Client applications over relational databases tend to be written in graphical 4GLs.
Many of those serve On Line Transaction Processing (OLTP) systems.
85%-90% of production databases with current development are relational.
We will need new tools and methods if non-relational database designs become practical and common.
Convention data modeling targets only relational databases.
While the bulk of business data remains in non-relational databases (e.g., IBM's IMS), very little development is done over these legacy giants. Object databases such as ObjectStore and Versant have claimed only a tiny sliver of the production database market. See Computer World, 19 August 1996, page 43: "Object databases lag"
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