As Published In
Oracle Magazine
March/April 2013

COMMENT: Time Capsule

  

Time Capsule

  

1790

1790-map

First United States Census

As the United States population grows (from 3.9 million in 1790 to more than 308 million in 2010), so does the US Census Bureau’s use of innovative technology to capture, process, and publish the results. Quill and ink give way to punch cards, electronic tabulators, and eventually today’s big data databases. 

 

TimeCapsule1970-Rd1

1970

Dr. Edgar F. “Ted” Codd

IBM computer scientist Dr. Edgar Frank “Ted” Codd publishes a paper, “A Relational Model of Data for Large Shared Data Banks,” outlining the relational model for database management. The relational database and structured query language (SQL) change the face of business computing forever. 

 

RSI-UserGuide

1979

V2

Inspired by Codd’s paper, Relational Software Inc. (RSI)—which became Oracle in 1982—develops the first relational database management system (RDBMS) for the commercial market. RSI releases Oracle Version 2 in 1979, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Your Turn


From flat-file and relational databases to spreadsheets, presentation tools, and beyond, there are hundreds of business software packages that people use to do their jobs. Which software do you use every day to run your business? What’s the one type of business software you can’t live without? Visit Facebook/OracleMagazine and let us know.

 

1982

TRON

“You’ve enjoyed all the power you’ve been given, haven’t you? I wonder how you’d take to working in a pocket calculator?”

—Master Control Program, disappointed with Sark, from the movie TRON (1982, Walt Disney Productions)
Pocket calculator?! How about a smartphone?

 

8i-logo-clr

1998

Oracle8i Database

The i is for internet, and with support for Java, HTTP, new Web development tools, and a file system for internet-ready data, Oracle8i Database is an internet computing platform, allowing any type of data to be managed from a centralized server and accessed from any client, across any network.

  

Your First Database


Who made your first database? We asked our Facebook fans, and here’s what they said:

Oracle 58%
Microsoft 34%
IBM 6%
Sinclair ZX Spectrum 48K 8%
and 18 others  

 

2003

Oracle Database 10g

The g is for grid—as in a utility grid, but for compute power. The first self-managing, grid-ready database, Oracle Database 10g takes manageability and performance to new levels while ushering in the era of commercial grid computing.

 

12c

2013

Oracle Database 12c

The c is for cloud, and with a new pluggable architecture, Oracle Database 12c brings secure multitenancy to the cloud. Learn more about Oracle Database 12c in the next issue of Oracle Magazine.

  

  

Send us your comments