Column Oriented Databases

Google is slated to launch its AppEngine web platform which would allow outside developers access to their BigTable Database Engine which is the distributed, column oriented database. There are alternate open source column oriented databases available including Hadoop and Hypertable. SimpleDB from Amazon also provides a similar service.

Comparing SimpleDB to Relational Databases -

"Today, many developers correlate the word "database" with Relational Database Management Systems (RDBMS). While RDBMS offerings provide deep functionality, for many use cases, they introduce more complexity (and more cost) than is necessary. Many developers simply want to store, process, and query their data without worrying about managing schemas, maintaining indexes, tuning performance or scaling access to their data. Amazon SimpleDB removes the need to maintain a schema, while your attributes are automatically indexed to provide fast real-time lookup and querying capabilities. This flexibility minimizes the performance tuning required as the demands for your data increase."

These developments are the first steps of the next leap in database technology. SQL might lose its position as the Dominant Domain Specific Language for Databases. The next step in the database would include graph oriented databases which would graphs as additional abstract connecting the columns. Also, Datalog, a logic programming based query language, could become mainstream.

A database which supports Streams, the core data structure in MirrorWorlds, and which can store and dynamically reorganize by Person (who), Place (when), thing/tag (what), Event (where) and helps querying using who/when/what/where constructs would be the next leap in database technology. The immediate application for this database would be news sites such as techmeme, buzz.yahoo.com, news.google.com, topix.net etc.