<
database> (ASE) The
relational database management system
that started life in the mid-eighties [
first release?] as
"Sybase SQL
Server". For a number of years
Microsoft was a
Sybase distributor, reselling the Sybase product for
OS/2
and (later)
Windows NT under the name "Microsoft SQL
Server".
Around 1994, Microsoft basically bought a copy of the {source
code} of Sybase SQL
Server and then went its own way. As
competitors, Sybase and Microsoft have been developing their
products independently ever since. Microsoft has mostly
emphasised ease-of-use and "Window-ising" the product, while
Sybase has focused on maximising performance and reliability,
and running on high-end hardware.
When releasing version 11.5 in 1997, Sybase renamed its
product to "ASE" to better distinguish its database from
Microsoft's. Both ASE and MS SQL
Server call their query
language "Transact-SQL" and they are very similar.
Sybase SQL
Server was the first true
client-server RDBMS
which was also capable of handling real-world workloads. In
contrast, other DBMSs have long been monolithic programs; for
example,
Oracle only "bolted on" client-
server functionality
in the mid-nineties. Also, Sybase SQL
Server was the first
commercially successful RDBMS supporting
stored procedures
and
triggers, and a cost-based
query optimizer.
As with many other technology-driven competitors of Microsoft,
Sybase has lost market share to MS's superior marketing,
though many consider it has the superior system.
http://sypron.nl/whatis_ase.html.
(2003-07-02)