Sybase PowerDesigner 10 vs Oracle Designer 9i

[jkotan]

All,

Although I have 5 years experience as an Oracle DBA, I am new to Data Modelling, which my new job requires that I do. We currently use PowerDesigner 8.0 and, since Sybase is ending its life, we need to either upgrade or move to another product.

Since we are an Oracle Partner, we (like most everyone) have free licenses for Designer for Development work.

Sybase, on the other hand, is coming out with version 11 in the August/September 2004 timeframe and will offer an upgrade from 8.0 to 10.0 for $1,200. I could then purchase the Upgrade Subscription plan for another $1,100 to take me to version 11. So, that comes out to about $2,300, and we are a small business, so money counts.

I have data models for our databases and reports for the models in PowerDesigner.
I can buy and learn from a book on Designer pretty easily, as well as learn from Oracle's OLN (Online Learning Network).

We use Oracle Database 9i as well as 9iAS (and will look at certifying our products with 10g later this year). We are also looking at MySQL for some of our smaller products which do not require the power of Oracle so would need to have support for MySQL as well.

What do you folks recommend?

Thanks very much for your assistance!

Jim

 

[markrem]

Sybase PowerDesigner provides better support for Oracle 8i, 9i, and 10g compared to Oracle's own Designer product. Can you define your Oracle tablespaces as LMTs in Oracle Designer? No, but you can in Sybase PowerDesigner. The list of issues is pretty long.

Also, keep in mind Oracle Designer is terminal; the last new features were introduced in 10g developer suite version 9044 (summer 2004). I've been using Oracle Designer since version 1.2. I was real pleased with it for years.

-Mark

9i OCP

 

[bomayed]

markrem , I'm new in oracle , I went to oracle website and I found in the download section some development tools, such as designer 9i , is it a free tool?

 

[jkotan]

For internal Development purposes, Oracle Designer (as with all Oracle products including Portal, Collab Suite, RDBMS, AS, etc.) is free.

If you use it to work on products directly for external sources (i.e., a customer's ER diagram) then it costs.

Hope this helps.

Happy New Year!

Jim

 

[bomayed]

Thank you jkotan

 

[markrem]

Designer is not as free as implied by the earlier post. Here's a quote from the license agreement: "We grant you a nonexclusive, nontransferable limited license to use the programs only for the purpose of developing a single prototype of your application, and not for any other purpose."

You can produce a prototype of your client's data model using the free "developers license". If the client requests you polish the data model and submit to them as a contract deliverable, then you are obligated to purchase Designer. However, if the client rejects your prototype then you owe Oracle nothing (as I understand it.)

If unsure about licensing contact Oracle Sales. It's a free call.

MarkRem
OCP 10g/9i