'Most important ever' MySQL reaches beta

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A beta of the next major version of open source database MySQL was released on Monday and includes supports for a number of features that could appeal to corporate users.

David Axmark, a co-founder of MySQL, told ZDNet UK that all the enterprise functionality that MySQL has lacked in the past have been added to MySQL 5.0.

"People have been criticising MySQL since we started [in 1995] for not having stored procedures, triggers and views," said Axmark. "We're fixing 10 years of criticism in one release."

"It's the most important release we've ever done in the company," Axmark added.

MySQL is the most widely used open source database, according to a Evans Data Corporation survey released in January. It accounted for 40 percent of open source database deployments, while Firebird and PostgreSQL accounted for 39 percent and 11 percent of deployments respectively.

Axmark believes this number will increase when the final version of MySQL 5.0 is released this summer.

"I believe it will change how MySQL is perceived in the market," said Axmark, who then added that he thought this release would make MySQL an option for at least ten times as many users as before.

Talkback

But Firebird still has a more commercial friendly license. (Ditto Postgresql). With MySQL you must pay to get more commercial friendly terms.

The license issues trump the technical catch-up improvements.

via Facebook 29 March, 2005 19:06
Reply

Basically they kludged together the SAP-DB & the MySQL engines. SAP-DB is a great engine & MySQL is headed in the right direction, overall.

via Facebook 30 March, 2005 05:48
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Firebird? Who uses Firebird aside from almost no one? Where do you people get your figures??

via Facebook 30 March, 2005 19:38
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So does this mean that there are going to be even more people out there who believe that because they "know MySQL" that they're true SQL developers?

via Facebook 30 March, 2005 20:24
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Firebird has had Stored Procedures and Triggers for years, is very stable, true open source (MySQL needs a license for commercial deployment) and very fast. So this release is 10 years too late, at least in the enterprise app niche.

via Facebook 30 March, 2005 23:15
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its about time

via Facebook 31 March, 2005 00:23
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Anonymous: I have dark suspicions about where they get their figures, but I do have a couple of peers big on J2EE and the like who prefer to use ibFireBird as a kind of embedded database. It wouldn't take many big users like that to make a dent on the numbers.

I prefer PostgreSQL but have many sites with both PostgreSQL and MySQL up, often on the same machine.

via Facebook 31 March, 2005 02:10
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I use Firebird, thats who! Just completed a whole bunch o performance tests on it and it actually comes up pretty darn good.

via Facebook 31 March, 2005 03:06
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The numbers for Firebird are probably artificially high due to the fact that Borland has bundled Firebase/Interbase with their C/C++ and Delphi languages/compilers for at least 10 years.

I don't recall ever seeing Firebird/Interbase being used in a *PRODUCTION* environment. I've used Firebird/Interbase in the development process but never deployed it as a production DBMS.

via Facebook 31 March, 2005 03:23
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Ehmm... that's a pretty dumb statement.

InterBase was bundled with Delphi and the like.

Firebird is a different product that has InterBase as its ancestor but does not come bundled with Delphi...

--
Martijn

via Facebook 31 March, 2005 11:09
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Well, I have a Firebird database in PRODUCTION for more than a year... it runs smoothly, never had a problem, with 30 users working simultaneously. The client is very happy with it and the cost for firebird based application was pretty low for them.

via Facebook 31 March, 2005 15:14
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A year and a half ago the scene was very different on the open source database front. We needed a suitable SQL backend for our product and MySQL was the first one we considered. After about half a day of investigation, three things were its downfall (for us and back then).

* Commercial Use License
* Cascading constraints
* ACID compliancy

Well you could argue that cascading constraints is simply part of ACID, but the point is they didn't work. We were coming from Paradox, and there was no way we were going to put the effort into switching if the data consistency issues were not addressed.

PostgreSQL looked great, but at the time, no released windows port.

Firebird took us a bit by surprise. We chose it based on the features it had, alongside the reputation of Interbase which was its ancestor. There is somewhere around 20 years of database experience there.

In recent surveys, Firebird and MySQL have been neck and neck in terms of "enterprise" use. I am glad that MySQL is taking this step. It should lead to higher quality MySQL programs as the full benefits of ACID compliancy kick in.

Postgres now has a windows release build, and there are lots of features and enhancements on the horizon for Firebird.

What will happen is really anyones guess. One thing that will not happen overnight for MySQL is the reputation of the ACID implementation. Certainly those who currently use MySQL will be interested in this new power and confidence in the data, but it will take at least a year before users of another ACID compliant dbms will take it seriously enough to consider it.

At the end of the day, it is us the users that win out.

via Facebook 1 April, 2005 04:39
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We have deployed over 13,000 copies of our app that uses the Firebird embedded DLL for its data engine, and it has worked extremely well for us. It has given us the ability to support the app with a single data file, stored procedures, triggers, referential integrity and more. It is easy to understand how it is gaining in popularity as it is the only solution out there that met our needs.

via Facebook 4 April, 2005 15:22
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>Well, I have a Firebird database in PRODUCTION for more than a year... it runs smoothly, never had a problem

Ditto! I have used Interbase/Firebird for about 10 years (yes, in PRODUCTION environments), and has not to this day had ANY technical problems, plus the database is darn fast!

The guy that wondered if Firebird/Interbase has been used in production, and at the same time is happy with this crap called MySQL... no comments...:-)

(Consider Interbase once cost $10 000 pr seat; one does not pay such fees for a "hobby" database)

Well, happy to have met a fellow Firebirder!

Baalbek

via Facebook 14 June, 2005 23:13
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