DBMS_SCHEDULER vs cron

[BeefStu]

Currently all of my DB jobs are either Shell or perl scripts that are excuted
through cron, since we are a UNIX shop. I know there is very sophisticated
scheduler software I can use instead of CRON but we don't use it so lets
not go there.

There is some talk about people wanting to use the DBMS_SCHEDULER to
kick off jobs as opposed to CRON. I know there are a lot of benefits to
the scheduler such as being able to chain jobs (if one fails dont do the rest), now it case excute scripts and PL/SQL.... but I think is very awkward to use.

Just wanted to get some opinions on what others are using and if they
can list the advantages or disadvantages of either method.

Thanks to all who answer.

[stecal]

cron is fairly bulletproof in terms of reliability, can't say the same about dbms_jobs and dbms_scheduler. Besides, if something fails, you generally want to know about it (sending email through UNIX is soooo much easier than through Oracle), and you may not want it to re-start or try again.