I think I have been slightly misunderstood.

My goal is simply this. Over the years our community has
complained (and rightfully so) that we lack case studies,
performance metrics, product comparisons, etc. The stuff
that decision making management types look for when they
are reviewing a developer's preferred choice of RDBMS.

A technical person is often going to choose what he/she
knows best (technically) or what RDBMS best fits an
applications needs. Where the executive manager signing
off the cash is often going to go with a name he
recognizes. My past customers have told me that it is
hard to sell InterBase into the upper management layer
because of name recognition and credibility.

In order to change this we need to gain credibility in the
market as a player with the bigger database companies.
This will take time and will likely be best done by gaining
more small to medium business first. It is not my set focus
to attack the Oracle's but, we cannot simply hide or run from
them either. We've already tried that one with our
'embedded' strategy. And the 'embedded' branding was beat
up on this list just a few days ago by many. Fortunately,
there is no InterBase.Lite but, it makes postitioning the
product a bit tougher.

How do we best position a product (InterBase) that is
so very flexible and powerful. Small enough to tuck
away yet powerful enough to grind it out.

All that mumbo jumbo said, I am simply looking for
case studies (enterprise level and not) to help those
having trouble selling InterBase into tougher markets
where they have been denied before.

So tell me what you are doing with IB and let's get it
up on the web for all to see. :)

Markus







Joseph Alba wrote:

>
> From: "Joseph Alba" <jalba@...>
>
> >What I am suggesting is that rather than
> >'downgrade' the solution from Oracle or SQL server (i.e. an app that
> >requires features / functionality from these DB's), 'Upgrade' an
> application
> >that would use Paradox, or Access or some other network DB to Interbase. I
> >suspect these are mostly used because they are available for free (once the
> >developer has the tools to generate the DB). Also, customers find out they
> >get scalability for almost nothing.
> >
> >Regards,
> >
> >Andy Gibson
>
> I totally agree. Like war books always tell you, it is important to choose
> your battles well.
>
> While positioning against Oracle, SQL Server is doable, it would be like
> being a welterweight fighting against a heavyweight. I mean, those who buy
> these products have the budget to buy it, and LIKE to buy at those prices
> because they believe that being expensive means power, reliability, feature
> rich, etc... And it makes them feel good. They can also say, our system is
> Oracle based. We bought it for $$$$$ and maintain it with a budget of $$$$$.
> And they feel good boasting about it. (Also, for the developers like us who
> are able to do Oracle, it is also financially rewarding).
>
> But there is a much larger market. The market now occupied by XBases,
> Paradox, and Access. Now in this market, the present Open Source Interbase
> (with royalty-free distribution), would be like a welterweight fighting a
> five year old boy. That's pretty brutal, and can really be a knock out. This
> is the market which IB community should first target. Also, this is the much
> much larger user base because these are the masses./ the small-medium
> business, the government offices on tight budgets, hospitals that need money
> for health related concern, farmers who need software to boost production,
> or even the housewife who needs software to balance her budgets. In short,
> these are the real people. And these are where the big big numbers are.
>
> Paraphrasing what Chairman Mao Tse Tung said, "You cannot win a revolution
> in the enclosed/tightly guarded/rich city. Instead, take the revolution to
> the peasants in the wide fields of rural outskirts. Then when you have won
> the peasants, your large large numbers will engulf the small city."
>
> (Not that I believe in Mao, my faith is in Christ. But in this case, his
> illustration is applicable.)
>
> Joseph Alba
> jalba@...
>
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