I just read a good article at TechRepublic about MySQL vs. Microsoft SQL. Overall, the article is pretty well-rounded. Good reading. (And short!)
The author based the review on several features, including:
• Licensing Cost
• Performance
• Replication
• Security
• Recovery
The final winner:
If you were hoping to get an ironclad recommendation that one database is better than the other, I’m going to disappoint you. From my point of view, any database that helps you do your job is a good database; one that doesn’t is a bad database. I can tell you that to make a good decision about which of SQL Server and MySQL will help you most, you’ll need to look beyond politics and hype and instead look at function and mission. What do you want to accomplish?
No surprise there of course.
What I did find interesting is that Sanders took the time to explain that MySQL is not free unless you are developing an open source application, but otherwise you have to pay for it. Hmm, I have to admit I’m not 100% on the licensing terms for MySQL. Is this totally accurate? What if I’m developing a revenue generating website based on top of MySQL as the RDBMS? Does that mean I have to pay MySQL AB?
Another article on the comparison
http://www.postgresonline.com/journal/index.php?/archives/51-Cross-Compare-of-SQL-Server,-MySQL,-and-PostgreSQL.html
But the article is more than five years old, so anything in it will be comparing flint axes to arrowheads.
Yeah, I know, I know. But I really did appreciate the approach. Maybe it's time for a rewrite of that same article?
I also think the author is inaccurate. Only if you publish (sell or give away) your software together with MySQL, you must pay MySQL or have your software GPL-licensed.
Just using MySQL on your server is completely free.
It is an old article, and I think there have been some confusion with MySQL AB licensing back in the day, so I think the author may have been wrong too. I think MySQL AB does use the "you bundle, you pay" licensing method. :)
This article is very (very) old: March 2003.
And no benchmarks, what does it mean: "In terms of pure performance, MySQL is the leader"?
What is the difference between an article in a blog and an article in a magazine? How do you know which author knows best about what he is writing ?
You comment and generate more information by reading different sources of information. What's the matter if that source is a blog?
Miguel
The article you are referencing is from March of 2003. Has anything changed?
Well I don not think that Mysql is free only for open source applications. From performance point of view I think MS SQL server 2005 has changed the things.
DB-
What do you think has changed?