Oracle vs SQL Server

OK, while I'm really bad about approving comments (mostly because the platform makes it so painful), I do want to answer a few of them here real quick. First and foremost because this is bothering me. I've been in DBs for 15yrs now. It's not all I do, but it's certainly what I do best. So you guys don't have to remind me again and again that there's a difference between 'SQL' and 'SQL Server'. I'm fully aware of

OK, while I'm really bad about approving comments (mostly because the platform makes it so painful), I do want to answer a few of them here real quick.

First and foremost because this is bothering me. I've been in DBs for 15yrs now. It's not all I do, but it's certainly what I do best. So you guys don't have to remind me again and again that there's a difference between 'SQL' and 'SQL Server'. I'm fully aware of that. However, when writing long posts, it's nice to have your audience be able to follow along in the conversation a little bit. Once I establish that I'm talking about Oracle and SQL Server, I should be able to short it to SQL without getting spammed by people who have to have everything spelled out for them every time. I'm sorry that it confuses some of you sometimes, but learn to follow a conversation. I'm clearly not talking about the language. One fellow even said that the proper name was Microsoft SQL Server and that's what I should use. Well, sure, I suppose... but I don't see any of you getting confused when I just say Oracle. Oracle is a corporation. They make many products. Why have I never gotten an email telling me I should call it Oracle Database 11g every time? Could it be that you know what I'm talking about without me having to spell it out every... single... time? I've talked with devs and PMs at both MS (that stands for Microsoft Corporation) and at Oracle (that's short for Oracle Corporation) and none of us ever have any trouble keeping up with the fact that we're talking about DB platforms and not ANSI (that's short for American National Standards Institute) standards. So I'm pretty confidend that you guys can do it if you put your mind to it. Ok, I'm glad I got that off my chest.

Now on to the real topic. Some of you gave some really clear, lucid, well-thoughtout comments. And others called me names and contributed nothing to the conversation other than acrimonious fodder. That's fine. I won't be concentrating on the latter.

Some of the better comments were by the Oracle people themselves. And I'm not surprised... they're a bright bunch of guys and they can make their point without calling names.