[ic] Rumors of MySQL demise greatly exaggerated ... (was: postgres vs mysql)

Mike Heins mikeh@minivend.com
Thu, 18 Jan 2001 15:19:20 -0500


Quoting Warren Odom (warren-odom@stenocall.com):
> <<I have just made my decision to use MySQL for a major project that was
> still up in the air.>>
> 
> Interesting.  By contrast, today's discussion has tilted my opinion away
> from MySQL and toward PostgreSQL, at least for larger projects.  Not because
> MySQL is suppposedly dying (I know better than that), but because of the
> comparison results reported by unbiased parties.

Well, I believe Monty from my own experience, and nothing I have seen
has led me to believe Postgres is faster for most applications. I always
look with a bit of a jaundiced eye on benchmarks that only discuss 
server-farm-type loads. Face it, most of us don't have 100,000 unique
visitors a day to our web site.

Some of the things I like about MySQL for Interchange applications
are 1) easy to configure, 2) has the fast searchable text type and 3)
ALTER TABLE is very intelligent and makes structuring data a snap. That
is a big plus when designing systems that can have widely varying data.
Most anything I work on is used by multiple companies, and it is difficult
to design a one-size-fits-all set of handcuffs. 8-)

The database-independence of Interchange makes it quite easy to port
from one DB to another. If you can get the data transferred, for the
most part Interchange can use it. So if you want to use Postgres, and
you are building around something we at Akopia created with Interchange,
you should find it very easy to switch -- at least for a value of easy
that is much greater than with most applications.

If writing a one-application program (like an ERP-linked system that
requires a large programmer investment) I would probably now use Postgres
or Oracle. But for the more general case I usually am involved in,
MySQL is much, much, easier to deal with.

-- 
Akopia, Inc., 131 Willow Lane, Floor 2, Oxford, OH  45056
phone +1.513.523.7621 fax 7501 <heins@akopia.com>

Friends don't let friends use Outlook. -- Bob Blaylock