> On 27-Feb-2005 05:03:21, marius popa wrote:
> yea speaking about benevolant T-Rex (ibm) . They need Derby as migration
> tool for db2 :start coding with derby then when you need *real* database
> db2 will pop-up as option (like ms is doing with msde/mssql)

M$ are doing more than just MSDE/MSSQL. They have a MS SQL Server Express
FREE product coming out in summer that will be a direct threat to MySQL
installations (ie. Small scale SQL servers with multiple users, but
databases < 4GB in size). So although one could have assumed that M$ are
trying to give you a free embedded database with MSDE and then move you to
MS SQL Server, they appear to be ignoring this path until you have a large
database so that they have some handle on the Open Source community options
and can at least be a 'me too' player in that market. Sure, enterprises
will need to buy MS SQL Server, but the average small to medium business
probably will not.

The Open Source market is a clear threat to M$ dominance. I'm not sure what
the revenue figures look like for M$, but I'm sure that MS SQL Server sales
don't represent more than 5% of their total revenue. Remember that this is
a company that makes most of its profits 'still' in the desktop OS and
applications arenas, and if they have to sacrifice a product stream to
counter a threat from the Open Source market, they will. M$ management is
more interested in 'winning' against competitors, often without concern for
pricing issues. But they still will make out like bandits in the enterprise
class customer base, so it probably does make sense for them to do this.

The interesting thing that may come from this is that if M$ do give away a
product stream, or open source one, it may be to appease the long standing
state and Federal law suits, showing that they are not forcing users into a
particular product direction simply because they are 'giving away' their
technology for free. I'm no lawyer, but how this plays out would be in
context with a bigger strategy. They tried to bundle IE with the OS and
'give it away for free' in the past, and that didn't work for them. I
believe that IE 7 is a totally separate product for them, mainly to counter
the threat to the browser line from Firefox.

> Prial said the alliance with Zend is a prime opportunity to showcase
> IBM's open-source database clout to a cost-conscious audience targeted
> by open-source database vendors such as MySQL AB, PostgreSQL Inc. and
> Db4objects Inc., as those vendors gain acceptance among larger
> enterprise customers.

We have a native PHP extension for Firebird. We just need to market it
better. Many people don't even realize its bundled with PHP.

Regards,
Myles

===============================
Myles Wakeham
Director of Engineering
Tech Solutions US, Inc.
(480) 451-7440
www.techsol.org