I have to disagree with those who believe that a general purpose database
package is appropriate to *SM, and agree with those who say that staying
with the current database makes far more sense.  We all have enough to
do in keeping up with *SM PTFs.  Imagine also having to worry about a
whole regimen of maintenance for an accompanying database package.
No thanks.

However, there is some merit in the argument some have made that as to
having a db package with a set of utilities to manage and recover the
database.  Sadly, the database recovery facilities in *SM have been
utterly neglected, completely disregarded by product managers who don't
seem to care that enterprise customers are down for days recovering the
*SM database because the recovery tools are so incredibly inefficient.
It's always indifference to customer needs like this that cause the
customer base to start looking for alternatives, as is evidenced in
this database topic.

       Richard Sims, BU