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Slimmed Down MySQL Offshoot Drizzle is Built For the Web
Incon writes "Builder AU reports that Brian Aker, MySQL's director of architecture, has unveiled Drizzle, a database project aimed at powering websites with massive concurrency as well as trimming superfluous functionality from MySQL. Drizzle will have a micro-kernel architecture with code being removed from the Drizzle core and moved through interfaces into modules. Aker has already selected particular functionality for removal: modes, views, triggers, prepared statements, stored procedures, query cache, data conversion inserts, access control lists and some data types."
This is stupid. Removing prepared statements and access control lists? Don't we have enough trouble with people writing insecure web apps when we provide them with the tools easily make them secure?
I have been developing for the web during the past years and that's why MySQL has been off my list for serious development for some time in favor of Postgresql. It took about a decade to implement basic features like views and foreign keys that even Access 2.0 had in 93. Even sqlite has views for god sake!
Today, even for the most simple projects I cannot think about not using views, stored procedures, and triggers. Not because there is no way to do the job, but because they are important for organization, security, data integrity, etc.
It is like they have no idea that web sites are getting more complicated, and more and more data is involved everyday. I can't think of someone creating a big website with massive concurrency using this. Sounds more like an alternative to Sqlite for very simple tasks.
Why would anyone in their right mind set up a Web/SQL platform using MS products?
Because it is reliable, easy to develop, implement and support?
Traditionally MySQL was just the toy database for non-critical stuff that you wanted speed out of (and little else). If Drizzle accomplishes that, then I don't see a real place for the mainline MySQL anymore. Drizzle if you want speed, PostgreSQL if you want features/stability, and Oracle if you gots money to spend.
The thing that people always seem to discount when comparing MySQL to PostgreSQL is community mindshare and comfort level. That's why it's called a LAMP stack. If products always won on technical merits, 90% of PCs would run OS/2 instead of Windows.
I'll admit, even though I "know" that PG is supposed to be a better database, anytime I'm starting a new web app I go for MySQL. It's what most of the frameworks and toolkits support first and/or best. It's what more tech support guys at the web hosting companies are familiar with. Plus MySQL has *much* better GUI tools than PG.
If both products were starting from scratch, then yeah maybe PG would have a good shot. But MySQL isn't bad enough, and PG isn't better enough, to make me or others like me feel like switching. I'm not comfortable with the PG toolset because I'm not familiar with it, and I have better things to do with my time than learn it, because for me the perceived potential benefit isn't worth it.
Of course, none of this is to say that Sun won't f*ck up MySQL enough to make me change my mind...