Oracle and MySQL are the two DBs with which I've worked extensively as a development administrator. From a very high-level/general standpoint, my basic comment is this: When I've used Oracle, my life has been complicated; when MySQL, I don't even have to think about the data.
The power of Oracle for certain applications cannot be denied, but as has been pointed-out, more people are realizing every day they have no need for that kind of horsepower. As a former colleague of mine was fond of pointing-out, it's like taking a 747 out of the hanger to make a trip to the corner stop-n-shop.
MySQL once filled what could've been called a "niche" market. But now, as more people understand what sort of back-end functionality they really need, that "niche" is looking more and more like a pervasive, critical marketplace. Oracle sees that and they are reacting. They are not positioned all that well to go toe-to-toe in the marketplace that is familiar territory to MySQL. My feeling is that what's going-on now is just "shots across the bow" leading-up to the big battle. How it all settles-out is anybody's guess.
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Oracle and MySQL are the two DBs with which I've worked extensively as a development administrator. From a very high-level/general standpoint, my basic comment is this: When I've used Oracle, my life has been complicated; when MySQL, I don't even have to think about the data.
The power of Oracle for certain applications cannot be denied, but as has been pointed-out, more people are realizing every day they have no need for that kind of horsepower. As a former colleague of mine was fond of pointing-out, it's like taking a 747 out of the hanger to make a trip to the corner stop-n-shop.
MySQL once filled what could've been called a "niche" market. But now, as more people understand what sort of back-end functionality they really need, that "niche" is looking more and more like a pervasive, critical marketplace. Oracle sees that and they are reacting. They are not positioned all that well to go toe-to-toe in the marketplace that is familiar territory to MySQL. My feeling is that what's going-on now is just "shots across the bow" leading-up to the big battle. How it all settles-out is anybody's guess.