[HACKERS] SAP-DB

[Don Baccus]

Hi guys,
>
> I've used the open source SAPDB and the performance is pretty damned
> impressive. However, 'open source' in application to it is somewhat
> deceptive, since you have to make it with SAP's proprietary build
> tools/environment.
>
> In my opinion, however, it would be worth closely auditing SAP DB to see
> what postgres can learn.

I downloaded it. The directories are two characters in length, the
files are numbers, and it is a mixture of C++, Python, and Pascal. Need
I say more. :-)


I swore I'd never post to the hackers list again, but this is an amazing
statement by Bruce.

Boy, the robustness of the software is determined by the number of characters
in the directory name?

By the languages used?

Have you considered that the development tools may
be abstracting out the directory names in their development environment?


Someone else dissed this release because you need their development tools.

Well, guess what big boys, the development tools are being released open
source, too. And SAP has a history of giving you sources (not fiche or
whatever) of their licensed technology so this is a fairly easy step for
them.

Not by the fact that SAP is a monster company, with a monster customer base,
with a DB engine hardly used over here but actually quite popular in Germany?

Quite popular in exactly the kind of enterprise environments that PG has yet
to crack and, if you dismiss this offering with silly hand-waving, may never
crack?

Have you ever heard of Adabas?

If you don't believe that SAP and SAP-DB are real, go talk to your fellow
Great Bridge employee Jan Wieck.

OK, I'll unsubscribe now ... I'm still a fan of PG, but not stupid enough to
dismiss a robust, industrial-strength RDMBS system based on naive and
uneducated criticism.

PG has a lot to offer, and the upscale is still amazingly positive judging
by the pace of development over the past two years. This is hardly a basis
for hand-waving SAP DB into MySQL-land, however. I like PG, I will continue
to personally use PG, and I will support SAP DB along with Oracle and PG with
OpenACS 4.x.

And I would expect most of my clients using that toolkit to use Oracle,
with SAP DB coming in second, and PG third ...

I'm not trying to demotivate or discourage the PG crowd. However, when you're
in a competitive battle the best prescription for getting your bell run is to
taunt and tease competitors who actually are in better shape than you.

And ... SAP DB is, in many ways important to the enterprise organization.

They may have an inferior page-locking concurrency scheme, I need to check on
this, but in many enterprise-level commercial environments this isn't such a big deal.
Since your (Bruce's) hopes for a wealthy future depends on GB IPO'ing which
will only come with significant penetration of the enterprise commercial environment,
I humbly suggest you don't write them off quite so quickly.

SAP is, after all, a very successful company.







- Don Baccus, Portland OR <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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