NYCPHP Meetup

[Kenneth Downs]

Elliotte Harold wrote:
> Kenneth Downs wrote:
>
>> A sourceforge project does not a phenomenon make.  I guess when the 
>> banks and airlines have our data in the XML files, and I don't mean a 
>> few hybrid patchwork examples, I mean the hardcore permanent 
>> long-term stuff as well as the transactional support for the 
>> reservations we're making all day.  When that happens, we'll start 
>> picking the restaurants.
>>
>
> I've never said native XML databases will replace the old-school apps 
> like banking accounts that fit relational databases very well. What 
> they will do is enable new applications that simply cannot be built on 
> top of a relational database, applications like Safari (the book site, 
> not the web browser):
>
> http://safari.oreilly.com/
>
> There are others, mostly in publishing because that's the first area 
> where there's a large backlog of information and applications that 
> relational database vendors have been unable to serve. However other 
> companies will come online as they begin to realize they can manage 
> all their data with these tools, not just the the 20% of it that fits 
> neatly into rectangles. Expect to see more uptake in law firms, 
> advertising, media, education, government, and other sectors that have 
> large numbers of critical documents where order matters, duplication 
> is a fact of life, and normalization is not just a bad idea out 
> outright impossible.
>
> The relational model is a very powerful model, but it achieves its 
> power at the cost of restricting what it's possible to store. Other 
> models are needed for other applications.
>
Two words: document management.

-- 
Kenneth Downs
Secure Data Software, Inc.
www.secdat.com    www.andromeda-project.org
631-689-7200   Fax: 631-689-0527
cell: 631-379-0010