Don't you sometimes wish that accessing database data were
easier, and you didn't have to deal with such things as OLE DB,
ODBC, and JDBC�that you could use just one uniform approach to
access the data regardless of the location and type?
Yes, but I don't see how any of the data access mechanisms
listed have anything to do with the problem as each serves a
different application domain.
Well, guess what? You won't have to wait too much longer to see
this dream become reality. All major vendors are not only working
on this issue seriously but have already started releasing SDKs for
exactly this purpose. The point of commonality between them is XML.
Like it or not, XML is becoming a standard part of programmers'
lives because it's simple and easy to understand structure make it
a suitable format for transferring data between disparate
applications and platforms. But the real power of XML lies in its
ability to not only extend itself, but also define itself.
This is all well and good but it is XML, yes a uniforming
technology, but the opening paragraph undermines the pont!
XML For Analysis is just another addition to the pool of
data access mechanisms, it is an XML./SOAP based data access
mechanism for Tabular and Mulitdimensional Data and without our
implementation XMLA simply offers little to anyone trying to get at
tabular data (SQL Data) as many of the current implementers fall
into the OLAP camp, and there is no standard query language for
persistenf CUBES (MDX from Microsoft is de facto at best). Thus,
without Virtuoso tabular data (where the real data actually
resides) is out of the picture.
So we say goodbye to ODBC, JDBC, OLE DB to get what exactly?
From our perspective, another showcase opportunity, but for the
innocent readers of this article I haven't got the faintest
idea.