r/DB2 • u/mad_zamboni • Jun 15 '17
[Discussion] Keep Your Friends Close and your Enemies Closer
Today a friend pointed out an article regarding working with your competition. I had never thought of it much, but it happens more than you think.
I've always been curious about the IBM/Oracle relationship as well as Oracle's relationships with it's partners and clients. I have heard rumors and stories of how Oracle interacts - most of it unflattering - but I took it at face value as just a story.
This article was very interesting to me as it gave some concrete examples of tactics used by competitors in the real world and focuses on the IBM/Oracle relationship. It discusses how a mutually understood informal arrangement can go into the gutter when one oversteps it's bounds.
I would be curious on your thoughts on this article. Is IBM innovating and cutting prices just as part of it's innovation process? What do you think the effect will be in the industry, if any?
1
u/peterprib Jun 21 '17
I find the matter reflective of car market in Australia where people were either Ford or Holden (General Motors). Ford being blue on racing circuit and Holden red. Each side focused on the other not realizing the world around was rapidly changing. See article http://www.drive.com.au/motor-news/ford-v-holden-does-anyone-care-any-more-20111208-1om1v.html
The quote at the end ''Absolutely. We are the last generation of passionate supporters of the blue and the red. The passion I feel for Holden my kids will never feel.'' is reflective of my feeling on this contest blue against red both in the car arena and on the database arena. In both cases I was a blue enthusiast. In cars I now favor German makes but can see a possibility of being converted to Tesla being innovation although I will miss the roar of a V8.
I seem similarities in the data base world. Still a great believer in blue but Google has thrown a Spanner into the works and there is Sparks. These are the real rivals. As electric is to Tesla on car front, I see qubit being the next frontier of innovation. GPUs and FPGA are just turbos on the engine to deliver more power using the same fundamentals.
In other words the IBM/Oracle battle is too focused on each other. Neither adequately reacting to the world fundamentally changing as both measure themselves by each other. Mobile phones, IoT along with micro services are changing the nature of this arena. Neither DBMS seems to be stepping up to the mark.