Fundamentally, Relational is rows and columns. If you're problem isn't rows and columns, then relational doesn't work.

I realize that you can throw a bunch of tuple stuff at me, but at the bottom, that's what a pure relational DB is.

I've looked at some of the Object Relational extensions to DB2 and Oracle, but it's just not taking off. A few places are using it, but there's no "ah ha" to it.

I've also seen 3-4 examples of XML being stored in database, both as a whole document and with "shredding" technology.

What I'd like to see, is someone who fundamentally has an object database, but then allows you to relationally "index" pieces of the object, like a relational database.

The problem there is, that with object technology, you have to deal with context information, that you don't have to worry with in Relational. It's all tuples, global scope, with GRANT rules deciding whether you can see it or not.