Wednesday 17 August 2011

R is for Innovation

I'm pleased to note that Teradata just announced a plugin for the R language.

As many of you will know, PostgreSQL has supported server functions written in the R language for many years. So its good that Teradata has seen the light at last and by doing so has validated the innovations that PostgreSQL has made.

That means the list of databases that have responded directly to innovations in PostgreSQL, now extends to Oracle, Informix(Illustra), SQLServer, Sybase, DB2, Teradata. Of course, MySQL have been trying to catch up for a long time,

That pretty much is the complete set. Cool. Well, almost.

I'm intrigued as to what NoSQL vendors think will happen next. If their core values are simplicity then what new features can they add without going back on their core philosophy. Austerity isn't something you can have more of, is it? Let's wait and see what happens when the VC runs out.

PostgreSQL really is in a leadership position with regards to database innovation. And I'm happier than ever to be part of this phenomenon.