I think the success of MySQL is due to there being fewer options for a period of time (the "dot.com boom"), and thus it became a popular choice to avoid commerc

I think the success of MySQL is due to there being fewer options for a period of time (the "dot.com boom"), and thus it became a popular choice to avoid commercial RDBMS costs. I'm no MySQL fan when things like PostgreSQL are an option, but its probably more sane than some other currently popular choices.