A big theme in the comments here relates to the fact that there are different tools for different users, different situations, etc. Although this is normally a good line of thinking, I think many here have had their heads stuck in the OSS sand for far too long. Don't get me wrong, I'm a big proponent of many things Slashdot... OSS, GPL, Linux, anti-DMCA, etc, etc. But I've also used DB2 on an almost daily basis for almost as long as I can remember, in addition to too many other database-type products that I only wish I could forget (Access, MySQL, SQL Server, Oracle, Btrieve, Pervasive, etc).
In virtually every new project started today that has any significant amount of data, you would be silly to use anything less than the most feature-rich RDBMS that you could get your hands on. Going with less is just going to cost you in the long run. There are just so many benefits to be reaped from having a solid foundation. The car/plane analogy is cute, but I would compare it more to building multi-storey house on a foundation of wood chips vs. a foundation of reinforced concrete. And when did overkill become a bad thing? Better to use a solution that you won't outgrow -ever- than something that might not survive the current development cycle.
Usability is a big issue and lots of people here tout simplicity as a big plus for MySQL and OSS in general. Go ahead and spend half a day playing with DB2 for (insert platform of choice here). It is not going to be any more difficult than anything else, and in all likelihood will be much easier than most everything else. This is a mature product with plenty of support behind it. And its available on many, many different platforms, making it a good candidate to use in other OSS projects (well, maybe not with OSX... what's up with that?). Long and short... OSS is great. But there are other products out there that are also great that work great with OSS software. Some of these products (like DB2) are DECADES ahead of the likes of MySQL. I think they just wanted to make that clear as it would seem that a lot of people (especially here) have never left the sandbox.
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A big theme in the comments here relates to the fact that there are different tools for different users, different situations, etc. Although this is normally a good line of thinking, I think many here have had their heads stuck in the OSS sand for far too long. Don't get me wrong, I'm a big proponent of many things Slashdot... OSS, GPL, Linux, anti-DMCA, etc, etc. But I've also used DB2 on an almost daily basis for almost as long as I can remember, in addition to too many other database-type products that I only wish I could forget (Access, MySQL, SQL Server, Oracle, Btrieve, Pervasive, etc).
In virtually every new project started today that has any significant amount of data, you would be silly to use anything less than the most feature-rich RDBMS that you could get your hands on. Going with less is just going to cost you in the long run. There are just so many benefits to be reaped from having a solid foundation. The car/plane analogy is cute, but I would compare it more to building multi-storey house on a foundation of wood chips vs. a foundation of reinforced concrete. And when did overkill become a bad thing? Better to use a solution that you won't outgrow -ever- than something that might not survive the current development cycle.
Usability is a big issue and lots of people here tout simplicity as a big plus for MySQL and OSS in general. Go ahead and spend half a day playing with DB2 for (insert platform of choice here). It is not going to be any more difficult than anything else, and in all likelihood will be much easier than most everything else. This is a mature product with plenty of support behind it. And its available on many, many different platforms, making it a good candidate to use in other OSS projects (well, maybe not with OSX... what's up with that?).
Long and short... OSS is great. But there are other products out there that are also great that work great with OSS software. Some of these products (like DB2) are DECADES ahead of the likes of MySQL. I think they just wanted to make that clear as it would seem that a lot of people (especially here) have never left the sandbox.