major@bbn.com (John Major) (06/19/91)
We are trying to establish a range of solutions for internal small-scale database needs, and have mostly Macintosh and mini/workstation-based UNIX resources available. The issues for us are pretty obvious, but I'm hoping that someone has already tread this path, and will have some sagely bits of advice to offer - well, flames are welcome, too, for entertainment. The most important issues for us are: . Cost - anyone done some comparisons of UNIX multitasking licenses, vs. Mac-based multiuser systems? The party line is that the latter will be much cheaper, but the Mac databases seem to always require a dedicated Mac for multiuser use. I'm interested in using what I've got installed, not buying more hardware. . Development effort - I've built some systems using Odesta's Double Helix, and, when you stay within its limits, I have a hard time seeing how a procedural language-based system could get up and running any quicker (I use UNIX and Mac C, sed, awk, shell scripts, etc., as well, so it's not a matter of prejudice...). So, if Odesta's the smoothest horse in town, just how much rougher is, say, Oracle under UNIX? . Performance - obviously, performance is hard to measure when you're comparing a Mac IIci to a Microvax 3600 with 20 users, and anyhoo, how big is the database? But has anyone had experience taking the same database system from one platform to the other, Mac to mini-UNIX, or vice versa? Thanks for the help - John Major major@bbn.com 617/873-8165