The Pick relational database
model was devised by the legendary Dick Pick during the Vietnam war as a means
of better tracking helicopter parts and has still never been bettered as a
database model that combines ease of use with efficiency. Although never as
well known as it deserved to be it was adopted by most major players in the
business systems arena throughout the 80's and 90's and is still widely adopted
today. It still suffers from the lack of a unique identity, different sources
call it different names in an attempt to protect their corner of the market.
UniVerse, UniData, jBase, RealityX, D3 and MV-Base are all variants of the Pick
relational database and many feel that all players would have benefited from a
consolidated approach to the market rather than the fragmentation that has
always limited Pick's commercial success.
However most of these
variants have seen changes of ownership and are benefiting from improved
marketing and continual development.
UniVerse and UniData (known
collectively as U2) have both been through the ownership of Informix and IBM,
with investment from both, and are now owned by
Rocket Software. The ongoing
investment made keeps U2 at the forefront of modern database technology and
provides the type of development environment, tools and connectivity expected
by today's professionals.
Likewise D3 (arguably the
direct descendant of the original Pick System) and MV-Base (from Adds/EDP
roots) are now in the hands of
Tiger Logic where the
Pick trade mark resides.
The
Open QM product, which is
similar to Prime Information, UniVerse and UniData, is available in both
commercial and open source (GPL) distributions for several platforms including
Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, Mac OS X, AIX and PDAs.
Not forgetting
JBase and
Reality both of which have
actively enthusiastic user bases.
Here is a promotional video
from the 1990's.
Click
here for an informative "family tree" - a colour PDF from
Tin Cat, with more twists and turns than the history of
Fairport.
