I'm not detracting at all, but object databases with way more advanced feature sets have been around for well over ten years (http://web.progress.com/en/objectstore/). Making a stripped down version of an object database is not exactly forging new ground. I know you weren't necessarily implying otherwise.
Databases are like languages. Does Ruby invented something new? No, but it's my preferred high level language. It's a matter of "interpretation" of already implemented concepts, not a matter of features set.
AFAIK Redis is one of the first DBs exposing basic computer science data structures as abstract types. You have sets, linked lists, a sorted type that is the equivalent of a balanced tree, and an dictionary (an hash table) on top of this.
What matters is if this interpretation of already existing technologies fit well with the needs of today. I'll leave the task of inventing new breaking things to CS departments as I'm a programmer and not a scientist, with all the limits and strengths that this implies.
As long as we, programmers, developers, hackers, computer entusiasts, don't realize that our work is an interpretation work, like architects, we will continue to be nerdy engineers that the society will continue to look at without to recognize the real value.
Do you evaluate a building based on his number of rooms, the ability to resist to forces, and so forth? I don't think so. Why you should use this meters for software?
You have hit the nail on the head with perfect precision.
> AFAIK Redis is one of the first DBs exposing basic computer science data structures as abstract types
With something like ObjectStore you've had persistent storage of arbitrary templatized data structures for ages. You want a hash of hashes ultimately pointing to a void* value? Easy.
Redis is a tool in the unix-sense of the word. OOStore a solution in the enterprise sense.
Hackers tend to prefer tools, because they can combine them to build superior solutions.