Oracle and SQL Server: Myths and Realities

Myth: Oracle is an industry thought leader for Grid Computing.
Reality: Grid Computing is the latest "fad marketing" campaign launched by Oracle in conjunction with its Oracle Database 10g release. This is similar to its "Unbreakable" and "Internet" marketing campaigns for previous versions. In reality, Oracle was not even a member of the various industry groups focused on Grid computing research such as the Globus Alliance and the Global Grid Forum, until 2003 when they initiated this marketing campaign. Microsoft has been a collaborator and sponsor member for many years and is involved in defining standards for Grid computing. Oracle has only just joined the crowd.

The following links provide examples of classic implementations of Data Grids that have been operational long before Oracle marketing initiated its Grid campaign.

Myth: Oracle Database 10g is Grid-enabled and is widely adopted.
Reality: Oracle's purported Grid enablement in 10g is based on its Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC) technology that is no more than a local cluster. RAC is a local cluster of computers with no geographic distribution capabilities. This marketing campaign relabeled existing features to exploit current industry trends.

Myth: Oracle's pricing adjustment will eliminate a major cost advantage for Microsoft SQL Server.
Reality: 32; The only change in pricing made by Oracle is for its relatively new Standard Edition One. Oracle's Standard and Enterprise edition pricing has not changed. Nevertheless, the Oracle Standard Edition is still three times more expensive than SQL Server 2000 Standard Edition, and Oracle9i Enterprise Edition is twice as expensive as SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition from a pure per-CPU licensing perspective. This is not even counting features such as integrated security, PKI, network packet encryption, OLAP, and management features that are standard options in SQL Server 2000 but only available as extra-charge options in the Oracle database.

Compelling differentiators in favor of SQL Server 2000 include extensive integrated functionality, platform and tools integration, lower long-term total cost of ownership, and ease-of-use advantages that lead to significant time-to-market gains in application deployment.

Myth: Oracle Database 10g is more secured than SQL Server 2000 and has more security certifications.
Reality: 32; Oracle Database 10g does not have any security certifications. The certifications quoted by Oracle are for version 9i, 8i, and 7. These versions are obsolete and no longer available for sale to customers (see the Oracle Store). SQL Server 2000 has the National Security Agency's C2 rating, making it the only "current" database that has undergone security certification.

The following are the number of security bulletins/advisories published for each database in 2002 and 2003.

Myth: The "shared-nothing" approach to database clustering in SQL Server 2000 is not viable and no customers are using it.
Reality: Shared-nothing clusters are intended to provide boundless scalability to customers whose requirements exceed the capabilities of even the most powerful servers today. This represents less than 1 percent of the database industry. Additionally, fewer than 5 percent of database customers require servers that have more than eight processors. That said, when this capability is needed, SQL Server delivers.

Myth: Oracle is delivering unique, integrated Business Intelligence features that help organizations make better business decisions faster.
Reality: SQL Server version 7.0 pioneered the integration of Business Intelligence features (for online analytical processing, or OLAP, and data warehousing) with an enterprise database product. SQL Server 2000 extends these capabilities with integrated data mining. Microsoft is acknowledged by industry observers such as The OLAP Report as the fastest-growing provider of OLAP functionality. Oracle's uncertainty in its Business Intelligence strategies continues even with its latest 10g database release.

Myth: Oracle10g simplifies database management and increases database administrator productivity with smart self-tuning.
Reality: 32; Oracle is late to the game in recognizing that customers want databases that are intelligent enough to manage critical resources and perform routine tuning automatically. For several releases, SQL Server has had the capability to automatically tune itself based on run-time conditions. As a result, SQL Server requires little, if any, tuning by a database administrator; memory, file sizes, and the I/O subsystem are a few of the items SQL Server manages on behalf of the administrator.

Oracle has only just begun to explore self-tuning with the addition of wizards in its management tools. SQL Server first implemented wizards more than six years ago and is years ahead of other vendors with its dynamic automated resource management and tuning capabilities. Additionally, many management tools and utilities that come as standard features in SQL Server are extra-charge options in the Oracle9i database.

Myth: Oracle provides all the necessary enterprise security features built in, not bolted on, and has a long list of security certifications.
Reality: Oracle does not even provide basic security features such as integrated security for single sign-on, network packet encryption, Public Key Infrastructure, or Kerberos as a standard feature of the database. These are available only as extra-charge options and only for the enterprise edition of the Oracle database. SQL Server 2000 has all of these options as standard features built into the database.

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