[dba-Tech] Dearly Departed Databases (R.I.P.)

Peter Brawley peter.brawley at earthlink.net
Mon Jul 18 14:59:45 CDT 2005


Those mentioned, plus a few understandably overlooked (Recital, 
Quicksilver, VpInfo, Sharkbase, dbMan), are listed at 
http://fox.wikis.com/wc.dll?Wiki~xbase.

PB

-----

MartyConnelly wrote:

> A couple of old mainframe database ported to the PC.
> Well Sybase was ported to the PC and became MS SQL Server. The SAP DB 
> that is now MaxSQL from MySQL
> was a 1990 code fork from ADABAS-D
> I go back to the Network ISAM DB called GIS (General Information 
> Services) for IBM 360's or IBM IMS.
> or Honeywell's IDS 2 (This was Codysl based) for GCOS or Multics 
> around 1978..
> I wrote a lot of Cobol for VSAM files which were single ISAM indexed 
> tables.
>
> Then I have written simple quadtree octtree and B* Tree databases in C 
> for simple Geographic Information Systems
> and grad database courses. PS these courses are very easy if you have 
> written a couple of commercial versions previously.
> Hey I was top of my class in one, of course it helps if nearly 
> everyone else dropped out. Went from 30 to 3 students at the end.
> Oddly enough 90 % of the class were Canadian IT based civil servants. 
> Most dropped out because the math was over their head.
>
> There is still a long lasting commercial C code,  B tree database that 
> uses these methods which has very fast and small footprint,
> CodeBase is from Sequitur Software in Edmonton.
>
> And who can forget Btrieve which formed a lot of DB products in the 
> 80's for 8086 PC's.
> Novell bought it then it slowly disappeared.
> Or ZIM an entity relational database written in Mid 80's by Mike Chin 
> a student of Codd.
> I think ZIM is still sold by Sterling or Stirling Software.
>
>
>
> Shamil Salakhetdinov wrote:
>
>> <<<
>> in particular with reference to Codysyl,
>>  
>>
>> The main CODASYL proposals based system for mainframes was IDMS (on the
>> West).
>> Was it ported to PC?
>> dbVista (Raima Data Manager) is also known as based on CODASYL 
>> proposals..
>>
>> Here in Russia (Soviet Union) in ancient now times of 80ies I worked 
>> in a
>> team,
>> which developed CODASYL proposals based DBMSs:
>> first for IBM 360/370, then for PDP11 and then for IBM PC.
>> The version for IBM370 was tested against IDMS and it was 
>> better/comparable
>> in the speed etc.
>> These all were success story projects, the application systems using 
>> these
>> DBMSe were developed and used in exUSSR but then Perestroyka-Glasnost 
>> came
>> and all that went nowhere because of economical chaos and uncertainty 
>> about
>> the future...
>>
>> Shamil
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Arthur Fuller" <artful at rogers.com>
>> To: "'Discussion of Hardware and Software issues'"
>> <dba-tech at databaseadvisors.com>
>> Sent: Sunday, July 17, 2005 3:33 AM
>> Subject: RE: [dba-Tech] Dearly Departed Databases (R.I.P.)
>>
>>
>>  
>>
>>> I forgot to mention that I did find these links:
>>>
>>> http://wwwdb.web.cern.ch/wwwdb/aboutdbs/history/cern.html
>>>
>>> and
>>>
>>> http://wwwdb.web.cern.ch/wwwdb/aboutdbs/history/industry.html
>>>
>>> but found them lacking, in particular with reference to Codysyl,
>>> hierarchical and network database history. Most of the PC history is
>>>   
>>
>> readily
>>  
>>
>>> available, at least in terms of birthdate (deathdate is another issue),
>>>   
>>
>> but
>>  
>>
>>> I am particularly interested in the chronology of the designs named 
>>> above,
>>> their progenitors, their lifespans, their utility, and their 
>>> demises. In
>>> addition to the same for the PC products I named as well as any others
>>>   
>>
>> that
>>  
>>
>>> achieved some popularity or at least reputations for excellence.
>>>
>>> Arthur
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
>>> [mailto:dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Arthur 
>>> Fuller
>>> Sent: July 16, 2005 7:28 PM
>>> To: 'Discussion of Hardware and Software issues'
>>> Subject: [dba-Tech] Dearly Departed Databases (R.I.P.)
>>>
>>> For some reason it occurred to me today to compile a list of 
>>> databases I
>>> once used (and perhaps more than once), once loved, and once even 
>>> deployed
>>> an app against. I tried a few googles on subjects approximating the
>>>   
>>
>> subject
>>  
>>
>>> but came up with nothing relevant.
>>>
>>> So I am proposing this tentative list -- not meant to be exhaustive, 
>>> but
>>> rather just OTTOMH... the ultimate goal being to compile a list of when
>>>   
>>
>> the
>>  
>>
>>> products went off the market, when the companies folded or were 
>>> sold, and
>>>   
>>
>> so
>>  
>>
>>> on. For the Brits on the list, let`s call it Desert Island 
>>> Databases. LOL.
>>>
>>> dBASE II... became dBASE III, begat dBASE IV (still Ashton-Tate, but 
>>> then
>>> Borland bought the latter and tried dBASE V and it went nowhere, IIRC).
>>>
>>> FoxBase begat FoxPro... was bought by MS and still exists, in radically
>>> different cloth.
>>>
>>> Revelation... lost track long ago... no idea what happened on this 
>>> score.
>>>
>>> Clarion... fabulous executables, dumb-ass language... no idea what
>>>   
>>
>> happened
>>  
>>
>>> to them.
>>>
>>> Paradox... is it still for sale... no idea.
>>>
>>> Btrieve... the history of this baby eludes me... seems to have 
>>> undergone a
>>> number of evolutions and buyouts but I have no detail.
>>>
>>> Knowledgeman... lost track more than a decade ago.
>>>
>>> InfoStar (this is really for the geriatrics in this list!). No idea 
>>> what
>>> happened here.
>>>
>>> (This list is obviously PC-centric, but I would love some contributions
>>>   
>>
>> from
>>  
>>
>>> those aware of the histories of various mini, midi and mainframe
>>>   
>>
>> databases.)
>>  
>>
>>> TIA to any and all who can contribute obituaries or documentation of
>>> reincarnations.
>>>
>>> Arthur
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>
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>>>   
>>
>>
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>>
>>
>>  
>>
>


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