2008 Data Access Predictions

Bloggers are seemingly required to make a list of predictions for 2008. My colleague, Jonathan Bruce has opted out of this and instead highlighted some of his favorites. Since I'm not as "distinguished" as JB in the blogosphere, I'm going to take a stab at my data access predictions (plus a couple of others):

1. Microsoft will make a decision on the direction on LINQ....ok, even I'm dubious on this one. :)
2. IBM will continue to develop their Data Studio (previously named JLINQ and pureQuery).
3. Databases will continue to develop their XML/XQuery support (this one is kinda obvious).
4. DB Vendors will continue to make concessions in their proprietary code to allow users to make easier transitions to new databases. (like several SQL syntax changes made to DB2 v9.5 for oracle syntax).
5. Virtualization will be a hot new term, but will mean the same thing it did when it was introduced on the mainframe.....in the 1960s.
6. Oracle will try to rebrand BEAs AquaLogic as "Oracle Fusion".
7. Sun will take MySQL and the masses will rejoice as it becomes an even better alternative to the "Big 3": Oracle, SQL Server, and DB2.
8. Clustering and cloud computing will become more mainstream as hardware gets smaller and smaller (like the MacBook AIR).
9. Google will further develop in the Java space their GWT and it will become more widely accepted.
10. Someone will come out with a phone based on Google's Android platform that will give the iPhone a run for its money.

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