Re: Wishing trolls away

In message <BGlpc.3459$wI4.383483_at_wards.force9.net>, Paul <paul_at_test.com> writes
>Anthony W. Youngman wrote:
>> I'd suggest downloading a commercial freebie and playing with it. Go
>>to www.u2ug.org and look for the links to the IBM download pages. The
>>denizens of comp.databases.pick are friendly if you need any help.
>
>OK I'm looking at: http://www-306.ibm.com/software/data/u2/
>What's the essential difference between UniData and UniVerse?
>It's not quite clear to me from the specs.
>
>I see they are both touted as "extended relational databases", that's
>guaranteed to annoy some on this list! :)

Like all "Pick" or MV databases, they are built on the same model. They are now both owned by IBM, although they originated and were written by separate companies. "Under the bonnet" they are actually quite different, with unique strengths and weaknesses, although they appear very similar to the user.

Your question makes about as much sense as "What's the essential difference between Sybase, MS-SQL-Server, and DB2?". They're all relational databases accessed via SQL. And indeed, jBASE, another MV database, is apparently one of the most "Codd and Date conformant relational database"s out there! www.jbase.com for a freebie evaluation version.

A bit of history - MV databases fall into the "licenced variant of the original" class, now mostly bought back by the original company, Pick Systems as was, now Raining Data. And the clones, most of which have ended up in IBM's hands as U2.
>
>> And yes there are various free(ish) Pick-style systems. I hesitate to
>>point you at them if you plan to do any performance comparisons,
>>because they're young, not yet version 1, and not yet really up to
>>strength.
>
>OK, I'll have a look at Maverick as well.
>
>Paul.

-- 
Anthony W. Youngman - wol at thewolery dot demon dot co dot uk
HEX wondered how much he should tell the Wizards. He felt it would not be a
good idea to burden them with too much input. Hex always thought of his reports
as Lies-to-People.
The Science of Discworld : (c) Terry Pratchett 1999