Re: Question regarding databases

Well, first a disclaimer: I am not and do not want to be a database
guru. My first instinct when confronted with something that requires
database work is to point to someone, anyone, else and then/either/or
run and hide.
That being said, database work is like housework. Like it or not, if
your gonna be in this biz you're gonna have to get dirty sometimes.

Here's my take:

MS Access is a database only in the sense that it's a place to put and
organize data. It has a screen and reporting functionality that muggles
seem to find comforting even though I generally found it frustrating.
It's ok for quick-and-dirty-and-temporary, but as always, nothing is
more permanent than temporary. Calling it a 'single-user' database may
be most accurate. It does not serve data out, someone always has to be
logged in and running Access for anyone to get the data. Very 80's.

MS SQL Server is a Microsoft product, so my inclination is "how good can
it be?". Nonetheless, many people who would not otherwise be
ms-partisan have good things to say about it. I suspect that it's like
most commercial software tho. It's more about what you can't do than
what you can, and how much more money they can get you to cough up to
increase the 'what you can do' side of the fence.

Oracle used to be the system of choice, but they've gotten really
(shamelessly, even) greedy, and their licensing has gotten arcane and
convoluted. Frankly, I can't imagine any practical scenario that would
make it worth the hassle anymore.

Postgres has a small but devoted following. With the usual disclaimer
that I've never actually used it, it does look like it was done with a
craftsman's approach, that is, do it right the first time, make sure it
works and works well.

Mysql is very popular. Probably 80% of the OSS that can work with
database backends it's with mysql. It's what my company has (and hence
I have) decided to use just for that reason, it's what our software is
designed to work with. I have found it non-intuitive to set up and use;
YMMV.

Good luck. Let us know what you decide and why.

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Received on Thu Mar 23 08:23:42 2006