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Oracle Named Database of the Year, MongoDB Comes In Second (softpedia.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Oracle's database management system has seen the biggest rise in terms of popularity in the past year. Oracle didn't only see a rise in the number of deployed instances, job offerings and mentions on LinkedIn profiles, but for the first time also became a popular topic on Twitter and a constant mention on StackOverflow, a popular Q&A support forum for developers. Second on DB-Engine's popularity list was MongoDB, which barely missed winning the DBMS of the Year award for the third time in a row.

122 comments

  1. frosty pis by Hognoxious · · Score: 1, Troll

    Because writing to nev/dul is PERFORMENT!!!!!

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    1. Re:frosty pis by drpimp · · Score: 1

      Do you even webscale bro?

      --
      -- Brought to you by Carl's JR
    2. Re:frosty pis by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oracle is what all the cool kids are using

    3. Re:frosty pis by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, I guess the cool kids loving taking it up the ass these days.. Maybe I'm just an old fogey but I'd rather be uncool and keep my anal virginity.

    4. Re:frosty pis by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You didn't need to qualify it with 'anal'. We all got the message by what a pedantic hack you are.

  2. Database of the year? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    So the biggest increase in popularity is the only factor? If someone makes a new DB that increases 10000% in users, does it win? Because you'd only need 100 users to accomplish that.

    1. Re:Database of the year? by phantomfive · · Score: 4, Informative

      I was wondering that too, here is how it was measured:

      General interest in the system (ie, Google trends)
      Frequency of technical discussions about the system.(Stackoverflow + DBA Stack Exchange)
      Number of job offers, in which the system is mentioned (Job search engine Indeed and Simply Hired (I'd never heard of them))
      Number of profiles in professional networks, in which the system is mentioned. (LinkedIn)
      Relevance in social networks (Twitter)

      They use a 'carefully tuned algorithm' to combine all those results, and get a number for each database. It really makes me wonder who in the world is using Oracle, because they are very, very far away from any company I've ever worked with.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    2. Re:Database of the year? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Who in the world is using Oracle?? I'm an IT consultant, I work with a lot of Fortune 500 companies, and other private and public entities. Oracle is all over the place. I'd say at a guess it's the database behind about 70% of the ERP and HR systems I see (probably due to the nature of my clients, I rarely see SAP). Most of the rest is SQL Server database of various vintages, and I've run into about 3 installations of Postgres.

    3. Re:Database of the year? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      1. Decide on answer you want.
      2. Pick statistics that favour your answer.
      3. Pick weighting that favours your answer.

      This is Advocacy 101. In other news, the proportion of US Christians in the KKK is greater than the proportion of Muslims in ISIS.

    4. Re:Database of the year? by arth1 · · Score: 2

      Frequency of technical discussions about the system.(Stackoverflow + DBA Stack Exchange)

      That measures not so much popularity as unpopularity - people having problems. I'd give that one negative weighting.

    5. Re:Database of the year? by Nemyst · · Score: 3, Insightful

      So in essence it breaks often or is very obtuse, requiring lots of Google searches and questions on Stack sites, it's used as a buzzword by HR and they spam about it a lot.

      Great, that's completely representative of actual usage.

    6. Re:Database of the year? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oracle has spent the last year or two auditing companies and their usage as it pertains to their license term. My company just got hit for over $1M in "settlement." This seems like an effective way to elbow your way into "being part of the discussion," as long as you don't care what "the discussion" is about.

    7. Re:Database of the year? by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      Maybe that's the answer then? Oracle is popular because it's well-integrated into ERP. If you don't use ERP, then you won't see Oracle in many places.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    8. Re:Database of the year? by ADRA · · Score: 2

      Not my history. They're damn expensive, but they're a great DB. Its hard to objectively deny either assertion. The only piece of Oracle which is complete and utter horse sh** is in tweaking and to a lesser extent management of environments. Last I worked with them, they really needed well trained DBA's with access to Oracle's support site in order to really make the DB sing. Any jack and Jill dev working with MySQL / PostgresSQL could tune it -well enough- for the DB's inherent capabilities to shine.

      --
      Bye!
    9. Re:Database of the year? by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      Yes, there are so many questions that the stack overflows.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    10. Re:Database of the year? by phantomfive · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Who in the world is using Oracle?? I'm an IT consultant, I work with a lot of Fortune 500 companies,

      BTW the Fortune 500 is not a good sample for database popularity.......even if every single one of them used Oracle (and most of them probably use more than one database in various places), it would still only be 500 installations. The Fortune 500 are looked at because they are big, not because they are representative of what most companies are doing.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    11. Re:Database of the year? by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      The only piece of Oracle which is complete and utter horse sh** is in tweaking and to a lesser extent management of environments.

      And the syntax for transactional DDL is weird, and PLSQL is weird and annoying.......I'm sure there's more.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    12. Re:Database of the year? by Doc+Hopper · · Score: 1

      For what it's worth, if you use APEX with Oracle DB and have pretty rudimentary knowledge, you can make a DB sing using Oracle DB around as well as you can make it sing using PostgreSQL or MySQL. I just started seriously playing around with it this year (I'm a storage admin & sysadmin, not a database admin) and was flatly astounded that Oracle doesn't advertise APEX more. It's really the killer-app for the kind of mid-scale reporting, data collection, and simple apps most people think of relational databases for.

      Disclaimer: I'm an Oracle employee. My opinions don't necessarily reflect those of Oracle or its affiliates. Just because I work for "Oracle" doesn't mean I'm any good at "Oracle Database"; I mostly play with ZFS & Solaris.

    13. Re:Database of the year? by Anne+Thwacks · · Score: 1
      Oracle is such a pile of shite it does not actually work unless you have a support contract. and even then, the features you use are likely to be abandoned without warning unless you are a major first world government (and probably even then, but I cant speak from experience on that).

      OTOH, your "theoretically correct" Oracle implementation, is probably actually correct, and can trivially be ported to Postgresql. If your are lacking performance, spend the money you saved on Oracle licences (and managing them) on buying another Sparc Txxxx (or as many as required), and you are back in business.

      "Its the Hardware, stupid!"

      --
      Sent from my ASR33 using ASCII
    14. Re:Database of the year? by Princeofcups · · Score: 1

      It really makes me wonder who in the world is using Oracle, because they are very, very far away from any company I've ever worked with.

      That misconception about Oracle here always confuses me. It is used at every company I've ever worked for, including a small development firm. I don't know anyplace that doesn't have Oracle used in finance, HR, etc.

      --
      The only thing worse than a Democrat is a Republican.
    15. Re:Database of the year? by h2oliu · · Score: 0

      Back in the early day of the Microsoft/Novell/Unix wars Microsoft liked to tout that there were used for mission critical purposes in most (all? can't remember for sure) Fortune 500 companies. When asked what that meant: At least one group was using them for file serving, which MS viewed as mission critical.

      --
      Ok, I give up, why you?
    16. Re:Database of the year? by Kjella · · Score: 2

      That measures not so much popularity as unpopularity - people having problems. I'd give that one negative weighting.

      At any given time you have a *lot* of inexperienced developers and DBAs that are in way over their heads trying to use StackExchange and such as a substitute for competence, even for things that are pretty fucking obvious or in the documentation. At least problems show interest and usage, it's when the help requests stop you know it's really dead.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    17. Re:Database of the year? by sphealey · · Score: 1

      - - - - - Oracle is such a pile of shite it does not actually work unless you have a support contract. and even then, the features you use are likely to be abandoned without warning unless you are a major first world government (and probably even then, but I cant speak from experience on that).

      That's funny. I learned Oracle when I inherited a midrange ERP/WMS system at a small manufacturing company that used a vendor-supplied 8i as the base. It pretty much just ran for two years under heavy load with just the basic DBA maintenance instructions provided by the ERP vendor in a 1-hour training. Meanwhile our peers in the software user group reported crashes, lockups, lost transactions, and extremely poor reporting performance on their MS SQL Server installations of the same package.

      Over that two years as my staff and I taught ourselves Oracle, good performant SQL practices, and good reporting practices my respect for the DBMS and its fundamental design grew. I'm very, very skeptical about software and its vendors in general but by the time we upgraded to 9i I was (and remain) a very strong Oracle RDBMS supporter.

      I do find that people who have self-trained on databases via Excel, MS Access, and MySQL have a very hard time with Oracle (and presumably also PostgSQL and DB2). I also have seen a lot of really bad, transaction-unsafe, non-performant MS SQL Server code. So YMMV.

      sPh

    18. Re:Database of the year? by Sarten-X · · Score: 1

      I have worked on a system where the customer wanted some laptops running a portable instance of custom software. That software required an Oracle-based backend, so the customer wanted us to install the full Oracle Database Enterprise package, rather than fix the software.

      We built the monstrosity, as requested, and demonstrated how bad it was. It took a good half-hour to fully initialize. The customer then ordered a few hundred of them, built to match the demo they saw.

      --
      You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
    19. Re:Database of the year? by bfpierce · · Score: 1

      you think a fortune 500 company only has one installation?

      Really?

    20. Re:Database of the year? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

      There are no Christians in the KKK, a 'real' Christian wouldn't do such a thing. Oh wait, Christians you said? White Christians? I take my words back, you are right. The proportion of Christians who are white in the KKK is greater than the proportion of Muslims in ISIS. Especially when you consider there are no Muslims in ISIS since a 'real' Muslim wouldn't do such a thing, except of course for the few white people who have converted to Islam. White Muslims are the only Muslims in ISIS, the other non white Muslims aren't real Muslims.

    21. Re:Database of the year? by kbrannen · · Score: 1

      So if my mentioning Oracle on my resume on LinkedIn helps them out, I guess it's time to take Oracle off my resume. :) It's not like it'd hurt me because I've only used OSS DBs for the last 15+ years anyway.

    22. Re:Database of the year? by seth_hartbecke · · Score: 1

      Man ... I wish we had only *one* install.

      --
      END
    23. Re:Database of the year? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Personally, i dont even care if oracle has the best software i have so many insanely bad experiences with the people working for them the only way a company i work at gets oracle is over my dead body. From scamming to horrible support and big bills

    24. Re:Database of the year? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I've talked to several consultants who specialize in databases and the general consensus is Oracle is more expensive, slower, and quirky compared to the other options, but it has its fingers in certain areas that guarantees you have to use it for some cases. I've also known several DBAs and managers that have had the "pleasure" of using Oracle, and they all said the customer service was pure crap.

    25. Re:Database of the year? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We've been managing for over a decade tens of thousands of MS SQL databases under a lot of work loads and we've never lost data or had MS SQL crash. Are you sure there just wasn't a selection bias in the companies that didn't get Oracle didn't have enough money to throw at the issue and used sub-par hardware and admins?

    26. Re:Database of the year? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I've seen many developers and even a so-called "DBA" not know how to _properly_ index a table to get the best performance out of it. These weren't stupid people, so I don't know how to explain it. For a large scale deployment with any type of DB, you really want to have someone who knows their DB shite.

    27. Re:Database of the year? by Big+Hairy+Ian · · Score: 1

      Oracle is one those products that companies tend to use because the bank told them to. We have a number of applications that use Oracle where I work they are all a nightmare and some of them despite being extremely complex are not even normalized. It's just scary that anyone can even think of writing a database like that even an amateur.

      --

      Build a Man a Fire, and He'll Be Warm for a Day. Set a Man on Fire, and He'll Be Warm for the Rest of His Life.

    28. Re:Database of the year? by linuxrocks123 · · Score: 1

      You can fix software, you can fix ignorant, but you can't fix stupid :(

      --
      vi ~/.emacs # I'm probably going to Hell for this.
  3. so, nosql fanboys.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    :..elect the only relevant nosql db, plus the SQL db everyone hates so much that nosql almost seems worth trying by comparison.

    In b4 web scale

  4. Bullshit by BitZtream · · Score: 0

    I'm not real sure what one idiot they polled to get these results, with the fanboys of nosql these days, I can see MongoDB ... but Oracle? Bullshit. You lose all credibility right there.

    --
    Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
    1. Re:Bullshit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Agreed. Postgres should be at # 1. I don't know of anyone moving to Orcale and Postgres has been cutting in Mysql for sure.

    2. Re:Bullshit by arth1 · · Score: 2

      I'm not real sure what one idiot they polled to get these results, with the fanboys of nosql these days, I can see MongoDB ... but Oracle? Bullshit. You lose all credibility right there.

      Just the other day, Slashdot told us that Oracle Java was the top programming language, so this is par for course.

      I can only presume that Slashdot has been sponsored by an ophthalmologist chain, because this hard eye rolling will have repercussions.

      Next week: Slashdot tells us that Oracle Linux is the leading OS.

    3. Re: Bullshit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In my team, Java is the common language that my team (and even at the company level) knows and this is the de facto language used. Efforts to move into another language was unsuccessful. So I am not surprised if Java is the most commonly used language. It might not be the most popular language in terms of people loving it but the fact is most people know the language. The other fact is the most people also don't bother to pick up another language.

    4. Re:Bullshit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, that Java thing was silly .. Ruby is obviously the top programming language ...

    5. Re: Bullshit by arth1 · · Score: 1

      The other fact is the most people also don't bother to pick up another language.

      This is what boggles the mind. I don't anyone can be an expert on a language without knowing at least a couple of other languages fairly well. So you understand not only that things are done one way in a language, but why. And what the benefits and shortfalls are. And can work on interfacing different languages from both sides.

      Java can be a good choice for many things, not the least because it's easy to hire developers. But unfortunately, I see it used for many things it's not well suited for, and by coders without any real programming skills.

    6. Re:Bullshit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      If you are not aware of the absolutely widespread use of Java and Oracle, you are at best a hobbyist and at worst a schoolkid on some campus somewhere.

  5. Methodology? by mcrbids · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Sorry, but with silly results like this, I have to ask why such a small article so vapid of meaningful content was posted on Slashdot. Shouldn't paid shill articles be a different color or something?

    No mention was given as to how this ranking was accomplished, and the list given at the bottom of the article doesn't even match the headline (where 2 and 3 are MySQL and MS SQL Server, and Microsoft Access beats Cassandra.

    Any DB ranking that puts Access in as a top contender should definitely back up their claims - extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence!

    --
    I have no problem with your religion until you decide it's reason to deprive others of the truth.
    1. Re:Methodology? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Microsoft Access beats Cassandra

      This all sounds entirely accurate. They've come at it with a popularity-based ranking based on discussions and job postings. Fischer Price[tm] My First Database (Access) is used and griped about on Stack Exchange by a *lot* more people than a tool like Cassandra, which is a narrowly-focused and featured stack chosen and used by professional DBAs.

      Likewise, Mongo & Oracle's high rank is more to do with popularity driving popularity than real benefits in many use cases.

  6. MongoDB comes in 1st by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    MongoDB comes in 1st Place as the leakiest and most compromised of 2015. They'd like to thank the Academy, and all of the companies who laid off their DBAs and sysadmins in favor of hiring a barely-over-minimum-wage "full stack developer" to do it all. Schadenfreude is beautiful.

  7. I don't know which I hate worse? by EmperorOfCanada · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I really tried to love MongoDB but I realized that all the freedom they claimed was freedom to structure things exactly there way and only their way. I now hate MongoDB like it is leaking sewage pipe at an Ebola hospital.

    I used oracle professionally for about 8 years until I realized that things like PL/SQL didn't exist to help me structure an N-Tier system better but to just lock me into their stupid database. Oracle as a database isn't terrible so much as their pricing, and even worse, their sales people are horror shows. Pretty much if I can't install my datastore using apt-get or yum then it isn't getting installed.

    I would say the only thing worse than having to deal with either of the two above poxes upon humanity would be the people who evangelize these solutions. Someday they will realize the MongoDB isn't NoSQL but HUMONGOSql. Or that PL/SQL was just a huge joke designed to waste many billions of developer's hours while making them pay for the privilage.

    Until then we will just continue to use our secret MariaDB and PostgreSQL handshakes and we will just smile as the Oracle and Mongo people keep struggling in the mire not knowing that there is a great jogging path a few feet away.

    1. Re:I don't know which I hate worse? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I now hate MongoDB like it is leaking sewage pipe at an Ebola hospital.

      MongoDB is leaking that bad.

      Over 650 TB of Data Up For Grabs From Publicly Exposed MongoDB Database

      One Petabyte of Data Exposed Via Insecure Big Data Systems

      Those are just some of the ones people have admitted to finding. Who knows what's been gobbled up privately...

    2. Re: I don't know which I hate worse? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, let's pretend that data has never been stolen from a relational database.

    3. Re:I don't know which I hate worse? by mwvdlee · · Score: 1

      Same here w/r MongoDB.
      I get that for high-traffic websites need a better scalable solutions than the traditional databases, and I get that you have to sacrifice some of the features of those traditional databases to do so.
      But... MongoDB is pretty much the worst possible way of doing this. Just compare it to other alternatives to traditional databases. I just can't find any reason to ever use MongoDB, and I've even made an effort to try and find reasons. There are alternatives that are better in every single way (I prefer Cassandra myself, but it's not the only one out there).
      And even than; these solutions are only for the absolute most high-traffic sites out there. ~99.99% of projects are better off using an SQL database. And even if you really want to use a NoSQL database, it only makes sense for a few select use-cases, not your entire database.

      As for Oracle; I think it's actually a pretty good (though incredibly overpriced) database. PL/SQL has it's place (like similar languages in other databases), but not as it's commonly used by a long shot. If your PL/SQL is not part of same version control repository as the source code that uses it, you're probably doing it wrong.

      --
      Slashdot social media options: AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber and Mobile Text. Why no MySpace?
    4. Re: I don't know which I hate worse? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This isn't about SQL vs NoSQL or relational vs not. MongoDB ships wide open in the default configuration. The sad fact is most people being paid to set it up (Sanjeet in Bangalore, or Kaiyeden who just graduated high school) don't read the documentation. It should ship secure by default.

    5. Re:I don't know which I hate worse? by sphealey · · Score: 1

      - - - - - I get that for high-traffic websites need a better scalable solutions than the traditional databases, and I get that you have to sacrifice some of the features of those traditional databases to do so. - - - - -

      Whenever I read something similar to this as related to a database I immediately think that what is being sacrificed is transaction integrity and multi-user contested performance/scaleability, but that's just me.

      sPh

    6. Re:I don't know which I hate worse? by Sarten-X · · Score: 1

      ... I immediately think that what is being sacrificed is transaction integrity and multi-user contested performance/scaleability, but that's just me.

      Whenever I read something similar to this as related to a database I immediately think that what is being sacrificed is not necessarily important to absolutely all applications, but that's just me.

      --
      You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
    7. Re:I don't know which I hate worse? by mwvdlee · · Score: 1

      A practical case I have once enountered is a database that tallies API usage for billing purposes and rate limiting.
      It's a single table with simple inserts (so no transactions, no updates and no deletes ever)
      And if every once in a while an insert fails, it's not really a big deal; at the very worst, a few customers would pay about $0.00001 less.

      With a full SQL database, on the other hand, the worst case would be having to invest thousands of dollars in a server and still not being able to cope with the traffic.

      So the solution would be to put most of the data in a normal SQL database, but move some of these high-frequency statistics tables to a non-SQL solution.

      Not every data storage needs ACID.

      --
      Slashdot social media options: AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber and Mobile Text. Why no MySpace?
  8. I can never use Oracle. by serviscope_minor · · Score: 0

    I can never use Oracle because I have no kids, ergo no firstborn son to give away.

    Seriously, don't use Oracle. Even if it's the best option technically, nothing is worth the biblical level of screwing coming your way.

    --
    SJW n. One who posts facts.
    1. Re:I can never use Oracle. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Seriously, don't use Oracle. Even if it's the best option technically, nothing is worth the biblical level of screwing coming your way.

      So you're comparing Oracle to Sodom and Gomorrah? That's apt.

    2. Re: I can never use Oracle. by corychristison · · Score: 1

      Oh, don't worry, they'll take a pledge for your first born, and if you fail to deliver they will come and rape your wife/girlfriend/significant other then send you a bill for their time.

    3. Re:I can never use Oracle. by lucm · · Score: 1

      No wonder people talk about them...

      Until this year, Oracle didn't lightly use the "nuclear option" breach notice, Guarente says.
      "We’ve seen an uptick in aggressive audits and breach notices," he says. "I started this company in late 2011. From that moment until February, I saw no breach notices. Zero. Now we’ve seen several this year."

      http://www.businessinsider.com...

      Also the new licensing rules for using Oracle in non-OracleVM virtual machines are disgusting.

      --
      lucm, indeed.
    4. Re:I can never use Oracle. by arth1 · · Score: 3, Funny

      So you're comparing Oracle to Sodom and Gomorrah? That's apt.

      No, Oracle is rpm. It's Debian (or is it just Deb now?) that's apt.
      And Sodom and Gomorrah produced salt, which has its uses...

    5. Re:I can never use Oracle. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      new licensing rules for using Oracle in non-OracleVM virtual machines

      New? The old ones were disgusting. For at least 6 years (probably more) Oracle DB is licensed against the physical hardware - not the virtually presented resources. On all hosts it may possibly run on. 3 node VMware cluster? Per core licensing, 20 core boxes, license *each* little Oracle 4-core VM as if it were running on 60 cores. Individually. 5 VMs? 300 cores thanks. This did drive things in the desired direction for Oracle - most people dropped it on physical tin and invested in Oracle HA clustering and DR features.

      From memory, the new terms changed to explicitly block SaaS and IaaS multi-tenanting on non-Oracle infrastructure, but those rights were never granted before (nor plausible, legally, given the licensing and costing model).

    6. Re:I can never use Oracle. by lucm · · Score: 2

      There's a new provision for shared VM storage.

      Let's say you have a SAN volume attached to 10 ESX boxes (basically a VMWare Datastore). Even if you only have 1 VM running Oracle and it's deployed only on one of the 10 ESX machines in a non-vMotion architecture, you have to license all the CPUs of all the machines that use that SAN volume. Even if you have non-hypervisors using that LUN you have to license them.

      They essentially make it so expensive to use VMWare that you have to switch to OracleVM or get back to physical boxes. Or buy their fucking cloud license.

      And the nightmare doesn't stop there. Let's say you give up and decide to dump your VMWare infrastructure and switch to AWS. Well, your existing ELA no longer works, you're back to square one, and the few rent-by-the-minute Oracle instances models available on AWS are obscenely expensive; even on AWS RDS it's a lot more expensive than SQL Server or Postgresql on similar VM models. They really want you to use the BYOL model, also known as the bend-over model.

      Fuck Oracle.

      --
      lucm, indeed.
    7. Re: I can never use Oracle. by n0creativity · · Score: 1

      Not that I don't believe you, but can you cite your source here. I know Oracle's licensing can be obscene, but what you describe seems beyond the usual Oracle craziness

    8. Re: I can never use Oracle. by lucm · · Score: 2

      Look at this thread:
      https://communities.vmware.com...

      The good parts:

      In this isolated environment, Oracle pretend to license every socket to any host connected to the V7000, regardless of the cluster that are connected the host.

      and a reply:

      yes I have heard this from several people and it was also the topic of a workshop on the annual german oracle uer group meeting. For your environment, oracle was even kind. As you can vMotion VMs even without shared storage since vSphere 5.1, they tend to say you have to license every host in your vCenter for their software, even if they are not connected to the same storage. When vMotion will be available across different vCenters I expect Oracle to even says you have to license every single ESXi host you have world wide in any datacenter

      This is the same exact situation I've described.

      We were in the process of reviewing the ELA and the Oracle reps gave us that info. They said it's even worse when it's iSCSI but as many people in the rooms were already shitting their pants or punching the walls we didn't discuss further the iSCSI part of the license (which didn't apply to us anyways).

      --
      lucm, indeed.
  9. Larry Ellison by slazzy · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Larry really needs to buy another Hawaiian island, so just in time.

    --
    Website Just Down For Me? Find out
    1. Re:Larry Ellison by ClickOnThis · · Score: 1

      If he wants to move to another planet, then let's all chip in.

      Better him than Elon.

      --
      If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
  10. Use Oracle or be SUED by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    What is this, an unpaid advertisement?!
    Everyone knows Oracle sues its customers into using all kinds of software they don't WANT or NEED.
    You don't win a popularity contest by being a bully.
    These number indicate AGONY, not POPULARITY.

  11. Oracle is bleeding-edge by lucm · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Oracle 12g now supports multiple databases on the same server instance! Amazing breakthrough in database science, coming just a few years after their latest innovation: case insensitive LIKE.

    Of course multiple databases per server instance has been available in SQL Server since the time it was still Sybase and in MySQL since before Y2K. But those are not Enteprise Worthy Databases of course so it doesn't count, and the fact that on SQL Server there's no additional expensive license to enable this feature is all the evidence we need. ORACLE RULES!

    --
    lucm, indeed.
    1. Re:Oracle is bleeding-edge by avandesande · · Score: 1

      They certainly do have some of the most aggressive salespeople on the planet. Maybe that is what they mean by bleeding edge?

      --
      love is just extroverted narcissism
    2. Re:Oracle is bleeding-edge by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wonder where Progress fits into this - started using it back in '86, and it supported direct i/o from the unix filesystem level without having to do anything special at the os layer long before most of the others did.

      The Progress 4GL RDBMS was actually quite intuitive and the language was pretty damned cool.

    3. Re:Oracle is bleeding-edge by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Many of what Oracle implements anymore seem as stop-gap solutions to keep people from leaving. Many times they are so specific, it has to be because some big business said, "let us do X, or we are leaving." For something like multiple databases, they probably gave in for similar reasons as they figure loss of income from allowing people to use multiple databases on a single server is outweighed by the loss of income for people leaving.

    4. Re:Oracle is bleeding-edge by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What on earth are you talking about, Oracle has supported multiple databases on the same server for ages, long before 12g.

    5. Re:Oracle is bleeding-edge by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The bleeding is from selling your organs. It may be a good database, but I'm not even going to try it with a 10 ft pole.

    6. Re:Oracle is bleeding-edge by tommeke100 · · Score: 2

      Yes, but in that case you're running more than one "instance". The difference is that the "instance" is the set of processes that run and do the "database server" stuff ( handle memory, operate on the database, ...). A "database" is just a bunch of physical files containing the database data. You can have many such physical databases on your server, yet one "instance" can at most operate on one physical database. You can run more instances (thus having the "different databases" effect) on one server, but those are different processes running on the same server. So basically, you have two distinct instances running in that case which each have connection to a different physical database.
      Anyway, you can create different schemas in one database, so that kind of gives the effect of having different "databases" in one "database" too. I guess it's just a matter of convention.

    7. Re:Oracle is bleeding-edge by lucm · · Score: 2

      Wrong. To have more than one database you had to install multiple server instances. That's not the same thing at all.

      Most RDBMS supports 4 levels before getting to the data: database, schema, table, column. Up until that new "multi-tenant" technology in Oracle 12g, there was only 1 database per instance (the database and instance names were basically the same thing) in Oracle, and as far as I know that's the last major RDBMS to get that "feature" (and it's obscenely priced, of course).

      The multitenant architecture enables an Oracle database to function as a multitenant container database (CDB).
      A CDB includes zero, one, or many customer-created pluggable databases (PDBs). A PDB is a portable collection of schemas, schema objects, and nonschema objects that appears to an Oracle Net client as a non-CDB. All Oracle databases before Oracle Database 12c were non-CDBs.

      https://docs.oracle.com/databa...

      --
      lucm, indeed.
    8. Re:Oracle is bleeding-edge by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Call me when MS SQL supports real active/active clustering.

    9. Re: Oracle is bleeding-edge by n0creativity · · Score: 1

      Oracle has had the capability of multiple DBs per instance since AT LEAST 10g. Maybe your confusing the new Oracle technology, pluggable databases, which are actually pretty cool and basically make DBs an easily transportable entity. I'm not an Oracle fan, but I did manage a few Oracle DBs for 10 years at my previous employer and while the cost is pretty intense, it is a rock solid RDBMS as long as you know what you're doing. It's definitely not as easy as MSSQL to setup or configure, but part of me thinks that's a good thing. I've had to clean up wayyy too many MSSQL setups that used all of the default setup options and suffered from awful performance issues. At least Oracle doesn't give you the illusion that you can stand up a production DB instance in 30 minutes.

    10. Re:Oracle is bleeding-edge by lucm · · Score: 1

      Call me when MS SQL supports real active/active clustering.

      Technically that already exists in PDW but it usually comes as an appliance that's more expensive than a condo on Times Square.

      This being said, the second you set foot in the active/active scenarios on Oracle you're in a world of hurt so I don't know if I would brag about that shit too much.

      --
      lucm, indeed.
    11. Re:Oracle is bleeding-edge by lucm · · Score: 1

      I don't know about the RDBMS but I'll never forgive Progress for Sonic ESB. That crapware makes my top 5 list of horrible tech, up there with Groupwise and the terrifying Borland BDE which to this day still gives me the shivers.

      --
      lucm, indeed.
    12. Re: Oracle is bleeding-edge by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sorry I can't call you years ago...

    13. Re: Oracle is bleeding-edge by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > At least Oracle doesn't give you the illusion that you can stand up a production DB instance in 30 minutes.

      You *can* do that sort of thing if you know how to use Puppet/Chef and a stack that doesn't have an error code for when you've run out of money or auditors that go looking for ways to shake you down for more cash.

    14. Re:Oracle is bleeding-edge by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Please don't compare to PDW to Oracle RAC. As for cost, a two node Oracle RAC cluster is really not too expensive. People complain about the cost of Oracle but in reality sometimes it is really worth it.

      Keep in mind that at some companies downtime does cost money.

    15. Re:Oracle is bleeding-edge by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      First there is no Oracle 12g; it is 12c (the c stands for a cluster).
      Second database in Oracle means something completely different; then in MSSQL; which you would know if you actually ever used one.
      Third the feature that actually differentiates Oracle from other databases since the beginning is the multversion read consistency; which allows readers to never be blocked by writers; and banishes any "dirty" reads forever.

      The new features in 12c are aimed to make Oracle 12c more of database as a service.
      Also you have now plugable databases which allows you to move your data around with less pain.

    16. Re:Oracle is bleeding-edge by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Less than 10% of Oracle users use active/active clustering. It's a pain in the ass and with the current state of the hardware it's less required.

    17. Re:Oracle is bleeding-edge by lucm · · Score: 1

      First there is no Oracle 12g; it is 12c (the c stands for a cluster).
      Second database in Oracle means something completely different; then in MSSQL; which you would know if you actually ever used one.
      Third the feature that actually differentiates Oracle from other databases since the beginning is the multversion read consistency; which allows readers to never be blocked by writers; and banishes any "dirty" reads forever.

      The new features in 12c are aimed to make Oracle 12c more of database as a service.
      Also you have now plugable databases which allows you to move your data around with less pain.

      Everything you mention exists in SQL Server, dude. You would know if you actually ever used one. There's snapshot isolation, and you can attach/detach database much more easily than in Oracle, and SQL Server has been working "as a service" since the 90s. Same for MySQL and Postgresql.

      Get real.

      --
      lucm, indeed.
    18. Re:Oracle is bleeding-edge by lucm · · Score: 1

      The Oracle equivalent of PDW is Exadata, and it's not something I'd put important data into. I remember a few years ago they even had to send an emergency patch because of the data loss, the controller was mistakenly flagging disks as broken and you would kiss data goodbye. You would expect them to test their million-dollar appliance, but apparently it's easier to ship and see what customers complain about.

      As for a 2-node RAC, it's nothing much more than two servers sharing a SAN volume. With 2 nodes there's no huge performance gain, all it does is protect you against hardware failure on those 2 machines - which is something you can get on VMWare for a lot less money and less complexity. And RAC it's such a mess to install and configure, it's totally not worth it. Add more nodes? Then quickly you need to bring in Infiniband or similar expensive shit otherwise the performance actually goes down because of the traffic. Total bloat.

      --
      lucm, indeed.
  12. Crap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    First this and now this?

    Larry, OK, we admit you have a bigger you-know-what. Satisfied, now?

  13. Bad "news" by sigmabody · · Score: 1

    At least tag articles or something if they're going to be clickbait, misleading, non-news stories.

    Also, your description is wrong; from the methodology page (for the "study", http://db-engines.com/en/ranki...), the metric doesn't measure deployed instances, or usage, or even active interest. The metric measures delta in mentions online related to the DB type. The only valid conclusion you can draw is that there was a larger increase of mentions of Oracle than other databases.

    I could suggest one compelling alternative explanation for the findings: the world is becoming more concerned about computer security, and since Oracle is one of the companies who's products are the most plagued with security problems (and the Oracle brand is intentionally associated with Java in all regards), that could easily explain an increase in mentions of their company. Just a thought, you know, for people who think.

    1. Re:Bad "news" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      At the time I posted this comment, Oracle had been mentioned 60 times on this page (including this comment), but Postgres was mentioned only 6 times. Using my advanced degree in Countometry, I can state unequivocally that Oracle is exactly 10 times as popular among the slashdot readership as its competitors.

    2. Re:Bad "news" by ADRA · · Score: 2

      "the metric doesn't measure deployed instances, or usage, or even active interest", Yes nobody publishes this, so why are you so shocked that this study doesn't? Wouldn't you be more shocked and tin foil if someone actually was measuring backoffice service usage universally?

      Your second paragraph is rank with hyperbole without any quantifiable links for verification, so... At least the article source actually tells us their methodology instead of just spewing crap assumptions.

      This is how you could have quantified results:
      https://www.cvedetails.com/pro...
      https://www.cvedetails.com/pro...
      https://www.cvedetails.com/pro...
      https://www.cvedetails.com/pro...
      https://www.cvedetails.com/pro...

      --
      Bye!
    3. Re:Bad "news" by sigmabody · · Score: 1

      The second paragraph where I specify what the "study" does and doesn't indicate, based on the actual study methodology, is rank with hyperbole... how?

      Perhaps you meant the third paragraph, where I speculated on an alternative explanation (in which case you might want to look up "hyperbole"). Admittedly, though, the statement that vulnerability control is laughable in Oracle products is somewhat unsubstantiated, although I assumed it was common knowledge (among the knowledgeable in the field) at this point. If not, perhaps this would be an eye-opener [into the absurdity of their culture with respect to "secure" products]: http://arstechnica.com/informa...

    4. Re:Bad "news" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Suppose they tagged all such clickbait, misleading, non-news stories by showing the headline in white text on a green bar.

      The entire slashdot front page would look exactly as it does now.

    5. Re:Bad "news" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "the metric doesn't measure deployed instances, or usage, or even active interest", Yes nobody publishes this, so why are you so shocked that this study doesn't? Wouldn't you be more shocked and tin foil if someone actually was measuring backoffice service usage universally?

      So if you don't have access to the data you need to draw a meaningful conclusion, that's an excuse to publish bullshit instead?

  14. who cares about popularity? by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 2

    if popularity mattered, i would run Windows. what's popular is rarely good. how else do you explain beiber?

    --
    Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
    1. Re:who cares about popularity? by Kjella · · Score: 1

      if popularity mattered, i would run Windows. what's popular is rarely good. how else do you explain beiber?

      Apples and oranges, sometimes you just need *a* tool no matter how basic. I've done things in notepad. I've done things in MS Paint. I've done things in Excel that have absolutely nothing to do with a spreadsheet. Nobody has to suffer Justin Bieber unless they want to, there's always the off switch. But sometimes you just need a tool that's good enough for the job, and knowing the tool is more important than the quality of the tool. For a lot of things MySQL is perfectly sufficient. Oracle operates in the complete opposite of the scale, if you desperately need what they offer I'd do it. And if I don't I wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    2. Re:who cares about popularity? by ClickOnThis · · Score: 1

      if popularity mattered, i would run Windows. what's popular is rarely good. how else do you explain beiber?

      Popularity matters to PHBs. I once saw a two-page Microsoft ad in PC Magazine that trumpeted Popular = Compatible = Good in huge letters. Guess who that ad was aimed at?

      As for Beiber, I chalk that up to naïve tweens with undeveloped taste.

      --
      If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
    3. Re:who cares about popularity? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      how else do you explain beiber?

      Who the fuck is beiber??

  15. First Java and now Oracle? by Flammon · · Score: 1

    First Java and now Oracle? Hmmm, I wonder how that happened.

    1. Re:First Java and now Oracle? by ClickOnThis · · Score: 1

      I posted this yesterday, but it fits once again:

      http://slashdot.org/comments.p...

      --
      If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
  16. Flawed beyond belief by s.petry · · Score: 2

    The link you give is to a counter for how many times someone searches Google / Bing for the Database, or uses a FREE service to talk about the product. This is so obviously flawed I don't know where to begin. Lets start with: Running MySQL, my mode of support is Google and my postings about my cool tools and handy hacks will be in Stack Overflow. Running Oracle, my mode of support is Oracle as I have no reason to search for help in Bing or Google. Further, my epeen waving will be on Oracle's forums, not stack overflow. That's enough to not bother with the other BS used to "measure" popularity. If you don't see immediately how the results from the site you posted are going to be grossly skewed, I can only suggest a good strong lobotomy.

    I originally came here to ask "Is it sharded?" as a joke.. .thanks for wrecking that for me.

    --

    -The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.

  17. I find this amazing..... by NormAtHome · · Score: 1

    Given how vilified Oracle is especially for it's licensing practices, which were discussed here: http://developers.slashdot.org... I'd think people who can would be migrating away in droves and voting it down rather than database of the year.

    1. Re:I find this amazing..... by walterbyrd · · Score: 1

      Microsoft is vilified also. As is Apple, Google, and increasingly, Red Hat.

      Having the lion's share of some market seems to make you evil.

  18. Is OracleDB webscale? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm not sure I'd want the 'back end' of my fart app running on Oracle!

  19. MongoDB is webscale by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I can see Oracle more than MongoDB.

    Even the jokers advocating MySQL laugh at MongoDB.

  20. Mongo by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 1
    --
    Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
  21. For me Postgres is #1 by jcdr · · Score: 1

    I use databases in embedded products.

    Oracle is proprietary and probably not free.
    MariaDB (MySQL) are not reliable, verified the hard way multiple times.
    MongoDB is not structured; some found that fun, I found them horrible (for example to update the field of a record).
    Postgresql is free, very reliable, and the last couple of versions can even manage unstructured data for the fanatics.

    So the big shared part of the system consist in structured tables and notifications, while the clients applications that connect to it can store in JSON there private data if there like this format. Very powerful and run smoothly even on a tiny 0.5GHz Cortex-A5.
     

    1. Re:For me Postgres is #1 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oracle is proprietary and probably not free.

      I see what you did there. You are a master of understatement.

  22. Who cares??? Re:Methodology? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I guess there is bragging rights on the line, but to be honest, I didn't even know there was a competition, let alone an award.
    So, who won the text editor of the year?

  23. VM versus nspawn/Docker or Solaris Zones by emil · · Score: 1

    You can easily run create as many ORACLE_SIDs as you want in one ORACLE_HOME. Just export the environment variable for a new SID, login to sqlplus, CREATE DATABASE, then run CATALOG.SQL and CATPROC.SQL.

    The problem with multiple ORACLE_SIDs is precisely the problem with VMs: the kernel is duplicated within each instance, which is a waste of RAM and storage.

    I don't have enough instances to justify the new multitenant, but the idea behind it is the same as nspawn/Docker or Solaris Zones. There is only one kernel, and one set of OS binaries. Containers are rolled into the OS, which means that you can fit more "userland" on the system because you are only running one "kernel."

    IDK if Microsoft has been doing this. Kudos if they have.

    1. Re:VM versus nspawn/Docker or Solaris Zones by lucm · · Score: 1

      A different ORACLE_SID indicates a different instance. It's not because you use the same binaries that you're actually running two databases in the same instance. You can also install 2 instances of SQL Server on the same machine (few people do it since it's useless), and if you use the same version they will share binaries, but with SQL Server each instance can host many databases. Same for MySQL, Postgresql and others. One database engine, one service instance, multiple databases.

      What Oracle is bragging about in 12c, it's been there in SQL Server and others for decades. The fact that it's "pluggable" means nothing.

      Look at the docs for SQL 2005 (can't find link for older):

      The data and transaction log files of a database can be detached and then reattached to the same or another instance of SQL Server. Detaching and attaching a database is useful if you want to change the database to a different instance of SQL Server on the same computer or to move the database.

      https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-...

      And now for Oracle 12 (PDB = the database, CDB = the instance):

      By design, you can quickly plug a PDB into a CDB, unplug the PDB from the CDB, and then plug this PDB into a different CDB. The implementation technique for plugging and unplugging is similar to the transportable tablespace technique.

      https://docs.oracle.com/databa...

      They just use "plug" instead of "attach/detach" to make it easier for their bullshit marketing people to make it look like innovation.

      --
      lucm, indeed.
  24. Popularity to who? by emil · · Score: 1

    Oracle is popular with mission-critical enterprises, who have LARGE checkbooks, HUGE transaction volumes, and cannot afford ONE MINUTE of downtime.

    This is not, and has never been, Microsoft's target market.

    No one has attempted in quite some time to seriously challenge Oracle in massive transaction volumes.

    You will notice that Oracle's top score is on SPARC, and is from nearly three years ago. There is no significant challenge to them on TPC-C.

  25. Oracle == Emperor Palpatine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    PostgreSQL == Han Solo
    SQLite == Princess Lea
    Mongo == Jar Jar Binks
    MySQL == Darth Vader

    May the Source be with y'all

  26. MongoDB? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What's it? Database for mongoloids? LOL. What's next? SpazzOffice? Windows Lickers?

  27. Really?! by StormReaver · · Score: 1

    Someone is still using that piece of shit?! It takes the crown from MySQL for the worst database ever. Here's only the most recent example:

    A coworker issued an update to a large table to which he didn't have update rights. Oracle's response? Drop the table!

    Way to go, Oracle! This is only the latest reason my company has decided to ditch Oracle in favor of PostgreSQL.

    And multiple databases per server? PostgreSQL has had that forever.

    1. Re:Really?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Please add some detail on how an update turned into a drop table. I've been working as a DBA for a very long time and never seen any database convert a DML to a DDL.

  28. Good and Bad Database Software by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    WTR Oracle and SQL Server, I'm reminded of Mencken's comment about Coolidge:

    "It is as if a hungry man, set before a banquet prepared by master cooks and covering a table an acre in area, should turn his back upon the feast and stay his stomach by catching and eating flies.”

  29. So did they query Oracle DB names or just the comp by guruevi · · Score: 1

    Since Oracle now owns Java and Solaris as well as MySQL and various brands of Linux, I wonder how they qualified between an Oracle-branded database and an Oracle Database.

    --
    Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
  30. MySQL is Oracle by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The Oracle result includes MySQL. That at least doubles the search results. And much of the content is about how bad it is.

  31. Short list by DarthVain · · Score: 1

    For large enterprise systems, there are not a lot of good options to begin with. Had the discussion with a college the other day. Apart from the two you mentioned (MariaDB and PostgreSQL), and the one that "won" Oracle, that really only leaves IBM DB2 (which I know little about).

    If you work for an organization that outsources most of their technical talent, so can't have a bunch of experts on payroll, that pretty much rules out both MariaDB and PostgreSQL (which is really too bad as I have heard a lot of good things about PostgreSQL spatial GIS engine). This is because they need to be able to have access to external support from another big company (i.e. IBM or Oracle), and yes boy do they pay for it. However many would rather that than deal with staff and salary apparently. This really isn't a reflection of how "good" a DB is, but rather open VS closed source and support models VS staffing framework. Though technical documentation does count towards something. There *is* a ton of technical support for Oracle, though some leaves a bit to be desired. The other thing that isn't so fair, is that a lot of that is because Oracle has simply been around forever, but some of that will be for versions that no longer really apply anymore.

    So regardless of how bogus the rating is, there really isn't enough players in the same category to really have much of a list to begin with. Though to rant with the rest, using the number of technical discussions on a particular DB, isn't exactly a good metric, as if it was good, it should be intuitive, and or not full of issues, requiring a lot of discussion, so pretty much the opposite of good. Also insofar as job postings and corresponding linkedin references (which are really just a mirror of that), most of the HR and/or Management boffins that put those things together probably have never heard of anything but Oracle, DB2, etc... and wouldn't know a MariaDB or PostgreSQL if it hit them in the face... so also not so good of a metric.

    1. Re:Short list by EmperorOfCanada · · Score: 1

      You say, "need to be able to have access to external support from another big company" why?

      I have had "support" from the really big companies and it was worthless. Using google to search for solutions was a vastly better solution. When it comes to MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL and most of the others the amount of support is bonkers. But with one extra magical bit. The open source aspect means that once in a blue moon some actual bug will be out to bite the user. That expert user will then solve the bug and post the code modification. Often this is something really small such as adding a few lines to kill a buffer overrun or a larger allocation of memory to just bandaid over a larger problem. Thus even the most insane problems in OSS have solutions lurking out there in the world. If the same bug bit me after paying a few tens of thousands (thus a nobody) the big DB companies aren't going to release some special patch for me to use. They are just going to tell me to stop doing whatever it is I am trying to do.

      The only benefit of the large companies is that you can blame them when things blow up and say, "We went with the best" With OSS your argument has to be a bit more nuanced such as "We went with the actual best and it had a bug, like every other piece of software in the world."

    2. Re:Short list by DarthVain · · Score: 1

      I'm just postulating really. For corporate managers they may not understand that the support is useless. It very well could be that it is just a game of management having someone else to throw under the bus should the need arise.

      That said it probably has as much to do with momentum and application lock in. With Oracle being around for so long, and with most of your applications/db already using Oracle, making any kind of change or attempting to support multiple platforms is pretty difficult. That could be why you see more newer agile companies making different choices, whereas larger pre-existing companies may have a harder time moving away from what they already use.

    3. Re:Short list by EmperorOfCanada · · Score: 1

      Often when I am designing a schema I leave out any features that are database specific. Some DBA type will show me all kinds of "optimizations" that will make it better. It doesn't matter what database it is when I say, "I want to make sure that we can switch databases in the future, so, no." they all get all butthurt that I am not treating their special flower with the respect they think it deserves. For relational MariaDB is my absolute favourite and I am 99% sure that any system I implement on it will end up staying on it but PostgreSQL is doing interesting things in mixing in NoSQL so...

      But I also tend to do the same thing with programming code. I keep things so modular that it wouldn't be a massive amount of work to swap on block of functionality done in C++ with something done in Python. Not super easy, but not a situation where it wouldn't be worth it if the Python brought something cool to the table.

    4. Re:Short list by DarthVain · · Score: 1

      Unfortunately I don't deal with a lot of "new" databases, most of the work I do is with preexisting legacy stuff from the early 90's usually with little or no documentation. In trying to reverse engineer schema for various databases it becomes obvious that most of the relationships are being handled by the applications themselves which makes things difficult in a number of different and interesting ways.

      Even the code depending on how it was developed (usually over time by various developers) can have some interesting challenges. For example when Oracle went from Oracle 10g to 11, it changed how it handled upper and lower case values and it broke some parts of various applications. Even within a single application, search functionality would work or not in various places depending on how meticulous the developer that did that section of code was at the time. Those that made assumptions on database specific functionality (i.e. always expecting the same case results) wouldn't work when the Oracle update chose to start looking at text differently, while those that spent the extra time to validate everything into the same case would work. Made troubleshooting somewhat interesting when you think you can assume things might be coded the same but are not.

      Dealing with old databases is more akin to archaeology than computer science I think, as you have to try and ascertain the layers upon layers that have been tacked on to the original schema, all of it application dependent, and most of it due to the database being re-purposed to do more and more things beyond its original intention. One such that had me furrowing my brow, was was looked to be a perfectly good clean table being absolutely polluted by a self referential relationship inserting a ridiculous amount of duplicates into it. Which while it works, is horrible to work with to extract data, but I am sure was someones cludge/elegant solution to adding a new type of record that required a many to one relationship without having to create a new table (or perhaps better retrieval time or indexing)... Oh well it keeps me busy and employed so there is that.