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Brendan Tompkins [MVP]

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Don't Hate Oracle Because it's Beautiful

I'm disappointed in all the Oracle criticism from the .NET blogging community. I'll list and number my reasons for you so you can just flame me by number:

It's the tools, not the database engine itself that really suck. Bashing Oracle based on installers, SQL +, or any other tool is like bashing your new BMW because all your wrenches are standard, not metric.
If you hate the installer, you probably shouldn't be installing Oracle in the first place. What's anyone other than a DBA doing installing any database anyhow?
If you hate the tools for design, get yourself a copy of ERWin. If you can't afford ERWin, you can't afford Oracle either.
No matter how fancy the IDE tools are, all you really need is a simple interface like Query Analyzer/SQL+ anyhow.
Oracle runs on multiple platforms.
Oracle has *always* worked, SQL Server has only really worked since version 7

Oracle won my heart when it worked, and worked, and worked, back when SQL Server just crashed, and crashed and crashed. Now, I use SQL Server 99% of the time, and yes, it's good. I love SQL Server too, but we’ve got to stop the Oracle bashing. I'm not against bashing software, but there's much better fodder out there if you're up for some good 'ol software bitching. Bashing something as respected as Oracle, just makes you look like you don't know what you're talking about, at least in the area of enterprise databases..

-Brendan

Published Dec 03 2004, 07:26 AM by Brendan Tompkins

Comments

Frans Bouma said:

100% agree!

# December 3, 2004 3:02 AM

Grant said:

Well said BT; I remember when Oracle was hands-down the superior choice (and you paid for it!). That's a funny link to the Lotus Notes dialog box from hell, too.

# December 3, 2004 3:58 AM

Jeff Atwood said:

I don't think anyone's disputing Oracle's credibility as a RDBMS system. It definitely works.

The real problem is that takes so much effort to do the *simplest* things in Oracle. You don't even have autoincrement columns, which I consider one of the most basic database features. Oh sure, you can do it, with an annoying sequence and stored procedure or trigger. But that's symptomatic of all Oracle's problems: too much work for the benefit.

SQL Server is pretty smart about optimizing itself. Oracle, on the other hand, *requires* a full time DBA to get decent performance. It doesn't do anything automatically.

Dunno, we use Oracle here as the corp standard and it does work. But the effort required is just way out of proportion.

# December 3, 2004 9:21 AM

Brendan Tompkins said:

Jeff. I agree that the payoff, now that SQL Server is nearly robust, is not there, but the Oracle Haters Club? It just doesn't deserve that.. I mean, it runs on how many platforms? That in and of itself deserves our respect!

# December 3, 2004 1:01 PM

Josh Pollard said:

Nice slam on Crystal Reports. I freaking hate that package. It could have been great, but it just keeps sucking more and more every version!

# December 4, 2004 4:11 AM

Not quite said:

"Bashing Oracle based on installers, SQL +, or any other tool is like bashing your new BMW because all your wrenches are standard, not metric."

No, it's like bashing your new BMW because the wrenches supplied with the car by BMW don't fit the car properly.

# December 5, 2004 11:34 AM

Brendan Tompkins said:

NQ- Um.. Okay. I'll give you that. But, if you're a real mechanic, you don't use the tools the car comes with anyhow! :)

# December 6, 2004 5:01 AM

anti-oracle said:

okay, i just have to mention the inability to insert empty strings into an oracle database. this is most definately a BUG which should be corrected. it is however treated as a 'feature' whos function is to infuriate anyone concerned with database design.

# January 18, 2005 12:19 PM

Shane said:

Correction: "Bashing Oracle based on installers, SQL +, or any other tool is like bashing your new BMW because all your wrenches are standard, not metric."

The correct analogy is bashing your BMW, because you are using a wooden club instead of wrenches, and the bat dung falling from the ceiling of the cave that you dwell in keeps dirtying the paint.

I believe in Oracle's performance, however, the Oracle team should be ashamed of themselves regarding the development tools. It's been more than 10 years and SQL Plus hasn't changed a bit. It's like performing heart surgery with a dull butter knife.

# July 21, 2005 4:04 PM

meatsock said:

I agree with Shane! First of all, if you are going to compare Oracle to a BMW, then let's get the design of the BMW correct:
Yes, it may have a nice engine (although a Porsche or Mercedes AMG would be a better anology), but the steering wheel is on the passenger side, the accelerator is located in the rear behind the driver's side, and the brake is located in the trunk. In order to release the parking brake, one must pull up the front interior carpeting, remove the floor plate, and using two guide wires underneath the carriage, pull them opposite directions simultaneously.
Perhaps Oracle could stop perpetuating the ivory tower IT mentality and buy some usabilty experts.

# July 22, 2005 5:11 AM

Mark J. Easton said:

The thing that confues me is why Oracle don't sort out the usability problem?

While the DB definately rocks, it's as though Oracle Corp. are determined to make Oracle as inaccessible as possible. Since improving Oracle's usability issues wouldn't need to be a massively expensive operation (perhaps 40 man years of design/development to start with) the only sensible conclusion I can come to is that Oracle Corp. want their product to be inaccessible.

While that obviously creates a lovely little earner for their consultatns, it's that sort of despotic behaviour that earns MS so much grief, which suggest to me that Oracle deserve some bashing, until they decide to invest in making their cash cow a more usable beast.

# September 21, 2007 8:27 AM

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About Brendan Tompkins

Brendan has been programming with .NET since the first public beta and is owner and operator of Port Technology Services, a consultancy company providing .NET application development services to the Maritime industry. In July, 2007, he was awarded the Microsoft MVP award for ASP.NET. He's also a proud co-founder of failed .COM startup Intrinsigo, and has had a hand in the failure of numerous other businesses. He currently runs CodeBetter.Com and Devlicio.us, and lives in Norfolk, Virgina with his wife Tiara and son Ian.