Odd times out there for Informix. IBM is currently doing an “11.7 Technical Roadshow” around the country. The Informix twitter account posts once or twice a day. The name “IDS” is now just “Informix”, and hasn’t included “DB2″ in the name for quite some time now. I don’t think it’s even “IBM Informix” anymore, but that depends on what page you visit on the IBM site, etc. I’ve been around the Informix world since 1995 – and I’ve seen the good, the bad, and of course, the ugly. What would I like to see now? The Informix community to recognize what is being done to promote the product. Is it enough? It depends on who you ask. But the gloom and doom chatter out there is getting real old in my opinion. To say “nothing is being done” is completely inaccurate, and seriously unfair to the core Informix crew at IBM that IS working hard to get the word out. Folks – “we” missed our window a long time ago. It started with our own “mini-Enron” long before the acquisition. Then it worsened with the “Gold Bundles” that were supposed to bring all the Informix clients over to DB2. But starting w/ IDS 10, we did a “World Tour” (where I was the technical speaker for the sales team across numerous countries – it about killed me. 
), 3 major releases have come out since 10 (11.1, 11.5, and 11.7) and a brand new architecture in the Informix Warehouse Accelerator, and a number of huge features brought over from XPS.
So – am I sad, angry, or disturbed that our “Informix world” may never claim it’s deserved place in the industry – of course. I think I’m more angry that “we” won’t all be able to retire doing Informix work. But (to be original) it is what it is.
What confuses me the most are the “gloom and doom” advocates – don’t they realize that their constant negative comments and complaining on CDI and other places do not help, but actually promote the negative impression even faster? What part of that is confusing? Folks – all I want is accuracy, and not one-sided, “all negative” comments. If you have ideas for helping promote – send them on. And remember – you CAN prop up Informix with good work like “Case Studies”, “Success Stories”, and the like. And those of you that know me well – you KNOW I am always trying to be honest, up-front, direct, etc. So save the feedback that I don’t want ANY negative truths to be spoken. But man – to ONLY post negative stuff? That’s just hurting the cause of Informix overall. And like I said – it’s getting really old to hear the same complaints. I have been busy doing Informix work since 1995, and it hasn’t stopped yet. I doubt that I’ll do Informix work forever, sadly enough. But I’m going to enjoy the ride while it’s here.
Informix fan
July 25, 2011
Amen!
Conor O'Mahony
July 27, 2011
Great post Mark. Very well said. You only have to look at the list of new product features added over the previous couple of years to realize that the Informix team is indeed hard at work (FlexibleGrid, Warehouse Accelerator, etc.). All this in a timeframe when Oracle has not had a product release. IBM has been focusing its investments in the product (rather than marketing)… like it does for most of its products.