Re: Comparing databases

In the spirit of Jussi Mikkola's fine email, I have rewritten Josh's
list of PostgreSQL pro's, followed by quick 1 liner on differences since
7.3, followed by short list of database that the particular pro stacks
up against.

Personally I'd like to see the list become a little more granular
feature wise, and be expanded on a bit. I also can't speak to the
accuracy of my listing of the other databases, if you have recent
experience with them please add or subtract as you see fit.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

PostgreSQL 7.4 Pros:
-- Extensible Architecture: create your own types, aggregates,
functions, operators, libraries.

73-> now allows ploymorphic functions

vs-> oracle, db2, m$, mysql, firebird

-- 100% Open Source Community Controlled: contributions are not
controlled by any single company, so your suggestions and patches are as
good as anyone's.

73-> two additional companies now sponsoring core members

vs-> oracle, db2, m$, mysql, firebird

-- Many support options: you have a choice of numerous support vendors
rather than being confined to one company.

73-> n/a

vs-> oracle, db2, m$, mysql, firebird

-- BSD-licensed: may be used for commercial applications without fees.

73-> n/a

vs-> oracle, db2, m$, mysql, firebird

-- Fully ACID-compliant: rigorous compliance with SQL Standard
definitions of data integrity, constraints, and keys;

73-> n/a

vs-> mysql

-- ANSI SQL Compliance: Has one of the highest levels of SQL standard
compliance in the industry, including support for Schema, complex Views,
SQL Standard system catalog views.

73-> added support for information schema and sql error codes

vs-> oracle(?), m$, mysql

-- Multi-Version Concurrency Control (MVCC) ensures transaction
integrity, better scalability

73-> n/a

vs-> m$, mysql

-- Industry-leading Reliability: Write Ahead Log system and hot backup
give extraordinary protection against data corruption in the event of
system failures. Only the highest-end proprietary database systems
offer anything comparable.

73-> n/a

vs-> m$, mysql

-- Database Programming: Support for functions and procedures in 11 or
more programming languages. Support for triggers, constraints, and
Rules-based query rewriting.

73-> new pl lang (plr)

vs-> db2, m$, mysql, firebird

-- Responsive Community: Mailing lists offer peer-to-peer assistance
from major PostgreSQL contributors and advanced DBAs, often described as
"better than commercial support."

73-> n/a

vs-> oracle, db2, firebird

-- Scalability: the MVCC system and other parts of our architecture
make PostgreSQL scale very well across hundreds of concurrent read/write
users.

73-> n/a

vs-> m$, mysql, firebird

-- Durability: The PostgreSQL project is 16 years old, with years more
experience than most comparable databases, commercial or OSS. PostgreSQL
has already survived the death of several supporting companies and will
be around for a long time to come.

73-> n/a

vs-> mysql, firebird

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Robert Treat
--
Build A Brighter Lamp :: Linux Apache {middleware} PostgreSQL