[u-u] Concealed database

[arocker at Vex.Net]

In yesterday's discussion of evolution in the software market, the
pioneering database whose name temporarily escaped me is "Total". from
Cincom Systems. https://www.cincom.com That is one of, if not the,
longest-surviving software vendors around.

Although it is the foundation of their application products, it's a
challenge to find any mention of "Total" on the site. Probably because it
became uncool when relational databases emerged.

Although Oracle still admits to being a database company, their major
product offerings are also applications built on top of the DB.

Empress Software, www.empress.com vendors of a relational database that
emerged from U. of T. research, didn't make it in mainstream SQL products,
but survives because it was the basis of some Japanese applications, and
now has a niche as an embedded product.

The moral seems to be that if you have a generic product, as rapidly as
possible, make it an essential component of something specialised, to
build a barrier to competition.