>>Second, the direction of enhancements in the last 3 releases (and the architectures they recommend for Parallel Data Warehouse) definitely points towards in-memory. Corporate org charts with senior executive references are being re-written as we speak :)
Seriously, it all changed when devices started to have "memory" rather than separate memory and storage. For devices, it's all in-memory. Also makes sense on servers with huge RAM: even my aging notebook has 16gb which is more than enough for the biggest sensible "in memory optimised table" (or cursor) I'd plan to work with on a PC. I doubt I've ever used all the memory this thing has.
"... They ne'er cared for us
yet: suffer us to famish, and their store-houses
crammed with grain; make edicts for usury, to
support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act
established against the rich, and provide more
piercing statutes daily, to chain up and restrain
the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and
there's all the love they bear us."
-- Shakespeare: Coriolanus, Act 1, scene 1
