Open Source Databases Have Come of Age

"Client/server systems with SQL interfaces jockey for position against upstart NoSQL systems with intimidating (and exciting) new models for data representation, distribution and consistency. In addition, more than a dozen embedded and special purpose databases have grown up to serve the needs of applications too small or too agile to require a full RDBMS.

"When the Internet and World Wide Web finally went mainstream in the mid-1990s, new Unix-like operating systems running on PCs went mainstream too.

"Developers working on these systems had access to a wide range of development tools, but these platforms didn't initially offer anything like the mature, SQL-based and 4GL-based database frameworks common on traditional platforms of the time; commercial database vendors were in no hurry to remedy this situation. Ironically, several commercial RDBMS products were originally based on open source code developed by Michael Stonebraker's Ingres project at Berkeley."

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