RE: MySQL vs. Oracle (not speed)

[Alec.Cawley]

The "Open Source" argument went down well with my management. Of course,
both Oracle and MySQL have full support teams, and should fix any bugs in
their databases promptly - and, so far as I know, they do. However, we have
had problems with (other) large companies in the past when we find bugs in
what they regard as "not mainstream code" - features used by very few
customers but essential to us. They promise to fix it "some day" - but we
are too much of a minnow to influence their plans. If such a problem were
to occur with Oracle, you have no recourse. If it occurs with MySQL - if
all else fails, you can dive in and fix it yourself. Of course you hope
never to resort to such an expedient (and a small company such as MySQL is
probably more amenable to altering their plans, at a cost, than a giant)
but it is a nice fallback line to have for the worst case.

      Alec Cawley