Cinderella - A modern version of a nice romance

eherber — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 22:57:59 +0200

Cinderella - A modern version of a nice romance

Many of you asked me for a translation of the german title of my new IDS 11 article. Aschenputtel tanzt weiter could be translated to Cinderella dances forward. Here is a modified short version of the nice Cinderella romance that shows you my motivation for this article title. Have fun and don't take it too seriously -:)

Once upon a time there was a glamorous time for the product Informix.
But unexpectedly the Informix family got into trouble as their guardian
(Phil W.) had been arrested.

Our poor Informix was adopted and a nasty stepmother (Janet P.) took
control of it. Cinderella Informix got hidden and his existence
was kept secret. But stepmothers own daughters - one of them mature
and aged (DB2 z/OS), the other young and unskilled (DB2 LUW) - didn't
prosper as expected.

Despite all of the barriers Cinderella Informix was able to dance
many nights with elegance, easiness and an unbelievalbe reliability
at customer sites.
As "prince customer" asked the stepmother where her lovely daughter
is, that perfectly fits into the shoe (to his application), the
stepmother answered:

"Take a look here my adored customer and choose one of my own lovely
daughters..."

To fit their foot into the shoe, toe or heel has been cut and then the
foot has been pressed in the shoe. But many things didn't run as smoothly
as with Cinderella Informix.

Administrators and Consultans screamed:

"Guru, Guru - There's blood within the shoe..."

After the nasty stepmother has been chased away, Cinderella gleamed
and "prince customer" did finally find his beloved Informix database.
They are both faced with a jointly bright future with many happy and
satisfied days...

Thanks to Peter R., a good friend, for his continuous advice on Informix related issues...

IDS versus Oracle/DB2 - A not too serious Analogy -:)

eherber — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 22:27:25 +0100

IDS versus Oracle/DB2 - A not too serious Analogy-:)

This is my first entry in my new blog on The Informix Zone. I will add some more from time to time beside the normal Informix Zone postings. Not all my blog entries are to be taken too seriously -:) Thank you and have fun.

My favorite sport is Mountainbiking. However Mountainbiking is not Mountainbiking. There are several different specificities of the same sport. Some of us like to climb the steepest hills as fast and efficient as possible, while others prefer to carry out their mountainbike to a bikepark to practice jumps and other daring feats. I personally prefer the former specificity.

There are even more specifities of our sport, but let's concentrate on the two mentioned above. As you might imagine the bike industry welcomes those diversity. Some vendors like the famous Specialized Brand offer highly optimized bikes for each specificity.

If you want to be as fast and efficient as possible, a so called Racefully or a Hardtail should be the perfect choice:

Racefully:

If you prefer to practice jumps and take the hills by lift, a so called Freerider is likely to be the right equipment for you:

Freerider:

However imagine what happens if you take your Freerider out of the fully equipped bikepark (lifts, simulated trails ...) and try to ascend a mountain or hill with it. About 44 pounds is the weight of a typical Freerider and this needs a lot of beefiness and staying power to move it forward. In addition the saddle/handle bar position (you sit nearly upright) doesn't support you in your efforts. If the hill is getting too steep, you front wheel will take off and you have to shove your bike (-:. Even if you have mastered the hill and you are looking forward to the fantastic small and twisty trail, you will be disappointed. A Freerider is not very agil and again needs a lot of effort und competence to direct it thru a small and twisty trail.

In contrast a Racefully has about half the weight (22 pounds). It is easy to move forward without much beefiness. The saddle/handle bar position is optimized and allows you to take the steepest mountains. A Racefully is extremly agile and efficient. It can be used in many different terrains and it doesn't need a bikepark to have fun with it. There is even a new technology evolving (carbon frames) which will significantly reduce the weight further. I'm not sure but think I've heard that one vendor of those evolving carbon frames uses the term Cheetah to describe this highly efficient new technology -:)

As you can see from the above example it is essential to think about the intended use of a thing before you make an import buying decision.

I leave it to you to translate the analogy to IBM's data server offerings (Informix Dynamic Server and DB2 LUW) or Oracle.

The Informix Zone - fun

Cinderella - A modern version of a nice romance

Cinderella - A modern version of a nice romance

IDS versus Oracle/DB2 - A not too serious Analogy -:)

IDS versus Oracle/DB2 - A not too serious Analogy-:)