Jim Gray article on Next Generation Databases

[Jonathan Robie <jonathan.robie@datadirect.com>]

I thought this was a very seminal article:

http://www.acmqueue.org/modules.php?name=Content&pa=printer_friendly&pid=293&page=1

Precis:

> People and organizations are being buried under an unrelenting 
> onslaught of information. As a consequence, everything you thought was 
> true about database architectures is being re-thought.
>
> Most importantly, algorithms and data are being unified by integrating 
> familiar, portable programming languages into database systems, such 
> that all those design rules you were taught about separating code from 
> data simply won’t apply any longer. Instead, you’ll work with 
> extensible object-relational database systems where nonprocedural 
> relational operators can be used to manipulate object sets. Coupled 
> with that, database systems are well on their way to becoming Web 
> services—and this will have huge implications in terms of how we 
> structure applications. Within this new mind-set, DBMSs become object 
> containers, with queues being the first objects that need to be added. 
> It’s on the basis of these queues that future transaction processing 
> and workflow applications will be built.
>
> In response, databases are evolving from SQL engines to data 
> integrators and mediators that offer transactional and nonprocedural 
> access to data in many different forms. This means database systems 
> are effectively becoming database operating systems, into which 
> various subsystems and applications can be readily plugged.

Seems like an interesting starting point for thinking about the 
relationship between XQuery and SOA, and their relationship to other 
systems.

Jonathan