Free Oracle Database?

[dee-u]

I have read about it in the newspapers, has anyone heard about it too?

[dglienna]

While it would be a cool way to payback MS for dumping SQL 2005 on millions of people, I can't see Oracle doing the same thing. Let me know if you download any version of it. I've never gotten close to anyone that actually was running it.

[dee-u]

I'm interested to play with Oracle database, if they have something free then it would be great...

[Merrion]

Yup - free as in "tell you what I'll do, I'll make the first hit free and when you want some more, just come back to me..."

You may not:
- use the programs for your own internal data processing or for any commercial or production purposes, or use the programs for any purpose except the development of a single prototype of your application;
- use the application you develop with the programs for any internal data processing or commercial or production purposes without securing an appropriate license from us;
- continue to develop your application after you have used it for any internal data processing, commercial or production purpose without securing an appropriate license from us, or an Oracle reseller;
- remove or modify any program markings or any notice of our proprietary rights;
- make the programs available in any manner to any third party;
- use the programs to provide third party training;
- assign this agreement or give or transfer the programs or an interest in them to another individual or entity;
- cause or permit reverse engineering (unless required by law for interoperability), disassembly or decompilation of the programs;
- disclose results of any program benchmark tests without our prior consent; or,
- use any Oracle name, trademark or logo.

[mendhak]

Can we put it in a cupboard along with all the good china for when the Queen visits and decides she wants a, erm, backend?

[ducky]

I don't know about 10g, but Oracle had previously provided personal editions of 8i and 9i you could download and use. The personal editions would install on a workstation and was good for as in this case a developer to get to know the database for free. I think in 10g they don't call it personal edition anymore but is still available, must be what your reading about. Think of these as similar to MSDE for Sql Server, a limited version of the real thing, but useful to developers who can't afford the real thing.

[si_the_geek]

It sounds as tho the above can only be used for developing tho, whereas MSDE etc can also be used for production (subject to conditions of course!).

[dglienna]

Sounds like Bait-n-Switch to me.

[kaihirst]

Nop its actually correct.

Oracel are giving away their 10g express edition to all... The express edition is a superb wy to learn how to use oracle a the full suite is over 8GB in size and is a complete administrative nightmare and, whle the express edition is not as good for the stuff the ful suite is, it is superd for developers, home use and developers starting to use larger data warehouses that SQL Server is no good for.

http://www.oracle.com/technology/sof...ite/index.html

There you go peeps.. Enjoy it..

Kai

[dglienna]

Are Oracle beta's any better than MS beta's were? I gave up with MS beta's years ago, and want to know opinions before installing it on my server.

[jmcilhinney]

Just note that there is a Lite edition and an Express edition. I didn't bother reading to see what the difference is but presumably there is some. The Lite download page mentions nothing about being a beta while the Express page does.

[kaihirst]

Hi,

first off.

The betas on the oracle side are MUCH better than microsoft as for databse computing and business solutions, Oracle wipe the floor with EVERYBODY and theres no arguements with that one... NONE AT ALL PEEPS..

Second.

the differences wetween the express editions and beta and lite editions.

Lite.

The lite editions is really meant for users witha tiny server, little uses for a databse, and little procurements to atain copies of SQL server like it should do. Its uses are restrictive, and are meant for the home office really. Developers nood steer clear, youll probably run out of uses within a short while and the instance is well embedded as with all oracle products. Its good dont get me wrong, but with the release fo the epress 10g theres little use for this now...

Beta edition.

The 10 g release 2 beta is there to give you the experience of the full package including the enterprise edition, enterp[rise manager, grid computing, secure databse activity over a large scalse network, RAC, ASM, and all the wonderous components that are available with teh 10 g ful server client system, and is much larger than the express editions and much harder to get to groips with and should only be used if youre gonna plan on upgrading to teh full server system. Much to say thta even if you arent and you want to try adn get experience in the business grid computing, you wont.

Its a nightmare to set up even one instance of oracle, then maintaining it is even harder, and you have to have very deep knowledge of grid computing and databse entworking to utilise and experience such a system. for the most of you... DONT TOUCH IT.. You probably dont have enough HDD space, virtual memory, or even working application memory space to install it, let alone run it...

Express...

This was released as presently there is a grey area in teh databse network. Access is the smallest giving the home and small business users a chance to secure records safely, but wil only handle so much, then theres SQL server, its big brother, no explanation needed apart from once you hit about 1 million records, if starts to fall over. Ther is nothing beyond that other than oracle. Now oracle has a reputaiton for being BIG... And it is, then full 10g system measureing in at 10GB, neediong 1735MB of virtual paging just to rin and instance of ASM. Very few peeps other than owning the new IBM or a solaris sparcs 9x procesor servo system will be able to handle this. In short Very few businesses can.

So oracle brought out the 10g express editions for two purposes. 1 was to aided developers get to grips with oracle grid computing and the databse server while utilising the immense sevices that it offers to developers, and let me tell you.. It suceeds admirably..

the 2nd is for businesses that arent large enought to prcure a 40k solaris 9x server nor have enough resources nor the manpower to maintain such an infrastructure, therfore it is to utilise and aide business in betwen the 1 million records and upwards, more secure needs and larger more specific database grid computing that SQL server cannott provide.

Again it suceeds admirably in this too.

REcommend to anybody get the express edition and NOT the beta. Its an experience youll all enjoy adn in sure that SZlamany, TEchnome and (probably) Si_the _geek will agree with me on this.

Any more questions. Buzz

Hope this helps you guys

Kai

[Merrion]

Elbow:

• The joint or bend of the arm between the forearm and the upper arm.
• The bony outer projection of this joint.
• A joint, as of a bird or quadruped, corresponding to the human elbow.
• Something having a bend or angle similar to an elbow, especially:
• A length of pipe with a sharp bend in it.
• A sharp bend in a river or road.

There are a number of enterprise class database servers - Oracle, SQL Server 2005, SQL Server 2000, IBM DB2 , Sybase ASE etc.
Choice is nearly always driven by the enterprise itself and based on licensing cost and performance - the "bang for your buck" principle.

The 10g Express (beta) is licensed to 2006-01-31 only and may not legally be used beyond that point.
10g Express developer license is subject to the restrictions listed above.
10g Standard Edition (single processor) costs €4248.00
10g Enterprise Edition costs €34,020.00

So - when you (as a developer) have written your application with the free Oracle you need to add over 4 thousand euro to get a production license for it. Of course if you have a dual core chip you need to multiply that cost by 1.5...

Whereas if you develop your application with SQL Server 2005 Express it is free to use (in your production apps) and free to distribute. It can grow to 4GB before you need to upgrade to the workgroup version which has no databasae size limit. Also if you have a dual core processor it counts as one processor.

[kaihirst]

Hi,

first of all can I add to this that the worload guvnor in MSDE and SQL Server Express has been removed....

Now youre on about using an express edition to freely distribute applications developed for the biggest database system in the world which would negate even the possibility of having the reson to purposely buy the server system itself, which is ludicrous, but a valid point in itself.

What Miriam nolan said to me (my oracle suport agency manager for my business and good friend I'd like to add....) is that when the release seminar was held pre release to teh 10g system (to which I attended) was that there was a grey area for developers working freelance that wanted the opportunity to develop with oracle, and not have to pay the going rate just for the opportunitty to do si, which is where the express edition comes in, to give them the experience and knowledge to do so.... Which is what the Express, Lite and beta editions allow( see my post above..) with restrictions..

Now youre talking about 1 and two processor editions and such that the fee for applications will double, bare in miond that youre talking about an application that will cost around £10-11K (based upon your figures.) now this is the going rate for a EUL based upon the oracle databse, as its not ment for the average joe blow office suply company with 2-3 thousand clients, and baring in mind that the average developer who has "paid his dues" and toiled over learning Java to write such an applicaiton to teh magnitude that oracle demands, can indeed charge this and business that need an applicaiton such as this, will indeed pay it.

The standard charge for My company to come and look at or quote for an oracle system is (60-80K) to suport it and train staff, youre talking about a hel of alot of money and , companies that have and need the recourses wil pay it..

comapnies wil also indeed pay around 10-12 grand for an applicaiton solution for their counter-mounted front end for their mounted instance (database for those at home...for those who did know...sorry) witin the oracel installation. Not to mentiaon that thes company already wil have spend 8-9K ona solaris sparcs processor server. So indeed the cost is justified, youre just not thinking big enough, or not thinking in terms as large as oracle...

So what your tallking about cost wise on applicaiton development is wel justified and thank you for pointing that out.. But indeed in instance is negated by the relative size of the backend you are placing context on.

Dglienna...

I run a full solaris sparcs 9x procesor with the following

Oracle 10g enterprise edition release 2
Oracle 10g developer edition release 2
Oracle 10g enterprise manager release 2 (Grid CPC enabled)
Oracle 10g application server release 2
Oracle 10g web application server release 2

The solaris proxy is dedicated to oracle, and I do believe I am stil the only Development comapny in the UK that has this (due to the cost...)

I would be happy to field any questions you may have on Oracle, or send you any documentation such as manuals if youd like. Weve had some meaty discussions before!!!!!, and would be happy to furnish you with any information you require on this...

Hope ths helps

Kai

[dglienna]

Thanks, I'll keep it in mind. If this version is only good for a month, I don't know if I'll install it, as I haven't even gotten SQL 2005 up and running, yet. I'll see what Oracle sends me before I will cancel my account, but doubt that I'll be doing anything with it in the near future.

[si_the_geek]

SQL server, its big brother, no explanation needed apart from once you hit about 1 million records, if starts to fall over.

Really?? I guess you are talking about a particular version of SQL Server and/or a particular hardware configuration. SQL Server DB's can get well into the TB zone, assuming the right hardware is available.

Several large instances are listed on http://www.tpc.org , which shows that SQL Server generally gives more 'bang per buck' than Oracle

REcommend to anybody get the express edition and NOT the beta. Its an experience youll all enjoy adn in sure that SZlamany, TEchnome and (probably) Si_the _geek will agree with me on this.

I'll hold judgement for now - I may have a look if I get time!

Now youre on about using an express edition to freely distribute applications developed for the biggest database system in the world which would negate even the possibility of having the reson to purposely buy the server system itself, which is ludicrous, but a valid point in itself.

Actually this is a discussion about free databases, which many of our members want to use for "small-scale" applications which they intend to distribute. Your points are valid for enterprise level solutions, but the important point for this thread: is there a free to distribute solution available from Oracle?

[techgnome]

Hey now... don't be putting words into my mouth.... I've no experience with Oracle, expres, beta or otherwise. And as for SQL Express, I haven't had the chance to play with that yet either.... so along with si, judgement is reserved. I'll need to wait and see what it does for me first (I hate things that do too much.) And we've had problems withe SQL Dev 2005 saving things in Unicode when it shouldn't, and breaking our processes.

-tg

[kaihirst]

is there a free distributable version of oracle?

Si.. If ther was, id ask why the F**kin hell hav i paid £45K for my servers and when do I get a refund!!!! LMFAO

Unfortunately.. no there is not a clear distributable version of Oracle, nor will ther prablably ever be anytime soon unfort'