Conference ulysse::rdb_vms_competition

339.0. "COGNOS and OSRI" by SNOC01::ANDERSONK (The Unbearable Lightness of Being) Mon May 01 1989 05:16

POSTED IN DSRI:

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Note 107.0                        OSRI vs DSRI?                       No replies
SNOC01::ANDERSONK "The Unbearable Lightness of Bein" 41 lines  30-APR-1989 17:10
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    I'd like suggestions and information from DBS on how to handle the
    marketing push that COGNOS is making with its OSRI. To give you
    an idea of their direction, I have included the following extract
    from a paper that was sent to *all* Australian DECUS members:

    From "COGNOS PRODUCT ARCHITECTURE, POWERHOUSE STARBASE RDBMS &
    POWERHOUSE 4GL", 'An Independent Analysis' by Computer Research.
    
    
    Quoted without permission:
    
    "OSRI
    
    "There currently exists no industry wide standard for a distributed
    database calling mechanism. Digital has implemented the Digital
    Standard Relational Interface (DSRI) as the standard calling interface
    between RDBMS and languages in the VAX environment.
    
    "A considerable number of third parties have made their development
    tools DSRI compatible (e.g. Focus, Powerhouse, Smartstar), and as
    such it has become something of a de facto standard.
    
    "In conjunction with Cognos and Ashton-Tate, Interbase is developing
    an extension of DSRI to cater for distributed databases. This extended
    form of DSRI is called the Open Systems Relational Interface (OSRI).
    All components within the Cognos product architecture that run on
    Digital VAX use OSRI. We expect this to extend to the full Cognos
    product set over time.
    
    "The adoption of an extended form of DSRI is a sound move on the
    part of Cognos. OSRI not only gives compatibility between components
    of their own architecture, but offers potential for connection into
    a much broader software environment. It has to be stressed that
    DSRI is fully included within OSRI.
    
    "Other DBMS vendors are also making efforts to implement a standard,
    however in most instances these are entirely proprietary and do
    not offer the same degree of connectivity. The only fear we have
    is that future developments of OSRI lose synchronisation with
    developments in DSRI. We feel however that this is not likely."

>    not offer the same degree of connectivity. The only fear we have
>    is that future developments of OSRI lose synchronisation with
>    developments in DSRI. We feel however that this is not likely."
 
    Hi Keith, 
    
    This last statement shows what can happen - in fact DSRI has changed
     and OSRI can only hope to be compatible with the published DSRI
    which is not the same as the current DSRI.
    
    John.