Jon and I had a recent chat yesterday that is now available in Podcast form.

"In my fourth Friday podcast we hear from Kingsley Idehen, CEO of OpenLink Software. I wrote about OpenLink's universal database and app server, Virtuoso, back in 2002 and 2003. Earlier this month Virtuoso became the first mature SQL/XML hybrid to make the transition to open source. The latest incarnation of the product also adds SPARQL (a semantic web query language) to its repertoire. ..."

(Via Jon's Radio.)

I would like to make an important clarification re. the GData Protocol and what is popularly dubbed as "Adam Bosworth's fingerprints." I do not believe in a one solution (a simple one for the sake of simplicity) to a deceptively complex problem. Virtuoso supports Atom 1.0 (syndication only at the current time) and Atom 0.3 (syndication and publication which have been in place for years).
BTW - the GData Protocol and Atom 1.0 publishing support will be delivered in both the Open Source and Commercial Edition updates to Virtuoso next week (very little work due to what's already in place).

I make the clarification above to eliminate the possibility of assuming mutual exclusivity of my perspective/vison and Adam's (Jon also makes this important point when he speaks about our opinions being on either side of a spectrum/continuum). I simply want to broaden the scope of this discussion. I am a profound believer in the Semantic Web / Data Web vision, and I predict that we will be querying the Googlebase via SPARQL in the not to distant future (this doesn't mean that netizens will be forced to master SPARQL, absolutely not! But there will be conduit technologies that deal with matter).

Side note: I actually last spoke with Adam at the NY Hilton in 2000 (the day I unveiled Virtuoso to the public for the first time, in person). We bumped into each other and I told him about Virtuoso (at the time the big emphasis was SQL to XML and the vocabulary we had chosen re. SQL extension...), and he told me about his departure from Microsoft and the commencement of his new venture (CrossGain prior to his stint at BEA), what struck me even more was his interest in Linux and Open Source (bearing in mind this was about 3 or so week after he departed Microsoft.)

If you are encountering Virtuoso for the first time via this post or Jon's, please make time to read the product history article on the Virtuoso Wiki (which is one of many Virtuoso based applications that make up our soon to be released OpenLink DataSpace offering).

That said, I better go listen to the podcast :-)