First my thanks to everyone that responded to my question. I received some very thought provoking responses. I am totally new to object oriented databases; never even saw one before Zope, that I know of. So I think I can be forgiven for being a little stand-offish when it comes to the thought of trusting one with my data. At the same time I can see where an OODB might have some advantages, in certain situations, over a RDBMS. You have all given good arguments for both sides of this question. I think, however, the most appropriate answer was "use the best tool for the job". With that thought in mind I think I'll just have to look at each situation individually and make my decision from there. Thank you everyone for your input. I can tell that some of you put alot of thought into your responses and I really appreciate it very much. You have all been very helpful. Paul