From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S262993AbTJaEu0 (ORCPT ); Thu, 30 Oct 2003 23:50:26 -0500 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S263007AbTJaEu0 (ORCPT ); Thu, 30 Oct 2003 23:50:26 -0500 Received: from fluent2.pyramid.net ([206.100.220.213]:50051 "EHLO fluent2.pyramid.net") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S262993AbTJaEuY (ORCPT ); Thu, 30 Oct 2003 23:50:24 -0500 X-Not-Legal-Opinion: IANAL I am not a lawyer X-For-Entertainment-Purposes-Only: True X-message-flag: Please update my contact to send plain-text mail only. Message-Id: <5.2.1.1.0.20031030203917.01754ea0@fluent2.pyramid.net> X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Version 5.2.1 Date: Thu, 30 Oct 2003 20:50:21 -0800 To: Scott Robert Ladd , "Theodore Ts'o" From: Stephen Satchell Subject: Re: Things that Longhorn seems to be doing right Cc: Erik Andersen , Hans Reiser , linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org In-Reply-To: <3FA08C42.6050107@coyotegulch.com> References: <20031030015212.GD8689@thunk.org> <3F9F7F66.9060008@namesys.com> <20031029224230.GA32463@codepoet.org> <20031030015212.GD8689@thunk.org> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org At 10:57 PM 10/29/2003 -0500, Scott Robert Ladd wrote: >MySQL wouldn't need to be shoved into the kernel; a small, fast database >engine (one of my professional specialities, BTW) could provide metadata >services in a file system module. SQL is a bloated pig; an effective file >system needs to be both useful and efficient, leading me to think that we >should consider a more succinct query mechanism for any metadata-based >file system. I might add that Microsoft didn't invent the database-in-the-operating-system concept -- IBM has had that concept for years with the AS-400 line. Indeed, the announcement by Microsoft sounds like MS is really courting the business marketplace; perhaps it is willing to give up some markets to go after what it may view as its core customers. How many science/engineer types willingly use Windows as other than a window (pardon the pun) to a Unix-type system and as an office-productivity tool? One way Microsoft could "beat Linux" is to bolster its integration with business mainframes, providing data layering tools designed for business applications "out of the box" -- a task that Linux itself (the operating system) could never, and should never, do. If some company or group wants to put in the skull sweat and build a distribution that would do the deed, with kernel mods and userland support, more power to them. -- "People who seem to have had a new idea have often just stopped having an old idea." -- Dr. Edwin H. Land