Some customers are deciding on SQL Server
Several of our customer's are considering switching to SQL Server due to some of the reasons mentioned above. Some of the things I keep hearing are that they just want it to work and Oracle is difficult to configure (true). I am currently working with one customer who is actually thinking of going to SQL Server due to performance issues on Oracle (their DBA had db_block_buffers set to 8192 - whatever). I can kind of see their point in that it is pretty frustrating when you are trying to do something, run a report, migrate etc. Oracle requires you to jump through a bunch of hoops and wait around. However you get some "salesman" or "admin" that sits down in front of SQL Server, points and clicks and something actually happens, it must be a real head rush for them after dealing with something as relatively cryptic (in their eyes) as Oracle. To some customers, Oracle seems like a "black box" and to get something done they have to go through a DBA and are sometimes met with frustration (I have heard some customer's joke that DBA stands for "Don't Bother Asking"). People skills might also be part of the problem. Personally, I love Oracle, It is a great product but I also intend to get my MCDBA -- these days you have to be very diversified.
Re: Some customers are deciding on SQL Server
Quote:
their DBA had db_block_buffers set to 8192 - whatever
:-) Last year at an Oracle meeting, a DBA told me about a company who ran on Oracle, they have asked him to get and check on why selects are slow. They did not have a single index in the database! A big DB. When he asked why, they said that indexes should not be used because "inserts and updates are very slow then" :-) Finally, they did not agree to index even a one table....