Google Fusion Tables to compete with Oracle?
6 July 2009
This article titled
Watch Out Oracle, notes that Google has made a new cloud-based
DBMS called “Fusion Tables”. It looks like fluff and not a
real DBMS:
“Specifically, Fusion Tables has been built to
simplify a number of operations that are notoriously difficult in
relational databases, including the integration of data from multiple,
heterogeneous sources and the ability to collaborate on large data
sets, according to Google.”
This sounds like marketing babble to me, and it’s
clear if Google Fusion Tables is a “real” database management system.
The
Google blogs note that they don’t even seem to understand the
difference between database management and data replication, two very
different concepts:
“Without an easy way to offer all the
collaborators access to the same server, data sets get copied, emailed
and ftp'd--resulting in multiple versions that get out of sync very
quickly.”
When you strip-away all of the marketing,
Google’s “Fusion Tables” appears to be little more than a data
editing and replication mechanism, a far cry from a “real” DBMS:
“When you edit the data in place, your
collaborators always get the latest version. The attribution feature
means your data will get credit for its contribution to any data set
built with it.”
In sum, this Fusion Tables appear to be a flash
in the pan, a dressed-up replication mechanism posing as a real
database management system.
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