Re: [9fans] So, once I've got the OS up how do I...

[geoff@x.bell-labs.com]

Forgive me for pulling a Boyd or two.  This new-fangled RAM stuff is
crap; it can't even retain its contents across a power outage of a few
seconds, let alone hours.  Gimme that old core memory any day; I don't
need particularly fast memory (or processors).  That was *real*
technology.

I would hope that we wouldn't saddle Plan 9 with a Real Commercial
Database™.  In thirty years of programming computers, I've never seen
a problem that I thought would be better solved using a database.  The
Real Commercial Databases like Oracle seem to require massive machines
to achieve even mediocre performance, they lock up your data in binary
form, and require you to use some abortion like ODBC or SQL to get at
*your* data.

I can see the utility in using an index to look up a record quickly by
key.  This doesn't require a Real Commercial Database, however.  And
why would I want to have to fight my way through SQL or buy the
largest machine Sun makes or hire a full-time DBA to maintain schema
or pay an enormous licensing fee for the privilege?

Seriously, can anybody explain why a rational person would buy a Real
Commercial Database?  (`Because all the other lemmings are doing it'
isn't a sufficiently-good answer.)  I've been waiting 25 years for
such an answer and haven't got one yet.

- ye olde codger (what ever happened to VSAM?)