They don’t. Not one thing. I don’t buy SQL Server, I get it for free. My clients and customers buy it, so maybe they care. You might think that would mean I care, but I don’t. I have no interest in listening to folks at MS tell me that they raised prices but are *still* cheaper than Oracle. I just don’t. They eliminated Datacenter edition? Whatever.
Here’s what I care about: standards.
I want people using database tools and products to have a similar experience. It’s one of the things I can’t stand about NULLs, there are no standards applied to third party vendors that make default connections to data sources, which leads to no end of confusion for end users. It sucks, and I’m mad as hell.
Here’s an example for you. Apparently there is a difference in the default auto-commit settings between Oracle and MSSQL. Can someone explain why that would be the case? You know what, I don’t care why, it doesn’t matter. What I want is for such things to be standard. If I have to be the SQL Server admin and I get an instance of Oracle shoved down my pants then I should have a fighting chance at supporting it, and vice-versa. So why don’t we have some standards regarding transactions, logging, recovery, etc.? Is that too much to ask?
Most people aren’t going to care about these licensing costs, regardless of platform. What they care about is ease of use and standards. They care about known expectations. The difference in a few dollars per core means nothing to the average DBA. They care about performance, administrative overhead, and ease of use. They care about standards and configurations and being able to recover data that is erased by accident.
I’m sure the CFOs and CIOs in the world quibble over the price of the technology, but I am equally sure that those CFOs and CIOs are so far removed from doing actual work that they don’t appreciate the little things, such as an auto-commit setting, and how much money it will cost them to get things back on track. What money? Well, how about the hours lost for your admin (that you decided didn’t need any extra training) that needs to recover from an end-user mistake? Care to add those hours up? Probably not, that is the type of thing to get swept under the rug, especially when you want to show your boss how well everything is going.
If it is really too much to ask for some type of standards, then can I at least get some frozen yogurt?
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