Other Issues

Highlights: SW Repository, 20% Off on Tools, IIUG Referrals, and More...

Welcome to the International Informix Users Group (IIUG) Insider! Designed for IIUG members and Informix user group leaders, this publication contains timely and relevant information for the IBM Informix community.

Contents:

1. IIUG Software Repository Update
2. Americas - Hurry! Save 20% on IBM Tools through May 19th
3. IIUG's 2003 Referral Drive Update
4. Edgar F. Codd, Father of Relational Databases: 1923-2003
5. NEW Webconference for IBM Informix Dynamic Server 9.4
6. Have You Had a SIG Today?
7. IBM Software E-Catalog, Including Informix
8. Useful Links
9. Closing and Credits

IIUG Software Repository Update

By Peter Wages, IIUG Software Repository Coordinator

The last four months have been very busy for the IIUG Repository! From Australia to Poland and points in between, IIUG members have contributed Informix shareware. Dave Snyder is back, Jonathan Leffler has provided updates to sqlcmd and rdslib and Art Kagel is continuously updating his very popular utils2_ak.

I would like to thank the following individuals for their contributions since I began with the Software Repository last December:

• Richard Harnden
• Thomas Horner
• Art Kagel
• Tony Kaser
• Ravi Krishna
• Jonathan Leffler
• David Snyder
• Robert Sosnowski
• Richard Thomas, and
• Doug Wilson

The following are the top ten downloads for April, 2003:

On a side note, there have been over 1100 downloads of IDS 9.4 in the IIUG Members Area since the new engine became available on March 25th, 2003.

Thank you for supporting the IIUG Repository! Please continue to help your IIUG and c.d.i. friends by emailing Informix shareware to software@iiug.org.

Americas - Hurry! Save 20% on IBM Tools through May 19th

IBM Informix customers in the Americas, IBM has reminded IIUG of the following offer, which was first covered by the Insider a couple of months ago:

Acquire a New or Renewal Informix License and Receive a 20% Discount on IBM Data Management Tool Licenses (expires May 19, 2003)

The Offer

For a limited time only, if you acquire a qualifying Informix Passport Advantage new or renewal software license, you will receive a 20% discount off the Passport Advantage Suggested Volume Prices (SVP) for eligible IBM Office Connect and DB2 Data Management tools.

Start and/or End Dates

Orders must be placed on or after November 19, 2002, but no later than May 19, 2003, by calling your IBM representative, or in the USA and Canada by phoning 800-IBM-CALL (426-2255). For more info, please visit http://www.ibm.com/software/data/informix/promos/informix_license.html.

Fostering IBM's Commitment to Informix

With this promotion, IBM offers a tremendous return on its customers' investment in Informix technology. Upon purchase or renewal of licenses or maintenance of Informix 4GL, v7.31 (or higher) or Informix SQL, v7.31 (or higher), IBM customers can save 20% on the latest versions of the following IBM Data Management Tools that will greatly enhance their Informix database productivity:

• DB2 Web Query*
• DB2 Table Editor*
• IBM Office Connect Web Edition

*Both DB2 Web Query and DB2 Table Editor have been recently certified with Informix Dynamic Server (IDS), versions 9.2x and 9.3x. IDS 9.4 certification is in progress.

IIUG's 2003 Referral Drive Update

Over 100 individuals have joined IIUG via the Referral Drive which kicked off just two weeks ago. In fact, due to this rate of growth, we have already added more than 1000 new members during this calendar year!!!

Our special thanks to the following individuals who lead the pack in number of referrals: Eric Chen, Bo Li, Hugo Dionisio, Bo Want and Bart Haccuria.

Keep it coming. The more of us in IIUG, the stronger we are!

For more information, please visit http://www.iiug.org/referral/.

Edgar F. Codd, Father of Relational Databases: 1923-2003

The San Jose Mercury News, of San Jose, California, posted an article announcing the departure of Edgar F. Codd on Sunday, 20 April 2003: http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/5676110.htm.

Mr. Codd, born in the United Kingdom, was widely considered to be the father of the relational database model. He published his landmark research paper in 1970 while working for IBM' Santa Teresa development laboratories in San Jose.

The article carries an interesting snippet regarding IBM's culture at the time:

"He believed that all the information in a database should be represented as values in the rows and columns of tables, and that no information should be represented by pointers or connections among records. And he wanted the system, not a person, to process a query, said Chamberlin."

"But support for the traditional database system within IBM was large, powerful and antagonistic. It was at a meeting of a high-level IBM technical committee that the relational model caught the attention of IBM chairman Frank Cary. IBM subsequently announced SQL/DS, its first relational product, in 1981. DB2, for larger MVS machines, was announced in 1983."

IIUG was saddened by Mr. Codd's departure, acknowledges his tremendous contribution and offers sincere condolences to his family and loved ones.

NEW Webconference for IBM Informix Dynamic Server 9.4

IBM has invited IIUG members to consider attending a webconference entitled "IBM Informix Dynamic Server 9.4 New Features" (L1841).

This webconference covers the new features and functionality of IBM IDS 9.4. Significant enhancements include: large chunk/file support, new buffer cache/LRU management, completely rewritten b-tree cleaning, and system administration features.

The IDS 9.4 new features bring a large number of performance tuning enhancements, application programming features, and an expansion of data replication functionality. The duration of this conference is 7.5 hours, 2.5 hours per morning.

Mark Scranton is the instructor and the price per student is $325 USD. For more information and registration please contact Jennifer Glass [jlglass@us.ibm.com].

Have You Had a SIG Today?

One of the more widely used services offered by IIUG is the Special Interest Group Forums. These are comprised of IIUG members who focus on a specific area of interest and they provide a vehicle to share knowledge and request help within that area of interest. For example, the LSDW SIG is for members who are specifically interested in all aspects of very large data warehouses, while "Retail" is for those using Informix products in retail environments, and Linux-Informix, as you would imagine, is for Open Source fans working with Informix databases. SIG's are fully recognized units of IIUG and they help influence IBM on product direction.

There is a total of 23 IIUG SIG Forums. The most active are IDS, Classics and Linux-Informix. Check them out at http://www.iiug.org/forums.

IIUG SIG Forums are open to all IIUG members. To participate via email, log in to the IIUG Member Area [http://www.iiug.org/members] and click on the "Subscribe to E-Mail Lists" button. This feature will give you the option to receive messages as they are posted or to receive a daily digest instead. To participate using your Web browser, visit the Member Area as well and click on the "Forums" button. On the Web you can actually do key word searches as all discussions are threaded and archived for later reference.

IBM Software E-Catalog, Including Informix

This electronic document is available at http://www.ibm.com/software/info/ecatalindex.php?S_TACT=103ABE50. At that site you also have an option to subscribe for automatic notification of updated issues. It is specific to various geographies and covers Australia, Brazil, Canada, Italy, Japan and the United States.

For Informix products, you must look under the "DB2" brand. IDS, OnLine v5.x, 4GL, I-SDK, Office Connect and others are listed.

Useful Links

In response to your input, we have created a new page on the IIUG web site containing all the links we used to include. Please find it at:

http://www.iiug.org/quicklinks.html.

Closing and Credits

The International Informix Users Group (IIUG) is an organization designed to enhance communications between IBM and its worldwide user community. IIUG's membership database now exceeds 17,000 entries and enjoys the support and commitment of IBM's Data Management division. Key programs include local user groups and special interest groups, which we promote and assist from launch through growth.

Sources:	IIUG Board of Directors
Editors:	David Smith, IIUG Board of Directors Jean Georges Perrin, IIUG Board of Directors, and Fred Hubbard, IIUG General Manager
For comments, please send an email to ug@iiug.org.