Very Computer

    Does anyone know if the Linux version of Oracle 8 is free?  The FAQ
on their site has a statement along the lines of "we feel that people
would in fact be willing to pay for quality linux applications, blah,
blah..", but all you have to do is register with their mailing list *
to get straight to the download section.  It's such a huge download
though, I wanted to see before I download it if anyone knows for a fact
that it's free (and not a time-limited trial or something).

->     Does anyone know if the Linux version of Oracle 8 is free?

I don't know.  But I do have a response anyway.

Oracle is a very powerful SQL server, at least on a Solaris machine.
I think that Oracle is probably right that people would be willing to
pay money for their server.  Even in the Linux / *BSD market.

On the other hand, Linux typicly runs on light weight machines rather
than the heavy iron of the big servers that Solaris will run on.  On
such a machine, I wonder just what advantage Oracle has over Postgre.
Maybe a lot, maybe not so much.

I'm not sure what Oracle's best strategy would be.  Clearly a version
for Linux that is cheap enough (or gratis) so that future db admins
can play with it on Linux would be useful for educational and
promotional purposes.  Also, Oracle currently derives essentially all
its revenue from high end SQL servers.  Big customers work out deals
directly with Oracle regarding CPUs, connections, users, etc.  Oracle
can't afford to lose that revenue stream.

Neither can Sybase for that matter.

Watch and see what happens.

--
David Steuber
http://www.david-steuber.com

s/trashcan/david/ to reply by mail
If you don't, I won't see it.

ROMEO: Courage, man; the hurt cannot be much.
MERCUTIO: No, 'tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church-
        door; but 'tis enough, 'twill serve.

There is a 30 day trial version of Oracle available for free, but the full
version is not free.
The costs are about the same for the Linux version as for the other
platforms.
There is some pricing information available on Oracle's web page.

Warren Rodie