14/11/2012
Oracle Calls Out Microsoft over Vaporware Fantasy
Bob Evans, Oracle
Oracle headquarters
Feeling increasingly desperate that it has no real-world answer to Oracle’s hot-selling Exadata Database Machine, Microsoft is resorting to Greek mythology by announcing it will overthrow Oracle with a vaporware feature called “Hekaton” that won’t be available for at least two more years.
Under the dubious headline of “Microsoft In-Memory Move Challenges SAP, Oracle,” an article based on an interview with Microsoft exec Doug Leland about his company’s far-off in-memory plans appeared recently in InformationWeek.
Now, exactly how a product that won’t be around for another 24-30 months presents a ‘challenge’ to the world leader in databases—that would be Oracle—the article doesn’t say. But heck—we all love drama and competition, so let’s take a look at some of Microsoft’s claims about what it thinks will happen 2 or 3 years down the road.
In addition, Microsoft’s timing in releasing this hopped-up vaporware roadmap is puzzling: in Microsoft’s recent full-throated announcement of the availability of SQL Server 2012, the company made absolutely zero mention of in-memory plans.
On top of that, Microsoft’s claims seem to assume that Oracle will stand pat and not make any enhancements to its existing database technologies, its existing in-memory technologies, and its engineered systems that generate unmatched OLTP and analytics performance with Exadata and Exalytics.
I would submit that that’s an absolutely absurd contention—but hey, this is Microsoft’s fantasy, so let’s get back to that.
The article says, “Hekaton is the Greek word for 100 times, and Microsoft says that’s the design goal for the peak performance improvements it’s expecting. In early lab testing of Hekaton, Microsoft executives said they’re already seeing a 50 times improvement in transactional application performance.”
Okay, so far so good—in-memory technology has indeed shown enormous promise for many of the industry’s top software companies, and Microsoft’s strategic intent is certainly on target.
But then the article says, “When the technology finally reaches the market with ‘the next major release of SQL Server’ (the company offered no target dates for that step), Microsoft said it will fill in the last piece of an in-memory computing strategy that will have competitors beat.”
I certainly don’t blame Microsoft for expressing confidence in its abilities, but does that far-off claim sound like a detailed and plausible roadmap for CIOs who need to increase performance dramatically in the reality-based world of here and now?
And then Microsoft made an assertion that showed it’s playing with an empty hand:
