>>http://linux.oreillynet.com/pub/a/linux/2001/07/26/enterprise.html
>
>You know, its been on my mind, the certification issue. Actually I just sent away for the required information it would take me to become certified on Informix. Even tho its not Oracle, its still holds clout. and means something at the end of my name on my business card.
>Bob

Is it still called Informix? I heard that Informix sold to IBM:
http://www.informix.com/informix/blue/

Joe Lumbly wrote:
"The long-timers who have been invested in Informix for years are accustomed to having management shoot the company in the foot at least once a year. Last year, the stock dropped precipitously (from $20 and change to $2 and change) after accounting irregularities were made public. These accounting problems led to the ousting of CEO Jean-Yves Dexmier and the installation of Peter Gyenes in his place. This time it appears that Gyenes has missed Informix's foot and placed his shot squarely between the eyes. As a database company Informix is dead.

This is a fire sale, but nobody can find the fire. A little smoke maybe, but no fire. On the same day as the announcement, Informix announced Q1 revenues that were in line with Wall Street expectations. The stock price has crept slowly upward in 2001 as Informix continued to perform better financially, moving from a low in the mid $2's up to a high in the $8 range. Within minutes of yesterday's acquisition announcement, Wall Street took the stock from $7 to $5, a nearly 30 percent decline.

Looking at the numbers in the transaction, it's easy to see why Informix stockholders are enraged. IBM will pay $1 billion in cash for the division, or about $800 million after tax. For their $1 billion, they get about 2,500 Informix employees, including some of the best database development engineers in the business, about 100,000 customers, and a slew of valuable patents and other technologies. "

What will the 100,000 Informix customoers do?
My guess is that many are looking to switch to either MS SQL Server or Oracle or PostgreSQL. IBM may convince many Informix customers to switch to DB2.

It seems to me that the Informix USING customer base will steadily shrink. Even now, 100,000 is NOT a great customer base because there is little revenue coming from them, and new Informix sales stopped dead in their tracks. While programmers and db amins may find temporary work supporting 'legacy' Informix installations, there is no future in the work, and the number of 'help wanted' signs, already low, will decrease even farther. The laid off Informix db engineers would probably more than cover the support market.

Personally, I would choose a db with a future, like the three I mentioned above.
JLK