

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

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goodside
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.

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cpenner461
_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...](http://hpccsystems.com/Why-HPCC/HPCC-vs-
Hadoop/Components#beyondmapreduce))

~~~
jackowayed
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.

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

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jhawk28
It uses an AGPL license. This will keep many companies from using it unless
they do what MongoDB did and provide commercial friendly drivers.

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swah
Right now I hate alternatives...

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MiWHacked
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.

