For many of users, the database management systems (DBMS) they have been working with or have heard about have been "row-oriented". They may never have applied that label to them, but almost everyone should know how database storing principles affect database performance and what alternatives exist. The current main alternative to "row-oriented" is "column-oriented". "Column-oriented" databases claim to provide a better value proposition for a specialized analytic workload or even the entire data warehouse.
