Call me a nut. I don't care.

I support all of the major databases except SQLServer, but I might
start learning it for the hell of it.
Informix wasn't my first database. Prior to Informix I dealt a bit
with 4Phase, Progress, and my own proprietary database for a fetal
anatomy study project done under an NSF grant when I was a senior in
high school and the summer before college.

But Informix caught my attention because of the elegance of its design
and the attention paid to details. Sure it had some warts, but with
each revision, the worst of them were removed.

After Phil White left the building, the next 3 CEOs were fools. Ok PG
wasn't a fool. He was a horse trader and wanted to cash out of his
investment and move on to the next big deal. You have to respect that.

Under IBM, Janet wanted to slowly kill IDS and relegate it to the same
status as IMS, something that IBM still supports today.

But the truth is that IDS is a great product. There are features in
11.5 that are still ahead of the pack and its still one of the best
general purpose rdbms on the market today.

But don't tell that to IBM. They don't get it. They're just willing to
sell it and make money off the product while putting the least amount
of skin in the game. After all, DB2 is still their flagship. (Even
though it should be relegated to the AS/400 and Mainframe
environments. (Hint: The tale of the numbers speak for themselves.)
In fact IBM would make more money if they did move DB2 distributed out
of the picture and focused on IDS ...

11.5. It has the features that if marketed will make every CEO/CIO
take a double look at it. And that's all it takes to get to Column B.
(Ok, so unless you understand SSM, Column B makes no sense. Talk to
your IBM sales rep and ask him about column fodder.)

Just think if IBM knew how to sell IDS, how much more money and market
share they could capture.
Ambush isn't a database guy so he wouldn't understand how or why this
is possible. Nor would he be willing to spend the money to do POCs.

So, call me a nut. Tell me I don't know what I'm talking about when
I'm probably the only one who's dealt more with S&D than anyone here.
I've also written more than $15 Million of IBM Lab services paper,
more than anyone here can even come close to writing and owning.

I've never bashed the IDS product. Just the incompetent lackeys who
don't want to actually sell and promote the product.

In truth. IBM can't sell it. Sure you have Marty in the North East, a
couple of other SEs in NY, but there are only a handful of SEs in the
US who know and understand IDS.  C'mon Carlton, you're an SE. Go do
the numbers and tell me that I'm wrong?

Tell me that there are more than 3 IT Specialists in the midwest who
can talk intelligently and support IDS?

If you're a supporter of the product, you should be angry too.

Or you can just keep sipping the blue ooze and believe that TPC
benchmarks and change are "just around the corner."

But hey! What do I know?

-G