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Is MySQL becoming less open source? Test cases go internal now

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Re: Is MySQL becoming less open source? Test cases go internal now

#11

Post by techtalsky »

This is a MySQL discussion, but I think it's worth it to say what two things I think keep Postgres from becoming the viable worldwide use-by-default contender that MySQL became:

1. Branding. First and foremost. MySQL had great documentation, an identifiable logo, and a wonderful name that every non-technical person could remember and identify. Postgresql is just, well, it's a horrible nightmare of a name. People would like to think this doesn't matter but: of course it does.

2. A really slick installer for Windows. You could say this is branding and to some extent it is, but MySQL and its admin tools have a really friendly installer that lets intermediate developers without a lot of DB experience get it up and running with their development environments quickly. I admit it's been a while since I used Postgres's but the fit and polish wasn't there.

Re: Is MySQL becoming less open source? Test cases go internal now

#14

Post by dbart »

abenga wrote: post #9
debacle wrote: post #7

I haven't yet used one of the recent MySQL forks, but I have a feeling the next time I'm using an OSS solution that requires a MySQL variant, I wont be using MySQL.

I was recently looking at the alternatives available, and thought that Drizzle [ http://www.drizzle.org/ ] looks really great.

Drizzle is not a drop-in replacement for MySQL. The only real option if you want to replace MySQL without having to change your application code is MariaDB. Drizzle is fine for new projects, but you'd have to massively alter an existing site to get it to work with Drizzle.

Re: Is MySQL becoming less open source? Test cases go internal now

#15

Post by koko775 »

dbart wrote: post #14
abenga wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was recently looking at the alternatives available, and thought that Drizzle [ http://www.drizzle.org/ ] looks really great.

Drizzle is not a drop-in replacement for MySQL. The only real option if you want to replace MySQL without having to change your application code is MariaDB. Drizzle is fine for new projects, but you'd have to massively alter an existing site to get it to work with Drizzle.

I don't think it's fair to say MariaDB is the only real option. The CTO of the company I work at seems to be a pretty firm advocate for Percona.

Re: Is MySQL becoming less open source? Test cases go internal now

#16

Post by cwisecarver »

naner wrote: post #10
TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #3

So, time for LibreSQL?

MariaDB is the free (GPL) branch (actually more of a fork at this point) created by Monty, the primary original author of MySQL.

Is anyone actually using MariaDB in production at a reasonable scale? Our DBAs tried to convince us to switch from MySQL to Maria a few months ago. All of the devs on my team looked around and couldn't find any testimonials, use-cases or benchmarks that weren't done by someone on the Maria dev team. I realize Monty is behind it but I don't really feel like being an early adopter based on fear that some day Oracle might do something bad with MySQL.

Re: Is MySQL becoming less open source? Test cases go internal now

#17

Post by taligent »

LyndsySimon wrote: post #5

MySQL is as popular as it is because it has been free (as in beer), and relatively easy to set up and use. The time for that has come and gone. MySQL's shortcomings limit its use in many corporate and professional settings, and the alternatives are now much easier to use. If I were looking to become a DBA today, I would study PostgreSQL. Likewise, if I were developing a new web application, MySQL wouldn't even make m…

MySQL is as popular as it is because EVERYONE is using it.

Which means that all of the really hard scalability and management problems have already been solved every which way. And all available for free by companies you know and trust e.g. Facebook, Twitter.

If I were looking to become a DBA today I wouldn't bother with PostgreSQL at all. I would learn all of the NoSQL databases because that is where all of the interest is right now. Due to the increase use of agile in software development databases need to be flexible with the schema controlled by developers not DBAs.

Re: Is MySQL becoming less open source? Test cases go internal now

#18

Post by ibotty »

techtalsky wrote: post #11

This is a MySQL discussion, but I think it's worth it to say what two things I think keep Postgres from becoming the viable worldwide use-by-default contender that MySQL became: 1. Branding. First and foremost. MySQL had great documentation, an identifiable logo, and a wonderful name that every non-technical person could remember and identify. Postgresql is just, well, it's a horrible nightmare of a name. People woul…

this comment is not only misplaced, it is (at least partly) wrong as well. postgres has great documentation. and had great documentation for quiet a while. see [1].

[1] http://www.postgresql.org/docs/7.3/static/

Re: Is MySQL becoming less open source? Test cases go internal now

#19

Post by mgkimsal »

taligent wrote: post #17
LyndsySimon wrote: post #5

MySQL is as popular as it is because it has been free (as in beer), and relatively easy to set up and use. The time for that has come and gone. MySQL's shortcomings limit its use in many corporate and professional settings, and the alternatives are now much easier to use. If I were looking to become a DBA today, I would study PostgreSQL. Likewise, if I were developing a new web application, MySQL wouldn't even make m…

MySQL is as popular as it is because EVERYONE is using it. Which means that all of the really hard scalability and management problems have already been solved every which way. And all available for free by companies you know and trust e.g. Facebook, Twitter. If I were looking to become a DBA today I wouldn't bother with PostgreSQL at all. I would learn all of the NoSQL databases because that is where all of the inte…

Or you could, you know, learn multiple things, because very few companies that need scalability are best served by doing everything in only one technology. Or, for that matter, hiring people who only know one technology.

There's a hell of a lot of useful stuff to learn (practical and theoretical) from relational databases. NoSQL has some useful ideas too. However, advocating that someone wanting to be considered a "database administrator" only learn/focus on NoSQL - that's just poor advice.

Re: Is MySQL becoming less open source? Test cases go internal now

#20

Post by ibotty »

taligent wrote: post #17
LyndsySimon wrote: post #5

MySQL is as popular as it is because it has been free (as in beer), and relatively easy to set up and use. The time for that has come and gone. MySQL's shortcomings limit its use in many corporate and professional settings, and the alternatives are now much easier to use. If I were looking to become a DBA today, I would study PostgreSQL. Likewise, if I were developing a new web application, MySQL wouldn't even make m…

MySQL is as popular as it is because EVERYONE is using it. Which means that all of the really hard scalability and management problems have already been solved every which way. And all available for free by companies you know and trust e.g. Facebook, Twitter. If I were looking to become a DBA today I wouldn't bother with PostgreSQL at all. I would learn all of the NoSQL databases because that is where all of the inte…

dba and nosql? sounds strange. note that scalability is not everything.
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