database differences
... out that [ ] SQL Server 2000 [is] the best choice for the agile enterprise. (http://www.microsoft.com) Anjana C.S declares that [e]ver since the Sybase version of SQL Server was licensed to Microsoft in the mid-[nineties], Microsoft has been working on a dream database and SQL Server 2000 is a result of a decade-plus effort in this evolution. (http://www.stylusinc.com) The upshot of what Microsoft wanted out of SQL Server: (1) become an element of Microsofts .NET strategy, (2) to leverage SQL Server 7, and (3) create a complete database and analysis package. (http://www.stylusinc.com) This powerhouse of an application has a [ ] maximum database size of roughly 1,000,000 terabytes, and up to 16 simultaneous instances of the Server that can be run on a single computer. SQL Server 2000 is ready to sweep the depths of enterprise-level database management. (http://www.stylusinc.com) The creators of the Stylus website maintain that today, SQL Server 2000 can claim to be the fastest database in the world with groundbreaking TPC-C (Transaction Processing Performance Councils) benchmarks (www.tpc.org). These benchmarks have demonstrated that "SQL Server 2000 offers the industry's best price-to-price performance ratio on clustered hardware". An SAP endorsement for SQL says, "SAP is convinced that SQL Server 2000 on Windows 2000 would now meet the needs of every R/3 customer around the world." (http://www.stylusinc.com) Some really smart features of SQL Server 2000 include: a powerful e-commerce tool, analysis services, data mining, web based analysis, and enhanced security. The SQL Server 2000 Standard 1 Processor Full Version Unlimited Client Price: $2,799.99. The SQL 2000 Server Enterprise 1 Processor Unlimited Price: $8,899.99. Thousands of well-known, medium and large size companies use MS SQL. Zales Jewelers and Sterling Corporation are among those that rely on Server 2000 for all their database needs. Administrator and designers that migrate from Access to SQL will find a host of recognizable features, and functions that pervade the Microsoft brand of applications. Oracle The Microsoft Encarta (2003) reveals how the founders of System Development Laboratories, Lawrence J. Ellison, Robert N. Miner, and Edward Oates developed database programs for computers beginning in 1977. These three men beat IBM to the market in 1979 with the Oracle RDBMS, the first commercial product to use Structured Query Language. After the successful launch of its Oracle product, System Development Laboratories changed its name to Oracle. Oracle subsequently began moving toward developing hardware and software to handle enormous databases of video, audio, and text, and to deliver the data through global networks. (cited in Encarta, 2003) The Encarta also notes that Oracle became the industry leader in database management, during the 80s, wining contracts with some of the largest companies in the United States and the world. As of today, both Microsoft's and Oracle's ODBC drivers both work with ASP/ADO. (http://www.orafaq.com) Pricing for the product is difficult to ascertain, but the best estimate places the database somewhere around ten percent higher than a comparable strength MS SQL Server. The company site appears to obfuscate that information calculatedly, and companion sites acquiesce. The new 10g release rivals many of the features touted by Microsoft in their competing product. IBM DB2 The Advisor (2004) notes that IBM DB2 was number two in market share in 03: Oracle seized [ ] 39.8 percent, followed by IBM with 31.3 percent and Microsoft with 12.1 percent. Those shares represent a percentage of total market revenues, including new license fees and ongoing fees. (http://db2advisor.com) However, [ ] Microsoft's share of this market has been growing fast, although 2003 saw it slow as the SQL Server product matures. (http://db2advisor.com) The About.com website outlines the following requirements for DB2: Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition (32-bit and 64-bit) on 64-bit Windows, Intel Itanium, or higher, is required; for Intel systems, a Pentiumฎ central processing unit (CPU), or higher; for AMD systems, an AMD Athlon CPU. DB2 Server Editions can be installed and run on Windows XP, but it is only for testing and development purposes. (http://databases.about.com) The About website records that the latest version of DB2 [ ] builds on its market-proven industrial strength, and on demand capabilities with the following key enhancements: reduces deployment and management costs; increases programmer productivity; provides a robust infrastructure. (http://databases.about.com) IBM boasts of outstanding performances like that of a [ ] telecommunications company [that] was able to achieve nine second failover with DB2 UDB V8.1 for a system running 3500 [plus] transactions per second [ ]. (http://databases.about.com) Another achievement was the number one price and performance result for TPC-C. In order to accomplish these achievements three elements must be in place: (1) overall price/performance, (2) best single system (non-clustered) performance, and (3) best overall performance at the highest TPC-H scale factor (10 terabytes). This same report points out that [ ] IBM is the only database vendor to ever simultaneously hold the number one result in all three of these "triple crown" benchmarks. (http://databases.about.com) DB2 UDB is scalable on all fronts from the "typical" performance, capacity, scale up, and scale out facets to "beyond typical" for capability, and flexibility. (http://databases.about.com) DB2 customers include Kelkoo and S.Oliver. Pricing is difficult to establish, but appears to be in line with Oracle. Informix Inexorably, International Business Machines claims that [ ] Informix Dynamic Server (IDS) 9.4 is the best [ ] online transaction processing for enterprise and workgroup computing. (http://www-306.ibm.com) IBM contends that Informix is a highly dependable system, and protects data assets almost unfailingly because of built-in features such as High Availability Data Replication (HDR), a complete turn-key failure recovery. Another feature, Enterprise Replication, [ ] provides selective replication of data across multiple geographic locations. The application is built on Dynamic Scalable Architecture (DSA) that: (1) uses hardware resources efficiently, and (2) minimizes hardware requirements. IDS 9.4 increases the maximum size of an IDS instance from 4 terabytes to a theoretical 128 petabytes -- enabling use of today's large disk drives. (http://www-306.ibm.com) The license price for a twelve month period, single user: $697. Columbia House and Stargazer are two of the best known companies listed as being Informix users. MySQL Indubitably, the makers of MySQL claim that their copyrighted database server is: [t]he worlds most popular open source database [ ] and is...