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Thanks for the follow-up. > there were many earlier databases on mainframes and minicomputers We were talking about commercially successful DBMS. From the Wik

Thanks for the follow-up. > there were many earlier databases on mainframes and minicomputers We were talking about commercially successful DBMS. From the Wikipedia-page it is still not clear to me when IMS became a DBMS for example. Wikipedia lists TOTAL as released in 1982.

ghaff 6y ago
IMS was always a database. But it was hierarchical rather than relational. I was thinking TOTAL was earlier than it was though given the company had been in business for quite a while. What is true is that pretty much all the earlier database products were tied to specific system hardware. In fact, Cincom (which developed TOTAL over time) was arguably the first independent software vendor. So there were lots of databases being put out by successful computer companies (indeed most of them). They just weren't products you would buy or use unless you were also using a particular manufacturer's hardware.
SulphurCrested 6y ago
TOTAL was around and already considered old-fashioned (because it was hierarchical rather than relational) in early 1981, when I persuaded my boss not to use it.