Toad (software)
TOAD is an Oracle administration and SQL development software, considered to be a de-facto tool of choice for Oracle DBAs.
Supported Operating Systems and Versions
TOAD runs on all 32-bit Windows platforms, including Windows 95, 98, NT, 2000 and XP. Hardware requirements are such that if you can run the operating system, TOAD will probably run. For backend connectivity you will need Oracle 32-bit SQL*Net and Oracle version 7.3.4 or later.
There is no support for any non-Microsoft environment. Instead, a Linux variant of TOAD had been developed, dubbed TOra (with no connection to Judaism).
History
TOAD was originally designed by a practicing Oracle developer, Jim McDaniel TOADman, in order to make his own life easier. He called it "Tool for Oracle Application Developers", TOAD for short. The tool was so useful that he made it available first as shareware and later as freeware, and distributed it freely over the Internet.
As the user base grew, so did the effort of maintenance and development. Finally, the author realized that he could no longer dedicate substantial amount of time to the growing quantity of software enhancement requests.
On November 9, 1998 Quest Software, a developer and distributor of a competitive TOAD's rival, SQL Navigator, suddenly announced the addition of TOAD to its family of database development and management solutions for Oracle.
Jim McDaniel, TOAD's creator, explained the move as: "I approached Quest Software because it is a great company with a commitment to quality products. They also have an outstanding reputation for customer support and a very loyal user following not unlike that of TOAD."
It remains to be the most successful Oracle database administration tool in the DBA community, despite Oracle's own software, such as Oracle Developer, SQL Station and many others, that proved their lack of flexibility or excessive hardware requirements, sending DBAs and developers back to SQL*Plus console.