Choosing between Oracle and SQL ServerI have to decide between using the Oracle database and WebDB vs. Microsoft SQL Server with Visual Studio.This choice will guide our future Web projects.What are the strong points of each of these combinations and what are the negatives?Lori:Making your decision will depend on what you already have.For instance,if you want to implement a Web-based database application and you are a Windows-only shop,SQL Server and the Visual Studio package would be fine.But the Oracle solution would be better with mixed platforms.There are other things to consider,sUCh as what extras you get and what skills are required.WebDB is a content management and development tool that can be used by content creators,database administrators,and developers without any programming eXPerience.WebDB is a browser-based tool that helps ease content creation and provides monitoring and maintenance tools.This is good solution for organizations already using Oracl.Oracle also scales better than SQL Server,but you will need to have a competent Oracle administrator on hand.The SQL Server/Visual Studio approach is more difficult to use and requires an experienced object-oriented programmer or some extensive training.However,you do get a fistful of development tools with Visual Studio:visual Basic,visual C++,and Visual Interdev for only $1619.Plus,you will have to add the cost of the SQL Server,which will run you $1999 for 10 clients or $3999 for 25 clients-a less expensive solution than Oracle’s.Oracle also has a package solution that starts at $6767,depending on the platfrom selected.The Oracle.com suite includes not only WebDB and Oracle8i but also other tools for development such as the Oracle application server,Jdeveloper,and iWorkplace Templates,and the suite runs on more platforms than the Microsoft solution does.This can be a good solution if you are a start-up or a small to midsize business.Buying these tools in package si less costly than purchasing them indvidually.Much depends on your skill level,hardware resources,and budget.I hope this helps in your decision-making.Brooks:Itotally agree that this dicision depends in large part on what infrastructure and expertise you already have.If the decision is close,you need to figure out who’s going to be doing the work and what your priorities are.These two products have different approaches,and they reflect the different personalities of the two vendors.In general,Oracle products are designed for very professional develipment efforts by top-notch programmers and project leaders.The learning period is fairly long,and the solution is pricey;but if you stick it out you will ultimately have greater scalability and greater reliability. If your project has tight deadlines and you don’t have the time an /or money to hire a team of very expensive,very experienced developers,you may find that the Oracle solution is an easy way to get yourself in trouble.There’s nothing worse than a poorly developed Oracle application.Of course,there are trade-offs.The key problem I have with Visual Studio and SQL Server is that you will bu tied to Microsoft opreating systems and Intel hardware.If the day comes when you need to support hundreds of thousands of users,you really don’t have anywhere to go other than buying hundreds of server,which is a management nightmare.If you go with the Microsoft approach,it sounds like you may not need more than Visual Interdev.If you already know that you’re going to be developing ActiveX components is Visual Basic or Visual C++,that’s a warning sign that maybe you should look at the Oracle solution more closerly.I want to emphasize that,althought these platforms have their relative strengths and weaknesses,if you di it right you can build a world-class application on either one.So if you have an organizational bias to ward one of the vendors,by all means go with it,If you’re starting out form scratch,you’re going to have to ask yourself whether your organization leans more toward perfectionism or pragmatism,and realize that both “isms” have their faults.【譯文】往下－>Oracle和SQL Server的比較選擇我不得不決定是使用Oracle數(shù)據(jù)庫及其數(shù)據(jù)庫開發(fā)系統(tǒng)，還是選擇配有Visual Studio的Microsoft SQL Server.這個(gè)決策將決定我們今后Web項(xiàng)目的方向，這兩種組合有什么優(yōu)勢和劣勢呢?LORI：決定選擇哪種方案將取決于你目前的工作平臺(tái)。例如，假如你想實(shí)現(xiàn)一種基于Web的數(shù)據(jù)庫應(yīng)用，而且你的工作平臺(tái)只是Windows，那么SQL Server和Visual Studio組件就是一個(gè)不錯(cuò)的選擇。但是對(duì)于混合平臺(tái)，則最好選擇Oracle解決方案。還要考慮一些其他的因素，例如你可以獲得哪些額外的功能以及需要哪些技術(shù)。WebDB是一種內(nèi)容治理和開發(fā)工具，即使沒有任何編程經(jīng)驗(yàn)的內(nèi)容創(chuàng)建員、數(shù)據(jù)庫治理員和開發(fā)員也都可以使用這種開發(fā)工具。WebDB是一種基于瀏覽器的工具，有利于方便地創(chuàng)建內(nèi)容，以及提供導(dǎo)航和維護(hù)工具。這對(duì)于已經(jīng)使用Oracle的機(jī)構(gòu)則是一個(gè)很好的解決方案。Oracle比SQL Server更易于調(diào)整，但你需要身邊有一個(gè)稱職的Oracle治理員。SQL Server/Visual Studio方法相對(duì)來說較難使用，需要一個(gè)有經(jīng)驗(yàn)的面向?qū)ο蟮木幊倘藛T或一些全面的練習(xí)。但是，你只要花上1619美元就可以獲得許多Visual Studio的開發(fā)工具：Visual Basic，Visual C++，以及Visual Interdev。另外，你需要再加上SQL Server的費(fèi)用，1999美元就可以擁有10個(gè)客戶端，或用3999美元獲得25個(gè)客戶端—與Oracle的費(fèi)用相比則便宜些。Oracle也有一個(gè)組件解決方案，根據(jù)所選擇平臺(tái)的不同，費(fèi)用也不同，最低為6767美元。Oracle.com套件不僅包括WebDB和Oracle8i，還包括其它的開發(fā)工具，如Oracle應(yīng)用服務(wù)器、Jdeveloper和iWorkplace模板，該套件與Microsoft方案相比能運(yùn)行在更多的平臺(tái)上。假如你剛創(chuàng)業(yè)或是一個(gè)小型和中型企業(yè)，則Oracle套件是一個(gè)很好的選擇方案。以組件的形式購買這些工具要比單獨(dú)采購的花費(fèi)要少些。對(duì)這兩種方案的選擇主要取決于你的技術(shù)水平、硬件資源和資金預(yù)算。我希望以上所說的能對(duì)你的決策有一定幫助。Brooks：我完全同意對(duì)這兩種方案的選擇在很大程度上取決于你目前所配有的基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施和所具有的專門技術(shù)。假如很難做出抉擇，你就需要考慮由誰來做這項(xiàng)工作，以及你的重點(diǎn)是什么。這兩種產(chǎn)品采用不同的方法，并反映出這兩個(gè)開發(fā)商的不同特點(diǎn)。Oracle是為那些優(yōu)秀的程序員和項(xiàng)目負(fù)責(zé)人所進(jìn)行的專業(yè)化開發(fā)而設(shè)計(jì)的產(chǎn)品。學(xué)習(xí)時(shí)間較長，該方案的費(fèi)用也較高;但是你假如堅(jiān)持下去，最終就會(huì)獲得更好的靈活性，以及更高的可靠性。假如你的項(xiàng)目時(shí)間很緊，而且你沒有時(shí)間或金錢來雇傭一個(gè)花消很大、經(jīng)驗(yàn)很豐富的開發(fā)隊(duì)伍，你也許會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)選擇Oracle方案會(huì)很輕易使你陷入困境。沒有比開發(fā)一個(gè)質(zhì)量很差的Oracle應(yīng)用程序更槽糕了。 Microsoft所提供的解決方案則致力于快速開發(fā)和低成本實(shí)現(xiàn)。開發(fā)工具、服務(wù)器、以及你所需要的開發(fā)人員的花費(fèi)都比較少。若要使項(xiàng)目快速啟動(dòng)，選擇SQL Server和Visual Studio則是很好的方式。當(dāng)然，有得必有失。在使用Visual Studio和SQL Server的過程中，我所碰到的主要問題就是，只能使用Microsoft操作系統(tǒng)和Intel硬件。假如有一天你需要支持成百上千個(gè)用戶，你除了購買上百個(gè)服務(wù)器而外別無他法，這會(huì)給治理帶來很大的麻煩。假如你采用Microsoft方法，就表明你可能只需要Visual Interdev即可。假如你已經(jīng)知道你將開發(fā)Visual Basic或Visual C++里的ActiveX組件，這就是一個(gè)預(yù)示，表明你需要更多的來考慮Oracle的解決方案。我想強(qiáng)調(diào)的是，盡管這兩種平臺(tái)有他們各自的優(yōu)點(diǎn)和缺點(diǎn)，假如你使用正確，你用任何一個(gè)都可以設(shè)計(jì)出具有世界水平的應(yīng)用程序。假如你的組織傾向于某種產(chǎn)品，一定要跟隨這種趨向。假如你是從零起點(diǎn)開始，就需要問問自己，你的組織是更傾向于完美主義還是實(shí)用主義，并要清楚這兩種主義都有缺點(diǎn)。