Re: MySQL at .NET conference

On Wed, 19 Mar 2003, mlw wrote:

> Anyway, on to MySQL. The had a booth there. I asked their technical guy
> a few questions and he seemed to have a decent understanding. When I
> asked the question, "Why would I choose MySQL over something like
> PostgreSQL?" his response was "There is one company driving MySQL. Also,
> when we do a feature we think it through and deliver it completed. The
> PostgreSQL group tends to deliver things that aren't quite right or
> incomplete." I was taken aback by this. I don't think it is completely
> true, but I wonder what you guys think.

It's interesting how they paint their development style as superior to
Postgresql's. Personally, I prefer the way postgresql does it. they
release lots of betas to play with and I can test it myself three sub
versions before it becomes a standard release and report back bugs during
development, not afterwards.

They also hint that Postgresql is released this way all the time, i.e.
there are tons of untested features in the 7.3.0 release no one's ever
seen before. If they were around for the beta testing they saw them over
and over. They were tested by more eyes than MySQL beta features often
are, and they were tested well.

Keep in mind, they're still adding basic features like transactions and
sub queries that postgresql has had for ages.

Lastly, I'd say having one company drive your database is not necessarily
a good thing. If MySQL wants to zig and you want to zag, then tough,
there's no backup plan. If I REALLY have to have PITR or something, I can
have the finance guys cut a check to any of a half dozen postgresql
hackers and know that it will get done. If the MySQL team doesn't want it
you may not be able to get it done, as there aren't a lot of hackers on
MySQL outside of their core team.

> Lastly, I asked are there any technical reasons why I would use MySQL
> over PostgreSQL, and the guy answered "not really."

I can even think of a few, buily in replication, built in full text
search. OK, that's it, but still, I can think of a couple, and I'm not a
MySQL expert.