Dictionary.net

<database (ASE) The relational database management systemthat started life in the mid-eighties [first release?] as"Sybase SQL Server". For a number of years Microsoft was aSybase distributor, reselling the Sybase product for OS/2and (later) Windows NT under the name "Microsoft SQLServer".Around 1994, Microsoft basically bought a copy of the sourcecode of Sybase SQL Server and then went its own way. Ascompetitors, Sybase and Microsoft have been developing theirproducts independently ever since. Microsoft has mostlyemphasised ease-of-use and "Window-ising" the product, whileSybase has focused on maximising performance and reliability,and running on high-end hardware.When releasing version 11.5 in 1997, Sybase renamed itsproduct to "ASE" to better distinguish its database fromMicrosoft's. Both ASE and MS SQL Server call their querylanguage "Transact-SQL" and they are very similar.Sybase SQL Server was the first true client-server RDBMSwhich was also capable of handling real-world workloads. Incontrast, other DBMSs have long been monolithic programs; forexample, Oracle only "bolted on" client-server functionalityin the mid-nineties. Also, Sybase SQL Server was the firstcommercially successful RDBMS supporting stored proceduresand triggers, and a cost-based query optimizer.As with many other technology-driven competitors of Microsoft,Sybase has lost market share to MS's superior marketing,though many consider it has the superior system. (http://sypron.nl/whatis_ase.html).