In the short term, PG suffers from a Berkeley UNIX world view. Building client PG applications for Win32 is hampered by a need for the source tree that still has missing pieces (e.g. pg_config.exe), that even with source often refuse to compile. A substantially smaller PG community means fewer source examples on forums and blogs that could address externalities like these. If the PG team cleaned up some long ignored Win32 client development issues, narrowed the performance gap, and adopted some of MySQL’s SQL extensions (e.g. IF [NOT] EXISTS…), PG might accelerate its adoption rate, perhaps becoming the heir apparent to MySQL’s free database dominance – at least until Larry Ellison figures out how to take PG out of the picture.

But that was then. Now Postgresql is far better positioned than MySQL in everything except branding. Postgresql is faster for many non-trivial apps, runs on as many platforms, is more free (no Byzantine licensing), has no worries about its future, and very importantly – does not have a buggy product.

MySQL should be in trouble from postgresql – even if Oracle or Sun didn’t buy them. But branding can trump technology, so who knows?

I have never been much of a fan of MySQL, but I did appreciate the pressure they applied to Oracle, to remove them from the low end of the webspace, and this in turn relieved the startup costs for many web entrepreneurs. I am guessing this blog is running on WordPress, and WordPress typically uses a MySQL backend. So many web apps have seamlessly integrated into MySQL, that it has been a breeze to administer.

Oracle has a history of gutting competitors, and not through technical superiority. For example, in the late 1990s, they raided the talent at Informix and snatched away a core group of Informix’s finest. Informix, in my opinion, was the finest database around, more stable, scalable, and way easier to use than Oracle. Informix responded with a lawsuit, which nearly killed the company. Luckily, IBM picked them up and have been moving some of the nicer usability features into DB2.

onstat = best command line db tool ever. Want to upgrade? Just rename the Informix directory and install Informix into the new one. DONE.

I like Postgres alot, because of it’s unbreakability, and the high polish of its engineering, and wonder why it has not picked up as much traction in the commercial space.