Cloud computing is disrupting many aspects of computing. One need only witness the manner in which online applications like Google Docs and Salesforce.com are disrupting entrenched competitors. Soon, cloud computing will significantly disrupt the database market, for the reasons explained below.

One of the most powerful arguments in technology is the price/performance ratio. Significant declines in price or significant increases in performance can result in disruption. When you get both price declines and performance increases, you get significant disruption. This is exactly what is coming to the database market.

The Past
Moore’s Law enabled the CPU to process data faster than the hard disk drive could get the data to the CPU. Because getting data to the CPU was the bottleneck, the database that solved that bottleneck would have a performance advantage.

The shared-disk database had two glaring …

I’ve had a few VCs ask how we compare to Hadoop and companies using MapReduce. With Google blessing MapReduce, it seems to be the cool new thing. I figure I’m going to have to explain this to VCs, so I might as well blog about it.

MapReduce is a process of dividing a problem into small pieces and distributing (mapping) those pieces to a large number of computers. Then it collects the processed data and merges (reduces) it into a result set. Hadoop provides the plumbing, so users focus on writing the query and Hadoop handles the dirty work of mapping and reducing. Such a query, using a procedural language like Java, is more complex than a comparable SQL query, but more on that below.

So what is MapReduce good for? It really shines when you want to summarize, analyze or transform a very large data set. This is why it is well suited to web data. Map reduce doesn’t utilize an index, so the tradeoff you need to consider is whether …

I’ve had a few VCs ask how we compare to Hadoop and companies using MapReduce. With Google blessing MapReduce, it seems to be the cool new thing. I figure I’m going to have to explain this to VCs, so I might as well blog about it.

MapReduce is a process of dividing a problem into small pieces and distributing (mapping) those pieces to a large number of computers. Then it collects the processed data and merges (reduces) it into a result set. Hadoop provides the plumbing, so users focus on writing the query and Hadoop handles the dirty work of mapping and reducing. Such a query, using a procedural language like Java, is more complex than a comparable SQL query, but more on that below.

So what is MapReduce good for? It really shines when you want to summarize, analyze or transform a very large data set. This is why it is well suited to web data. Map reduce doesn’t utilize an index, so the tradeoff you need to consider is whether …

Governments. Governance. Customers wins. And more.

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Governments
The Examiner provided a two part interview with Daniel Risascher, Office of the CIO, Department of Defense, on open source at the DoD, while Government Technology Magazine reported on how open source software and cloud computing can save government money. Similarly, The UK Conservative party delivered a paper on the future of open standards, open source, SOA and cloud for UK Government, while it was reported that Vienna to …

Following the launch of the Open Database Alliance some people have assumed that it is only a matter of time before MariaDB becomes the de facto replacement for MySQL.

That assumes that Oracle will allow the development of MySQL to stagnate, either deliberately or through neglect - something that we have expressed our doubts about, but even if that were the case it appears that the GPL (or more to the point MySQL’s dual licensing strategy) may restrict the potential for MariaDB.

Curt Monash recently raised the question of whether closed-source storage engines can be used with MySQL (and, by …

“… when you get the money, you get the power. Then when you get the power, then you get the women.” –Tony “Scarface” Montana

In the world of computing, first you get the users, then you get the applications, then you get the power. What do I mean by power? In a word “platform”. If the only way for users to get applications is through you, and the only way for application developers to get to users is through you, then you are a platform. If you continue to nurture and grow your platform, your company is immortal, it is a goose that will continue to lay golden eggs…as long as you continue to nurture it.

To get the users, you need to deliver immediate value. Once you achieve critical mass of users, the developers will start showing up, whether you want them or not. A good example of this was Myspace. They attracted so many users, that developers started providing extensions directly to users without Myspace’s …

The solidDB for MySQL database engine for MySQL may have lost its sponsor following IBM’s acquisition of Solid Info Tech but events at this week’s MySQL Conference and Expo prove the certified engines program is alive and well.

Not only has Oracle announced that its Innobase subsidiary has updated InnoDB transactional storage engine, but there is also a new member of the certified engines program.

Kickfire has recently …