Re: PostgreSQL 8.1 vs. MySQL 5.0?

Hi everyone,

I've just got back from LinuxWorld in London and seeing this thread thought
I would share my experience of the MySQL stand - if you are of a delicate
dispostion, please look away now. I basically asked them straight up why I
should use MySQL instead of PostgreSQL and was quite surprised by the
result, mainly since it was not done on features but more on FUD. The basic
message was this:

    - MySQL is the most popular open source database, with over 6m
"enterprise"
    installs, with a large company supporting it. PostgreSQL is run by a
very
    small community of developers.

    - MySQL can be clustered (This was later retracted when I mentioned
I
    needed something that would work on large tables, as apparently
their
    clustering only works in RAM and so will fail on large queries and
queries
    that use a lot of joins).

    - All the companies that have tried to operate by selling PostgreSQL
support
    services have gone bankrupt, except for EnterpriseDB.

    - PostgreSQL doesn't have row level locking.

And this last comment really took the biscuit - I really hope that the none
of the core team read this and decide to throw in the towel:

    "MySQL has the biggest collection of database experts... Open source
people
    don't know how to write databases"

So all in all, to say I was upset by some of these comments was an
understatement. To all the people I spoke to on the PostgreSQL stand, I hope
I did it in a way that made them feel empowered to go and try the PostgreSQL
for their own applications by mentioning its benefits, and not by spreading
FUD about its competition.


Mark.

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