Re: read this and puke

On Fri, Jun 14, 2002 at 10:01:05AM -0400, Tom Lane wrote:

> Not only in open source. Remember Betamax? Technically a better
> standard than VHS, but it died anyway because it couldn't get enough
> market share.

That's not exactly true, according to
<http://www.urbanlegends.com/products/beta_vs_vhs.html>. But it _is_
an instructive analogy.

There are a couple of things about MySQL that give it an advantage.
First, it is widely believed to be fast. Second, it is good enough
for many types of application. Third, it has "mind share".

The first belief seems to be true under light load. Everything I've
ever been able to discover about MySQL suggests that it is badly
hobbled under heavy load. Work-arounds to that handicap are common.
(As an aside, one thing I have noted is that many people -- even ones
who ought to know better -- think they can get away with somehow
building transactional integrity "in the application, without the
speed penalty". I have yet to see that approach work. But it is
something many MySQL mavens suggest.)

The second belief is certainly true, with the load issues taken into
consideration. Maybe what that means is that PostgreSQL plays MS SQL
Server to MySQL's Access (ooh, I'll get flamed for that one).

But the third is the one that Tom really was worrying about, and he's
right to worry. As the AFU page shows, the real advantage that VHS
had is that, for whatever reason, it started to take over the market.
At some point, there was just no reason to continue supporting Beta.
Even though Beta was in firm control of the market at the beginning
(and had a full year head start), it ended up losing to VHS on the
grounds of ubiquity.

RDBMSs are like VCRs in that it is better to use a system a lot of
others use, because then you can get stuff (like DBAs) easily. It is
a major PITA to hire a PostgreSQL DBA these days. Everyone and his
brother knows about MySQL (well, or claims he does!), but competent
PostgreSQL people are thin on the ground. And that's a real cost for
a company considering using PostgreSQL.

Hmm. Maybe there's room for some sort of certification programme?

A
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