Semi-OT: Database for "average" users

[billt-lxSQFCZeNF4 at public.gmane.org]

On Sat, Apr 30, 2005 at 12:09:21PM -0400, phil wrote:
>  From time to time I get into discussions about why people don't make 
> better use of database technology.  The fact that I've worked with it 
> for over 20 years probably makes me insensitive to some of the problems 
> most people (or small organizations) face when it comes to working with 
> -- and especially being introduced to -- DB systems.

The real problem is that a database is something that provides you a set of mechanisms to represent your data. It isn't anymore a solution than a hammer, a screw driver and saw is to the problem of homelessness.

What many DB people (me included) forget is that the real solution is how you use the database to store and retrieve data, and because most people have no clue how to do proper data modelling (or choose to forgo it because its a large initial cost) the resultant database designs are difficult to use and not extensible.

I can't tell you how many times I have seen datamodels with thousands of tables.Such designs are insane to understand, and thus difficult to use and very quickly become the biggest weakness of the company.

So why is databases not used more. People are scared of them.

Bill

> 
> Any general comments about database ease of use, or lack thereof, are 
> also of interest.
> 
Databases are not difficult to use. The problems that people try to solve with them are dificult to model. It is a case of blaming the tools for the incompetance of the one who uses them.

Bill

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