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From: markd@rtech.UUCP (Mark P. Diamond)
Newsgroups: comp.databases
Subject: Re: Databases - performance vs. price
Message-ID: <3200@rtech.rtech.com>
Date: 17 Jul 89 19:57:25 GMT
References: <1554@unccvax.UUCP>
Sender: news@rtech.rtech.com
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From article <1554@unccvax.UUCP>, by cs00chs@unccvax.UUCP (charles spell):
> Currently there are multi-user database packages that are in the 5 digit range.
> I have seen single-user  packages for almost  nothing.  It seems to me that any
> decent programmer could come out with a DBMS that is comparable to the 5 $digit
> multiuser DBMS (using  single-user algorithms  and a centralized DBMS process). 
> 
> Why has this not been done? I plan on attempting this feat soon. It seems to me
> that using a single, centralized process(using efficient single-user algorithms
> to manipulate the data) to communicate  with client processes via  IPC could be
> done by one programmer.
> 
> Whatcha think?

You must be joking!  Certainly a competent programmer could write a "database"
which mimicked a small subset of the functionallity of a real RDBMS, running
on a single machine.  But that is hardly why people buy real databases.

Will the "database" you plan on writing have true transaction support?  Multiuser 
support for hundreds of users?  True concurrency control?  Support SQL and other 
query languages?  Contain embedded language preprocessors?  How about
report writers?  Will it contain application generators?  Do good optimization?  
Support a forms package?  What about user interface?  Graphical interfaces?  Oh, don't 
forget about adding distributed capability.  And that brings up portability: will your 
"database" be able to operate on a wide variety of hardware and operating systems, and
allow applications written on one system to be transported easily onto another?   
How about networking functionality?  Will your "database" even be a relational database,
with a relational databases simplicity in managing data?  Finally, one you have these 
features in your database, how will it perform?  If it is anything like many of the 
"bargain" databases on the market, most likely abysmally.

Most of the $5-digit database you alluded to contain literally many hundreds
of man-years worth of effort, and come with training and support.  If you have a 
very simple application one of these smaller databases may work perfectly well for 
you.  On the other hand, if you have anything more than a simple application, when 
you calculate the functionality you get, and how much time that product will save you 
in managing information, those $5-digit databases are the real bargains.

Mark <>
Mark P. Diamond    {sequent,mtxinu,sun,hoptoad}!rtech!markd markd@rtech.com 
I'll tell you what the numbers are as soon as you stop asking me what the
numbers are.