Re: Java vs .NET was: RPGIII compiler vs Visual Basic

> You have a lot more practical experience than I do Joel.  I am just a
> recent .NET school grad with a lot of big ideas!  I simply dont see
> the point in an organization running more than one database.  They all
> do the same thing, so settle on one and be done with it.

Sigh.  Vendor A sells a product running oracle as the backend db.
Vendor B sells a product running DB2 as the backend.  If I care to run
both products in my company at the same time, I have to utilize the db's
that they support, and often have to write interfaces that move data
between the different databases.  

Often, a company will buy another similar company that uses completely
different databases and software.  It can be very expensive to fix
things that aren't necessarily broken, so mandating one database in that
situation seems a bit ridiculous.

It's quite a Utopian vision you have that all products and programs
should utilize one database flavor.  I suspect each database vendor
would quibble with you in your assertion that all databases 'do the same
thing'.  Certainly their main purpose is to store and retrieve data, but
I know you will find major differences in how well each offering
supports things like transactions, stored procedures, backup and
recovery, scalability, cost and performance.

I suppose you prefer microsofts SOL server over all others?  

> -Steve

Regards,
Rich