My Book Has Been Printed

Well, it's taken over a year but it has finally arrived. I started writing the book back in Aug 2006. I finished in late Jan 2007 and the technical editor finished his work in March. Now, In Jan 2008, EnterpriseDB: The Definitive Reference is available. I'm glad I didn't wait for the movie. ;-) It's kind of ironic. Just this morning, I posted that I am working on my second book. My wife called me at work and told me two boxes of books had arrived. 2008 is turning out to be a good year. I'll have some additional news in the near future. Anyway, the book looks good. I've already found a few typos and grammar errors just skimming around. I like the font and the pages look really crisp. All in all, I have to say I am very happy that the book is out. Check out some photos: I think I want to give a couple away. Maybe some kind of contest for the blog readers. Any ideas of something fair? I am willing to pay shipping for a couple but that would only be here in the US. Overseas shipping gets expensive. LewisC

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Video: Combine multiple RSS Feeds Using Yahoo Pipes

I've been playing with Yahoo Pipes and creating some RSS feed aggregators. I decided to create a video showing how easy it is to create a pipe. In this video, I create a pipe that takes the feed from two sites, OraBlogs and OraNA. I join them together using a Fetch, I de-dupe using a Unique and then sort descending by publish date using a Sort. You can get the code for the pipe I created in the video here: Sorted Unique Oracle RSS Feed. You can see some others I have created also. Database Pipe, Oracle Pipe, Postgres Pipe, EnterpriseDB Pipe, DB2 Pipe, MySQL Pipe, New Orleans Pipe. To see the video, go to Blip.TV. Let me know if the video helps at all. Also, please let me know if there are other videos that you think might be useful. LewisC

yahoo pipes tutorial rss aggregator

Should Oracle Worry About Open Source Databases?

This is a blog entry at my blog on ITToolbox.com. Does Oracle have anything worry about from open source databases like PostgreSQL or MySQL? Charles Babcock, at InformationWeeks' Open Source Blog posts Why Oracle Should worry . In that entry he talks about FTD and how they recently switched from Oracle to EnterpriseDB for a reporting application and, according to Jason Weiss, FTD Software Architect, "EnterpriseDB enabled us to run our Oracle application at one-sixth the price of Oracle, freeing budget for other important initiatives. EnterpriseDB's fantastic technical support is also a refreshing change from what Oracle usually delivers." He even said, "Oracle should be terrified." That is bad. In one fell swoop, Oracle lost a client, to a competing database, who went very public about his dissatisfaction with both Oracle's licensing costs and it's support. In Oracle's defense, I have dealt with Oracle support for many years and have had pretty good results. I can think of only a single instance where I was completely unhappy with the results. In most cases, things were resolved quickly. No support organization gets it right every time. I personally think Oracle support does a pretty good job. Having said that, I have not liked Oracle's licensing for a long time. I think it is too confusing and too expensive. This is not just an Oracle issue. I think all of the major database players are too expensive and and most enterprise licensing schemes are too complex. If I could change anything about Oracle, it would be licensing. I think stories like FTD will become more common over time as EnterpriseDB, PostgreSQL and MySQL become more mainstream. Oracle does need to look at their licensing and make changes. Oracle does NOT need to worry on this score. If they adjust prices, modify the process and continue innovating, they will stay the number one database. Oracle has something else to be worried about and I think it is a much more significant threat. Recently, Tomax switched from Oracle to EnterpriseDB. Tomax is the leading provider of real-time merchandising and store execution applications and services. "EnterpriseDB allows us to bring the benefits of open source to all our customers, large and small, without sacrificing the quality or performance of our retail management solution," said Eric Olafson, chief executive officer, Tomax. "We are also extremely pleased with the outstanding technical support provided by EnterpriseDB. Thousands of smaller, retailer-owned food distributors and grocers now have an affordable way to realize the same labor cost savings and competitive advantage enjoyed by their larger rivals." You can finished reading this blog at Should Oracle Worry About Open Source Databases?

Marketwire: EnterpriseDB to Demonstrate EnterpriseDB Advanced Server 8.2 at OSCON 2007

EnterpriseDB will be at OSCON 2007: SVP, Product Development, Gary Long to Present "Techniques for Managing Distributed Software Development Around the World"

EnterpriseDB, the Oracle-compatible database company, will be exhibiting and demonstrating its flagship product, EnterpriseDB Advanced Server 8.2, at OSCON 2007.

EnterpriseDB Advanced Server is an enterprise-class relational database management system (RDBMS) that is compatible with applications written for Oracle. This means that applications written for Oracle run on EnterpriseDB without modification and Oracle-skilled developers can use EnterpriseDB without retraining. EnterpriseDB Advanced Server is based on PostgreSQL, the world's most advanced open source database, ensuring world-class data integrity, security, and performance necessary for enterprise environments. In addition, the total cost of ownership (TCO) of an enterprise database solution powered by EnterpriseDB Advanced Server is only a small fraction of the TCO of a comparable Oracle-powered solution.

LewisC

FTD Moves Mission-Critical Application from Oracle to EnterpriseDB

My blog about this topic at ittoolbox: EnterpriseDB goes mainstream The news release below has some very good information. Well worth a read. FTD Moves Mission-Critical Application from Oracle to EnterpriseDB Leading Floral Company Saves 83% Over Comparable Oracle Solution, Improves System Performance 400%; Oracle Compatibility Enables Rapid Deployment

ISELIN, N.J., Jun. 27, 2007 – EnterpriseDB, the Oracle-compatible database company, announced today that FTD (NYSE: FTD), one of the largest floral companies in the world, has selected EnterpriseDB to power the external reporting for FTD’s ARGO shipping administration system. A major factor in FTD’s selection was EnterpriseDB’s ability to run applications written for Oracle, which reduces migration costs dramatically. ARGO’s reporting subsystem originally ran on the Oracle database that supports FTD’s order-processing system, and was moved to EnterpriseDB with only minor changes. The EnterpriseDB solution cost FTD only one-sixth of the price of a comparably configured Oracle solution. It also enabled FTD to avoid costly hardware upgrades, driving additional cost savings at the company. More information about EnterpriseDB is available at www.enterprisedb.com.

EnterpriseDB’s compatibility with and easy-to-use replication from Oracle enabled the entire transition to be completed in only six weeks. The EnterpriseDB deployment was made in time to support FTD’s peak-volume Mother’s Day season, a week in which each day’s order volume averages between 20 and 25 times typical daily order volume. The load on the ARGO reporting system increases accordingly. Another advantage of EnterpriseDB’s Oracle compatibility was that FTD’s existing Oracle-skilled staff was able to use EnterpriseDB databases and tools without re-training. A whitepaper detailing EnterpriseDB’s compatibility with Oracle is available at http://www.enterprisedb.com/solutions/resource-center.do#whitepapers.

Ticketline’s Live Entertainment Ticketing

Another big win for EnterpriseDB. EnterpriseDB is over 100 customers now and growing. EnterpriseDB Supports Growth of UK’s Largest Independent Ticket Agency with Improved Database Reliability, Scalability and Performance EnterpriseDB, the Oracle-compatible database company, announced today that Ticketline, the UK’s largest independent ticket agency, has selected EnterpriseDB Advanced Server as the database platform supporting its core, mission-critical ticketing system. Ticketline chose EnterpriseDB for its ability to provide a robust and scalable enterprise database with 24/7 support at a cost significantly less than alternative solutions.

Tomax Supports EnterpriseDB

I like this news release from Tomax. It's the first I have seen with a more info button. This is also another big win for EnterpriseDB. In this one, Oracle bought a competitor of Tomax. So Tomax is not switching because they are dissatisfied but because Oracle, as it buys up companies and moves up the software food chain, started directly competing with them. I will write more about this later. Workforce Management: Tomax Supports EnterpriseDB For Retail.net Workforce Management Solution 7/18/2007 Tomax Corporation

Tomax, the provider of real-time merchandising and store execution applications and services, and EnterpriseDB, the Oracle-compatible database company, announced recently that Tomax will support EnterpriseDB Advanced Server for the Tomax Retail.net Workforce Management solution. EnterpriseDB Advanced Server is an enterprise-class relational database management system (RDBMS) that runs applications written for Oracle databases with little or no modification. Built on the open source database PostgreSQL, EnterpriseDB enables Tomax to offer a low-cost yet powerful solution to its customers.