> But NoSQL is pretty much based on the idea that you store data from your application in a way which is close to the internal data structures, is it not?
IMO, it's not. Try BigTable on Google App Engine, or HBase for some examples. IMO, these are often more difficult to relate to a programming model than a traditional RDBMS due to their inherent limitations. Of course, their structure is one of Columns/Rows as well.
One of the problems with describing NoSQL as a movement is that there are a broad range of solutions to a broad range of problems that are being covered by the same terminology.
On the other hand, I suppose there are quite a few NoSQL solutions that do not require structured input data and therefore may appear attractive to people who don't want to maintain rigid structures for data input. That's always seemed like more hype than reality to me, though. I've had pretty good experiences with evolving schemas within PostgreSQL and other SQL systems, and the challenges faced (data migration, dealing with old data in the model, etc) were essentially the same that I would have faced with something like a MongoDB system. I don't really see the advantage of NoSQL there at all. I can also see how they could be viewed as essentially OODB 2.0, and they may very well fall by the wayside for a lot of the same reasons.
IMO, it's not. Try BigTable on Google App Engine, or HBase for some examples. IMO, these are often more difficult to relate to a programming model than a traditional RDBMS due to their inherent limitations. Of course, their structure is one of Columns/Rows as well.
One of the problems with describing NoSQL as a movement is that there are a broad range of solutions to a broad range of problems that are being covered by the same terminology.
On the other hand, I suppose there are quite a few NoSQL solutions that do not require structured input data and therefore may appear attractive to people who don't want to maintain rigid structures for data input. That's always seemed like more hype than reality to me, though. I've had pretty good experiences with evolving schemas within PostgreSQL and other SQL systems, and the challenges faced (data migration, dealing with old data in the model, etc) were essentially the same that I would have faced with something like a MongoDB system. I don't really see the advantage of NoSQL there at all. I can also see how they could be viewed as essentially OODB 2.0, and they may very well fall by the wayside for a lot of the same reasons.