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> "SAN JOSE, CALIF. -- Whether the future of databases is the traditional,
relational and SQL model with XML technologies incorporated into it or a new
XML-based model is a matter of debate, according to panelists during a
session Tuesday at the Software Development Conference & Expo here."
>> Whatever one's doubts about vendors predicting futures for their own
tools, one can say they don't quit trying.
Claude,
If you'd been there, instead of relying on someone else's description, you'd
likely have a different opinion. Although that article mentions company
affiliations, this was not a "vendor panel". The panel members were not
invited as a representative of a specific company. In fact, one of the panel
members worked for a different company when invited to participate.
The panelists were invited as experts -- each has made outstanding
contributions to the software field. They've authored 17 books and dozens of
research papers. Their comments were not motivated by the need to
"represent".
Rick Cattell, for example, was the founding chair of the object database
consortium (ODMG) and he's a Distinguished Engineer at Sun (not exactly an
SQL database vendor). He wasn't ambiguous at all in forecasting a continued
dominance of SQL technology.
The topic was the future of software and databases. The panelists were
selected because of their background and continued involvement in the field.
Besides founding ODMG, Rick was the original enterprise Java architect. Don
Chamberlin is the co-designer of SQL and he, Daniela and Jonathan Robie gave
us Quilt and were integral to the creation of XQuery. Jim Gray literally
wrote the book on transaction processing and was the 1999 Turing Award
winner. Jim Melton has been the editor of the SQL standard since 1987, a
member of the XML Query WG, and a moving force behind SQLX.
You'll be able to listen to the panel and form your own opinion whether the
panelists were trying to advance a company agenda. It's going to be
available on Technetcast (www.technetcast.com).
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