LexisNexis open sources code for Hadoop alternative

http://gigaom.com/cloud/lexisnexis-open-sources-code-for-hadoop-alternative/

by bbr • 15 years ago

33 7 15 years ago

goodside• 15 years ago

LexisNexis calling this a "Hadoop alternative" is pure marketing, grabbing on to the tailcoats of fashionable tech. HPCC is not a MapReduce framework. It's not a framework at all. Instead of letting you plug in existing code in arbitrary languages to process your data, everything you do has to be rewritten from scratch in a new declarative query language called ECL ("Enterprise Control Language"), which isn't supported by anything but HPCC. LexisNexis even tries to position this as a feature, describing HPCC as a "complete" and "homgeneous" environment.

The success stories given in the HPCC white papers are almost exclusively government agencies, and what few commercial customers there are seem to be using HPCC to replace legacy mainframe systems. There are, notably, no examples of companies that previously used Hadoop and switched to HPCC.

cpenner461• 15 years ago

HPCC is not a MapReduce framework.

Interesting, I quickly read through the article and didn't catch this until I read your comment. Definitely some slight of hand on their part.

(Although, now that I'm looking closer, their site does have a comparison to why they're better than MapReduce: http://hpccsystems.com/Why-HPCC/HPCC-vs-Hadoop/Components#be...)

jackowayed• 15 years ago

Yeah, I think it's actually poor reporting. When it was first announced, I definitely remember that they were making a reasonably big deal of the fact that their approach was better suited to many problems than MapReduce.

swah• 15 years ago

Right now I hate alternatives...

MiWHacked• 15 years ago

Lexis nexus is an evil logging company. By them open sourcing works means they want us to help them on their evil ways. I trust the nsa's open source thing more than these jokers. LN was instrumental in stifling copyright reform in my country.

angelbob• 15 years ago

I'm sad that this is what it is. We could use a real Hadoop alternative.

jhawk28• 15 years ago

It uses an AGPL license. This will keep many companies from using it unless they do what MongoDB did and provide commercial friendly drivers.

LexisNexis open sources code for Hadoop alternative

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