--- title: "The SQL Server usability advantage" url: "https://osherove.com/blog/2004/7/29/the-sql-server-usability-advantage.md" canonical: "https://osherove.com/blog/2004/7/29/the-sql-server-usability-advantage.html" published: "2004-07-29T19:13:00" updated: "2004-07-29T19:13:00" tags: [".Net Original"] author: "Roy Osherove" description: "OK. I'll say it here - I fear Oracle a bit. I know it is psychological - or isn't it? this post from Lee Dise had me smiling: “... But backing up Oracle always struck me like trying to walk a cow to a different pasture…" usage: "Licensed under CC BY 4.0 — reuse, quote and adapt with attribution (Roy Osherove, link to the original page)." license: "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" --- # The SQL Server usability advantage By Roy Osherove July 29, 2004 In [.Net Original](https://osherove.com/blog/category/net-original) **Historical article** · Originally published July 29, 2004; technical details may be outdated. OK. I'll say it here - I fear Oracle a bit. I know it is psychological - or isn't it? [this post from Lee Dise](http://weblogs.sqlteam.com/leed/archive/2004/07/27/1798.aspx) had me smiling: “..._But backing up Oracle always struck me like trying to walk a cow to a different pasture by butchering it, wrapping all the parts in grocery-store plastic, trucking it, and then re-assembling the cow.  I mean, don't these things walk?  It's a tribute to all the Oracle DBAs out there that anything ever gets accomplished in Oracle.  Oracle DBAs ought to have their own soundtrack, like the selections from Khachaturian's “Sabre Dance“ played for all those plate-spinners and jugglers that used to be on the Ed Sullivan Show.  (“Da-da-da-da da-da-da-da daahh-da-da-da daahh-da-da-da...“) ...“_ Call me crazy but I think the fact that SQL server is such a breeze to handle (usability wise) is one of the most important things. what good is a monster if you can't(or find it really hard or intimidating) make it work for you? I'd Rather have a “Monst” that does the job **and** listens to me with a wagging tail. BTW: one thing I'd really like in SQL server that I know Oracle has: Identities that are unique across multiple tables (I can't remember the right word for that now ). I feel that the fact that Oracle seems to actually make it hard on people to maintain the database easily without hiring a monster trainer for the most simple tasks shows neglect and lack of user listening (or on the other hand shows greed “You want maintenance? we'll sell you some”). Am I crazy? BTW: the post I'm referring to does not necessarily talk about how great SQL server is. In fact - it talks about an annoying flaw. But the following bit from that post also cracked me up at 1.22 am (while my wife is asleep): _“Question:  If the DBMS knew you were approaching the end of your rope, why didn't it say something?  My working hypothesis is that it's kind of like when your wife wants you to take out the trash, but all she says is, “The trash can is almost full.“  Not, “Honey, will you please take out the trash?“  Her objective is not to get you to take out the trash; rather, it is to improve you, the husband, morally and spiritually -- while at the same time getting you to take out the trash.  You're supposed to infer, based on the facts she's provided, that you need to do it.  I say, this is more like training than housekeeping.  My wife insists that she must therefore be a very poor trainer.  But trust me, she's keeping score.“_ ## More in .Net Original [All posts in .Net Original](https://osherove.com/blog/category/net-original) - Aug 13, 2004 ### [Add-in Contest winners announced!](https://osherove.com/blog/2004/8/13/add-in-contest-winners-announced.html) - Jul 31, 2004 ### [My upcoming lecture schedule](https://osherove.com/blog/2004/7/31/my-upcoming-lecture-schedule.html) - Jul 21, 2004 ### [ADO.Net talk went great](https://osherove.com/blog/2004/7/21/adonet-talk-went-great.html) - Jul 19, 2004 ### [Unit Testing scalability and performance](https://osherove.com/blog/2004/7/19/unit-testing-scalability-and-performance.html) --- ## About the author **Roy Osherove**: Senior Solutions Architect at AWS working on AI for production and AI-driven development; author of The Art of Unit Testing and Elastic Leadership, with about 20 years of consulting and training on unit testing, TDD, team leadership and continuous delivery. ### Sites - [RobotPaper](https://robotpaper.ai/): This blog: AI patterns and anti-patterns, AI and coding agents, and engineering leadership. - [osherove.com](https://osherove.com): Roy's personal site. Author of The Art of Unit Testing and Elastic Leadership; consulting and training on unit testing, TDD, team leadership and continuous delivery, plus about 20 years of blog posts. - [The Art of Unit Testing](https://www.artofunittesting.com): The Art of Unit Testing, 3rd Edition (Manning): readable, maintainable, trustworthy unit tests, plus TDD workshops in C#, JavaScript, Java and Kotlin. - [5whys.com](https://www.5whys.com): Roy's writing on software team leadership: self-organizing teams, surviving chaos, learning mode and the Elastic Leadership model. - [Pipeline Driven](https://pipelinedriven.org): Continuous delivery and DevOps practices: build patterns, pipeline-friendly testing, DevOps metrics and enterprise DevOps. - [Elastic Leadership](https://www.elasticleadership.com): Elastic Leadership, Roy's framework for software team leaders (survival, learning and self-organizing modes). ### Social - X: https://x.com/royosherove - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/osherove/ ### Contact - Contact form: https://forms.gle/jQSx5KoXvrVA1JCK7 ### License Licensed under CC BY 4.0 — reuse, quote and adapt with attribution (Roy Osherove, link to the original page). License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/