
    o Oracle
    o SQL Server
    o DB2
    o FileMaker Pro
    o Access
    o MySQL
    o FoxPro
    o Informix
    o FireBird

    And then there's PostgreSQL. You read it for the first time, and you're like, "post-what???"

    Maybe it should be named something more phoenetic. Examples, idea?
    What about:
    o Matrix DB
    o Echelon 2004
    o Defiant DB

    Who knows? I'm not their marketing droid. PostgreSQL is incredibly powerful and well suited for small and medium database operations. To a carpenter, everything is a nail. Choose your tool wisely.

  107. MySQL - a well-established business by SgtChaireBourne · · Score: 1
    The anonymous astroturfer seems to have forgotten that MySQL AB is a well-established, debt-free business with offices on several continents and clients around the world. Or perhaps, forgotten that a senior staff member of MySQL AB has been named Entrepreneur of the year.

    Not only does MySQL AB do development, but also clients do as well since its product is available open source. For example, some additions forthcoming in version 5 have originated with the heavy weight Ericsson. That's a long cry from hobby developers, though there are some of those as well.

    If you are truly that worried about support or can't / won't handle it in house, then buy a support contract.

    MySQL is a far more certain payoff than MS-SQL Server. That and it runs on many, many platforms. So you can run it on whatever OS + hardware you have in the server room today and tomorrow.

    Postgresql is another option. Likewise, so is Oracle. If you're going to be looking at the same price class as MS-SQL, then get the real thing and go with Oracle.

    --
    Beta is broken and the link to classic doesn't work. Stop wasting our time or there won't be anybody left here.
  108. RTFA by Sri+Lumpa · · Score: 1


    If you had properly RTFA you would have seen:

    "Likewise, the closely linked Whidbey release of Visual Studio is slipping from 2004 until 2005."

    "For developers, the tandem Yukon and Whidbey delays underscore the danger of relying too much on one vendor and may play well in IBM Software's attempts to woo ISVs."

    --
    "The obvious mathematical breakthrough would be development of an easy way to factor large prime numbers." Bill Gates,