I have worked with both and if you look closely there are versions of the books where they wrote introductions for each other’s work. They had the utmost respect for one another. When I was working in the eighties, integrating both architectures was what the consulting firm I worked at sold. So we gained short term success with the Kimball star schema’s while working on the CIF in the background financed by the short term gains. It was the only way to get funding for CIF in a lot of companies. We already knew if you don’t know what data you have in what is now called a data lake, you would get a data swamp …
Nowadays I teach the next generation at university. And we have a new reason to know what data we have in Europe: The data act and the GDPR. To be able to comply to these you need not only to know what data you have, but what it means and how it is used. So history is repeating itself … but my most urgent advise to anyone: be aware that data is a depiction of a part of reality, not all reality, so you need to keep the human in the loop in all use of data…
The 2 laid the foundation of what we know as data warehousing mechanics today. They were what Dennis Ritchie and Ken Thompson were to C and Unix. A rock solid foundation with decades of runway still to go before something actually supplants them.
It occurred to me that we do have some current identity wars in data.
Snowflake vs Databricks has been popular over the last couple of years and their respective acolytes can be annoying. It’s great marketing for both brands because it ignores the rich alternatives.
Lakehouse vs Warehouse is another related identity war, though I think it’s starting to tip towards the lakehouse now that everyone is on iceberg
Good points. I think SF vs DB is pro wrestling level compared to the old wars, which seems more like the Crusades. SF and DB need to fuel a rivalry to keep themselves relevant. Rule number one in marketing is find a villain. It’s very smart marketing.
I’d be curious to see if people are still arguing about iceberg, lakehouse , etc in 20 years.
I’d agree with that. These debates don’t feel as personal as Inmon vs Kimball did, which is sad when you think that debate had people and not just corporations involved.
I have worked with both and if you look closely there are versions of the books where they wrote introductions for each other’s work. They had the utmost respect for one another. When I was working in the eighties, integrating both architectures was what the consulting firm I worked at sold. So we gained short term success with the Kimball star schema’s while working on the CIF in the background financed by the short term gains. It was the only way to get funding for CIF in a lot of companies. We already knew if you don’t know what data you have in what is now called a data lake, you would get a data swamp …
Nowadays I teach the next generation at university. And we have a new reason to know what data we have in Europe: The data act and the GDPR. To be able to comply to these you need not only to know what data you have, but what it means and how it is used. So history is repeating itself … but my most urgent advise to anyone: be aware that data is a depiction of a part of reality, not all reality, so you need to keep the human in the loop in all use of data…
Meanwhile, Excel smiles from the corner eating popcorn 🍿 😀
The 2 laid the foundation of what we know as data warehousing mechanics today. They were what Dennis Ritchie and Ken Thompson were to C and Unix. A rock solid foundation with decades of runway still to go before something actually supplants them.
Exactly.
If you’re at Data Day, Bill and I are doing an AMA
It occurred to me that we do have some current identity wars in data.
Snowflake vs Databricks has been popular over the last couple of years and their respective acolytes can be annoying. It’s great marketing for both brands because it ignores the rich alternatives.
Lakehouse vs Warehouse is another related identity war, though I think it’s starting to tip towards the lakehouse now that everyone is on iceberg
Good points. I think SF vs DB is pro wrestling level compared to the old wars, which seems more like the Crusades. SF and DB need to fuel a rivalry to keep themselves relevant. Rule number one in marketing is find a villain. It’s very smart marketing.
I’d be curious to see if people are still arguing about iceberg, lakehouse , etc in 20 years.
.
I’d agree with that. These debates don’t feel as personal as Inmon vs Kimball did, which is sad when you think that debate had people and not just corporations involved.
For sure. I certainly wouldn’t mind more emotionally charged and bad blood drama in our industry. It’s pretty boring the way it is.
Well at least they know to blame you if they make it out. Expect a few people giving you the bill
GoFundMe exists for this reason
Love this post, curious if any of the disciples are reading your stuff getting enraged right now. Kind of puts a smile on my face.
Probably… it’s NYE too, so hopefully nobody has a heart attack or blood pressure spike, cuz the emergency room is gonna be packed