In a bid to recapture the ease of data-driven 4GL apps for Web 2.0, WaveMaker is swapping out a small Java embedded database with something more industrial strength: EnterpriseDB. The idea, according to CEO Christopher Keene is to simplify database connectivity in the same way that PowerBuilder’s Data Window first put data-driven development on the 4GL client/server map roughly 15 years ago.

The announcement comes a week after Wavemaker demo’ed integration with SnapLogic, which provides a way to visualize back end services, and Kapow, which an on demand mashup server, at the web 2.0 conference.

And as we’ve reported before, this whole nostalgia trip for client/server is more than a coincidence. The company, which is the day job for several Dojo project principals, also has former Sybase head  Mitchell Kertzman and Informix founder Roger Sippl on its board. Adding EnterpriseDB is WaveMaker’s  way of bringing back to life the venerable Data Window.

As an interesting odd and end, WaveMaker also announced at Web 2.0 that it was adding support of Mac and its associated Safari web browser. Keene came to the idea after he noticed that virtually every CEO at a recent open source business conference carried a Mac, and after adding the Mac support, the company fond daily downloads doubling.

Of course, what’s ironic about al this is that, while Mac may not have a reputation as open source antagonist like Microsoft, it is in fact just as closed and proprietary. More to the point, as the Mac has not been considered a serious business platform, it may not have attracted al the open source development that Linux and, yes, Windows have.

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