Ingres vs Oracle

From: Nabil Courdy 
Subject: Re: Why Ingres?

I use both products.  Technically, they both have pluses
and minuses.  I tell you what I like in both:

    Ingres
        1) The flexibility in the Ingres backup tools is
             numero uno.
        2) IPM is an awesome tool for diagnosis regardless
            of what some people might say.
        3) Unload/Reload in IngresII is fast
        4) If you know Ingres, it is very easy to manage
        5) Table Based Primary Keys (ISAM, BTREE, HASH...)
        6) The optimizer except when it comes to a
             simple OR qualification, Ingres does not
             use the secondary index.
        7) Select Loops
        8) Space management is extremely simple
            and straight forward.  Big data files in Oracle
            are a true headache.
         9) It is way better than its reputation
        10) In the world of IT, If you know Ingres, so What ;}


    Oracle 8
        1) Documentation is numero uno
        2) Row level locking is more than a luxury
        3) Oracle 8i offers reverse indexes which is what
            I need in Ingres to resolve a lot of my bottlenecks
            due to BTREE tables keyed on sequential keys.
            But if you are starting a new application, this is
            not an issue since (hopefully) your design will
            be proper.
        4) Directing large jobs to a specific rollback segment
        5) Choosing the default tablespace for a user
        6) PL/SQL
        7) Reads never involve a lock unless otherwise specified.
            In IngresII I noticed that no matter what my readlock mode
            is set to, it will always acquire locks on the system catalogs.
	    The nolock mode always takes shared locks on system catalgs.
        8) Oracle bends the rules to please developers
        9) In my case, Oracle's support is way better than CA's
        10)  If you know Oracle you will feel important ;}

At the end of the day, they will both perform what you ask
them to do.  Oracle commitment to Oracle is unquestionable.
CA's stand on Inges has never been clear.  However, I assume
from the new releases and the expected future ones that they
are in it for the next while.

Nabil
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Ingres Q & A
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