| > Have we program announced Rdb on a non-DEC, non-Intel platform
> such as the RS/6000, etal. ? WHY NOT !? We're DYING out here !
> Do we even have formal PLANS to do this yet, or are we still
> suffering from AXP myopia ? Not to discredit the fine efforts
> of DBS in producing superior products for Digital platforms, but
> WHO IS MAKING DBS SELL HARDWARE INSTEAD OF SOFTWARE ?
In general over the last year there has been significant companywide
retrenchment from the software-as-a-business strategy that David Stone
was pushing. As part of that retrenchment and the general cost cutting,
Rdb has gone without significant marketing in the last year.
Unless you are part of a Product Business Unit (storage, peripherals and
components, PCs, multivendor customer services) the company doesn't have
a focus on products. The products the rest of us are building are
supposed to be those identified by CBUs as necessary to meet their
customer solution requirements. Coming to closure on what the company
should be doing in various areas in an on-going process, and
unfortunately slower then many would like. Of course, we'd like some of
the answers even less if they were made in haste and without sufficient
supporting information.
Digital's survival as a $14+ Billion company depends on the success of
AXP. As much as we love Rdb, it couldn't support an employee population
of around 90,000 :-) So DBS continue to do everything possible to make
AXP a success. But nothing surrounding making AXP a success prevents
Digital, or DBS, from shipping our products on other company's hardware.
The contrary is in fact true, and recognized by senior management. Any
Digital unique-added-value offering can not have long term success unless
we make it available on other people's hardware.
> How much REAL GROWTH are we experiencing with Rdb licenses ?
> The RdbStar time-frame was the window of opportunity, and now
> it may be too late for us to catch Rdb up with the times. I
> only hope it can survive long enough on the existing base (before
> Digital outsources everything by conceeding it all to Oracle, etc.)
> so that when customers fail with third party, low-functionality,
> buggy -- but portable! -- databases and tools they could still
> come home to Rdb/Forte/etc.
I don't know the definition of real growth. We are seeing a significant
increase in penetration of the OpenVMS customer base. There *is* an
increase in development license sales, though not dramatic, so people are
implementing new applications with Rdb. Run-time license sales continue
to grow at a healthy pace. Rdb is technically superior to the
competition, its main weakness is that its currently only available on
OpenVMS.
> I would like to hear rational arguements outside of TPC-* and
> AXPness that can be used with customers TODAY (not next quarter,
> or the quarter after that).
There is competitive material available to IM Partners that shows our
advantages in the very large database and high availability arenas, or
more generally for those attributes critical for "production systems".
We'll consider making it available to a broader audience.
Hal
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Thank you for your considered and informative reply !
; There is competitive material available to IM Partners that shows our
; advantages in the very large database and high availability arenas, or
; more generally for those attributes critical for "production systems".
; We'll consider making it available to a broader audience.
Rather than trying to create this on my own I would very
much like to see it.
Regards,
rcs
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