Database port
Greetings:
We are seeking guidance and help in doing a very unusual database port.
The premise is that applications are the key to growing Linux on the
desktop. If you have no argument with that please read on.
MD-Linux proposes to be an effective alternative solution for MS-Windows
"fronted" enterprise applications, such as Financials that one might
find in a typical business, or a patient system that one finds in a
typical doctor's office, to name just two of the thousands of different
types of organizations that are or will be looking for Linux solutions.
To provide these solutions expeditiously, MD-Linux Scientific has
proposed to totally integrate an existing multi-dimensional (MD)
relational database with Linux so that Linux and the database are in
essence one, MD-Linux. That way thousands of existing enterprise MD
applications, after "rejuvenation" and recompilation, will run as Linux
applications in LinuxWindows or in a LinuxBrowser. Linux applications
will similarly be "rejuvenated" and recompiled so that they will use
the MD database file system.
The MD-Linux objective is simplicity through total integration,
something that I have termed LeanIT. In this LeanIT environment all
applications will meet the objective of using a database; having a piece
of information in the database once where it can be shared by all
applications and where all applications can be accessed via a common
tool without using ODBC or middleware tools like that.
We realize that this approach does not appeal to the typical big IT shop
with lots of IT staff and using this kind of solution may not appeal to
any of you Linux geeks reading this. That's fine. Please realize that
our target market is the smaller organization in which the regular staff
wants to be in control of the applications. That's why I used a
doctor's office as one of the examples. A typical doctor's office does
not have an IT staff. What they have is a need for applications.
Therefore I hope that you will not let your preference as a Linux geek
stand in the way of helping to devise a solution that can take business
away from BG3.
You must realize also that mine is not a grudge thing against BG3 at
all. It is a mater of wits. A matter of building a mousetrap that
users will like better than the MS mousetrap. Therefore, please
understand that it does not matter at all whether or not you like this
mousetrap. What matters is that you can help build this better
mousetrap that potential users will like and therefore will help grow
the Linux market.
To signify that I see this as an addition to Debian, MD-Linux would
become a sub-debian distro - debian-powerpc-md@lists.debian.org.
MD-Linux would be integrated with only one distro, the Debian PowerPC
distro. Since I have written an article "Perfect Pair - PowerPC and
Linux" for an upcoming issue of Linux Journal, it probably will not
surprise you that MD-Linux will not be offered on Intel. MD-Linux would
stay in sync with DebianPPC except that as an application server
platform, it could do so at a relaxed pace.
Some other issues:
1. This project is in the embryonic stage. Not much has been nailed
down yet, including the use of Debian, so make your pitch.
2. Our expertise is MD databases, we need DebianPPC help.
3. The MD database engine that we plan to use is proprietary and, as a
condition for its use, the source code has to remain in a controlled
environment making it impossible to use a development model like Linux.
However, meeting face to face in Lafayette or a place like that here in
the Mid-West to discuss this project is not a problem for me.
4. Within the MD-Linux source code, the result of taking Linux "wheat"
and MD "water" and "baking" that into "bread", the proprietary MD source
will be neither recognizable nor usable.
5. MD-Linux will be an Open Source product under the same license as
Debian.
6. I am in Mansfield Ohio which is about half way between Cleveland and
Columbus, Ohio, right on I-71 which may or may not become significant as
we deal with the restrictions in using the proprietary code. However,
if location becomes a hindrance, the project could be moved to a more
suitable location.
7. MD-Linux Scientific is envisioned as a non-profit that will have
education and research as its major objective and its "distribution"
will be geared toward educational institutions giving them the source
code that will enable them to teach the principle of multi-dimensional
databases.
8. I am a systems architect, an interface designer/ergonomist. I am
not a programmer.
I hope to get lots of reactions to this post. I prefer that answers be
in English and in line with my abilities to understand the issues.
However, if is requires techy language to make your point don't be
afraid to use it. I have been in this industry for more than 35 years
and during that time I have kept up on a phenomenal amount of issues.
If I can't figure out what you are talking about, I will get help.
Share this post with someone that you believe has the talent to make a
contribution.
Henry Keultjes
MD-Linux Scientific
Mansfield Ohio
Voice 419-525-1111
I am Dutch so I also read Dutch and German.
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