MySQL baby !!

Firebird all the way!

Today it became generally known that MySQL has aquired a company called Netfrastructure. This company offers a product which is a reimplementation of the Firebird database architecture, combined with a web-based application server front end. It was designed by Jim Starkey in the late nineties and combines a database, a custom java virtual machine and a web server. Jim Starkey is also the principal author of Datatrieve, Rdb/ELN and InterBase, which became Firebird after being open-sourced in 2000.

Since the aquisition of InnoDB, by Oracle, MySQL has been in a difficult position: InnoDB was the centre piece of its 5.0 release. It has been discussed extensively in the Firebird community that MySQL should make a strategic move and use Firebird as its enterprise level relational/transactional engine.

MySQL chose this path — in a round-about sort of way — by making the aquisition of Netfrastructure and hiring Jim Starky, owner of Netfrastructure. Jim had recently been contributing to the Firebird project, under contract by one of the project’s sponsoring companies.

This move by MySQL validates that Firebird has the most mature and featured full open source code base and seems to indicate that the MySQL database product will be moving in similar paths from now on. MySQL also stands a lot to gain from the fact that the Firebird project has about 50 developers working on this architecture and helping to drive it into the future. The Firebird project gains from a well-known name and large sales force introducing its technology to customers world-wide.

Market researcher Evans reported early in 2005 that MySQL was used by 40% of developers, immediately followed by Firebird with 39%. The acquisition means that the Firebird architecture will be the most popular on the planet with a very large margin.

A lot of work will probably need to go into getting MySQL and the technology behind Netfrastructure to work together. A lot of testing will also be needed since, due to the low number of deployments of Netfrastructure, its finesses remain largely unproven.

It will be interesting to see how MySQL clients will react to this move and the eventual downgrade of InnoDB support. Will they wait until MySQL completes the Netfrastructure port, or will they choose to move to Firebird directly?

Interesting sales pitch ... are you a MySQL employee? :}

No, I am a member of Firebird Foundation Committee ;-)
Take a look at http://www.fyracle.org

And I've seen Windows used more than Linux. Does that make it the OS of the year?

If you're worried about licenses then you won't be able to beat PostgreSQL except with SQLite (which is targeting a different use, namely embedded databases). Unlike most 15 page OSS licenses, the BSD license that PostgreSQL uses is small enough to include right here:
--
PostgreSQL Database Management System
(formerly known as Postgres, then as Postgres95)

Portions Copyright (c) 1996-2005, The PostgreSQL Global Development Group

Portions Copyright (c) 1994, The Regents of the University of California

Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software and its documentation for any purpose, without fee, and without a written agreement is hereby granted, provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph and the following two paragraphs appear in all copies.

IN NO EVENT SHALL THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BE LIABLE TO ANY PARTY FOR DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, INCLUDING LOST PROFITS, ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE AND ITS DOCUMENTATION, EVEN IF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMS ANY WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE SOFTWARE PROVIDED HEREUNDER IS ON AN "AS IS" BASIS, AND THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA HAS NO OBLIGATIONS TO PROVIDE MAINTENANCE, SUPPORT, UPDATES, ENHANCEMENTS, OR MODIFICATIONS.
--

So in a nutshell, you can do anything you want so long as you maintain the copyright notice and don't sue the university.

SQLite doesn't even have a license; it's public domain.

Not to mention PostgerSQL still has more functionality...

And in MySQL if you divide 5 by 0 you probably still get the same result! ;P

Oh good lord... here I thought I was just being funny...

mysql> select 5/0;
+------+
| 5/0 |
+------+
| NULL |
+------+

Of course a real database will give you an error...

postgresql=# select 5/0;
ERROR: division by zero
postgresql=#

LOL ... thanks mate, you just made my day! :)


Cheers,
Tink

MySQL is really good and is easy to use. I tried learning PGSQL for 4 months but couldn't even start with it( Damm Complex ).

Similar error from Firebird ;-)

I'm curious... what problems were you having?

The same he'd have learning SQL99?

/me ducks



Cheers,
Tink

Maybe, but I am genuinely curious. I've heard people complain that PostgreSQL is 'too complex', which I've just never understood. But maybe there's some tweaks that can be made to improve upon that...