Informix Marketing Brainstorming Forum

Informix Folks,

thank you for your participation in the latest Informix Zone poll
about a free IDS version for production use. The result is
unambiguously, details can be found here:

http://www.informix-zone.com/node/145
http://www.informix-zone.com/node/161

The Informix Zone started a 'Marketing Brainstorming Forum' to further
push Informix foward:

http://www.informix-zone.com/node/160

You ideas and input is highly appreciated.

Thank you.

eric@herber-consulting.de wrote:
> Informix Folks,
>
> thank you for your participation in the latest Informix Zone poll
> about a free IDS version for production use. The result is
> unambiguously, details can be found here:
>
> http://www.informix-zone.com/node/145
> http://www.informix-zone.com/node/161
>
> The Informix Zone started a 'Marketing Brainstorming Forum' to further
> push Informix foward:
>
> http://www.informix-zone.com/node/160
>
> You ideas and input is highly appreciated.
>
> Thank you.
>

Quite interesting that this comes just after the :

License model for Informix configuration utility

and

Out of Box Experience for Cheetah.

threads.

Why not something like a "fixed" onconfig for the Free Production IDS
version ...

"Reasonable restrictions for a free IDS production version from my point
of view could be:

* Limited Platform Support (Linux/Windows)
* 32-Bit Version
* Single Dbspace (rootdbs + temp)
* Size of Single Dbspace limited to 1-2 GB
* Single CPU VP
* Support only via Forum/Email"

Although a Single CPU VP does limit many (all?) of the PDQ /
fragmentation side of things.

Doesn't the idea of a fixed config completely miss what IDS is about?

Informix Dynamic Server. What does the name mean?

It's dynamic! Not fixed.

The whole idea about IDS is about how it responds to change. Unfortunately it is trapped in a company that does not like change.

-t-

TBP wrote:
> eric@herber-consulting.de wrote:
>> Informix Folks,
>>
>> thank you for your participation in the latest Informix Zone poll
>> about a free IDS version for production use. The result is
>> unambiguously, details can be found here:
>>
>> http://www.informix-zone.com/node/145
>> http://www.informix-zone.com/node/161
>>
>> The Informix Zone started a 'Marketing Brainstorming Forum' to further
>> push Informix foward:
>>
>> http://www.informix-zone.com/node/160
>>
>> You ideas and input is highly appreciated.
>>
>> Thank you.
>>
>
> Quite interesting that this comes just after the :
>
> License model for Informix configuration utility
>
> and
>
> Out of Box Experience for Cheetah.
>
> threads.
>
> Why not something like a "fixed" onconfig for the Free Production IDS
> version ...
>
> "Reasonable restrictions for a free IDS production version from my point
> of view could be:
>
> * Limited Platform Support (Linux/Windows)
> * 32-Bit Version
> * Single Dbspace (rootdbs + temp)
> * Size of Single Dbspace limited to 1-2 GB
> * Single CPU VP
> * Support only via Forum/Email"
>
> Although a Single CPU VP does limit many (all?) of the PDQ /
> fragmentation side of things.

--
*
* http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVS3k...elated&search=
*

In the good old days we used Standard Engine to "seed the market" and
then get people to upgarde to OnLine /IDS if the wanted 24x7 high
performance etc

Why don't we do the same again, make SE the "freebie" with IDS being
the bells and whictles that you pay for but your database structure
and application would remain largely unchanged

http://www.informix-zone.com/node/161

"A friend of mine is currently developing a new software package. He
started using the free IDS version from the IIUG. But he wants to
distribute his software for free and earn money for services around
it. "

this may be alost opportunity for this man's friend but where is the
opportunity for IBM? What is the "upsell"? How does this seed the
market rather than just deliver loads of free informix which would
mean no $$ for continued investment in development. Unlike MySQL, IDS
is not being developed for free by a load of researchers.

If your free was allowed to distribute SE for free and if his
customers wanted the robustness of IDS then there is some upsell
opportunity.

Sounds strikingly familiar... I've only been banging this drum for a few years now...glad to see somebody else finally speak up.

It should be noted that, if I'm not mistaken, most developers could care less about the source code, they just need a free database without having to go through a VAR or other person. Should be easy enough to just put the damn software out for download, and let people use SE just like MySQL, the only difference is that they wouldn't be able to compile it for a particular machine. MySQL has a lot of features that are just now catching up to what SE has had for years.

MySQL has limits but it really translates to boundaries--learning boundaries. Developers like it because it is something they can learn without being overwhelmed with a lot of stuff that really isn't easy to grasp--especially for the newb. System administrators like it because it is so friggin easy to manage, backup, restore, etc. And MySQL has a LARGE/HUGE developer community.

MySQL takes 10 minutes to install, and the daemon is up and running. SE should have the same experience to get Informix seeded on the machine, up and running, and then as the scottishpoet pointed out, the upsell opportunity awaits.

-t-

scottishpoet wrote:
> http://www.informix-zone.com/node/161
>
> "A friend of mine is currently developing a new software package. He
> started using the free IDS version from the IIUG. But he wants to
> distribute his software for free and earn money for services around
> it. "
>
> this may be alost opportunity for this man's friend but where is the
> opportunity for IBM? What is the "upsell"? How does this seed the
> market rather than just deliver loads of free informix which would
> mean no $$ for continued investment in development. Unlike MySQL, IDS
> is not being developed for free by a load of researchers.
>
> If your free was allowed to distribute SE for free and if his
> customers wanted the robustness of IDS then there is some upsell
> opportunity.
>

scottishpoet wrote:

> Unlike MySQL, IDS
> is not being developed for free by a load of researchers.
>

So, completely unlike MySQL as well.

Mark Townsend wrote:
> scottishpoet wrote:
>
>> Unlike MySQL, IDS
>> is not being developed for free by a load of researchers.
>>
>
> So, completely unlike MySQL as well.
Yep. I always thought mySQL is 99% developed by mySQL AB. Last I checked
a for profit company.
And mySQL is NOT free. You pay maintenance if you deploy an app on mySQL
as an ISV.

Cheers
Serge
--
Serge Rielau
DB2 Solutions Development
IBM Toronto Lab

MySQL is far from being free, it is even a quite expensive product (see
http://www.informixmag.com/index.php...iew&id=1991&It
emid=1).

On the other hand, MySQL is not a "database" per say, as it relies on "under
the hood" engines, like MyISAM, InnoDB... And actually InnoDB is owned by
Oracle, so (http://www.innodb.com)...

jgp

> -----Original Message-----
> From: informix-list-bounces@iiug.org [mailto:informix-list-
> bounces@iiug.org] On Behalf Of Serge Rielau
> Sent: mercredi 28 mars 2007 04:13
> To: informix-list@iiug.org
> Subject: Re: Informix Marketing Brainstorming Forum
>
> Mark Townsend wrote:
> > scottishpoet wrote:
> >
> >> Unlike MySQL, IDS
> >> is not being developed for free by a load of researchers.
> >>
> >
> > So, completely unlike MySQL as well.
> Yep. I always thought mySQL is 99% developed by mySQL AB. Last I
> checked
> a for profit company.
> And mySQL is NOT free. You pay maintenance if you deploy an app on
> mySQL
> as an ISV.
>
> Cheers
> Serge
> --
> Serge Rielau
> DB2 Solutions Development
> IBM Toronto Lab
> _______________________________________________
> Informix-list mailing list
> Informix-list@iiug.org
> http://www.iiug.org/mailman/listinfo/informix-list

TBP wrote:

> Although a Single CPU VP does limit many (all?) of the PDQ /
> fragmentation side of things.

I'm not sure that it does. You can still get fragment elimination and
you can still run queries with multiple threads.

Regards, Ben.