Hi Neil -

If I had my way, IBM would have run full page ad's regarding Informix
weekly in the Wall Street Journal touting it's benefits and IBM's
commitment to the product. That way Business Partners could leverage
IBM's global influence to move more product than IBM will ever be
able to move on its own.

Unfortunately, I won't be seeing any full page ads in WSJ for
Informix. I accidently ran a full page Informix ad in a smaller
publication in May and nearly gave management a heart attack! So I
merely recommend that Business Partners do what IBM will not do
which is to advertise and promote Informix in their regions. Bytec,
a very successful Informix business partner in Germany, does this on
a regular basis in major IT publications in Germany and is growing
their business. I don't want to minimize or trivialize any of the
hard work and the battles Bytec had with IBM to get support for what
they are doing. And I don't think this way is as effective as if IBM
were to get more air for Informix.

However, it has helped Bytec's business grow and helped the Informix
business grow. Growth of the Informix business has caused IBM to
change it position (not enough and not loudly enough IMHO).
Continued growth will cause more change.

Is this the "right" way to do things? NO!
Is this the fastest way to do things? NO!

But it can help grow the Informix business and that is good for
Informix business partners and the Informix community.

Yelling, ranting and complaining will not grow the Informix business
and will not change IBM's behavior.


On Aug 15, 2006, at 10:54 AM, Neil Truby wrote:

>>> "Christine Normile" <christine@myinform-me.com> wrote in message
>>> news:mailman.273.1155655241.20706.informix-list@iiug.org...
>>> So, IBM and the Informix community needs those partners and
>>> customers who
>>> are willing to be references to do so. IBM also needs business
>>> partners
>>> to make noise. BPs do not have the same constraints that IBM
>>> does and
>>> IBM has co-marketing dollars to help offset the cost to the BP.
>
> I'm not sure to the extent to which you should expect Business
> Partners
> (BPs) to do this work. Taking my own experience, we spend a
> substantial
> amount - many tens of thousands of pounds a year - promoting
> Informix and
> its success stories, but this is *all* done in targetted mail to the
> *existing* Informix user base to persuade them to use Ardenta
> rather than A
> N Other BP, or IBM directly. I would regard it as a waste of my
> company's
> money propagating the Informix message to non-Informix users,
> because the
> vendor support isn't there.
>
> And whilst it's true that IBM does have funding to help BPs with
> Informix
> success stories, it isn't easy for the BP. We've just particiapted
> in an
> IBM-funded press release for a major UK company that has renewed its
> commitment to Informix: and Ardenta is mentioned quite rarely, and
> only once
> in the first four paragraphs. In addition, IBM conmtrolled very
> rigidly
> what was and was not allowed to be included in the release. I'm
> not in any
> way complaining about this - IBM is paying and it is right that it
> should
> call the shots - but I would like to correct any impression that
> readers
> might have that a BP can simply construct its own Press Release and
> IBM will
> just hand over some or all of the cash, no strings attached.
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Informix-list mailing list
> Informix-list@iiug.org
> http://www.iiug.org/mailman/listinfo/informix-list

Christine Normile
Analyst
INFORMRme Magazine
1.800.914.8674 Ext. 713
1.210.438.7736 mobile
christine@MyINFORM-me.com

>> Yelling, ranting and complaining will not grow the Informix business and
>> will not change IBM's behavior.

Yes, you're right, I know.

That's why I concentrate my spending on increasing Ardenta's market share
amongst the existing, but declining, client base. This is quite
achieveable. Increasing Informix's overall market share is, without IBM's
support, impossible.

Christine Normile wrote:

> Unfortunately, I won't be seeing any full page ads in WSJ for Informix.

Why?

> I accidently ran a full page Informix ad in a smaller publication in May
> and nearly gave management a heart attack!

Why?

> So I merely recommend that
> Business Partners do what IBM will not do which is to advertise and
> promote Informix in their regions.

Why? How can they hope to compete with Microsoft and Oracle? How does
this not qualify as throwing good money down the flusher? If IBM won't
step up to the plate with dollars then I would expect there will be a
rush to certify employees on Oracle or SQL Server.

> And I don't think this way is as effective as if IBM were to get more air for Informix.
> Is this the "right" way to do things? NO!
> Is this the fastest way to do things? NO!

A restatement of the obvious. ;-)

> But it can help grow the Informix business and that is good for Informix
> business partners and the Informix community.

But without IBM's active participation ... so what? Do you really think
partners are going to make so many sales in the next 12 months that IBM
is going to say "Wow look at all the new license revenue pouring in we
should change our strategic direction?" We are talking about IBM here
not some hotdog stand.

> Yelling, ranting and complaining will not grow the Informix business and
> will not change IBM's behavior.

If you truly believe that then you are saying that Informix is just
another RDB, another Fox, another Ingres, another Sybase. A good product
entering its twilight years.
--
Daniel A. Morgan
University of Washington
damorgan@x.washington.edu
(replace x with u to respond)
Puget Sound Oracle Users Group
www.psoug.org

DA Morgan wrote:

> If you truly believe that then you are saying that Informix is just
> another RDB, another Fox, another Ingres, another Sybase. A good
> product entering its twilight years.

So informix is still alive? I thought you 'predicted' in June 2001 that
it won't be sold five years from then.
Also you might want to restate about sybase. Their last Q saw
database license revenue increase by 27%.

eric@herber-consulting.de wrote:

> just a waist of time, not more.

Hey - I have one of those too. Speak about double digit growth.

Hi ,

Have you tried GENERO from 4SJs (www.4js.com) ?
With minimal effort Grenn Screens canbe converted
to Web/GUIs. The Sytanx of the language is more than
90% Informix 4GL

Regards
Terance


Double Echo wrote:
> Jean Georges Perrin wrote:
> >
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: informix-list-bounces@iiug.org [mailto:informix-list-
> >> bounces@iiug.org] On Behalf Of Double Echo
> >> Sent: Tuesday, August 08, 2006 02:57
> >> To: informix-list@iiug.org
> >> Subject: Re: Informix business grew by double digits in 2006 (Q1+Q2)
> >>
> >> Jean Georges Perrin wrote:
> >>> Cisco is a well known Informix user, isn't it Nancy?
> >>>
> >> How do you know Cisco bought Informix, and why does it matter?
> >
> >
> > I think it matters that big, huge corporation choose Informix and admit it
> > publicly.
> >
> > Wal-Mart made a video with IBM admitting its superior quality.
> >
>
> Didn't see it.
>
> > France Telecom is make a speech at the Paris Infobahn in September.
> >
>
> Didn't see it.
>
> > Cisco is hiring and sends people to conferences.
> >
>
> Didn't see it.
>
> > And this is not news from the last century. It's all around NOW.
> >
>
> Goody goody.
>
> >
> >>> France Telecom is another... thus it is more an operator.
> >>>
> >>> Informix is doing well. Plenty of interesting deals are done, being
> >> done,
> >>> etc. IBM should certainly communicate more around that, but IBM is
> >> IBM...
> >>> jgp
> >>>
> >> Tell me something. How does a developer or consultant rally behind a
> >> software product that few if any people know about? How does that work?
> >>
> >> Why should developers get excited or interested in something that they
> >> are not sure there will be a future or be able to find work?
> >>
> >> Why should a developer support a product that the vendor is reluctant to
> >> support publicly? Why is the burden of brand support in the market on the
> >> developer community or existing customer base? Is the vendor just a lazy
> >> slob? How does that work?
> >
> > I have a few friends working in the COBOL industry and they are making
> > fortunes .
> >
> > Developers do not care that much about the Back End, it's all SQL after all
> > .
> >
> You didn't answer my questions, but I didn't think anyone here would.
>
> Developers need a package that they can use to build software solutions.
>
> Again, I've said it too many times before, it's not the database that
> sells the solution, it's the application. Informix databases were nothing
> without 4GL. I remember pre-4GL environments, using CISAM. Nobody cared.
> Then 4GL came out, and suddenly it got interesting. And suddenly there
> was a lot of excitement about the database. Selling databases doesn't
> work without applications. Nobody I know is going to get excited about
> onstat. But they _will_ get excited about how fast their applications
> run. Developers are the foundation--and I'm not just talking about coders.
> I'm talking about application builders who want to make money in vertical
> markets. They need a reliable database with speed, and something with
> low maintenance and few moving parts for reliability--like the old Maytag
> product line. As the application gets more complex, the database feature
> set goes with it. But _today_ I can build most applications on MySQL, and
> never need anything from an Informix database. I use portable components
> that don't cost me money up front, and a database back-end that doesn't cost
> me any money up front. Before I sell a solution, I ask where it will be
> used, and if what I have will fit. I'll gamble on a simple database anytime
> that just simply works. If the data set becomes a problem, I'll recommend
> a faster database, port the application, and make more money. But until I can go
> to my customer and tell them that the solution involves industry recognized
> parts, I'm not going to gamble on it. Why should I do the vendor's job?
>
>
>
> > I don't see & recognize Informix in your comments here.
> >
>
> That's because you don't think outside the Informix box.
>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> Informix-list mailing list
> >> Informix-list@iiug.org
> >> http://www.iiug.org/mailman/listinfo/informix-list
> >
> >

"tc" <terance.cambel@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1157351110.537830.159140@m73g2000cwd.googlegr oups.com...
> Hi ,
>
> Have you tried GENERO from 4SJs (www.4js.com) ?
> With minimal effort Grenn Screens canbe converted
> to Web/GUIs. The Sytanx of the language is more than
> 90% Informix 4GL

While you're there, you could also look at GeneroDB, the RDBMS 4Js has
"developed" as a competitor to IDS and its discouragingly high licence and
maintenance charges.