One other thing to mention - the whole REASON we use relational databases
are not because they are faster - it's because people care about data. If
you just want speed, use a hierarchical database, or just use an indexed
file.
However, the reason the industry switched to relational databases was
that they cared more that they had consistent data that worked with
multiple applications that was able to guarantee data integrity (i.e. -
support for views, constraints, and triggers) than they were about speed.
In fact, the first relational databases were 50x slower that their
hierarchical and network counterparts. However, the industry still
switched because data integrity and data independence is worth that much.
If your application needs speed that much more than data integrity, you
might as well just use REALLY FAST stuff like indexed files or a
hierarchical database or the Prevayler (sp?) than just use a fast
semi-relational database that doesn't support the features that people
use databases for anyway.
Jon