Re: Database language

[Marc Truitt <mtruitt at uh dot edu>]

hi steve,

well, i've never really thought of myself as an 'IT bureaucrat' <grin>, 
but here's my take...

1)  an sql-compliant backend would be far more accessible for direct 
querying by those of us who would like to link-to or build interfaces to 
local data outside the ILS;

2)  an sql-compliant backend would be a far more flexible means of 
extracting reporting data from my ILS than the present black box, aka 
'create lists';

3)  data in an sql-compliant backend is more portable and thus far more 
likely (not guaranteed, but likely) to ease my migration headaches, come 
the day -- gasp! -- when i decide to pick up my marbles and go play in a 
different vendors ILS sandbox. i realize that it isn't III's job to make 
it easier for me to bail, but portability *does* matter nonetheless.

i'm sure that if i thought about it for awhile, i could come up with 
others; these are just off the top-o'my-head.

hth,

- m (aka 'IT bureaucrat') t

--
*************************************************************************
Marc Truitt
Assistant Dean for Systems                      Voice  : 713-743-8979
University of Houston Libraries                 e-mail : mtruitt at uh dot edu
114 University Libraries                        fax    : 713-743-9811
Houston, TX 77204-2000    [note new number!] -> cell   : 713-201-0351


"Well I left my happy home to see what I could find out
I left my folk and friends with the aim to clear my mind out
Well I hit the rowdy road and many kinds I met there
Many stories told me of the way to get there ..."
                                -- Cat Stevens
*************************************************************************


Metcalf, Steve wrote:
> I'd be interested in hearing a bit about what the benefits would be.
> My suspicion has been that this development is driven by IT
> bureaucrats writing an sql-complicance requirement into RFPs as a
> matter of policy.
>
> Steve Metcalf The Evergreen State College
>
> -----Original Message----- From: innopac-bounces at innopacusers dot org 
> [mailto:innopac-bounces at innopacusers dot org]On Behalf Of Adriene Lim 
> Sent: Monday, February 14, 2005 2:20 PM To: mtruitt at uh dot edu; 'IUG
> INNOPAC List' Subject: RE: Database language
>
>
> I would LOVE this if it happened!  WSU could gain all of the benefits
> of a fully functional, fully populated relational database, and using
> SQL, without having to use the "Oracle option," if this were done.
>
> - Adriene, WSU
>
>
>
> -----Original Message----- From: innopac-bounces at innopacusers dot org 
> [mailto:innopac-bounces at innopacusers dot org] On Behalf Of Marc Truitt 
> Sent: Monday, February 14, 2005 5:11 PM To: IUG INNOPAC List Subject:
> Re: Database language
>
> hi bill and zoltan,
>
> has this ever been pushed as an enhancement request?  is there any
> reason it could not be?
>
> how about a virtual show-of-hands from those sites on this list that
> would be seriously interested seeing Innovative migrate to an
> open-source SQL-compliant back end?
>
> UH would certainly support such an effort.
>
> - mt
>
>
> Bill Hudson wrote:
>
> > Hi Zoltan, I thought the same thing about the mysql migration after
> > IUG last year,
>
> but
>
> > my sales rep checked for me and says that's not the case. There are
>
> numerous
>
> > supporting databases in the system that are/will be converted, but
> > the
>
> core
>
> > dbase will not be converted. I was not happy to hear that as we
> > would love SQL compliance without having to pay for Mr. Ellison's
> > sailing hobby.
> >
> > If anyone has heard anything different from a reliable source, I
> > would definitely like to know about it. Thanks, BH
>
>
> > Bill Hudson, Manager Information Technology Services Library System
> > of Lancaster County 1866 Colonial Village Lane, Suite 107 
> > Lancaster, PA 17601 V. 717.207.0500 F.717.207.0500
> >
> >
> >
> > > -----Original Message----- From: innopac-bounces at innopacusers dot org
> > > [mailto:innopac- bounces at innopacusers dot org] On Behalf Of
> > > zoltan dot tomory at mobot dot org Sent: Monday, February 14, 2005 3:08 PM 
> > > To: innopac at innopacusers dot org Subject: RE: Database language
> > >
> > > Future plans seem to be that Millennium will be converted to a
> > > MySQL database based system over something like a five or ten
> > > year timeframe, phasing out the existing proprietary
> > > database/database language, if my recollections from IUG'04 are
> > > accurate.
> > >
> > > Writing their own database--that's gutsy! Changing a
> > > database--equally gutsy!
> > >
> > > One thing from the technical information was not clear to me: The
> > > Java Virtual Machine is platform independent & runs on a variety
> > > of platforms including Windows, Mac, and a bunch of others. So
> > > how come the Java clients typical of Millennium don't do Mac? The
> > > purpose of the JVM is to translate Java code to machine code of
> > > whatever platform there exists a JVM for with complete integrity
> > > & my understanding is that Sun, author of Java, has suffered to
> > > keep it so.
> > >
> > > Zoltan Tomory
> >
> >
> > ---