At 12:20 AM 9/25/2010, Scott Marlowe wrote:
>On Fri, Sep 24, 2010 at 9:56 AM, Steve Atkins <steve@blighty.com> wrote:
> > Again, you'd need to run them on comparable hardware and tune
> them both well.
>
>Actually I'd argue that pgsql gets better hardware since you can spend
>the money you'd spend on oracle licenses on hardware for pgsql. At
>$20k per cpu on oracle (or more if you need clustering, GIS, or a few
>other features) you can buy a pretty damned impressive pgsql server to
>compete.
>
>But definitely don't put pgsql on an old workstation and expect it to
>keep up with a real server running oracle that's been tuned properly.
I think Oracle usually gets better hardware, since if Management
wants Oracle, the expensive hardware doesn't look so expensive next
to it :). Whereas if Management gives you a tiny or zero budget, most
sane people don't go for Oracle (even though there are "first dose is
free" options). So your options then become Postgresql on an old
workstation ;).
BTW what often comes up in these comparisons is "support", many
companies say paying them lots of $$$ is better than OSS because it
gives you the advantage of being able to access their online
knowledgebase and experts.
But too often the reason why you need their experts and knowledgebase
in the first place is because they've locked most of their info
behind that paywall.
In contrast with OSS, you typically can go straight to the info
(warts and all) - e.g. the source code, the usually public mailing
lists discussing the problems and so on. And so far with Postgresql,
you can still get straight answers from the developers directly. No
bullshit. Not sure how well this will scale if Postgresql gets really
popular though.
So go for the stuff if it's technically better and the difference is
worth the expense. But unless you're paying enough so that a
developer will wake up at 3am, drink coffee and fix the bug for you,
I don't see an advantage in terms of support. Just do your tricky
critical postgresql stuff at times when the postgresql team are most
likely to be reading the lists...
Then again, does Tom ever sleep? Maybe he sleeps in the afternoon? Or
is that when he does intensive coding?
:)
Link.