Now that Mark Bixby has generously ported PostgreSQL to MPE, what are the
chances of being able to obtain support for this - preferably from HP, but
if not from elsewhere.

I mentioned to my manager that PostgreSQL had been ported to MPE and he said
that it wasn't worth considering using it unless there was support
available.

As to why I was interested in the possibility of PostgreSQL:

We are primarily an MPE-shop and nearly all our data is in Image databases.
We have written a variety of interfaces to access this data, including
client-server and web interfaces.

We are considering developing an application which would involve handling
large amounts of free-format text, as well as fixed format data.  We are
entirely happy holding the fixed format data in Image, but much less happy
about holding the free-format text there.

We would need to be able to classify parts of that text.  For example a user
might want to prepare a document which outlined course structure, with
information about various aspects of course structure. The contents of this
document would need to be stored in such a way that other applications could
retrieve and use either the whole document, or just parts of it.  We would
expect to develop a classification system for structuring the parts of the
document.

XML would seem to be a good way of structuring this data.  I've read a
little about XML but haven't used it yet.  But how could you store XML, in
particular, 'PCDATA' (free format text in this case), on an HP 3000?  I
understand that it is possible to do this in RDBMS, but I can't see how
Image, with fixed data item lengths, could be used to do this.

If anyone can suggest a way of handling structured text in Image like this,
I'd be very pleased to hear.

Chris Dunlop.

--
Chris Dunlop
MIS, ITCS, UEA, Norwich.
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Ron Seybold <[log in to unmask]> wrote in message
news:997r9l01sbr@enews2.newsguy.com...
> Hello Friends:
>
> When Donna Garverick drew attention to the Postgres open source
> database, she included a quote that drew me back to another
> comparison with Oracle -- a challenge with IMAGE which Oracle never
> accepted.
>
> In Donna's pointer to an ISP front page, the copy there touts the
> Postgres benchmark results against "proprietary" products, saying
> "Postgres, like the proprietary leaders, kept a relatively consistent
> output level all the way up to 100 concurrent users -- and that
> output was four to five times faster than the proprietary products."
>
> Back in 1994 Alfredo Rego travelled to the Greater NY RUG to wield
> IMAGE in a database shootout against Oracle, Informix and Sybase.
> Price-performance became an issue, and Rego challenged the Oracle
> folks and others to produce the costs of putting 100 concurrent users
> online using their database. Oracle and the others never delivered
> the data. Years later, Oracle threw in the towel on the 3000 market,
> saying 3000 users weren't buying enough. Little wonder: Cost is a
> real issue to 3000 managers.
>
> IMAGE/SQL isn't a perfect database. But it strikes me as being priced
> at about the same level as Postgres: free, when purchasing a new HP
> e3000. Perhaps mentioning this price level could help leverage some
> sales of the e3000.
>
> --
>
> Ron Seybold, Editor In Chief
> The 3000 NewsWire
> Independent Information to Maximize Your HP 3000
> http://www.3000newswire.com
> 512.331.0075 -- [log in to unmask]
>