From our perspective--and we deal with Sybase and DB2--there are too many applications out there which are packaged with Oracle.
It is a reality that we have to start supporting Oracle to use the applications our users want.

Image serves us well for two applications which are not going to be replaced "real soon".
But each day that goes by, madatory sharing of data across different platforms becomes more and more problematic, particularly if you consider that we need ESRI GIS data now for our Permit System.

We like neither the price nor the "support", but have to live with the reality of the viability of the infrastructure to support our applications.
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>>> "Wayne R. Boyer" <[log in to unmask]> 03/06 9:33 PM >>>
Could someone please explain to me why Oracle's database software is so
popular and expensive?  Are companies getting what they are paying for or are
they paying for a "name"?

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