I'm working at a charity where we have moved from assorted W9x machines to 
mandriva.  There is a W9x database application which has the peculiarity of 
allowing the user to create multiple identical field names per record, and 
thus has variable record lengths.
I'm being told that exporting this to csv and consolidating the data in 
multiple identically named fields will lose data.
(1) Is this plausible?  I've done it, audited, and there is no doubt that 
every bit of data in every field has moved across.  I cannot find any sort of 
grouping or sorting that can be done in the W9x app that I cannot do in 
Tellico.  What could I be missing?  The thing that is hard to see is, if the 
field labels are identical, how can you do things with the data split up into 
two, that you cannot do with them in one?  Doesn't having multiple identical 
field labels limit rather than expand one's ability to manipulate the data?
Is this something about xml as opposed to csv in databases?
(2)  Is it really possible that there are data structures which require 
multiple identical field labels and variable length records?  Like, what and 
why?  And could a collection database be one of them, and why? 
(3)  Is there a good source on open database format?  The recent BECTA 
publication mandates odb or csv export for databases in the education sector.  
Where would you go to get a good account of odb?  With particular reference 
to the moveability of a database from one platform to another.
Peter