1. Oracle
2. Microsoft SQL-Server
3. IBM-UDB
As generic SQL servers all of these products are nearly identical to each other in function and performance. I can tell you that as a programmer with more than 20 years experience that Oracle and Microsoft SQL-Server are almost identical to each other at the server application level. I work with both Oracle and MS-SQL almost every day.
I don't know exactly what California is getting from Oracle. An interesting question is: how many runtime licenses, how much assistance in application development, and what other software came with the deal? I can tell you that California DMV is a mess and the same is probably true for most other State Services in California that require good follow up like Parole, Courts, Welfare, and the like.
Oracle is a California based company and if Oracle can run the all computer operations across the State for $95M then as a California taxpayer, citizen, home owner, and patriot I would believe that we got a good deal for our money.
Gray Davis and the Democrats are at their worst when they try to use the legislative process to subvert the immutable laws of physics. As a Californian I would like to try giving Oracle a chance at providing a solution.
The Energy crisis in California is not over and if Simon and the Republicans want to get my vote they should be talking about how we are going to keep electricity flowing into those nice computers because all the software in the world will do nothing useful without electricity.
It is possible there is something going on at the University , College and Community College level.
There is a lot of computer upgrading occurring and they must be using one of the three databases.