How you fall in love with SQLA?

[Former Member]

I know it is a weird question but I wanted to ask. Today I downloaded the trial version of SQLA and it looks fantastic. After seeing it I am thinking in many areas:

1. Career in SQLA
2. Using it in commercial environment.
3. Join active groups and mailing lists.
4. Certify myself.

Like others, I also come from Oracle/SQL Server camp. I want to know how you moved to SQLA and what are the reasons for you to start loving it. How you compare it and the Adaptive Server EnterpriseDB with Oracle and SQL Server?

How good is the concurrency and how stable is the database?

[Former Member]

@Breck: But why it is neglected? Is Sybase unable to market it properly? Is it not generating revenue for Sybase? Which RDBMS of Sybase is hot in the market and whose certification is demanding?

[Breck_Carter]

@RPK: I do not know the answers to your first three questions. As far as "hot demand" is concerned, the answer is Oracle. Your mind will turn to mush but you will get rich.

[Former Member]

@Breck: Hmmmm. Than why is Sybase selling it anyway. At least it must have a commercial edition for FREE. I wonder why people love not to reduce TCO and love to spend millions just to keep those DBAs happy.

[MarkCulp]

@RPK: There are three FREE editions of SQL Anywhere: Education, Developer, and Web. See http://www.sybase.com/detail?id=1068247 (this is for 11.0.1 but still applies to the latest 12.0.x release). Only the Web edition is free to deploy. The other two are for development and educational purposes only.

[Breck_Carter]

@RPK: Are you asking me why people buy Oracle? I don't know, why do people buy Rolexes? A: Because they have too much money.

[VolkerBarth]

@Breck: Time to re-launch www.sqlanywhere.ca?

[VolkerBarth]

FWIW, the following question deals with the same topip - enjoy: http://sqlanywhere-forum.sap.com/questions/40/why-should-i-use-sql-anywhere-for-my-next-project.

[Breck_Carter]

@Volker: You remember that? Gosh... April 1 is just around the corner!

[VolkerBarth]

@Breck: One of the best announcement series I'v ever seen! It's sad that it won't fit the stealth marketing approach:(

[reimer_pods]

SQLA came with developer IDE products we use (PowerBuilder, Power++). We've tried other products but came to stay with SQLA for all our application (since 1997). It's "invisibility" is a great advantage for our customers: in most cases they don't have any technical personnel for IT administration, and they won't need it for SQLA. Ease of use, continuous product development (a company "that does it the right way", as Breck states), a commited and knowledgable user community reinforced by Sybase team members, resonable pricing. What more do you need?

[former_SQLA_member1694868]

The short answer is "I lucked into it." I was in IT for a long time and switched jobs. I had no database experience other than installing MS SQL a few times, and migrating MS SQL to new hardware. The company I now work for produces an application that uses SQL Anywhere as the back end. Obviously without any other experiences it is tough for me to compare, but learning it has been and continues to be enjoyable.

In a short amount of time I was able to both make some trouble and contribute to development. I would attribute this a great deal to the syntax and logic of SQL Anywhere. Things make sense. The expectations are clear. It is intuitive. When I want to do something I do not know how to do, the answer most often ends up being close what I would have guessed.

It is reliable. Our customers have no DBA. We give them updates as we update and add features to the application, but we have not needed to do any maintenance on the DB other than when we want to upgrade from earlier versions or install EBFs.

The support has been amazing. This site, as well as the company's employees have been outstanding. I cannot say enough about how much the "community" and the company have impressed me and welcomed me.

I received some excellent advice in this question: http://sqlanywhere-forum.sap.com/questions/1100/how-would-you-suggest-someone-learn-sql-anywhere

This links to some certification information, but the latest SQL Anywhere version mentioned is 8 so I doubt how accurate or helpful it is: http://www.sybase.com/detail?id=1029991

[Former Member]

I fell in love with it after, like Volker, falling into supporting an app built on version 3 (1995). It didn't take long for us to notice how much more development work we were getting done instead of fighting with that other database!

Being extremely fond of producing actual results instead of mucking around with the most popular database, 11 years later I cringe at the thought that someone would make me change!

[VolkerBarth]

I started using SQL Anywhere in 1997 (with V 5.5.0) when our company introduced a 3rd party application based on SA and SQL Remote. Before, I had used MS SQL (4.2 and above) and Sybase SQL Server System X/11 (now ASE). We still are running both SA (up to SA 12) and MS SQL.

As a developer (and part-time DBA), I like SQLA more and more, just as I have the impression the product has always been - and still is - focussed on the right things. And I don't think any other RDBMS has such mature synchronization/replication technology as SA. Running SQL Remote since 1997 - and MobiLink for several years, too -, I guess I'm allowed to tell so.

Compared with SA, when doing MS SQL development, I usually miss a lot of handy stuff. Feel free to consider me biased:)

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But I agree with Breck's point of view: The "stealth" character is both an advantage and a disadvantage:

It may be fine for companies and OEMs to hide the DBMS their applications rely on, but it's bad both for once's reputation and for product decisions as too many folks and companies aren't aware of the product at all. Therefore, if you are about to buy a 3rd party database-based application you won't find too many that run on SA (or that are supported on SA officially). That's when you are about to yell: "Why don't you support this app on SQL Anywhere? It would fit very well!" - "Uh, what product you're talking of?"...