Are Object oriented databases still in use?

Question

Quite a while ago, I heard about Object databases. Cool concept and all. Now, with the event of ORMs everywhere, does anyone still use any of the Object oriented Databases s

Answer 1

Check out db4o.

Answer 2

Because the cost of their software isn't easy enough to find out.

I checked out Objectivity, db4o, versant, and none of them have the price of software up front on their website.

I've already almost lost interest just because of that.

Does anyone know anywhere where there is a pricing and license comparison of all these different oodbs?

Answer 3

In fact, database systems are one of the areas that fundamental changes are really hard. Billions of dollars are spent on relational database systems and they are working pretty well.

In real life, that's simply not true. A major reason for our problems with databases (I saw a claim 30% of all database rows contain errors) is the use of very primitive typing and validating in SQL. In addition, even though they are named relational, they are very bad at handling relations . The result is denormalized datamodels and resulting update errors.

The reason businesses like relational databases is because they are very predictable. They have to spend a lot of money on them, they need a lot of developers and maintenance doing mostly routine jobs. They fail to see the amount of duplication that could be eliminated as an advantage. The routine work allows developers to absorb the risks of the difficult work. Switching to an OODB would keep the less predictable work.

Answer 4

In fact, database systems are one of the areas that fundamental changes are really hard. Billions of dollars are spent on relational database systems and they are working pretty well. They are proven technology and they have been flexible enough to satisfy most needs (using ORM for example, as you said). Object databases do exist actually, even outside academia. But don't expect to see anything as big as SQL Server or Oracle in that area anytime soon. They do exist as a theory and as small, application-specific databases and various products. Basically, I predict relational databases become more object oriented in the future to handle requirements better.